WW Wednesday: Thanksgiving Edition

Again, I'm late but I'm here.  Sorry bout that.


Let's get down to the nitty gritty, shall we?
Surprisingly enough, my past week in my weight-loss joooourney was better than most.
Yes, I had seconds of my favorites at Thanksgiving, but I didn't regret any of my choices, either.  We did some raking and mulching over the weekend which probably helped compensate from any increase in calories I ate.
All in all, I felt good walking in to my WW meeting.
(Of course a big reason may be because I snuck and weighed myself at the gym on Monday.)

So, I ate breakfast, wore normal clothes, and still had a nice loss at the scale.  To be honest, it wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but still nice all the same.  Felt good.  :)

When I decided back in September of last year that this would be the last time I ever tried to lose weight, I told myself that if I just kept at it, I could feel and look better at 30 than I had in my entire adult life.

I turn 30 tomorrow.

For realz.

I am proud to say my prediction was true.  My blood pressure is good, I feel strong physically, and I no longer fear that a diabetes diagnosis is just around the corner.  I am not saying I am perfect (far from it) and have no room for improvement.  I still have goals and many things to learn about living and sustaining a healthy lifestyle.
I am so glad that 15 months ago I didn't give myself a number or pant size to aspire to
(for the record, I've gone from a 16 in jeans to an 8/10 and from a 2x in shirts to a Large, and lost 60.6 pounds as of yesterday), only a challenge to not give up.

I am no different from anyone else and if I can do it, anyone can.

Like I said, my joooourney is not over, but tomorrow is a big milestone for me.

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On to some business, anyone who has been participating the 20 in 20 Challenge, please check-in this week.  It is the last week of the Challenge and we'd love to hear if you've learned anything or (if you want to share- no pressure) if you've lost anything.  Email me if you'd rather not comment.
From today until next week's WW post I will collect the names of people who participated in the Challenge and they will be included in the drawing for a prize next week.
Good luck to you all!

iWeekend

BigBoy saved his allowance and bought a kid-friendly camera.

It doesn't take the best photos but it does take a beating well.

These are some iphone and kid-camera shots from this weekend.

(I left my nice camera at home on what was possibly the most photogenic day at the zoo we've had in a long time.)

We had a relaxing IHOP breakfast with well-behaved children who actually ate their food, a new experience for us.

They had fun in the mostly-empty zoo -- we all did.

I might not have had my Nikon but our family's moment in time was captured, nonetheless.

Cheers for the weekend

Stopping in for a rare Saturday post... I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

We had a fun visit with my aunt and cousins, ate too much, and did some shopping.

I am very aware that I have a lot to be thankful for, but a holiday built around it is pretty cool.

Ok, so now that Thanksgiving is over... bring on CHRISTMAS!!!

WW Wednesday

Well I'm late again but I'm here!

It's been a long, productive day and this is my first chance to sit down at the computer so let's get to it, shall we?

I had a good week for weight-loss efforts.  I tracked via WW and kept a positive attitude.  My feeling of starting over never went away, even as I stepped up to the scale today.

I had a nice loss.

I know I told y'all that I have 25 total pounds to go, but I think I'm going to refrain from the week-to-week details.

The big achievement for me today was the fact that I wore my jeans (aka, not-the-lightest-thing-in-my-wardrobe) and again ate breakfast before my weigh-in.  You know, the healthy thing to do.

So, here are some strategies for Thanksgiving this year:

1. Give myself permission to go back for seconds if I LOVE a dish.  Don't go ahead and dump a larger portion on my plate, because it's harder to stop eating what you have than it is to decide not to go back for seconds.

2. Sip my drink with the hand I eat with.  Read: put down my fork and pick up my glass instead of using one hand to sip while the other is holding the fork, itching to get back to business.

3. Remember that it is a holiDAY.  Not a holiWEEKEND!  This is a biggie because I hate to waste those tasty leftovers.  I'll just have to watch the portions.

Last year I actually LOST weight the week of Thanksgiving.  If you look back at that post you will notice that I was at 30 pounds lost that week.
If you are keeping score you will notice it took me 3 months to lose the first 30 and a YEAR to lose the next 30.  I am okay with that, though.  I didn't give up and I am very proud of that.
That next 30 pounds is gone and that is all that matters.

Today I am very thankful for all the support I receive in-person and via my blaaaaahg.  
Every. single. comment. helps and means so very much to me.  Truly.

Happy Happy Thanksgiving, from me, J, and the chitlins!

Psst... How are my Challenge participants this week?  Only 2 weeks to go!

Growing With Grace

Today I want to mention a great family and raffle taking place over at Growing with Grace. 

My old friends Amber and Nathan are trying to save a life.  More specifically, the life of their future daughter Anna Gray, who currently resides in an Eastern European orphanage.  

Because of her Down's Syndrome, a future in her country would mean a life in institutions.  

With any luck -- and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears -- she will soon be in the arms of her loving family!

First, some background (stolen from Amber's adoption blog):

Amber decided she was going to adopt at the age of four years old. 

When she and Nathan began dating as teenagers, she told him her plan and said he was either in or out… he was in! They were married eight years ago and blessed less than a year later with a biological daughter, Layla, who is now seven. 

A couple of years later, they started the adoption process, ready to grow their family. About halfway through the process, they were told it was impossible for them to conceive- even though they had a healthy 2-year-old at home! 

This news just confirmed that they were already doing what God has always planned for them to do. Before they could even complete their homestudy, Nathan and Amber were asked to parent girl/boy twins! The babies had already had four homes and three sets of names in their short six weeks of life. Brynn and Cale are now four years old and almost as tall as their favorite person (big sister, Layla)!

 

Just recently, Nathan and Amber began updating their domestic homestudy. They planned on another domestic infant adoption, but God had better plans! Amber was introduced to Reese’s Rainbow by another adoptive mother, slightly by accident. 

After combing through the website once or twice, praying for the precious waiting souls, she saw Gracie. Little Cale had been praying for God to bring him “a baby with a mohawk” and he found one! All three of the children started asking, “When can she come home?” before Nathan or Amber ever mentioned doing just that! They took some time to pray about her, seeking God’s will for their family and felt very clearly that this was His plan for them. 

They are all so excited to hold this little squishy and bring her home. She, and her “mohawk” , will fit right in!

And now for the raffle*:  

The prize is TWO nights in an upgraded room at beautiful and unique Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort in Nashville, TN!

ALSO, dinner for two at Ravello, a delicious italian restaurant inside the hotel!

For my fellow Triangle residents, Southwest Airlines runs $59 flights to and from Nashville on a regular basis and the flight is under an hour and a half.  Talk about a great weekend getaway! 

You have until noon NEXT Monday, November 28th to enter the contest.

You can get ONE ticket for $10. Each additional ticket is $5. (i.e. 1/$10, 2/$15, 3/$20, etc.). Your name is entered for each TICKET. 
Check out this post on Growing With Grace for the details!


Whether you buy a raffle ticket or not, please remember the West's in your prayers -- especially as they spend Thanksgiving so far from a child they love so dearly.

*As a side note, I hope I win this raffle!  This is where the hubs and I spent our short honeymoon (I was taking summer classes) and the restaurant we ate at on our subsequent anniversaries.

We've been just raking it in!

Leaves, anyway.  ;)

Somehow raking leaves,

Became playing in leaves.

It was fun for some.

But for others the fun was in a thumb.

WW Wednesday: The Reboot

Better late than never, right?

First of all, sorry I've been MIA lately.  We had family in over the weekend and BigBoy is tracked-out of school so things have been a little off.  I'm back now, though.  :)

For the last several weeks I've been riding the weight-loss yo-yo up and down, up and down.
I was practicing weight maintenance instead of weight loss.  That would be good except I'm still not at a truly heathy body weight.

So, since quitting is not an option, I decided to skip it and go straight to the "restart" portion of the joooourney.
Yesterday I ate breakfast, wore jeans and a shirt (instead of running shorts and a tank), and weighed in as a healthy me.  Not a skipped-breakfast me.  Not an oh-no-I-hope-the number-isn't-up-2-tenths-of-a-pound me, but a healthy me.

I asked the lady at the desk to write my weight on a new weight-tracker and not write down the difference gained or lost from last week.  I then filled in my five and ten percent goals and saw my weight as a starting point in this phase of the journey.  I will celebrate my first 5 pounds lost just like I did a year ago.

I might as well tell you right now: I have 25 pounds to lose.  Yep, 25.  Somehow seeing it as a new undertaking instead of the last stretch of a long run makes it feel easier.
(And for those of you who may be worrying that that is too much weight, don't! I won't be super-skinny or model thin, but rather at the top end of the healthy weight-range for my height -- a place I feel mighty comfortable and proud to have a strong, curvy body.)

So, that's where I am today.  I'm tracking my food and activity via WW again.
I'm no longer complacent yet I am happy with how I feel and look right now -- healthy!

It is Week 17 of my Challenge.  How are y'all doing?