New Week 1

You might not know this, but I'm the Queen of "Starting Over". I do badly a few weeks at anything, and BAM! I've decided to take a do-over. Now this might sound like a positive thing, except I generally take my do-overs a third, fourth, fifth, or HUNDREDTH time. 

Yep. Queen right here, y'all. 

I'm determined to make this time different, though. I started Weight Watchers again back in November, a week before Thanksgiving. I rocked it a few weeks and then fell off...and never truly got back on. Sure I did fine a couple of weeks here and there. Mostly, though, it's been five months of dreading my weigh-in, feeling guilty about going over my points for the week, and making excuses. Well...no more. 

Yesterday was my "new" first weigh-in. I know it doesn't change the past; I'm still using my original starting weight. And I am down about 7 lbs from that. The point is, I'm making a resolution to track every bite, get my activity in through my Active Link, & attend meetings. That's right...I'm considering myself a Weight Watchers newbie again. 

I know you're wondering what sparked this change. Well, of course, it's an event. As I've mentioned before, I travel a lot for my job. I've had a good many meetings this month, and at every one I'm the "fat girl". I'm tired of it. There are a lot of things going into that I would prefer not to get into on a blog, but let's just say I want some positive attention for a change. Anyway, I have something called the "Governor's Conference on Tourism" in August. I know I probably can't hit my ultimate goal, but I want to lose as much weight as I can (in a healthy way) by that time. Plus, my birthday is in August, and what a birthday present! 

Now that's not my sole motivation for losing weight. I have a TON more...that's just what lit a fire under my butt this time. So hopefully I can keep this motivation going and surprise EVERYONE (including myself) in August!

All Thanks to a Doctor's Appointment...

This morning I had a chiropractor's appointment. 

Well, actually, that's not true. I went to the chiropractor, but didn't have an appointment. I'm friends with some of the girls in his office, and I go whenever my back is really acting up or I'm going on a long trip. I haven't been in a few months, so I wasn't prepared when I walked in the door. I sat by the insurance girl to update some information, and she said to another nurse, "Ok, please get her weight for me." 

"Uh. Excuse me? Weight? Why weight? You've never asked for my weight!" (Please hear the panicky tone of my voice at this point.)

"We had to start taking weight and blood pressure of all the patients. It will only take a second!" (Smiley, happy words from the thin as a rail nurse.)

At this point, I start babbling about how I shouldn't have eaten a big breakfast that morning and it was almost my TOM and gosh I hated to weigh...and then I stopped. I looked down at the number. It read a number I didn't think I would ever seen on a scale again. 

255.8. Only 4.2 lbs lost from my highest weight ever. I've literally gained it ALL back. 

I've been hiding from the scale the past few weeks. I didn't want to see what I knew was true...that I had totally given up on trying to be healthy. I didn't want to face the fact that every time I said I was going to stick to my diet again, I lasted about four hours. I didn't want to really think about my pants being too tight, my shirts having to have that extra "x" on the tag, or that I was reaching for Cokes rather than water more often now. Unfortunately (or fortunately) that shook me up. 

You would think that I would have immediately started watching my intake. Not so. I've done miserably today...some of which is part of that cycle. Get upset (even over weight, eat more, get more upset...etc.) However, I've made plans with the best friend to get to the gym tonight, I have a water sitting in front of me, and I've scheduled the gym in my phone for the next two days. I've even scheduled my "bed time" and what time I'm not allowed to be in the kitchen. 

I'll be at a wedding this weekend, so I know I won't get to work out those three days. However, my tentative plan is to get to the gym early Friday morning, either go for a walk Saturday morning or work out in the hotel Saturday night, and do cardio Sunday morning before I leave in the hotel. As far as food...I'm just hoping they have options. My main goal is to ignore any kind of bread or starches, besides veggies. The bride is a pretty healthy girl, so I'm hoping she'll have some good options for us. I'm going to pack a little cooler with personal snacks (cheese, yogurt, etc.)  

Another thing I'm going to start is WEEKLY WEIGH-INS. I know, I know. I keep saying I'm going to do this and don't. But I need to be accountable. So, starting Friday morning, I will be doing a Friday morning weigh-in. It might be short and sweet or long and descriptive...but I'm GOING to do it. 

A few more ideas I've had are bringing my lunch to work, keeping a gym bag in my office for quick walks on our RiverWalk or after-work gym visits, and keeping low-carb snacks in the work fridge. Any other ideas? I will let you know how this goes! See you Friday...if not before!

The One Where I Maintained

Trust me, maintenance was GREAT after the week I had.

It wasn't a bad week as far as events, just a bad week as far as food. I ate out way too much, which always creates issues with sodium. (My body hates salt with a passion.) Friday night I had Moe's and Saturday night I had a fish fry. Needless to say, neither of those equal good scale reports!

I tried to drink my water and workout, but even that was lacking a little. So, needless to say when I got on the scale and saw the same number as last week I was NOT disappointed! Yes, this means I didn't hit my first goal, but that's ok. For some reason my body is just hanging onto the weight a little harder this time. I'll get it off eventually.

So, officially...

Starting Weight: 247.0
Week #2 Weigh-In: 243.8
Weekly Loss/Gain: 0.0
Total Loss/Gain: 3.2

I'm definitely beginning to realize this is a journey, not a couple-of-months deal. As much as I hate that, I know I will learn more about my body and what it wants if it takes a little while longer. I'm sure there will be days where I want it off RIGHT. THIS. SECOND., but today, I'm ok with the slow progress. I don't hate my body, I just want to be the healthiest I can be.

The One Where I Ate The Chocolate

So today I ate a candy bar.

Ok, let me clarify. It was a chocolate business card. MY chocolate business card. (Cool, right?!) I'm generally not a huge fan of sweets. Give me chips, crackers, anything salty...you can have the chocolate. Today however? HUGE chocolate craving. I kept watching it out of the corner of my eye. It was definitely a stand-off situation.

So I tried the typical diet tricks. I played a game on the computer to distract myself. I drank water. I ate an apple...then almonds...then a peppermint. (I should have just eaten the dang chocolate to begin with.) I left the office for a few minutes.

Nope. Still focused on the chocolate.

So I ate it. Then I tracked it. And that was that.

Am I guilty? Nope. It was good chocolate. Am I going to eat five more? Definitely not. My sweet tooth is satisfied for a while. I know sometimes my body goes through weird, snacky phases...this is one of those days. Part of it is boredom from a slow day at work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not making excuses; I wanted the chocolate, so I ate the chocolate.

It makes me wonder how many times silly little choices like this derail my "diet" efforts. I eat a candy bar, feel guilty, and promptly throw in the towel. How ridiculous! That little piece of chocolate in no way threw off my entire healthy eating style. Maybe this is how normal people eat...they decide they want something, they eat it, and move on. Like I said before, I ate MORE calories trying to avoid the chocolate than I would have if I had just eaten it to begin with.

Anyway, it's just some ramblings from a teeny incident out of my day. Official weigh-in day is Sunday...let's hope my body gets a little more in gear before then!

The One Where I Introduce Myself

So, new blog time! As my life changes, my blogs evolve as well. Since my other ones sort-of...well...died, I thought I should do a short little intro to myself as well as explain the name of the bloggy.

I'm a 25 year old non-profit/tourism professional from a small-ish town in Alabama. My family has lived here for about five generations now, so I'm happy to be promoting the town we all love. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. In high school, I thought I was HUGE. Needless to say, looking back I wish I could be that size again. (Good looks are wasted on the youth...) So for the past seven years, I've done a lovely yo-yo cycle, each time losing weight and gaining all of it back, generally plus a few.

When I started my new tourism position last year, I wasn't quite aware of the travel aspect. I'm a single gal, so I definitely don't mind getting to see new places, but it's hard to watch the intake when you're around open bars, buffet lines, and unlimited snack breaks for half the year. So obviously, my weight has begun the yo-yo-ing again...but this time, I'm heading it off.

With this blog, I'm hoping to share not only my weight loss journey, but also any tips & tricks I learn as well as, yes, failures, as I navigate the waters of travel + healthy living. I'm no pro as of yet, but hopefully I will at least be able to contribute something!

I just got back from a week long conference and managed to lose 3.2 lbs, so maybe I'm getting the hang of this. Also, just an FYI, I weigh-in weekly. Well, scratch that. Technically I weigh-in daily, but "officially" I track it weekly. So let's do a little catch-up, shall we?

Starting Weight: 247.0

Week 1 Loss: 3.2

Current Weight: 243.8

I'll update as often as I can, but I'll definitely try to come in on Sunday or Monday to give my weekly weigh-in. When I have a conference I'll be here as well, sharing my victories and/or struggles. Thanks for stopping by!