Week Nine

YAY! Two weeks in a row! WOOT WOOT! Hopefully I can keep this trend going next week.

This week was Thanksgiving (as you know) and I made the decision to not track on that day. I decided to have small portions (which is typical anyway since there's so much food) and skip things I didn't totally love anyway. In WW the Saturday before they gave the tip to make sure to eat breakfast and not sit down at dinner ravenously hungry. So I got up and made myself some toast using my double fiber bread and brummel and brown spread. We then ate lunch/dinner around 2:00 PM. We had pie a little later but I didn't eat anything after that. I was simply not hungry.

My leader that week asked how many of us would show up and weigh in on Saturday. I think pretty much everybody raised their hands and everybody seemed to be there yesterday. I personally lost 1.8 pounds and as a group we lost thirty-something pounds. Here's my pic for the week:

That night, my Mom and I did something we have never done before... and will probably never do again: We went shopping at 9:00 PM on Thanksgiving. Stores are opening earlier and earlier all the time and this year they all opened up WAY earlier than usual. We started at Toys R US which took us two and a half hours, most of which was spent standing in line. My Mom bought two toys for my nephews and saved a total of $40... Not worth it. Then we went to Kohls which opened at midnight. There was no standing outside in the cold there! They let everyone in and the check out line wasn't nearly as crazy. I wanted to find a gift for my little brother for his birthday this week but they didn't have it. They had one left of what I wanted: a Chi ceramic hair straightener. They're normally $140 and I got one for $70. I was on the fence about buying it since it is kind of expensive (although a really good deal) but it was the only one there so I grabbed it. My hair feels s LOT softer now! That was definitely my Christmas gift to myself this year and I don't regret it. I did run into EVERYBODY I went to high school with though which was not enjoyable...

I went to the Salt Lake Running Company and bought an exercise shirt (another good deal) so I'm hoping that will motivate me to start moving. Exercise is definitely on my list for this week. Also on my list: WORK ON GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATION. I was having a hard time deciding when to apply for and I've decided on Spring since January 3rd is just too soon to start. However, I still need to finish and submit my application.

Weeks Seven and Eight

All right so a couple of things. I was off on my weeks on the last post. It was weeks five and six, five being the week I didn't have a picture of. Also, I have clearly missed yet another week. I actually completely forgot to take a pic.

I had had a cold which then turned into a lovely case of laryngitis. Don't get me wrong, I get colds a lot so I can handle them pretty well. I know people who get one and act like they're dying... If you're one of those people: Take some Dayquil and get over it! In fact, it always irritated people when I worked in offices since I would come to work with a cold. I don't have 2-3 day colds. Mine last usually a week minimum and this one has been going on for over two weeks now (I did have a two day reprieve in there but I'm not really counting it). I had a cold when I lived in Denver that lasted for over three weeks! Anyway, you get the point... But I've never had laryngitis before. It was surprisingly painful, even more so than strep, and I've also had that twice in the last year. (I clearly need to work in a less germy environment) So I spent my time not speaking and staying inside for the most part, and completely forgot about blogging. (By the way, I'm mostly feeling better, but my throat has been itchy today)

Back to the weight loss. In week seven, I lost 2.8 pounds. I lost that much in week one but that's the most after that. Week eight was not as exciting, I lost 0.6 pounds. My leader said that was good after having such a big loss the week before. This week I definitely need to step up the exercise. Especially since Thursday is Thanksgiving and I don't plan to stick to the plan too closely that day... Plus I think that exercising will help with all of the illness. Overall, I've lost 15.4 pounds. I think it's starting to look obvious in my face a little. Here's my pic for the week:

It should be interesting to see what the scale says for this week, but I'm going to stick to the plan every day other than Thursday and not overdo it on the Thanksgiving feast.

Weeks Six and Seven

Okay so I suck. Not only did I not post in week six, I didn't take a pic of myself. I was planning on having someone take a pic of me in my Halloween costume, which was awesome but it never happened...

I was A-Rod for Halloween. I printed fake money which was coming out of all of my pockets and had bandaids on my knee and thumb (since these injuries kept him out for most of the season this year). I wore my Yankees hat and bought an A-Rod t-shirt (if replica jerseys weren't $75+ I would have purchased one) and painted black lines under my eyes. It was even more awesome than I just described but unfortunately Utahans didn't get it... It's funny people, believe me... (A-Rod is the highest paid player in baseball making about $27 million a year)

Anyway, back to the weight loss, week six I lost 1.8 pounds bringing my total weight loss to 9.6 pounds which happens to be 5% of my starting weight. (I hesitated to tell you that since now you can figure out how much I weighed and what I currently weigh but it's out there now so I guess I'll just have to deal with it...)

Week seven I did manage to take a pic. My normal photo day is Sunday (since I look the nicest on Sundays) but I had a MASSIVE headache this week and didn't go to church or do my or makeup... not a pretty sight... So I took a pic on Monday after work. I work with babies so I always slick my hair back to avoid having it ripped out of my head. Not to mention, to avoid picking up lice... (I work in a germ factory and any communicable disease or condition that comes in spreads like wildfire! I have yet another cold... Thanks for coughing in my face small children! We will be having a public health intervention on Monday.) I lost 2.2 pounds bringing my total weight loss to 11.8 pounds. It's nice to have a double digit number finally and I think it's starting to become a little more noticeable. Here's the pic:

My favorite thing for the weeks is Pinterest. If you haven't joined yet, DO IT! It's awesome! It's also a huge waste of time so if you don't have hours and hours on end to spend doing nothing but playing online, then maybe you should ignore my advice. My mom was given several large butternut squash that my aunt had grown and when I saw a recipe on there for black bean and squash burritos, I had to make them! I had gone back to opening at work and was getting off usually by 2:30 so I decided to make them on Monday. When I described to my little brother what I was going to be making he said "ew". But when he tried them, he loved them! And they were fantastic! He loved them so much that he requested I make them on Tuesday. We had so much left over squash I decided to make them again. That recipe is a keeper! Unfortunately I only opened for a week before they switched me back to closing which means I won't get off until 6:00... My cooking new and potentially more time consuming things has come to an end. But it also means I don't have to get up at 5:00 AM. It's definitely good and bad.

I will be weighing in again tomorrow (technically today since it's already after midnight). I'm a little more concerned about this week, not because I ate terribly but it's been a horribly emotional week and I didn't eat enough food which can send your body into starvation mode. I guess the scale will tell in a few hours. I won't be able to stay for the meeting though since I have a funeral to go to. I will be better at taking my pic and posting on Sunday this next week, I promise!