The Annual NWCR I've Been Avoiding For The Last Four Years

I joined the National Weight Control Registry several years ago.  Since gaining some of my weight back, I have been avoiding their annual survey since 2014.  I am feeling better about my weight loss and maintenance over this last year that I decided to complete the survey.

To join the NWCR you must show you have lost at least 30 pounds and kept that weight off for a least a year.

Since this is an annual survey, it is shorter than the starting survey and it only looks at your current weight and your weight last year.

I’m down 4 pounds from last year and I'm down 26.6 pounds from two years ago.

There was a series of true/false questions and one asked:

My weight has hardly changed at all in the last ten years?

Um…I wish!  I’ve been all over the place within the last ten years. 

Despite a few more ups than downs over the last ten years, I am not 304 pounds.  And had I not had the courage to start my WW journey 11.5 years ago, I’d still be 304 pounds.  Or what is even scarier is that I might even be larger than that. 

I’ll count my blessings as I continue to navigate this journey.  I’m constantly working to find a new appreciation for myself and my WW program as the months and years go by.

You can read my past blog posts of times I’ve completed the NWCR here:

The National Weight Control Registry

It’s That Time Of Year Again

Survey Complete

Carolina Reaper Pepper Challange At 10 Barrel Brewing

Since my WW week starts on Monday, I just ended a successful week.  We had a lot of fun last night at 10 Barrel Brewing and Phoenix crushed the Carolina Reaper Pepper Challenge.  She had to eat a personalized size pizza with two Carolina Reaper Peppers on it and drink a Reaper-Rita all in 15 minutes or less.

 

Phoenix completed the challenge in 7 minutes and 58 seconds!  Which was faster than the guy at a neighboring table that completed his challenge. 

 

She received a $25 gift card to 10 Barrel, a growler and free fill, and they bought her pizza and Rita.  It was epic!

I stuck to my pre-plan and ordered a personal sized combination pizza and side Caesar salad with dressing on the side.  I had one beer, although the kind I wanted to try that was served in the 12 ounce glass was out so I had a 16 ounce beer.  I really wanted dessert after but since Kenyon was with me, it was easy to just go home and eat some fruit, which I did. 

Success feels sooooo good.  Now, to see what the scale says tomorrow morning.

To Be Continued…

Social Event Take 2: El Tenampa & Heritage Hop Haus

It was another enjoyable social outing and getting to visit with Phoenix.  We had tried to meet up for a visit earlier in the week last week but it didn’t pan out.  I always love seeing my Bestie!

We met at El Tenampa, a Mexican restaurant in Meridian.  They always have the friendliness employees and fast service there.  I ordered an side order chicken sopitos, which is similar to a tostada.  I really love the thick masa dough vs. a corn tortilla that comes with a traditional tostada.  There was a bit of a mix up on if the side order came with sour cream so I ended up with a lot of it since they brought me a side order.  Oops.  Even though we had plans to go to Heritage Hop Haus for a beer after, we each ordered a light Corona, which is just 3 SPV.  Talk about a points bargain beer!  I could eat corn tortilla chips all day long.  I love them.

We walked to Hop Haus, which has happy hour every day from 3pm-6pm where pints are just $3.25.  There was only one other group there and boy were they rowdy.  I saw at least one round of shots so that could be why.  I had the best beer, light and fruity, Stiegl Grapefruit Radler.  It was like a mix of a Fresca and a beer. 

 

I looked it up later when I got home and saw it is made is Salzburg, Austria.  I am hopeful I’ll be able to have more of this beer when we visit Europe since Salzburg is close to Munich where we will end our trip.  I’ll be on the lookout in town for this as well.  I didn’t quite know how to count it so I treated it like a similar Grapefruit beer.  It only has 3.2% alcohol by volume so I’m sure it is packed with some sort of sugar/sweet which is why it is so darn tasty.  I didn’t drink the whole pint since I shared some of it with Phoenix.

We thought we might catch the Saturday concert in downtown Meridian but it is just too hot to do much outdoors.  After having Mexican food and two beers, I was ready for bed.  I think I’m getting old!

I’ve got my last social event this evening, which is mostly for Phoenix.  She is going to do the Reaper Challenge at 10 Barrel Brewing Company.  You have to eat a personalized size pizza with two Carolina Reaper Peppers on it and also drink a Reaper-Rita all in under 15 minutes.  If you complete the challenge, you get a $25 gift card and a growler with a fill.  They also buy your meal.  So, she is going to see if she can complete the challenge.  I’ll be sure to take lots of photos!  I love 10 Barrel so I’m stoked to go watch.  I have pre-tracked what I’ll be eating/drinking and once again, I am having low point meals/snacks throughout my day.

I’m sort of glad this is the last social event and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about WI on Tuesday.  This is a lot of meals out close to WI.  I earned my blue dot yesterday and should also earn a blue dot today.  I like how Freestyle has so many 0 SPV foods!

Happy Hour At Yardhouse

I had a nice time last night meeting up with Patty and Sierra…once I actually go to Yardhouse.  Apparently, The Village is quite the happening spot on a Friday night.  There was a Rock The Village free concert AND vendors set up around the complex.  So, needless to say, trying to get in/out of the parking lot and find an open spot was crazy.  I finally parked in a dirt lot and walked a bit since I saw others parking there too. 

Mental Note: Avoid The Village on a Friday night.

But, it was really nice.  I like Yardhouse and I’ve only been a couple of times.  Since Kenyon and I eat out a lot, we sometimes see the same waitress working at different restaurants.  That happened again last night when our waitress from LePeep (a breakfast/lunch spot in Meridain) also works at Yardhouse, I assume in the evenings.  She is so cute and it was nice to see her and have her as our waitress.

Happy Hour went until 6pm and I had was planning to order a half priced pizza, a Cesar salad, and a beer.  I pre-tracked for two slices of pizza, the salad with dressing on the side, and one 16 oz beer.  Kenyon decided he wanted some left over pizza so I changed my order from a Margarita pizza (5 SPV for 2 slices) to a Carnivore pizza (11 SPV for 2 slices).  I had enough points even though the Carnivore pizza was twice the points as the Margarita.  I debated having only once slice but decided to have my two pre-tracked slices.  The bill was less than I thought since the salad was an add-on to the pizza making it an affordable meal.

 

This was a very good Milk Stout



Afterwards, we went to LeCreme for some froyo.  It was nice to just get a little bit of sweet to end the evening and their yogurt is really delicious.  I counted 8 SPV for my small bit of yogurt, a small bit of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, and a small bit of cheesecake bites.  I spent more points than I had pre-planned. 

 

What was more important is that I navigated my social setting by enjoying the food/alcohol and the company and not throwing all caution to the wind.  And, I had the points available so it was not necessary to be so stingy.

I’m not 100% sure on plans today after work and am waiting to see what develops.  I have armed myself again with low point foods and am determined to keep myself on track!

Workin' The Program

After seven glorious days off, which were spent staying up way too late and sleeping in, I’m going to need all the coffee today.

 

I’m getting myself planned for my upcoming social events this next three days.  I have just looked up the points on the WW app for Yardhouse, where I am meeting two coworkers/friends after work.  I also prepared myself with a low point breakfast and 0 SPV lunch and snacks.  I still have 51 WSPA available as well. 

I’m mostly nervous because I really want to break out of the 220s this week.  I have gotten so close so many times and then just shoot back up the scale.  Regardless of if I make it this week or not, I won’t be jumping back up again.  I will get there eventually and there is always next week.

 

But, I am going to try my very best to stay the course and pre-plan.  That is always the best practice!

Weekly WI: Down Another 1.4 Pounds

I had a great WI this week and lost 1.4 pounds. The leader described my losses as “steady” which is a great way to look at it. 

I am looking ahead at this week and trying for a 1.8 pound loss to get me to 219.8. I really want to keep seeing the scale progress and I was able to get into size 16W capris, which were a bit too snug last year. Of course, not all pants are created equal so one pair fits great and another is snug. So, all the more reason to keep working hard over the next six weeks until we head to Europe (and of course long after that).

When I entered the weight into my WW app, I saw the pounds since start column is +46.6 and once again, that doesn't feel too overwhelming. 

Cutting back on social situation and alcohol have helped a lot. I ended up schedule quite a few social events this week so I'm a bit nervous. I am prepping ahead of time and reminding myself that I don't have to partake to enjoy the social aspects. And, I'm going to continue to balance. Over the last three weeks, I really do need to use some of my WSPA as that is what my body likes. That makes social situations a little bit easier, but important not to go overboard. 

It's my last day off so I need to get a move on. I've got a hair appointment, lunch plans, and I need to film today for our RCC Lip Sync Recruitment Video. Busy day off!

Six Weeks

I signed onto the My Viking Journey website the other morning to look over some details of our upcoming Europe trip and found a nice surprise.

I hadn’t thought the documents were coming so soon and then we weren’t really sure where they got delivered!  Turns out, they go to our travel agent and she gets them to us about three weeks before our trip.  Well, we are super anxious so she is going to prepare them this week and we will have them next week.  Yippie!

I feel like I need to start some practice packing.  I’ve been thinking about what I want to take for clothes and about how I want to pack.  With my days off this week, I think I’ll pull the ‘ol suitcase out and see how it all shakes out.

I get more and more excited for this trip the closer it gets.  Since I’ll be training a new employee all the way until we leave, this is going to make the time pass really fast.  But, I’ll have way less downtime at work along with more stress!  I’ll be ready for a vacation for sure after these six weeks pass.

I’ve also taken on another project at work attempting to film some footage of our Lip Sync Challenge video.  If you haven’t heard about it yet, search #lipsyncbattle and you can see all the fun footage of various police agencies doing some Lip Sync singing.  Our troopers did a video as part of recruitment and I’ve been wanting to do another recruitment video but this time a fun one.  Since the Lip Sync craze is upon us, what better time.  And, I want to make sure we use our Mobile Command Center too.  It has been a challenge trying to find time to film around everybody’s daily schedule and the MCC’s schedule but I’m hoping it will all come together here soon.

Talk about stressful!  I guess I sort of thrive on chaos!

Return Of The Apple Pancake

I couldn’t sleep really well the other night and found myself craving an apple pancake in the middle of the night (2am!!).  I knew if I used the blender to mix a batch of Banana Bread Protein Pancakes that I’d wake Kenyon.  So, I pulled out some Kodiak mix.  I don’t really like Kodiak because it isn’t sweet enough for me.  But, you’ve gotta make do with what you have sometimes.

I chopped my apple, added some olive oil to the pan and sautéed them along with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Poured in the pancake batter and covered to cook.  I had a bit of a tough time getting it to flip but the end result was still delicious.

I can’t have a pancake without peanut butter and a dollop of honey.

This apple pancake cost me quite a few points but it sure did satisfy the craving.  I’ll have to try it again soon but this time, I’ll make the Banana Bread cakes.

Recap Of The Weekend

I’m recapping the weekend festivities and fun today.  My days off from work are going way too fast!

Friday evening I met up with a group of gals for Book Club.  My friend Julie started a book club where all you read is menus.  That’s right, they just go try new restaurants that are different/authentic.  Sounds like my kind of book club.  Danielle, Kate, and I finally got our invite to this super exclusive club so we took full advantage and met up with about 8 other gals.  This month was Korean at Gangham.

I am not very adventurous when it comes to food, so we will see how well Book Club goes in the future.  But, the Korean Beef I ordered was delicious.  And the side dishes that were served were also really good.  As a group we all shared and tasted everything so we could sample it all.  The food was good but the service left something to be desired.  I’m not sure if they were prepared for so many people at once but it also felt like our waitress had no urgency either.  I won’t be back but I enjoyed the food experience.

Saturday was the big Summer Family Reunion and I am so happy it all went very well and was well received by all.  It was HOT and I sweated a lot but we had a great time.  About 76 family members came and we had a huge buffet of potluck foods.  We laughed, visited, and got caught up with family that we don’t see often.  Sadly, I didn’t get any photos!  We were able to get my grandpa and his siblings and then their spouses all in one photo.  But, we should have taken more smaller groups or tried to get a big group photo.  We are planning to do a reunion every other year so I’m hoping his will grow even more in the years to come.

My family from California is staying next door so I hosted breakfast at my house on Sunday morning.  I had plenty of left over ham and Mom and Dad offered to bring sourdough pancakes.  I made sure to have plenty of points ready for two pancakes!  Yummmm...

The rest of Sunday was spent napping and resting.  It was a really long day on Saturday so I was looking forward to the rest.  I am sure the rest of this week will also include some downtime.  I rented Love, Simon and really enjoyed it and I am in the middle of I Feel Pretty, which is also really cute.

This next month at work will be really busy and I am training one of our new employees up until our Europe trip.  Just six more weeks to go!

Double Starbucks Day

Since I got all my cleaning done, I lounged around this morning.  I didn’t sleep well and was awake from 2am-4am so it was nice to sleep in and not have to stress.  I had plans to meet up with Phoenix and we decided on a coffee date to save calories.  It was a nice visit.

I’ve been watching Big Love, the HBO show that ran from 2007-2011.  It is about a family of polygamists that live in Utah and stars Bill Paxton.  I love one of the wives played by Gennifer Goodwin.  I wouldn’t say the show is that great but it has sucked me in and I find I can’t wait to watch more of it everytime I’ve got nothing to go.  I’ll probably waste all seven of my days off watching TV.  And, when you are able to stream, you don’t have to wait a week for the next episode.  So, that is like a double bonus!

I’m working another OT shift today for just four hours.  It is Starbucks Happy Hour today after 3pm with half off Frappuccinos for rewards members.  I did some fancy modifications after looking up the points of a green tea frappe.  A regular frappe with non-fat milk and no whip is 16 points.  I cut that in half since I only did one pump of the sweetener and one scoop of the green tea.  Since that is where most of the sugar is, I figured it was fair to half the points and count 8 for a Grande size.  Then, I only drank half so I could have my sweet but not break the points budget. 

 

It was good and I didn’t mind the less sweet taste, even though I could tell it was not as sweet as the original green tea frappe.

I’ll be in family reunion mode Friday and Saturday and we are hoping for a great day.  It will be hot but thankfully we will have shade at my cousin’s house.  I’ll check in next week.

Have a great weekend.

Checking In On A Wednesday

I started my morning off with my usual breakfast and a boatload of watermelon. I really love watermelon season. Have you ever tried watermelon and cottage cheese? It’s really good. My Mom likes her melon with salt but not me! I guess cottage cheese is a little salty though. It’s a nice treat.

Potatoes cooked in olive oil, eggs, and bacon for the win! Oh, don’t forget the coffee.

House cleaning Day 2 is in my agenda today. We were running errands at Costco last night and I treated myself to some flowers. They go great with a clean house. I’ll share a photo one they open up more

We had a Date Nite with Phoenix and Stacey at Flying Pie Pizza for Theo habanero pizza season. I don’t like hot things but Phe does. I was a bit stressed all day yesterday trying to balance and make a plan ahead of time. Plus, I’m usually starving all day on WI day and usually moody! But, it’s all tracked and accounted for. 

Happy Wednesday!

Weekly WI: Another Loss

I had a great WI and meeting. I lost 1.2 pounds and it feels good to see the scale going down again. My stomach also feels smaller.

It is no surprise that tracking has a direct correlation with my weight loss. The month of July is looking good and I’m rocking the blue dots!

I have a few social outings this week and I’m taking days off next week. But, tracking and balance has been working for me so I’m going to keep doing it. I’m going to give my foot/heal a little more rest too. I’ll see how I feel after house cleaning/errands and the family reunion. If it’s not better, I might need to go to the doctor.

Hope your having a great Tuesday!

Along The Journey

Good Morning!  It is once again a Friday/Monday for me.  After working five days, I am ready for a day off.  I’ll be back Wednesday and Thursday for a 4-hour OT and then I’m off for seven days as I have a family reunion and family in town.  Yippie!  I need to do some deep house cleaning on my days off and also get a few errands wrapped up before the reunion.  This is our first year of having a summer family reunion with my Dad/Grandpa’s side of the family so I am hoping it all goes smoothly.

My WW week is set up to start on Mondays, even though my WW meeting are on Tuesday.  Since I jump around to different meetings throughout the year, this seems to work best.  It is so nice to have a fresh start on a Monday.  I had a great week with tracking/food last week and ended with 24 WSPA left over. 

 

I did eat lunch.  I've stopped tracking my 0 SPV foods and my that is what my lunch consisted of

The week before, I had 44 WSPA left over.

And, as usual, I’m not feeling very confident facing the scale tomorrow.  Why shouldn’t I feel confident?  I have no idea!  I managed my points, earned my blue dots all expect one day (I ate more 0 SPV foods and too few points on the 14^th to earn my blue dot but food was on track), and when I was craving sugar like crazy last night, I bought some no-sugar-added fudge pops.  This way I had a low sugar option that was also reasonable in points.

Despite all of the positives above, I still want to see weight loss at a rapid speed.  I know I am feeling less confident after having a small loss last week.  I was looking in the mirror last night as I was brushing my teeth before bed thinking, this is going to take forever to lose my excess weight.

It also got me thinking what if there was a quick fix for weight loss and we could magically be thinner at a rapid speed, what you would learn in the process? 

 

You wouldn’t learn that with time comes a new appreciation for your mind, body, and health.

You wouldn’t learn that when you work hard for something how good it feels when you achieve it. 

You wouldn’t learn that you don’t have to perfect all the time.  That you may try your best but you don’t have to perfect.

You wouldn’t learn patience and a new appreciation for yourself when you take the time needed to change your habits.

 

We are all a work in progress of one thing or another and with time, patience, and hard work you can achieve almost anything.  That is why I call it a weight loss journey.  There is so much to learn along the way that if you speed through it, you might miss a few of the good parts.

Banana Bread Panckaes From Peanut Butter Fingers

I’ve been craving pancakes and when I found a recipe a blog I read called Peanut Butter Fingers, I knew I wanted to try it out.  I liked the ease of how you put all ingredients in a blender to mix it all up.  Easy Peasy!

The recipe is called Banana Bread Protein Pancakes.

You can find her recipe and details ßhere

 

These pancakes turned out really tasty thanks to my great oatmeal find Better Oats. 

 

I found the cinnamon roll variety at Albertson’s so I omitted the cinnamon from the recipe and added two packets of Stevia.  I felt the batter was a bit too thick, which could have been because one packet of oats isn’t quite ¼ cup but two packets are more than ½ cup.  Also, Kenyon and I both agreed we didn’t need the banana and next time, I’ll try it with two eggs.  This might make the batter pour a little easier.

My version:

• 2 packets of Better Oat Cinnamon Roll – 5 SPV
• ½ mashed banana – 0 SPV
• ¼ cup Trader Joe’s light cottage cheese – 1 SPV
• 1 egg – 0 SPV
• 2 Stevia packets – 0 SPV

I was able to get six small pancakes out of my batter for a total of 6 SPV.  Since I like my pancakes with peanut butter, I had half the batch and Kenyon had the other half.

Mmmmm…..delicious.  I would definitely make these again.

Eating Out On Freestyle

Howdy!  Sorry to miss you all yesterday.  I was a fill-in trainer at work and I’ll tell ya, it really cuts into my goofing off time. 

I was super tired/lazy last night when I got home and had no desire to get off the couch or meet Kelsey at the gym for a workout.  I’m still worried about my right foot and have been resting (or perhaps using it as an excuse to be lazy but let’s go with resting).  I had a pretty easy chicken meal to put together in the InstantPot but it wasn’t what I really wanted.  Even though I also didn’t want to leave the house, I met up with Kenyon at Red Robin after work.

I usually have chicken but every once in a while, I really enjoy a hamburger at Red Robin.  Plus, if I was going to have chicken, I could have stayed home and saved my money!  So, I looked up the points ahead of time and did some fancy math to give my best estimate of the points.

The Tavern Double Burgers are a smaller patty size than their regular burgers and you get two patties.  I looked over the points and read the descriptions of the burgers and finally decided on the Cowboy Ranch Tavern (ranch, bourbon-infused Whiskey River BBQ sauce, crispy onion straws, American Cheese, and lettuce), which isn’t listed on the WW app but was really close in calories to the Smoky Jack Tavern (21 SPV).   

 

I looked up the points for the hamburger bun (8 SPV) but just in case it is a smaller bun, I subtracted 4 SPV since I was going to put mine in a lettuce wrap.  I looked up the points for American cheese (4 SPV) and subtracted another 4 SPV.  I also had them hold the ranch since I was mostly interested in the onion straws and not the ranch or cheese.  This brought my burger to 13 SPV.  Lastly, I gave one of the burger patties to Kenyon so I cut my points in half. Grant total for my burger was 7 SPV.  I had a side salad instead of fries with ranch on the side where I just dipped my fork (2 SPV).  Since I had gotten there early, I ordered their Sam Adams Beer Sampler with three 4-oz beer pours and only drank two of them for a total of 3 SPV.

 

It was a pretty good dinner and all track/accounted for.  I also earned my blue dot.  It makes me feel really successful to navigate my program how it fits me.  Oh, I chewed on some peppermint gum on my drive home so I didn’t stop for an ice cream treat.  Sometimes when I eat out, even if it fits in my points, I often have a hankering for a tasty treat afterwards. 

I’m hoping for a loss this week and trying to my best to balance my evening out on Wednesday and our unplanned dinner out last night.  I’m going to make the chicken dish tonight, which will hopefully be my lunch left overs for tomorrow too.

Gas Lantern in Downtown Boise

I met up with Danielle at Gas Lantern, a new bar in downtown Boise that is known for its unique cocktails.  They were also really fun to watch the bartender make.

Gas Lantern is in the same building at Longdrop Cider, where we had our 20 year class reunion, and White Dog Brewery, which I’ve been two a couple of time.  The food is provided by Smoke & Thyme, which also did the food for our reunion.  Kenyon met us after a class at Micron since I knew he would enjoy their food again.

Happy Hour is from 4pm-6pm and all cocktails are half off.  That is a great deal since they are priced $9-$13 so it makes one drink reasonably priced and even allows for a second drink.  Since this was our first visit, we tired four different drinks.

Smoke & Thyme: Elijah Craig Small Batch, Smoked Lemon, Whiskey Bitters, Thyme, Oak Smoke

This is their signature drink and my favorite.  I was talking with the bartender about the whiskey drink I had in Bend and this was so very close.  The lemon flavor is really good, I love the smoky smell, and it was a nice balance of whiskey and sweet.  I’m going to order this again for sure.  The drink is finished off in the smoker, which smells amazing.

 

L’Abeille De La Nouvelle-Orleans: Four Roses Small Batch, Brulee Blood Orange, Madasgascar Vanilla, Woodford Barrel Aged Bitters

I tried this drink second and much preferred the sweeter taste of my first drink.  The bartender told me this was more like an Old Fashioned, so it was nice to taste the difference.  I still really enjoyed the flavors.

The Southern Oracle: Aviation Gin, Lemon Sour, Earl Grey Tea, Ginger Beer, Lavender Bitters, Himalayan Sea Salt Half Rim

Danielle went for a nice summery drink that would have been great if you were sipping it on the patio on a hot day.  We both really enjoyed this one.

Something with the name 29 in it (??):

Sadly, I can’t find any description of this drink but what made it unique is that it had toasted meringue on top.  When I spotted the bar tender making a drink for another table using the blow torch, our interest was piqued.  It was a really good drink.

 

We shared some fries, Danielle got the street tacos, I had the pulled pork sandwich, and Kenyon had a burger.  We really loved the food, atmosphere, and drinks.  We will be back soon.

Striking A Better (Mental) Balance

Good Morning Afternoon.

I have no idea why this day is passing so fast but I am not ready for my last day off to be over so soon. I've got some grocery shopping to do and then I'm meeting Danielle for happy hour downtown to try out a new place we have heard a lot of good stuff about.

I went to the gym this morning but opted for the elliptical/bike vs. a class. I am having a lot of issues with my right foot and my plantar fasciitis is acting up. A few months ago I wanted to wear cute shoes with capris and also wanted to try out some walking shoes before Europe. I got some Sketcher's Joy Walk and while they were cute, they sure did a number on my feet. I need proper arch support and while I do know that these are not the right shoes, I learned that lesson the painful way. I have some new Brooks Ghost 10s that are support/high arch shoes but so far, I'm not sure it is helping. To make matters seem worse, I swear I felt a pop when I was stretching before them gym. So, I'm a bit freaked out.

I lied to you yesterday when I said I was going to keep doing what I did last week and see where the scale shakes out down the road. Instead, I spent all day yesterday thinking about points and micro-managing my program. I hate when I get in the “fear of eating” phases. I was starved on my home from a jewelry/purse party event where I had spent a few points on some cheese cubes, ham, turkey, and summer sausage cubes, and about 2 oz of wine. We went for Panda Express to go, which is all tracked and still earned my blue dot. I opened my fortune cookie to find an interesting message.

I guess I just need to trust the program more and try to focus less on being perfect so the scale will drop. Somehow I need to strike a better balance.

I'm working on it.

Weekly Wi: "Only"

It was great to be back at my Tuesday AM meeting. I love those members and they were all so happy to see me just as I was happy to see them. The leader that replaced Donna once she retired is named Paula. She was also wonderful. She has such great energy and really loves to talk about behavior changes. The meeting flew by and we even went over.

I was a bit nervous on the drive to the meeting. I had a great week earning a blue dot all seven days. I managed my points, balanced my meals out, and even had 10 oz of beer last week. I exercised five days and pushed myself when I was at the gym class.

I “only” lost 0.8 pounds. I don't like to use the term “only” but it did feel a little deflating. But, I was also slightly worried about how I would handle a gain so I'm glad it was a loss. Regardless, I feel good and I am very happy about last week. I am not going to change anything major this week and just keep at it to see if the tracking will add up to seeing a bigger loss at the scale.

Challenges this week are getting to the gym/exercising due to some commitments and that I really want to make time to get together and visit with Danielle. I decided to take today off from formal activity and will go to a class at the gym tomorrow. I'm also meeting Kelsey at the gym both Thursday and Friday. I can also walk on the treadmill at work so I'm sure one way or another, I'll get in some activity this week.

I have a loose meal plan but am thinking of meal ideas that will keep me on track and are lower in points. I also want to not burn out or get bored with food. For some reason, food seems to be the weak link lately and I am just not super creative. I also am looking for meals that I can prep before the gym and have it ready to go when I get home. I'll keep working on that this week.

I don't have any major social events on my calendar and I want to keep my alcohol consumption low. I am meeting Danielle for happy hour as we have been dying to try this new place called Gas Lantern. Other than that, no plans. I don't want to say I won't have any other alcohol but I know that is one place I can cut back points/calories easily. I'm also going to try another week of one less iced coffee a day. I did cave a few times this last week and went to the coffee shop for a second coffee. I think my credit card will thank me more than the scale if I forgo it more.

I hope you are having a great Tuesday.