Weekly WI And A New Perspective

I had my Weekly WI on Monday at my WW meeting.  I debated skipping the scale as I had become a bit reckless with my food Saturday and Sunday.  A small fog has set in over my mood and I just wasn’t feeling like being very healthy.

I was lucky to squeak by with a 0.2 pound loss.  Hey, better than a gain right?  I cut that one close!  I had actually weighed myself at home on Saturday when I woke up and was showing I would maintain so I am glad didn’t do any major scale damage over the weekend.

I was talking to Jamie at my WW meeting explaining the funk I was in and my reckless eating.  I told her Kenyon and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner Sunday night.  We shared the fried chicken breasts.  I ordered carrots and green beans for my sides and he ordered mac n’ cheese, fried okra, and dumplings since they were out of mashed potatoes.  I had part of the mac n’ cheese and I am not a fan of dumplings or fried okra. 

Jamie responded, “but you shared.”  Yep.  We did.

I told her it didn’t stop there.  We went to Fred Meyer and I got a piece of cake that I took home and had some with ice cream.  She asked if I ate the whole slice.  “Nope, just a bit of it with ice cream.”  Jamie said, “I would have eaten the whole piece.”  I told her it was a big slice of cake.  She said she would have still eating the whole thing.

Well now…here is some new perspective I needed to hear.  Prior to my WW meeting I was still feeling reckless and wanted to go to the pizza buffet.  I would have eaten mostly the salad bar but still consumed two or three slices of pizza.  Instead we went to Costa Vida where I got my usual sweet pork salad.  Despite getting the large tortilla this time I ate only about half of it, maybe a little less.

Even when I feel like I am being reckless, I am still using my WW tools.  I still make semi-good choices and/or don’t stuff myself silly.  Losing weight is just feeling like a struggle right now.

I am down a full five pounds from October.  Yeah!  However, I am still up 11.4 pounds from last November.  I still have work to do.  I need to stay focused!

The WW meeting was about making a list of why you want to lose weight or why you want to maintain your weight.  The photo on the flip chart was that of a seatbelt buckle.  The reason I joined WW was because of a seatbelt buckle.

The top of my list for losing/maintaining my weight is to buckle that seatbelt when I get on the plane.  It is always reminder of where I have been and how far I have come.  We are headed to Vegas on Saturday.  I’ll be happy because I know that the seatbelt still buckles.

Book Review(s): St. Helena Vineyard Series

I just got finished reading all five books in the St. Helena Vineyard Series by author Marina Adair.  They are wonderful.

I had an opportunity to purchase the fifth book, From The Moment We Met, for $1.99 on Amazon.  I realized after I was a chapter into the book that this book was part of a series.  While I was ready to read this whole book right away I wanted to start from the beginning.  So, I bought all of the other four books for $4.99 each (that is how Amazon Kindle hooks you). 

The St. Helena Vineyard Series introduces us to the DeLuca family and their vineyards.  There are four brothers; Gabe, Nate, Marco, and Trey; one sister; Abigail; and the matriarch of the family their grandmother ChiChi.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each character as well as the other outer lying characters in this small town.  My favorite part of a series of books is how all the characters throughout weave together.  I love reading about past characters in new books and learning about future characters (such as Sheriff Jonah and Need You For Keeps coming out in March of 2015).

In Kissing Under the Mistletoe we meet the oldest of the DeLuca boys, Gabe, and his female love interest Regan Martin.  The reason I started at the beginning is because you need to meet Regan in Book One so that Book Five makes sense.  Again, this is why I love the thread of characters in a book of series.  Anyway, I do think Book One was my favorite.  I loved the chemistry between Gabe and Regan and I loved Regan’s little girl Holly. 

Summer in Nampa would, Book two, is my next favorite book.  Marco DeLuca and Alexis “Lexi” Moreau have a bit of a past together.  I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see where the author would take these characters.  It really kept me engaged since both characters lives right across from each other and that sizzle between them was always ignited.  This was an excellent book.  We also start to learn more about other common characters.

My least favorite book was Autumn in the Vineyard and it actually took me the longest amount of time to read.  I had high hopes as I felt I identified with Nate, the organized one of the group.  What also had my hopes up is that I also liked the non-nonsense tough-as-nails female character Frankie Baudouin.  I think part of why this wasn’t my favorite book is because there was a lot of history between Frankie and Nate and I think it was lacking the chemistry from when two characters first meet.  I sort of felt I missed out on that.  What I did like about this book is that you start to get more insight into other characters and are introduced to some of the Baudouin family, which is important. 

Be Mine Forever was a really fun book.  The baby of the DeLuca boys, Trey, is the playboy of the group.  However, once we meets sweet Sara everything changes.  I love Sara’s son (oh man I can’t remember his name).  That kid cracks me up.

Finally, From the Moment We Met, wraps up most of the DeLuca story with the only DeLuca sister Abby and “Hard Hammer Tanner.”  Even though Tanner and Abby have past involvement, I really enjoyed this book.  We also see many things come full circle and throughout each book of the series we learn more of the DeLuca siblings and their female counter parts. 

We still don’t have a resolution with Grandmother ChiChi and her long lost love interest…the identity of whom you will have to read to find out!

I look forward to reading more from the St. Helena Vineyard Series.

Festival Of Trees And Some Distorted Thoughts

Talk about a very odd blog post title.  I’ll explain.

Saturday I volunteered at Festival of Trees.  The Festival is one of my favorite holiday events and I have been volunteering at, when my work schedule allows, for the past few years.  This year I got to hang out with Santa and the photo area.  I was helping with calling the number and making sure the people were in line when it was their turn to get a photo.  It was quite hectic and a lot of waiting around for parents and children.  But what joy it brings me to see those little ones so excited to see The Big Man and smile for a photo.  It just melts my heart.

After the Festival I walked to Mongolian BBQ for a bite to eat since I was already parked downtown. While I was walking towards the restaurant I saw lots of people inside the windows of other restaurants. I thought to myself, “I wish I didn’t have to worry about my weight so much.”

This thought has worked itself into my head a time or two. If somebody else was to utter this phrase my question to them would be, “what do you think you are missing out on food-wise?” It isn’t that I feel I am missing out on anything. I eat plenty of foods I enjoy. I am very social and often go out to eat with Kenyon and/or my friends. It is just frustrating that I have to be thinking about food/calories/points to much of my day. I proved I can’t be trusted to just eat what I feel like and stop when I’m full when I tipped the scales at 304 pounds.

It takes a lot of work to track food and be mindful all the time. I will always be thankful for WW and the assistance I’ve received in losing weight and keeping most of it off. I need to continue to be mindful if I am going to keep the scale under 200 pounds. Sometimes, it just feels exhausting. Sometimes I just wish I didn’t have to worry about it so much.  But with anything, this too shall pass. 

After my Mongolian BBQ where I loaded up my bowl with lots of veggies, I stopped by Aspen Leaf for a nock of froyo. It was a nice treat.

Here are more photos from the Festival of Trees.