I'm Discouraged

I had a very disappointing weigh-in at Weight Watchers last night - up almost 2 full pounds from last Tuesday night, according to their scale. It actually almost brought me to tears, since I thought I had done OK this week. So obviously it was an eye-opener and resulted in me re-thinking my weight loss strategy.

I had been using their Core Plan, which allows you to eat specific foods without tracking points or portion sizes (within reason). Since I am having only limited success (and now failure) on that plan and was not doing as well as I thought, I've now switched to the Flex Plan beginning today. The Flex Plan requires journaling all the food you eat and tracking the points values of everything.

Hopefully this will get me back on track for our weigh-in this Saturday morning. It worked for me in the past, it is just time-consuming. So I went through our pantry this morning, and began labeling the foods I eat with the point values on the boxes and cans, so I can just grab something when I'm hungry without having to stop and calculate the points every time. I also will take the Point Finder tool with me to the grocery store to calculate points before I buy something.

Here hoping for a better weigh-in on Saturday!

New Tax Forms

Thought for the day:

As income tax time approaches, did you ever notice:
When you put the two words "The" and "IRS" together...

it spells "THEIRS"?

Park City, Utah - Part 2

The boys made it home safe and sound from the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday. This is them - they took a break from networking to have a day of snowboarding. Now I can relax for a while before any of them go on another trip. I'm always nervous when someone in the family flies. I know it is irrational, since flying here in the US is safer than driving. But, I can't help it. I always monitor the flights the days they are flying. My son told his friends that I was checking their flights while they were in the air, and they wondered why. They will understand when they are parents. At their age, they are invincible.

Here is my favorite picture from their trip, below. They met Rex Lee, who plays Lloyd in Entourage (HBO). He is apparently funny as hell, the boys said, and graciously agreed to pose with them while wearing one of their Ventilation X t-shirts. Number One Son is on the far left. That would have been the highlight of the trip for me, since we really like the show.


A good time was had by all, and no one had to be bailed out of jail (that I am aware of).

This Week's Weigh-In

Sorry I'm a day late, I took my mother out of town Friday and didn't get back until yesterday and was too busy to blog.

This week's weight is 200.0, up half a pound. The fact that I went up instead of down just gives me increased motivation for this week. I already got on the treadmill this morning.

I'm going to try a new tactic as far as exercise goes this week to see if it improves my efforts. I usually try to get a full workout on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes at a time, but am having a hard time fitting that much time in, at one time. So I have not been doing it often enough.

So this week, I am going to start doing 20 minutes in the morning when I get up, and then do 20 more minutes right around dinner time. I should be able to keep Little Grim occupied for 20 minutes with a movie or something so I can fit it in. It's a lot harder to keep her occupied for 45 minutes.

I should be able to get two miles a day in that way. So that's my plan for this week, and going forward. I also started a Food and Exercise Log spreadsheet, where I am tracking everything I eat and my activity. That will visually tell me how I am doing.

Good luck this week, everyone!

I've Become my Mother

Once again, I find myself saying the exact things that my parents used to say to us kids, at which I rolled my eyes and swore I wouldn't say to my own. Here is a list of those things, that I either have said or do say to my kids:

Close the door, I'm not heating the whole neighborhood.
Eat your dinner, there are kids starving in China. (Popular answer "Why don't we send them this, then?")
Money doesn't grow on trees, you know.
Don't make me pull over!
Do you want a spanking?
Who left the light on?
Go put on a sweater.
Who left the door unlocked?
If you don't pay the bill, don't touch the thermostat.
Clean your room.
Be careful crossing the street.
Don't pick your nose.
What is in that cup in your room? (The answer is usually something like "it was iced tea three weeks ago")
Get those dishes out of your room.
Did you do your homework? (The most popular answer to this one is always "I did it during study period")
Don't you need a coat (or gloves, or hat, etc)?
Wear your seatbelt!
You'd better behave.
The crusts are good for you.
You want to grow up to be big and strong, don't you?

And here is one that I use, that my parents never had to:

Pull up your pants, I can see your underwear (said to both genders).

Park City, Utah

It's that time of year again, friends - time for the second annual trek to the Sundance Film Festival by my Number One Son. He and his friends are into film- making and music production. They made a film about extreme sports that they submitted to the film festival this year. It was not accepted for showing, due to a glut of submissions in their category. But they go anyway to network and rub shoulders with folks in the industry.

Last year they went for 4 days, this year they are staying for a full week. Number One Son and three friends, away from home for a full week with little adult supervision? We cringe. As always, I reminded him he was a minor and that if he got arrested we would have to fly to Utah to bail him out of jail. He doesn't want that.

He just called to say they landed safely and had picked up their rental car and were on their way to the condo. Now I can relax for a few hours until I start thinking about what they will do once they get settled and head into town for God knows what. It will be a long week!

Weekly Weigh-In

Down to 199.5 this week. I weighed twice to double check the number.