Cara's Weightloss Journal

Today was a little busier at work. Tomorrow is proof day for the magazine and so I had a ton of pages to finalize so the editors can proof them tomorrow. Of course, everything comes in last minute so I feel like I’m way behind. Will have to go in early tomorrow to get a jump on things to make sure everything stays on schedule.

‘Nuff about work… I’m still up a few pounds from last Sat’s WI. Not exactly sure why, I’m just going with the punches right now. Last Sat I was up 8/10 of a pound from the previous Sat. Now, I’m up about 4 more pounds. And it doesn’t seem to be dropping off like it does sometimes during the week.

Deep breath… These things happen… All is not lost… (she says calmly while biting her fingernails to the nubs)

I didn’t get to walk with the girls this morning. Last night, late, my daughter tells me that she has to drive downtown to traffic court (long story, short… to get some points taken off her license). Of course, I’m not letting her drive all the way down there by herself. It’s a half hour away and she’s only been driving solo for about 3 months. So I find out that they open at 7:30 so we decide to go down there when they open, hoping that by some miracle from heaven, I’ll be able to make it to work on time (at 8:30). Well, that didn’t happen. Apparently, the court house must of taken a few lessons from the airports and they screen everyone before you can enter the building. We walk through the massive stone and iron front doors only to fine like 100 people standing in a turn-style, rope-lined, assembly line waiting to be scanned and pillaged by the security team. What an ordeal!

It ends up I was only a half hour late to work today. Not bad, actually. I thought I’d be hours late.

Glad that’s over with. Now, instead of my auto insurance quadrupling, it’ll only triple come renewal time. Ugh!

Oh, and the orange pineapple pie I made was AWESOME! Man, it might be even better than the strawberry pie (if that’s even possible).

I have a question for you guys… how do you like your hot dogs? My mother and I were discussing how we like our hot dogs and it occurred to me that there are probably a million different ways to have them topped and most of the different ways are regional. How do you like your hot dog?

Quite a boring day today at work. I didn’t exercise this morning. I took the day off from exercising. I really wanted to jog some more, but I don’t want to push it. I’m only supposed to do it 3 times a week anyway. I’ve stayed on points, so far, today. I’m getting in plenty of fiber, protein and dairy.

I had Flax Flakes with ff milk for breakfast with a yummy 6 Weeks Muffin with a little Land O Lakes light butter. Plenty of fiber and dairy there. For lunch I had a chicken breast with broccoli and a salad with oil & vinegar dressing. And for dinner was a WW frozen dinner (Orange Sesame Chicken with rice) and some sweet corn. For dessert, I’m having a yummy Orange Pineapple pie I made last night. I used the same Strawberry Pie recipe I got from my mom but used fresh pineapple and orange Jello instead of strawberry. Can’t wait to try it!

I ran into an old WW buddy today at lunch. She was such an inspiration for me when I first started. She hasn’t been to a meeting in almost 6 months, now. She’s gained a little back, but I didn’t want to be rude and ask her how much. She kept saying how great I looked. The last time she was at a meeting, I was 50 lbs heavier. It was sad, though, because I don’t know if she knew how much she really helped motivate me in the beginning. I tried to tell her but I think she was so down on herself for falling away that she didn’t want to hear it. She would lose anywhere from 3-7 or 8 pounds a week when she was on-plan. Which was WAY too much! But our leader kept telling her she was doing okay (ugh!). I really don’t think she was doing okay. Every once in a while it’s okay to kick it in the pants and lose an extra 4 or 5 pounds in a week. But not on a regular basis. It’s no wonder she fell away. She was probably burnt out on it all from the extreme dieting she was obviously doing. But all that aside, she was still an inspiration to me.

It’s funny how you can be an inspiration for somebody and never know it. Once you find out about it (if you do) you feel flattered and get the warm-fuzzy feeling inside like your life is actually for a reason on this planet, you know? Has that ever happened to you?

I’m walking with the girls in the morning. The four of us haven’t been 4-strong in over two weeks. One of us will keep pooping out for one reason or another at different times. Most times it’ll end up being just 2 of us or maybe 3. And one of us is sick right now so we’ll only be 3-strong in the morning. I know, sick, you can’t help. They help keep me motivated, though. I wouldn’t be exercising at all if it weren’t for being accountable to them two days a week. Sort of inspired me to do more exercise on the off-walk days.

I did it!

I did all 8 sets of my first week of interval training on the c25k regiment.

I’m so excited. I can actually jog now. I was so afraid of it. Afraid I was going to die if I jogged. I would have a panic attack as soon as I’d start running.

Not anymore. I have overcome yet another fear in this weight loss battle.

I feel great, too! I jogged for 60 seconds then walked for 90 seconds and did that 8 times in a row. I feel like I could conquer the world right now!

(Now, if I can just keep my eating in check!)

Has anyone else ever done this c25k thing?

Hey, Donna, how’s the c25k thing going for you?

Okay, so we got back from our weekend today and I totally made a pig out of myself. I did relatively good while we were away. Maybe that’s why I went overboard today. I had real scrambled eggs (no egg beaters) with real cheese and hash browns with real cheese and a bagel with real cream cheese (is anyone catching the fact that I miss real cheese?). And as if that weren’t bad enough, tonight I had a double cheese burger and fries from Steak N Shake.

Well, I think I’ve gotten it out of my system, though. All I want to do now is go for a run. Get it out of my system. It’s too late tonight, but I’ve definitely going tomorrow morning. Can’t wait!

I don’t even want to attempt at tracking the points I ate today. And I was so good this weekend, too.

We had so much fun, hubby and me. We went to a remote control airplane show a couple of hours away. It was an international competition. People came from UK, Australia and even one guy from Taiwan. Their planes are just awesome. They’re usually 1/5, 1/4 and 1/3 scale planes. They have certain maneuvers they have to accomplish and they’re graded on them by the judges. And at the end, they give awards and trophies. It’s pretty serious stuff.

The “half time” shows (during lunch break) were the best. There were stunt plans doing all kinds of acrobatics and just some really cool looking planes.

Was way too hot, but we still had a blast.

The best part was just getting away with my hubby.

How was your weekend?

There’s a lady I work with who had knee surgery and as a result is going to be out of work for a while recuperating. She can’t put any pressure whatsoever on her knee for two weeks. Complete bed rest. So a bunch of us at work got together and decided to cook her meals for her for these two weeks. We each took two days and one person is taking the meals to her each afternoon.

So the story starts out pretty nice, right…

Well, so I decided to make her a casserole. Actually, it was an excuse to make one of my favorite foods on this planet… Connecticut Beef Supper, a yummy casserole from Betty Crocker in the early 70′s.

I haven’t been able to make it over the years because my family doesn’t like mushrooms. (Pic to right is from the recipe card.)

Tender beef stew meat with onions are on the bottom, on top of that are sliced potatoes, covering it all is a mixture of sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, and milk, so it drips down over the potatoes, beef and onions, and topped with shredded cheddar cheese. It’s the yummiest thing I could possibly think of.

Well, because she’s only one person, I made a half casserole for her. The problem with that statement is that I made a full casserole from the ingredients and put it into two half casserole dishes to bake separately. One for her and one for…

So I figured I’d have a small portion and throw the rest of it away. But I thought, what a waste of food. So I decided to give it to the only person I know of who’s not on a diet, my father-in-law. But I could never make it out to his house.

So last night I pulled it out to toss it because it’s almost a week old in the fridge. I open it up and smelled it and it still smells fresh. So what do I do? Yup, I fix myself a 2″ square portion. Tiny little thing. Tiny little piece of heaven!

Oh my gosh! It was better than I had remembered it! “Hello Old Friend!”

Now came the problem. How on God’s green Earth was I going to be able to toss it?? Not now,. Not after I’ve tasted it. If ever there was a “red light food”, this is it!!

I did the smart thing, well the only thing I could think of, and put it back in the fridge and ate something healthy to get that wonderful taste out of my mouth. It worked. I didn’t want any more of it.

Well… that night.

But it was still in my fridge.

What was I going to do??

How was I going to be able to throw it away??

So today at lunch time, I broke down and had another serving. This has got to be one of the all time lowest points in my life since I started WW a year ago. This serving was about twice (okay, a little more than twice) the size of the last one. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! I can’t believe I did that!!!

But here comes the redeeming part of this story. As soon as I was done eating it, I threw the rest of the casserole in the trash.

Yup! I have conquered Mount Connecticut-Beef-Supper! And now it’s gone! Leveled it flat. Blew it up like… well, you get the picture.

I will not be making Connecticut Beef Supper EVER again! I think it’s something like 15 points per serving. I’m sure I could make it with reduced fat and fat free stuff, but it would not taste the same and some things just shouldn’t be messed with. This is one of them.

I’m over it now, though. But I did sniff, sniff (tears) a little bit when I went to throw something away this evening and saw it sitting on the top of the trash.

Gone, behind me, though. Onward and upward!

P.S. I won’t be blogging this weekend. Not to fret, I’ll be back at it on Monday.