Positive thoughts yield positive results. Happy Tuesday everyone!

At first, I thought, “this isn’t so hard. It’s nice and cool out here, the sun’s not beating down and pushing this mower is easy.” Yeah. I actually said that out loud. I finished the first side of the yard and was struggling to get it up and down the hills we have. (Our yard sucks for mowing with a push mower.) I felt so out of shape…so out of breath and my shoulders were KILLING me. I decided though, I couldn’t do it half assed, I’d challenged myself to finish the front part and dammit, I was going to do it.

Ya’ll…I mowed the entire front yard, sides, and a small part of the back. I’m exhausted, my back and shoulders kill, but I feel SO good about accomplishing that.  The yard looks REALLY good and that’s because Steve and I worked as a team to make it happen. I’m sure Steve wasn’t happy about working out there today, but he’s such a trooper that he hung in there and didn’t complain one bit. (except for when I ran over the hose and jacked it up.)  Today is also my weigh in day and officially for the first week, I am down 3.2 lbs. I even weighed myself with clothes on and after I ate a small breakfast. Wahoo!

I’m off to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Hope ya’ll have a great one!

The yo-yoing continues and up until this week I was pressing through life, eating what I wanted and I’d stopped working out almost entirely. Was it sheer laziness or lack of willpower? Well, to be honest, I started a new role at work and it demands a lot of my time.  So again, doing great, going to meetings early and..annnnd FAIL.

This week I came to the startling revelation that I am on my way up. Not be among the stars, kids, but to that point where your thighs rub together, you have pains you never had before, and your clothes PHYSICALLY start to hurt you. I also got a really nasty wake up call in the form of my husband going to the E.R. because of chest pains. Nothing like seeing your husband hooked up to an EKG machine to make you realize that it’s time to stop fucking around and get your shit straight. He’s fine, thank goodness, the diagnosis from the E.R. doc was that he may have an ulcer and while ulcers suck the big one, it’s not a heart attack. While we were in the hospital I started thinking about what I needed to do to improve and really look deep down to find out what sort of motivation I need.

I don’t know what that answer is…I’ve been successful on Weight Watchers…love my leader, Jacynta, but WHY don’t I keep going back? I did it for almost a month and dropped 10lbs and was feeling great. It always seems like something gets in the way and it hasn’t “clicked” for me like it did in the beginning. At least, not fully. This week I have committed to one goal…tracking every single thing I eat and trying to maintain my Points daily. So far, so good.

While I’m up from weight wise from where I was before, I’ve already had success this week with losing a couple of pounds and want to continue the momentum. So’ll throw it out there; if you did Weight Watchers before and tried to come back unsuccessfully, how did you motivate? I’m asking for help here because I’m in a rut and need a swift kick in the ass.

Happy Friday, ya’ll!

Then we thought, “Weight Watchers? HA! Who needs Weight Watchers when we have the tools and the know how to get this done ourselves?!?!”

If you thought that plan would fail in the most epic way possible, you are correct. Weight Watchers works..it’s a fantastic plan, but you have to commit to fully changing and not doing it half assed. If you do, you’ll find yourself where I am now…with the scale creeping back and a deep sense of panic that I will go back to where I was.  I cancelled my membership and have not followed the plan the way it was intended. I still work out three to four times a week which is a lot better than what I used to do and I try and make better choices about food, but when faced with the decision of veggies versus fries, french fries will win EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

This blog kept me honest. It made me accountable as did going to the meetings. For now, I’m going to start with the blog and try desperately to win back the love of me again. Remember the rap on how my self esteem hurt me? Yeah well it’s time to let that shit go and get to work. I have way too many skinny clothes that are super cute for the spring and my brother is getting married which means…bridesmaid dress. Possibly strapless. With cameras aimed at me in every angle imaginable. I don’t want to look on those photos and think, “why didn’t I do better?” I know I can..I have before and I will do this again. I just need a little push. Some words of encouragement and some motivation. So I’m setting a goal…..a goal of forty pounds by May. I can do this. I will do this.

There’s too much at stake and there are too many people counting on me. Tomorrow will be a true testament to my commitment. It’s the annual cookie extravaganza at work. And oh my Lord and Taylor do I love the snickerdoodles that are made. All great rewards include making a sacrifice…so in order to reduce the size of my ass, I’m going to avoid the cookies.

Here’s to success.

I updated my FB status with the pounds lost the first week and I’m happy to report that I was down 2.2lbs! Not too shabby for the first week back on. I did Zumba and ate really well so that was all good. Then….came this week. I started out really strong and then for lunch on Tuesday, a friend of mine and I hit up Stevie B’s pizza. Now, ya’ll know…Julia + pizza buffet= potential disaster. It wasn’t the prettiest sight, but I did manage to eat a huge salad that wasn’t covered in dressing. Here’s where the week went horribly awry, though.

When we were going to Stevie B’s, we saw a place across the street called Cheeseburger Bobby’s. They boast having the “Best Cheeseburger.” I’m a bit of a cheeseburger snob, so when anyone makes that claim I feel like I have to give it a shot. What if it really IS the best cheeseburger and I miss out?!!? So, we decided to go the next day at lunch. 

Ya’ll……..

It WAS one of the best cheeseburgers ever. I should’ve made myself a salad from their toppings bar, but I figured if I’m here I may as well sample the french fries. (Remember, fries and cake? Are my crack) So, we ate lunch and then I told Steve about this joint and jokingly (only not really) suggested we go back for dinner. I got coupons! The food was good! How could we resist?

So we went back for dinner.

And again, I ate the SAME DAMN MEAL. (when will I ever learn?) 

So this foolishness continued on for another day because again, coupons, good food, etc. Only the third time, I ate a chicken sandwich that was grilled. It’s a great place and I recommend it highly, but please learn from me and pace yourselves accordingly.

Needless to say, I was a bit worried about my weigh in since my friend Sheila is off living the good life in Hilton Head so I only did one night of Zumba this week and probably consumed 20,000 Cheeseburger Bobby’s calories. 

I thought about skipping my weigh in this week, but my commitment to this journey won out in the end and I went.

I (shockingly) lost .6 lbs this week. I attribute that to acting a fool for lunch, but  doing better the rest of the time. 

So yay me. On to another week. Pray for my willpower so that I may stay away from Cheeseburger Bobby’s this week. Seriously. Pray hard.

Have a good week!

Something must be screwy with my scale, though. Yesterday, I weighed myself before going to WW and came up with a number that was one pound heavier at the WW center. Keep in mind that this was before eating or drinking anything and I had an empty bladder. Today, I did the same thing and came up three pounds lighter. I know weights fluctuate throughout the day, but how does it happen first thing when you haven’t eaten a thing?

Whatever, it lifted me up and made me feel good about the choices I made yesterday. We were supposed to drive down to Florida today to take the kiddos to my mom, but my grandma is very sick and we decided it was best to keep them here. I don’t know if I’ll do Zumba this afternoon since NASCAR is racing at the Brickyard and I want to watch it live, but I am going tomorrow night. I have plenty of housework to keep me busy here and earn activity points.

I’m trying to plan a WW menu for the week so I can stay on plan. Any suggestions on your favorite dishes? Give me a shout!

Today is a new day, though and I’ve decided to take Weight Watchers back on after a two month vacation. I was nervous about my weigh in, but did okay considering I have NOT tracked POINTS and have basically eaten what I want. (Ok, so 7lbs was a little shocking and disappointing, but it’s just a number and I promised I wouldn’t be upset if it was less than ten pounds)

I discovered that to be successful on Weight Watchers I HAVE to do the meetings. Those meetings really help boost my motivation and they keep me honest. I’m excited to be excited about WW again. I haven’t felt the love for a few months, but am determined to get back on track and reach my weight loss goal. (As LL Cool J would say, “don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years!”)

Look for more regular updates on the plan, on life, and some helpful tips. If anyone is still reading this, I welcome the feedback and enjoy reading comments. 

Have a great Saturday! I’m off to do some housework, then hit Zumba for some exercise.

I wasn’t too worried about what I would come in at..I’d been really good with my POINTS all week and exercised like a nut most of the week. (Not to mention a trip to the urgent care for non stop puking) 

So I went, listened to the meeting and was not terribly impressed with the leader who has taken over for our beloved Jacynta who (hopefully) has welcomed a beautiful baby girl. I’m still not totally understanding the new momentum plan, but I guess I’ll try another leader this week and see if I like them better.

And um..just to let you know? I lost an astonishing 4.2 lbs this week. I credit that to not eating jack yesterday and barfing up the oxygen I was breathing. How’s THAT for a lifestyle change? Ha!

Tonight was the last night of my free seven day trial at the YMCA. so I decided to take full advantage and do one more Zumba class. I walked in and saw the instructor; She was an  older lady, spunky haircut, cute as a button, and very loud. I snorted internally and thought, “this is gonna be easyyy peasy, Julia!” I ASSumed I would dance….have a good time and end Zumba on a high note.

Child, please. That woman just about killed me. 

When 6:30 hit, it was like someone lit a firecracker up her ass cause suddenly, she didn’t look THAT much older. She was shaking her hips and her boobies like she was Shakira. We normally do a warm up and a few songs after that are the “workout” then we cool down.

She had us do like five freaking songs and three of them included doing some hardcore squats. She didn’t just instruct from the front, either. Oh no!! She walked around, touching booties and tummies and saying “tighten it up, girls!!” making sure that everyone tried their best to do these exercises the right way. I got a small burst of energy when we did Mary J. Blige’s “Just Fine” song. (As an aside, that really is a great song to work  out to. It makes me feel happy and sassy”)

So..that’s it. I hope we decide to go with the YMCA (even though it’s wicked expensive and they make you sign up for the year) because so far I’ve found TWO amazing Zumba instructors that make working out fun. 

I’m off to take some Tylenol and soak my weary bones before bed. 

Ow.

Today is my birthday and usually I go all out and celebrate in a big way with food (last year my husband threw me a wonderful party at Maggiano’s) but this year moderation will be the key word. 

Hope everyone is doing well!!