Happy Happy Joy Joy

Good news folks if you have checked out "The Final Countdown" gadget on the right hand side column you are noticing the trend of the pounds is down down down! Yesssssss! Sweet success, sweet victory! I stepped up the pushing back from the table, taking smaller portions and voila success! Even though my back and my schedule has kept me out of the gym I am still losing weight! Thank the dear Lord! It is so exciting to see a different (and not higher) number on the scale pop up.
I am hoping that today I will be able to make it to the gym, I have already had a gzzzrrrrt (see previous post) today while picking up orange juice container off the counter. Freakin' orange juice people! I had to shout "Get behind me devil! I will not let you stop me!" I swear good ol' pointy head is trying his level best to get me to retire to bed and wallow in self pity. I will not go quietly into the night, I will continue to fight the good fight here folks!
I am still reeling from realizing that I am down 58 freakin' pounds! It is just blowing my mind. This on the heels of a fantabulous SuperPucky announcement.
I......


am...


going....


back....


to...


DISNEY!
:::doin' the SuperPucky Shuffle!:::::
Yes, yes ladies and germs I am going back during the holidays too! I will get to see Disney World in all it's Christmas finery! I am sooo super excited. While I will miss the SuperWeezie it will be very Romanticle to be just the SuperFuzband and I! One of the other cool things is that Space Mountain will be reopening shortly before we go! Each time I have gone to Disney it has been closed or I didn't get to go on it for one reason or another, this time I am sooo on it doggone it!
The Hall of Presidents has been revamped and will be open too which will be tres cool! I have to admit it is one of my favorite exhibits, it makes you proud to be an American.
I got a "bounce back" deal which is a super spectacular offer for folks who have recently gone. I am going for five days four nights to a "value" resort (a lower priced Disney resort which is still nicer than the flea bag express). The package included four nights at a Disney Resort, five days of park tickets, and FREE FOOD! They are running a special right now for certain times of the year you get the disney dining plan FOR FREE! What was the cost of all this spectacular fun you ask? How bout right around 850.00. The only thing I have to come up with is gas money and souveniers. We have food, lodging, and fun already covered in the one price. When they quoted the amount over the phone I almost fell over.
Oh I am so excited that I will be going back at the very least 15 to 20 pounds lighter, and if I have anything to do with it that number will be even higher. I have to step up my treadmill action so I can handle hours on end of walking. That reminds me, I need a new pedometer, my other one took a dip in the ocean. (yes I am looking at you SuperFuzband) I got to get up over 10,000 steps a day again because we averaged around 12,000 to 13,000, 15,000 being our highest.
Ah, I can almost hear "Wishes" now.

Hooty Hoo Hooty Hoo!

It is 1:11 AM on a Friday night/Saturday morning, am I at a night club, am I at a movie, am I sleeping, am I snuggly with the fuzband.....nooooooo! I am sitting here at my laptop while he is sitting next to me at his laptop. While he is working...bleh! He is on call for a company on the West Coast and as we reside here in the south we are three hours behind them. Sooo while they think it is only a little after ten we are yawning our behinds off.
I am happy to report that this morning I am 298. Yes ladies and germs we are now 52 pounds down! I now only have forty eight more until my OB is happy and I am happier!
Today I decided to make my own personal sabbath and become one with my couch as I turned into the Ipod DJ from Hades. I have been pushing myself non stop for the past two and a half weeks and decided I too needed a day of rest. Now I am regretting it because I am all achey and I have a little pent up energy.
I can tell that I am going to need to find some extra curricular activities sans house this weekend due to the fact it is now my husbands second worksite. I don't like to disturb him while he is making the free world turn via computer.
Since I am done with the marathon weight lifting championship of Elgin, SC aka moving my sister in I think I need to return to exercising normally. I need to check the weather and see if it will permit me to visit a park for a nice walk or something.

Since this post is somewhat boring..... I will present to you Doggy Pictures:

This is Flap Jack aka Flapper, Flap-a-roni- enjoying his first snow back in February.

He will be 1 (in human years) in July.

This is Mack aka Mack-a-roni, Mack-a-roni and cheese, shnoo shnoo, Flapamackaroni (when I am confused and tired) and what was one of his favorite toys.

It now has no head one leg, one arm, no tail and is no where near as clean (thanks to Flap)

Mack is a dashing four or five years old, I am not sure as he was adopted from Pets Inc.

This is Rusty who was my dog and I gave him to my Dad so I can have visits with him when ever I want and even a sleepover!

Rusty is about four or five years old, he was given to me by a dog groomer.

She had rescued him after his owners gave him up because he had mange.

I cannot imagine why he is the sweetest little roll of baloney on four legs!

My lil' NooNoo (don't ask, yes I need to hurry up and have a baby)

So until next time, keep your feet on the ground and your head out of the fridge.

SuperPuck.....out!

Good Morning?

The following occurred between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM (best Keifer Sutherland impression).
6:14 Snuffling wiener dog wake up call
6:15 AM let both dogs out.
6:16 AM return to bed and pass out.
6:16 AM to 8:59 AM ZZZZzzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZZ
9:00 AM rolling thunder
9:00 and 1/2 minute later AM realize dogs still outside
9:01 AM ask fuzband to get dogs
9:01 AM hear fuzband cuss from back door
9:02 AM begin futilely calling dogs from front and back door
9:03 AM get dachshund back in house and give cookie for coming when called
9:04 AM hear fuzband continue to curse and mumble about idiot dogs asking why dachshund gets cookie, explained he showed up when called
9:05 AM call stupid Jack Russell who dug hole in fence he returns to wrong side of fence (no hole) and looks at me with question mark ears and stupid guilty expression
9:05 and a half AM go to front door and get previously mentioned idiot Jack Russell in home
9:06 AM lightning strikes, bad storm surrounding house
9:08 AM weigh self, 305lbs Woo hoo
9:09 AM tell fuzzband about weight loss victory, his reply, "cool"
9:09 AM and 1/2 minute later fuzband begins complaining about dogs, work and life in general
9:10 AM Amanda looks at frying pan and back of fuzzband's head :P
9:15 AM Amanda looks at frying pan shrugs and goes back for frosted mini wheat induced coma
9:20 AM Amanda convinces fuzband that showering during lightning storm not a good idea as evidenced in previously viewed mythbuster episode where confirmation of getting zapped in shower was confirmed
9:30 AM check weather.com storm is passing
9:31 AM realize Fuzzband is already in the shower
9:42 AM begin checking blogger.com and post

Slacker Girl strikes again

Sorry for the intermission all five million readers out there.

Heh.

I have great news to share, I am now down a few more pounds to 311! Thirty nine pounds lost since October 2008. I am also a total of three dress sizes down.

Exercising and moving more everyday has been helping with strength, stamina and mobility. I have noticed very small changes that make me feel great. I can squat and bend better. I am more comfortable riding in a car. Booths at restaurants are not a source of anxiety anymore. (Those of you with big tummies and abdomens know exactly what I mean)

I have had sort of a revelation when it comes to food. I always thought you under eat then over exercise and boom you lose weight. Nope. Not so simple. I found that the days I ate the least the scale did not move. The scale would not move for days on end. Then I threw my hands up and said I have to do something. I started looking into eating more nutritious food not just less of it. I found a great website nutritiondata.com. My diet was not very well balanced. My daily requirements of nutrition were not being met. When I am eating a good balance of carbs, fruits, veggies, protein, fats (the good kind), I lose weight. I was hitting plateaus be cause I was either lacking a food group or some sort of nutrition OR I was not eating enough to sustain me.

Your body actually needs a certain amount of calories just to survive. The trick is to eat that amount of calories you need to survive. Then you burn off enough to trick your body into using it's fat cells. The side effects of not eating enough were irritability, feeling queasy, dizzy and faint.


During my plateau surfing I noticed something disturbing, (WARNING possible T.M.I .alert here) I became very irregular. From 1x a day to once every 2 days, to once every three days, then every four days. This worried me. I contacted my pharmacist and the Phentermine I am on can mess with my digestive function. She suggested milk of magnesia, bad bad idea. I have had issues with gastric reflux disease and occasionally have flare ups. Apparently milk of magnesia plus phentermine plus gastric reflux=human water wiggle. For 24 hours I became way too intimate with my bathroom decor. I saw my Dr. a few days later I saw my Dr. and I he suggested adding a fiber supplement and gave me a Rx in case that didn't work. All I can say is thank God for Benefiber. It doesn't taste or smell or turn me into a human whoopee cushion that has to stay at least 10 feet within a bathroom at all times.

So since the nutrition revelation and the correction of "movement" problems I have gone down a few more pounds. Hooray for success!

Shopping in my closet and our "friend".

Yesterday I was putting away laundry and got tired of having to sift through all the clothes I haven't worn since God knows when. You know that favorite shirt from two summers ago that was on sale and looked so cute? Now when you put it on you feel like a pillow with rubber bands wrapped around it. I have quite a few of those shirts. They chronicle my ups and downs with weight loss (primarily the ups).


I took a deep breath and went through and tried everything on. Yes, everything. That should be considered cardio work out. I was busting a sweat, breathing heavy and exhausted by the time I was done. The cool part about it is I have three grocery bags full of shirts that will fit after I drop some weight. I get to go shopping in my own closet soon! This is incentive not to take that second helping.


I also did some thing that has never happened before, I pulled out clothes that were too big! Clothes that were too big and made me look crappy were sentenced to the the flea market pile. It felt great to have clothes I couldn't wear anymore because they were too big vs. too little.
I don't think I have ever had that happen to me. I have always given away my skinny clothes sadly. Giving them away made me feel as if I had given up any hope of ever wearing that size again. Now I have bags of shirts waiting in the wings that seem to say "See you soon!"


I felt so motivated I went on to my dresser pulling out the clothes that were classified as bumming around the house. They had gotten so bad that I would be ashamed to be seen in them. I even organized the underwear drawer. Now that is dedication!


Scales say I am up two pounds, I know where that is coming from. You know that lovely gift Mother Nature has bestowed upon us women. UGH. This is especially fun for us dieters that are living and dying by the numbers on the scale.


Since I found this cool little website http://www.ladytimer.com/. I get emails warning me of the impending urge to watch lifetime with a box of Kleenex and a bag of chocolate covered potato chips.


I have never been good at keeping track of our "friend" (should be fiend). She always snuck up on me and made me wonder why I was acting so bitchy. Wondering why that stupid Hallmark commercial made me burst into tears. She also sabotaged my weight loss efforts by making me think I had gained anywhere from 3-6 pounds in a few days. Until I started keeping track of her and my weight on a regular basis I had no clue how much this affected me. Looking back I think this could have been the reason for the failure of so many weight loss efforts prior to this one.



I have to say thank God for ladytimer because she has helped me realize that I am still on track and doing well.

It's Monday, where did that motivation get to?

Mondays, the beginning of the week, the beginning of the diet. The beginning of many resolutions. Stop smoking, start recycling, start walking dogs more often, start diet, stop whining, stop cursing, start getting up on time...and on and on and on.

Why is it when Mondays get here the motivation is sometimes there with a vengeance or all the air is out of your balloon?

As I look around at the laundry list of things I need to do (which includes laundry), vacuum, dust, clean up, etc. and I just feel tired.

I know I am not alone on this one. There wouldn't be so many self help books or diet info-mercials if I weren't. When it comes right down to it you don't need any of that crap. It is just you and the power of inertia.

What is it that gets some people up and off the couch? Perhaps it is God, a pushy sibling, a prayer, a mantra, or looking at the grandma arms you have? Maybe it is love, the love you have for yourself, your family, your friends, who all want to see you succeed.

Sometimes I feel as if I have the little devil and the little angel on my shoulder's just like on the cartoons.

Devil-"Hey make some nachos and watch Hulu on line. You can clean and exercise later. Besides you had a rough weekend you deserve it right?"

Angel- "If you start now you can have all the laundry put away, the clutter picked up, and fit in a work out before dinner. Perhaps later you can take the dogs for a walk. Won't you feel so good, won't you have a sense of accomplishment?"

Devil- "You could twist your ankle, pull a muscle in your back and then you would be out for a week or two! Sit back relax, make a glass of tea you have lost a bunch of weight. Today doesn't matter. Besides you slept in so you wasted most of the day anyways."

I think I just had one of those moments on sit-coms where the screen goes all wavy. Where the character has this fantasy for five minutes and then pops right back into the script as if nothing has happened.

I do believe that my obsession with overeating and bad habits is a bit of a demon, sort of like addiction or alcoholism. Addiction will tell you anything and everything to keep you depending on it and to stay in charge.

The overeating and laziness are like one of those old couches that once you settle into it you practically need a forklift to get up. You feel like a bug on its back with all four appendages flailing helplessly.

I am thankful for this blog because it does help bring into focus the problems I have. This addiction of sorts and how warped it can cause my thinking to be.

I think I just have to yell louder than my devil and drop kick her fat ass off my shoulder.

I am going to run now, I have dogs to walk and laundry to fold.

New Day New Numbers!

Nothing like your snuffling wiener dog to make you rise and shine at 6:00 AM on a Sunday. Of course after he is done with his business he isn't ready to go back to sleep. Oh no, time to play, to sniff things never sniffed before. Time to lick you on your face until you get your butt out of bed and play! Ah the joys of raising my four legged 8 month old baby with a tail.

Of course the husband doesn't get woke up. He is happily imitating a bag pipe being run over by a steam roller. Or perhaps a duck being squeezed to death?

So I think to my self.."Self," (this is self talk if you haven't guessed yet) "new week, need to weigh in." I get on the scale and it says 314, I think "Yeah right, you have betrayed me before.". I get on the scale again, 314.1, and again 314.0. Three times a charm baby we have negative numbers! Woo hoo!

Now wait a darn minute! Don't I recall a sinus headache, laying in bed, doing nothing, pity pizza party, and a day of becoming one with my couch? How can it be that I can count every blessed fat gram, every calorie, every carb, every ounce of dietary fiber, run in place, hop up and down every day for a week and gain? Then a couple days off track and I am down four pounds?

Ahh who knows. The numbers are down, the news is good so let's just roll with it shall we?! I have an appointment with my Dr. to keep track of my progress on the 30th thank God I will have something good to say. Sixteen pounds lost since the last time I saw him on January 30th.

With such a long goal ahead of me sometimes it is easy to lose sight of how much weight I have actually lost. I mean if you think about it the average size of a large dog food bag is around 15 pounds. I have lost a bag of dog food. (Picturing myself with a giant orange bag of Iams strapped to ass)
If you had to run around Wal Mart carrying a bag of dog food for about a half hour you would really be ready to put it down. I put down a bag of Iams in two months! Holy cow! Since October I have lost two Iams bags and a 5lb bag of potatoes. No wonder my dogs follow me everywhere.

I think it is important that I celebrate these little victories myself. After all I am the one that has to keep going. I don't have some great life coach following me around screaming "You can do it!". I think I would probably either hit them at some point or fire them repeatedly.

Well this is definitely a good way to start the day and start the week.

Things that Suck and Things that Don't

Ahhh nothing like the feel of a sinus/migraine headache to welcome in the first day of spring!
Yes today has been a fun filled festival of tissue, pills, cold fans and a dark room. Those fellow sinus and migraine sufferers know exactly what I am screaming....er.....whispering right now.

The dueling scales are still out of sync...what EVER at this point. I will be the eternal optimistic-pessimist and go with the higher numbers (they are probably right). My higher scale is giving me 318, 318, and 318 consistently. Even after the pity-pizza party I had last night (oops probably shouldn't have told you that) I lost instead of gained-I think, damn scales.

On to good news, I got my eagerly awaited package from Catherines via UPS. I was brave enough to get out the measuring tape and measure my awesome boobage. According to the the tape I am smaller-hooray yahoo yippee woo hoo! To explain my exuberance at the smaller size my bra size has done nothing but escalate since 1999 to actually see smaller digits is a thing of wonder. I have gone from 50 poke your eye out DDD to 48 DDD. Yes this is a small victory but damn it, I am going to prance like a pony for my small victory. After discovering my newly smaller boobage this called for a celebration of sorts, ordering new bras, primarily because they were buy one get one half price.

I have to say the Playtex 18 Hour Bra with the Comfort Fit strap is the best for over those of us who are extra blessed upon our chestses. They actually put your breasts in the proper position. Which by the way is not looking at your shoes. The straps have this gel in them that keep them from digging into your shoulders. If you measure properly you can breath in them and they don't bind and leave your back itching. If you are wondering where to get it www.catherines.com or www.playtexfits.com. I prefer Catherines because they are always running great sales.

The next happy hooray announcement is that I ordered a camisole for my anniversary. When I got married two years ago I bought a 30/32 camisole and it fit and it was pretty and all. This year I have ordered a 26/28. It is pretty it looks good I don't resemble a blue sausage with rubber bands wrapped around it. I also ordered a T-shirt in a similar style I had previously ordered in 5x in a 3x. This is huge the 3x is a 24/26, guess what, IT FIT!

I need to give a little history on why I am so elated at the slightly smaller sizes. Most of my adult life I have done nothing but get bigger and bigger and bigger. Back in 1997 I actually went down about three sizes and that was the biggest accomplishment I had. Since then I have gone from a misses size 14 to a super sized-plus size 32 and I was pushing that 32 to it's limit last October. I dare say I might have crept in to a 34 just didn't purchase any. It has been has been a tough struggle to get from 32 to 24/26/28 (depending at what store you are at).
For anyone else who is struggling and has fallen down only to trip and fall again, just keep going. It is worth it. Perhaps I need to tattoo that backward onto my own forehead so I don't forget it.

How much do I weigh?

This morning I get up and changed the batteries in my scale. It had been pitifully giving me the Lo Bat warning for far too long. I stepped on and assumed the position of prayer to God that the numbers would be lower.
They weren't. 318.9
I said some ugly words and stepped on again, 319.00, again 320.00.Uhhh was I gaining weight at the speed of smell!? What the hell was going on here? I look over at the other older scale and raise my eyebrow. Let me back up a bit here. Since I started my weight loss back in October of 2008 I was 350 pounds it would not weigh me because it's cap out was 330.Now that I am happily below 330 I thought to myself, let's give the old one a go and see what it has to contribute.
309 says old scale. I think it was trying to get back in my good graces.I weigh one, two, three more times on old scale 309 each time. I like the old scale, but I know he is lying to me...I think.

Now that I am completely perplexed I get back on the other scale and it says 318.So who or what do I believe? How do I know how much I weigh?I have been on a plateau for two weeks and now I have dueling scales...ugh.
I trudge on forward through my weight loss battle clueless as to my true weight. I suppose the only thing that matters is that my clothes are getting looser and I feel much better. I will weigh again tomorrow and see how much each one thinks I weigh.