I know I said I was recommitting to my WeightWatchers plan after a bad week. Well, I have to confess that the week after I said that was no bueno too, and that’s not even counting my Droolworthy Weekend! There seems to have been an epidemic among folks (including my WW Buddy) who fell off the wagon HARD. When I finally weighed in last Friday, after skipping a week, it was the single biggest gain I’ve had and a significant percentage of the total weight I’ve lost on the program since January. Facing it was hard, and I warned the receptionist, “This is not going to be pretty.”

(On Twitter, someone reported that their receptionist blurted out, “Oh my God, how could you have put on so much weight overnight?” At least my gal didn’t say that!)

The thing that bothered me and my Buddy the most was that it wasn’t like we’d spent the weekend in Paris eating fantastic creamy cheese along the Champs-Élysées. We’d just been eating crap in our own houses for no compelling reason. We know we are smarter than that.

www.popcornindiana.com

Not crap. Totally delicious. Bought with a coupon for killer deal, but I ate the whole bag. Wanh wanh.

The other thing was that I knew this weight gain wasn’t totally real. Some of it was, and I needed to own that, but I knew about half of it would be gone as soon as I flushed out the salt, etc. (Let’s just call it “etc.”) I’m guessing that half of my gain is real and will set me back a few weeks. I can recover from that. It actually motivates me just a little bit more to work harder.

This is when I really rely on the amazing bloggers who inspire me every day. Here are some of my new-to-me favorites:

Loser for Life – Marisa has been doing great on WeightWatchers, and she posts terrific photos and recipes. I cannot wait to make her Breakfast Bakes!

Shannon’s Kitchen Creations – Shannon posts the Points on her recipes and reminds me that I have to give Zumba another try.

Gina’s Skinny Recipes – Otherwise known as SkinnyTaste, Gina posts gorgeous, easy recipes and includes the Points count on each. I made her Chicken Divan, a dish I would never have thought of in a million years, and it was awesome!

These lovely ladies make cooking on WeightWatchers a no-brainer. Which is great when we’ve been acting, er, not so smart.

Have you discovered a new site recently that’s put an extra spring in your step?

The Carbzillas spent Memorial Day weekend at our new love pad in Portland. The eats were epic, and I am now on a juice cleanse in hopes of recovering. The best part about our place there is we get lots of exercise (walk to breakfast, walk the neighborhood, bike around), but I’m still gonna have to watch it in the future.

I started out nice and healthy with a “Chopped” salad from McMenamin’s Barley Mill pub:It was pretty much the most unchopped “Chopped” salad I’d ever had, but the bigger pieces let me pick around what I did and didn’t feel like eating. I’m usually not a big fan of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing, but theirs is fantastic.

We walked our hood Saturday afternoon (a total of 40 blocks which is about 2 mile walk), rested a bit, and then met up with Lisa and her beau for drinks and dinner. After drinks at the Sapphire Hotel, where one Mojito pretty much put me on my keister (as my Grandpa would say), we sauntered over to Apizza Scholls for some of the best pizza I’ve ever had IN. MY. LIFE.First pie: 1/2 Sausage & Peppers, 1/2 Hot Capicollo & Niçoise Olives (my favorite).

Remnants of second pie after we’d fallen into a pizza pie coma and forgotten to take pictures:That’s the Pig & Pineapple half. The other half was Margherita.

We took four huge pieces home and ate them over the rest of the weekend. Good cold, but not *as* good.Super fun night out! We got a ride back, and then I pretty much crashed (after trying to convince Chris that we should walk over to the 10:40 showing of Hangover 2. Sometimes I get crazy ideas after a few drinks.)

The next morning, we met up with our real estate agents for a congratulatory brunch at ScreenDoor, a super popular breakfast spot within walking distance. Here, I met the love of my life:You’re gonna need a close up of that:That, my friends, is Praline Bacon.

Let that sink in for a second.

Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Bacon covered with nuts and sugar.

I had two bites and went straight to Heaven. But, seriously, two bites was about all I could handle (we’d gotten it to share, thank goodness).

We’d chosen to sit outside to cut the wait down from 45 minutes to about 20. Even though our teeth were chattering, we had a great time and the food was amazing. I had the Migas:and Chris had the Po Boy which I think had chorizo on it:We barely made a dent in our ginormous breakfasts, but we had enough fuel to walk back to the pad, where a nap was in order before heading out to a BBQ at a friend’s house. At the BBQ, we had sausages, chips, coleslaw, and cherry pie. My poor stomach. My poor neglected diet.

But let me tell you…it was totally worth it.  Some of the best food I’ve eaten in years.

Never fear, I’m back on plan now and getting to goal. Next post, I promise, I’ll give you a rundown of the blogs that are inspiring me these days.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Birthday, Janetha Bean!

We’ve been in charge of Flat Stanley. Are you familiar with Flat Stanley? You can read all about him here. This past weekend was about getting photos like this:Let me tell you…on a colder-than-normal, windy May day, Flat Stanley can be a demanding pain in the ass. We were about ready to send him off on a one-way cruise to Alaska:He’s actually gonna get a one-way ride back East tomorrow in a beat up manilla envelope. See ya, Stan!

As much as I complain (seriously, ANY obligation these days feels like an immense burden), taking Flat Stanley around did inspire me to find a solution to my funk. I told Chris that we’re breaking out of our rut and trying something NEW every week. Whether we drive to a new neighborhood and walk around, or go to a new movie, or try a new class…something, anything, to get us out of the house.

(It has been of NO help that the weather, as you can see in the above photo, has been miserable. Even for Seattle.)

So we put our plan into action by taking a Whole Foods picnic with us to a park on Sunday.
We’ve lived here 5 years and have never gone on a picnic. I don’t think Chris had ever had Whole Foods Hot Bar/Salad Bar! I know! What’s wrong with us????

Well, whatever it is, we’re fixing it NOW. Honestly, Chris has been slammed at work, and I’ve been wallowing in unemployment woes, but we are clawing our way out and it’s already making us happier. For anyone who’s in a rut, there’s no time like the present to make things better.

I’ll be back to post my sources of inspiration soon!

Source

A week ago, I received a gold star at my WeightWatchers meeting for losing 10 pounds. It was pretty amazing considering I’ve been eating cheese, chocolate, pasta, bananas…all the foods that might have caused me to gain weight in the past. I have also been eating fat-free dairy, lean meats, lots of fresh fruits and veggies – all the good stuff. I am losing weight at about 2 lbs a month. Not bad considering my only exercise is walking the dog, and she’s getting more slow and pokey every day.

But really, losing weight has been the only highlight of life for a while, and I couldn’t hold onto it. Last week was not good. I was cheating and not tracking. Then I went to my meeting on Friday and chose not to weigh in. I later realized that was a big mistake.

No matter what, face the scale. It’s the only way to see where you really are and move forward.

I went from my WeightWatchers meeting to a casino buffet. Not kidding. I didn’t necessarily overeat, but I did sample about five desserts. I felt like an alcoholic on a bender. The rest of the weekend was not good. (Although I did win $100 at Blackjack, so there’s that.)

My home scale says I’m up 2.5 lbs. I know that’s not the end of the world, but it’s certainly not a move in the right direction.

It’s time to get back on track (oh hello Holiday Weekend!).

Of course, the big question is not HOW – I know how to do this – the question is WHY? The WHY is that I’m angry and anxious. Those are two very strong feelings that drive food into my face. I won’t go into the details, but just know that I know, and I’m on it.

I am recommitting NOW.

And now a funny story from my WW meeting: my buddy and I sit in front of two sisters who are probably in their 60′s. One sister has been doing very well on the program and the other keeps sabotaging herself by eating bread and butter at night. When the struggling sister learned that her sister was .2 lbs away from goal, she said, “POINT TWO??? That’s a fart, for God’s sake!”

We died. Our meetings are the best laugh of the week.

Here’s to a better week!