Daley's Week 4 in Review

Well, this past week was awesome because Royce was in town and we had a wonderful time together. However, I think that all of the fun might have reflected on my weigh-in this morning. I lost 1 pound this week. I am not too upset about it though. We really didn't eat all that bad but I definitely didn't exercise as much as I should have. I am still pretty excited for losing this week, considering I was way less than perfect, AND I got to see my sweet husband so all in all, it's been a good week. Oh, speaking of Royce, he looked so good when I saw him. Since he has been in Ohio (almost 4 weeks) he has lost 11 pounds! I'm super proud of you babe!

Daley's Quote of the Day

"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." -Bill Gates

I needed a little motivation this morning and while looking through my handy, dandy Quote of the Day book, I ran across these wonderful words of wisdom and thought I would share them with the world (or the five people currently reading this blog). LOL....Have a great day peeps!

Daley's Favorite Things...Week 3

Okay, so while I was doing my routine Friday afternoon grocery trip, I found two new favorite things! The first being International Delights' Coffee House Inspirations in the "Skinny" White Chocolate Mocha. Just add one tablespoon (1 PointsPlus) of the silky smooth creamer into your favorite coffee and you will feel like you are at Starbucks. My second favorite thing is paired perfectly with the first, it is the new Weight Watchers Coffee Cake. It is incredibly moist and it even has this cinnamon and sugar icing-like yumminess on the inside, which makes it even more amazing. They are the perfect size to be paired with a cup of coffee for a mid-morning pick-me-up. Oh, and I almost forgot, they even come in Weight Watchers spiffy new packaging with the new PointsPlus calculation right on the front, which makes adding this little slice of heaven to your tracker, a piece of cake!

Daley's Quote of the Day

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

I LOVE this quote and thought I would share it with everyone on this glorious Monday! Have a great week everyone!

Katie's Week 3 in review

Well, week three wasn’t kind to me… I only lost 1.2 lbs! I did a little better on my fruits and veggies, and I did drink twice as much water as the week before and still had 14 of my weekly allowance points remaining but, I guess I should just be grateful that I didn’t gain. Daley  is so sweet in continuing to remind me of this…

  This week, my goal is to get moving!! I want to exercise on my kinect 4 days and my friend, James is coming to walk/run with me on Tuesday to help keep me motivated. It’s only one day I know, but I think slowly getting in the swing of that is best.

  I get very discouraged when I walk or run because of my calves. I have always had very large calves and I guess I can thank my German heritage for that…My calves have very large knots in them (almost like ones you have from stress in your shoulders) and they tighten up and cramp after just walking a few feet. I have been reading online things I can do to prevent this like taking magnesium supplements and integrating more potassium into my diet. I am going to try a banana for breakfast each morning and on Tuesday, I’m going to have one additional banana before we set off on our walk. One great thing I read was how to massage your calves to eliminate the knots. It’s supposed to be very painful at first, but once the knots are gone and I continue the regimen, maybe I won’t have the calf problems I do now. I am going to play the YouTube video for Jay so he can see the techniques and we can start that program too. I’m looking very forward to those massages ;)

  Here’s to a great week for me & Daley! Fingers crossed…..I’m shooting for 3 pounds this week! I CAN DO THIS!!!!

Daley's Week 3 in Review

I seriously can't believe it's already been three weeks! I know I say something to that effect every single time but it's true, time flies when you're havin' fun.

So this morning I weighed, and,*drum roll*, I've lost two more pounds! Yay, me! I honestly could have done better but I'm by no means disappointed. I didn't workout as much as I should have but I did do my daily workouts with Jillian on my Biggest Loser Kinect Game. Also, not to make excuses, but it was my first week of nursing school and that took up ALL my time. Not to mention the fact that I haven't been on a schedule since, well, it's been so long I can't even remember.

Anyway, this week is going to be even better. I am super excited that Royce will be coming into town on Thursday and it will be the first time I have seen him in 25 days...crazy! This upcoming week will also be my first full week (last week we didn't go on Monday) of school, so we will see how well I do with even MORE to do, seeing as how I already feel completely overwhelmed and really behind schedule.

I can't wait to hear how Katie did this past week, I am sure she has fabulous results. Go Katie!

Daley's Week 2 in Review

Wow, this week FLEW by! I had a rough start to the week but it ended beautifully. My weigh in on Sunday was fabulous; I lost 4.8 pounds, yay me! I also got an Xbox with Kinect (an early birthday gift from my family) and I love everything about it. I started my Biggest Loser game on Saturday morning and it’s amazing, it really does kick my butt. The body scanning on the game is absolutely incredible and my numbers came out almost 100% accurate. Out of my height, hip, waist, and neck measurements, it was only off by 2” on my hips…not too shabby for a “game”. Oh, and I was able to adjust my hip measurement manually to make sure it’s everything is accurate. There are so many wonderful tools within the game but I think that one of my favorite features has to be the video diary. Every week or so I can record my video diary and then a year from now, the skinnier me can see what the not-so-skinny me looked like….that’s going to be freakin’ AWESOME!!!

I am really looking forward to this week. First off, it’s my birthday week. YAY! Second, I start school tomorrow and I am so excited to finally be able to have some structure back in my life. WooHoo! So, I will keep y’all posted on how everything goes.

Katie's Week 2 in Review

Not a very good week! I did really well as far as my points go. Thanks to my weight loss last week, I dropped down to 34 POINTS PLUS a day and I did use all but 5 of my weekly allowed points, but still, I get on the scale and a whopping .2 lbs is all I am down. I am very discouraged. I feel very down and to be honest, I wanna go eat a large stack of pancakes from IHOP with a side of ANYTHING FATTENING AND YUMMY! But, I’m not going to…. Daley pointed out today that at least I didn’t gain. Very true! And I’m trying to stay positive and remember that any loss is in fact, a loss. I wasn’t even going for an outta control number. My goal this week was 2 pounds, defiantly not anything close to the .2 that the scale showed me ;(
But, I’m also looking at this like a test of will and I WILL NOT FAIL! Maybe it’s that whole “2nd week curse” I read so much about. After looking a little closer at my journal and tracking log, I did discover a few things about last week. First, I am not drinking near enough water and second, I never hit all my checks on the healthy checks. So, this week, same goal of two pounds and I want to hit all my healthy checks. Eight to ten glasses of water, and all of my fruits and veggies daily. I am NOT giving up like I normally do after a set back like this. I’m so excited for Daley and her 4.8 pound loss too. It is wonderful that both of us didn’t have a bad week because no doubt, without her pep talk this morning, I’d be sitting at IHOP this very minute.

Katie goes out to eat!

So, today was interesting… I had a very stressful day at work and for some reason that is when what, I lovingly refer to as my “food alarm” goes off. I wanted to eat everything in the office including the stale, open potato chips in our breakroom’s bottom drawer for about a year included…YUCK!!!
I didn’t do anything that drastic and made due with my pudding cup and an apple but I was really struggling! I have to work on bringing more fruit with me to the office so when I have these moments, I have something on hand to eat… After the day was over, the last thing I wanted to do was go home and cook, so I opted to beg Jay to take me to dinner. We just happen to have a gift card for Applebee’s and I was thrilled to find out that they have updated their menus to the new POINTS PLUS values.
I have never been a huge fan of eating out while watching my weight simply because plain, bland steamed vegetables and a dry chicken breast aren’t really my cup of tea, but I was so excited to see steak and potatoes as one of my options! I had the Asiago Peppercorn Steak with veggies and new potatoes and I just have to say…….WOW!!! Maybe because of the mode I was in to eat everything in sight is why it tasted so good, but I was thourougly impressed. The steak was perfectly cooked with just a smidge of melted cheese on top and practically rolled in the best flavored peppercorns I’ve ever had. It almost melted in my mouth and the best part? I couldn’t even finish it! That has never happened to me. I ate all the veggies first, which were good in their own right. Not overcooked and mushy but steamed just until crisp with a little salt and pepper. The new potatoes were great as well. I squished those with my fork and set the steak on top so all the juices ran into the potatoes and they were excellent! Just as good as mashed with a ton of butter and cheese (my normal menu pick). My entire meal was 10 POINTS PLUS which was a relief and used all but one of my daily allotted points. I was so proud of myself for staying in range today. It is a boost of my will power for sure. I DID IT!!!! No cheating, not even use of my weekly points (which I try to save for weekends) Go me!!!!

Daley's Early Week Struggle.....

Okay, so my week has not started off so great. I have had a cold for a few days now and it's making it really hard to be motivated because I literally don't "feel" like doing anything! Not to mention, while heading home from Jay and Katie's on Sunday I hit a snow storm (in TEXAS?!?!) and was stranded for the night with Rocky and Sally (my dogs). I had a nice little melt down and wanted to just order pizza because that would have been the easiest thing to do AND make me feel better. A win win, right? Well after getting settled into my hotel, I decided that I was being irrational and opted for a sandwich at the Schlotzky's next door which was equally as delicious as pizza but way less calories. Even though it was within my points value for the day, I still had to split the sandwich in two pieces and had one half for a snack mid afternoon and the other half with a bag of baked chips for dinner. I did have one big splurge though, a 20 oz. Mr. Pibb and it was yummy! I felt like I needed something "bad" and it was a whopping 4 points but it was worth every single one.

After I finished eating I decided to update my progress for the week. I was so excited to put in that I had lost 9.5 pounds and watch that graph go way down. I also receieved a "5" gold star for losing 5 pounds or more. However, when I returned to my main screen I noticed my weekly PointsPlus value had dropped by 2 points! I knew this would happen with the more weight I lost but damn, did it have to be so soon? I'm going to take it on as a new challenge for the week and not worry about it.

Katie's Week 1 Review

This was a great week for me. I am down 7.2 pounds! Although, I must say I was a little bit more paranoid and unsure of myself than I would have preferred. I think it was simply trying to get in the swing of things and remember to count every last point that threw me and made me question everything I was doing. I just wanted to be perfect and all things considered, I think it worked. Monday and Tuesday were difficult but by Wednesday, I had hit my stride. Daley came into town on Friday night, which thrilled me and she went to the birthday party on Saturday night we had been planning for. We saved all our weekly points for that night, and I used EVERY last one of them. I was a little confused because we kept a tally sheet of our drinks to be calculated later that night when we got back home. Well, the day started over while were at the piano bar, so I had to go back and split up the points over the two days. Once I figured it out though, it was way easier than taking out my tracker for every beer I ordered. MGD 64 calculated 2 pointsplus each but, once you get over two beers, it calculated them around three pointsplus for every other one. If I had done them one at a time, my count would have been 6 points off for the night! Something I wasn’t prepared for, but I guess since I was in my weekly allowance anyway, I was still good. I am defiantly a fan of the tally marks and will use that again for sure. No one even realized what we were doing so that was good too.
Jay had a really rough week though… He stuck to the points well enough but come to find out, I calculated him as a female appearantly, so he was only eating about 39 points a day when he is allowed 50! So, needless to say I’m praying for a great week for him this week. He needs the boost because he’s been so supportive of me and I just feel terrible. He’s getting a kick out of telling everyone I’m “starving him” though… I don’t really find that so funny, but I lost this week and he was exactly the same as last week, so I’m gonna give him a pass for the time being… Here’s to week two! My goal is 2 pounds this week.

Daley's Week 1 in Review

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a week! I have to say that all of the PointsPlus counting has definitely started to pay off. After my first weekly weigh in this morning, I have lost 9.5 pounds which makes me even more motivated to keep working hard. For the most part, my week went pretty smoothly when it came to sticking with my points and just making healthier choices in general. However, Saturday night was a bit of a challenge. Katie and I had a birthday party to attend at a local piano bar which meant that we needed to save up all of weekly points and then some in effort to have wiggle room for drinking. I am proud to say that even though it was hard to save those points, we both did it. What a great way to end a successful week!

Katie's Grilled Cheese Recipe

YAY!
I got comfortable enough to make something at home that I had no idea how it was going to go and it actually worked! I made a grilled cheese ;) Well, I often make grilled cheese, however that included about 4 tablespoons of real butter, loads of cheeses, white bread and a whopping 23 pointsplus when complete! This one, I used wheat bread that calculated to 1 pointsplus per slice. I am trying to find bread that is one pointsplus for 2 slices, but have been unsuccessful so far. Then I used one wedge of laughing cow cheese (which was almost indulgent tasting) and 1/3 cup weight watchers shredded cheese. Also, I grilled the bread alone in the pan with a little spray of Olive Oil Pam (free) and allowed it to form a “crust” before adding 1 tablespoon (1pointsplus) of Smart Balance Light spread on the outside of the sandwich for that buttery taste. Then, put the shredded cheese on the other half that I had done the same thing with and BINGO!

It was great for a total of 6 pointsplus. This really did hit the spot… Added a pickle and a cup of weight watchers Progresso light soup and BAM! 8 point dinner that was just great and very reminiscent of the way higher fat version I would typically have inhaled.

Daley's Reality Sets In...

Katie's reality is very similar to my own. I have gained close to 80 pounds in the last 8 years of my life and I'm finally ready to lose them for good. I definitely want to lose weight to be healthier, but the funny thing is, there isn't a single thing wrong with me medically, EXCEPT, for the fact that I am overweight, way overweight. So I literally have no excuse to make excuses.

My reality check wasn't a wakeup call sent to me via the words of a doctor but yet the fact that I start nursing school in 10 days! What kind of example would I be setting for my patients? I mean, really? You would want some fat nurse telling you to eat your veggies or that you need to shed a few pounds? I think not.

So my plan of action is simple, I will be doing the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus program along with my Nike+GPS iPhone app. to keep me moving (I will blog a little more about this app. later, I LOVE IT).  I will also be using my Wii Fit (and hopefully one day a Kinect) for fun, versatile workouts on the days I just can't bring myself to want to walk another loop around Lakeview Circle.

I am so excited to embarking on this exciting new lifestyle change with my best friend Katie. There is something about being brutally honest with your best friend (and her being just as brutal back) when it comes to weight but Katie can do this in such an encouraging, positive, and absolute understanding way. I know even though technically we are competing, she will still be there to pick me up on days I fall and be my biggest fan when I am doing well. She is truly the best friend a girl could ever ask for.

Katie's Reality Sets in...

I have avoided the subject and really just tried to ignore the fact that I have gained so much weight over the past 6 years. I am extremely happy with my life with the exception of this one not so little thing.....my HUGE ass (not to mention my health). I have tried so many diets, pills, shakes, juices, and fads. I hired a trainer (which I quickly proceeded to tell to "F&%* OFF") and I have told my sweet husband to limit my intake of everything bad for me, which worked for about 15 seconds until he actually did exactly what I told him to and said "no" (which I very swiftly replied to with a not so sweet, "F&*% OFF") as if it was his fault that I was asking to eat my weight in french fries dipped in ranch dressing. But, the thing is, I just don't feel like myself anymore... I used to be cute....not gorgeous or anything, but cute. A solid 7 before these 70 pounds found me. I enjoyed shopping, getting my hair done, new clothes and when I got out of the car at a gas station, men noticed....not "Hey baby, let me get your number" noticed, but still...noticed. Now, I can almost hear there thoughts... "Hey baby, how about another twinkie " EWWWWWW!!! not that I need the approval of a man, I am a very happily married woman, but it's one of those things I have just noticed...
To add insult to injury, the doctor recently advised me it really wouldn't be safe to try to get pregnant right now because of all the lovely, lets say,"fluff" I have....NICE!!!! My cholesterol levels are that of a 400lb, 60 year old man and I guess that is somewhat of a concern...DUH!!!
I do understand, although I was still in serious denial. I wasted so much time convincing myself that "Fat women have babies all the time right?" WRONG!!!! not the healthy pregnancies with minimum risk to the mother let alone the risk to the baby that I am hoping for. All my other test results were fine, as much as I would LOVE to blame this weight thing on a thyroid problem or at this point even a mental disorder because it can't possibly be that I am just lazy and eat way too much of the wrong thin right??? I don't feel lazy though. I work very hard at my job and the side business I am trying to build. I work hard at my relationships, my friendships and my faith. But, maybe that is just another excuse I create to consume myself with anything other than the elephant in the room...ME!
  So, after all the internal struggles, the arguments I have with myself (which I am VERY good at) and the lectures from parents, doctors and friends...I'm doing it!!! This time for real, and this time, the right way! I am sincerely praying this blog helps us out, even if no one but us reads it. I need the motivation and staying power. God knows, I have tried everything else. So, the plan is Weight Watchers for the food control and relearning how to eat along with our new Kinect for the exercise plan. Also, this competition with Daley and Royce is serious motivation for me and Jay! We have set our goal and we have to see it through.
I started two days ago with Weight Watchers, counting points, no more sugar, no more sodas and no more fast food. We are also starting with our first workout tonight and I am going to put everything I have into this... I hope Jay will want to do it with me, but if not, I am on my own and fine with it. This new "me" is going to take a lot. Time, energy and will power (VERY worried about that one. But, I keep hearing my parents in my ear saying something like "Katie, you can do anything you set your mind to". Well, I'm counting on it!! Plus, the best news of all is that I have my best friend here cheering me on (well, competing with me, but still cheering me on). Someone who I know and knows ME as well as getting our husbands involved this time around what I affectionately call my, "Fatso Merry Go'round"....This is going to be life changing for all four of us! I just KNOW it!