Agony

What is agony? It's when you've been 'good' all week and your weight goes UP! AGONIZING to see the number for sure. Agony is seeing the perfect pair of boots and no money in the bank to buy them... AGONIZING! But really, agony is when you hurt your back and you have no stomach muscles. THAT, my friends, is real agony.

Last week, somehow I hurt my back. I had to go to Kingston and by the time i got there I was close to tears from the pain. Deciding that sitting in the Queen's U library for 5 hours working was not the best idea for my back, so I sat for 3 hours in a local Starbucks. Thankfully, I had some cash so I was well hydrated with my Skinny London Fog! Of course, after hour 2 I was a bit hungry but too sore to move much, so I had a pumpkin scone. This has got to be the yummiest creation ever made... at the sacrificial point range of 9. Sigh. I ate it.

Knowing that my pain was not going to go away in the too soft seats, I looked up the number of the hotel on the internet.. oh, another point... i'll come back to that one*... and called. Um no it's 10:30 and check in isn't until 3 p.m. Okay, but I am in agony sitting here at Starbucks. Yes, said the quasi-friendly voice at the hotel, I can understand how sitting in a Starbucks spending your life savings on designer coffee could be painful! No no, you don't understand, I'm in pain!

Finally, after giving a very convincing sob story, which had nothing to do with the price of coffee, I was told there was a room available but it was on the 4th floor. I really didn't care... as long as it had a bed I could lay my aching body down on! I walked the 2 blocks to the hotel and checked in. The 4th floor... is the same floor as the pool. The pool was a stone's throw from my room. The hallway reeked of chlorine... and so did my room. But... I was in too much pain to worry too much about it. I got on the bed and after crying for 20 minutes, finally found a spot that didn't hurt too much, and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Later that evening, my husband (who was in Kingston with me, at another meeting) took our son and daughter-in-law (the son that is NOT married to our daughter-in-law) out for supper at a TexMex place where I set my sights on being "good" but after the free nachos and salsa, and a feast on fajitas... all sense of good was blown away like chaff.

I actually weighed-in while I was in Kingston, the morning after the texmex binge. I was up 0.8 lbs. ARGH. Of course lying around most of the week and then eating mass quanitities on a friday night, well, what could I possibly expect?

So, now it's Tuesday, I am at home. Blogging. The pain is worse than before. I am sure I will be up this week as well as any muscle I may have had is in such spasm right now that it's just no good. I'm in agony.

This blog is not as cleverly written (as if the others had been!) as my previous ones, pain prevents me from being too witty today!

..........................
* internet. Starbucks is listed as an internet hotspot. So, when you get a connection you get a message that tells you tht you can "buy" 2 hrs of internet time with your Starbucks card (those little gift card things). Are you nuts? I opened up the list of active sites in the area.... and voila, two doors down from Starbucks, in Kingston, is a quaint little place called "The Sleepless Goat" (http://www.thesleeplessgoat.ca/) (I highly recommend that for lunch... they have really different foods, kind of a hippie type atmosphere). Anyway, The Goat has free internet... free.... and the signal picks up in the Starbucks. So, thank you to the goat for letting me use your internet while sipping expensive tea in Starbucks.

Mock Pizza

Forgot.. wanted to share my newest 'homemade' pizza.... well, not literally because you can't have any over the internet and besides, I ate the whole thing!

Okay so here goes -

1 Weight Watchers whole wheat tortilla (2 pts)
5 slices Yves veggie pepperoni - (0.6 pts - so count it as 1 so you don't mess up!)
20 gm shredded low fat (ugh) mozarella (2 pts)
onions (red or white.... thinly sliced or chopped)
green peppers
red peppers
mushrooms, sliced
and a partridge in a pear tree.
1 tbsp pizza sauce (0 pts)

Preheat oven to 400.
On a cookie sheet, place the tortilla, spoon the pizza sauce over top and spread.
top it with everything else. If you like soft pepperoni, put the pepperoni under everything else, if you like it crispier put it on top of the cheese.
Release the partridge outside (if you release inside it will just make a mess of your house!)
Bake the 'mock pizza' at 400 for about 12 minutes.
Eat. Enjoy.

Points: 5
Filling - extremely!
Taste - spectacular

The Band wagon

What, pray tell, is a Band Wagon? Why must we either be 'getting on the band wagon' or 'falling off the band wagon'? Where's the music on the band wagon? Where's the band? Who IS the band? Hmmmph. I decided I hate the band wagon. Why is that I must choose to be on it, or falling off it? Whatever happened to marching to the tune of a different drummer? Was HE on the bandwagon? I have no idea about the band wagon, but I do know band 'width'... and my width is, well, it's wide.

Last week I tracked, like a good girl. I ate "filling foods." I used about half of my 35 flex points. I was, what I think is, ON the band wagon. What did it get me? .4lbs ya, that's not 4 as in FOUR pounds.. it was ZERO POINT FOUR as in 0.4 as in not quite 0.5 or half a pound. What is up with that? Well I'll tell ya... I went home after weighing in and ate all day. Yes I did. I ate. Ya, I quasi tracked it too. I was actually better than I thought - because in my mind I only used 4 of this week's flex points.

Why do we have husbands? Oh, let me tell you why... so they can tell you exactly what you DID eat. Did you remember to write down the 2 chocolates you ate. Yes I did! Thank you very much! Oh, well did you write down the other 2? Other 2? I had two more? Oh ya, thanks okay, I'll write that down. Did you write down the 3 cookies you ate too? I had 3 cookies? Really? Yes, you did. Okay, fine, I'll write them down too. What about the bite of Kirstie's souvlaki when you met her at the mall? Okay, now he was just getting annoying!

Today, I did much better. I tracked almost everything. I also packed my lunch for tomorrow and wrote it down in my tracker. So I feel justified, verified, vilified... and a little petrified... that he's going to ask me "did you write down....."

I think I'll accidentally toss him off the bandwagon... maybe he'll break something!

Quesadillas and shopping for pants

I had lunch out with a work colleague yesterday.... I was a bit scared.
I ordered a quesadilla... Asked the server NOT to bring the sour cream or guacamole.... (I had checked the on-line menu first)
So...
Without my beloved sour cream and guacamole:
Calories: 534
Fat: 25 g
Sodium 1249 mg
Fibre: 1 g
Points: 13
WITH the good stuff, a.k.a. sour cream & guacamole, here is what it would have been:
Calories: 980
Fat: 55 g
Sodium: 1980 mg
Fibre 1
Points: 24

I feel I had a moment of success... I saved 11 points!
ALSO, it came with "homemade potato chips".... ya, so I didn't have them - my delightful server offered me a green salad instead, with balsamic vinegar/oil on the side. Thank you very much!
wish I could say my entire week has been good... yikes... i suck at this!

Unfortunately, I went from lunch to shopping for pants....... why is it that when all the good sales are on, the only size available is size 0 or 2? Need I continue?

I should have had the sour cream & guac...

New Year, New Me??

Well, it's been a while, so thought it best if I got at it again....

It's January. Time for resolutions. Time to break resolutions. Time for a new me!
After eating my way through December, it was time to get real again. I went at it, hard core, in November and early December and lost 9 pounds. Proud proud moment. ....Fleeting moment.

Christmas week - up 1.6, and the week in between up 3.6. Yikes. Who knew shortbread could be so fattening? Okay seriously. I know.

So, I'm back on track... and learning to love me. My 51st birthday is next month and I'm already dreading it. I am determined to lose my *gulp* 70 pounds this year. Seriously. I am. I have the cuteset clothes in my closet. Or at least they were cute when they fit me 6 years ago! They were also in style then too. Sigh. I read through my past entries.... I feel like such a gainer. I'd say loser, but even at losing weight I'm a reverse loser, so that makes me a gainer.

I feel encouraged - thanks to MaryJane, Sue (L) and Sue (N) and Jackie, and Mai, and everyone else in my WW group on Saturday mornings. Knowing that everyone asks every week "how'd ya do?" makes me want to crawl under a rock some weeks... but overall, I know they are serioulsy interested in how i'm doing, as I am in them.

Weighing, measuring.... tracking. I'm talking about food here, not my body! Weighing my food, measuring my food, tracking my food. Funny how that works!

Exciting news - have an exercise DVD.... I put it in.... I watched it... I didn't even break into a sweat! Hmmmph.

So I guess I need to be 'walking it off'..... I hate January. Stupid resolutions!