Eat, Drink and Be Merry at the Maryland Renaissance Festival

I gained a pound this week. Tomorrow I’m going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with my daughter and mother. She lives in Annapolis, and the festival is right around the corner in Crownsville Maryland.

They have the best food including turkey legs, ice cream croissants, mini chocolate chip cookies, BBQ and lots of beer. I won’t be drinking any beer, but I’ll be eating a lot of food.

Since I knew I was going to the fair this weekend, I’ve worked out on every day of the week excluding Monday. I ate a little too many points early in the week, but made up for it towards the end of the week. Anyway, I may not have enough points for all the delicious food I’m going to eat, but I’ll work it off on Sunday and next week.

It’s supposed to be in the 90’s tomorrow, so I’ll be bringing a lot of water with me. I may post a picture of me pigging out too. I do love those turkey legs, but I hate the port-a-potties.

Almost 5 pounds lost

I lost 4.6 pounds this week after coming back from vacation and gaining over 5. Not down to my lowest, but hopefully next week I’ll be. I’ve been tracking points, and eating fairly decent.

I had my first personal training session too on Monday which went well. I discussed my current workout routine with him, cardio classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and he recommended I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday with 30 minutes of weights and cardio afterwards. He also said that the most important thing was food, and asked what I was eating. I told him I am doing Weight Watchers. He said his mom did WW and he thought it was a good program. I told him my brief history, and told him it works, if I follow it. I like that you just eat normal food, but watch portions and count points (calories, fiber and fat).

He gave me a series of machines to work out on with a focus on my glutes, hamstrings, back, shoulders and arms. He told me honestly though that abs would probably not be beneficial to me at this time, but the weights I’d be doing would help strengthen my core. I wasn’t offended, and I hate ab work anyway, even though my mid section could use it. I do get some ab work in my cardio classes.

I had that session on Monday, and my regular class on Tuesday, but by Wednesday I was really sore. I took the day off. Thursday I did my other class, and intended to go to the gym on Friday, but forgot my gym bag. I skipped Friday, but did Boot Camp on Saturday. It was pretty intense, but a great workout, and I can’t imagine how sore I’d be if I had done Friday and Saturday back to back.

Tomorrow is Monday, and I will be going to the gym. It’s hard in the mornings getting myself ready, the little girl, and trying to bring everything both she and I need for work and school.

I’m going to go put my gym bag in my car now so I don’t forget. I don’t know how I’ll make it to the gym 6 days a week, but I’ll give it a try.

Lost almost half pound last week, gained 5 from Missouri vacation

I weighed myself last Wednesday before leaving on vacation and had lost .4 pounds. Then we flew to St. Louis and stayed for 6 days, where I ate well and exercised little. Ok, no exercise really. I did keep my pedometer on, but the only good step day was the day we flew out of DC.

I started out doing well and eating mostly healthy, but it didn’t last long as I was faced with some of my favorite southern food favorites like Cracker Barrel, Waffle House and Sonic. You have to drive way down I-95 to hit any of those restaurants around the DC area.

When we landed in St. Louis it was around lunch time, but we thought we’d eat outside of the airport and headed for downtown. My girl fell asleep in the car and we parked at the lot beside the Arch. I took pictures for awhile until she woke up and then we headed inside where a cute gift shop was selling popcorn. I bought a big bag because I was hungry and it was the most delicious kettle corn I’ve tasted. We did a short tour of the museum and decided not to head up in the elevator for the view when we overheard someone talking about mechanics checking out one of the lifts.

After leaving the Arch we drove to our hotel and stopped at Cracker Barrel for an earlier dinner. Our Holiday Inn Express greeted us with warm cookies when we arrived, and the next morning had a pretty decent continental breakfast spread too.

I gained 5 pounds, but it’s not the end of the world. We ate well on our trip and out a lot, but it was my vacation. I got right back on Weight Watchers when I returned, and will get back into my exercise routine too.

On our way back to the airport, I had to stop back at the Arch. I needed some more of that wonderful popcorn, but I bought some to share with my coworkers and sister.

Birthdays and weight down

I lost 1.6 pounds this week and am so happy! We had a birthday party last weekend, and they had a half a sheet cake for the birthday boy. With all the people at the party I was thinking, “This isn’t a big enough cake for all the people!”

My family goes all out for parties and gets the biggest cake possible. I then realized that probably normal sized families don’t exactly eat like mine. After blowing out the candles, cutting the cake and serving it to those who wanted it, I was surprised to see a little less than half the cake left.

Today is my sister’s birthday. I celebrated with her and bought Chinese food for dinner, and cookies and ice cream for dessert. I got 2 quarts of Ben and Jerry’s, one light Half Baked frozen yogurt, and the other a full fat Fossil Fuel. I ate a moderate amount of Chinese, then 3 cookies and some ice cream in a mug. Then I went back for seconds.

With my sweet tooth, I just can’t help myself, that’s why I don’t buy it for my house. I left it over her house, so that’s good for me, yet bad for her. I don’t eat like this all the time, but you have to splurge for special occasions.

Tomorrow I make homemade lasagna and have her and more family over. I also need to buy a cake. I’m just going to buy a small round one, as it’s only going to be about 5 adults.

I really need to workout hard tomorrow, and will probably go again on Sunday. If I splurge on my eating, I think I need to burn it off and some more in the gym. It seemed to work for me this week, let’s hope it goes well next week too.

Almost a pound lost and stress leads to weight gain

Wow. I was thrilled to see that I lost almost a whole pound this week! Point eight isn’t so bad! I worked out at least three times and ate within my points range. I was worried on Sunday and Monday when I had gained over 3 pounds from my Saturday morning low weight. Why is it that after I exercise I gain all this weight?

I had not worked out on Tuesday evening, and I think that had a great impact on my weigh in. Whenever I work out hard, the next morning my weight is up. On Tuesday I had to fight my way in traffic to get to school in time for my presentation and to turn in two papers. School is finally over for the summer! Woo hoo!

Maybe with less stress the scale will start to budge.

A few weeks ago scientist found that stress can be a factor in weight gain along with a not so healthy diet

After two weeks, only the mice that were both stressed and fed the junk-food diet gained a significant amount of weight. They accumulated about twice as much fat in their bellies as non-stressed mice that consumed the same diet.

Less stress, less fat; at least until school starts back up in September.

Plus point four thanks to Mini Chocolate Meringues

Wednesday 7-11-07

I gained point four pounds this week. It’s to be expected thanks to Trader Joe’s Very Chocolate Mini Meringues. I bought two more on Saturday night.

I cannot buy them anymore. They are off-limits. See, you can eat 13 for just two points, but my problem is I keep eating more and more until the whole container is gone! This is the fourth container I’ve gone through in less than two weeks. No more, not going to buy them again. I just can’t help myself.

Happy July 4th with no weight loss

Wednesday 7-4-07

Been too busy writing papers for class to update my blog. Sorry! Only 2 more weeks of class, then I’ll have a short break until fall classes.

I did not loose any weight this week. I have been eating like a fiend, and it’s all due to hormones. I bought two containers of Trader Joe’s Mini Chocolate Meringue cookies late last week, and they were gone by Wednesday. You can eat 13 of them for only 2 points and they give you that chocolate taste when you are having cravings. Each container has 7 servings, so that’s about 30 points in less than a week.

We went to the pool during the morning of the 4th, and then we came home and grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs. I had a burger with fat-free cheese on a potato roll which was 9 points. My sister decided to buy a small bag of chips, so of course if they were there I had to eat the. I hardly ever buy chips, and if I do it’s only to eat a small bag with a sub. I never buy big bags and bring them into my home. Can’t do it. She also bought some ice cream sandwiches for the kids, but I ate one of my Weight Watchers Fudge Bars for only 1 point.

I didn’t count points at all on the 4th, and I didn’t wear my pedometer either. Since we had gone to the pool first thing, I never put it on once we came back home. Oh well. For dinner we didn’t eat that great either, and on Thursday I had gained a pound.

3.4 pounds lost this week

Wednesday 6-27-07 

While last week’s weight was up 2 pounds, I was thrilled to see the scale down 3.4 pounds this week. As I mentioned before, I’m no longer doing the Weight Watchers at work program as our leader is taking a break for the summer. I was thinking about joining the regular Saturday meetings at my neighborhood WW location, but decided my Saturday’s are already too crazy to add another activity in.

I’m just weighing myself in the morning right before I take a shower and taking note of it in a little spiral notebook. I try not to weigh myself every morning, but I usually end up weighing at least 5 out of 7 days. I’m sticking to my Wednesday morning weight as a measurement though.

I didn’t count points on Monday or Tuesday due to the GWU Institute, but I must have done something right! I think all those blocks I walked helped a little too.

Horoscopes and weekly weigh in

Wednesday 6-20-07

The horoscope calendar on my refrigerator for Tuesday began with, “You can do it and furthermore, others are likely to like how you do it.” Another one I receive weekly by email from Free Will Astrology started, “We’re almost halfway through 2007. Let’s take inventory of how well you’re capitalizing on this year’s unique opportunities.”

I had a good day yesterday. Walked during lunch, worked out at the gym and logged over 12,000 steps on my pedometer. But I gained 2 pounds this week. I’m hypothesizing that it’s due to all the muscles I built up, and the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. That’s the best scenario.

The other thought, is that I ate too much on Father’s day. I had pizza and desserts (plural, more than one). I was still within my points allowance though for the week using my extra 35 points, so who knows.

Today was my last day of Weight Watchers at work, so I’m going to be weighing myself at home on Wednesday mornings, and posting my losses or gains on here. I also think my leader fudged my number a little, I think I really gained 2.2 pounds.

So I’m thinking happy thoughts for the upcoming week. I know I can do it and this blog is my unique opportunity.

And hey, I recovered from my workout on Saturday enough to do a Cardio Mix class for an hour on Tuesday. It was pretty fast paced, but I kept up. Let’s see if I can do another aerobic class tomorrow.

I gained point four pounds

Wednesday 6-13-07

Well, I gained a little less than half a pound. The culprit? I ate breakfast this morning with my daughter and had a small bowl of cereal with milk. My WW at work meeting isn’t till 9am, and I wake up before 6:30 most mornings, so by the time it comes around I’m starving.

I started an old habit from my early Saturday morning weigh-ins of not eating or drinking anything until after I weighed in. So the habit stuck, but I just can’t wait till after 9 am to eat.

I usually eat three meals plus two snacks a day.

• Breakfast early in the morning.
• Snack around 10 am.
• Lunch between noon and 1pm.
• Afternoon snack between 3 and 4 pm.
• Dinner sometime after I get home around 6ish on non-class nights. On class nights I try to eat before class or bring something to class.

I did exercise last Thursday, Saturday and yesterday, and racked up over 10,000 steps on my pedometer Tuesday alone. So, even if I gained a little, I’m still feeling pretty good!