New Year Same Resolution

body
It has been awhile since my last entry and that is because 1) I’m a lazy person who doesn’t like to write even though for a few years I attempted to be a writer 2) work has gotten very weird with what websites they will and will not allow us to use 3) Again, lazy.
Today I am half a pound down from December 15th, but what that really means is that I am four pounds lighter than I was December 31st when I either hosted or attended 9 parties in less than two weeks, and I’m good but I folded under that much temptation. So here I am almost two weeks into 2012 going back to the gym 4 times a week and eating right almost every day and almost every meal.
My goal for 2012 is simple. Just continue. Continue to go to the gym every other day and do more on weekends. Eat well and stay under or near 1,600 calories a day. That, more than nutrisystem, has really helped the weight loss. Last year I went down 60 pounds and 4 sizes. The goal this year is to go down another 6 sizes, to where I am near the ultimate goal. I have all year to do this so I am rather confident that I can accomplish this.
Besides dieting, other goals are to get creative with jewelry and try to list new items. Also to take pics of all jewelry so that I have a uniform shop. I’d like to get near to 2,000 sales this year on my shop, which is around 700 sales for the year. Possible, but not probable.
Another fun goal is to hang out more with my husband. I am very lucky and really like my husband so this will not be a chore, it’s the finding time that will be tricky. Besides working 60+ hours a week he has a new hobby and I don’t begrudge him a bit with it, but we both look forward to working on hobbies and need to either build a really big office for his toy and my hobby or retire, and since we’re in our 30’s that doesn’t sound like a possibility.
So, nutshell. Keep working out and watching what I eat but not fixating on it to the point where it becomes drudgery and I fall off the bandwagon and into a doughnut shop, maintain jewelry, and hang out with my favorite person. I think I will be able to keep these goals.

Day 128

So close. For the last two weeks weight has finally started coming off and I am a mere three pounds from 60 pounds down. Wooohoo! And there is a reason. Lean Cuisine. Who knew about this???? For some unknown reason it never occurred to me that in the frozen section there are meals there within the 150 - 240 calorie range that will let me continue to diet but not trap me with freeze dried food that for the most part doesn't taste all that great. Yes, there are a few meals that are diet decent but not enough and I was really starting to resent dinners.
What's really great about LC's is that I can buy a week's worth, instead of having to stock up for a month's worth of food and have bags everywhere in our little kitchen.
And since I really never got into Nutrisystem breakfast I have 112 breakfast bars just sort of sitting there, staring at me which I really need to do something about before they take over.
So now that I've found LC and can buy enough for a week, the question is do I just give Nutrisystem the boot. And I think the answer is yes. I will cancel the monthly run of food but I will continue to purchase the few items that I want to have on hand like the fudge graham bars which are amazing.
I am now in my 5th month of dieting and still no one has said anything which is discouraging since I am down 4 sizes. I decided to measure to see if there is any real proof to my losing weight (I was dumb and didn't think about measuring when I started on 7/5/11 so the first time I measured was on 8/30/11 and since then) I have lost 7 inches in my waist, chest and thighs! Arms are still the same but since I played tennis for years the muscles in my right arm are still huge, which I guess is good.
In August/September when I started to think about the holidays, I gave myself a diet pass and realized that I probably won't lose any weight in the month of December and I need to be fine with that reality, so my current goal is to be angelic up till Thanksgiving and continue to be perfect unless there is a party or dinner that I have to attend, then be frugal on the cheating and hopefully I will end this year 70 pounds lighter.

Day 115

I wish that losing weight was constant. I wish that going to the gym guaranteed some kind of result but I have lost 6 ounces since October 5th. I have gone to the gym. I have made sure that I was in between 1600 - 1800 for all but two days this month and this morning the scale said that I was only 6 ounces down. Three weeks - 6 ounces. It makes no sense.
Tomorrow morning I will go to the gym. I will not eat Friday donuts. I will refrain from Halloween candy. I will be good and hope that somehow the scale starts to reflect this cause right now I feel like I'm on the precipice of just saying f' it.
But I wont
What I will do is go back to the basics. I haven't been faithfully writing down everything that I eat. I have been drinking diet coke which I shouldn't. I have been a little lazy at the gym and I have had treats that I don't always need. Late afternoons I have had an extra piece of cheese or a small piece of chicken to get me through to dinner. These are probably the causes for the stagnation on weight loss, but with the holidays dangerously close I can't become laissez faire and must rededicate myself to the diet.

Day 108 and the 3 W's

Haven't really written much and that's because since the last time I wrote there has only been 3.8 pounds down in 15 days. I had hoped that I would be near 60 pounds down by this point (8 pounds lighter than I am right now), but my body has adjusted to the diet and to the exercise and losing weight has become much more difficult. I feel like I'm clawing away at each pound and it's taking forever.
I also didn't realize that being on a diet will be a life long change. I had sort of thought that I would not eat as much and do a bit more walking then in a couple of months I'd be right where I wanted and life could go back to where it was. Not the case. What I have slowly discovered over the past three and a half months is that this will now be my life, or I will quickly climb back to my original weight. I will have to weigh myself every morning, watch what I eat and exercise every day and when I get to goal (the way that I'm losing now it will take a year to get to goal) I can't stop and assume that all will be fine, but will have to continue to weigh, watch what I eat and work out, the 3 W's is what I'm calling it.
Tomorrow is my 6th year wedding anniversary and tomorrow night I know I will be having a high calorie meal so we've already decided to do 4 miles on the elliptical in the morning and a 7 mile walk in the day to help counter the calories but I will be savoring each and every bite and be back on the diet first thing Saturday morning.

Day 93 or Three Months and 48 Pounds Lighter

I was a little disappointed this morning that the scale refused to go down the additional 2 pounds I wanted to make today officially 50 pounds, but if I had gotten up and gone to the gym like I had originally planned I probably would have hit goal again. Oh well.
Tomorrow I will get up early and do the dreaded elliptical for 40 minutes, and start focusing on my October goal: 11 - 12 pounds by November 5th. I think the days of early July are gone where in one day I lost 6 pounds due to a drastic diet change and now that my body is used to 1600 calories and the gym routine I will need to continue going and finding new ways to get exercise in so I can continue to lose. I know I'm on the precipice of someone actually noticing and that is highly motivating me to continue.

Day 91

GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLL! On Saturday morning for a brief moment after the gym and before I allowed myself a sip of water the scale hit goal. 50 pounds down! It was in a word glorious and I was convinced that it would just continue to go down, but atlas. No. This morning after the gym the scale was up 4.8 pounds from Saturday morning. I'm frustrated. My husband says I'm being too literal about the scale and what it's showing and that I need to relax, but how? I trust the scale numbers. That's what's validating my actual weight loss since I'm down (almost) 50 pounds and NO ONE is still saying anything about any physical changes and it's really starting to get to me.
I did notice one thing that might have a small influence as to why no one has noticed. While I'm buying smaller pants (down 3 sizes from July 5) so I don't walk around with diaper butt, I have not really bought anything fitted or smaller for my top half. Yesterday afternoon at my best friend's house warming party (where I was surrounded by gay men who have known me for years) again no one noticed. It wasn't until I was home and walked by a mirror that I noticed that there was a good 6 inches of extra material that I could easily gather up, and with the cut of the empire shirt that was I wearing didn't show off any weight loss, but looked like I filled it out like I used to. So a new goal is to start putting on shirts and if I can easily grab a handful of material when sitting the shirt is too big and needs to go into the pile to donate.
In two days it will be my three month anniversary of starting this diet. The first month if anyone had told me that I would not only be able to survive on 1600 calories a day but also be able to go to the gym almost every morning and do the elliptical for 30 - 50 minutes without dying, I would have thought they were crazy, but here I am on the verge of 100 days and even though no one has said anything I keep having hope that soon, someone, anyone will notice a change and comment on it.

Day 81 The Good, Bad and Ugly of Weightloss

The bad. One great, high calorie meal can kill weight loss for a week. After going to the gym four times this week I am three pounds heavier than I was Sunday, which sucks.
Now for the good.
This morning I was getting ready for work and the jeans that I put on were huge and for a minute I had just sort of felt that it was my lot to just spend the day wearing jeans up to my boobs and feeling like I was wearing waders all day. But then I thought I would poke around at the back of the closet where the clothes of years past loom and there I found a pair of jeans that I had not worn in years cause they didn't fit. Sure enough they fit and are even a bit loose on me and thanks to Old Navy being anal and labeling their tags I know that I bought them in the spring of 06 and probably have not worn them in at least 3 years.
And now for the ugly. Eczema. I don't know what to do about it. I'm using the special shampoo, Aveeno body lotion and moisturizer but I HAVE to go to the gym right now in order to see my goal of 50 pounds down by 10/5 and that requires that I sweat a lot. I need to look into other alternative and probably see a dermatologist too if this doesn't clear up soon. Bleck.