Ear Infection, and Vegas!

233.2

Yesterday morning sucked. Monday night as I was going to bed, my right ear was feeling clogged a bit. I have this problem occasionally with wax build up (gross I know) mostly because I sleep with ear plugs every night. So anyway, I decided to do the "ear wax removal" treatment. It's basically these drops you put in your ear that break up the wax. You keep your head tilted for a couple minutes then let it drain out. It worked fine, and then I went to bed feeling better.

Until 6:00 am.

When I woke up with that ear KILLING me. Serious sharp pains. Really odd. I tried to go back to bed and couldn't. Finally I got up and headed to my doctor sure that I had an ear infection. I got a prescription for antibiotics then went back to bed. I took an old Tylenol w/codine I had from my Lasik surgery and slept it off. When I woke up a few hours later, my ear didn't hurt anymore, but I'd already called in sick, so decided to work the rest of the day from home. It was nice, I got a good bit done, and also caught up on my TiVo'd shows.

So I didn't get a workout in yesterday despite not having a good excuse to avoid it. But today I WILL. I have my gym bag, including socks! I'm heading there right after work. Which is pretty crucial since I fly out to Vegas tomorrow and won't have another opportunity to hit the gym.

Yes, I could use the gym at the hotel, but in Vegas they actually charge you to use their gym, and lets be honest, am I going to work out in Vegas? Nope. The best I can hope for is to minimize the over-indulgence food/alcohol wise. So that will be my goal. Try to avoid the buffets, if I do go to a buffet (hey - that's usually what they're willing to comp you on) I'll load up on lots of veggies, and I'll limit my alcohol. That's the plan.

The exciting thing is that Erik is already out there and played a poker tournament last night that he won, to the tune of $1400 profit. Very nice. So we have some gambling money now and might, shocker of shockers, come home up, or at least not down. That would be a first. :-)

So my moderation thing is going ok. No, I've not seen a loss on the scale yet, but I've stopped the gaining. I made good choices yesterday and I'm going to the gym today. Ideally when I get back from Vegas I'll be right where I am now. That would be a success, for sure.

I watched the Biggest Loser last night (don't worry no spoilers) and I love that show. I love how it makes me feel motivated. It makes me commiserate with others who are dealing with weight loss and how hard it is. And it makes me realize how hard I'm NOT working - I mean Bob and Jillian KILL those people during their work outs. Makes me want to get out there any try - which is what I will do this evening!

No Socks!

233.2 (weekend weight - as usual)

I actually had really nice weekend. Friday night we had the boys sleepover. It was fine, but I know I don't want to have twins! Daniels two friends were 5 year old boy twins, and although very sweet considering, they were a handful! Erik and I just shook our head so many times this weekend. Its such a change for us to have more than one in the house. When it's just Daniel, he's usually hanging out with us or playing x-box with his dad or watching a cartoon on TV. When it's the 3 of them it's LOUD crazy screaming children. I'm sure this is normal in houses with more than one child, but we've been spoiled. They are good kids though, so although it was different, it wasn't all that bad.

It also helped that I dipped out Friday night and played poker with friends, leaving Erik to put the 3 of them to bed.

Saturday we went to a parade just down the street from our house for our local "founder's day" celebration. It was nice and the kids got lots of candy. Saturday afternoon and evening was dedicated to football. Boy did it suck! FSU played HORRIBLY against Wake Forest. I was so disappointed. This was the first televised game they've had and it was miserable. Our two new quarterbacks threw a combined 5 interceptions! FIVE. So bad. So that sucked.

Sunday was church, nap, TV, etc. It was Erik's birthday but since he had to leave town today he was running around a lot and we only celebrated a bit at the end of the night.

Today Erik leaves for Vegas for a week long seminar. I fly out on Thursday to meet him and come home on Monday. I'm SO looking forward to this. I love Vegas and we go out usually once a year, usually in June. We haven't made it out this year due to the wedding, but I'm glad we still get to go. We're staying at Bally's which is right across the street from Bellagio - my favorite hotel just because of the fountains out front. I'm very excited.

So today I had GREAT plans to hit the gym after work. I packed my bag and everything. Then I got here and was getting the bag out of the car and realized I forgot my socks. GRRRR. Now I can do weight training maybe without socks, but I definitely should not hit the treadmill without socks. That's the fastest way to a blister that would keep me off it for a week or more. So I'm mad at myself because I know I'm not motivated enough to work out at home, so I need this "at work" trip to keep me going.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I'll hit it then for sure.

Oh and by the way? Thank you notes suck. I've been dreading and procrastinating for weeks now, and it's getting bad. I need to get them out this week or it just looks really bad. I've only got about 35 or 40 to do - way less than the invitations I had to do - but I'm just dragging my feet for some reason. I will knock out at least half of them today. I swear!

60 days. (5 days till crunch time!)

WEDNESDAY

So, I'm actually really excited about Monday. Odd, because this is a holiday weekend. I'm flying out tomorrow evening with Erik to see my family, my dad's new home, my brother & his kids and wife, and of course my mom. But I'm looking forward to Monday - the day after we get back. Why?

Because I start back at Boot camp.

And I REALLY start my countdown to the wedding.

Why can't I start now, you ask? Did you read the paragraph above about family gathering this weekend? It will be tremendous fun, but I have absolutely ZERO will power around my family. We eat. That's what we do. There's always food, and it's always good.

The one saving grace I should have is that my dad just moved to a place right on the Lake of the Ozarks, and has a boat we can waterski behind. I was a killer waterskiier when I was a kid (with some scars to prove it). I skiied about 5 years ago here in GA and maybe once since, but haven't really gotten to do it much as an adult. I know I'm going to suck. But I'm confident I will be able to get UP. More than my brother can do, apparently. :-) I determined to show him up.

So that'll be some exercise. Hopefully more swimming will be done as well so I can burn some of the bajillion calories I will be consuming this weekend.

Then Monday?

DUM DUM DUM

It's official wedding crunch time! I'm back to boot camp at 5:00 am every morning. Back to writing down EVERYTHING I eat. Back to eating Body for Life-style. And, with the exciting exception of our bachelor/bachelorette weekend in Savannah - I'm back to NO ALCOHOL. Zip. Zero. I mean, I can go 8 weeks without it, right? Especially since I'll get a no-regrets exception in Savannah. I can DO this.

I got my dress last Friday. I was actually a little disappointed. I still LOVE the dress. But since I've stopped the boot camp, I've not been feeling so hot about myself, and the pounds are creeping back on. The dress fit - no worries there - but I wanted it to be loose. I wanted it to be falling off. And although it fit, it kind of pushed up my chest in a way that didn't exactly make my boobies look big - which is what you'd assume and wouldn't be so bad - but made my upper chest/sholder area look poofy. Odd to describe, I know, but it's something that weightloss and strength training will help. I just need to get back on it.

So, I've given myself the next 5 days. Not to go crazy, but to enjoy my last bit of "freedom" food wise. After that, I've got to be committed. I can still conceivably be under 200 for my wedding - a goal I've always had. Of course I'd love to be 'at goal' but that's not going to happen now. I'll be satisfied with under 200. That's about where I was when I met Erik. It'd be appropriate. I can DO it. Right?

Other than the weight issue, wedding planning has been surprisingly easy. I know I know, I just jinxed myself, but sheesh - should I be stressing about details by now? I keep checking my little "checklists" available all over the web, and I'm right on track. Everything that should be booked/planned is done. Just waiting for final numbers from my guests to shore up the details. I have appointments with the vendors I need to make final decisions for. I'm good to go. So WHY can't I focus on the one thing that scares me the most about this wedding? Why can't I put more energy into the weightloss project I care so much about?

I will. Starting Monday. Yes, that sound like a HORRIBLE, typical fat-girl statement ("I'll start tomorrow, again"). But that's the plan. Meanwhile - the goal is damage control.

Long Glutenous Weekend & I HATE UNITED

217.6 (good considering...)

TUESDAY

I had a great weekend. For the most part. Once we got there. Ok, so traveling sucked. I HATE United now, and will never, by choice, fly them again. We flew out on Friday afternoon. Even though we live in Atlanta, the hub of Delta, where we can always get direct flights, we choose to fly United and do a layover in Chicago. Mostly because we waited too long and the United flight was significantly cheaper than the Delta direct. When you're flying 3 people, you need to find the cheapest flights you can.

So, we're already spoiled in that we never usually have to deal with a layover. But this time we did. Ok, no big deal, right? Our flight to Chicago left almost on time. Then we had a 2 1/2 hour layover, which wouldn't be so bad if you weren't traveling with a 5 year old. So we had dinner, and tried to entertain him as best we could. Then we took our short flight to Lansing, MI - about 30 mins away from Erik's parents house. This was a small flight in a small plane. Probably only about 50 people on the entire plane and it wasn't full. Of course, when we landed in Lansing, about 8:00, we only got one of the bags. And not the one with our clothes, just the little one that we put our toilettries in. The worst part about it - besides the fact that we had a 2 1/2 HOUR LAYOVER so there was no excuse - was that about 15% of the passengers on the plane didn't get their luggage. So it wasn't a mere oversight - it was a pervasive problem. According to the United rep in lansing, this is typical out of Chicago. Typical? To lose 15% of the bags?

So, we went home to promises that it would be on the next flight (11:30 pm) and be delivered to our house within 4 hours. Which sucks because we'd be waiting by the phone for the courier to call up to 4:00 am, but at least we'd have our bags. Oh no - we don't get a call, or a delivery. By 8:00 am, Erik's pissed and calls the airline's 800 number. Which of course is directed to INDIA. And that person says our bags are still in Lansing, but will be delivered by 12:30. Unhappy, but at least having obtained a promise as to a delivery time, Erik hangs up. 12:30 comes and goes - no bags, no call. Lie #1. Erik calls back and this time is told, "we've already delivered" them. Excuse me? We have been here the whole time, never got the promised call, never got the promised bags. Lie #2. Finally, after about 4 more phone calls to India and a very rude courier, our luggage arrives about 1:30. For our trouble? We are offered a $25 gift certificate to ride United. Um...don't bother.

So time in MI is wonderful - see family, sleep, read, and eat eat eat. We're set to fly out yesterday. Our flight out of Lansing goes fine - to Chicago, where we're supposed to have a 1 hour layover. We get off the flight and see that we're delayed but 1 1/2 hours. Grrrr. And they can't even tell us what gate we'll be at. So we can't take our stuff, and 5 year old and plop down somewhere because we don't know where we need to be. So we go to their "customer service counter," which consists of a large counter with 6-10 phones and computer screens - completely UNMANNED. Not a single united agent in site at the "custemer service desk". So we get on the phone and are told that our plane is coming from Singapore and was late taking off. When Erik gets irritated, the lady on the phone (probably in India) tells him he can go to any united agent and get issued a meal voucher for our trouble. He asks for a confirmation number or something to ensure we get such a voucher, and she says we don't need one, just ask any agent. So we do. And 2 different agents tell us, hell no - they can't issue vouchers for a 1 1/2 hour delay on a flight that doesn't even serve food. Ok. That's lie number 3.

We're done at this point. There's no convincing us that United gives a SHIT about customer service. Their M.O. appears to be "get you off the phone as soon as possible" and "pawn you off on someone else" and "hope you get tired of asking for what you're promised." Done. Ridiculous.

So we didn't end up getting home till almost midnight last night. Very frustrating. Thank goodness the visit with family was good, but we will never fly United, and hopefully will never deal with a layover again.

This morning was back to boot camp. I was really looking forward to it, in fact, since I had such a horrible weekend food-wise. And this morning ROCKED. We ran about 4-5 miles. About 50 mintues straight. I only walked for maybe 3 minutes total, near the end. I felt so good, and I definitely needed it after this weekend. This is the last week of the original boot camp month and we have our graduation party on Friday night. Then I start fresh with a new month on Monday. I'm glad I committed. It's actually getting easier to get up at 5:00 am now that I've done it for a month - of couse it helps when I can go back to bed for a 90 minute power nap before heading into work, like this morning.

Michigan here I come & Wii Fit

217.8 (whatever)

FRIDAY

Well it's been a good week other than the food thing. I've really lost my focus there. But I do have some good news, regardless. I've had at least 5 people, over the last 48 hours, tell me that I really look great, that they can see the difference. Which is wonderful. I think there's two things that have caused this. 1) I've been doing really good with this boot camp - and it's showing, particularly in my muscle tone. Although I haven't dropped massive amounts of weight, I know I've gotten a lot stronger, so that may be what people are noticing. 2) I've been tanning. I've noticed that even if you're not losing weight/toning up, a tan makes you look thinner. I don't know why, maybe it's that "healthy glow" it gives you, like you've been out in the sun recently, but it works. I've been doing the fake tanning, but the result is the same.

Either way, I like it. I'm going out of town this weekend, but once I get back, I'm going to be right at 3 months until the wedding. I hope to be able to do even better over the next few months and really tone up. That said - the work I've done so far, already has made a difference, and if for some reason I don't make any more progress, I know I'll fit into my wedding dress and look good - if not as good as I could, I'll still look good.

I'm not giving up - I'm still motivated to make a big difference, but I'm also staying positive so I don't beat myself up too much if I don't reach my goals.

Anyway, Erik & I leave today with Daniel to go to Michigan for a short vacation. We fly out at about 2:00 and get back on Monday afternoon. We usually go up there once a year for a week or so, but this time, with the wedding coming up and all, we could only work out a long weekend. So, off we go.

I'm going to try to keep things in check this weekend. I always eat really crazy in Michigan because his dad is a really good cook and they make massive meals once or twice a day. I'm going to try to reduce my portions, and get in a good run both Sat. & Sun. That's the plan - hopefully I can execute. The good news is I always get a lot of sleep in Michigan. Which is wonderful and something I've been a little short on recently.

In other news, Erik & I got our Wii Fit on Wednesday. It is SOOOOO cool. I absolutely love it. Even if it does make my character look really tubby after my weigh in (motivation I guess). The exercises and games are really fun and some of them are really challenging. I definitely think that Wii Fit will be a nice compliment to the work I'm already doing. I fun way to burn a few more calories in the day. We got it Wednesday night and Erik & I stayed up until 11:30 playing it, knowing we were both getting up at 5:00 am the next morning for boot camp (it was bring a friend day). But we're competitive, and we found that each of us have particular strengths. I'm good at the dancing/balance games, he's good at the technique/sport games. I'll probably post more about this after we get back from Michigan and as I figure it out more, but so far all signs point to LOVING the Wii Fit!

I think that's about it. I leave for the airport in about an hour, so need to get some work wrapped up.

Who knew family would be such a bad influence...

220.2 - yes, that's right. I'm VERY high today...

MONDAY

Wow, what a weekend. I've been out of town for 4 days and the scale is showing it. Bad scale. Ok, bad Cindy. Thursday I left for sunny Panama City Beach to meet up with my dad, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's 20 y/o son, my brother and my brother's wife for Thunder Beach - Panama City's version of bike week. It's basically where thousands of motorcycles convene to ride together, drink together, celebrate the coolness of bikes. My dad and brother have several bikes and brought down 4 of them in a trailer for us to ride. My dad didn't ride much, but my brother & I did a lot of riding on Friday and Saturday. It was really fun. I got my license about 10 years ago, and don't get to ride much. I've always wanted to buy a harley, but have never been able to justify the cost.

So Thursday night I left out of here about 2:00 and got to PCB around 7:00. I met up with my the family for a bit then went out for my first ride with Joey. I generally have a rule that I will not drink anything if I'm riding a motorcycle. It's just too dangerous. So, I easily passed on the alcohol at the first bar. Then we went to a german bar that had it's own beer and I gave in and tasted all 4 of their home brews. I probably swallowed a total of 1/2 a beer, so I wasn't worried about riding. I did kill the great 18 day no-drinking streak, though. Oh well - I never said I'd stay sober forever.

Friday and Saturday we did a bunch of riding and of course eating. The problem I have with my family is that food is always a focus. My father and brother are both significantly overweight. I was raised in a family where eating was a hobby. So, we did a lot of eating. And of course I didn't bring my laptop, so I wasn't entering anything in spark people. I have no idea the damage, but as you can see on the scale, it was large.

Also, contributing to the scale is the alcohol. After I killed my streak on Thursday night Friday and Saturday night we went out and played some pool and drank some beer. By some, I mean more than 5 beers each night. Ahh. Off the wagon...

Sunday morning I left out early because I had dinner plans back home. I have a friend who was just diagnosed with cancer and starts his chemo therapy today. He wanted to go out last night and have some fun before the stress and physical issues associated with chemo start.

So unfortunatly I had the horrible mentality that causes so many dieters to fail. I knew I'd killed my drinking streak. I knew I'd eaten badly for 4 days straight, so I figured - hell - why not finish it off with a bang and start being good "tomorrow". So, we ate and drank. and drank. and drank. It was really fun, though. Jimbo, my friend with cancer, wanted to play poker, so after dinner we went to a new bar that just started hosting poker games. It was great because Jimbo won the tournament of about 35 players. I also got 4th, so we got to play for a long time. It was really nice so see him have a good time and not think about all the bad stuff going on in his life right now.

So, here we are Monday morning. I've drank alcohol the last 4 nights. I have not exercised. I ate horribly. And I wrote nothing down. Thus, the scale is in the very scary 220's again. Granted. I know I can't gain 6 lbs in 4 days, so I know it will go back down to some extent tomorrow if I'm good today and hydrate. But it's sad how quickly all the hard work disappears.

These things happen though. There are going to be stumbling blocks. I'm also going to recover. I didn't get a work out in this morning, as I was obviously tired from being out way too late. And I don't know if I'll get one in tonight. But I do know that I will be journaling everything that I put in my mouth. I will be chugging water, starting when I hit post here. And I will not be consuming any alcohol tonight at y-knots, where we plan to meet up with Jimbo again and see how the first day went. It's a step up, back on the wagon. I can continue to make this work. I know I won't see a loss this week, but hopefully I'll get the scale back down around 214 by next Thursday. I have not more travel plans for a bit, so I shouldn't be too tempted.

Here's to starting again, and taking it one day at a time...again.

No more excuses

220.8 (oh yeah).

MONDAY

Ok, so no more excuses. No more parties. No more trips. For awhile at least. This morning's weigh in is the first I've had in a few days as I was out of town in Miami for an associate's retreat. I do attribute some of it to being dehydrated. I kept waking up last night dying of thirst and I was very bad about water this weekend. But that doesn't explain most of it. Most of it is 4 days of not tracking, of eating what I want, of not exercising, of drinking alcohol.

So here I declare. NO MORE ALCOHOL. That's a start. I WILL TRACK ALL FOOD. That's another good start. We'll see how long I go. By calculations, I have no "need" to drink alcohol until August for my bachelorette party and then wedding. Nothing special planned between now and then. So why not detox for 3-4 months?

Very ambitious I know, but I'm going to try. I really want to see if I can do it. For the diet, but also for myself. I know I'm not an alcoholic, but I do drink frequently. I have a really bad family history of alcoholism and alcohol related deaths. I need to prove to myself that this is just an indulgence, not some sort of dependency.

So here we go. Day 2 of no alcohol (had my last drink about 10:00 pm Saturday night). I'll report daily I hope on my success's.

Also, we will be tracking food and exercising. I've got just under 19 weeks before the wedding. Time to get serious.

So much going on

Last WI: 221.8/WW WI 223.2/At Home WI: 222.2

WEDNESDAY

I've got 3 weights above because I'm not dually tracking my weekly WI's. My "last WI" is my at home Thursday morning WI that I'm using to track my ticker above and WW online. My "WW WI" is my actual live meeting WI that is always at noon on Thursday's at work, and I feel will be less "acurate" becaues of work clothes, timing, etc. My "ate home WI" is that morning's WI.

Oh numbers. I'm totally OCD about tracking stuff, so this makes me happy - how ridiculous.

So my life is CRAZY. Now I've always loved being busy and generaly am much more productive when I am, but damn I'm juggling a lot of balls right now.

1) House Hunting. We've been offering/countering/etc. on a georgous house for the last 2 weeks. We got a "final counter" from the seller on Monday that is still almost 10K higher than where we had planned to cap out, so we went to look at the hous again yesterday, and of course LOVED it. We've made one final "counter" even though they said they weren't going lower, but I'm afraid we might go with their last number if we have to. It's WAY more than I planned to spend, WAY more house than I need. But I love it. It has everything I want, and really is a place I could see myself in forever - raising my kids, etc. It's perfect. We'll see what happens.

2) Wedding Planning. Last weekend we went and visited a resort in north georgia that I fell in love with and booked straight out. I have them an obscene amount of money on deposit and basially signed my life away. We have a location and a date (August 31, 2008). Yesterday I went and looked at invitations, and fell in love with one that is, of course, ridiculously expensive. So we're going back on Saturday to talk to the "in house" people to see if they can do it cheaper. I am NOT spending $1K on invitations. That is obscene! Also, Sunday we're going back to the resort for their vendor "tasting". They'll have the food and all the local favorite vendors there. Should be fun, even if it's another 2 hour treck each weay.

3) LASIK. I've wanted LASIK for years. I've just not been able to justify the cost. I have worn contacts since high school, and have semi-bad allergies, so I have a hard time wearing them more than 12 hours a day. Also, Erik had Lasik almost 10 years ago and still has very good vision so I'm super jealous. My prescription isn't that bad - no coke bottle glasses or anything - but bad enough that I can't drive without glasses or contacts. Anyway, with this new job I got a flex-spending account which basically allows me to have my employer take out up to $3K pre-tax to pay for something like this. So I set that up starting in January. They take out $125 out of each paycheck pre-tax and put it into my "account". The good news is I don't have to wait until the end of the year to spend all $3K. I can get it now, and just pay it back over the year. So I decided I wanted to get the surgery done before the wedding and honey moon and before wedding planning got all crazy. So last month I booked my consultation that was yesterday. Things went well, and I'm a good candidate. Due to "thin" corneas, I'm going to do a less common procedure of "epi-lasik" instead of traditional lasik. Same result and cost, just a little longer recover time (like a week instead of a day). But it's safer considering my thin corneas. (Weird, nothing ELSE on my body is "thin", why do my cornea's have to be?!?). I've set my surgery appointment for March 28 (between closing, travel, etc). Hopefully it'll go smoothly.

4) WW. Of course through all this I'm trying to stay on track to lose between 1.5-2 lbs a week. I have NOT started exercising and I have not excuse except being busy and too lazy to do it at 10:00 pm at night. I totally could put in 30 minutes though and NEED to start. The weight will NOT come off with WW alone. I'm not dedicated enough. I HAVE to put in the time working out. I'll start tonight.

5) Work - oh yeah, that thing that PAYS for everything listed above. I'm "trying" to put in 45-50 hours a week. It has been difficult with wedding and lasik apointments this week, but I have GOT to make this a priority. Without this job, I cannot afford any of the above and I need to do a good job here.

6) Travel - We have so many weekend trips planned in the next few months. Erik won a trip at work for being such a good employee and the second weekend of March we're taking 4 days to go to California on his company's tab. We fly out Thursday and come back Sunday. So nice and should be totally comped, but wow I don't feel like I have time to travel right now. Also, my work has 2 retreats planned in the next 2 months. One for "mid-associates" (i.e. 4th & 5th years) in March about 2 hours from Atlanta, and one for all associates in April in Miami. Again all of these are paid for, but they pull me away from 1-5 above. Crazy.

I think that's about it. It's surely enough. Needless to say I'm going to TRY to continue to blog every other day or so, but if I disappear for a week, you'll know why.

YEAH!

Last WI: 224.8/Morning WI: 221.0 (YEAH)

Monday

In control! Finally! Ok, so after my thursday night binge, I did go out on Friday and drink a little. Then Saturday and Sunday I was GREAT. I did a good workout on the treadmill on Saturday and ate very moderately both days with lots of water and no alcohol. And I was rewarded on the scale. Actually I saw 222.4 yesterday and was pleased at that. I'd love to get under 220 before thursday!

So I have a new plan - to go with a new week, lol. It seems like I make up new "plans" constantly in this weight loss battle. Anyway, I was reading about a new "diet" where you eat 4 400 calorie meals a day, no more than 4 hours apart and got to thinking that might work for me. I've got to find something that works - for life, and starving myself just doesn't cut it. But this might work. The best part about it is that I get to eat every 4 hours! So that's what I did saturday and sunday. 4 400 calorie meals about 4 hours apart. For my normal work day that would mean breakfast at about 7:30, lunch at 11:30, snack(?) at 3:30, and dinner at 7:30. Now that's not bad. I generally get hungry about 3:30 or 4 anyway, so as long as I keep it light, I can have 2 "dinners". Now I know there will be times when this doesn't work - scheduled dinners, travel, etc. But for an "everyday" routine, I find it very appealing. Oh - and any exercise I get is just a bonus. This keeps me generally at 1600 calories a day. Not bad for my weight. If I lose a bunch I may have to drop it to 350 calories/meal, but for know 1600/day is very reasonable.

So - here we go. Today I had my ~400 calorie breakfast. I'm set for lunch at 11:30 ish. And, if I'm hungry, I can even eat a little earlier. With 7:30 being my last meal, I can move that up a bit and still not go to bed too hungry.

Here's hoping it works!

Oh - and no alcohol till Thursday. And then, only because we're going out of town. My perfect little plan will be foiled for 5 days staring Thursday night. I fly to Memphis then drive to Tunica for our annual January casino trip with friends. There are 9 of us going and it's going to be a blast. But food is going to be tricky since tunica is the world of fried and everything is on a buffet. I'll do my best and at worst, get back on track after I get back Monday. But for now - I plan to see under 220 before I leave Thursday!

HERE WE GO!

Good Christmas

Last WI: 220.6/At Home WI: 220.6

THURSDAY

Well, I had a good christmas. At the last minute I decided to visit my family in Tennessee for a couple days before christmas. I'd committed to spending the actual day and eve with Erik and his family here in town, but decided since those days conveniently fell on Monday and Tuesday that I could fly to TN Fri-Sun. It was great to see my family and hang out for a bit. I'm glad I did it. Thank you skymiles!

As for the WW front, I haven't been all that good until yesterday. I actually didn't even step on the scale for over a week (unheard of for me) for fear of what I'd see. It had been creeping up to an "alltimehigh" scary number and although I know what to do to stop it, I just couldn't do it. So, after Christmas I've recommitted (again?). Yesterday I braved the scale to see 223.6 and was surprisingly pleased. So I had a great day yesterday, ran on the treadmill and actually came in under points (well one to spare, that is). So, back on track.

I did my "official" WI this morning. I've decided to do them at home for the foreseeable future. I mean, why am I paying for these meetings, anyway? I don't stay for them, and they don't really keep me accountable since I don't go if I've been bad. I'm much more likely to "face the music" each week, even the bad ones, if I can do it in the privacy of my own bathroom. So, that's the plan. Thursday mornings will still be official WI days. They'll just be at home.

This weekend is going to be a little tough. I've got my best friend from college coming in. The good news is that she's not a bad food pusher anymore (we used to be horrible for each other) because she's acquired a disease (Celiac) that prevents her from eating anything with wheat in it. So she's very limited in what she can eat. We do have plans to watch a bunch of football this weekend, and celebrate new years, of course next Monday. Hopefully I can stick to the treadmill and minimize the threat.

I don't have much else going on. I'm not working this week. Not by choice. I don't have any work to do. That's the problem with having just started, I'm only on 2 cases so far, and they're quiet right now. I went in yesterday and saw no attorneys working on my floor. So, I couldn't even ask for more. It sucks for my billable hours, but I'm going to enjoy my week off. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some more cases after the new year.

Weekend in Tennessee

Last WI: 215.4/At Home WI: 216.4

MONDAY

Well I survived the weekend. Of course I didn't get all the exercise in that I wanted, but I did get some. I flew on Friday morning. I landed about 10:00 am and was picked up by my sister-in-law. We went and saw my brother before going to my mom's house where I was staying. I ended up not running Friday - I guess I just got lazy and was tired from the flight. I watched my neice play in the high school marching band on Friday night and went to bed relatively early.

Saturday I woke up and went running right away. I had planned on trying to do as many miles as I could on the local high school track - which is very close to my mother's house - but the school track team was practicing and I didn't want to disturb them, so I ran around my mom's neighborhood. I did 20 minutes before I had to walk. I ended up running about 2 miles and walking about 1.5. Not the 5 I had hoped for, but it was extremely muggy and hot out and frankly I haven't run outside in a long while, so I'll take it.

Saturday night we had a birthday party for my brother. Mom made her famous manicotti and french bread. I only had one serving, but still probably too much. The good news is I did munch a lot on the fresh veggies I had cut up.

Saturday night after the party I was still feeling wide awake so I headed to the riverboat casino in Missouri - just about 20 minutes away. I ended up winning $400 at craps and another $40 or so at poker before I headed home a little after 3:00 am.

Sunday I slept in, of course, and totally didn't go running when I did get up. Slacker! I spent the day saying goodbyes to my dad, brother, mother, sister-in-law and neices and nephews. My brother drove me the 2 hour trip to the airport around 5:00 pm. I got home a little after 11:00 pm and crashed out pretty quickly.

All in all the weekend was wonderful, family-wise, but not great food wise. I didn't crazy indulge but I didn't track, and I only ran once. That's about normal for my family weekends though.

Today I'm playing catch up at work. I've got my interview on Friday so it's another short week. Work is completely crazy with trials just 5 weeks away. I'm starting to stress. But that's normal too.

Today I've been ok with food. I had a balance bar for breakfast, popcorn and a nectarine for snack, and subway for lunch. I've got 10 points left for dinner, and I'm not going to get to go to the gym today (as usual for Mondays). I have to hit the grocery store right after work, and get home before 6:30 for our Monday poker night that we're hosting. Now - I just need to make good choices for dinner/poker.

This week I'm worried about WI because of the weekend, and my attitude. I'm totally grumpy because of stress at work, and that is always a recipe for disaster. When I feel grumpy or tired, I don't care about making good choices, and usually fall off the wagon. I'm going to need to find a way to improve my mood so I can keep my good trend going.

Here's to keeping up a good thing...

Beautiful Scale

Last WI: 216.8/At Home WI: 215.0 (YEAH!)

THURSDAY

Ok so Mr. Scale. I'm sorry I doubted you. I forgive you today. At least I will if WI goes as hoped. Yesterday was another very good day. I had subway for lunch, some snacks, and left over's for dinner - eating exactly 1 point over my target. I hit the gym after work and did 3 miles on the treadmill in 30:16 very good for me. I used to be able to consistently do 10 minute miles, but having taken so much time off I've been working back up to it. Yesterday's run averaged 10:05 minute miles - not bad. Running so much is obviously doing my body well. After the run, I walked for about 8 minutes cool-down then hit the elliptical for another 30 minutes. All in all I burnt over 1000 calories and counted 10 APs. So we're up to 36 APs for the month and over 40 for the WI week.

I'm at work now. I had chick-fil-a for breakfast and am now "fasting" till WI. I chugged about 50 oz of water this morning to be sure I'm hydrated, now I just hope that WI goes well. Then we'll see how tonight goes. I have a very bad habit if over-indulging the night of WI. It's my night to drink as Erik is driver, so I take that as an excuse to make very poor choices. Now I'm not willing to give up my "night" but I need to reduce the amount of alcohol and amount of bad food choices. I think that really will help my weekly results. That said, there's something to be said for a weekly "break" to keep my sanity throughout this weightloss journey. I don't know I'm going to have to think on it. I don't want to deprive myself such that I fall off the wagon, but I also want to see the best results I can.

This weekend is going to be a challenge. I fly out tomorrow morning to Tennessee to see my family. I'll be staying until Sunday evening with my mom. My dad and brother and his family (wife and 4 kids) also live in the same town, so I'll be seeing them all. It's my brother's birthday on Sunday and I think we're having a party on Saturday for it. All in all there will be an abundance of opportunities to make very bad choices. My father and brother are significantly over-weight. My mom is about average for her age, maybe a few pounds overweight, but my food life has always revolved around my dad and his habits. My mom cooked him what he wanted my entire life, and even though they have now split up (but are still friends) we all kind of get together to eat. A LOT.

So this weekend is going to be a challenge. I am going to try to counter-act it with smaller portions and "relatively" good choices. And RUNNING. I'm bringing my running gear and am going to run at my mom's. She lives in a great neighborhood that is actually close to a high school so I have some choices of neighborhood running or track running. Either way it'll be outside - something I haven't done lately and will be very good for me if I can commit to doing it. I PLAN to run at least 2 days, hopefully all 3. My schedule shows 3 miles on Friday, 5 on Saturday and 3 more on Sunday. Maybe if I go slow I can get it in. Not sure, but I'm going to try.

Anyway - here's hoping for a good WI tonight. I should get under 215.6 which would get me over 10 lbs lost - a good milestone. Anything more than that is gravy and I'll take it gladly.

Weekend in South Carolina

Last WI: 220.2/At Home WI: 219.8

MONDAY

Well this weekend was fun but not wonderful WW-wise. Friday night I went out with Erik to Y-knots and had chicken nachos for dinner. Not a great choice but believe it or not there are worse. I also had a few beers, but was driving so didn't go overboard there.

Saturday we got up at 8:00 to pick up two 17 year old boys - Shane and Ryan. Shane is the son of one of Erik's best friends who is stationed in Iraq right now. Ryan is a classmate of Shane. Both are baseball players and there was an event in South Carolina this weekend they wanted to go to but couldn't get a ride. Erik's friend asked if we would take them and we agreed. So, Saturday we spent the day on the road. I was good and made myself a tuna sandwich for breakfast, knowing we were meeting them at Burger King and knowing I'd make a very bad choice there for breakfast. Lunch we stopped at a wing place, so I didn't eat great, but didn't over-indulge. For dinner we ate at the resort we were staying at. I had a really bad steak, but it was small and not fatty at all, so not too bad, and a couple beers. The good news is that before we went to dinner I convinced Erik to hit the hotel gym with me and earn some APs. I managed just over 2 miles before calling it quits when the treadmill died on me.

Sunday we took the boys by McDonald's on the way to the ball park, but I talked Erik into dropping them off and getting subway for us - so that was a victory. It was a little late, so it was lunch and we had no breakfast. Then we went and watched they boys play for a few hours and I got some much needed sun - a bit too much but the burn wasn't bad. We hit the road about 5:00 stopping at a gas station for drinks/snacks. I munched on some chips (bad idea!) and we stoped for dinner about 7:00 where I split some pizza and breadsticks with Erik. Over all not a horrible day but definitely could have been better. We got home about 11:00 last night after dropping the boys off and crashed out immediately.

Erik left this morning for a week in Ft. Lauderdale for a conference (lucky boy!) so I'm single for the week. I'm going to try to use that to my advantage and get LOTS of exercise in and stay home. We'll see how my resolve lasts as the week goes on. Of course that doesn't apply to tonight because it's Monday and our weekly poker game is tonight. Holly is hosting and I doubt I'll have time after work to make it to the gym before heading over there at 7:00. So, the plan is to eat a really low points day and eat dinner before I go over there and NOT drink beer while I'm there. Again - we'll see how my resolve does.

So far today I've had a balance bar for breakfast (4pts) and some 94% ff popcorn (2pts). I just about to head out for lunch which will probably be subway again. I might try for just a turkey sub (5pts) no chips and a drink. That would do well toward my goal of a low point day. It's a plan - now to execute!

I Lost 2.2lbs!

Last WI: 220.2/At Home WI: 218.4 (dehydration most likely)

FRIDAY

Well, yesterday was good. I ended up losing 2.2 lbs at WI. I was pleased but hate to admit I really had hoped to see less than 220 on the scale, seeing as how I saw 219 at home. But I can't complain. My goal was 2+ lbs and I met it. Now - for another week of it.

After WI I was really bad, as usual and picked up a horribly high point dinner - wings and fried mushrooms from our local wings and things. Then Erik and I went out for drinks and poker at Y-knots. I ended up drinking way too much (Mich Ultra) but came in 3rd at poker. So this morning I was totally dehydrated, which probably accounts for the drop in the scale even though I went WAY over in points yesterday.

Today I woke up tired and thirsty. I almost called into work this morning, but finally sucked it up since I knew it'd be a short day regardless. I got there a little after 9:00 and most of the office left at 11:30 for a going away lunch for Kim, one of our secretaries. I'm very sad Kim's leaving she was one of the coolest women, and was really good at handling some of our more difficult defense attorneys. But she got a job that moves her along professionally so I can't blame her and I wish her the best.

After lunch I went to give blood. I'm 0 Negative so I get called like clockwork every 2 months. So I went in and when I was going to the intake they asked me if I would be willing to give my red blood cells instead. Essentially that consists of them hooking you up to a machine that takes a pint of blood, spins out the red blood cells, and then gives you back the rest - plazma, platelets, white blood cells, etc. Then it does it again. They get two "units" of blood from you and I guess the red blood cells are particularly valuable. Anyway, I agreed, and boy did it wipe me out. I NEVER have effects from giving blood. I don't even feel faint. But this one had me feeling tingly and cold during and tired afterwards. So I came home and took a nap. I'm not even going to try the low intensity work out I had planned for the evening.

So tonight it's Erik's turn to drink, which is great because I definitely need the break. It's funny I don't get drunk all that often anymore, but when I do the next morning I just feel guilty. Even if nothing happened. I feel hung over of course, but also guilty, like I shouldn't be doing this anymore - to my body - to my mind - anything. I would love to say I'll resolve not to drink anymore but that just won't happen. I know better. Hopefully the frequency will continue to deminish, however.

Tomorrow morning we're getting up really early to drive to South Carolina for the night. Erik has a friend in the military that is currently in Iraq. Well his friend has kids that are in baseball and have this camp they need to go to this weekend. His wife can't take them, so Erik agreed that we would. So we're escorting two teen agers to Myrtle Beach area tomorrow through Sunday. The good news is that his friend, who is way too appreciative, has put us up at a resort, not just a hotel but a resort - so they definitely have a fitness center -already checked - and I WILL be using it tomorrow and Sunday. It's a promise it's a plan. It will happen.

So that's about it. Today I've already used all my points between a craving filled breakfast, fancy lunch, and the nutter butters and juice they give you at the blood drive. So I need to figure out a low point dinner so I don't have to use all my flex points for the week today.

Here's too a good weekend!

Ok, so Back on the Wagon

Last WI: (3 weeks ago)/At Home WI: 218.6 (actually this is good..)

WEDNESDAY

Well, I fell off the wagon. For a WHILE. I climbed back on, and then fell off again. For another WHILE. But I'm back up on it and determined once again. I haven't weighed in for a couple weeks, so I won't post a WI number until after tomorrow when I officially face the music.

I won't go into the last 2 months, but the last couple weeks I've been really bad. I went to Michigan with Erik for his family vacation to stay with his partents for a week last week. It was lots of fun and very relaxing. We took his son up there and had a really good time. But I was HORRIBLE food-wise. I didn't eat healthy at all, and his dad - though a wonderful cook - is also a food pusher. I'm so weak that I accepted often. Not good. I also brought my running shoes and didn't run even once. :-(

We got back on Friday last week and the same day we flew in, my best friend from college flew in as well. Gloria is her name and she currently lives in Hawaii and is pursuing her doctorate in Psychology. She gets over to see me about once a year, so she's in town now for a week or so. So - my grand plans to get back OP after we got back got pushed back a few days as I had a very fun weekend with G. Ate too much though and definitely drank too much. I dropped her at her grandparents on Monday morning (they live close) and will pick her up again tomorrow for one more weekend of fun. So Monday I should have been good. But I wasn't. So yesterday was my recommitment day.

The only good I did this weekend was that I did make it to the gym on Sunday and ran almost 3 miles on the treadmill - ran 30 minutes and didn't quite make 3 miles. I went back yesterday evening and tried again and was only 15 sec's shy of doing the 3 miles in 30 mins. I plan to try again tonight.

My left knee was hurting a bit on both runs. Both times it began hurting about mile 1.5 or 2.0. I hope it's just "under use" and not some real injury. I'm going to try not to push it, but I do want to try to run 3-4 days a week from now on. Today I plan to run and probably won't be able to again until Saturday.

Well, after I got back from Michigan I got on the scale and Sat, Sun, and Mon, I saw 220's. Not good at all. So after my "perfect" day yesterday, today the scale read 218.6. So that's why I'm happy with that number. Even though it's a full 5 lbs higher than 2 months ago. I'm ok. I just have to keep plugin along.

I've started a new challenge on the WW board. A group of us is trying to lose 20 lbs in 20 weeks. They started July 1. I really started yesterday but am going to try to catch up. The challenge runs us almost up to Thanksgiving, the day I'm going to *try* to run the Atlanta half marathon, so I really think this will be good. I think WI tomorrow will be something close to 220, hopefully 218, but if I can lose 20 lbs by thanksgiving, I'll be on ONEDERLAND which I haven't seen in a very long time.

That's the plan!

Today I'm leaving work around 4:30. I'm going to go home, change, hit the gym, and then hang out with Erik tonight. I've got 10 more points left for the day, not counting any I earn at the gym, so I should be good for a second "perfect" day. :0)

Maintain Equals Loss!

Last WI: 212.4/At Home WI: ????

FRIDAY

WI yesterday was actually good. I weighed exactly what I weighed 2 weeks ago at WI. 212.4. So, I maintained. But in actuality it's a loss. Here's why. Last week I was really bad. I journaled, so to speak. But I was over every day. And by a lot. So last Thursday I was supposed to go out of town to see my dad in Tennessee. I also was coming down with a cold. I ended up deciding not to go to TN, but hadn't followed my WI day rituals, and expected a gain. So I decided not to go to WI last week, and recommit to a good week this week.

Well, I did pretty good. I had 2 flex points left going into yesterday. So, I weighed in and had a "maintain". But since I know I was up last week, that's really a loss - equivalent to the gain from last week. So, mentally I'm telling myself I lost 5 lbs this week. :-) In reality it was probably more like 2, but I like thinking 5.

So, now we are at another new week. I really hope I can get things together and see a true loss next week! So far this month I'm only down 0.2. Not to stellar. Granted it's not a gain, but it will take a long time to get to goal at this rate...

On another topic, Erik and I just booked a trip to Vegas next month. I'm very excited. I totally can't afford it. But it's going to be super fun. I wasn't sure we'd be going, and Erik just decided. Here's the deal. For about 9 months we played in a Sunday poker league. It consisted of weekly poker tournaments where the coordinator withdrew 20% of the prize pool to put in a fund to pay for some of our best player to go to Vegas to play in a $1500 buy-in World Series of Poker event. Well, Erik did really well, and won one of the buy ins. We don't get any of our expenses paid, but he gets the free buy in. We were really considering not going because finances are pretty tight right now, but Erik made some calls. Based upon our status with MGM Grand, they gave us 3 nights free plus buffets and a $50 promotional chip. Very cool. We got the flights through Spirit Airlines Atlanta to Vegas for $440 total for the both of us. So we're going to Vegas for 4 days 3 nights for a sum total of $440. Not counting gambling money of course.

They other cool thing about it is we're going over Erik and my 2 year anniversary of dating. The tournament he's playing is actually on our anniversary (June 9) and we're flying in the night before. I'm very excited. I think it's totally going to be a blast. And maybe Erik can win some money in the tourney. First place last year ws $600,000! Boy would that be nice.

As for me, I haven't decided what, if any, tournaments I'm going to play. There's another tournament the same day as Erik's that I would love to play but it's $2500 and I totally can't afford that. Of course I could also consider playing the one Erik's playing for $1500 but even that is pretty steep. Remember he got his buy in paid for. I don't know. I'll think about it over the next 3 weeks of anticipation. :-)

Oh - I don't have a number on my "at home wi" today because I totally forgot to get on the scale this morning. Honestly completely forgot. That is so not like me, but it's ok because I'm sure it would be somewhere around 214 or higher since I was out drinking last night - my typical Thursday night indulgence. So - we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Today I've had 7 pts so far - 5 pts for breakfast and 2pts of popcorn snack. I wanted to go to the gym tonight but I forgot I agreed to work for this casino company I help out with part time dealing roulette as some business function. Should be fun as Holly, Dana and Marine are dealing too. I totally plan on getting some AP's this weekend, though!

Great Indulgent Weekend in Atlanta!

Last WI: 214.2/ At Home WI: 217.2 (ick)

MONDAY

Well, this weekend was wonderful. And of course I'm paying for it on the scale. :-( But - it's better today than yesterday. Yesterday morning I saw 219.2. That was mostly dehydration, however. Friday I left work early and had lunch with Holly in Fayetteville. We went to Bugaboo Creek and I did "ok", but definitely not great. I had my favorite "Twin Peaks Sandwich" which is basically chicken, and moz cheese on cuban style bread. Not horrible, but I should have only eaten half of it. I also had a salad with ranch on the side (2pts) and some mashed potatoes (counted at 4pts) and bread (umm. yeah - like 6 pts). It was very good - but I shouldn't have splurged for lunch since I knew I was going out for dinner and drinks.

Friday evening I had the best intentions of hitting the hotel gym once we got up to Atlanta while Erik was in his meeting with my lawyer friend. But, we got to talking, and I ended up staying with him through the meeting. It was great catching up with an old friend. Then we went to a "tapas" restaurant for dinner. So - good, but definitely too much food and drink. Out to a club after that, where we got blitzed, but could walk back to the hotel. Very good times. I can only estimate points, but I went WAY over of course.

Saturday I had Fellini's for lunch in Atlanta - one of those restaurants I don't get very often now that I've moved out of the city. It's a great pizza joint, and my typical order of salad and one (large!) slice of pizza is about 15 pts. Then we were off to the poker tournament. I had some beer and they had chick-fil-a for dinner, so I went over again, but not as bad as Friday. Lots of fun. I ended up in 19th place out of about 120 players. Not enough for money - but just enough to be disappointed in no money. Oh well - I had a great time. Erik busted out much earlier - like about 50th, but hung out and cheered me on.

Sunday was a catch up day. We slept till almost noon! Then it was time to hit the grocery store and stock up for the week. I did very well. I almost got out of there under $100 but ended up at $109. I hate grocery shopping as I never seem to be able to spend under $100 no matter how long or short my list is! After grocery shopping I prepped my salads for the week, and then had to do my taxes. I know - I know - very late. For some reason, this year, I just couldn't get myself on it earlier. I usually have them done in February, but this year I just kept putting it off. Unfortunately my procrastination cost me a work out because I had hoped to get to the gym before our 4:00 poker tournament. No such luck. The Sunday tournament went till 10:00. Erik won and I got 4th (out of 8) so it was a fun night. After that I had to finish my taxes and get to bed.

Today is another "trial week" but after calendar call this morning, it doesn't look like any of my cases are going to trial. Which is good because I have a brief due on Thursday for the Supreme Court and really need this week to finish that.

Today's plan is to eat as few points as possible and "try" to get a work out in. Again I have a poker tournament tonight to go to - this one I help host - so I'm going to have to get out of work early to make it to the gym. Since I'm not trying any cases, though, that might be possible. I've had 4 pts so far today. I'd love to finish the day around 20-24 and get 10AP's. That will help counter-act this weekends "free-for all"

I do get to report that even though I totally over-indulged this weekend, I still tracked. So I'm on course for my 84 days of tracking challenge. I definitely had to "guesstimate" on Friday nights points A) because it was Tapas - weird food i wouldn't normally know the points for, and B) I had a lot too much to drink and don't remember the end of the night too well. Oh well - It's in the book, for better or for worse.

My goal to start lifting weights hasn't work out too well either. Maybe I can get that in today, but in reality if I get to the gym at all priority is as many AP as possible in my short time frame. That equals running! Which is good since I haven't run since Tuesday last week, or done any cardio since Wednesday last week. Gotta get back on that horse!

Weekend at the Casino - not TOO bad

At home weight: 217/Last WI: 215.2

MONDAY

Well, the scale was not friendly today, but I'm not surprised either as I was at the casino all weekend. We left Friday at about noon. First of all I have to note that I love Biloxi! We usually go to Tunica for our casino trips, but the drive is killer, and flights are expensive. The drive to Biloxi was almost pleasant. It was 5 hours, all interstate. And the Beau Rivage, where we stayed, was very nice. They had sent us some comps, and we just had a great time. Friday night we went to see Chris Cagle in concert. I didn't realize how many songs of his I knew. He was a wonderful performer and we had GREAT seats - thanks Beau Rivage! I'm very impressed and surprised that he hasn't been more successful than he is. I'm definately now a big fan.

Then on Saturday at noon, we played a poker tournament. It was $130 for 4500 chips, 20 minute blinds. Not a bad structure. It makes for a 5-6 hours tournament. On Saturday there were about 105 players, so first place was a little over $4000. I did pretty well, but got myself in trouble a couple times over valuing some high pairs. I ended up busting out about 30th (which didn't pay) but I enjoyed the tourney.

Saturday night we went to the bull riding concert. The Beau Rivage bused us over to the colloseum and again we had GREAT seats. I'm so pleased with the comps this weekend. I've never been to a bull riding show, and it was lots of fun. I can't believe these guys do this. I mean those bulls are BIG and MEAN! Most of the riders looked like they were about 18 or 20. Very scary. Fortunately no one got hurt and we had a great time.

Sunday we played the noon tournament again. Again, neither of us cashed, but had a good time. After the tournament we had comps for the cafe. We waited about 30 minutes for seats then proceeded to have very poor meal. It was cajun/southern food, which I generally like. I had the gumbo to start, but it was very fishy tasting. I had the shrimp po boy for my entree and ended up just eating the shrimp as the bread was toasted too much and just plain crumbly. I had fries to, but only ate about 5 of those as they weren't very good either. Erik ordere the Seared Tuna Rare to Med Rare, and it came out well done. So overall disappointing lunch. But it was at least free.

Then we hit to road to come home about 6:00 pm. We got home just after 11:00 after hitting some rain and a little traffic. I'm a bit tired today from our busy weekend, but very pleased we went. Oh - and we lost our butts playing of course, but that's normal. :-)

Food-wise, I was ok. I did "journal" to the extent I could remember and guess points values. My biggest downfall (as usual) was the alcohol. Free drinks at the craps table makes for an uncountable number of (light!) beers. I guessed though, as I have promised to journal every day. I went way over on points, but only ate 1 meal a day with snacks and alcohol the rest of the time. Over all, it could have been worse. I made good choices at the buffet on Saturday and stuck with light beer.

Now to be back on track. This morning start off a bit bad as I had court and forgot to pick up my dry cleaning. I had the pants/shirt but now suit jacket. I went to the cleaners who were supposed to open at 8:00 and had to sit there till 8:15 when the clerk finally showed up. I had grabbed a balance bar for breakfast and had planned on a very low point day, but in my frustration I drove through Chick-fil-a and got a chicken burrito as well(8pts). So - a total of 12 pts for breakfast.

Lunch I've had at my desk, not bad - 4 pts for soup and 4 pts for popcorn. That leaves me 8 pts for tonight but I'm planning on going for a run when I get home, which will earn me about 7 more. Hopefully I can stick to just eating the 8 and use the 7 against this weekend's indulgences.

I hate going into a WI hoping for a maintain, but that might be the plan this week. I'll see how the next few days go. I seem to be very munchy today. Hopefully that will abate as the week progresses.

Tonight should be fun. Erik and I are hosting a poker game at our house about 6:30 which gives my time to run home after work and do my 5 mile run and shower before people show up. I'll probably take out some chicken or something for a light dinner.

The good news is that there is nothing going on this weekend. Erik has his son, and it's easter, so we'll probably decorate eggs or something. I'll try to get through the week and have a good OP weekend. Maybe I can forgo my thursday night indulgence if WI doesn't go too good. That would make for a long 1.5 weeks OP for a good WI next week. We'll see. We don't have plans to go out of town again until possibly mother's day so I should be able to be good for the foreseeable future.