The hunt is over

So, we leave for Cuba in 22 days, and I have been searching for a new swimsuit.

It is very difficult to find a one-piece suit with a skirt bottom that fits nicely. I feel like I have been to every store on the planet. I envy Krista for wearing bikinis - they are so much easier to find!! My body is not bikini ready, nor will it ever be as I am COVERED in stretch marks on my stomach due to being overweight for so long and having 2 babies back to back.

But, yesterday I went with my family to an outlet mall and found exactly what I have been looking for at Winners. Weird thing is, I have been to 3 different Winners at least 6 times in the past few weeks and have not been able to find anything - but the one that we went to yesterday had 1 perfect one in my size. Only $19.99 too!!! Added bonus!

I found a video of myself that I took last March when I thought I was going to follow the Dr. Phil weight loss program. I was 180 lbs at the time and I look so different than I do right now. Its crazy that it took gaining another 10lbs to get my butt into Weight Watchers. 

It's also crazy to know how much I yo-yo'd last year. I started the year at 195, I was 180 in March and back up to 190 by September. I am so glad to finally be at a place in my life where I feel like I am truly making life changes.

What a FANTASTIC day!

It was an early morning for me today, I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to get my daughter to her cheer gym. Breakfast Television Toronto came out to tape a few segments of the kids cheering. My daughter managed to get her face in a few shots. In this clip that I am attaching a link to host Jennifer Valentyne goes over to talk to the 'little kids' as she does you can see a little one with 2 pig-tails walking towards her down the left side of the screen - that's my daughter. Then as Jennifer finishes up with the little ones she (the host) asks them if they are all having fun and as the camera pulls out you see my daughter look at the camera and say 'yup'.

Here's the link to the Breakfast Television clip.

Here is a picture of my daughter and Jennifer Valentyne.

Next, drop Megan off at school and pick up my friend Patty because it's MONDAY and that means its our Weight Watchers weigh in day!!! 

I was very excited all weekend because I knew I would be down. Then this morning my TOM started - ARGH. I was worried because I am usually up a bit days 1 & 2. Well, no worries necessary.

drum roll please......................

down 2.8!!!

WOO HOOOO

So now I am 20 straight wi's with losses. 20-0, pretty cool!

35.4 lbs gone - and feeling GREAT!!!

What a day! I am so happy!!!

A very nice weekend

It's Sunday afternoon and I have had a very nice weekend. Started off yesterday with my daughter at Cheer practice. Then we went off to Subway for lunch (I love my Saturday sub). We went to the mall for a bit and then went home for some quiet time. 

At 4 pm we were off to our best friends youngest son's baptism. He looked so grown up in his suit, I remember back when we met them he was only 4 months old - where did the time go? I was a good girl at the baptism. Had some soup, chili, salad and fruit for dessert - completely steered clear of the baked goods. Wore my new blue dress and got lots of compliments.

Today was church and then my in-laws came up and took us for lunch. We don't normally go out to eat on Sundays, but my in-laws don't share our faith so sometimes we make allowances where they are concerned. I had one of the best salads I have ever had, but when I got home and checked out the NI online I figured out why it was so good - IT WAS LOADED WITH FAT! Casey's Asian Chicken salad  - the killer was the honey lime dressing. I should have asked for it on the side. It sounded healthier than the salsa ranch dressing that was on the salad that I normally get - but after checking it out the salsa ranch would have been a MUCH better bet. About half the cals and fat. OH WELL, live & learn. I've made that mistake before. 

I will always check NI on computer before going out to eat.

I will always check NI on computer before going out to eat.

I will....... well, you get it. lol

BIG NEWS - My daughter is going to be on Breakfast Television (Toronto) tomorrow morning (6-9 a.m.). Jennifer Valentine (a show host) will be taping live from her cheer gym to teach people about competitive cheerleading. My daughter is SUPER excited - me too. We have to be at the gym at 5:30 a.m. in full uniform - that part doesn't excite me. To say that I am not a morning person is quite the understatement. 

After the segment shoots I will go directly to my weigh in, which I think will be a good one (fingers crossed).

GO TEAM LYNN (or team lean, or whatever we decided to name it)

Spoiled girl!

I am a very spoiled girl. I know it, and I love it - is that wrong? lol

Last night my husband came home from work with some bags - my favorite kind of shopping bags, Coach ones!!! He works very close to the Yorkdale mall, so he sometimes stops in there. He went in and decided to see what Coach had as far as sales. One of the things in the shopping bags is a big pink box - he said that it is for Valentines day. I am so excited. There was also another box, a medium brown box. I asked him what that one was for and he said he just couldn't turn it down because it was a great price, so he bought it and will put it away for a future occasion. I told him that 'Wednesdays' are a great occasion, and that a girl can never have enough purses. After some convincing (but I'll admit, not as much as I would have thought) he let me have it. Its a great handbag, brown leather, from the Legacy line. I love it. He's a sweetheart. I told him that he better be careful spoiling me like this - I might start to think he has a girlfriend lol.

He won't be home for dinner tonight.  He has to go to a charity function in Toronto with his father, so he decided to stay home this morning and have lunch with me and our son. We went to the mall for lunch and also to find some new pants for my husband. We didn't find him any pants, but I did manage to find 2 dresses at Old Navy on the clearance rack for only $16. They are both the same, but one is blue & white while the other is a lime green & white. I have a bunch of stuff coming up (baptism, baby showers, etc...) so I'll have lots of chances to wear them. I was VERY happy to be able to get a size medium - and I think that the fabric and style are very suited to my body (i.e. it hides the problem areas well).

Still OP. I managed to get in 2 APs yesterday, so I am at a grand total of 6 so far this week - yay me. I am looking forward to pizza tonight. Krista got me thinking about it, and so I will be making it on the whole grain PC crust as well. I think that I will put ham and pineapple on it, I've been on a bit of a pineapple kick lately.

So much to say.

I'm feeling great (except for the sore muscles). I have been OP  so far this week, and even managed to earn 3 APs on Monday and 1 on Tuesday (that's a lot for me). I plan on earning some today too - hopefully 3 again. That online program of Jillian Michaels that I mentioned is way more difficult than I expected. Hopefully soon I will be able to get through it all.

I ordered some stuff from www.lowcarbgrocery.com I have been noticing things on other peoples blogs and whatnot, so I decided to give a few of them a try. I ordered:

PB2 Peanut Butter

PB2 Chocolate Peanut Butter

Walden Farms calorie free caramel dip

Walden Farms calorie free apple butter.

I ordered everything yesterday and received my shipment today - not too bad!!

I've tasted the chocolate peanut butter, the apple butter and the caramel dip so far.

The chocolate peanut butter is very good, and so is the apple butter.

The caramel dip tasted a bit weird, but I'm thinking that that is because I just dipped my finger in to taste it - next time I will try it on an apple or something like that.

Something else that I am excited about is a new program that Dempsters is running where you can get a free Hamilton Beach sandwich grill!! You just have to save the UPC codes from 10 of their participating products and then mail it away with a $15 money order (for shipping) and voila! I bought a bunch of their bodywise products today. They are all quite low 'points' wise, which is good. I can't wait to get my grill.

Biggest Loser last night was a HUGE disappointment. I really don't understand why Jillian's team asked the others who they wanted them to vote off, and stated that they would respect their decision - and then they just went the opposite way! I guess the game play has already started. I really think that Joelle has some serious mental issues that she needs to deal with 

- POOR BOB!!

I also don't understand why Dan was absent for the temptation challenge. They didn't give us any explanation - they didn't even mention it. I was watching and thought "hey, wheres Dan?"

weird!

Okay, off to earn some AP's so that I can FINALLY make Team Lynn (do we have an official name yet?) proud.

WI day

It's Monday, WI day, and that darn scale hasn't budged all week. 

I had a great week as far as eating. Stayed OP and made good choices all week long.

Got to my meeting to find that I am down 0.6 lbs. Well, at least my streak continues, but after last weeks 0.2 and now this I am not very happy.

I KNOW what the issue is - EXERCISE!!!! I just need to do it. I have been so lazy, and so lucky that I have managed to lose for 19 weeks in a row with really doing much in the way of activity, but these past two weeks have shown me that I REALLY need to change things up or my body is not really going to budge much from this stage.

So, after I finish entering this blog I am going to do day one of the Jillian Michaels Great One Month Slim-down. I found this site via a posting on the WW message boards, and it looks interesting.

My dear friend and WW buddy Patty achieved her 'lifetime' today at our meeting. I was so proud of her. She got to get up and tell everyone about her journey. She is a true inspiration to me.

The best part of my day so far was just before the meeting started. A woman who has been at the meetings maybe 3 or 4 times before got up from her seat and came over and asked me if she could sit beside me. She said that I have been so inspiring to her and she just really wanted to sit with me. That made me feel really great!

So off to exercise and have another OP eating week - hoping for a much better # at the scales next week, so that I can get closer to my CUBA goal, and be a bigger help to Team Lynn!!!

my smoothie & my boy

That smoothie I made yesterday did not have the staying power that I hoped it would. I don't know if it was because I was home all day, or what, but I seemed to get hungry again too soon. I was speaking to my friend about it last night, and she suggested putting 1/2 cup of oats into it. Her personal trainer told her that that would make it more filling. Since oatmeal is a WW 'filling food' I didn't mind trying it. 

So this morning I made one. The texture was different than yesterdays, but it still tasted great. I had it at about 8 a.m. and it is now 9 a.m. and so far I am still really satisfied. I would like to see this feeling last until about 10 a.m. when I would normally have a snack anyways - so we'll see.

My boy (5) has been fevered since 11 p.m. Thursday night, when he registered 103 degrees f. I kept him home from kindergarten yesterday so he could rest. He was supposed to go to a birthday party with his sister last night but when it was time to go he was still 101 degrees f so I decided he couldn't go. He stayed home and snuggled up to Daddy while watching Kung Fu Panda (his new favorite movie).

Last night he came into our room at 3 a.m. and told me that his tummy hurt. Within about 30 seconds he was in the bathroom throwing up - poor guy! I 'slept' with him in his bed so that I could help him whenever he needed it. He is such a snugly little guy, so even though I didn't get much sleep I enjoyed cuddling him. For his sake I hope today's a better day.

I'm kind of bummed that even though I feel that I have been good with my eating this week my weight has not budged all week. I feel like I am PMSing, got the regular symptoms, so maybe that has something to do with it. Just so long as I don't get my TOM on WI day - that would really put me UP!!!

GO TEAM LYNN!!!

Protein in the morning

One of the things that I have always had trouble with is getting protein in the morning. Every weight loss expert I have ever spoken with has told me the importance of this, but I still found it hard. It almost turns my stomach. 

Sure, the odd time I would make an omelette or have some ham, but most days I just could not bring myself to do it.

I've been thinking a lot lately about whey protein. I know that many healthy people include this in their diets, and so I was thinking about buying some. Then I saw the price. It's about 30 for a (very large) container of it, but still, its $30.

I decided today that I would bite the bullet and buy it when I went shopping. And that I would also buy some yogurt and frozen fruits to make morning smoothies with it.

Forward to the yogurt aisle, and look what I found. Astro Zero Fat Free Weight Maintenance Support Vanilla yogurt. It has no fat, no sugar added, no aspartame, 8 vitamins and minerals and the 3rd ingredient (after skim milk and milk protein concentrate) is WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE!!! This yogurt just saved me $30!

per 1/2 cup it has:

50 cals

0 fat

0 fibre

5g protein!!!!

So I am currently enjoying my morning smoothie made with 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup frozen fruits & 1/2 cup Astro Zero - SUPER YUMMY!!!

Mid week & OP - & the Biggest Loser

So, its Wednesday, and I am feeling great. I have stayed OP so far this week, but I have yet to earn any APs (why do I struggle with this so?). I've been feeling very lazy, but I know that I just need to get up off my butt and do some exercise. 

The Biggest Loser last night was great - and as with other bloggers it made me very emotional. I kept crying. I really hope that Dan gets the chance to stick around for a while, the ranch really seems to be the place for him right now. As for Joelle, well, I have differing views on her than other bloggers. I find her manipulative and I think that she is just wasting every ones time. I was surprised to see that Tara only lost a pound - good thing she had immunity. I think that she has the determination to be a very strong competitor this season. Overall, I am loving this season so far. I watched Bob & Jillian and others on Larry King live, and I loved that they said that this will be the longest season so far. They are taping for more than 5 months this time around.

I think that one of the reasons that this show made me so emotional last night is that this whole journey for me is quite emotional. That's one of the differences from anytime that I have tried to lose weight in the past - EMOTION. I feel that it is because I truly know that I am going to achieve my goals this time around. My husband and I talk about it a lot and we truly feel that we have started to make these life changes. Last night my husband said our prayer for us at bedtime, and he prayed that we would be able to continue strong on this healthy journey of ours, and that in doing so we could be examples to his parents. 

Both of his parents are morbidly obese. His dad is only 54 and he has had congestive heart failure, a stroke and now he has been diagnosed with diabetes. He takes in excess of 40 pills a day, and still he can't seem to find the motivation to change his eating habits. My husbands mom is 56 and can barely walk anymore due to all the excess weight and now she has severe arthritis in her knees. This is a woman who LOVES playing with her grandkids (really she is just a big kid herself) and she is now at the point where she can't sit on the floor with them because it is too difficult to get back up. She wants to go to Disney World with us, but I know that she would not be able to walk around. Both my MIL and FIL feed off each other, they use the other to promote their bad habits and they are both food pushers for the other. With my MIL its a matter of quality of life, but with my FIL its a matter of life or death. I really hope that they can find the motivation they need to join us on this journey.

Another long post - sorry.

WI #18 and the dangers of sledding.

My husband decided to take the kids out sledding yesterday afternoon. They all had fun until my son fell off his sled and hit the back of his head on some ice. We took him to urgent care and they decided that he needed stitches or the medical glue stuff - they let him decide (duh, he's 5, of course he doesn't want stitches). I personally think that stitches are better. I used to work in a dental office and sometimes the glue that we used for surgeries would dislodge. The Dr. assured us that he would be fine with the glue, so what's a mom supposed to do. I didn't want to be the meany who says "no, please stick my child repeatedly with a needle" so now he has a chunk of glue in the top/back of his head.

Now on to me - today was WI #18 and I fully anticipated a gain. I was sad to see my streak end, but I figured this was the week to do it. Well, I managed to 'SQUEAK' by and get a loss of 0.2 lbs. That's the least possible that you can lose at a WW meeting because their scales work in intervals of .2

So, even though it was still a 'loss', it was DEFINITELY the kick in the butt that I needed to get myself back on track. It puts me at a 2 lb loss so far in the BLBE challenge, which is not enough.

 I don't want to let my team mates down - GO TEAM LYNN!!! - so I will do MUCH better this week.

BMI

Lisa was curious to know what my BMI was, and this got me thinking. As I track my weight loss, I should also track my BMI as this is a great factor in determining my overall health and after all, I really do want to be (super sexy hot) healthy. lol

So, my current BMI is 32, down from the 39 that it was when I started this journey. I'm a shorty!! But being short is what helps me to go down in sizes so quickly.

What a great day!!! NSV's

Today I decided to try something.

Some of you may remember that I bought 2 pairs of jeans when they were on sale at Old Navy and put them away to be worn later. I figured if I purchased them, then I was committed to wearing them one day.

Well, they were sizes 10 & 8. When I bought them I could barely pull the 1o's up my legs, and doing them up would have been impossible since the 2 sides of the zipper several inches from each other.

Today I thought that I would take them to get hemmed so that when I am ready for them I can wear them. Well, guess what??? I AM wearing them right now. They are definitely snug - but that helps to keep me on track. I repeat - I AM WEARING A SIZE 10 JEAN!!!!

So, I decided that I needed a new shirt to wear with my new jeans, and I went to Old Navy (where else? lol). They have those great clearance racks at the back. There was a time when I was lucky to find something XXL at old Navy that would fit me. Today, feeling as good as I was in my new jeans, I decided to see if a large shirt would fit me. I took it into the change room and guess what??? It was too big!  I stood there in silence for a bit, just in complete awe of what I have done. I stepped out and asked the sales girl if she minded if I just ran back to the racks to get another size. On my way there I started to tear up - this is totally emotional for me. I went back into the change room with my MEDIUM top and tried it on - it fits nicely. So nicely in fact that I went back and picked out a few other MEDIUM tops to buy as well. I repeat - MEDIUM tops.

I know that I have been saying since the beginning that I WILL reach my goals this time - but now that I am actually doing it, I am totally amazed!!! I CAN DO THIS!!! I CAN!!! I AM!!!

So the pics are of me in my new SIZE 10 jeans and my MEDIUM top! Sorry they are so dark, I took them with my webcam.

Support is such a great thing!

Support is the key for me. In all the attempts in my life to lose weight I never realized that, but this time I do. Support (for me) is essential to my success.

This is hard for me to type, because I have always seen myself as this strong, independent woman who can do it all on her own. Factors in my childhood forced me to care for myself and my younger sibling from about the age of 9 - and I guess since then I have always felt like I have to do it all alone. Which is weird, because I am married, and in most things I realize that we work together as a team to make this life great - but sometimes I just can't get past the feelings of that little girl who had to take it on alone.

Asking for help has always been hard for me.

As many of you know, my husband has been a great support to me through this weight loss journey this time around because he has chosen to get healthy himself - so we are doing this together (although he isn't actually doing WW). But that came on its own, I didn't ask him for help with that. He just woke up one day after I had started to lose weight and he made that decision for himself, which is good. I know that my example prompted him to change, but I didn't ask him to.

I have a friend that comes to WW with me. I didn't ask her to join, or to help me, she asked me if she could tag along. I love that she does - it definitely helps, but I didn't ask for that help.

One of the Weight Watchers Helpful Habits is to ASK FOR HELP. Their research has proven that having the help of those around you helps you to sustain weight-loss efforts. I now KNOW this to be true.

I now realize that I did ask for help. When I made the conscious effort to put this blog out there for all of cyber-space to read, that I was asking for help. I was looking for help and encouragement from others who are currently or who have battled with their weight. I DID IT - I ASKED FOR HELP!!! ME!!!

And that's what I got. All my times of success have been cheered on - and more importantly, this week, when I was feeling LOW and like I was struggling, in came the HELP that I needed by way of blog comments. You guys ROCK!!! You have helped me put things in perspective and realize that I am NOT going to give up. My team members have been great - GO TEAM LYNN!! But also others who are not doing the Biggest Loser Blog Edition - and even those on Team Angie (you're going down - lol) have supported me.

I probably shouldn't single anyone out - but I'm going to. Lisa has been supporting my blog almost since I began it - and her words really encourage me. She is also an inspiration as she has just lost 1/4 of the weight she wants to lose. So, thanks Lisa, you help to make this journey easier for me.

And THANKS to all of you who have commented, or even just read this blog - we can all reach our goals if we continue to reach out to each other.

Go TEAM Lynn!!

BTW, I am totally back OP!!!

fell right back off the wagon!

So, Monday I ate like crazy and was not happy with myself. Tuesday I stayed OP felt good and then stepped on the scale and was HORRIFIED (mind you it was my nighttime weight, but still).

I woke up this morning and was up a few pounds since Mondays wi, that fact should have kicked me right in the butt and gotten me to stay focused - but did it????? NO, Of course not, that would make too much sense!!

I have eaten SO horribly today, and SO MUCH FOOD!!!! I just can't seem to stop. Right now I literally feel nauseous. This is bad - WHERE DID MY MOTIVATION GO!?!

Go Team Lynn!!! BLBE

So I am officially a member of Team Lynn for the Biggest Loser Blog Edition Season 2 Challenge. We are so going to ROCK this competition!

I had a good day today, stayed OP. I was not so good yesterday. I usually 'splurge' a little on Mondays, thinking that I have the whole week to make up for it - but yesterday I went COMPLETELY OVERBOARD - I just couldn't stop eating.

Today was much better, and I did 35 mins on my Wii Fit (Boxing, step aerobics and Super Hula Hoop).

Tonight I had an activity with my church. I help out in the youth program, so we have activities every Tuesday night. Tonight was tobogganing - it was TONS of fun, but man, I had a few bad wipe outs! What the heck is a 35 year old Mom doing sledding? !?! I'm definitely going to feel that tomorrow.

Starting off '09 in the right direction!

WI this morning was great - down 1.8 !! That means I have stayed on my losing streak and have now done 17 straight WI's with losses. It also means that I have said 'goodbye' to the 160's and 'hello' to the 150's. It will hopefully be a short little visit though, because I would like to see the 140's soon - lol.

I am so excited for this year - I know that it is going to be great for so many reasons. Hubby & I will both get healthy, and stay that way with some hard work. And I think that this will be a good year for us to make better choices financially speaking. 

I hope that everyone else is having as great a day as I am.

Feeling great.

I am so positive lately. I have been feeling great, I have been receiving tons of encouraging and supportive comments on  my weight loss, and I am just loving life.

That's not to say that I don't have any problems, or course I do - don't we all !?! There is never enough money, but I know that life usually feels that way, so I am not going to let it bring me down. My kids have been extra crazy hyper lately, but that's the Christmas break for you, they are back to their regular routine in 2 days so that will improve things (I hope).

But overall - life is great. 

I have a great husband who loves me, who I can truly be myself around, who makes me laugh and who provides enough for us to allow me to be a stay at home mom.

I have 2 healthy, smart, happy children who bring more joy to me (yes, even when they are driving me nuts) then I could have ever imagined.

I have ME! Yes, I am grateful for ME!!! I am a strong, happy woman who is growing more and more confident in herself each day. I am learning to make time for myself to concentrate on getting this body healthy, and also just time for ME!! I have had more soaks in the tub in the past month then I have in several years combined. Just me, and a magazine!!!

I am proud of how far I have come on this journey, and I am excited about what is still to come for me. I am curious to know what trials I will face with it. I haven't plateaued yet, and I know that it will come, so I am curious to see how I will react to it - and how I will overcome it!  Because I KNOW I will overcome and reach my goals. 

I am so happy for my blog friends who take them time to read & comment on my ramblings - its nice to know that you are out there and that you can relate to what I am feeling on some level.

If I can stay on track tonight and tomorrow, I think that I will be in for a nice WI on Monday!!!

keep your fingers crossed ;)

The Facebook Picture

I thought I would post the picture that I posted on FB here too - its my 'now and then' pic.
Last New Years to this one!
Next years will be even better.

my NSV from my 5 year old boy.

Today we went to a good friends home for a visit and they were all so amazed with how much the hubby and I have lost - it felt nice to hear it from them.

Afterwards we went out for dinner with my in-laws. I took my boy to the bathroom and afterwards I bent down to help him do up his pants, as I stood back up he looked up at me and said "Mommy, you are getting SO healthy"

We don't use the word 'diet' in our home. My sister had to be hospitalized in high school due to a severe eating disorder, so we are very aware of the kind of problems that can arise from this type of thinking. Our children know that Mommy and Daddy's bellies are not healthy and so they know that we are eating healthier foods and exercising so that we can get healthier. So to hear him tell me that I am getting healthier means that he sees me getting thinner - what a cutie!

Here is a little video that I took of him today - he wanted to write his own song.