Stupid Tax and Portion Challenge

Dave Ramesy has a name for when we do something that ultimately costs us more than it is worth, a Stupid Tax. For example, when I cashed in my retirement after teaching for 4 years to pay off my credit cards only to turn around and not only charge them back up and have to do debt consolidation, but also pay Uncle Sam a hefty tax on the retirement. Turns out the debt consolidation was a stupid tax too. They tell you that it could hurt your credit, but they don't tell you that it will be even worse after you pay off all those bills than if you had filed bankruptcy!

Anyway, sometimes I feel like there needs to be a food stupid tax. Saturday after I walked the 5K, I stopped by Dairy Queen on the way home. I had planned to "celebrate" with a small Blizzard. Now going to Dairy Queen is not an every day occurrence for me. Fortunately for my waistline, the only Dairy Queen around here is in Diamondhead, Mississippi which is about 30 miles away. Normally when I do hit the DQ, it is on the way home from my sister's house and I have Butterbean in the car to share a small Blizzard with me. Well, this time I was alone. They say you should never drink alone, but I say I should never get a Blizzard alone. All totaled I earned 5 activity points walking the 5k (about 250 calories spent) but eating that Blizzard cost me 15 points! (660 calories and 29 grams of fat) What is worse, is that less than half way through the Blizzard I thought, Hmmm, I'm full and satisfied. I should stop eating this. But did I? No! I ate the whole thing, because "It was too good to waste." Stupid? Yes!

I sometimes wonder if my portions are stalling my weight loss. I have seen all the easy portion guides, but honestly, when it is time to eat, I fill my plate without a thought to how much I'm putting on there. Then, I'm challenged with the task of guessing how much I ate to put in my tracker later. I also have trouble remembering which is which. I got the deck of cards equals 3 ounces, but is the computer mouse a medium or large potato? The baseball is a cup, but how do I measure something that doesn't stay all nice and rounded up?

So this is my challenge this week for myself, I'm going to measure everything I put in my mouth and eat the recommended portion size. I want to see if my eyes really are bigger than my stomach. Since we have no plans to eat out this week, it should be a good time to do it.

Last week, I challenged myself to earn as many activity points as possible. I earned 31 points this week which is 5 more than I have ever earned. I had planned on earning more, but Butterbean insisted on going on my walk with me tonight. With her short legs, I couldn't get the intensity up to earn those extra points. We had gotten half way around the block and she wanted to be carried home. I told her no, but in hindsight, I should have piggy backed her home and enjoyed the extra load. She is currently 34 pounds which is actually a little more than half of the weight that I have lost since November of last year. Oh well!

My weigh in is tomorrow, so we will see if all the extra walking has paid off. But as Jillian on the Biggest loser said, "You have no control over the scale. You only have control over how hard you work." I have worked hard this week, so we will see if it pays off.

My First 5K or how to come in last gracefully!

I did it! Yesterday, I walked in my first 5K. I walked in the Summer Beach Run in Pass Christian, Mississippi. It was very hot, but a beautiful day for a walk. I woke up at 6am which is very early for me. After reading KathEatsRealFood's Tribute to Oatmeal, I was inspired to make oatmeal with butterscotch chips and brown sugar for breakfast and a fried egg. It was yummy! Hubby and Butterbean were supposed to go with me, but alas they slept in, and I went by myself. Butterbean would have loved it! The run started and finished in the War Memorial Park which doesn't sound like a place to take a child, but it was a really nice playground and exercise course. I believe that I have been to that park before when I was student teaching at Pass Christian Elementary School. I am sure that it has been revamped since Katrina destroyed almost everything along the coast there. This was the first time I have been to the coast since Katrina. I adore the Mississippi Gulf Coast and was devastated to see the damage it incurred from the storm.

Upon arrival, I checked in with the registration table. I told the lady my name and got my number. "You're a race walker. You know you are not allowed to jog even a step?" she said. Uh, yeah, my knees told me that long before you did. "No problem!" I replied. She took my number, wrote XL and handed me an extra large tank that I knew would be way too snug to wear. I should have asked for a small so Butterbean could wear it as night shirt. I filled out the bottom of the race number and pinned it on my black tank. Why did I wear black? Oh well, let's hit the potty. I walk over the the public restrooms where people are milling around stretching and waiting. After my turn, I decide to walk around the park to stretch while we wait for the race to start. I update my status on Facebook and Twitter. I'm feeling a little anxious about my size. I am the largest person there, not the oldest though. Oh, they have pizza! Guess that is for after the race, but it will be cold by then. I text message my sister, "If I had known that there would be so much "eye candy", I would have taken up 5K walking years ago when I was single!" Now I'm an old married woman and have to keep my eyes on the path ahead. She texted me back that that is why she used to walk at Keesler and why she started wearing reflective sunglasses.

About 8am, everyone begins to line up. The official makes a few announcements about the course, be careful of the potholes on the north side of Scenic Drive and says we will start with the siren. I situate myself about three quarters of the way back next to an older lady and someone my age that appears to be as out of shape as me. We make small talk. Then the siren sounds and off we go! The runners run ahead and the walkers get off to a good pace. Then I notice that I am falling behind. Within minutes, everyone is ahead of me. I'm dead last. Thoughts pass through my head. Why did I do this again? Because I can? Because I get 6 months of free Weight Watcher's magazines? I'm already a subscriber. Do you think they are smart enough to know that? Or am I going to be getting two copies now? Heck, I haven't even gotten my last one! I bet it is sitting in my stupid mail carrier's truck along with the two letters from the storage place telling me that the rent is going up! Hmmm there's a crossroad, I could just take a quick right and catch up with the others. No, you said you were going to do this, now do it. Hi! nice old lady watering her lawn! Water! That looks wonderful! Keep walking! Man! If you don't hurry it up all those skinny people are going to eat up all the cold pizza!

Then I see it! The one mile marker! I walk on. I round the turn onto Menge Avenue and start heading south. I contemplate picking up the orange cones, since I'm the last person walking. I don't. They promised us water sometime before the two mile mark. I turn right again and head up Scenic Drive. I see the water table and three young men walking toward it. Please don't let them be taking down that table before I get there. They don't. I arrive, drink three cups of Kentwood water and chat with them for a moment. The one encourages me to "Keep up your pace!" I move on. I am so focused on the walk that I almost totally missed the glorious beach view. It was so pretty. No one was out there and I could see for miles. I took a photo with my Blackberry and hoped that it would turn out since I didn't stop to take it. Then I noticed the houses on the north side of the street. There are some beautiful old homes that were spared by Katrina, but the live oaks seemed to have suffered. There was a mom with her dog and daughter out by the fence. I thought the dog was one of those Scottish Terriers, but then he stood up. He was a majestic black Great Dane.

As I passed up the two mile marker, I noticed that there were people running toward me up ahead, rounding a cone in the middle of the road and heading back to the finish line. Please, Dear God, don't make me run all the way to the end only to turn around and come back! I then remembered that they were also having a one mile fun run, so that cone meant I only had a half a mile from there! WoooHoooo!!! I got a new spring in my step and pressed on! At least, I wouldn't look like a dope coming in last. Some of the one mile folks were behind me. As I approached the chute, I took a photo of the official time clock and walked on through. The officials took my tab from my number and handed me a little sticker that said I was 199th. Oh well, I finished!

I filled out the sticker and stuck it on the poster, grabbed a piece of pizza and a piece of watermelon. I was wrong there was plenty of pizza left. It was water and Poweraide that ran out before I could get there. I was able to get a little cup of water. I walked around the farmer's market as they announced the winners. I was amazed to hear that there were people there from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even Ohio! The official website says I finished 198th out of 198 people, but in my mind I'm still a winner for having tried. I'm planning on doing another one! My friend, Nancy, and I are going to do one in January in Mobile. January is a much better time of year for walking down here. I would like to work myself up to do a half marathon at Stennis next year. If you would have told me that I was going to walk in a 5K this time last year, I would have laughed in your face! Now, anything seems possible!

Sorry for not posting on Weigh In Day

I was really busy and kind of down. I only lost.2lbs this week which really makes me wonder if I'm not measuring my portions correctly or if I'm not eating enough with all the extra walking I have been doing to get ready for tomorrow. I know I have been putting in the effort, so I'm thinking it is the extra exercise. So this week I am tracking very carefully and using up my bonus points. I was going to try the Wendy method, but I blew it already. The Wendy method is as follows:

Day 1 Eat daily points plus 5 bonus
Day 2 Eat daily points plus 1 bonus
Day 3 Eat daily points plus 15 bonus
Day 4 Eat daily points plus 0 bonus
Day 5 Eat daily points plus 4 bonus
Day 6 Eat daily points plus 2 bonus
Day 7 Eat daily points plus 0 bonus

Today is supposed to be my 15 bonus point day, but I ate 14 bonus points on Wednesday at El Rey in Slidell. Yum! I was starving after walking three miles and knew I was going out to dinner that I didn't get a snack. Big mistake! I know better! When the waiter brought the basket of chips and salsa, I dug in. I did order the fajita salad which is one of their lightest choices on the menu, but I know I ate more than my fair share of chips. Alan even said so.

I ate 4 bonus points yesterday. So, I think I'm going to behave myself today and enjoy a small Blizzard tomorrow after the 5k.

Eat your Veggies!

Walking in the Rain

Well, I'm getting geared up for the 5K on Saturday and honestly I am a little scared. Up until today, all of my walking was done on my treadmill. So today, I was determined to hit the road until the rain came down. We live in a pretty technological world though, so I checked weather.com. It said that the rain was on the way out and would clear up in plenty of time for me to still get my walk on. I slipped the headphones over my ears and the plug into my Blackberry. I was going to listen to a walking workout program on my Blackberry.

Ha! It was clear when I left the house, but I could still hear a faint rumble of thunder in the distance. I walked on! I had mapped out 3.2 miles on the USATF website. I knew where I was going or so I thought. I took a wrong turn down a dead end street and ended up having to backtrack. I decided that I would cut my walk a little short to make up for the mistake. As I got to where I was supposed to turn around down came the rain! By the time I arrived back home, I was soaked. Fortunately, my Blackberry fared quite well in my pocket. It was a learning experience though. I learned:

• Never trust the forecast radar to pinpoint where the rain is going.
• My cheap Wal-Mart walking shoes are not waterproof.
  
• Black clothing is better to wear if there is any possibility of getting wet.
• Those loose-fitting clothes that us fat princesses wear to camouflage our figures become form-fitting when wet. I apologize to all the folks passing by in their vehicles.
  

I also must admit that I had thought for just a moment about calling my husband to come pick me up, but then I decided against it. I didn't want to get my car seats wet, so I walked on. I'm sure that the folks on their way home from work were probably wondering what I was doing. If I saw a thin woman walking in the rain, I would think, "Boy, is she dedicated to exercise!" But I'm pretty sure that people were just wondering what that fat chick was doing walking in the rain. At least I wasn't sweating!

Tomorrow, I plan on hitting the St. Tammany Trace for a whole 3 mile walk after my Weight Watcher's meeting! Tomorrow is weigh in day, I'll post my results!

My Weight Loss Journey, part 2

Butterbean's third birthday and yes, I'm eating a cupcake.

Morbid Obesity. When I was pregnant with my only child, the OB sent me to have special ultrasounds done in Baton Rouge. He told me it was because there was a slight possibility due to my age and some blood work that he had run that my baby may have a congenital defect. After determining that she didn't, the doctor kept sending me to have these ultrasounds every month or so. As a soon to by mom, I love seeing my baby all the time, but wondered why we needed to do this so often. On my final trip to Baton Rouge, I found out. Morbid Obesity was the reason they listed for the insurance company. Morbid? I never considered myself morbid. Sure, I was fat. I was 315 lbs, but still in my mind I wasn't MORBID. Isn’t it funny how the mind allows us to go on believing the little white lies that we tell ourselves?

Anyway, I joined Weight Watchers on March 26, 2009 weighing in at 310.8 lbs, five pounds less than when I was 9 months pregnant and 29 pounds less than my highest weight. I lost 5.2 lbs. my first week. WooHoo for Weight Watchers! I got my first gold star! Then I went home and plugged my weight into the weight tracker on their website. It scolded me. It said that I was losing weight too quickly and needed to slow down. Weight Watchers wants its members to lose no more than two pounds a week. It said that if I needed to know how to slow my weight loss I could talk to my leader. At 300+ pounds, I was pretty sure I knew how to slow down my weight loss. I was a master at not losing weight, so I didn't need some woman who lost 30 pounds several years ago to tell me to eat more and do less.

My next week, I lost 2.2 pounds. Woo Hoo again! Once again, the weight tracker scolded me and said I should not lose more than two pounds a week. The next week, I gained .8 pounds. Mr. Weight Tracker was like a kind mentor rather than a drill sergeant. "You gained a bit this week," it said. "Talk to your leader about how you can get back on track."

As frustrating as that first gain was, it is comforting to know that if it was a setback not failure in the eyes of the Weight Watcher's tracker. I was learning to take the numbers for what they were, just numbers. They wouldn't change who I was inside. They were just a measure of where I was right at that moment. No more, no less.

Weight Loss, my journey thus far, Part one

I have been obese for as long as I can remember. I have tried diets, starvation, working out and all the crazy drugs. Nothing has worked. I came to the point where I just decided that at the age of 35, I had a husband who loved me and a daughter that adored me, so what did it matter how big I was?

Well, at my check-up in January of 2008, I weighed in at 339lbs. At 5 foot 6, my BMI was 54.7 almost double the maximum for an average weight person. My doctor did some routine blood work to check my hormone levels. It came back that I had a severely elevated insulin levels. We always knew that my insulin was out of whack with my PCOS, but this was above and beyond what she expected. Dr. Cherry, my gynecologist, (I swear that is her real name) sat me down and explained what this meant in a way that no other doctor cared to take the time to do. She explained that the increased insulin levels were not only a precursor to type 2 diabetes, but they were a huge part of my recent weight gain. The more insulin in the body the more the body wanted to eat. The more I ate the more insulin I produced. I had to get serious about taking my metformin and eating better. She also prescribed Byetta, lizard spit injections that would help control my appetite and my insulin.

Fast forward to October 2008, I was sick of the shots, but willing to up the metformin. My insurance company refused to pay for me to go to Dr. Cherry, because she wasn't on their list. So, I started seeing a new OB/Gyn, who agreed to let me go off the Byetta and up the metformin. I also resolved to start eating better. I was still 339lbs, thus began my weight loss journey.

In March, I knew I had lost some weight, but did not have a scale to weigh myself at home. My sister had mentioned that she was going to do Weight Watchers. I had tried Weight Watchers in 2000 when I lived in Florida. Honestly, I had only done it for about 2 weeks, before falling back into my old habits of drive thru quickies and chocolate. At $12/week, Weight Watchers was "too expensive" for a single gal living in Orlando, I had reasoned. Truth be told, I spend five times that much on fast food.

I decided that if my sister, who had lost 120 lbs by changing her eating habits alone, admitted that she was willing to give WW's a go at it to help her lose her next 120 lbs, then maybe I should give it a go too. I pulled out my old books and decided that I would try to do it on my own. My husband told me that I would need a scale at home if I were serious, so I bought one the next day. My first time on the scale, I weighed in at 320lbs. For two weeks, I studied everything I could find on Weight Watchers and healthy eating. I counted my points and asked my sister a ton of questions. I lost 13lbs in 2 weeks. When my sister brought her WW's booklets to show me, I saw that she got little gold 5lb stars for each 5lbs that she lost. I wanted those stars. Sure, I could go out and buy a pack of gold stars, but it wouldn't be the same as earning them. I joined WW's the next week!

Gardening

Everyday on my way to work, I pass by this old nursery in Lacombe. The buildings and greenhouses are in disrepair and the plants that were left there are overgrown. While I would love to “tour” this lovely old place, the six foot chain-link fence and my fear of snakes keep me out.

This abandoned garden center amazes me. Each season, some new plant is blooming. The azaleas bloomed in the spring time. As spring gives way to summer, there’s a hibiscus with white petals and magenta centers that blooms the size of a dinner plate. Pink roses fill the fencerow in summer. As the weather cools, the camellias begin blooming. What a beautiful show of colors year round this little run down spot along the highway gives passersby. And I wonder. I wonder about the former owners. Who were the people who lovingly planted these plants? Who now owns this property and why do they let it grow wild like it is?

Then I look at my little garden that I spend countless hours weeding and caring for and think about the master gardener in our lives. I think about how He created this world for His pleasure. I think about how He lovingly cares for us daily.