Update time!

We're gonna pretend like I wrote this yesterday!

In December I did manage to lose weight. Not as much as I should have, but I still lost. As I said in a previous post Christmas was really tough; worse than Thanksgiving.

Anyway, let's get down to business. I lost 3 pounds. That makes a total weight loss of 113 pounds. Now, as far as inches go, I lost 5.25 inches. That is a big inches loss for the month. I do have to come clean though, I did gain about an inch in my leg, but I know that is just muscle, but I lost from everywhere else. Ok, I also didn't lose from my arm, but that hasn't changed in like 6 months. So, now I've lost a total of 85.75 inches.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed that I was able to lose 3 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had a lot of temptation around me. I fought the temptations as much as possible, but I can't be perfect all the time.

However, I did accomplish a few things that I thought were impossible. I did not eat the cookie dough when I was baking. I didn't lick the bowl, I didn't lick the beaters, and I didn't sample the cookies as they were coming out of the oven. When I realized I could handle baking without snacking my way through the process I realized that I could do just about anything, because cookie dough is freaking tasty.

Now it's a new month and a new year. There are no big holidays coming up and I don't have any big events to attend. I will be able to stay focused and not have any temptation in my way.

I've been killing the workouts lately. I do need to back off a smidge though because my left shoulder has been hurting and so has my left hip.....not sure what that means, but it makes me think I'm getting old!

Christmas eating

Ok, I'm cutting right to the chase.....I think I ate more on Christmas than I did on Thanksgiving.

I know, I know, Thanksgiving is the eating holiday; not Christmas!

I started the day off really well. I had breakfast and waited until I was supposed to eat my snack to get to my mom's house. I think that's where I made my mistake. I underestimated the deliciousness of the cookies I made.

It's not as bad as I make it sound, but it's something I haven't done in a long, long time. I grazed throughout the day. I never really sat down and at plate after plate of food. Hell, my family didn't even make that much food! We really cut back. I didn't make all the varieties of cookies I usually make. We didn't have all the desserts or foods that we would usually make.

I was just snacking here and there all day long. I don't even think I realized what was going on. After a while I just felt so full and uncomfortable! I know it was a bad thing. Hey, at least I didn't have alcohol on top of all those sweets!

I think the difference between Thanksgiving and Christmas is all the cookies. There are cookies that my family only makes one time a year. There are a lot of things we only make one time a year for Christmas or Thanksgiving. This has been true my whole life. That's why so many of those cookies are a real treat. I know that no one will make them for a year.

I eat sweets throughout the year. I don't deprive myself. If I crave something I work it into my meals. Apparently I tasted those delicious, once a year cookies and lost my head!

Ok, I even think I'm making it sound worse than it probably is. I know that I didn't binge or anything, but I have to remember that I can't graze all day! I just keep adding food on top of food....it sounds gross to even think about.

I have to weigh myself this weekend. I hope the damage is more mental than physical!

My family usually does ugly Christmas sweaters.
We were doing that even before it was popular.
This year we decided to mix it up and wear
Forever Lazy's. They are not as awesome
as the commercial makes them sound!

Well, I survived

I managed to stay sane on Thanksgiving. I used all the self control in the world and managed to not stuff my face and make myself sick from eating. Whew....it was a tough task.

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but my mom is the best cook this side of the Mississippi and on the other side of the Mississippi, the rest of her family are the best cooks. We've got the country on lock down for the best cooking. All of this fantastic cooking makes a person want to stuff their face.

Anyway, I did not snack all morning before dinner time. I ate every three hours like I'm supposed to. I know I didn't get the right amount of protein, but there were a lot of things I wanted to try so I ate tiny portions when it was my time to eat. I planned the day so I would have to eat when the whole family was sitting down to eat. I only had a small spoonful of the foods I wanted to try, and I totally passed up seconds.

I did have to walk away from the table before everyone else because I was done eating and I did not want seconds, but I could not stop thinking about the delicious food all around me. I think it also helped that we did everything buffet style this year and all the food was on the counter and buffet behind us. There was no food on the table. That really helped.

After I was done I spent some time playing with my niece and nephews. I was hoping to burn off some calories. I was trying really hard to not just sit on my butt for the rest of the day.

I did have dessert though. My mom makes apple pie twice a year. There is no way I could pass up apple pie. I cut my own piece and it really was a little baby piece of pie.

Overall, I think I managed pretty well, but I know that November has been a rough month for me. I've had 4 different family birthdays, a graduation, and Thanksgiving. I've also done a ton of baking, but for some reason that didn't even make me flinch. I was totally in control and able to bake without sampling.

Yesterday I did my regular workout and took a walk at the Reserve for an hour. It was pretty nice out. I figured I needed to take advantage of the nice weather. I also had a Bod Pod yesterday. I think I was trying to torture myself by getting a Bod Pod the day after a holiday full of eating, but that wasn't even that bad. Janelle did have to talk me down a little afterward. I was hoping for better.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm pretty excited, but I'm not gonna lie; since I woke up at 6:30 A.M. I've been repeating to myself, "I think I can, I think I can". While I was making my cheesy, broccoli, rice casserole I was telling myself that I won't pig out today. While I was in the shower I was telling myself that I will only have one serving of the foods I want to try.

I'm assuming you get my gist today. I've been mentally pumping mysef up for the past hour and a half.

Really, I just keep reminding myself that it's one day and my family makes foods that we only make on Thanksgiving. We've also cut our recipes in half. We are making the foods that we always make, but we are making less. We're hoping to cut down on overeating and leftovers. My mom also made 2 pies and that's it. We really cut down on desserts and the foods that we snack on while we're waiting for dinner.

My mom also planned for us to eat earlier in the day so we would have more time to get up and be active in the late afternoon. The fam has been pretty proactive this year in having a reasonable Thanksgiving.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about today. It's nice weather, so I'll probably go for a walk after we eat. Hopefully, I can convince the fam that they also want to take a walk. I would feel bad if I just ate and took off for a walk by myself.

Oh....and....I'm gettting a Bod Pod tomorrow! What kind of crazy person schedules to have their body fat measured the day after Thanksgiving? Me, I guess.

Trying to stay positive.

Basically, I'm a little irritated with myself.

I said the other week that November is a rough month because of birthday's and Thanksgiving. My sister had a November birthday and my neice and nephews were all born in November. Busy, busy, busy. This year my sister also graduated from college. All of these events mean going out to eat, celebrating, eating, blah, blah, blah.

So, I've probably gone out to eat more this month than I have in the past year and a half. I've researched menus to find food that will fit into my meal plan, calories, protein, saturated fats, and I planned my whole eating schedule around what time we were going out to dinner. I even ordered food that I would never have ordered or eaten a year and half ago.

I ate freakin' salmon! I hate fish, but knew it was a good choice and it was really all that would fit into my meal plan. It wasn't even that bad either. I'm not sure if I will ever eat it again, but I tried it once! I didn't eat dessert, I didn't drink booze, and I didn't pick off other people's plates.

I also didn't lose any weight in the last two weeks. I'm pretty disappointed.

So, I'm trying to find the positive in the past two weeks. I didn't lose, but I didn't gain. I maintained. I also know that I made better food choices and I didn't pig out. I know that a year and a half ago I would have stuffed my face and ordered delicious deep fried foods. I know I would have ordered drinks and I know I would have ordered dessert.

I'm trying to remind myself just how far I really have come and how much my food choices and self control have changed. I guess I'm learning how to maintain my weight, but I'm not in a maintaining weight mode, I'm still in a losing weight mode.

I still have to make it through Thanksgiving this week. I know I'm not going to be perfect on Thursday. My family Thanksgiving is made up of foods that we only make once a year. We have decided to cut back on the desserts and we are cutting a lot of recipes in half as well. Everyone in my family wants to make better food choices that day. We all want to be able to taste and sample everything,  but we don't want to pig out. I know that my family as a whole wants to eat less and we all are making the effort to cook less!

Really, I keep telling myself that I've made it this far and I'm going to keep going. I don't like to be disappointed with myself, but there is nothing I can do at certain times of the year. I feel like I would be rude to skip family things because of food or going out to eat. I also think it is rude to just sit at a restaurant and not eat anything. I have done that in the past and my family has dealt with it. I have to make some choices that I'm not always happy with, but that's just life. Birthdays and holidays come up from time to time, but 4 birthdays, a graduation, and Thanksgiving all in one month is way to much for me.

Noticing the changes.

I've been panicking about Thanksgiving. You know...all that delicious food. My family always has an over the top Thanksgiving. It's just what we do. We make tons of food and everyone goes home with tons of leftovers.

As we've been planning this year I've noticed that no one seems interested in having tons and tons of food. Really, over the past year I've noticed that my family has been making a lot of different food choices.

My mom, sisters, and brothers-in-law have been making their own changes. Everyone has their own reasons for making different food choices, and they are all for good reasons.

I'm not that worried now about there being too much food next Thursday. Everyone has kinda said that they don't want all the sweets and desserts that we usually make. Everyone has also said that they don't want to make as much food.

We want to make all the usual food items that we make year after year, but we just want to make smaller servings. I'm all for it.

If given the opportunity, I will stuff my face! I just can't be around all that food! I think this year will be different and be much better. I know Thanksgiving is all about food, delicious, delicious food, but I can still stay in moderation....right? Ok, I know I can.