On and off...and on again...

My Dashboard tells me that I last posted to this here blog back at the beginning of February.  So...oops?  The good news is that this lack of posting does not mean that I have fallen off that proverbial diet wagon and undone all the good work I have done.  If you look at that ticker at the top of my page, you will see that I am currently at 62 pounds lost, which had my weight at my Weight Watchers weigh-in today at an even 213 pounds.  The lowest I have been recently was 212.2 pounds, which was at the weigh-in four weeks ago, but the Easter/Vacay/Birthday Debacle of 2011 occurred a week later, so I am still getting back on track from that.

Easter was on April 24th this year, and I was, as usual, working.  However, my sister was in town for the weekend, and my family was kind enough to have dinner Saturday night so that I could join in.  We had ham and wine...at least, that's what I remember.  I got out of work a few hours early, and we had a nice family night together (although my husband was only able to make it briefly, due to his family plans).  And that Easter dinner (EXCESS!) was just a harbinger of things to come as the week went on.

I left that Tuesday to head up to West Hartford to spend a couple of days with my sister.  We had an awesome time, as we always do when we are together, and a lot of the trip revolved around food in some form.  We went the first night I was there to a wine bar, where I enjoyed, um, wine, along with some yummy food.  We started off with an olive plate, sopressata, and La Tur cheese, which I followed with a baby spinach salad, and my entree was Cider-Braised Berkshire Pork that was AMAZING.  The second night I was there, we went to a local restaurant that my sister loves, where I had more wine (SHOCKER!), along with a fun version of a bleu cheese wedge salad, roasted free-range chicken, and a dessert called Lemon Trio that involved Meyer lemon cheesecake, a lemon pudding cake, and lemon curd ice cream.  We also did some grocery shopping while I was there so that I could hit up Stew Leonard's and Whole Foods, which are two grocery stores that I LOVE that I don't have near me.  And in keeping with the fitness theme, we worked out!  My sister works out with a trainer a couple of times per week at a gym near her house, and she was able to bring me along for a workout, which was awesome!  I had never really worked out with a trainer before (except for the free training sessions that served as introductions to various gyms I have belonged to), and it really kicked my butt!  But it was great to see what I could do, and I really enjoyed it!

So that was the trip to Connecticut, and that all happened before my birthday even got here!  I turned 35 years old on April 29, which was a Friday, and I had a GOOD time!  My mom and I went out to lunch with a few friends, and for dinner, my husband took me out to Emeril's Chop House, which is located at a casino near where we live.  I had eaten at Emeril's Orlando once in the past and had one of the best meals I have ever had, so this was such a special treat!  I had the filet mignon "dressed up," which meant it came with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus.  As I expected, the meal was amazing.  And for dessert, we had Emeril's signature banana cream pie, of which nothing bad can be said.  It was the best banana cream pie I have ever had, and I am kind of a connossieur of this particular dessert, so that is saying something!

I went to Weight Watchers that week and found that I had "gained" six pounds.  I put gained in quotes because, although that was a lot of excessive eating, I knew that I probably didn't really gain back six true pounds of fat.  As any woman reading this knows, we are really good at retaining fluid, so I was pretty sure that my complete and utter ridiculousness of that week had something to do with that weight gain.  And sure enough, a week later, I had lost 3.6 of those pounds, with another two pounds dropping off the following week.  Today, I was up a little bit (0.4 pounds), which I am blaming on the fact that I just weighed in on Friday, and I went to a picnic on Sunday, which involved me eating a bit more (but still within my plan) than I usually would.  I feel really good about where I am and where I am going with Weight Watchers, and more importantly, I am really enjoying the ride!

I am now wearing a size 16, which is three sizes down from my high of 22 (CRINGE!), and I am looking forward to seeing that size continue to drop.  I have gotten rid of every piece of clothing that was a size 20 or above, as well as any shirt that was an XXL, and I am wearing mostly my size 16 pants and size L shirts. However, because getting rid of the XLs and the 18s would shrink my wardrobe down to almost nothing, I am hanging on to some things that I can still wear without looking completely sloppy.  As soon as I hit a true size 12, I am planning to treat myself my first ever pair of "premium" denim jeans.  I never thought I would be someone who would be willing to spend upwards of $150 on a pair of jeans, but as I continue this journey, I really think it will be the perfect celebration of how far I have come.

If you are still reading this, thanks for sticking with me!  And remember to make it a great day, everyone!