Relocation...

After doing a pretty poor job of maintaining four different blogs, I have decided to migrate them all over to Wordpress to become one blog. I only chose Wordpress because it is super easy to migrate multiple Blogger blogs over into one Wordpress blog, whereas I would have had to cut and past each individual post from each blog into a new Blogger blog. Therefore, I decided to jump ship.

Anyway, you can find any and all new ramblings of mine at therichgirlpoorgirlblog.wordpress.com. This will be a combination of my general blog (Rich Girl, Poor Girl), my health and fitness blog (Hamhocks), my now-defunct food blog (Chicken, Again?), and my very briefly maintained "mommy blog" (Mountain [Step]Mama). In time, if I maintain more of a blogging presence, I might just look into paying for my own domain, but for now, this is where I will be. Hope to see you there!

Where did I go? And pondering a lifestyle change...

I reached 66 pounds of weight loss a few weeks ago...and promptly fell off the wagon. We have had some stress, and I am finding myself falling into my old emotional eating ways. I have even skipped two weeks of Weight Watchers meetings, which is a recipe for trouble. However, I have written next week's meeting into my calendar, and I have started using the Weight Watchers eTools as a way to give myself further accountability. I know I can get back on track, but to be honest, for a brief amount of time, I didn't really want to. I was taking a LOT of "comfort" (as brief as it was) from food. Now, I have the desire to get back on track, so I will start working toward that.

Sort of related is a change I am thinking of making with my lifestyle. I have spoken before about my desire to buy only humanely-raised animal products for my diet. Well, I am seriously considering going a step further with that and becoming what can be referred to as a pesco-ova-lacto vegetarian or more simply, a pescetarian. This would mean I would eat dairy, eggs, and fish, but I would no longer eat beef, pork, or poultry. I would still have to cook these things, as there is NO WAY my husband would make this change with me, but I would at least like to try this out and see how it goes. I am currently in the information-gathering stage, so I will keep you posted!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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!

So. Randomness...

I have not been the best blogger lately, and I think that the extreme cold and negative driveway conditions have had a lot to do with that.  However, I am DONE harping on the ice slick that leads from our garage down to the street and my car because I am feeling hope that the weather starting Sunday will go a long way toward fixing things a bit.  There are two different days next week and the following week that are expected to have FIFTY DEGREE temperatures!!!  I may cry when that happens from sheer relief!

Anyway, I had some GREAT! NEWS! at my Weight Watchers weigh-in this week.  I lost two pounds, and I reached my 5% goal, which was 11.8 lbs. of weight loss!  And since this was my official ticker weigh-in, my ticker now reflects that I have lost fifty-one pounds officially, for real, amen!  In fact, this morning, my home weight was actually 1.5 lbs. less than that (thanks, clothes that I have to wear to my WW meeting), and I am feeling so thrilled by how well this is going!  As I posted on Twitter (you can follow me @MaryKC), I love the PointsPlus program and am thrilled with my experience as a Weight Watchers member!  This was the first meeting that I got "celebrated" at the meeting, and I am sure that I looked like such a dork because I could not stop grinning!  Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post, I have never successfull lost this much weight (my old high was probably in the neighborhood of 35 pounds), and I feel amazing.  And I feel confident that this downward trend will continue!

One thing that I am really trying to do as I get further into this is to do a better job of "working the program."  Without going into detail, Weight Watchers has some "good health guidelines" that are supposed to be met everyday by those of us who are truly following the plan.  They include suggested amounts of different food group servings, suggestions of things to limit in your eating, fluid intake, multivitamin use, and other such things that lend themselves to a balanced diet.  I have traditionally been kind of bad at hitting all these guidelines.  I often forget to take my vitamins.  My diet is often deficient in fruits and veggies.  I sometimes have too much sodium.  However, I am now trying to really embrace every part of the PointsPlus program (and not just the PointsPlus values and tracking of food), and I feel like this will help me meet with continued success on the program.

Anyway, on to the next topic, which is oatmeal.  Thanks to some time spent on the Health & Fitness board on The Nest, I discovered a LOVE of steel cut oats sometime last year.  I use my small slow cooker to make four servings of steel cut oats (and I buy any kind from Bob's Red Mill to McCann's to bulk from the grocery store) at a time, putting one cup of oats in with three cups of water and letting it cook until most of the water has been absorbed (this takes several hours).  I then put it in a larger-sized plastic container and put it in the fridge to cool.  Once cooled, the oats are actually "slice-able," so I can cut a serving out of the container and reheat it in the microwave...two minutes gets it nice and warm and softened back up.  I usually eat the oats with a banana mixed in, along with a tablespoon of chia seeds and either brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey mixed in.  However, I am starting to crave some variety in my oats, so I am setting out on a journey to find other ways to enjoy them!

This morning was my first new way to enjoy my oats.  I mixed in with them 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam (from Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park...it's THE BEST!!!), along with 1/3 cup of dried cranberries.  YUM!  It was so good!  The tart cranberries and the sweetness of the jam mixed together to create a wonderful taste sensation!  I definitely will have them that way again.  Some of my favorite healthy bloggers share a lot of oatmeal posts, and they often include nut butters in their oats.  I tried this once and was not a fan, but I am planning to give it another try tomorrow.  And since the jelly was so good in my oats this morning, I am going to include jelly in tomorrow's version!

I was going to go to the gym today, but I just can't bring myself to scale my way back down the driveway for only that reason.  I have some things to do tomorrow that will get me out of the house, so instead, I am going to enjoy a day at home with my dog, my NOOK, my DVR, my iPad, and the internet.  I have a Yankee candle burning called "Beach Party," and it smells like sun tan lotion in my kitchen, which is making me very, very happy!  Make it a great day, everyone!

Could it be the light at the end of the tunnel?

First of all, although I am using my official Weight Watchers weight to update my ticker, I am still weighing myself at home and tracking my home weight (first thing in the morning, no clothes, as discussed previously) on FatSecret.com.  I share this because this morning, when I stepped on the scale, I weighed in at 224 pounds!  This means that I have officially lost FIFTY POUNDS (50.6, to be exact)!!!!!!!!  I have never successfully lost 50 pounds before, and it feels SO AMAZING!  I did a little bit of jumping up and down and fist pumping in the bathroom when I saw that number flash up on the scale!  My next goal is 200 pounds, in keeping with setting my goals in 25-pound increments.  This 50-pound weight loss took me roughly 13 months (1/4/10 to 2/8/11), so perhaps by next March, I will be able to celebrate reaching my goal weight!  Can't wait!

So. The weather.  That is the light at the end of the tunnel to which I am referring.  Our driveway right now is downright treacherous.  Thanks to the StabilICERS that I keep on the bottom of my boots, I have not been doing too badly, but my husband has been falling a lot, and we are both pretty frustrated.  I have actually been mostly homebound, thanks to a nasty sinus infection that kept me away from work for the weekend.  I have only been out of the house twice since last Wednesday, and one of those times was to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics.  Tonight, I am going to venture out to yoga because I am feeling almost back to normal, and looking at the weather forecast for the next two weeks, I am not seeing any snow called for, and I am seeing several days in a row of temperatures in the 40s, with a day supposed to reach 47 degrees and a day that includes rain and a high of 49 degrees!  I know that the week after that could bring more snow, as February weather is so, so fickle, but the several days of "warmer" temperatures give me some hope that perhaps some of the ice on the driveway will melt so that walking up and down it does not involve taking your life in your hands, as well as some distant hope that I might be able to drive back up the driveway before the month is over!  And we probably will need an oil delivery in March, so it would be a special bonus if the oil truck would be able to make it up the driveway because we really like heat and hot water in our house.

After several months of being in a dark, dark mood due to the weather (and after the last couple of weeks, which have been THE WORST), it is so nice to be able to think that perhaps there is some kind of end in sight.  It will take a long time for the snow to completely disappear, but it is amazing what the ability to drive up and down a person's driveway can do for her mood.

Make it a great day, everyone!

Oh, the weather...

This morning is once again my regular Weight Watchers weigh-in and meeting, and once again, I will not be there. The reason for this is the ice storm that we got in is area of the country yesterday. NOT. COOL. Our driveway, which is steep and long, is now ice-covered, and I am concerned that once I drive down it, I will not be able to drive back up again. Honestly, I don't even know how safely I could get down the driveway right now. I am scheduled to work tonight at the mall for a couple of hours, and I don't even know right now if that is a possibility. The temperatures today are supposed to be in the mid-30s, and it sounds kind of melt-y out there right now, but I am not holding out hope that we are going to have a big thaw today. I am SO DONE with winter right now! The icing on the cake was probably the moment when I stepped out the front door onto my three-step front stoop yesterday, slid on the ice, had my feet fly up in the air, and landed right on my butt, right on the edge of a step. Today, I have a sore bottom from that adventure! And that followed me somehow stepping in dog poop at some point of the morning when I took the dog out in the dark (before the snow changed to freezing rain and sleet). I was feeling pretty sad for myself yesterday!

I also have not been to the gym since last week, although most of that can be blamed on my four-in-a-row work schedule over the weekend. I obviously didn't make it there yesterday, and I am not thinking it's going to happen today. I am hopeful that I will be able to slip and slide down the driveway tomorrow for a WW meeting in the evening, and I will pair that up with a trip to the gym for sure. My goals in my tracker this week were to take multivitamins every day, which I have, to drink all my fluids, which I have, and to exercise for four hours, which I have not. But baby steps, right? Stay tuned for weigh-in news, hopefully tomorrow!

Make it a great day, everyone!

My first WW gain...

Well, I did make it to a Weight Watchers meeting yesterday, but it was not my usual morning meeting. Instead, I attended a meeting at 7PM. Any woman who has ever owned a scale knows that a woman's weight in the morning is very different from a woman's weight in the evening, and not in a good way. Therefore, it was not a surprise to me that I had gained...0.6 pounds.

Now, this is NOTHING in the grand scheme of things, and I honestly don't care much about it. When I go back to my usual morning meeting next week, I am sure I will be pleased with my progress, as long as I work the program correctly. But the interesting thing is where my mind went when I heard that. I immediately thought, "Hmmm...maybe if I go to the bathroom one more time." I didn't act on that...I just went and took my seat instead. However, it's interesting how the mind just "goes there." It is the same reaction that has people weighing in in the same pants every week of the year, no matter what the weather, changing into shorts in the bathroom before their weigh in, or not eating or drinking anything before they get to their meeting. Obviously, waiting to eat for a 9:30AM weigh in, which is what I usually do, is different from starving yourself all day, and I certainly ate and drank yesterday. But the difference between those two scenarios can easily explain my 0.6 lb. weight gain, and I am reminding myself that the longterm results are more important than one week's weigh in.

Anyway, just some random thoughts there about the whole weigh in process and how it can kind of mess with your mind, whether you do it at home or in a doctor's office or in a meeting location...it's just another example of how learning to be healthy is a struggle against the tendency of some toward disordered eating. Make it a great day, everyone!


-- Post From My iPad