Inspired?

Wow, somehow the last few weeks flew by and I apparently forgot to update my blog!  The good news is that the last few weeks have been really good, and I'm feeling great. In the last few weeks I've had a lot of good times with friends, enjoyed some great meals, made some lasting memories, and most recently, tonight I went to a fantastic concert at Tupelo Music Hall with Kristi and her best friend Erin.

Tupelo Music Hall is a small and intimate music venue in Londonderry, NH that always has fantastic performances scheduled.  Our favorite repeat show is Chad Perrone.  Kristi has been a fan of his for over a decade and as soon as she introduced me to his music, I was hooked.  Skip forward a year and 3 months or so... Kristi proposed to me at Tupelo Music Hall during a Chad Perrone show in October 2010.  She asked him to play our song, and when he did, she proposed. It was amazing. It was perfect. I couldn't have asked for more.

Anyway, I'm not writing this blog to take you back in time, but instead forward into the future.  Sometimes, though, it's important to remember how you got to today, don't you think?  Anyway, tonight at Chad's show, he was joined by the fabulously talented Lisa Piccirillo.  It just so happens that a few months back I messaged Lisa on Facebook in hopes of her telling me if she was playing with Chad again like she did a couple of years ago at his Tupelo show.  Turns out that at the time she wasn't, but after my asking, she contacted Chad...and well, the rest is history.  Tonight's show was, I think, the best yet.  It was moving, beautiful, inspired, and full of singer-songwriter genius.

The real reason I brought up the concert, and performers, though was for 2 pretty cool reasons.

1. A few months ago Kristi, my amazing fiancee, got a tattoo that was inspired by one of Chad's songs.  He wasn't aware of this tattoo, until tonight.  Kristi showed him after the show when we were all chatting.  He was shocked and pretty moved by the fact that someone got themselves inked due to inspiration from his song writing. He took a picture of the tattoo and gave Kristi a giant hug.  Pretty awesome.

2. Both after her set, and after the show, we spend some time chatting with Lisa.  Lisa and I are Facebook friends and have been since the first time we saw her perform, a couple years ago. Since I started Weight Watchers, she has continually shown me support and cheered me on.  That in itself is pretty cool since she's an uber talented musician and, we barely know each other.  Anyway, it gets better.   Tonight Lisa told me I inspired her with my weight loss, and Weight Watchers, journey.  That's amazing. Simply amazing.  I've never been told I inspired anyone for anything. Ever. Until tonight. Wow.  I cannot imagine truly inspiring someone, but if I have, then well...you're welcome, and I thank you for telling me that I do.

So yah, tonight was pretty amazing all around.  I promised myself that I would update my blog tonight, because we're going away for 7 nights starting tomorrow and I won't have internet access for the majority of the week unless we go use the wireless in the one building where it is available, but I probably won't do that.  We're going to The Berkshires where we have a 2 bedroom condo for the week.  Cannot wait for tomorrow, and since it's 1:30am, I think it's time for bed.  But first, a quick re-cap of the last few weeks regarding my weight loss...

The last few weeks I've had really solid weight loss, after a very slight gain the week I did the 5 mile Walk MS walk with a group of friends. (BTW - I still get tired just thinking about it...but then I remember that I did it!)  Last week I went to a different meeting because I had plans to help Heidi with her Field Day at the farm she works at, which was extremely fun.  I didn't stay for the meeting, but when I weighed in, I lost a really good amount of weight, and was only 0.4lbs away from my 5% goal.  I went into the meeting today unsure if I would hit it but actually hoping for 2.4 so I would reach 20 lbs.  Well, I did it. And more!  Today I lost 3.4lbs I reached my 5% goal of 18lbs. I also reached losing 20lbs.  I've lost 21 lbs in 9 weeks. That's pretty awesome I think.  This week of vacation may be a little tough, but I'm looking forward to my weigh-in on Saturday at a meeting location that I found close to our resort. My goal for vacation is extremely realistic.  My goal is to maintain what I've lost.  Really, I'd love to lose at least 2 lbs, but I know I'll be on a different schedule, a different meal plan, and with many more temptations, so I think if I maintain, I'll be satisfied.

Twenty-one pounds lost in 9 weeks.  Feeling great! Next goal is 25 pounds, since that's an actual WW goal.  After that, it's my 10% goal which is 36lbs.  I have 4lbs to go to reach 25lbs, and 15lbs to go to reach 10%.  I can do this. I will do this.

Thank you for your support.  I promise to update when I get home from vacation. Have a great week everyone!!

First 10 Pound Goal?? ACHIEVED!

I DID IT!!

11 Pounds lost since 3/10/12

I "only" lost 1.4 this week, which isn't exactly a lot, however I passed my first 10 pounds and I'm only 7 pounds away from my first 5% goal!  I'm torn between being a little sad I didn't lose more this week to feeling very good about what I've done in the last 4 weeks.  Mostly I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for about a month already and for the fact that I'm cooking great meals, eating all of my fruits and vegetables, and losing weight consistently. I'm also down another point for my daily points, so I am at 54 now, instead of the 56 I started at.  I got another 5lb sticker at the meeting this morning too! 

So, up next is my 5% goal, which is 18 pounds, or another 7 pounds.  I would like to do this within the month of April, but as long as I'm losing consistently I'm happy.  I did say that I'd reward myself with a manicure when I lost 10lbs, so sometime this week I'm going to do that for myself, and if anyone would like to join me, let me know! :) It's important to reward our accomplishments! I updated the ticker at the top of my blog to show my current weight loss.

Special shout-out today to my fiancee, Kristi, who had a fantastic weight-loss this week and I'm so proud of her!! I love you!  

Very proud of my wedding party too, they're all doing so well with Weight Watchers and other aspects of being healthy.  Without their support and friendship, I know this would be much more difficult, as it would without everyone else's support, friendship, and love too!!   So I guess I should shout-out to everyone today...thank you for helping me reach my first 10 pounds...here's to the next 7 so I can hit my 5% goal!! :) 

Headed to Anita's parent's house tonight for Passover with her family, and some friends.  I haven't been in a few years, but I know it'll be a fun night.  Tomorrow I'm off to Newburyport with Kristi to pick up my Grandmother and then head to my Dad's house for Easter Brunch.  I asked to bring a salad, so I know there is something very healthy on the menu. I'm making a delicious brunch-like salad with a variety of lettuce, fresh cut up strawberries, mandarin oranges, pecans, and a few different dressing choices.  It'll be light, healthy and delicious! 

Before I go, I wanted to share some meals I made yesterday and today, I like taking pictures, and I like cooking...so combining them and sharing is fun!  I'm not going to post points etc today, I'm just more interested in sharing pictures! 

For lunch yesterday I made leftover turkey taco salad, with refried beans and blue corn baked tortilla chips.  So good. 

For a snack yesterday evening, since dinner wasn't until 10:30pm, I had crackers with light cheese spread (only 1 pt for all of that!), dried edamame beans (so high in fiber and protein), and the other serving of the Kale and Bacon and Cannellini recipe. Very high protein and fiber snack!

For dinner last night I wanted to do something light, since I had the weigh-in this morning.  I made a very bright summery salad with marinated shrimp, fat-free feta salad, about a 1/3 serving of sliced almonds and lots of veggies.  I used lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and I tried radishes (I don't like them but Kristi does so she's going to be eating them all). Very good salad! 

 After the meeting this morning I was very hungry so I made a nice filling meal, since I probably won't eat until Passover tonight at 6pm.  I had some fresh fruit, a slice of bacon that was left over from cooking the other day, fat free cottage cheese with mixed fruit, and a bagel with garlic & herb cheese spread with 2 oz of sliced roast beef.  Filling and delicious!!

Well, that's all I've got going on for now...hope you enjoyed reading!! Have a great weekend. 

Not Quite...

Well, my goal of at least 2lbs didn't quite work out this week. I lost 1.6 pounds, which I know is still a pretty good loss after 2 weeks of big numbers, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little upset.  I know I can do this and I know that I'll likely reach my first 10lb mark next week, but I really wanted to hit it today.  Oh well, the manicure I was going to treat myself to will have to wait a week. That's something else exciting - I've gone since 2/20/12 without biting my nails - something else I've struggled with my whole life! On my BFF's birthday we went to get manicures (2/20) and it's sort of embarrassing paying someone to manicure nails that are bitten so far down they cannot even file them. So, I decided to stop biting them. And I did. Yay me! Next week they'll get pampered as long as I lose at least 0.4lbs which I cannot imagine not doing.

So, after the meeting, my MOH (Maid of Honor) and I went to grab something to eat at Denny's because it's right down the street from our meeting location.  I wasn't really in the mood for breakfast, and since it was after 11am, I thought it was late enough to have lunch.  I decided on the Hickory Grilled Chicken Sandwich.  I thought this was a decent choice as it was grilled chicken, tomato, lettuce, a slice of american cheese, and a sweet hickory spread. Boy was I wrong. I got home and went to update my tracker...I looked up Denny's nutrition information and was shocked to see this sandwich is 24 points!!!!!! I thought it was going to be about 15 or so.  It's only 2 less points than a bacon cheeseburger! Ugh. Sometimes I guess you just don't know.  Oh well. Fortunately I'd only used 3 points on a granola bar for breakfast, and I can do a big salad with dinner to make up some calories and points.  I have 55 daily points so 24 isn't too bad, but I just didn't expect it. Ouch. Fortunately for me, and my love of bad Denny's food, our meeting location is changing next week to South Nashua, and there are different options to eat there...

Now I'm home relaxing for the day with Kristi, and trying to convince myself that a 1.6 pound loss is still a solid step in the right direction. I know it is, but I think setting myself up for hitting 10lbs was a bad idea because now I feel like I failed.  Oh well, this next week will be a good one. Less eating out, more meal planning, more fresh veggies, less salty snacks, and more weight loss. :)

Weight Watchers Meetings and Blog Success!

Good morning everyone! It's a sunny day here in Central Massachusetts, but sadly the sun doesn't mean it is warm. Oh well, it's a new day which always means a chance to continue on track, or get back on track if yesterday you fell off track a bit.  Fortunately, this whole week has been good for me, and with my weigh-in tomorrow, I'm feeling pretty good.  As I said in my first post last night, I've lost 8 pounds as of week 2, and I wanted to track my weight loss on my blog.  Check out the top of my blog - there's a new "weight loss tracker".  I have set it up to track my progress towards my first hundred pounds. I realize this is a big goal, but I'm going to celebrate all the milestones in between too, I promise! I'll be updating my "ticker" every week after I weigh in at Weight Watchers, and hopefully every week we'll see me get another step closer to my first hundred pounds.

Thank you so much to everyone that has read my blog since I posted it last night. I didn't expect to see the stats I saw this morning! Check this out...





Pageviews by Browsers

Mobile Safari 63 (44%) Firefox 29 (20%) Chrome 22 (15%) Internet Explorer 14 (9%) Safari 10 (7%) Mobile 3 (2%)

Pageviews by Operating Systems

Android 63 (44%) Windows 60 (42%) Macintosh 10 (7%) iPad 5 (3%) iPhone 3 (2%)

Pageviews by Countries

United States 132 Australia 4 Canada 3 Germany 1 Japan 1

Pretty cool right? To have people in 5 countries looking at this, and to have that many views is pretty awesome. Obviously I know some of these are the same people viewing it a few times, but either way, I'm still so thankful for your support and especially to those of you that commented on my first post, or on Facebook, you all are amazing. No, I won't bore you with these stats moving forward, but I was just really excited to see how many people looked at this over one night!

So, a little about Saturday morning meetings. Our meeting is at 10am in Nashua, NH with a pretty awesome group of people and a very inspiring Leader.  The meetings start with you getting on the scale to find out the results of your week.  The ladies that help with this process are great and they quietly let you know what your results are.  Sometime's they're a little louder if you've had a great week, which I don't mind at all! After you weigh in, they give you any updates on Weight Watchers (WW), hand-outs, any contest details etc.  You also get a name tag and if you want, a weekly tracker.  I don't take the weekly trackers because I use the Weight Watchers mobile site on my Blackberry and it works perfectly to track my food when I'm not at my computer.  I love the updated WW eTools site by the way, and I'm sure I'll talk about that sometime too!  After you're done with the weigh-in process, you grab a seat somewhere in the meeting area and wait for the meeting to start. I usually get there about 15 minutes before the meeting so I have time to weigh-in, and it's nice to hear some of the conversation that happens around the meeting room too. Everyone is so supportive and welcoming.  I've only been to three meetings but I'm already starting to feel part of the group.  It helps that there is a Facebook group for anyone that goes to meeting with our Leader, and there are over 370 members on that site. It's like an amazing 24/7 support group, which some days you really need!

Once the meeting starts, our Leader goes around the room to ask about anything that happened during the week. She's mostly looking for NSVs (Non-Scale Victories) or set backs. I don't know how many people are in my meetings- I'll have to take a better look tomorrow, but usually 5-6 people speak up about either successes or set backs.  Our Leader then moves onto the topic of the week.  Last week was all about "What Works For You", which is also what each "Weight Watchers Weekly" pamphlet is about.  This topic is good because it shows the flexibility of the WW program and how you can alter it to fit your lifestyle.  After our Leader gets through talking about the week's topic, she asks to hear about weight loss successes over the week. Anyone that has hit any milestones is asked to speak up.  Every time you hit a five pound goal you get recognized with a silver star sticker, so people always announce those goal milestones.  Every 5%, 10%, 25lbs, 50lbs, 75lbs, and 100lbs (and so on) there are other little awards that you get too, so they want you to announce those achievements too. The last 2 weeks I have raised my hand to share my success. The first week I lost 3.4lbs, which is a solid first week. The second week I lost 4.6lbs, which got me my first 5lb sticker! I hope to reach 10lbs this week, with at least a 2lb loss...we'll see what happens tomorrow!  After someone has shared their victories, everyone claps and cheers, and sometimes you get a standing ovation! It's very motivating! Then, once everyone has shared that wants to share, the meeting is over.  After the meeting there is another little meeting for new members during their first three weeks to review different aspects of the plan. As last week was my third meeting, I am now done with these.  So, that's the meeting in a nutshell!

I'm not sure what today will hold for me, but I'm hoping my nerves don't get the best of me tonight. Last time I did WW, I was weighing myself almost daily at home to make sure I was staying on track.  This time around, I am not using a scale at all at home, so I have no idea how the weight is going. I have to trust the system, my determination, and just see what happens on Saturday mornings! It's actually nice to be surprised at the meetings when I lose a good amount of weight, but I'm not sure how I'll feel if I have a low week, or even a gain, which can happen for various factors, not necessarily because you fell off track.  So, tomorrow is the weigh-in, and I'm hoping for at least a 2lb loss, so I can hit 10lbs lost in 3 weeks. :)  Cross your fingers for me!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day, and to any of you who go to WW meetings this week, I hope your results are what you wanted to see!