There Might Be Something to This Protein Thing...

No really. I am not hungry. At all. You know I cut out sugar (for the most part) in August, and that cut sugar cravings substantially (although the initial detox could only be described as sheer hell), but here I am, not hungry. FULL. I mean, Thanksgiving Full. I'm at 1,000 calories today and I can't even think about dinner yet. And I ate two hours ago! What is THAT? There may be something to this crazy protein amounts after all.

I'm going to LA next week for a conference (Electricity Markets 101 -- aren't you jealous?) on Tues-Thurs, which is always stressful to the diet. At these things the "continental breakfast" is always Sugar Bombs Galore, complete with a side of cream cheese (which I can't eat, sob). I always feel super guilty about not eating the free food, even though my company pays my way and my boss doesn't care if I spend $20 for eggs and blackberries. (That's the actual cost of my breakfast in Charlotte). I need to get over that. I plan on taking a bag of nuts and my beloved prunes for schnackies, but the meals will be a challenge. Damn. The good news is it looks like the hotel has a nice gym. Woo-woo! The bigger challenge, of course is figuring out how I'll get my hair products into the little containers so I don't have to check a bag... argh!

So Dat's How It Iz???

Look at you gettin' all up in my shizzle. : - ) I haven't posted because I've had family here and I've been cooking and eating. So basically, I'm scared to see if I've made any recent progress. I did not weigh in last week b/c of Thanksgiving. And I don't have a scale at home (I need to get one...) so, I have to wait until Thursday. I wouldn't say I've been counting points, but I've been trying really hard to eat good stuff and not overdo it.

But most importantly, I've stepped up the cardio 100 %. I went to the gym just about every day this last week and burned about 300 calories each time. I LOVE my new iPod shuffle. It rocks and really gets me going.

So, to summarize: No, I didn't get any vitamins, I have no idea how much I weigh, but my pants are all loose.

Until Thursday....

Ahem, Miss Megan?

Where are you? What's happenin wich-yo weight loss? You may be beating me pound-wise, but I am beating you in blog entries! Did get vitamins?

I've managed to stay within my damn calorie range, actually, over the past three days. This is progress! I'm also trying very hard to eat an astonishing 130 g of protein a day, which is extremely hard to do (harder than you'd think!). Yesterday I was at 100, even with 2 eggs and 3 whites for my second dinner. (First dinner = SBD pizza so gooooood.) Dangit -- much more room to go! I just went down to the salad bar to pile 5-6 oz of chicken on my salad. I'm so thankful (har har) to be eating another meat besides turkey, which I know we'll be eating for the next zillion years.

So update me and our three readers!

Great now I have that horrid 80s song in my head

Greetings! Did you get some vitamins?

So apparently I'm weighing 137.5. I've lost two whole pounds since we started. I suck, but I'm not giving up: I'm moving forward. I'm focusing on my calorie counts and not so much on the clean eating, although I will say without sugar cravings, things tend to be a lot easier. The other day someone brought in chocolate cheesecake to the office. Sweet and savory, what could be better? Actually, I can think of a lot of things, like egg whites with salsa. What the hell is that, right? I didn't have any cheesecake; the sweets don't appeal to me as much anymore. (Although I did fantasize about making out with a rich fudgy brownie yesterday; together we were magical.) So it's calories that are mattering for me more, and I'm not getting all crazy if I have a freaking glass of wine. If I have the calories to do so, then I'm doin it! You can't stop me!

I'm also sad -- I mean happy -- to report that I'm tapering off the coffee, which means half decaf in preparation for February or March's um, events?

Catch Me I'm Falling!!!!!!!!

With T-Giving looming on Thursday I'm currently battling with PMS. The food cravings are unreal. And it's not sweets or chocolate I want, it's pasta, cheese, chips, anything salty. I'm trying to be good. Making faux "comfort food" to take my mind off of it. But I can't escape the overwhelming desire to literally shove food in my mouth.

Snakehead, I will try and remember your advice to start taking a vitamin. Maybe that will help. I always remember that you told me to drink some milk. That definitely helps.

Ok, deep breath, I can do this....

Yay Megan, Possibly Boo for Me!

GO MEGAN!

But now about me: I've had a shitty week, eating-wise. Yesterday at work the lunch they provided for our meeting was FRIED FISH. Who the hell EATS THAT? The day before, it was freaking Thanksgiving feast. I had turkey, cranberry and canned -- CANNED -- green beans swimming in butter. Good god. For dinners I had the same thing Monday and Wednesday night; amazing pork tenderloin with sweet potato hash that must have had crack in hit, along with bacon, butter and maple syrup. Those nights I also had large glasses of wine. On the night of my birthday, I had skinny chicken at Macaroni Grill, which was fairly disgusting, and two bites of a really terrible birthday dessert my boss insisted I had to have.

I did have the same breakfast every morning; blackberries/blueberries, scrambled eggs and a 1/2 cup of shredded potatoes (it is possible they were lightly fried).

I had much more diet coke than I wanted, which predictably, brought back the sweets cravings from HELL. Today was the best day: same breakfast, shitty granola bar and diet coke, 2 larabars, 1 shitty salad with pulled chicken, 8 prunes, a Baja fresh salad with chicken (no cheese or tortilla strips), and some peanut butter.

Megan, you're winning and this will not do. :) I'm aiming to get back on track tomorrow. I'm trying not to freak out. I will say that having shitty sleep all week really didn't help. I'm headed to bed.

Go ME!!!

So, I haven't posted in a week because I was too focused on WW and losing weight since I was up a pound last week. I was discouraged and annoyed. Well, I stuck to the plan and voila, tonight I had lost 4.2 pounds for a total of 5.8 since I started. Not bad. I was so excited. I'm getting better at feeling full and the results are like a drug. I want more, MORE I TELL YOU.

Anyway... lots of challenges for the coming week. Dinner at Lisa's parents' tomorrow which means awesome food and lots of booze... Then going to friends' on Saturday who don't exactly eat healthy and then Thanksgiving next week. EEK!

Stay tuned...

Whose Idea Was this Anyway???

So, I weighed-in last night and I'm UP a pound. Yes, UP. I'm friggin' starving and I gained weight. However, I don't really think it was a gain as much as circumstance. I ate before the meeting and wore jeans. I was running errands after the meeting so I wanted to make sure I ate and didn't grab something on the run. Voila, Up a Pound...

Anyway, that's where we are. Apparently it's very common not to lose the second week. We'll see.

It's headed down

Ok, I just weighed in, it was 137 if I stood one way, 136.8 the other way. However, it was was 136.4 I think yesterday. Regardless, it's headed in the right direction -- down. The body fat reading was um, a weirdly 30.5% last night, a full 4 points down from where it was 10 days ago. Methinks that's inaccurate. I'm still trying to figure out how/when the best time to weigh vs. best time for body fat reading. My life is so hard!

Gleaming the Cube???

So, was Christian Slater "Gleaming the Cube" in your nightmare??? You know Katie Holmes looks AMAZING so that's a good sign, that you pictured yourself as someone fabulous.

I weigh-in this evening. I think I'm going to put some inspiring music like "The Final Countown" or "Eye of the Tiger" on my iPod for when I step on the scale. Wadda ya think?

I succumbed!

Fine, I had 2.5 pieces of bread. Fine. Fine. Fine. I surrender. I also had carpaccio and a green salad. Both were fantastic. I did not have wine or dessert -- major MAJOR accomplishments for me.

Megan, how did your weigh in go? I was down slightly this morning although I was so groggy I can't really recall. I had a dream that I was Katie Holmes, and I was dating this SUPER evil guy and for whatever reason he would hypnotize/drug me and then we'd do all of this horrible stuff like mug people and beat them up. Then I'd see them the next day, when I was back to my old self, and my friends and family were like WTF? And I'm like, what are you talking about? To boot, the guy looked like Christian Slater. I guess it officially qualifies as a nightmare then.

It was such a deep dream that I woke up at 6:20, and went back to sleep for TWENTY MINUTES and was able to hop right back in where I'd left off. Which was not where I wanted to be...

Does Dinner Equal Disaster???

So, we went out to dinner for our anniversary last night. I scouted the menu beforehand (my new obsession) to plan my meal. And food wise, I think I did well. I opted for the pan seared scallops instead of the breaded ones. And the meal came with tons of veggies. For an appetizer we got a cold thai chicken wrap. Nothing breaded or fried or anything. Very refreshing.

However, I did have two glasses of wine. They do a generous pour (6oz) but we were celebrating, right? I had a few bites of dessert and called it a day.

I have no idea how to calculate the points. Although a majority of them are alcohol. I guess as long as I don't go over my flex points, I'm fine.

I told Jon on the way home that I felt full, actually full and a little uncomfortable. Oh course, I felt crappy too, like that's a bad feeling and I'm going to gain weight this week instead of lose. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Stay tuned...

The Shake Update

Ok it wasn't disastrous. I don't feel that great after having the shake. But I feel like it's too much. I'm trying to get permission from my kickass trainer to eat real food post-workout instead.

New Administrative Change

I realized today that for the three people (ok maybe four) that come to this blog, it's unclear who's writing which post. I have performed some magic, and now any post without my name is Megan's. Got it?

Flatulently Yours

So apparently I'm eating the wrong foods to maximize muscle recovery blah blah blah after my workout. I'm supposed to be drinking protein shakes. Here's why this is a problem:

I despise shakes. Unless it has oreos in it. Then I could summon enough bravado to have a sip or two. Seriously, I don't like smoothies or shakes or any of it. I remember being dragged to Orange Julius when I was a kid, and I *hated* it. It's a texture thing.

Circa 2004, I became lactose-intolerant. I have no idea why. It started about the time I clogged Megan's brand new toilet in her brand new house, on the day they moved in. Since then, ice cream is forbidden, as are most cheeses. I miss blue cheese, but the others I can take or leave. Now that I've tested my intolerance a few times, I've begun to associate cheese with spasmodic diarrhea, so it tends to not appeal to me anymore.

Protein shakes have whey, which is apparently a superior form of protein and makes your muscles recover/repair better after a hard strength training workout. Can you see me rolling my eyes? Good lord.

The three times I summoned the courage to try protein shakes, I blew up like a tick on a dog. I thought my pants were going to split open, I am not kidding. My bra hurt. My shirt went from fitting fine to buttons popping off. I felt awful.

It's been recommended that I try Soy Protein Powder and I make my own shakes. There is little chance this is happening, for the aforementioned reasons. Look, I'll get on the floor and bray like a donkey doing those GD glute lifts. I'll push hard in my workouts. I'll eat 6 times a day and carry my cooler around. But I really, really have to draw the line at making and worse, drinking protein shakes.

Don't Feed the Megan

I'll admit it - ever since I started Weight Watchers, I'm friggin' STARVING. I'm so terrified of going over my points and eating too much that I ration out my food and have yet to feel properly full. I'm sure I/my body/my stomach will get used to it, but right now it's making me cranky.

Any suggestions on low-point, filling foods, Snakehead?

This is a proactive blog post...

I can feel myself teetering towards dangerous territory calorie-wise; in other words, I feel a binge coming on... ruh-roh. I'm headed to SF for church with Laura and Becky, and then I'm not sure what we'll be up to. I'm going to try to push my calories to the 1,500 range today, rather than the 1,700. Yesterday it was 1,900, so I gotta make up for stuff. I'm packing my workout clothes and am planning a run/walk in Golden Gate Park. Fun!

Still, I'm happy to report that my body fat % has dropped 1-1.5% this week. Kickass. I'm excited. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Down 2.6

So, they tell me I should be happy about losing 2.6 pounds in a week. Slow and steady, easier to keep it off if it comes of gradually. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Why wasn't it 5lbs? I want to be skinny NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

Seriously, I almost started crying when she told me how much I lost. I really thought it would be more. Impatient, party of 1. : - )

Waiting for the Weigh-In...

Three hours until I have my first weigh-in. I'm confident I've lost weight, I've been really good. But if I haven't lost like, 5 pounds, I'm going to be annoyed. Just kidding, I know it's a slow and steady thing (which I hate!) and that if you lose too much weight at once that's not good either. But I want results - NOW! Now I say.

Heather, I did see your comments. All good. Thank you!

Down 1.6

I think? Did I do the math right? 137.8 this morning, and fwiw, 1% decrease in body fat. I'll take it! I weighed this morning because tonight is my cheat meal, and I didn't want tons of pizza showing up on the scale manana.

Hope it goes well for you tonight!

Did you see my comments on the previous post?