Wow - 5 weeks. This week has been crazy busy with lots going on. Not a lot of weight lost (or so I say but if I'd been doing WW, wouldn't I be thrilled to have lost 2 lbs esp. 5 weeks in?

In retrospect, it was a big week for NSV (non-scale victories). First of all, it was Easter. Yep - the chocoholics weekend of orgy. I was mildly worried about all that chocolate in the house - now I will admit up front here that I am a chocolate snob. I don't generally like the waxy milk chocolate crap that they use for Easter candies - I prefer dark chocolate. Doesn't mean of course that in years past that I would buy a bag or two (yep - the big ones) of Easter Egss and sit and eat them (the Cadbury mini-eggs!!).

Friday was our first Easter Egg hunt "en famille" at a friend's house. They have a big acreage south of town and they had set up 4 zones divided by age for the kids. I stuck with Maggie (my 3 yr old) while my DH went with the twins and Charlie followed his group of friends. All 4 kids had a blast and collected 16-20 eggs each which they traded in for candy, etc. I let them eat pretty much what they wanted at my friend's house - I didn't want it coming home with us! But in the 2.5 hrs we were there, I didn't sit down (or look for a place to sit) once. {{faint}} That's huge for me. 6 weeks ago, I would have arrived, been social and looked for a place to perch until the hunt started and the same as soon as it was over. I have suffered from sciatica since I was pregnant with the twins in 1999 and it's not quite gone but it's really really rarer these days. AND after Maggie & I finished her hunt, we walked out to find Charlie's group - honestly, I'm not sure I would have done that 6 weeks ago (as I said, I would have been looking to sit and rest). So we caught up with Charlie's group and I got to help him hunt for eggs too before we headed back to the house (and it was a decent hike of 0.5km each way?).

Sunday morning, I had been asked to participate in the Easter morning celebrations at church. They did Cardboard Testimonies (go to You Tube and search that term - it's a very powerful presentation) and had asked me to participate. Now I'm not one to shy away from being in front of large groups per se but I felt much more confident this time. I had even gone out and bought a new dress for the occasion (and when I tried it on in the store, I felt pretty!! Not just - "yep - it fits so I guess it'll do"). AND for the first time in 6 years, I wore panty hose. And new shoes - no Crocs or flats today... i had cute 1-1.5" heels!!! I got soooo many compliments on my dress and how wonderful I look. Am surprised that my head fits in the avatar box up there. LOL

Those were my big NSV's but I had a few realizations too.

1. I am not getting my liquids in and I am really working hard to get them in.

2. AF showed up 28 days to the day (I got it "early" in March 3 days post-op). Haven't had a "regular" 28 day cycle since 2002-2003? They've been getting shorter so this was a nice break from the 24-25 day (or shorter) cycles of late. And I noticed that my water gain was only 2-3 lbs this month vs the 7-10lbs that I had been seeing recently. She hit the road last night so we'll see if more weight comes off in the next 48 hrs.

3. I was EXHAUSTED this week - which reminded me it's time to get on top of my iron needs. I was borderline anemic at surgery and I definitely am now. Started taking iron on Tuesday andam feeling a little better already - I'm sure it's more AF related but I'm not sure.

4. Also started my calcium supplements - Caltrate chews. Yummy!! And no pills to swallow. A plus.

5. Have been really working on getting my multivitamins - getting at least 1x a day - now to get to 2x.

Also need to start exercising more. Tried my Biggest Loser Yoga for WL DVD - um - their idea of intro and mine are 2 different things. So for now, I'm going to start going to a BMI class once a week and find a yoga class locally once a week.

Going to start a Hatha class TODAY at 12:15 once the kids are gone to school. And I'll add in a BMI class next week (or tomorrow if it fits my schedule). I know I need to get those added asap to boost my WL and to feel better.

Awareness goes a looooong way

I had a NSV on New Year's Eve. Normally, my husband and I have an all out food fest on New Year's Eve - I would almost say an orgy of food. {blush} This year, I am trying very hard to be more accountable for my choices and so I had decided in advance that I wasn't going to deprive myself completely but I wasn't going to gorge myself like usual.

With that in mind, we had our usual selection of appetizer type foods: BBQ chicken wings, M & M Cheddar Balls and M & M Vegetable Spring Rolls. As we were waiting for them to be ready, I had decided in my mind what I was going to eat: 5-6 wings, about 25 cheddar balls and 4 spring rolls. So while I waited, I wanted to note the nutrition info so I could log my foods on my BodyBugg food tracker.

It's funny - but the wings were shown with 3 wings being 1 serving size so I had 6... made the math easier. And the Cheddar Balls were 7/serving - I had 21 to start and had 3-4 more once we got going. And Spring Rolls are 2/serving and I had 4. I also had about 1 tbsp of 2% sour cream to dip my cheddar balls in. Normally, in all honesty, I would have eaten 10-12 wings, probably another 10 cheddar balls and the same number of spring rolls and more sour cream.

When I was done eating, I felt full and comfortable - not stuffed to the gills thinking "oh - what have I done?". We even had chips in the cupboard which we didn't need.

When I calculated it all this morning, 1156 cal in total for that meal. More than anything, the sodium in this food floored me. So I wasn't surprised to see a water gain on the scale this a.m. I also wasn't very active yesterday but today, I bumped up my calories expended to make up for the caloric surplus yesterday.

Dec 31st:

Calories Out: 2392
Calories In: 2916
Surplus of 524 calories

Jan 1st (to 4:30pm):

Calories Out:1748
Calories In: 1294
Deficit of 454 calories

So it's not perfect by any stretch but I am certainly learning alot about myself and what goes in & out of my body!!

OH!! And I also wore my BB to bed last night and I'll have to ask the consultant on Monday how to reset my sleeping/rest numbers as I burn 1.8 cal/min (on average) which is higher than the BB shows if I take my armband off overnight (it uses 1.3 cal as a default). Guess it is true that you burn more calories when you have sleep apnea.

Surviving Christmas??

Well - Christmas 2008 has come & gone and I'm pleased to report that it was fairly easy to survive. I've been trying not to weigh myself too much - too frustrating but on Christmas Day, I tried on my engagement ring which I had to stop wearing mid-November (I could get it on but if my hands swelled even slightly, it was painful) and it fits again!! Still not 100% comfortable but I would say I'm at 90% comfort compared to about 50% 4-5 weeks ago. So I hopped on the scale on Saturday and I'm down... 10 lbs since I met with Dr. Pop in mid-November!! Woot!!

It's nice to have my folks here for Christmas as we all struggle with our own weight issues so we tried not to bring too many sweets into the house, etc but were allowing some so that the kids can enjoy some of the joys of the holidays too. My really close friend Penny made cookies and sent me home with a 12 x 6" container of homemade cookies on the 19th - sugar cookies, soft ginger snaps, shortbread, a chocolate coated peanut brittle type stuff and chocolate coated oriental noodles with marshmallows & peanuts. I admit to eating quite a few of the ginger snaps but maybe 2-3 a day? On the 23rd, we had my mom's cousin over for tea and we had almost half of those cookies still left to put out along with some from a tin of store bought ones (the President's Choice Belgian Chocolate selection).

The 24th was a little more challenging - we went to my Aunt's home and she had made Nanaimo bars and added extra dark chocolate (a weakness for both mom & I) on the top. Thankfully she cut them small (1/2" x 1/2" ??) so when I say I had 3 of them, it sounds bad until you realize I normally would have eaten 3 "normal" sized ones which are 1 x 1". Otherwise, I had a cup of tea... she had made mince tarts but I'm not a huge mince tart fan and I decided to splurge my calories on something I adore. How's that for a NSV?! (non-scale victory)

Dinners the week leading up to Christmas were great - we made a big ham on Tuesday night with scalloped potatoes and carrots (which meants yummy ham for lunch on Wed & Thurs). Wednesday night was Farm Boy tourtiere and ham leftovers which most of the adults chose! Christmas dinner was spectacular - we bought a fresh turkey at Farm Boy (seriously - I will never buy frozen or a "ball" bird again!!), made stuffing from scratch, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed/whipped white potatoes, carrots and peas. And we made gravy from the pan drippings... It was fabulous!

On Boxing Day, Bill & I made turkey soup with lots of veggies which the kids all loved!! I've even cooked dinner (don't drop dead out there!) 6 out of the last 7 days (with the exception of Boxing Day when Bill & I ordered in pizza).