May 12, 2012 •

Oh, Date Night

FOOD LOG FROM 5/11/12

BREAKFAST:

3/4 c. Honey Nut Cheerios

3/4 c. Skim Milk

LUNCH:

McDonald’s Grilled Bacon Ranch Salad

w/ Ranch dressing

Unsweet Tea

DINNER:

White Bean Hummus w/ pita triangles

Planters Punch

Grouper topped w/ 2 shrimp & beurre blanc sauce

New Potatoes

Wilted Spinach

Coffee w/ sugar substitute & dash of cream

MOVIE SNACK:

1 Liter Water!

I haven’t calculated points for yesterday yet and may not.  We went out for a much-needed post-finals date night at a local restaurant that we love last night followed by a night at the movies.  We had a great meal and really enjoyed the night out.  Ordinarily, this would have signaled complete & total disaster for any diet.  However, while I didn’t eat a fruit plate and wheat toast, I’m really proud of myself overall.  I can’t remember the last time we went to the movies & didn’t order the infamous “No.1 combo”.  You know the one, humongous coke, even bigger popcorn.  Extra butter coating everything and more salt than you need in a week.  Instead, I told my (slightly shocked) hubby to grab me a water at the concession stand and ran to the bathroom before I could change my mind.  I think I inspired him because he also skipped the popcorn and went for a much smaller coke than normal. :)

May 10, 2012 •

Not an amazing start but a start, nonetheless.

Breakfast:

3 pts - 3/4 c. Honey Nut Cheerios

2 pts - 1 c. Skim Milk

Lunch:

6 pts - Ham Sandwich w/

2 pts - 1 slice cheese

2 pts - 2 tsp. mayo

4 pts - 15 tortilla chips

0 pts - 4 tbsp. salsa

Dinner:  Little Caesar’s

15 pts - 2 slices pepperoni pizza

5 pts - 2 pieces Crazy Bread w/

0 pts - sauce

5 pts - 3 Buffalo wings w/

2 pts - ranch dip

9 pts - Mello Yello (~21 oz.)

GRAND TOTAL  - 55 pts. (yikes!)

DAILY POINTS GOAL - 36 pts

OVER/UNDER:  19 pts Over

Sigh. This was not how I envisioned my first day.  As you can probably tell, I’m following WW PointsPlus system.  My daily target is 36, so I definitely blew that.  Still, each week there are 49 extra points, so I’m still ok there.  Quickly, here are my thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Good - I managed to eat breakfast even though we slept in today.  Next time, adding some fruit and maybe protein would have helped balance this out.

Bad - I didn’t make it to the grocery store as planned and wound up picking up an easy dinner.  Sticking to a weekly meal plan and actually getting those groceries home is going to be the key to success.

Ugly - Coke, seriously? Ugh. I knew better and even swore I would drink water.  Who was I kidding?  I hate water.  Action plans - unsweet tea until I can find a workable water solution (not a fan of those water flavor packets either, so maybe lemon or lime juice squeezed in?) & NO MORE COKE IN THE HOUSE! It’s just too much of a temptation.

Well, that’s all for now.  As Scarlett says, “Tomorrow is another day!” ;)

May 10, 2012 •

I may not have a tape measure……

But it’s clear things are out of control here.

216.  Such an extremely depressing number.  Not least of which because it’s two pounds less than what I weighed yesterday, which means it’s not even the heaviest I’ve ever been. :(  Nonetheless, it’s where I start.  In the coming weeks, surely I will find a tape measure to make some proper measurements.  For now, we’ll have to make do with my weight and sizes:

Weight:     216 lb.

Dress Size:     18 (barely)

Pants Size:     18 (again, just barely)

Shirt Size:     XL

Bra Size:     38DDD (at least the girls are kind of awesome, right now!)

For those of you who haven’t made it this far, 18 is at the very, tip-top limit of the regular misses’ clothing department.  Five pounds more and it’s on the plus sizes.  Except it’s really not because almost everyone changes the style of their clothes from regular to plus sizes.  No more invisible side zipper.  Oh no, it’s an elastic waist for sure.  Sleek pencil skirts suddenly have pleats; or worse, gores.  So in a lot of cases, there’s this dark valley where the size 18 (if there even was one - lots of clothing brands’ regular sizes stop at 16) is too small but the smallest plus size is too large.  Then you have no clothes!  It feels kind of like not getting picked to play on anyone’s team at recess.  You wouldn’t really care if you had to play on a bad team, but not getting to play at all is the absolute worst.

Now, part of the reason I’ve found myself here is that I never really cared what size I wore.  I figured if it fit and looked nice, no one but me would ever know the number so what did it matter?  Well, that’s fine in theory, but look where it got me.

The new plan is this:  Each week on Thursday, I’ll post my weight and sizes (measurements too if I ever get around to finding that stupid tape measure).  Every day, I’ll post my food diary and activity log.  Along the way, I’ll post updates on the rest of my journey.  And if you’re lucky, once I’ve gone from complete schlubb to total Scarlett, I might even post the before pictures I took but was too embarrassed to post!

May 10, 2012 • • gardenandgun.com

First things, first.  After over-committing myself (again) to what felt like every extracurricular activity on the planet this semester, I woke up after finals and thought, “Hey! It’s been kind of a while since I’ve cut my hair.”  Then, I looked in the mirror. Woah. So first thing this morning, I hopped in a stylist’s chair and said goodbye to the hippie hair I didn’t even realize I had.  Several months ago before I ever thought about writing a blog, I read an article that someone posted to Facebook about Southern women.  Garden & Gun isn’t really my first choice in reading material, and the article itself painted a pretty one-dimensional image of Sourthern women.  Still, this one line stuck out to me then and stays with me now.

It also means never leaving the house with wet hair. Not even in the case of fire. Because wet hair is low-rent. It shows you don’t care, and not caring is not something Southern women do, at least when it comes to our hair.

I always go out with wet hair, and I do always look like I don’t care.  I used to think I had some sort of devil-may-care kind of thing going on.  (Ooo, look at her. She’s so confident! She doesn’t spend hours working on her hair. She’s sooo independent.)  Now, I realize it was definitely more of a wear-your-house-shoes-out-in-public type of look.  NOT attractive.

With the hubs and me both in school full-time, money certainly isn’t falling from the trees.  Still, I’m NOT low-rent.  I’m smart, kind, and capable.  I’m important in my own little world, and if I don’t care enough to put forth my best, then what kind of response can I really expect from other people?

Now obviously, I don’t think cute hair makes you a better person. (Actually, I’m pretty sure in some cases it can make you worse!)  And I don’t ever want to build relationships based on whether someone else thinks I look the part.  But I do want the world to see the me I can be.  The me that’s take charge, cool under pressure, ready for anything.  Without a mess of wet hair on top of my head as a distraction. :)

May 9, 2012 •

And so it begins…..

Ah, the bacon biscuit. Breakfast staple, comfort food, waist killer.

Over the years, I’ve had good ones, great ones, awful ones.  Frozen ones, made from scratch ones, microwaved ones.  Big ones, tiny ones, just-right ones.  Along the way, I’ve found my favorites, learned to make do, and sworn off the worst.

I’m an eater, not a writer, so please don’t expect too much from me here. My intentions are many, some more worthy than others.  I’m starting this blog to lose some weight. To quit going to Walmart with wet hair. To finally break free of my fear of writing something others will see.  At the end of the day, this is a place where I’ll be sharing my own goals, insecurities, and triumphs as one woman striving to achieve those elusive ideals of Southern charm and beauty.