1 Jan 98 - 228 - Well, I start out the new year weighing only 2 pounds less than when I started in April. I am determined to make 1998 a better year. I am already feeling better now that the stress of the holidays is over. Have made a deal with myself to start using Dietwatch Diary every day. Am also going to exercise at least three times a week. Hopefully I can add on more time as I can find it. The first two weeks will be easy; but then college starts up again. I will just have to make time for myself. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve and hoping we all have a great 98. Keep the faith:)
2 Jan 98 - Another day almost down (well, at least half way). Got up early and walked on the treadmill. Had to go get a blood test done; so I got up early enough to exercise before going. Have had a good day eating-wise so far. Have even done a good job drinking my water so far. Yesterday I drank 109 ozs of water and have had 64 so far today. I will weight myself again when I take Timothy to the dr for his allergy shot on Tuesday. Hopefully I will show a loss. Timothy has a friend staying the night for the first time in over a month. He couldn't have anyone over for a while because the last time he had someone over the went out and jumped on the trampoline at 1:30 in the morning. Woke me up. Boy was I pissed; and believe me, I let them know in no uncertain terms just how I felt about it. Guess it was a good thing none of the neighbors called the police. Keep the faith:)
3 Jan 98 - I had a pretty good day today. According to Dietwatch Diary I ate within all my parameters. Didn't walk on the treadmill; but did walk out to the field behind our house where they are building new houses. Had a nice walk through the woods to get there. Just hope I don't get poison from this little excursion. Went and got all the kids some new clothes today. They seem to grow out of them faster than I can buy them. My fifteen year old wears a bigger size T-shirt then his father. He is so broad through the shoulders he needs an extra large. If I get him just a large he complains that he can't move his arms right. The coach at the high school keeps trying to talk him into trying out for the wrestling team. Joey just isn't interested. Jan and I are diet buddies. We both work in the school system and are pretty close in age. She seems real nice and it would be nice if we could meet one another one of these days. Enough for now. Keep the faith:)
4 Jan 98 - It is a beautiful day here in Maryland. The high was almost 67 degrees. I can't remember the last time we all ran around in just T-shirts in January. I even rode home from church with my van window down. I absolutely love it. I want for another walk through the woods and then all through the field out back of our house. It is a shame they are gonna fill the whole field up with new houses. It sure is gonna create a traffic jam in the mornings with all those new people trying to get out of their houses in the morning. I am not looking forward to it.
Back to the grind tomorrow. I went to the store and saw quite a few of the kids from down at the school. None of them are looking forward to tomorrow; they are all praying for snow. However, with temperatures supposed to be in the mid to high fifties I don't think they have much hope for that. My kids are anxious to go back if for no other reason than to wear their new clothes. My daughter now wears a six in ladies clothing. They are a little loose on her, but that is the style and she is not one of those girls who likes clothes tight. She can easily wear a size small shirt but insists on getting a medium. She thinks it is disgusting for girls to walk around with their belly buttons hanging out. I just hope she still feels the same way in two or three years when she is 16. Will write again tomorrow and let you know how the first day back at work was. Keep the faith:)
5 Jan 98 - I survived my first day back at work. The kids were really wound up. When the fifth grade class came into the media center they were so hyper I made them all stand up and do 10 jumping jacks to try to calm them down. It didn't work. So many of the kids got giga pets that the principal made an announcement about them this afternoon. If the kids bring them to school, the teachers will confiscate them and give them to the principal. He will hold them until the kid's parents come in and pick them up. I know there will be a few kids bringing them in to school tomorrow just to test him. Boy will they be surprised; because he means business. Some of the kids have 4 or 5 of them and they can get real noisy when several of them are going off at the same time. I did real well with my eating today. Fell a little behind on the water today til I started heating it up a little in the microwave down at school. It is so cold in the room where I work that I have on a long-sleeve shirt with a short-sleeve T-shirt on over top of it and still had to put my sweater on to try to keep warm. At one point my teeth were chattering. At the other end of the building it was almost 80 degrees in the rooms. You would think they would regulate it a little bit better than that. I was wishing for long johns by the end of the day. It was much warmer outside than inside (67 outside and about 54 inside). Way too cold to learn or teach. Will weigh in at the drs tomorrow and let you know how I have done this past week. Keep the faith:)
7 Jan 98 - 230 - Yes, I know, that is the wrong way. Sorry I didn't write yesterday; but I couldn't get into Tripod. As you can see, according to the dr's scale I have gained 2 pounds; but I refuse to let that bother me. I just started my period yesterday afternoon and the pants that I wore New Year's Eve and couldn't hardly breathe in fit me comfortably yesterday. My husband says it is probably because I have gained a little muscle from exercising and lifting weights over the last week. I hope he is right. Have had good days eating and drinking my water. As a matter of fact, yesterday I drank over 100 ounces. I have been having to get up during the night to go to the bathroom and I never used to have to do that. I even drink a glass of water when I get up in the middle of the night. I have a 32 ounce container that I fill part way with water and freeze. Then I just add more water as the ice melts during the day and pour it in a cup to drink. That way I have cold water all day. I am really starting to enjoy it. Keep the faith:)
8 Jan 98 - I am writing this in school. I have to tell you about the woman I work with (she went home with a migraine). She is also overweight and trying to loose weight without any success. She skips meals, drinks shakes for meals, or just eats an orange or grapefruit for lunch. She is always making comments to] me about how much I eat for lunch (usually a turkey sandwich, veggies, and a fruit). The other day after she left I found a bag of peanut M&Ms on my desk. I asked her the next day if she had left them there and she said they were for me. I told her no thanks because I was trying to loose more weight. She just shrugged and said one little bag wouldn't hurt me. That was Monday. I am proud to say that I jsut left the bag lay there and didn't touch it and today she got it and ate them herself. I can't believe she would try to sabotage me that way. She is supposed to be my friend and she knows they are my favorite kind of candy. I still treat myself to a little sweet now and then; but they are caramel and midgie tootsie rolls (which are both low calorie and low fat) and I only eat one a day. That way I don't feel deprived and they fit in with my plan. I feel so good right now because I didn't eat those M&Ms and could do the happy dance right now; but I have to go because a class is due in any minute. See you tomorrow. Keep the faith:)
9 Jan 98 - Had a pretty rough day at work today. Suffice it to say I felt used and abused. I made it through and only ate 2 midgie tootsie rolls instead of the one I usually allow myself. The librarian was going into the hospital today to be induced. She is a week overdue. They were gonna start the pitosin at 9:30 this morning. It is now almost 7 pm and have not heard anything yet. This is her first baby and she hasn't a clue. She is convinced that nothing is going to change for her and her husband. She is in for a rude awakening. All of us parents just laugh at her. Gotta go; need to get gas and run to the store. Keep the faith:)
10 Jan 98 - Still haven't heard about the school media specialist. I am afraid to call in case it is bad news. Maybe she changed her mind and decided to wait until Monday. This waiting is killing me. It is 7:15 pm and I wish someone would call. We finally took our Christmas tree down. It is nice to have the front of my living room back; but sort of depressing to take all the Christmas stuff down. My kids are driving me nuts today. The oldest is jumping around liking he has ants in his pants and the two youngest are hollering through the extension hose to my vacuum cleaner. The dog hates it and is barking at them. I will have to limit my time on the computer for a while. I believe I need new glasses as here lately everytime I use the computer or do close work my eyes bother me and I get a tremendous headache. Guess I better call and make an appointment. It seems like everytime we get a little money ahead something comes along and wipes us out again. Oh well, I guess it is important that I be able to see properly. Keep the faith:)
11 Jan 98 - Another beautiful day. Due to all the rain and bad weather further north, they had to open 20 floodgates at the Conowingo Dam. We took our camcorder up and got some spectacular footage. The rainbow was beautiful. Usually all you can see below the dam is a lot of rocks sticking out of the water. Today it was just surging out of the gates. A lot of the places where you can usually walk were totally under water. They had to close one road that runs alongside the river because of flooding. The town of Post Deposit has been lucky so far and hasn't been flooded. If they have to open more flood gates it could cause problems for the town. It is situated right along the Susquehanna River and had steep granite cliffs right behind the town. There is no place for the water to run. Had a good day eating and got plenty of exercise climbing on the rocks and walking along the paths below the dam. Also found out the media specialist from the school had a boy at 1:30 yesterday afternoon. They didn't induce her labor Friday because her water broke. They just kinda let nature take it's course. Back to the grind tomorrow. Have to get grades out to the classroom teachers by Friday; so have my work cut out for me. Keep the faith:)
12 Jan 98 - I must be doing something right at work. On Thursday a group of about 30 principals from Maryland schools will be touring our school and visiting classes because of our high MSPAP scores. We had to write down a description of what we will be doing with our classes and the goals/outcomes for the lesson. The principal told me he would help me with mine because I am a sub and haven't completed my degree yet. I decided to just put something down as a rough draft and he said it was great and to go ahead and write it up. He also told me he doesn't need to see my lesson plans any more because I am doing a great job. Sure is nice to hear such positive remarks once in a while. It made me feel pretty good. Have been having a hard time getting with the exercise. Do a lot of walking with the kids on the weekends; but can't seem to get with it during the week. Set my alarm for 5:30 this morning; but just couldn't get my butt out of bed. Will try again tomorrow. Keep the faith:)
14 Jan 98 - Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I couldn't get into Tripod. Could get into my journal page; couldn't get into the place where you update it. Had a good day eating; still have to finish my water and get my exercise in. I have read all the posts on exercising and would rather exercise in the morning; but would have to get up at 5:00 to do it. I have set my alarm for that time two days in a row; but end up shutting alarm and falling back to sleep. As long as I exercise I am getting some benefits; so in the evening it will be. Gotta go get some de-icer for the driveway. They are calling for an ice storm here tonight. They were calling for snow and now they are calling for a winter storm warning with significant ice accumulation. Sounds pretty bad. I hope we don't end up line New England. Keep the faith:)
15 Jan 98 - We dodged a bullet today. We had only rain and not the weather they were calling for; but they are calling for snow again this weekend. Had a good day today. Drank all my water and had plenty of fruits and veggies. Will weigh myself tomorrow when take Punk for his allergy shot. Keep the faith:)
16 Jan 98 - 228.5 - Down a pound and a half in almost 2 weeks. Not much; but I'll take it. It's better than a pound and a half gain. We have a three day break from school. The kids have a four day break and the teachers and instructional assistants have to go in for a professional day on Tuesday. We have a meeting first thing and then can use the rest of the day for lesson planning and doing grades. They marking period ended today and grades are due in to the principal on Wednesday. Drank all of my water today. Had a turkey sandwich and a grapefruit for lunch. I am real proud of myself. I haven't bought a soda for lunch since before Christmas. I have just been drinking my water with a little lemon flavor added to it. I don't even miss the soda any more. I guess the little changes will add up eventually. Keep the faith:)
17 Jan 98 - Have had a lazy day today. Took Jaime to Claire's (a store that sells earrings and other stuff), other than that just lazed around. Did get some aerobic exercise in this morning. Have done all right eating; but need to kick up water drinking. I do fine during the week and then fall short on the weekends. Gotta work on that. Keep the faith:)
18 Jan 98 - I have had a terrible day so far and it is only 10 a.m. My dad has been pretty sick with a cold and I haven't been able to get in touch with him since Thursday night. The neighbor said they saw him Friday and again Saturday morning; but hadn't seen him since then and when they went to check on him for me, he didn't answer the door. I called my brother (who lived in Pennsylvannia, about 3 times as far away as I do and in a totally different state) to meet me there because he has a key to the house. When I got there the door was unlocked and I went on in. My dad is all wound up with a cold that I would venture to say is pneumonia, but he refused to go to the hospital. He wouldn't even agree to go see my dr tomorrow. He pisses me off so bad. He said he couldn't even talk because his throat hurt so bad; but when he heard the pure panic in my voice you would have at least thought he would make an effort. Oh well, at least he is still alive. Hopefully the day will get better. At least when I came home I didn't start stuffing my face with junk to relieve the tension; I walked on the treadmill for about 15 minutes at 4 mph; then I ate a sensible breakfast. I will call him later today and first thing tomorrow. Keep the faith:)
19 Jan 98 - Yobo and I worked on getting rid of stuff today. Went up in the attic and cleaned it out. Took about a ton of clothes to the Goodwill. In the bags were many clothes that are now too big for me. Decided to get rid of them so I wouldn't have any clothes to grow back into. My husband says he will only buy new clothes for me if they are in smaller sizes. I can live with that. We have to go out later and get Timothy's birthday present. He will be 11 tomorrow. Yobo's birthday is on Friday. He already got his present, a leather jacket he has been wanting for quite some time. Gotta go fix dinner. Keep the faith:)
20 Jan 98 - My baby turned 11 today. Yobo took the kids to a place called Sports Plus, but when they got there it was closed. The kids were real disappointed. I had a good day at work. It was an in-service day for teachers and they had donuts there. I turned them down and ate an apple and banana instead. They smelled so good and I feel so great that I didn't eat any. I was on a high all day because of that one conquest over my wants and took my needs into consideration instead. Keep the faith:)
21 Jan 98 - There has been a lot of talk on the list lately about limiting or completely cutting chocolate out of the diet. Chocolate is one thing I could take or leave, but I absolutely love caramel. I am not going to cut it out completely but I have decided to eliminate caramel from my diet for the Lenten Season. I'm not sure exactly when that starts. This will be a big sacrifice for me as they are my absolute favorites. I did something different for lunch. I took an apple and cut it up and put brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins over it. I added a little bit of water and zapped it in the microwave for four minutes. Boy was it good. People kept coming in and asking who had hot apple pie. Several teachers are going to do the same thing tomorrow. Was a nice change from grapefuit. I also had a half a turkey sandwich on pumpernickel bread and some radishes. Didn't eat breakfast because I felt pretty sick this morning. I feel much better now. My first class of the semester is tonight. My education course. Start my psychology class on Monday. Keep the faith:)
23 Jan 98 - Sorry I didn't write yesterday; but I was so sick. Suffice it to say it wasn't pretty. I feel well enough to go to work this morning, but could still feel better. Take Punk for an allergy shot this afternoon and will weigh myself again. I am keeping my fingers crossed that passing up all those donuts helped some. I love Philly Flavors apple/cinnamon cream cheese, but they don't make a low-fat/non-fat version. I got some fat-free cream cheese and chopped some apple up and added brown sugar and cinnamon to make my own. I have to experiment with the amount of cinnamon as I have too much, but it isn't bad. I am amazed at how experimental I have become in the low-fat preparation of foods. Most times my family can't even tell that I have changed the recipes. Keep the faith:)
24 Jan 98 - 228 - As you can see, I have lost another half pound. Hope to see more next week. We are having a party for our son's birthday. It is also a party for Yobo as his birthday was yesterday. It made the cakes with applesauce instead of oil. I also plan on having pretzels and popcorn with Molly McButter along with the chips. I am also having carrots, celery, and radishes. I plan to have a small piece of cake and a little ice cream (non-fat) and lots of veggies. Wish me luck. I will let you know how things went. Keep the faith:)
25 Jan 98 - The party went fine yesterday; but the sleepover and today are driving me up a tree. I am getting ready to take the kids for a nice long walk and then take them home. It is amazing how much more noise a couple more kids can make. Add that to the fact that every time they run by the bow window or come into the house they make the dogs barks like crazy because they don't live here. You would think that after a while the dogs would realize that they are okay and don't need to be barked at every time they are seen again. Well, off for our walk. Keep the faith:)
27 Jan 98 - Had my first psychology class last night. I was supposed to have a male teacher; but was switched and have a female. She uses two books, so I have to go out and buy another book. She also asked how many were working full time and going to school at night. When we raised our hands she just said, "Well, I guess you will just have to work harder than everyone else." What kind of an attitude is that? This is the same teacher who wants to know in advance if you are going to be absent but thinks nothing of cancelling class by sending someone in the room to write a not on the board that class is cancelled because she is skiing. I have just decided to grit my teeth and bear it as I need this class for my degree. Keep the faith:)
29 Jan 98 - Sorry about yesterday, I couldn't get into anything. I am writing this first thing this morning. Already have my lunch all ready for work. Have my apple all ready to steam in the microwave and some radishes. Already have soup in school. It is home-made cabbage soup with a lot of extra veggies and some kidney beans. One of the ladies made it and it is really delicious. No, I am not following the cabbage soup diet. I have had it for lunch for the last two days. Today will finish it off. It just tastes so darn good. Besides, then I don't have to worry about what to fix for lunch. I love soup on a winter day. Now if only we would get some of that snow they keep calling for and never comes. Keep the faith:)
30 Jan 98 - Had a most unusual day yesterday. I had to present Media awards to one child from each grade. Had to get up in front of the whole school and a lot of parents. I was really nervous and I had to go last. My husband got it all on tape, and I must say I looked terrible. Itn's it funny howyou never realize how big you really are until you look at pictures of a tape of yourself. I was in a depressed mood all evening; but I am proud to report that I didn't eat my way thru the depression. I didn't exercise either because I had a collossal migraine. It was so bad that I got physically sick. Haven't had one that bad in ages and hope it will be a long time until I get one again (never would be good). Will weigh myself this afternoon when take Punk for his allergy shot and let you all know how I did tomorrow. Keep the faith:)
31 Jan 98 - 228 - I stayed exactly the same for a grand total of 2 pounds lost in January. At least it isn't two pounds gained. I am sure it would have been more but my cousin is due tomorrow or Monday. (I know, I know, that sounds dumb; but my daughter is 13 and if you say the "p" word around her she has spasms, especially if you say it in front of her brothers.) I feel all bloated, but I can still zip my pants. That is an accomplishment. I used to have to lay on the bed to zip them around this time of the month a couple of months ago. I think we are going to take the kids to see Titanic today. My husband doesn't want to watch it again and wants to go see a different movie. I wouldn't mind seeing it again; but guess I will go to a different one with him. Not much else is happening so I'll see you tomorrow. Keep the faith:)
