What the F#@*

I have no idea what I did to my neck. I felt really tired last night so I went to lie down for a bit before tidying up the kitchen. The pain hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so stiff when I got up this morning. I'm home today because of the pain and the headache it's causing. :(

My SIL's Wedding Rehearsal

Photos I took at my SIL's wedding rehearsal this past Saturday.
Location: Byodo-In Temple, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Almost there!

I did an unofficial weigh-in today. :P We weren't able to weigh in at our meeting today. The scale was inoperable and the meeting leader didn't have a back-up scale with her. I was bummed because I had a feeling I did really good this week! I have the option of attending another meeting tomorrow night, but, eh.... So, I weighed myself on my home scale. I wasn't sure how accurate it was so I took our brand new 10 pound bag of unopened rice and stepped on the scale with it. It weighed in at 10.2 pounds. Pretty good, right? So, I'm calling my weight 135.2 for today, which is a loss of 2.4 pounds from last week. After 12 weeks of WW, I'm still chugging along....

Chugging Along....

I'm down another 0.6 pounds this week, bringing my total loss to 11 pounds! I was sure I had gained this week. We had a luncheon for my SIL at Sam Choy's BLC (Breakfast, Lunch and Crab) on Saturday. I had a veggie wrap, but then went nuts on the french fries. Then, we had dinner at my in-laws' on Sunday night. I always eat way too much because my MIL always makes SO MUCH FOOD! You can overeat just by having a little bit of everything. What was on the menu? Spaghetti, garlic bread, ribeye steak, hot dogs, Portuguese sausage, green salad, chips, salsa, boiled peanuts, grilled shrimp, apples and cantaloupe.

I did okay on Monday. I made some chili and rice for dinner (6 points total). Last night, Brian and I both came home late from work. We decided to go to a nearby Japanese restaurant for dinner. I was in the mood for some comfort food and ordered the chicken sukiyaki. It was delicious and the portion was generous. I ate the whole thing! I have no idea how many points it was, but it was chock full of veggies and I passed on the white rice. I'm actually craving it again!

The first step toward becoming a lifetime WW member is to achieve a weight that is within the range for my height (or outside the range with a doctor's note). The "range" they speak of is based on that stupid BMI. At 4 feet 10-1/2 inches, the absolute maximum I can weigh according to the BMI and still be considered "Normal" is about 122 pounds. That's another 15 pounds!!! The last time my weight was down that low was probably in early high school...14 years ago?! Aah, we'll see where I stand once I reach my 10% goal and go from there. :)

Etsy Addict

It's terrible. Here's what I've purchased...all within about 20 minutes. I had been contemplating it for about a week and then, at the urging of Brian to pamper myself, I bought these (not all for me, BTW):

From Etsy seller JPATPURSES (I LOVE her stuff and am a repeat customer)


The listing for this one no longer works so I could only snag this tiny photo...it does not do the fabric justice!





From Etsy seller Momistyle




I am in LOVE with this "Kiku" fabric!



"Tsumami" flower



Fabric-covered buttons that act as ponytail holders!

A Visual

This is how my weight loss looks to date:

My Weight Chart:


I think that's a pretty good downward trend. :)

I've reached a milestone!

As of today, I am 10.4 pounds closer to my goal!!! I really can't believe it. I've got 3.6 more pounds to go until I achieve my first big goal of a 10% weight reduction.

I haven't been updating as often as I said I would. I've been dealing with some personal issues surrounding the 1st anniversary of my Grandma's passing. It's some pretty heavy emotional stuff that I won't get into. I am feeling better, though. I would have normally turned to food for comfort during such a time, but because of WW, I've had to actually deal with my feelings as opposed to eating a cupcake for temporary relief. Pretty interesting stuff.

I lost 0.2 pounds each of my two previous weigh-ins. 0.2 pounds?! It was initially discouraging, but I tried to stay positive. At least it was -0.2 pounds and not +0.2 pounds, right? A loss is still a loss, no matter how you look at it. :)

I was a bit more diligent this week, but I did eat until I was uncomfortable when we took my Grandpa to Ushio-Tei's all-you-can-eat buffet at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort. Somehow, I still managed to lose. Something else I did differently this week? I started eating yogurt again and cut back on the broccoli. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Maybe I was getting too much fiber from the broccoli? Maybe I wasn't getting enough calcium without the yogurt? Maybe my body just needed a little jump-start by changing up my food? Who knows. :P

Today was the last meeting of my very first 10-week session and I'm down 10.4 pounds. I lost about 1 pound per week! I'm actually quite shocked at the results I've achieved. I went into this with cautious optimism...who am I kidding? I was downright skeptical! But, it has worked. I think I'm also shocked because I haven't "suffered" as much as I thought I would need to in order to lose the weight. This tells me that I'm approaching WW with the right attitude. It's a LIVE-it, NOT a DIE-t! Rather than depriving myself and being overly-restrictive, I'm making changes that I can live with for the long term. I want to be able to sustain this loss once I've reached my ultimate goal (I'd love to get down to 110 pounds, but think I may look malnourished...I'd be ecstatic with 120 pounds).

This is a great way to start my second 10-week session with renewed motivation. Maybe I'll lose another 10 pounds in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Halfway There!

Sorry folks...I've been slacking on the updates.

I gained 1 pound at last week's weigh-in. I think I actually lost last week, but I sabotaged myself by partaking in an "Aloha" luncheon for a co-worker who was leaving the shipyard for greener pastures. I didn't want to be a party-pooper so I ordered the Makino-Chaya fifteen (yes, FIFTEEN!) item bento that everyone was getting. Yikes. Of course, I could have eaten only half and saved the other half for the following day, but I really have ZERO self-control when it comes to Japanese food. The bento included a little bit of everything you could imagine...small quantities, but lots of different items: sushi rice, cone sushi, nishime, azuki bean, shumai, croquette, mochiko chicken, gobo, misoyaki butterfish, fried mahi (I think), shrimp tempura, gyoza...hehe, I forget the rest already!

Anyway, I met a friend for breakfast at the Naupaka Terrace buffet at the Ihilani. Absolutely heavenly! Buffets are this dieter's enemy, but, I really tried to have some self-control. I loaded up on fruits, but still had reasonable portions of breakfast potatoes, chicken-apple sausage, a tiny waffle with fresh berries and creme fraiche (instead of butter and syrup), and I couldn't stay away from the omelet station. I had a bell pepper, mushroom and hint-of-cheese omelet.

Then, we BBQ'd on Saturday and Sunday. Chicken tenders, ribeye, hot dogs, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a veggie platter.

I went waaaaay over on points during the weekend, but was surprisingly diligent during the rest of the week. It must have paid off because....

I "lost" 4.2 pounds this week!!! I say "lost" because I think I actually must have lost some of those 4.2 pounds last week, but it didn't show at weigh-in because I was engorged with Makino-Chaya. :P

It's crazy, but, as I mentioned in a previous post, the more weight I lose, the more afraid I get that I won't be able to keep it off. It's a weird feeling. It's my innate pessimistic attitude rearing its ugly head. I think I'm going to have to start incorporating actual exercise soon. I've lost the weight so far by just tracking and being a bit more active around the house. Some of the members exercise for at least an hour every day of the week at the gym. Hmm, I don't think that's for me, but Brian and I could probably go walking around the neighborhood a few times a week (if it's not raining--we live in Mililani, afterall).

Anyway, my new favorite foods have been fresh, steamed broccoli (0 pts), blueberries (1 pt), Healthy Choice Fudge Bars (only 1 pt) and Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop 94% Fat Free Butter Popcorn (1 pt for 6.5 cups)! Need to buy more broccoli and blueberries...I'm addicted! The WW challenge for this coming week is to try a fruit or vegetable that you've never had before or haven't eaten in a really long time and report back on it at next week's meeting. I have NO idea what to pick! Need to hit up the supermarket and browse. Any suggestions?!

Chugging along!

I'm 0.2 pounds away from 5 pounds lost! Yipee! I'm shocked, really. I would have been thrilled with maintaining after the 4th of July I had! Yikes...I totally went overboard and even made myself sick from buffalo wings. :P

It moved again!

I lost another 1.2 pounds this past week!

I still feel like my moods are better. Again, I'm not sure if that's coinciding with work stresses, but I even have a better outlook at work. Things that I'd normally have a meltdown about aren't as upsetting to me.

I've noticed that my gut is shrinking and my jeans are getting loser in the thigh areas!

My digestion has been great. I kind of assumed that my eczema would improve if I began to eat better. No such luck just yet. :( I'm still itchy. The summer heat is not helping.

My energy level is slightly lower this week, but, without getting into details, there's a perfectly good reason for that. :)

I'm surprised at how much I used to NOT do before WW. The mere fact that I'm planning meals ahead of time and preparing healthy snacks for the following day has increased my daily activity level quite a bit.

I'm really surprised that I don't feel deprived. Don't get me wrong, I'm not eating like I used to, but, to be honest, I really don't miss it that much. I ate chili for dinner last week, spaghetti with meat sauce over the weekend, and chicken katsu (all homemade) last night. I'm just controlling my portion size and cutting back on my white rice consumption--I'm struggling to let go of it completely!

I sometimes find myself wondering if I'll be able to keep this up. The progress I'm making is kind of scary, if that makes any sense to anyone. I'm excited about the changes I'm seeing, but I'm also worried I won't be able to maintain it.

When I start to feel overwhelmed, I try to step back and remind myself to take all of this one day at a time.