Thursday, February 10, 2011

GOAL!!!!!!

You need to shout that like those world cup soccer announcers shout it! Because that's how it was in my head! I MADE GOAL!!!!!!

Today was my first day of training for Weight Watchers and I was training in the meeting I normally attend so I didn't get to weigh in until the end of the training. I was pretty nervous because it was going to be my first weigh in as an employee and so I knew my number was a much bigger deal. I have been insanely hungry this week. I'm pretty sure my thyroid medication is off and when it gets off then I can get super hungry and eat everything near me. That's pretty much what I did this week. I tried very hard to pick free foods to keep the damage down but I ate.

So, getting up on that scale today I was expecting about a pound gain and instead I lost 1.4! That means I'm actually .4 less than goal! I can't tell you how excited I was! My leader asked me how I was going to reward myself and I hadn't really decided because I was expecting that gain. So, I promptly went out and bought myself the beige heels I've been coveting forever. So, as of today I have lost 55 pounds!

Interestingly enough today was also the Oprah interview with Jennifer Hudson who is the spokesperson for Weight Watchers. I found it so interesting that she said she still has it in her head that she is the old weight. I experienced the same thing (and still experience) of thinking that I am still over 200 pounds and not able to wear the cute clothes that I see in the stores. It really is something that takes a while to get used to and I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in that feeling.

So, if anyone out there who has been thinking about changing their life, don't put it off any more! You deserve it!!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Fabulous Weekend

My ex and I have decided to each have one full weekend a month with the boys. We usually split the weekend up so we both have time with them, but we thought one full weekend each month would allow us to do a lot more with them once in a while. This was our first month and this weekend was my full weekend! We had a BLAST!

Friday evening we visited our favorite thrift store and picked up a few good buys. Then we had dinner at our favorite restaurant. Saturday we went to Home Depot for their kid's clinic and the boys made heart shaped shelves. Then we went to our local children's museum and they had a ton of fun exploring everything there. After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the other thrift stores in town. We got some other really great bargains including a scary looking monkey puppet and a brand new popcorn popper!

Today was by far the most fun of all. A few months back I went roller skating again for the first time in about fifteen years. The rink had changed so much since I went there but I remembered how much I enjoyed it and I thought it would be fun to take the boys. I wasn't sure how they would feel about it but we went today and it was the most fun I've seen them have in a long time. Despite the fact that they spent a large portion of their time there on the ground and a few tears were shed, they had so much fun and wanted to stay the entire time they were open. As soon as we left they were asking when we could go back again and my oldest even let me take pictures of him (which he never does)!

I start training for my job at WW this week and so I'm going to have to miss a few of their events from time to time. I don't like it when I can't be there for something they're doing, but weekends like this let me know that they'll have plenty of good memories!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Oprah's Vegan Challenge

I have to give credit where credit is due and I think a lot is due from this show. Though I'm not vegan, I do read a lot of vegan sites, blogs and materials and my dairy is very limited. I thought this was a great experiment and I was glad that so many Oprah staffers gave it a try. Go vegan for one week.

So let's get to the credit. Oprah gets a lot here. For starters the fact that she will even mention meat on her show after being sued by the cattle ranchers in Texas all those years ago means she deserves a ton of credit. Even with all of her money and influence I know that was a tough time for her and I'm sure she's in no hurry to repeat it. She does choose her words and her guests carefully, but just taking on the issue is impressive. She also deserves credit for making sure her staff had access to the food they would need for the week at the studio cafeteria. I also think it's great that she agreed to continue serving vegan options at the studio as well as going with Meatless Monday. Kudos to Oprah.

Michael Pollan. Let me just make it very clear that I have a huge crush on him and I think he's awesome. He is not a vegetarian or a vegan but he is a "food rockstar" as Oprah called him. More kudos to Oprah for having him on since he isn't vegan or even vegetarian and that was the premise of the show. A lot of vegans are unhappy with him because he tried to "push meat". I didn't feel that way at all, in fact, I didn't feel like he had enough time to talk. The truth is, American's are NOT going to give up eating meat no matter how many shows Oprah does on the subject. So Pollan is right when he says that we need to revamp the current system not turn our backs on it. There are still farms out there who treat their animals with respect, feed them the things they were made to eat, and kill them humanely. We need to encourage and support these farmers. If American's are going to eat meat, these are the people they should be getting it from, not factory farms. He also gets a lot of credit for not losing his shit on the Cargill lady because I'm betting he wanted to.

Cargill...yeah I'll give them credit. But only a little. First, they came on a show about veganism so that was brave to begin with. Second, they let cameras into the slaughterhouse. Now I feel that this was largely due to the fact that they use the system designed by Temple Grandin so they know that their method is not as traumatic for the public. They agreed when no one else did so I'll give them credit for that. I'll also give them credit for using Grandin's system which is a lot better than other systems. However, I can't ignore the fact that these animals still likely lived in horrible conditions before they made it there and were fed things they have no business eating. Not to mention all the things they were injected with to keep them healthy until their death. And, they didn't know the "knocker" doing his job or mention that if he didn't do it properly then the cow goes on to have his throat slit while still awake. But Cargill came, so I'll give them credit.

Kathy Freston. She was kind of annoying, but she has a pretty face so she's a good face for the vegan lifestyle. She did mention that slaughterhouses for chickens, fish and pork are not designed by Grandin which I thought was very important. She did a pretty good job of helping the staffers through the week and gave them alternatives to what they normally eat that were meatless.

McDonald's and Temple Grandin. I hate McDonald's and I feel like they are primarily to blame for the factory farm system that we have today. Not just with meat, but with other products as well. But, they're not going anywhere. So, I give them credit for going to Grandin and having her design a more humane way to slaughter the cows for their hamburgers. It's a small step in the right direction, but it is a step and so I'll give them some credit for that. The more we demand from McDonald's the more they will be forced to change. Temple Grandin is just plain awesome. If we're going to have factory farms and slaughterhouses them I'm glad she is around to share her animal expertise and her knowledge of how she feels as an autistic person to design systems to make these animals more comfortable in their last moments. The video from Cargill showed that her system really does make the animals calmer.

Overall I think that this show put a lot of light on our food system and the benefits of going meatless even once a week. I think it was a huge win for animals!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

How Do You Know?

There's a movie out now called "How Do You Know?" I haven't seen it, but I gather that the premise of the movie is how do you know if the person you're with is The One. So, how do you know?

I fell in love with my ex-husband the moment I laid eyes on him the first time. I was only 14 but I told my mother I would marry him one day and I did five years later. We dated from the time I was 16 until we married when I was 19. Sure, I was young, but I had no doubts about marrying him. We've been divorced for a long time now and while sometimes it's hard to remember that I once was in love with him, I know that I did love him and I still love him, just in a very different way. I can honestly say that I believed I "knew" he was The One...and apparently he wasn't.

But even though he wasn't someone that I found myself wanting to be with for the rest of my life, I still cherish the time we spent together and wouldn't change it even if I could. So, since something I was so sure about didn't work out the way I had expected I often wonder if you ever really know, or if it's just a crap shoot.

I had a joking discussion with a friend of mine this evening about being married the next time I saw him. He asked me if I could get married in such a short amount of time (I'll likely see him again in April) and I told him I thought I could. I worked with a man for a while who married his wife after dating for only six weeks. Then this evening a show came on where the couple had only known each other for three weeks before getting married.

Do they know any more than I did after years of dating my ex? Their marriages are still together (as far as I know) and mine is not. Can you over think a decision like marriage? How long do you have to know someone before you know it's right?

Sometimes I wonder if trusting your gut is better than trusting your brain.