Week 30: A Christmas Miracle

PJ Weight: 157.8
Week Loss: -0.4
Cumulative Loss: -33.8

Seth Weight: 170.6
Week Loss: -0.4
Cumulative Loss: -28.5

Maybe there's something to that whole Christmas miracle thing after all.  Somehow amidst the holiday donuts, dinners, lunches, and the other assorted holiday gluttony, Seth & I managed to lose about half a pound apiece.

I have no idea how this happened, so I'm chalking it up to a Christmas present to us from the scale.  I was so totally mentally prepared for a gain this week that I really don't know what to say about it other than "Yay".  So...yay!... moving on.

We tried the Phase 2 cardio workout from Power 90 on Monday.  It went so well that we were back to Phase 1 yesterday and today.  Really, it wasn't any different than Phase 1.  All the moves are the same, it's just sped up and you do three rounds of the exercises instead of two.  Since we don't have the time to devote almost a full hour to cardio in the morning, we're going to stick with Phase 1 and just work harder at it.

I figure we'll try the Phase 2 weights workout tomorrow and see how it goes - the weights workouts are generally shorter.  Hopefully we have enough time before the tiny one wakes up and demands our attention.  She seems to have a sixth sense for when we're exercising, and wakes up halfway through the workout, which makes the last 10 minutes or so somewhat rushed and stressful.

My thoughts on Power 90 is that it lacks variety in a big way.  I was hoping Phase 2 would be at least some different stuff to do, but no, same exact workout - just longer.  So we're now about 45 days in, and I've gotta say it's kind of boring.

We're sticking with it, but ... yawn.

So that's it for this year, I'll check back in with y'all in January.  Happy new year!!

Week 29: The Perfect Donut

PJ Weight:  158.2
Week results:  0.0
Cumulative loss: -33.4

Seth Weight:  171.0
Week loss:  -0.4
Cumulative loss:   -28.1

Perhaps a year ago, Dunkin Donuts had a little "design a donut" contest going.  Now, I don't know what won, but the point is you could design and submit your dream donut and they'd make it for a while.  The one I designed was like a boston creme donut, but with vanilla frosting instead of chocolate.  It of course did not win.

But fast forward to this weekend, and what did I see when I went into a Dunkin Donuts for some coffee?  Lo and Behold! It was the perfect donut!

OK, it's star shaped and has some of those crunchy round sprinkles on it, but it's a vanilla frosted boston creme donut.  And it's only there seasonally.  LIMITED TIME!!  Who knows whether it will ever come back again?!?!

I will be eating these donuts, make no mistake.  I will not be denying myself this long-dreamed-of dessert while it's here within reach only to pitifully mourn its loss when it goes.  Oh hell no.

I'm doing my best to fit them into my weight watchers points for the day (with neutral results, as shown by my remaining at exactly the same weight as last week), and I'm limiting myself to a maximum of one per day, not half a dozen, but lest there be misunderstandings allow me to reiterate and make this abundantly clear:

I.  WILL.  BE.  EATING.  THESE.  DONUTS.

That is all.

Week 28

PJ Weight:  158.2
Week Loss:  -2.4
Cumulative Loss:  -33.4

Seth Weight: 171.4
Week Loss: -0.8
Cumulative Loss:  -27.7

What a week for Team Mintz!  We just hit the combined weight loss total of 61.1 pounds.  GO US.

Take THAT, plateau!!  HAH.

But now... ah, the challenges abound.

This week I have a buffet Indian lunch to go to, a coworker's mid-afternoon baby shower to attend (with baked goods aplenty in evidence), and then my boss is taking me and some other coworkers out to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch on Friday. Friday evening, we generally dine out with friends.

Hm.  And this is before all the holiday festivities and related gluttony of the following two weeks.

Methinks I may foresee a problem.  I'll just have to do what I can.  (You can find healthy options everywhere, etc, etc, blah blah blah.... It's the frickin' Cheesecake Factory for cryin' out loud!! Do I really WANT to find a healthy option??)

Seriously.  I'll try.  And I won't have dessert.  Or the pasta dish that I absolutely love and haven't had in a year that's 2500 calories.  Sigh.  [After finishing this blog and doing some research, it appears they have a "Skinnylicious" menu now.  We'll see if I can bring myself to order from that.  The thought depresses me.]

On the exercise front, we've finished our first 30 days of the Power 90 program.  We dutifully took pictures this morning to track our progress.  You'll note the distinct lack of any pictures here.  This should tell you that I'm not as of yet keen to post a picture of myself in a sports bra & workout shorts, and have not arrived at my "After" photo.

I might never get to a point when I'm ready to share these pictures.  They're a record for me (and for Seth) to see progress over time.  Though I have to say this month showed but little progress, honestly.  Seth's pictures show a lot more progress, but guys put on muscle quicker than us ladies, and it shows a lot more.  (And they get to eat more, and lose weight faster.  But it's more taboo for women to carry extra weight in our society than it is for men.  WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?!?)

When we get closer to the June finish line, I'll certainly post my non-workout-clothing pictures from before diet & after, but those are T-shirt / Jeans pictures.  Different story entirely.

Back to Power 90 - we're still doing the "easy" DVD.  The program comes with two DVD's.  I forget the exact terminology they use for them, but no matter, it breaks down to easy & harder, no matter what you call them.  I'm starting to get sick of doing the same 2 workouts all the time, and I think we might switch around the 45 day mark to the more advanced DVD just for a change of scenery.

Certainly the weight routines have gotten MUCH easier over the past month.  I've upped the weights several times, and I don't feel that my form's suffered at all.

Cardio is much more difficult for me.  I just can't take the jumping.  My feet have bunions, and it's just plain painful to try to jump around, so while I try to do as much as I can without hurting myself and I just keep moving, I don't think I'll ever get to a point where I'm duplicating everything the trainer does.

I'll keep trying not to get discouraged, different strokes for different folks and all.  It's tricky.  Now that I think about it, it gives me a whole new respect for those athletes who compete missing limbs and such.  I get bummed about not being able to do everything the trainer does because a few little bunions.  Those folks get out there and rather than just get discouraged, they do these amazing things while MISSING ENTIRE LIMBS.

Thinking of it from that angle, I'll just shut up about my bunions now.

Week 27

PJ Weight: 160.6
Week Gain:  +1.2
Cumulative Loss:  -31.0

Seth Weight:  172.2
Week Loss:  -0.8
Cumulative Loss:  -26.9

Dear Scale,
I am becoming very frustrated with you.
Sincerely,
PJ

At least Seth is doing well.  Yay.

The exercising continues, though as it nets out I haven't lost a pound since the program started.  I'm hoping that I'm adding muscle, which is causing me not to lose weight.  Not seeing any results on the scale is really disheartening.

Week 26: Halfway There

PJ Weight: 159.4
Week Gain: +0.4
Cumulative Loss: -32.2

Seth Weight: 173.0
Week Loss: -1.4
Cumulative Loss: -26.1

Ah Thanksgiving - an inauspicious start to the second half of our year-long diet experiment.  Well, for me it's inauspicious.

Seth, evidently, can eat his face off for a week and lose weight.  Sigh.  But yay for Seth.  His loss this week brings our cumulative Team Mintz loss total to 58.3 pounds!  That's certainly something to be thankful for.

All the sundry sweets and naughty nibbles of this past week weighed heavily on my scale this morning, but they weigh only lightly on my conscience.  We had a lovely weekend away, and made some great memories, so I regret not a bit(e) of it.

We kind of blew the exercise routine.  It was just too hectic to keep up while we were away, so we missed 3 days' worth of the program.  (Hey - we did one day while we were away - we get a gold star for that!) But now that we're back home, we're back on track.  I even had an easier time with the cardio program after having been off for a few days, so let's hear it for the accidental benefits of sloth!  Yay!

In any case, I feel like this long Thanksgiving weekend was a great holiday from the diet, and it was a welcome break.  Perhaps it's wrong to celebrate a half a year's dieting success with pecan pie, candied sweet potatoes, various fast food lunches, and chocolate & reeses chip cookies, but if that's wrong then I don't want to be right!

(In other unrelated news, I found the size 12 pants that I knew I owned but were mysteriously missing.  And I found them just in time for me to be out of them and into my size 10's.  Timing in life is everything.  Sigh.)

Week 25: Happy Thanksgiving

PJ Weight: 159.0
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -32.6

Seth Weight: 174.4
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -24.7

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

We're making our preparations for our Thanksgiving feasting.  We're planning on continuing exercising right through the holiday.  No taking time off.  As for diet...  Well...

Erm...

We'll just see how that goes, shall we?

I'll try not to completely gorge myself on things that are unwholesomely awesome.  But I make no guarantees.

Hear that?  No Guarantees.  At all.

As long as we're clear on that.

Our gains this week have to be some kind of weigh in day water phenomenon or something.  Both of us were down a full pound yesterday, we didn't go overboard yesterday or anything, and this morning the scale decided to get cheeky with us.  I hateses that scale.  But the gains don't worry me too much.

The exercising is going well.  So far we've seen progress.  Seth was saying this morning that he's able to do a little more every time we go through the cardio workout, and I see the same is true for myself.  We still have a long way to go, of course, but we see progress.

And I didn't mention it last week, but it really says something about you when you're doing an exercise video, and you turn to your exercise partner and say "Did he just say let's go to lunch?  BEST WORKOUT VIDEO EVER."

No... that was "go do Lunges".  Right.  Sigh....

Week 24

PJ Weight: 158.8
Week Loss: -1.2
Cumulative Loss: -32.8


Seth Weight: 174.2
Week Gain: +0.4
Cumulative Loss:  -24.9


First off: A rant

The folks who say "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels" are eating the wrong things.

Losing weight and looking nice and being trim and fit and healthy are all wonderful things.  But I like to eat.  I love it.  I love to eat large quantities of food that is terrible for me.  I revel in it.  Small quantities of delicious but unhealthy foods are a tease, and large quantities of healthy foods are just plain depressing.

I miss eating.

The thought of making a lifelong commitment to constant dieting and exercise - making them a permanent part of my life - makes me sad, almost depressed.  I hate dieting.  I hate exercising.  I like eating.  I like relaxing with a good book.  And while the angel on my shoulder says "If you stay trim and exercise a lot you'll live longer", the fellow on my other shoulder says "If you have to watch what you eat all the time and exercise all the time, what's the point of living?"

So our compromise is this year-long commitment.  It's a good chunk of time.  It's long enough to make a very real difference in our physical well-being, but not an unmanageable amount of time that's too big to get our heads around.  We're hoping that the weight will take some time coming back.  I'm not going to be going out once our year is up and eating a full pound of pasta with bacon and cream sauce for every meal (mmm....carbonara...), but we won't be as strict, and eventually the weight *will* come back.  Maybe we'll say "if our scales are up by over x pounds, we go back on a diet".  Maybe we'll try to follow some kind of maintenance program.  But we'll see.

I just wanted to get that off my chest.  I don't like this.  I've never liked it.  It's very likely that I never WILL like it.
But I'm doing it.
Which brings me to:

Power 90 - Days 1, 2 and 3

We started our exercise program first thing Monday morning.  We're rising an extra hour or so early, going downstairs, and flailing about in front of the little TV we've put down there.

The dogs don't think much of the whole thing.  They came down with us and spent the workouts trying to lick me while I was doing push-ups, and watched us in confusion the rest of the time.

So far, these are my impressions of the Power 90 workouts - Phase I/II

Circuit training - Or "Sculpt" as they call it - This was the first workout we did.  I did it with 3 pound weights, and Seth tried the resistance band that came with the DVD package the first time through.  He found the resistance band somewhat difficult to work with, and possibly too heavy for our current level, so this morning he went with hand weights.  The hand weights seemed much easier to handle for both of us.  I purposefully used light weights, so I could concentrate on trying to learn the exercises and get the forms correct before I start piling on resistance.
The exercise coach Tony is a lot more mellow than I expected him to be.  He's still depressingly chipper, but not nearly as overwhelmingly in-your-face enthusiastic as I was dreading he might be.  I can more or less handle this level of chipper at 6AM, even if Seth & I do snark back at him.  He doesn't seem to mind our snark.
The exercises were straightforward and relatively easy to follow.  You stretch, go through a set of exercises for each muscle group, stretch and then do another set of slightly different exercises for each muscle group, stretch, do a third modified set of exercises, and end.  It took about 40 minutes.

Mostly it made me sore in the legs.  While I can use light hand weights, there's no real way to lessen the impact of lunges on your legs other than to do less of them.


Cardio/Abs - Also known as "Sweat" and "Ab ripper 100".  This was our Day 2 routine.
Again, it wasn't obnoxious.  Well - not as obnoxious as it could have been.  Getting up an hour early to go jump around like an idiot is obnoxious in and of itself.  Tony didn't make it worse.  I found myself doing a whole lot of walking in place while he and his helpers jumped around like loonies.  Something tells me it will be a while before we work our way up to the Phase 3/4 workouts.
There was stretching, a warm up with some yoga moves, and then the main workout consisting of some marching in place, a bunch of jumping jack style exercises, some kickboxing-esque stuff, and some boxing maneuvers.   Then it's down to the floor for 100 crunches at varying degrees of sadism.
Total time - about 40 minutes again.

I'll need a thicker mat for the crunches.  The foam mats we have on our concrete basement floor are fine for most of the exercises we've attempted thus far, but I found the pressure on my back painful and want a bit more cushioning.  I'll see if my old yoga mat will do the trick.  If not, perhaps I'll have to pick up another yoga mat and double-layer them.

The way the program works, you alternate Circuit training and Cardio/Abs every day for 6 days, and rest on the 7th day.  We'll be doing the same workouts until we've progressed enough to move on to the more advanced of the DVD's (phase 3-4).

Week 23

PJ Weight:  160.0
Week Gain:   +0.4
Cumulative Loss:  -31.6

Seth Weight: 173.8
Week Loss:  0.0
Cumulative Loss: -25.3

Plateau is one of the ugliest words in the English language.

If you look at my losses for the last several months (in 4-week chunks), you can really see a trend:

July/August: -6.4
Aug/Sept:   -3.4
Sept/Oct:   -3.6
Oct/Nov:   -1.2

All this tells me is that I've now gotten down to the point where my body fights me to keep every ounce.  I suppose it's good that we start exercising on Monday, though I'm really not looking forward to it.

There was a period a number of years ago when I exercised religiously for perhaps a span of 2 years.  It felt good to be fit and healthy, but I never developed any liking for exercise.  It's a sweaty, uncomfortable, unpleasant business, and I don't enjoy it.  I doubt I ever will.  But I'll do it for these three coming months.

So this is my plan:  Power90 is a 90 day program, and our workout challenge is a 90-day commitment.  With the exception of the Thanksgiving holiday (when we'll be traveling Weds - Sunday), we'll try hard to stick to the 6-day-a-week routine.

If the baby wakes in the middle of the night and keeps us up, or we catch a nasty cold, or have some other compelling reason not to wake up at a ghastly AM hour and exercise, then we won't do it.  And that's that.  I'm committing to TRY this, and do as many days as possible.  One day at a time.  I don't plan on guilting myself for missed days.

Tune in next week for the first exciting episode of THE SORE AND THE HELPLESS, when it'll hurt to walk, and washing my hair will be rather more than my shoulder muscles can stand.  At least, that's the prediction.  (I'll try to ease into this so the prediction doesn't come to pass...)

Week 22

PJ Weight:  159.6
Week Loss: -1.4
Cumulative Loss: -32.0

Seth Weight:  173.8
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -25.3

I survived Halloween week with a hearty loss to show for it - I've finally made it down into the 150's.  Unfortunately Seth had a not quite as great week, but he had a 2 pound loss last week, so it evens out.  I had one of those weeks the week before last.  They happen.  I'M STILL VERY PROUD OF YOU, SETH!

My Halloween strategy was this:  I get 5 pieces of candy on Halloween, and I set aside points for all the leftover candy I consume.  No sitting down to a stack of candies this year.  (There's nothing quite like eating yourself sick on your favorite candies, and swearing that you never, ever want to see another Reeses' Piece or Snickers bar as long as you live.  I missed that this year.  Alas.)

But I had a plan and I stuck to it, so yay, gold star for me.

The exciting news of the day: Today I wore size 10 pants to work!

Everybody at the office is calling me Skinny Minnie, and I got a whole bunch of compliments.  My personal favorite was that I look like I'm a size 6 (thanks Jen).  Knowing that I've lost enough to really be noticeable is really a wonderful motivator, so I appreciate all of the positive comments.

We also took the plunge and ordered our Power90 exercise DVD's, so that's a thing and it's happening.  We joined an old-friend-I-rediscovered-on-Facebook's team beachbody challenge, which means there will be  a few of us doing programs at the same time, sharing experiences and giving support and the like.  And it's nominally possible we'll win stuff.  (But as I never win anything, this will not happen.)

The challenge starts up on November 15th, so we'll be starting 2 weeks earlier than we'd originally planned.  I'll have to cherish "sleeping in" til 7am each and every day until then.  We're going to have to rise and shine pretty early to fit in the workouts before I go to work.

With that thought in mind, I'll now scuttle off to bed to appreciate said sleep.

Have a great week!

Week 21

PJ Weight:  161.0
Week Loss:  -0.6
Cumulative Loss: -30.6

Seth Weight: 173.6
Week Loss: -2.0
Cumulative Loss: -25.5

Seth finally got past the 25 pound mark today.  He's been more or less stuck for the last month, but this week:  BOOM, he dropped 2 pounds.  Go Seth!!

The big excitement for me this week was that last night I tried on a pair of my size 10's and they more-or-less fit.  They're still too tight for me to consider wearing out and about, but they close without a lot of effort and I don't feel like the front button is likely to detach at a speed high enough to put out the eye of some unfortunate bystander.  PROGRESS: I AM MAKING IT.

My weekly losses have slowed a lot recently.  Part of it is just that I'm sick of dieting, but part of it also is probably due to the fact that I'm slowly working my way toward stopping breastfeeding.  As I reduce the amount of milk I make, I need to cut back on the amount I eat.  That's been rough.

(And this is kind of an aside for a diet blog, but it's my diet blog, so NYAH.  I don't have any idea if any other moms feel this way, but I've been having a really rough time with getting myself to stop nursing this time around.  I guess it's because unless the unexpected happens, Raven's my last baby, so this will be the last time I'm going to be doing this.  It's been very emotionally difficult for me.  I mean, I don't really enjoy making milk, but the concept of stopping now has become pretty painful.  Enough that I tear up thinking about it kind of painful.  Even though I can  acknowledge that there are probably hormones at work here, they're not easy to ignore.)

But anyway, we're doing well.  We just have to keep on and not completely fall off of our wagon this coming Monday what with the piles of delicious candy that will be strewn about the house.  We'll set ourselves aside a few pieces each.  Then we'll see how well we can stick to that.

Right.

Wish us luck & Happy Halloween everybody.

Week 20

PJ Weight: 161.6
PJ Week Gain:  +0.4
PJ Cumulative Loss: 30.0

Seth Weight:   175.6
Seth Week Loss:  -0.2
Seth Cumulative Loss:  23.5

Well, that was a depressing weigh in.

I'm not completely demoralized by the small gain, though.  Last week I was shocked to see a 2 pound loss.  I think the scale might have had a hiccup last week, even though I weighed myself a couple times.  I wasn't all that good the week before I had that loss, and I was relatively on track this week, so I'll call it an average of 0.8 loss per week over the two weeks, which was about what I was averaging previously.  That sounds MUCH better than a 0.4 gain, so we're going with that.

I had a delicious Indian buffet lunch with Seth on Tuesday, which probably didn't help the scale number this morning either.

In any event, my sights are still set on the 150's, so I'll try to keep my spirits and motivation up this coming week.

December 1st is looming up on the horizon - just 6 weeks until we start our exercise program.  We've pretty much decided to try Power 90,  from a company called Team Beachbody.  I've heard good things about the program's big brother P90X, but Seth & I aren't up for anything that intense.   As programs go, Power 90 appears to be the right level of challenge for us.

Well that's all the news for this week.  Here's hoping for better results this time around!

Week 19: The 30 Pound Mark

PJ Weight:   161.2
PJ Week Loss: 2.0
PJ Cumulative Loss: 30.4

Seth Weight:   175.8
Seth Week Loss:  0.4
Seth Cumulative Loss: 23.3

Another milestone this week: 30 pounds!  YAY!

I got Seth's consent to start including his results both to help keep him motivated and because I'm really REALLY proud of how well he's doing.  He's 16.8 pounds from his lightest (pre-marital) weight of 159 pounds.  Go Seth!!

I have somewhat farther to go.  My lightest was 140, and that leaves me 21.2 to go if I want to see that figure again. (Double meaning!  Figure!  Ha!  Look!  I'm clever!  Moving on.)  We'll see if I get there.

I picked up a cheap pair of jeans this past week because my old ones were quite literally falling off.  The new ones are size 12 and fit reasonably well, but I wasn't all that choosy since I will hopefully not be wearing them for very long.  I just needed an 'in between' pair to get me through until I can get into my size 10's.

Funny, that.  I could have sworn I had a whole pile of size 12 pants lying about in a bin somewhere, but I've searched every closet and bin in the house to no avail.  Size 10's - bunches.  Size 8's - oodles.  No 12's, though.

I suppose that means I just have to lose some more inches.

I've got to say, though, having 2 babies really does change the shape of your body.  When I was last this weight, there was a lot less tummy to squeeze into my pants.  I also used to have these contraptions called abdominal muscles to hold it back.  (Now, where did those get to?)  I have to wonder if the 10's will ever really fit properly.

Hopefully the exercise program starting in December will help with the sad lack of abdominal musculature.  At this point I'm somewhat surprised I haven't been recruited for Pillsbury ads.  Tee-hee.

In any case, I'm going to be pretty motivated this week to see if I can break into the 150's by next week.  Recently the weekly losses haven't been that great, but this week I pulled off a 2 pound loss.  If I can do it again, Goodbye 160's, Hello 150's.  Oh wait.  That means I lose another Weight Watchers point.

Damn.

On that depressing note, I take my leave. Wish me willpower!

Week 18

Weight:                   163.2
Week Loss:                  0.8
Cumulative Loss:  28.4

This week was another week of less than amazing weight loss, but it's still a loss, and I got through my birthday dinner and Carvel ice cream cake without gaining weight.  That's cause for celebration as far as the diet is concerned.

Our combined weight loss is now 51.3 pounds, so hooray for hitting the 50 pound mark.

I don't have much more to say this time around.  My friend's mother passed away this week, and much of our attention and energy has gone to worrying for him and his family.  I don't have much left in me for dwelling on the minutiae of weight loss.

Week 17

Weight: 164.0
Week Loss: 0.4
Cumulative Loss: 27.6

Cumulative Team Mintz Loss:  49.9  (So close!)

Whoops.  I almost forgot to blog today.  I remembered to weigh in this morning, but I rushed out the door and thought "I'll post later".  Well - 10PM is later.

To be fair, I spent all day devising a "what's next for the diet" plan.  Namely: Exercise.

Starting December 1st, our halfway point, we'll be starting Some Kind of Exercise Program.  I started looking into the Team Beachbody DVD programs, which I've heard about from multiple people.  So far I've not learned enough to decide conclusively for or against any of their programs, so I'll leave that debate for another blog.

For now I'll simply put the question out there: If you have a particular workout program that you enjoy, can be done at home with a minimum of equipment, and is relatively low-impact (for those of us whose anatomies don't agree with the jarring impacts of running and jumping) do recommend it to me - either by comment here (if they're working... evidently they weren't a week or two ago) or by email or facebook message.

Well, that's all for this week.  Hopefully after a week of research I'll have more to report.

Week 16

Weight        164.4
Week loss         0.4
Cumulative loss      27.2

I was honestly expecting a gain this week, and I'm awfully surprised I didn't see one.  I was up a pound and change just the other day.

This week was definitely the hardest yet for me, and it wasn't because of anything in particular.  My friend Nicole had a baby shower with some awesome food, but I didn't go hog wild there - I just ate a little more than I should have.  I made a bigger breakfast that morning than I should have with pancakes and turkey bacon.  And we decided to go out for dinner on Friday.  And Sunday.  And I had a little pasta with dinner on Friday and a slice of bread... and ordered the fried veal in lemon/butter/white wine sauce.  And we had fast-food-ish personal pizzas at the Bronx Zoo for lunch on Sunday.  And dinner on Sunday was Applebees (but I didn't have fries!).  And lunch on Tuesday was chicken tikka masala... mmm.

The point is that any one of these things, or even any two or three of these things wouldn't have necessarily made for a bad week.  It's just that I did them all together - which DOES make for a bad week, or at least a less-than-stellar week.

The frustrating thing is that I was trying to be reasonably good, but at the same time I'm more than a little sick of constantly watching what I eat.  So while I didn't have dessert at the baby shower, I did have seconds of lunch. While I kept myself to 2 small slices of awesome bread at the italian restaurant, I ate the pasta side dish.  While I didn't have fries at Applebees, I did have a roll-up sandwich that had cheese on it, and for that matter, so did my chili.

I suppose I'll chalk this up to just having a bad week and put it behind me, and hopefully I'll be more motivated this week.

Week 15: A Pancake Recipe

Weight:                    164.8
Week Loss:               1.8
Cumulative Loss:  26.8

Seth's down 20.7 pounds, so he's hit a milestone this week.  (Again... stupid new scale.)  That takes the Team Mintz total to 47.5 pounds.  Only 2.5 pounds to go to the 50-pound mark!

Most of the key to our success has been a drastic reduction in our restaurant dining, and a corresponding increase in what we cook at home.  So this week, I thought I'd post my reduced fat banana pancake recipe I've been tinkering with for the past few months.

The recipe started as a regular old pancake recipe, and I've been modifying it as I go along trying to make it as tasty as I can with as few calories / fat.  Now, what the exact counts are I'm not exactly sure, but it makes around 10 palm-sized pancakes, and I usually give them 2-3 weight watchers points each, if it matters to anyone.

It should be mentioned, the texture of these is kind of rubbery, since most of the moisture in them comes from banana instead of butter.    They're still mighty tasty though, and healthy.  And the quality of the end result is VERY dependent on using a very ripe, soft and sweet banana.

And now, the recipe:

1 medium-large soft ripe banana
3/4 cup flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
1-2 tsp white sugar (depends how sweet you like your pancakes... for some the banana might be enough)
1-2 tsp butter
1 Tbsp egg white
1/2 c. skim milk (we use Skim Plus. it works pretty well.)
Splash of vanilla extract... (maybe a 1/4 tsp? I just drizzle a little in.)

Mash up the banana with a fork in a mixing bowl, and then use a hand mixer to liquify it.
Melt the butter in the microwave, add it to the bowl, along with the milk, the egg white, and the vanilla - mix with the hand mixer.
Add the baking soda and sugar, Mix.
Add the flour.  Mix well.
We have a 2-cup measuring cup that works well for pouring.  Put all of your batter into something that pours well, heat up a pan or griddle and plop some palm sized pancakes on there.  Use your favorite method to keep them from sticking to the pan.  Keep a close eye on them while they're cooking, so they don't burn.

I suggest serving them with some ripe strawberries.  A quart of strawberries plus these pancakes is usually a good portion-controlled breakfast for Seth, Jade and myself.

If anyone makes them, let me know what you think. :-)

That's all for this week folks.

Week 14

Weight:     166.6
Week loss:     1.2
Cumulative loss:   25.0

So, a little deja vu here, but I've hit the 25 pound mark.  Again.  Stupid new scale.

I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. I really thought the one big meal off-diet would make for a bad week, but it seems being otherwise good all week paid off. Yay!

The anniversary dinner was wonderful. We had filet mignon.  Creme brulee!  French fries! Yummy creme brulee!  Onion rings! Delicious, awesome, amazing creme brulee!

Did I mention the creme brulee?

It was tasty.

I only ordered one.  And I didn't even lick the bowl clean.  I am the very model of restraint.

And for those wondering, Book of Mormon was entertaining.  If you enjoy South Park's brand of off-color, sacrilegious humor, this is a musical for you.  If you are even mildly easy to offend, especially in the area of religion, stay well away.  That said, we had a good time.

And we had creme brulee.

Week 13 - A new scale and some steak

Weight:                       167.8
Week Gain:               +1.8
Cumulative Loss:    23.8

RE: This Week's Gain

This week we got a new scale.

Our old one was starting to give us some very wacky numbers, and now the new one registers between 1.5 and 2.5 heavier than the old.  I believe the new one is more accurate, though, and it returns the same result every time.  Not so with the old one.  The old one told me last night that two 20-lb weights were 41 lbs and 38 lbs within a space 10 minutes.  I believe the poor thing has slipped into its dotage.

There's no way to know for sure whether or not I truly gained weight this week, since all of the weigh-ins I've done so far were on the old broken scale.  I'll just call it a penalty for using a rigged scale for the past however-long, and move on.

It's still damned depressing to see a higher number.  Oh well.  On the bright side, the number on the new scale is still well below the number I started at, and from now on I can have a little more confidence in the numbers I see when I weigh in.  And hey, I'll get to celebrate the 25 pound mark again...  Wheee?

RE: Next Week's Gain

I don't expect this coming week will see a loss.  Seth & I are going out on Friday night to celebrate our 6th anniversary, and we are having a night of ANTI-DIET.

We'll be going to Ruth's Chris steakhouse before seeing The Book of Mormon in the city (first row balcony - center), and I plan on having a nice sized steak (they broil them in butter!), some fried potato product of some kind, possibly a few dessert-ish drinks and certainly the creme brulee for dessert.  I'm tempted to skip the steak and potatoes and just order 5 creme brulees.  Their creme brulee is quite possibly my favorite food of all time.

Even if I'm very good with the diet all of this coming week, this one meal is probably equivalent to several days worth of calories.  I don't imagine I'll be losing anything this week.  I'm willing to accept that in order to have a nice anniversary outing.

That's all 'til next time, folks!

Week 12

Weight:                    166.0
Week Loss:              2.2
Cumulative Loss:      25.6

25 pound mark - wheee!

As of this week, I'm officially a size 14 again.  I wore my size 14's to work for the first time on Monday.  It's nice to be in pants that aren't 2 sizes too big, and going from wearing super-baggy pants at work to those that fit made the weight loss pretty obvious to my coworkers.  Evidently I had size 18's and size 14's... and nothing in between.  In any event, all the compliments were very encouraging.

Unfortunately, I have size 16 jeans, and size 12.  So now my around-the-house clothes are going to be baggy for a while.

In other news, Seth's hit a plateau with his diet the past 2 weeks, which is driving him crazy.  I can understand.  He's been doing everything right and the weight just won't budge.  I'd just like to say he's doing a fantastic job and I'm very, very proud of him.

Keep going Seth!  You can do it! <3

And when I hit a plateau, he can cheerlead for me.  I'll allow him to skip the skirt and the pom-poms.  That would just be disturbing.

Week 11: Stats & a rant

Weight                       168.2
Week Loss                 1.0
Cumulative Loss     23.4

This week was Jade's 2nd birthday, which I really can't believe.  We went to IHOP for a birthday brunch which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.  It was not a diet-friendly meal.  Note my lack of caring.  It's IHOP.

Seth came down to my office toward last week with the girls to take me to lunch.  We were at our favorite pizzeria (I only had a slice and a half, so I'd stay on track) and we had a good time.

--begin rant--

As we were packing up to leave a woman said to me "Wow, you've got your hands full!  You had them so close together!  And you're doing it again?!"

I said: "No... ... I'm not doing it again."

I did not *facepalm*

I did not say:  "Thanks, lady.  Really.  Not pregnant.  Thanks.  Appreciate it.  No really."

Nor did I say: "I'M HOLDING A TINY BABY.  YOU THINK MAYBE SOME OF THE EXTRA TUMMY YOU SEE ON ME MIGHT BE SOMEHOW RELATED TO THAT?  JUST MAYBE?"

Nor did I take any action that would result in the involvement of uniformed individuals and the use of words like "felony assault charges".

I do kind of wish I'd done some of those things.

The story above serves to illustrate two points:
1.)  I still have a long way to go.
2.)  People are idiots.

It also is a fabulous example of why you should never, ever, assume a lady is pregnant unless she's in labor, and even then, hey you really don't know, it could just be some bad heartburn.

BEST NOT TO MENTION IT.

--end rant--

Week 10

Week 10: August 10, 2011

Weight:              169.2
Week Loss:           1.8

Cumulative Loss:    22.4

Seth's lost a total of 18 pounds to date, which brings the family total up to 40 pounds.  An impressive total, if I do say so myself.  Seth & me on the scale before the diet equals Seth, me, Jade and Raven on the scale now.  How about that?

I didn't really do anything different this week, but the weight loss has definitely slowed somewhat. The scale didn't really budge up until this very morning.  I was expecting a much smaller loss, but the diet gods had mercy. That makes me think it's only going to get harder from here on out.  Plus, now that I'm in the 160's I get one less Weight Watchers Point.

The reward for good dieting: less food.

:-(

This coming week is going to be particularly challenging.  We're taking Jade to IHOP for her birthday brunch - and I'm getting pancakes and hash browns, damn it!  Not getting them would be something approaching cruel & unusual punishment.  Back when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes I promised myself a good hearty IHOP meal once I was able to have it again, and I never got it.  My time is now!

That said, I'll have to try to be especially good the rest of the week so as not to see bad numbers on the scale come next Wednesday.

Week 9

Week 9:  August 3, 2011

Weight:              171.0
Week Loss:           2.0

Cumulative Loss:  20.6

Quote of the week:

"If you live a long life, it will be a testament to the self-control of your friends." 

- From an e-fortune cookie. The truth of this one made me giggle.

Though, joking aside, my best friend in the world has excellent self-control.  Seth's doing an amazing job, and he's down a total of 17 pounds, bringing our combined total to around 38 pounds!  And I passed the 20 pound mark, Raven discovered her toes, and Jade went to bed last night without a fuss so gold stars all around for the Mintzes.

While I lost a good amount this week, I found this week that my motivation has flagged a bit.  It's been small things - mostly I just haven't been keeping as close an eye on how many Points I've been eating in a day.  I'm relatively sure I've been within my range for the day each day this week, but where I've been absolutely certain in weeks past, this week there was doubt for a few of the days.

It could just be that I was crazed at work and then nutty with the kids when I was home and didn't have time to think about it.  In any case, it's something I should try to keep in mind.

Who knows?  Maybe just stopping to think about it now and write about it here will help.  This whole blogging thing is a motivation experiment, so I guess we'll see.

Speaking of motivation and the lack thereof, I'd just like to note that I signed up for a 6-month trial of Jenny Craig.  When I stopped ordering food, their half-hearted 'counseling' phone calls stopped without any warning.  I don't mind since I thought they were a complete waste of time, but if the calls are just so you can buy food - why have them?  Why not just give you the ability to buy food online, and leave it at that?

I give the Weight Watchers program credit here: their meeting leaders are inspirational and genuinely want you to succeed (at least, all the ones I've met have been).  The at-home version of Jenny Craig that we tried doesn't come close.  I'd sign up for meetings again in a heartbeat if Seth could come with me.  Alas, the little ones make that impossible for now.

Week 8: I am not a bouncy castle!

Week 8:  July 27, 2011

Weight:              173.0
Week Loss:           1.6

Cumulative Loss:  18.6

While I didn't post it in last week's blog, Team Mintz hit a milestone: 30 pounds between the two of us.  This week we're at around 33.

That said, I know I still have a long road in front of me.

I know this because this past weekend, my daughter confused my abdomen with a bouncy castle.

Ouch.

I was resting on my back on the floor, and Jade clambered atop me, then proceeded to jump with her full weight and slammed her little rump into my midsection.  I made a noise that by odd coincidence is precisely the sound made by a vomiting llama.


Dear Jade.  I love you.  I respect your toddler-ness. I know my belly's squishy, and I know you love to jump.  However:
I AM NOT A BOUNCY CASTLE.

The blame falls partly on my well-padded midsection, and partly on the poor parenting decision Seth & I made two weeks ago when we introduced our toddler to the joys of bouncy castles.  Oops.

In any case, it's a reminder of how far I've got to go.


The good news is that I'm fitting into some of my size 14's, and Seth's down to the tightest notch on his belt.


Huzzah!

Week 7

Week 7:  July 20, 2011

Weight:              174.6
Week Loss:           2.2

Cumulative Loss:  17.0

This past weekend was a big challenge for Seth & me as far as staying on track with the diet was concerned.  On Thursday, I went to NYC to a book signing for the day (see previous post regarding George RR Martin - read his books) where I waited for about 8 hours in order to have a good seat for the signing.  Seth was at home watching the girls, so his diet routine was uninterrupted.  Rather than be tempted by whatever happened to be in the Barnes & Noble cafe, I packed several sandwiches and fiber snack bars, so that I had enough food to make it through the day.

Gold star for me!

On Friday we traveled to Maryland for a wedding reception for cousins Jessi and Joey.  It was wonderful, but road trips are often accompanied by quick stops for fast food, and weddings are notorious excuses to over-eat.

Our lunch-stops on the way down and back were at Wendy's, where we each had a baked potato and a small chili.  There was much muttering about spicy chicken sandwiches and fries and chicken nuggets, but what we ate was baked potatoes and chili.  So gold stars for both of us.

We managed to be good at the various meals by eating relatively tiny portions of the foods served.  We didn't have a lot of choices regarding what to eat since the menus were all pre-determined but the small portions allowed us to stay on track.  I do wish I could have had about a pound more of the lasagna from the wedding party, though.  Yum. 

In any case, we posted a loss this week, so we did well.  I had anticipated we'd gain weight this week, so I'm glad to be proven wrong.

And Maryland cousins - it was great to see you all!!

Week 6

Week 6:  July 13, 2011

Weight:              176.8
Week Loss:           1.3

Cumulative Loss:  14.8

This will be a short one.   This week I have something much more important to do than blog.

And you have more important things to read, for that matter.

George RR Martin's A Dance With Dragons was released yesterday.  If that fact is not wildly exciting to you, one of two things is going on:
1.) You have not read the first four books in the series (see below), or
2.) You are brain-dead, and there's nothing I can do for you.

If point number 1 applies to you: Do not walk, but RUN (even better - DRIVE) to your nearest book store and pick up all of the books in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", and begin reading the first novel "A Game of Thrones".

Go now.  I'll wait.

Never mind waiting.  I've waited almost 6 years for this book.  I'll be here reading.

Week 5

Week 5:    July 6, 2011

Weight:              178.1
Week Loss:           2.5

Cumulative Loss:  13.5

Combined, Team Mintz has now lost about 25 lbs.  That's a little more than Jade weighs right now, and a touch less than one of our dogs.   Go team go!

This past week we were confronted with a challenge.  It was our friend Don's birthday and a restaurant was more-or-less randomly chosen for the celebratory dinner.  The sign outside the restaurant reads "BBQ and Comfort Food".

Uh-Oh.

This place did not have baked potatoes as a side dish.  Fried potato dishes: 5.  Baked: 0.

I KNOW, right?

EVERYTHING was fried.  Appetizer? Fried Pickles.  Dessert? Fried Oreos.  I kid you not.  There must have been about 100 deep fryers in the kitchen.

So yes, we felt we were in trouble.  We ended up splitting a meal: a 10 oz steak, with 2 sides of corn on the cob, and endless salad bar for the both of us.  So we were good.  Now what we WANTED to order was a rack of ribs for him and a chicken pot pie for me, maybe with some of those sweet corn fritters for an appetizer... mmm....

Rats.  Now I'm hungry.  *Er.  Hungry-ER.

But I'm proud of both of us for resisting temptation and staying good.  We have a loss to show for it this week, so I feel well rewarded.

We even got to eat some ice cream on the Fourth.  Granted, it was a junior-sized cup of low-fat soft serve from Carvel, but it was still ice cream.  And it was awesome.

Week 4

Week 4: June 29, 2011

Weight:              180.6
Week Loss:           1.2

Cumulative Loss:  11.0

This week's milestone:

Real Pants!

For those readers with wise posteriors - no, I have not been wearing imaginary or invisible pants.  I simply mean that I wore my pre-pregnancy non-maternity jeans for the first time this past weekend.  And I have to say, wearing something other than maternity pants after so long is a very strange feeling.  I now only feel normal if I have a stretchy elastic waistband that comes up to my chest.  It's amazing what you can get used to.

But yes, I'm fitting back into my 'real people' clothes again.  Mind you, my 'real people' jeans are a size 16 so I have a long way to go until I fit into my 12's, but at least I fit into something besides maternity pants.  It's a start.  It feels good to see some measurable progress after a month of dieting aside from numbers on a scale.

Another start: I woke up early this morning and took the dogs for a walk. (I'm writing this Tuesday evening). I am now utterly wiped from getting up an extra half hour early.  While the pups enjoyed the walk, I don't think this will be an every day thing.  But it's some kind of activity at least.  We'll see how often I'm inspired to do it.

Seth's doing really well, too.  He was commenting that his jeans are feeling loose.   Even more exciting than loose clothing, he suggested a meal of chicken taco salad with beans for a dinner next week.  Beans!!  He's hated beans his entire life!!  I'M SO SUPREMELY PROUD OF HIM!!

But to sum up our first month of dieting: Even with a sizable loss this month I feel like we're just getting started.  I suppose that's what I should be feeling, though, since we still have 11 months of dieting and blogging to go.

That, and we're still hungry.

Week 3

Week 3: June 22, 2011

Weight:              181.8
Week Loss:           2.7

Cumulative Loss:    9.8

Another great week.  Our blend of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers continues in full force, with extremely gratifying success.

Seth's down 9.7 pounds, so the Team Mintz Weight Loss Tally is at 19.5 pounds.  Go Team Go!

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with Weight Watchers, let me explain how we're tracking what we're eating.  

WW uses a Points system.  Points are a simple value assigned to a food based on some obscure mathematical formula involving Calories, Fat and Fiber.  I hear that the newest version of the Points system takes Protein into account as well, but the older version we're following doesn't.  To calculate the Points value for a food you can either use a little slide rule that WW gives out to newbies if you have the nutritional info label handy, or you use rules of thumb from their info booklets such as 1 oz of white meat chicken = 1 point.  You get to eat a certain number of Points each day based on your weight, activity level, gender, age and height.

Right now Seth gets 31 points.  I get 24 plus 5 because I'm breastfeeding.  If I were breastfeeding exclusively I would get another 5 above that, but I have to supplement with formula more and more frequently lately, so we'll just call it 29.

And yes, with 5 extra above-and-beyond points, I still get less than Seth.  That's because men get 6 points more than women do right off the bat, just for being men.  

Obviously, this is because God is a misogynist.  

Women get the joys of menstruation and then get to to go through labor.  What do men get?  Bonus Points.  Fabulous.

And then He said "Let all men eat an extra piece of cake while still losing weight."  And there was cake.  And it was good.

OK, the cake is a lie - he doesn't get THAT many more points, and besides it makes God sound like Marie Antoinette.  Oops.  But the point is that Seth still gets way more food than I do when I'm not breastfeeding, which sucks.  (For the Portal Geeks: You see what I did there?  Heh.)

But in any case, my vision of sitting down and planning menus for an entire week ahead of time has not yet come to pass.  I'll stick to planning a day here and a day there.  I have the menus we used from this past weekend while we were doing WW rather than Jenny Craig.  I'm going to save them and build on them and come up with new ones.  Hopefully we'll get enough days' worth of menus that it eventually becomes easier.  Eventually I'll have a variety of days to choose from and I'll be able to mix and match.

So long 'til next week!

Week 2

Week 2: June 15, 2011

Weight:              184.5
Week Loss:           2.0

Cumulative Loss:    7.1

Wheee!!

While I remain fully cognizant that the first weeks' losses are flukes and the multiple-pounds-per-week trend won't continue, I'm still psyched about the progress so far.  Nothing is a better motivator than seeing results.  (The inverse of this, of course, is nothing is more DE-motivational than *not* seeing results.)  Team Mintz has lost about 15 pounds so far, when you add Seth's & my losses together.  That's a whole Raven-baby and then some, given that she's around 12 pounds now.

This week's big decision is that we aren't going to stay on Jenny Craig.  It's just too expensive, too mediocre and in the end it's just not worth it if we can do it on our own.  We'll use the shipment of Jenny food we received this past week during Seth's work week (Mondays - Wednesdays during the next few weeks) and we'll track Weight Watchers points the rest of the time.  The trick with this plan is that now I have to plan out some menus and shopping lists and all of that fun stuff in order to make the Weight Watchers thing happen.  

Ah, time, why is there so little of you?!?

Even so, that's our strategy for right now.  What I'd really like to do is get back to Weight Watchers meetings, so I can get all the new material and have the additional support of a weekly meeting.  For those of you who've never done Weight Watchers: the meetings sound corny and hokey - and maybe they are - but they really do help.  Unfortunately, with the kids it's really difficult to get out to meetings, especially if Seth is doing the program with me.  So for now it will be the old points system and no meetings.

The 'Jenny Craig At Home' program has a counselor that calls me every week, but the woman has all the warmth, sincerity and passion of a flounder.  Motivational? Not so much.  It's like listening to Ben Stein reading technical accounting pronouncements from a teleprompter.  Zzzzzz.  This week she even got the time wrong, so I couldn't even spend the allotted 15 minutes on the phone since I was busy putting Jade to bed.  And evidently there's no calling back if they happen to - I don't know - screw up and call you at the wrong time.  Bah.

Next week I'll share a little more about our menus and the WW points system, since I don't have any to share at the moment, and by then I'll HAVE to have something.  We only have enough leftovers from this weekend's meals in the fridge for Thursday and Friday, so I'd better have a plan in place before that food runs out!  We'll see how that goes.

Wish me luck and steely resolve!!

Week 1

Week 1: June 8, 2011

Weight:              186.5
Week Loss:           5.1

Cumulative Loss:    5.1

"Life is like a box of chocolates.

  It doesn't last long if you're morbidly obese."

         - From some angry British guy on twitter... I didn't catch the name

First off, I know that losing 5 pounds in a week is a fluke.  The same thing happened to me when I went on Weight Watchers the first time.  It comes off FAST in the very beginning, and gets less as time goes by.  So, let's put a little "Results Not Typical" label over this week's number and move on, lest it become an expectation.

This was our first week on Jenny Craig.  You might recall that I got 2 weeks of food from Jenny Craig, but split them with Seth instead, so we're both on the Jenny diet for one week.  We stuck to it very well, though we made our own diet-appropriate meals on Sunday so that our Jenny food would cover Seth for his work week through Wednesday.

The food is OK.  There's some things that are really awesome (I'm looking at YOU chocolate peanut butter caramel snack bar!!) and some that are decidedly poor, like the blueberry mini pancakes with tofu sausage.  (Not a fan of the tofu sausage.  At.  All.  *shudder*)    But most of the pre-packaged food falls smack in the middle of "meh" territory, which is pretty much par for the course for most of those light-fare frozen meals.  Really, light fare in general is pretty "meh".  It takes fat & calories to pique my interest, gastronomically speaking.

Now those of you who know Seth will probably think this next bit sounds like the one of the Signs Of The Apocalypse.  Seth has been eating his veggies.  Every day.  Lots of them.  He's had salad and cucumbers and tomato.  He's eaten spinach, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash and butternut squash. We had artichokes, which he has finally agreed do *not* actually taste anything like pistachio nuts.  He now thinks they taste a bit like potatoes.  He's wrong again, they taste like artichokes, but I digress.

He ate Broccoli.

...  BROCCOLI (!!!)

It'll worth it to me to stay on the Jenny diet if this is going to be the result.  I've been trying to get the man to eat veggies for years with no success.  I've been tickled pink all week.  I'll give him massive credit, he's really trying and sticking to this.  But then, so am I.

Overall, while it seems like it's working and I'll surely stick with it for at least one month, for the money I'm not enthralled with Jenny Craig.  Seth is more a fan than I am, I think.  The convenience is fantastic, which is what we were thinking, but I keep going back to the question of whether the convenience is worth the cash.  The amount of food you get for your money is pretty sad.  We've both been hungry most of the week.  This exchange from Sunday afternoon sums it up nicely:

Jade brings me a book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Me:    "OK, I'll read you the Hungry Caterpillar book."

Seth:  "He must be on Jenny Craig."