So There Is Supposed To Be Space Between My Stomach and the Steering Wheel?????

I noticed it today.........I probably should have noticed it before.  My t shirts no longer have a mark from the steering wheel rubbing against it in my car.  I looked down today and there is quite a gap there now. WOW!!

What's next?? Is it  true that your thighs are not required to rub together when you walk or is that just a vicious rumor???

It has been quite a week......

Monday was my birthday.  Pretty non-eventful.....actually it kind of sucked.  Jenn did give me an amazing wreath with a beach theme for Chapter 3.  Other than that there were no mariachi bands or flower deliveries or anything like that but at my age what the hell was I expecting????

Wednesday, I had my semi-annual Dr. appt......when the appt starts with your dr. giving you a high 5 and then grins as he goes over all your numbers from your blood work and tells you how great your numbers look....how can you not feel wonderful.  He said he might have to cancel his appointments for the rest of the day because none of them would be as good as mine!! I told him to not look outside because I was going to be dancing in the parking lot....LOL....and a dancer I am not!!! LOL

Thursday started out like Thanksgiving always does in my house.....we watched the parade or really had it on as background noise while I got the turkey breast in the oven.  We were going to eat early since Bob had to go to work at 3.  Then a really great surprise......my sister showed up at my house.  She lives 100 miles away and drove down to spend a few hours with me. It was a real treat to have her here and the fact she spent over 3 hours in the car for a 3 hour visit touched me ........and made me think about how my Mom would have done something like that.....

After my sister left, Jenn and I did our Black Friday thing until midnight on Thursday (yes, I am one of those horrible people who went shopping on Thanksgiving) and then we went out again Friday morning before I had to sign on to work.

Saturday, we decorated the inside of the house.  We will get the outside done this week.

But today or I should say this morning was amazing!!!! I left the house for my Weight Watcher meeting on time!!! I prayed as I drove there that I would be down the .6 pounds I needed to hit my 25 pound loss.  When I got on the scale, the lady who weighs me said "you had a great week"......I said how much......it turns out I had lost 3.8 pounds!!!! I blew past my 25 pound goal!!!!!

I told my leader, Kay, I wanted to share my blog entry for last week with the group.  Once the meeting started, she told everyone I had a great week and wanted to share something with them.  I read my entry from last week "A View From The Fat Section".  I was nervous but really wanted to share it.  A few minutes later I was done reading and then something happened that has never happened to me in my whole life.......they gave me a standing ovation......I was overwhelmed.  Several people said it was like I had climbed inside their head and they understood exactly what I was saying.  Some even asked for my blog link (and I think I gave them the wrong info...LOL ....oh well I will correct it next week).

But here are some of the numbers that amaze me besides the numbers at the scale......
I posted on my own FB page about what had taken place and received 74 likes and 36 comments
On the New Weight Watchers....One Day At A Time FB page I had 73 likes.
On the Weight Watchers Support/Discussion Group FB page I had 57 likes.
On the Weight Watchers.....One Day At A Time (this is a different group than the one that has New in the title) on FB I had 194 likes and 28 comments.
My blog had been viewed at a much much higher number than usual !!!!

This made me feel great!!!! The support from family, friends and strangers has been beyond my expectations.  Now I am even more determined to keep moving ahead one pound at a time.

I guess the one hard thing for me is that when you are big like me your weight loss doesn't stand out as much for a while......I have my little WW book that shows how much I am down but the person in the mirror will have to wait a while longer for the reflection to change enough for me or anyone else to see.

Well now I need to focus on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but as one very wise member said at my meeting today about Thanksgiving.....it wasn't Thanksgiving that got to this place........it was the other 364 days that did us in.......very wise and very true........

View from the Fat Section......

I promise this is not a depressing entry.....just my honest thoughts from where I sit......and a positive twist at the end.

I started life at 10 lbs 4 oz.....on Thanksgiving Day.....yup the size of a small turkey but big for a little girl.

It is safe to say I haven't been happy with my weight in over 30 years......maybe even longer than that.....I would probably have to go back to my teenage years.....and even then I weighed more than most of my friends.

I can say for sure is it was before I was pregnant with Jenn that I was some what content with how I looked and we know how long ago that was.....

Then life gets in the way and you put yourself on the back burner.  You get busy raising our family, buying your first home, changing jobs as I progressed in my career.....just stuff ......lots and lots of stuff.

And somewhere along the way .......I lost myself.

For years you just push it out of your mind.  You know you need to lose weight and you try.....I have tried so many ways.....you name the diet and I have probably tried it.  You find excuses and reasons to put it off.  You act like you don't care but you do.  You act like you don't hurt but you do.  People try to talk to you about it and you get mad at them and yourself.

You hate asking for the extender for your seat belt in a plane, you hate the way the person you sit next to on the plane looks at you, you worry about fitting in the booth at a restaurant, you fear a chair my not hold your weight, you look longingly at clothes in regular clothing stores, you avoid having your picture taken, you avoid going into a room of strangers, you assume when you hear people laugh that they are laughing at you and of course every person who looks in your direction is thinking "my God how did she let herself get like that?" "Does she just eat all day long???"

Those are the facts as I saw them.....note I said as I saw them........but something has started to happen.....

On my journey to Chapter 3 of my life I have found myself......I am now focusing on me!! I finally believe the people who say when they see me they don't think "look how fat she is" they just think "there's Donna".  I am working hard at the gym jogging in the pool, I loved Aqua Zumba, I love that I finally understand portion control, I love trying healthy new foods, I love that I am feeling successful even though my ass and thighs haven't gotten the message yet.....but they will.....I am sure of it.

I am not sure when it happened or why at this time in my life.......it might have to do with the future that I am looking forward to and my new adventures.  When I started "my list of new things to try" it was the jump start I needed.......suddenly things started to fall into place.

I decided I needed to stop avoiding the camera or else someday there would be no record of me.  I would be the person missing from the picture at the wedding or holiday gathering.

I have done more firsts in the last 6 months than I have in years.  I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  I am seeking out adventures instead of dreading them.

I have tried Weight Watchers more times than I care to admit but something is different this time........I finally get it.......I track everything I eat......I seek out healthier options........I eat when I am hungry.......I look forward to weighing in on Sunday morning (yes I do pray on the way to the meeting that I will be down at the scale).......since Labor Day I have lost 24.4 pounds.....in 9 weeks I have been down 8 weeks and one week stayed the same.....this is a big success for me!! I have Jenn to thank for so much....she has encouraged me, nagged me to track my food, helped me with healthy choices and made me feel more confident.  If she sees me doing something better than I have before she will mention it to me........

This week would normally be a hard week....my birthday and Thanksgiving.....but this year my focus is on pushing to lose that darn .6 pounds by next week so I can be down 25 pounds.

Then I can focus on the next 25 pounds.......one pound at a time.......and on from there.......I  really believe I am going to succeed this time and that in itself is a first......I believe in me!!!

I hope when I write an entry around this time next year I weigh quite a bit less and not that happiness comes from the size you are but I will feel better about me overall.

I am so glad Weight Watchers is working this time.......I am so glad to have Jenn to push me.........I am so glad I have a great cheering section......

I am so glad.......

See you next week.....

Aqua Zumba and Me???? Graceful I am not.....

I wanted to get to the gym early.....ok that was my first problem.  I was slow moving yesterday morning. I got to the gym a little later than I planned but was able to spend some time jogging in the pool. My time ran into the water aerobics class so I figured I would just do their workout.  It turns out the regular instructor was out so we had a fill in. She was young and energetic.  It turned out she teaches Zumba and Aqua Zumba.  So Aqua Zumba we did.....

I have seen Zumba classes at the gym and on TV.  On dry land, I wouldn't be able to keep up but in the pool I can.....well kind of.....

First thing I noticed was the music....it is loud and pounding......it kind of sucks you in.  I took off my water proof IPod and started to listen to the music.

It was amazing and ssssssoooo much fun.  There were some moves that just made me laugh.  Thank goodness for the water so others could not see what I was trying to do....LOL.

The pounding music just made you pick up your speed.  And before you know it you are punching the water and running and swaying back and forth.  I could feel my heart rate rising. If you did something and weren't going fast enough the instructor would call you out in front of the others.....it wasn't mean it was encouraging.

By the time I was done I was hooked!!!! I called the gym later on to see what days they have Aqua Zumba and it's Tuesday evenings.....well guess where I will be on Tuesday nights when I don't have to work late.

It was new and exciting.....and that's what I love about the water.......it is the great equalizer....I can do just about anything in the water that many can do on dry land.

Today, I was back at the gym doing my hour of jogging which I love but it was not quite as exciting as yesterday.  But having had that experience and liking it so much means I will definitely get to the gym another night each week.  And I can earn more activity points with Weight Watchers.

You can use the activity points to eat extra things but I just use it to burn  more calories.  In the last 8 weeks, I have been down at the scale 7 times and the one time I wasn't down I just stayed the same....no gains!!

Today at my WW meeting they started to discuss Thanksgiving.....ugh....

The leader started to tell us how many points each thing we would normally eat at dinner would be.......ok the turkey not so bad.....1 point per ounce.......stuffing 5 points for 1/2 a cup......and on and on......I will never eat pecan pie again at 14 points per slice!!! Then she had us add up the points we would use for the one meal and add 10 points for what they call the BLT's....bites, licks and tastes......you could really blow a whole week in the one meal!! It was eye opening and great info.......

Oh just one more thing.......

I had a chance to catch up with some of my friends today for lunch.  Don't you love those lunches where you can just pick up mid-sentence as if you were just together the day before?? We can almost complete each others sentences......

So it was a good week-end......lunch with friends, some education on what I really want to eat for Thanksgiving and of course Aqua Zumba......I think the music is still ringing in my ears....LOL

See you next week.....

A Day Full of Fun and check it off the list...... my first selfie......

I know I was being a pain in the ass......but that didn't stop me!!! I kept asking Jenn what she wanted to do for her birthday.  She threw out  a few ideas and we just went from there.

Actually the birthday celebration started Thursday night with pedicures....loved the color...Peruby Ruby!!

Friday night a quick trip to the Hallmark store to pick up our Christmas ornaments that we have had on lay-a-way since July. Plus I had  bunch of coupons which we used and ended up saving a lot of $$ and walked away with a bunch of freebies!!!

Saturday.....the birthday....started with an early breakfast with a friend who is halfway between Jenn and I in age.  I ate from the Healthy Fixin's Breakfast choices at Cracker Barrel.  It was very good and I didn't feel deprived!! Jenn found some very pretty scarves that we each bought.

Next......Mother and Daughter make-overs.  Jenn's was with Clinique and mine with Lancomme.   Actually, Jenn had hers scheduled and I was just going to kill time but then decided to have one of my own.  We were both happy with the results and did a good job sticking to the required purchases for the make-over (2 for Jenn and 3 for me).  The lady who did mine was named Beth.  She made me feel comfortable right away.  We chatted and laughed and I so enjoyed myself.

Our next stop was book shopping at Barnes and Noble.....well not really shopping....more like browsing so I could order what I wanted on Amazon and save a few dollars.

Before we entered the store, Jenn decided it was selfie time!! I have never taken a selfie....LOL.  So Jenn and I snapped away.  I had to try to think of something funny to make myself laugh so my smile would look natural.....I struggle with posing  for pictures and then to have to smile on top of it.....it is quite a task for me!!!  Well after several attempts we had selfie's we both liked.  On to the book store.....

To me a book store is a little slice of Heaven.  I grabbed a stack of books and found myself a table.  Jenn grabbed me a Pumpkin Spiced Latte from the Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble......I am sure she was ready to shoot me for the order....Pumpkin Spiced Latte minus the whipped cream, add non-fat milk, one packet of sweet and low......and I didn't even bother to say decaf since I had already had 3 cups of regular coffee at breakfast.  We sat there for 2 wonderful hours, talking and reading and talking and reading.....it was great.

Next stop, I needed to get the posts on the earrings in the 3rd hole in my ears cut shorter.  I didn't think it would take long......wrong!!! I had to wait for 6 people to get their piercings done...ugh.  Oh well, it is what it is.....

What would a birthday be without cupcakes.....so off to purchase some from the local cupcake store.

Jenn then decided she wanted some new jeans which is why we went to the mall on Harbison and this time I stayed in the car.  As we were leaving the mall, Jenn and I discussed our dinner plans.  I was so grateful when Jenn suggested we just get some skirt steaks at Publix and have them with a salad. I was thrilled......I had been worried about dinner and how it might be hard to work in my Weight Watcher points especially since I had to weigh in this morning.

A quick stop at Publix and we were home.  We had left the house at 7:45 AM and got back at 5:00 PM.....talk about a marathon.

A couple of side notes......

1.  My "selfie" has had more than 100 likes...LOL. I know there are some downsides to FB but it is things like getting 100 likes to a new picture of me that make it fun.  I also loved checking in at each stop a long our way yesterday....LOL.  It was also fun seeing so many people sending Jenn birthday wishes!!

2.  In fairness to Bob, I need to note he did buy Jenn a card and got her a gift which he left on the table for her.  This is a first for him and I felt I needed to give him credit.

3.  My work at tracking everything I eat is paying some great dividends (with Jenn to remind me to write it all down).  I was down another 4 pounds last week and another 1.4 pounds this week.  This is the first time I have been a part of WW and lost consistently week after week......I am so excited.  I will NOT be sharing any specific numbers but will just say I am very pleased with my progress.

4.  OK one problem with my weight loss efforts.......my rings are getting loose on my hands, my shoes are feeling loose, there is definitely more space between me and the steering wheel, I am moving around a bit more than before........ but my ass.....yes I said it my ass.....it is still as big as ever....ugh......can some of the pounds please some off of my darn thighs and butt.......pretty please????????????

5.  I have decided to make my entry from last week about the t shirt quilt into an article once we get it back and I can take pictures of it.  Then I am going to start submitting it to a few magazines and see if I can get anyone to bite and actually print it.......I feel like it is worth a try.

I know most of you have already seen it but here it is again my first selfie and another selfie with Jenn and me.....

Oh one more thing......this is my 600th post!!! Thank you for reading and responding to what I write each week it means a lot to me!!!!

See you next week......

T-Shirts Can Tell A Person's Life Story

Jenn received her first t-shirt when she was just a few hours old.   Actually, it was a onesie,  It said "Life Begins At Mount Vernon Hospital".  I still have it packed away with her first birthday dress, her first pair of shoes, her favorite pair of jeans that had rhinestones around the pockets that she called her "golden pants".. She would beg me to wear them for days on end......how she loved those jeans.  In the box is also a pair of hand me down jeans that her 4 older boy cousins wore with a rainbow on the back pocket.  There are other memento's of her life packed in that box or in the back of a closet.  A First Communion dress and veil, a winter coat made by a dear friend when we couldn't afford the expensive coat Jenn's only other cousin on the Pizzolongo side was wearing courtesy of Grandma (at the time it cost over $100 and to me that could have easily been a million dollars), a lion tamers cape made by Nannie for Jenn's kindergarten graduation (in black and shocking pink with sequins around the collar), a girl scout sash and vest(with all her badges, pins and awards), an Orangetown Patriot cheerleading jacket, a Pearl River Swim Team jacket and on and on.

A few weeks ago, I saw a website where you send them your old t-shirts and they make a quilt from them.  This company was very reasonable compared to some of the other companies I had heard about that make these kinds of quilts.  I also faced the fact I would never be able to accomplish such a task.......I still have a very pretty picture I started to embroider when I was pregnant with Jenn..... that is unfinished .....and Jenn will be 30 next week so you can see where I am going with the chance of finishing a quilt.......

I wanted to surprise Jenn with the quilt for Christmas. First, I had to figure out where she kept all her t-shirts, how to get them without her knowing and how could I decide which t-shirts should make the cut (no pun intended) and which ones were left off. I finally decided I had to tell her what I was trying to do.  Jenn loved the idea and on Saturday we spent a few hours looking through her t-shirts and cutting them apart.

T-shirts......

They brought back so many memories.......elementary school graduation, a sleep over at the Liberty Science Center (where my partner in crime, Patty Fitzgerald and I endured a long night of NOT sleeping on the floor of the Insect Exhibit/Room...ugh) but we did get to see the most amazing sunrise across the Hudson River over lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center, our first Breast Cancer Walk in Central Park with Jenn's first grade teacher and a lot of other parents there to support her in her battle, Camp Bernie (a 3 day camping trip for the middle schooler's as they come together as a group for the first time from three elementary schools), high school swim teams, church youth group trips including one to see Pope John Paul II in Canada, family reunions, Chi Omega sorority t-shirts ( well I needed to see something for the dues I paid), Winthrop University t-shirts along with Yankees, NY Giants and USC Gamecock shirts will all be part of the quilt.

Most of the t-shirts I bought Jenn were as souvenirs or for memory sake and cost less than a lot of the other souvenirs I could have bought her.  I did not have the intention at the time of using them for anything other than her to wear and eventually throw out.  And once she hit college......it seems like they get a t-shirt a week just for showing up at class!!

By the time we did our initial count, Jenn had over 100 yes I said 100 t-shirts.  We sorted them by must keep, maybe keep, can I donate it and good Lord throw it out.  We needed 49 to make the queen size quilt.  After a coupe of rounds were we down to 3 piles.....use for the quilt, donate to Good Will and pitch it.  The pitch it pile was relatively small.  Good Will was the recipient of over 50 t-shirts (although I am not sure who wants to wear a t-shirt that says Winthrop beat Charleston Southern ...... but then again I was with Jenn one day when she wanted to buy a shirt that said "Thompson Family Reunion".....we know no one named Thompson and are not related to anyone named Thompson but she thought it would be funny to buy and wear....LOL). Finally we had the 49......we cut them apart and counted and recounted to make sure we had the right number.  They are now sitting in a stack ready to be mailed this week.  The quilt will be back to me before Christmas.  I told Jenn she would not see the finished product until Christmas.......I myself can't wait to see it either!!!! It is a gift she will always have......yes I know someday it will end up in a closet with other things other things piled on top of it  but from time to time I hope she will look at it and show her children and know she had one hell of a good time growing up.

I wish I had something like that with all of my memories there to see but either my parents couldn't afford the t-shirt from an event or they weren't given away as freely as they are now.....

Well as my girl gets ready to turn 30 next Saturday (how the heck did that happen?  I just put her on the bus to kindergarten yesterday....), I am glad we spent part of a day looking at her past and putting her memories together into something permanent.  We laughed at some of the shirts, I got teary over some of them (are you surprised at that???LOL) and some reminded us of events we hadn't thought of in a long time.

Yes, in our children's generation we can tell their life story in t-shirts.  They are like the photographs our parents took of us growing up that we now treasure.  I am glad I am a saver and I am glad Jenn is one too.  If we weren't savers there would be no quilt.

I will make sure to share a picture of the finished  product after Jenn opens it on Christmas. It is a gift I am as excited about giving as she is to receive!!

See you next week......