bittersweet news

third week of weight watchers completed and down a total of 14.8 pounds. OH how i wanted those last 0.2 pounds!!!! that and the sweet "5 pounds" sticker. 

ever since i have gone to the saturday morning meetings in burnsville, tammy has been the leader of the meetings. she announced this morning that she is "going to the dark side" by taking a job with weight watchers corporate. NO! i mean, clearly it is a cool opportunity for her but i really liked her and will miss her enthusiasm. i feel as though having a good leader is really important. the new leader, lisa, introduced herself and i am, so far, not that impressed. 

i know that people who attend meetings and use the etools (the online website) lose 50% more weight, so i will keep attending no matter what. my schedule right now does not allow me to attend a different day's meeting anyhow. 

lastly, i am struggling to get to a gym. tuesdays and thursdays are out since i have to go to the u for class. staff meetings are on wednesdays so i already get home later than normal. i need the other days for catching up on grading and my readings for class. HELP! how do you fit it in without feeling overly stressed about all the other items you have to get done during the week?

ch-ch-ch-check me out!

picture day! my co-worker, abby, told me that when you are on a diet, it takes four weeks for you to notice a difference in how you look and eight weeks for others to notice a difference in how you look. i guess i am almost to four weeks, but i still feel like i look the same:

 look, janelle, i smiled just for you!

i attended my second weight watchers meeting this last weekend and was down another 3.2 pounds. this makes my total weight loss at about 13 pounds. i think i need to clarify that i was doing the program online only up until attending my first meeting two weekends ago. i had lost the 10 pounds prior to that initial weigh-in. 

even with counting my points, i got to experience my first "juicy lucy" at shamrock's in st. paul on saturday night. my favorite part was the "warning" that came with it, alerting me to how hot the inside would be and that i basically could not sue them if i burned myself in the process of eating it. 

i know that now having experienced this amazing creation at shamrock's, i also need to sample the ones made at the 5-8 club as well as matt's bar. 

i have finally started class at the u of mn for my science license. it is hard to eat dinner on thursdays now because i go from school to lecture to lab, not leaving for home until 9:30pm. i only had time to grab a few snacks last week but i need to make more of an effort to bring an actual meal this time. i will say that is weird to be in a 1000-level class with so many first year students! i feel sooooooo old. ugh. 

10 down, many more to go!

new photos! should have put them up on monday but my school had parent/teacher conferences. at least we are done with them for the rest of the year.

10 pounds down...

jacob says he sees a difference but i am not convinced yet. i think that exercising would help - obviously - but it will be hard to fit in since i am starting back at the u to get a science license.

more later!

success!

well, i have lost just about 10 pounds since starting this journey - crazy!

even with going out to applebee's and ruby tuesday this week, i managed to lose weight. that is why i keep gravitating back to weight watchers. i still get to eat at the restaurants i enjoy so much. granted, i do not order the burger and fries...but i can still take a bite or two of jacob's maple butter blondie. : )

so, with success comes rewards. i firmly believe that when i do something well, i should get a little something-something for it. i gave myself permission to visit caribou...

...for a delicious northern lite white chocolate mocha. YUM! i did opt for no whip cream and the lite version comes sans chocolate covered coffee bean. 

i also went and got my nails done - an indulgence i just cannot resist once the idea gets in my head. it feels so nice to be pampered for an hour!

i did go to my first weight watchers meeting in about a year this morning. it was nice to be around so many other people with the same goal as me. i like getting to hear all of the suggestions and tips too. they were also having a sale on a lot of their products so i picked up some of their bars:

the leader of the meeting claimed the toasted coconut dream bars were similar to the girl scouts caramel delites cookies (or, somoas, for all you weird minnesotans) and that the chocolate pretzel bars were similar to the take5 candy bar. at only 2 points a bar, i figured i would give them a try. let you all know what i think!

no more points!

it is 9:08pm, i am watching "top chef," and all i want is a snack! 

i keep thinking back to the days when buck would come over and we would chow down on a bag of m&m's or celebrate a birthday with a dq ice cream cake. UGH. what i would not give for a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard right now. why is it whenever i watch a show about food, i want to pig out? i had to stop watching "biggest loser" for that very reason - it seemed counter-productive to be eating junk food while viewing a show about losing weight. 

alas, i am out of points for the day and while yes, i have reserve points, it does not seem worth it to waste them this late at night. i always heard you were not supposed to eat too close to going to sleep anyhow...right?

i have noticed that when it comes to dieting, i am a creature of habit with my eating my habits. as far as breakfast and lunch are concerned, i literally eat the same thing everyday:

• special k 90 calorie bar - either chocolaty pretzel or honey crunch
• weight watchers smart one - either the chicken ranchero wraps or one of the quesadillas
• dannon light & fit 60 calorie yogurt - raspberry, strawberry or blueberry
• fiber one 90 calorie brownie - chocolate fudge (duh!)
• diet soda - lately it has been a rotation of diet coke, pibb zero or mello yello zero

i sometimes throw in a fruit leather/strip with the special k bar in the morning as well as an orange or apple for after school. i also have been trying to drink more water while at school.

but, like i said the other day, i feel like i am not eating enough during the day. i want to try and plan meals for next week. i am also planning to attend my first weight watchers meeting on saturday. the burnsville location has a few different options as far as times are concerned. i am helping a friend out by taking care of her cats while she is out of town so i will have to work around that. 

next on the docket: working out at lifetime!

back to work

it has been one week since i have started my mission. i have not gone over my point total once. i even find that in the evenings, i am forcing myself to have another snack or two because i have so many left over. i am thinking that maybe i should be using some of those while i am at work. sometimes i am so busy with students that i completely forget about eating. by the time i get to lunch, i am just so happy to be sitting that it does not matter to me what is in my lunch. i just want that fifteen minutes of quiet time. from what i weighed at the doctor last week to what i weight myself at this morning, it appears that i am down about 5 pounds - woo hoo! due to the funeral over the weekend, i never made it to a weight watchers meeting. that is my goal for this weekend. next week i will figure out my lifetime membership situation and begin the couch-to-5k training.

soooooooooooooo...here is erica at the start of week #2.

not sure there is much of a visible difference yet. i at least know what the scale said, however, and that is good enough for now.

sidebar

this is officer shawn schneider.

on december 19, 2011, he responded to a domestic call in lake city, mn. he was shot and eleven days later, on december 30, 2011, he died. yesterday, he was laid to rest.

thousands of fellow law enforcement officers went to lake city yesterday to honor his life and service.

it was a very somber experience to take part in. as many of you know, my boyfriend is an officer for the city of jordan, mn. i accompanied him, along with a group of officers who serve scott county (belle plaine, jordan, new prague, savage, prior lake, and the sheriff's office), down to lake city to participate in the funeral. 

upon arriving, a group of patriot guard riders lined the main street with american flags outside of the church. our convoy was immediately stopped as the body of officer schneider was arriving at the same time. all of the officers got out of their squad guards to salute their fellow officer. we were allowed to sit in a tent and watch the funeral going on inside the church. 

after the church service, it was time to honor officer schneider again by leading a procession to the cemetery. every squad car and ambulance in attendance turned on their lights and drove a four mile route through lake city. hundreds of citizens lined the streets as we drove by, holding american flags and signs saluting badge number 208.

once at the cemetery, all of the officers marched together and lined up near the grave site. after a final salute from the officers, officer schneider's badge was called for the end of watch. for those of you unfamiliar, all officers sign in and out during shifts using their badge numbers. this was to signal that officer schneider was signed out forever.

i was filled with a lot of different emotions yesterday. while it was an amazing spectacle to see so many law enforcement members come together, the reason for which they were doing so was unfortunate. 

it helped me realize how life can be so fleeting. you can be here one day and gone the next. so if there is something you want to do in your life, do it. as with the intent of my blog, i want to make a healthy change in my life and i plan on doing it. period.

regular posts will resume this week.