Leslie Journal - 2.21.17

Social Media: A wise woman once said, "Fuck this shit". She lived happily ever after. 
(stolen from awesome Connie's awesome Insta).

Hair Status: Will in the 'Upside Down'

Weight: Outta control (for real - I can't stop eating my emotions).  I seriously posted a large pizza the other day and ate every f*cking bite of that thing.  I'd dare not mention how I smashed the Harris Teeter 7-Layer Bean dip.

I'm not going to post daily sweat pictures, but I'm back on the paid for version of Weight Watchers today.  Just as before - you won't get totals, judgement, or extreme fitness - just a little more mustard and a little less mayo.

Promises, promises: 

I WILL NOT

• Eat out of boredom
• Emotional Eat
• Eat after 8
• Drink Calories
• Eat Candy/Fried Food
• Skip Breakfast

Goals: This one's for you favorite jeans.
Hopefully back on in 2 weeks. It's not time for you to retire yet.

WW - Week 2/3

I threw this graphic together to show the different before and after points values and habits and included Hungry, since he is with me all the time.

Before I joined WW, their “points” system seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. I tried counting calories, but calories aren’t always a true reflection alone of foods real value. Yeah, something might be a 100 calories, but if it’s only 100 cal for a 1/4 of a cup is it worth it? Especially if it takes 7 1/4 cups to fill you up? And what about fat? They don’t put the fat values on there for decoration.

So to un-shroud the mystery -

Based on your current weight, height, & lifestyle you are given a certain amount of points you are allowed to eat a day. You may earn additional points for rigorous exercise (and I do mean rigorous) and you are given 35 freebie points to use through the week. A slider tool that helps determine points values of food and you can purchase books that give the values of varying foods that you eat everyday.

Week one I adhered to my allotted points a day. I didn’t go over at all and I got 3.lbs lighter.

Week two wasn’t so stellar in terms of weight loss. (Okay..so there was Beerfest.)
I didn’t break the rules per se, but I didn’t adhere to a diet of lettuce leaves and carrot sticks either. It’s been the general consensus - that you should try to be learning how to eat better on the whole so that when the food goes away it’ll stay. Nothing lost, but nothing GAINED.

Some recent frustrations I’m having are:

1. I’m losing interest in SALAD. It’s 0 points. So in theory you can eat as much as you like, but at some point your appetite cries out Mercy! I’m not a rabbit.

2. Eating healthy is expensive, especially when you’re not used regularly grocery shopping. Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger=$99 cents. Grilled Chicken Sandwich=$3.23.

3. Exercise doesn’t burn quite as many points as it burns calories.

Some recent victories: Looser pants! Woot! I have learned I can survive without Mt. Dew (gasp), that wheat bread isn’t the devil (Bobby Bouche), and that mustard is a pretty groovy topping.

True Life - I joined Weight Watchers at Work.

“Never was a mustard girl, thought it was a good solution hanging with Mayo girls....”

I’m not going to talk about what I weigh, what I have weighed in the past, and my current week by week .lbs to .lbs. (Not in an actual numbers sense- that is..) I’m not advocating anyone else join or advising anyone on what to give up. I am however, interested in chronicling my attempt at a “diet” which is supposedly not a “diet”. Quite simply, I wanted to try to be a healthier person, and my job is going to reimburse me if get on board and give it a try. So why not?

In high school, some P.E. adviser came in and said to have a healthy lifestyle you have to EITHER diet OR exercise. I decided I would run. I would run forever, if it meant I could eat whatever I wanted. The first time I ran, I ran breathless to the end of the yard, walked back into the house and devoured half a Red Baron Pizza. Now that I was a runner that pizza was mine..right?..right????!

Wrong...... Every food has a price, and many of the prices exists well out of running range. Unless you are an nfl athlete.

I have only ever been what I would consider “fighting weight” during the last three years of college. I had lost some significant poundage post the "freshman 15" at ODU. When asked how - I just said..”I don’t know, I was just happy I guess.” It was true. I was happy (and very very busy).

I’m still very very busy and fairly happy (not joyous, but content all the same). I’ve gained 22 lbs since I transitioned from college student to working girl. You just can’t run constantly when restricted to a square sunless space 8 hours a day. When I get stressed, I’d become accustomed (addicted) to grabbing a high everything Mt. Dew. Since that was my drug of choice, it had to be the thing to battle out first.

After a week of water, diet drinks, 3 days of what I would call semi-starvation and the consumption of foods that tasted like paper; this weekend marked the end of the detox phase where I felt like chasing wild animals and eating them or consuming entire 2-liters of soda. My caffeine headache has subsided to a small throb.

Pictured above are some remnants of this weeks soda detox which included: Lots of Propel (the only form of water I can stomach), some disgusting Crystal Light pomegranate (fruit punch is waay better), and splenda tea in a milk jug (which bothered me immensely that a caffeine product was living in a house that dairy built.)

I was successful in week one of W.W. weight loss, only hungry 3 of 7 days, only “cranky” 2 of the 7, and physically tired all 7 days. Today I'm going to Arby's as a "reward" for yesterdays accomplishment.

Here's hoping I can stay strong the next 11 weeks.