Friends Through Thick & Thin

Wednesday January 21, 2009 Phase Two Day 276:
Today while my friends & I were walking they were talking about loosing weight. All four of them want to improve their eating habits, weight and general health so they are going to start a weekly program with each other. On Friday they will each bring $10 dollars and a written goal for that week. Their goals are set individually and can be structured however they decide. For example one might say, ‘This week I will not eat after 7:00 at night”, and other might decide, “I want to loose two pounds this week”. I am acting as treasure so they will leave their money with me. Next Friday they will come to make an accounting and either receive their money back for accomplishing the goal or loose it for failing. The money that is forfeited by a loosing participant is split among those that make their goal. If no participant makes their goal the money remains in the pot and a new set of $10 bills and written goals are introduced for the next week. We will make weekly accounting for at least 4 weeks at which time we will see if they want to go for monthly goals and accounting. Of course the monthly fee would be $40. I think I will call this endevor 'Friends through Thick & Thin' - Should be fun.

OK, today after walking, I ate cereal before going to work. By the way, this week I am helping with vision screening so I am on my feet walking all over the campuses all day. Good exercise. Anyway, I worked and ate half an orange for snack about 10:00. When I got home around 12:30 I had tuna and crackers.

Blake & Sara went out and I was able to stay home with Jacob – what a cutie. He is starting to smile and has discovered the sound of his voice. We enjoy just talking to him and listening to him garble back to us. B&S asked me if I wanted them to bring me home anything for dinner. I said no as I was sure anything they picked up would be something I should not have. I had cereal when they were out and called it a light night. Best intentions – B&S walked in the door with a Marie Chalendars chocolate satin pie – argggg. Why do I even try? Yes, I had a piece.

Thursday January 22, 2009 Phase Two Day 277:
OK, yes I did sleep in today. Staying up with the kids takes its toll and I decided before I went to bed that I would miss step class today and sleep in. I was up by 7:00 to get ready for work. I ate cereal and went in. Now I must make a comment about my cereal. I mix three cereals together to get my favorite – one box Special K Protein, one box Special K Vanilla and Almond and one box Albertson’s brand Bran Flakes. It is so yummy. I mix them all together in a large pot and keep the pot in the cupboard. Every time I have cereal, I simple take a bowl and scoop out a bowlful from the pot. I measured the contents of one of my bowl scoops yesterday and found out I was eating three cups of cereal at a time. Wow, so much for a light meal. Three cups! I can’t imagine how many calories that is. This morning I put a one cup measure in the pot and scooped out a little over a cup. Portion control must factor in to my menu.

After work I picked up a salad from Zorba’s. For dinner I had chicken, salad & cauliflower. Sonnet & I planned dinner the day before. Unfortunately, we did not plan the piece of chocolate satin pie I had after lunch. After dinner we had hot chocolate while playing Canasta.

Friday January 23, 2009 Phase Two Day 278:
The Walkie Talkies came over this morning to begin 'Friends through Thick & Thin', by turning in money and goals for this week. Each had specific goals for behavior. Lately I do not feel I have been bound by any particular restrictions or mode of conduct. I have considered all the nutrition tips, information and rules of fitness I have learned over the pas eight months and treated them as mere guidelines. I fear they have been ignored or excused away far more than followed. It was inspiring to hear the individual aspirations of my friends. I would benefit from this activity myself.

Hummmm. I will have to give this some thought. In the meantime I had one cup of cereal this morning. I have packed a salad, piece of chicken, orange and one granola bar to take for snack & lunch today. I will commit this much – if anything comes up today such as a treat at work – I will pass it by. No treats for me today..........Well, sure enough there were treats in the break room @ Highland but you know they didn’t even interest me. I committed to no treats and it was not a problem at all. Now that I am home about 3 hours after lunch I am hungry so I ate a one cup bowl of cereal. Blake & Sara have gone to LA to visit friends and Stephen won’t be home until late. I wonder what I should eat for dinner? I should go to the store for a few things – maybe I’ll pick up a piece of chicken and a salad mix.

I did not pick up a salad & chicken afterall. After shopping I was pretty hungry and had a granola bar while putting away groceries. Stephen is coming in tonight so I straightened up the house & bedroom. Our room addition construction leaves sheetrock dust everywhere and the place needs a thorough going over. Satisfied with a little cleaning I decided to scramble some eggs and eat them with salsa. They were good. I must say this afternoon has been a struggle. I did not have a problem today but I have had the munchies this afternoon. I guess it is more like the thinkies – I think of food I would like to grab. My mind has been very much occupied with food. To my credit I did not indulge. Only the granola bar and then eggs. My friends & I did not formally walk today because we were logging goals this morning, but I was on my feet all day today walking all over the Highland campus calling classes for eye exams, so I think I’m good.

Saturday January 24, 2009 Phase Two Day 279:
How nice to wake up in my husbands arms. Stephen came home last night following a week long business trip. He has stake youth conference all day today then ward conference meetings tomorrow as well as a youth fireside tomorrow night but that’s OK. I’ll take whatever time I can get.

He hopped up anxious to get a little work on the room addition in before he had to leave. I helped for a while then went down and ate a one cup bowl of cereal.

Today I have some church work to do as well as house work. I have invited the family over tomorrow for a family dinner before Blake leaves. We will be 10 in all and I would like the house to look nice. I will serve taco soup. Everyone likes it and I thought that would be easy. A salad will go nicely on the side and a sugar free jello salad with yogurt will round out things. At the store yesterday, I picked up some ‘Skinny Cow’ ice cream. Skinny Cow is a low-fat, low-carb dessert that is surprisingly tasty. When planning the dinner menu I wanted to include dessert but was reticent about any of my usual decadence, so I chose Skinny Cow. Sonnet & I first tasted them at a health seminar we attended a few months back and found them a perfect treat.

What a great day I am having. I completed my church things then went to work on the house. I really do not mind house cleaning if I have the time to do it. In between dusting, vacuuming and laundry I cleaned up construction mess. For lunch I made tuna to have with crackers as well as mixed berries. A few hours later I snacked on an orange. Stephen was going strong on the addition and I was busy so I sent Sonnet to pick up Sarku for dinner. We all love the steamed veggies and chicken. So, all in all I have had a pretty good eating day. Now I am going to the kitchen as it is the last room I will clean. I think I’ll make up the Jello mold for tomorrow’s dinner and I might even cook up the meat for the Taco soup just to get a jump on things.

Monday January 26, 2009 Phase Two Day 281:
Yesterday was very busy and I did not take the time to record. I started my day with a cup bowl of cereal and choir practice. Sunday was ward conference and the choir was scheduled to sing. Boy they were great! As always Blake sang with us. He is so good to me - whenever he is in town he will sing with the choir. Sara tended Jacob so she didn’t come up, but last time she sang with us also. What sweet kids. After church I had tuna and crackers and a little bit of mixed berries. I also had a granola bar. Later when the family arrived we sat down to a dinner of taco soup, green salad, jello salad and mixed berries. The table looked so cute dressed out in my snowmen cloth and napkins. We used the clear glass fluted plates and bowls. Blake said it looked too camo because with clear plates all you could see was the very busy cloth, so I placed white doilies under each plate creating a snowflake appearance which complemented the snowmen theme. I ate a big bowl of soup complete with chips and cheese, jello, berries and a salad. I served the Skinny Cow treats and they turned out to be a favorite. We had a nice visit. When the cousins left, Sara, Blake, Mom & I sat down for a game of Canasta. Blake & I got the munchies. Over the course of the two hour game I had another helping of Jello, and tuna & crackers and a piece of fudge and toast with jam and a granola bar and a few handfuls of chips! Good times but a little excessive on the munching.

Today I walked with friends and ate a one cup bowl of cereal. I have to work this morning but will come home for lunch to have a last visit with the kids before they leave. Blake will report to BOOT camp in North Carolina a week from today. This is our goodbye.


I arrived home just before the guys walked in. I was starving and reached for a granola bar. Stephen & Blake were going to play golf but the weather did not cooperate. They ended up running errands then went to lunch. When they told us what they had, Sara & I bemoaned the fact that we did not get yummy food. To which Blake suggested we go out to lunch ourselves. You do no have to tell me twice. Sara & I went to Carrows. I had the Southwest chicken salad. When the waitress asked if I wanted corn bread or garlic toast I told her not to bring any bread – score! The salad was filling and very good. Back home we have been visiting all afternoon. Stephen heated up leftover taco soup and we all enjoyed a bowl. I had mine without chips tonight. We all had a Skinny Cow for dessert. Tomorrow is weigh-in day. I expect to see a couple pound drop. This morning I was happy to notice my chest was less puffy. Unfortunately when I gain weight, the first place it manifests itself is in my chest – yea, just what I need a bigger chest. I have been a little puffy lately but this morning noticed that I fit better into my bra. If I do have anything later tonight it will be a few mixed berries. Sonnet & I were going to take a power walk tonight but B&S are staying later than we thought so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday January 27, 2009 Phase Two Day 282:
Great Day in the Morning! It is weigh in day and Sonnet & I are both down –yippee! I went to step first thing then came home and had 1 c. bowl of cereal. (hereafter if I say I had cereal it will refer to a 1 c. bowl). It was so nice to have some time at home this morning. For a week and a half I have been running off to work for vision screenings at the schools and I sure am not use to such a strict schedule. I like being back to my own schedule.

At 10:30 I grabbed a granola bar on my way out. I packed a lunch of taco soup and an orange. By the time lunch hit I was not in the mood for taco soup. I knew just what I wanted – a steak salad from The Sugar Mill. There is a little restaurant just up from the office that serves the best steak salad. Well I couldn’t find anyone to go to lunch with so I just kept working. Finally at 2:30 I left work and headed to Von’s to pick up a few things. On my way out I snagged a banana from the office lounge. At the deli counter in Von’s I sampled some turkey & ham. I guess the combo of fruit & meat curbed my appetite because I was not reaching for anything when I arrived home. Sonnet came over later for our walk. I had mixed berries before we left and a home made steak salad when we were finished. I topped off my dinner with a Skinny Cow.