Fabulous food find!

With the amount of points I get going down down down (both a good and a bad thing) I've been on the prowl for new lower point items. One of my severe trouble areas is after lunch, when I get a craving for something sweet. I am not talking sweet like a piece of fruit, I am talking sweet like a candy bar, ice cream, cake, etc. You know, a true dessert. If I don't bring something with me to work, then I am forced to buy something from the vending machine. And while sometimes they do have rice krispie treats (3 points!) usually they don't and I have to get something that can run me anywhere from 5-7 points. And with my ever dropping point allowance, even 3 points (or 2 really!) for a snack/dessert can be a little steep, esp in the middle of the day when I'm not always 100% sure what the evening will bring.

Well the other day Robyn and I discovered Jell-o sugar free reduced fat pudding snacks. They are new, and get this, they are only ONE POINT each. ONE. We couldn't believe it either, but it's true. It's not as thick as the other ones, but it is so tasty. And only 60 calories! Our Giant Eagle has 2 flavors, a chocolate mint (my personal fav) and the other one is a chocolate coffee flavor (I can't remember the exact wording of either flavoring. Both are very very good. I'm not a very good judge of if they have that fake sweetener taste because apparently my taste buds have adapted, so I can't make any promises on that front. They really do the trick for me, though. A very satisfying sweet treat after lunch that doesn't throw me off program for the rest of the day.

Worship me!!!

Somehow I have become the weight loss guru around here (at work). This morning I had an email exchange with a lady who went through gastric bypass and has gained back 15 lbs. She wanted to know how many points she should be eating, which led to an email from her telling me she is going to cut out sugar "to start with". When people say this I just envision me screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" leading to a slow motion scene of me stuffing a piece of bread in their mouth or something. Why do people think the answer is "giving up sugar" People, sugar is not the enemy! Damn you Adkins! Damn you to hell! (disclaimer: I do not really wish Mr. Adkins is in hell, I'm sure he's in a very nice sugar free after life)

The second weight loss conversation I had this morning was with a friend of mine from the mail room. He told me he is going to give his barber(?!?) my number because this guy wants to loose like 80 lbs or something. Um...what am I really supposed to tell this guy? "Join Weight Watchers"? This is not the first time this has happened either. I think it's great that people are so inspired and impressed with me that they talk to their barbers and supermarket baggers about me, but really, you people know how I lost the weight! Can't you just say "my friend/co-worker/girl I know lost 90 some lbs on Weight Watchers"?

time goals and family strife's

I really should have learned by now to stop setting date goals for myself. You know - I want to loose X amount by X date. I never ever manage to do it and then I always end up being really disappointed in myself. Yet I keep doing it. Goals are good, and date goals may work for some people, but not for me.

Another thing I do but I shouldn't, is care what my parents think. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents very much, and they are very supportive and well meaning. In fact, I have my step mother to thank for my joining weight watchers to begin with. The problem is, they want me to loose weight for what I think are all the wrong reasons. They care way too much about appearances.

See, I am not one of those people that has been overweight my whole life. There was a time when I was very thin. I also don't have genes working against me. I don't think there is one overweight person in my blood line. So when I get a compliment when I'm home for xmas from one of my relatives (like someone who married in) about how great I look, and I make the mistake of telling my dad or step mom, and they say "well they didn't know you when you were thin"...well that kinda makes me feel like sh*t. They don't mean for it to be insulting, but really it is. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I have to deal with around the holidays (or any time I go back home) And so I feel this great amount of pressure to loose a ton of weight before I see them again. I really need to stop worrying about what they think so much. I just feel like they are so disappointed in me for how slowly I have lost. Which is probably really silly. I know that they love me and just want me to be happy, but why do they have to make these little insulting but well meaning comments, and why do I have to revert to who I was before and not just say "I know you mean well, but I feel that was a very insulting thing to say" instead just letting it piss me off internally and getting all depressed and then eating all the chocolate in the room. Vicious cycles, they're everywhere. And they all lead to disaster on the scale.

Reactions on loss

I started Weight Watchers in an at work program. It only lasted one session (10 weeks I think?) but weight watchers had been working so well for me and my best friend had rejoined weight watchers by then so I started going to another meeting (and eventually ended up at the awesomeness that is our meeting). Well most of the people at my at work meeting do work here, but there were a couple who were friends of people who work here. It's been a long time, almost 2 years since I started with at work. So while most of the people in my original meeting see me nearly every day, there are a couple who haven't seen me in a couple years. I just passed one of those women in our reception area. And she started freaking out. She could not believe how much I lost or how great I looked. It was such an awesome reaction, the best I have ever gotten by far.