Amy: Week Fourteen - Meet Gwen and Be Inspired

My friend Kate recently introduced me to a wonderful woman, Gwen Papineau. At first glance Gwen might look like the average twenty-something: beautiful, hardworking, fun and full of life. But there's so much more to Gwen.

This is Gwen

Gwen has been kind enough to lay out the story of her last fews years and it is nothing short of extraordinary. It made me laugh and cry. I was Gwen then and I look forward to being the Gwen of now someday soon. She'll make you believe in yourself people, and I'm not overselling.

Please pop over to my "regular" home on the internets to read Part One. And then visit dear Kate's blog, read Part Two and thank her for bringing Gwen's story to us!

PS - I weigh in today and I'll update you on my progress tomorrow. Today, just enjoy the beauty of Gwen!

Michelle: Oops!

With the exception of Amy and Shannan, we're slackers here at Cincinnati Losers, aren't we?

Since I've last posted, I've traveled to California twice for a week each, to Bourbon country for a day, and judged a wine competition in Columbus. This weekend I'm heading to Tennessee to judge a wine competition and then following weekend - Thanksgiving - I'll be in rural Indiana with my grandmother.

What does all this mean? I don't know how to diet and travel.

First off, having spent an inordinate amount of time in airports lately, I can tell you than when you have very little time between flights and not that much money, it's insanely hard to eat healthy in an airport. Lots of Burger King, very little Doc Green's. Truthfully, I don't even remember seeing anything other than fast food in the San Jose or Salt Lake City airports.

Road travel? Well, so far there's Applebee's, Wendy's, and Cracker Barrel.

I've destroyed any progress I've made so far on the diet. 8 lbs? Right back on.

Oh, and I spend a good deal of December baking - cookie swaps, potlucks for my husband's office, baked goods I give as gifts ... the list is endless. And baking tends to lead to my gaining weight.

So I officially admit I'm weak-willed. I cave to my schedule. My plan for the next 6 weeks is to not gain any weight and not go out and gorge myself on cookies or candy. I'm going to make an effort to work out. But I'm probably not going to go out of my way to "diet" either.
I know, I suck.

I'm going to "reboot" the diet in January.

I am weak willed and fluffy.

Image Credit

Amy: Week Twelve, which has morphed into Thirteen

Sorry for my absence last week. I can't even recall why I didn't post. That's the kinda month I've been having - busy but not sure what is making me so busy.

Weigh-in today and I'm down 2.6 (total lost to date: 33.8). I can't wait to hit that 35 lb mark - I take this five pounds at a time and my up and down rollercoaster has made it tough getting to 3-5!(I'm high-fiving you if you couldn't tell!)

Some good news: I got a Blackberry. (Ryan, at the Cincinnati Bell Store in Crestview Hills was terrific. Hi Ryan!) I know it sounds silly, but I think it's helping me with my weight loss. This weekend at Sam's I made a better choice on granola bars because I was able to calculate the points with Weight Watchers Mobile to make the decision. I've programmed my Jazzercise workouts into my calendar and set it to remind me the night before so I get up and get my clothes ready for the 5:45 am session. Getting into that mindset is half the battle.

So what's working and what's not?

Working

Jazzercise - still loving it! The classes and routines are getting easier. Jazzercise is running a promotion. You partner with another member (HI Maggie!) and if between the two of you, you attend 36 classes by Dec 31st you get a cute little eco-friendly shopping bag. FREE STUFF is a great motivator for me! The instructors are terrific and I can feel my body firming up!

Water - getting it in and then some, especially on workout days

Healthy Food Choices - I'm making good choices and I really feel the benefits in my energy level and endurance.

Points - I'm sticking within them. I'm using more of my weekly flexible points than I'd like, but I think the bump in activity has made it necessary, and I'm still losing. If it ain't broke, right?

Not Working

Dairy - it continues to be thorn in my side. I ran out of Silk Soy Milk last week and the wheels just fell off that bus completely. PLAN OF ACTION: Stop at Whole Foods TONIGHT and get the Soy already!

Walking on my non-Jazzercise days - that was my plan. I haven't stuck to it. I need some activity on those off days. PLAN OF ACTION: Resume walking at lunchtime. The fresh, cold air will do me good!

Weekends - I'll be having the best week and something happens early Saturday morning. I'm bitten by the anti-mojo bug. I stop drinking my water and my point calculations becomes questionable at best. I must get my brain into gear that this is a 7 day a week process. I kick myself when I think how much faster the weight could be coming off if I didn't take a mini-holiday every week. PLAN OF ACTION: Reach out to other people for words of encouragement and a kick in the pants if necessary.

So what's working? What's working you? Think about it and then pick one of the things not working and make a PLAN OF ACTION this week. BABY STEPS! I'd love to hear about it! Next week the Battle Royale begins. It's us against the holiday weight gain. We'll get through and we'll get through together kid!

Those of you who know me, know I'm a little Twitter-obsessed. Twitter was one of the main motivators in getting the Blackberry...yes, I'm that pathetic. Anywho, now I have a good-for-me reason to be on Twitter. @wwtweets started up a couple weeks ago and there are 160 tweeters who are tweeting about their Weight Watchers efforts. Join us! These folks have been just that extra push I need each day to stay focused and make it work!

Julie: Week... yeah. Miss me?

So, several years ago, a really well-known and world renowned doctor diagnosed me as having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which is linked to insulin resistance. Dr. Glueck (he's local) discovered a treatment for it that helps someone with the symptoms restore fertility, rebalance hormones and lower cholesterol. I stopped the treatment (Metformin) because it made me really ill, and at 21 or so, I didn't want to feel sick all the time.

However, I went for my annual checkup with my GYN a couple of weeks ago, and he said, "Wow, is this the most you've ever weighed?"

It's hard to say "Hey now, not only had I eaten lunch, but I was wearing tall leather boots and winter clothes, butthead. I weighed five pounds LESS this morning!" when you're wearing a paper hospital gown.

Instead, I said, "No, I've been about twenty pounds heavier."

"Do you think you should go back on the glucophage?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably."

So he wrote me a prescription, and I started taking it a week or so ago, and upped myself to the full dose a couple of days ago. It really does make me sick, but I know that it'll eventually go away. It has changed my eating habits. I absolutely must eat with it, and I take it in the morning and evening, so I'm eating breakfast again. It has to be something substantial, so I've been doing bagels and light cream cheese. Lunch also has to be light, and honestly? Dinner is light, too. I felt awful after eating a big dinner the other night, and I just need to change the way I eat. I can still eat what I like-- just a lot less. The clean plate club no longer exists.

I think I may go back to Dr. Glueck, too. He has a great dietician and can keep my lipids and other hormones under close watch, and I think my insurance covers it.

(Yeah, and I also just saw a picture of myself from the Obama Victory party. From below. I look pregnant. That's just not normal. Kate says it was a bad angle. She's really sweet.)

Meanwhile, don't Michelle and I look pretty? This is why photos should be taken from ABOVE.

Amy: Week Eleven - Another Quickie

I'm a day late, and a dollar short - please forgive me.

I lost 1.4 lbs and gained a President yesterday. I really was so wrapped up in the election, I completely forgot about posting. But I went to my meeting, lost and I'm feeling good. Really good.

I slacked on the exercise but I'm recommitting tonight at Jazzercise.

Until next week...

Shannan: Maintaining and Motivating

So I didn't really lose any weight this week but I managed to maintain - and that is important. With Halloween on Friday and a wedding on Saturday (with one of those vicious chocolate fountains) I thought for sure that I'd gain a couple of pounds. Some how though I managed to slide and to my amazement, when I stepped on the scale this morning it still said 145!

I wanted to mention real quick the power of words and how they impact people. This week my husband really noticed my weightloss and made a comment about it. It wasn't a big comment - just something simple, but it made me feel amazing. It really was the pick me up I needed to motivate me to stick with this diet and not just settle in.

I guess I wanted to share this as a reminder of how much words can mean to someone. If you notice a change in someone, take the extra second or two and let them know. You just might be the motivation they need to keep going.

Laura: A Quick Check-in

I lost a pound this week. I've been pretty disciplined during the last week -- cooking, bringing my lunch, even hitting up a spin class. I think it may have been possible for me to lose 2 this week, but I weighed in right after spending an evening having multiple beers and eating chicken dip. Overall, I feel like I'm on track. I just have to keep it up!

5 pounds to go!