Weight Loss (or lack therof) Update!

It is October 31st and the TRICK is on me! Well, I tricked myself into believing that I could slack on eating right and going extra hard on my workouts and still lose weight. If you remember, I wanted to reach my goal weight of 136 lbs by November 12. Well, that isn't going to happen. Since getting off Weight Watchers, I have slid back into my old eating habits. I think the only thing that is keeping me from gaining too much weight is the fact that I still work out 5 days a week most weeks, although the workout I do could be more intense.

My final weigh-in on Weight Watchers on September 24 I weighed 155.4.  A little over a month later (today), I weighed in at 158.6. So, it has been about a three pound gain in a month. If I continue this over the next few months, I will be creeping back up to the weight I was when I started. That is what I want to prevent. That is what I am afraid of and that is something I will not accept.

I think weighing myself weekly is so important because it keeps me aware of where I am and I will notice if the weight is starting to come back. I really think that maintaining my weight is something that I am always going to have to conciously work at. Because of that, I have to make lifestyle changes. Programs like WeightWatchers are excellent for giving you that jumpstart you need, but to maintain the weight loss after the program is over, you have to make lifestyle changes...changes to diet and exercise that are not only temporary.

I took my measurements on September 25^th and wanted to wait about a month to take updated measurements. Unfortunately, over this past month I have not been working on toning and losing inches so I will have to postpone taking updated measurements because they are probably about the same.

That is about it. Just wanted to update you all with where I am on this weight loss journey. I want to seriously get back into losing weight again soon but I am hesitant with the holidays coming up, specifically Thanksgiving. With the holidays come food and sweets at work, at home, at parties and at friend’s houses. Always something readily available to sabotage my efforts. I’ll keep at it though.

Lazy

I have not felt like doing ANYTHING to my hair lately. I don't know what I would being doing if I had not falllen in love with wearing wigs. So the question is, has wearing wigs caused me to become lazy with styling my hair or am I lazy with styling my hair because I have the option of wearing wigs? LOL.

 

 

Sick and Seeing Double

I am suffering from some nasty cold right now and am about to climb into bed and sleep until I cannot sleep anymore (or until the kids wake me up first, lol). I just wanted to share this picture below of me and my youngest daughter Aine. See the resemblance?

My Crazy Wonderful Life

So I was doing so well updating my blog in the month of September, cranking several posts a weeks but then thing started getting really busy. Last week, I welcomed another member into our family. A 10-year old girl from Ghana, my fiance’s daughter…..and now my daughter. She is wonderful, very well mannered and articulate. Extremely funny. The other kids immediately bonded with her, as she did with them. They laugh and play and enjoy each other’s company. I love seeing them all together. It makes me feel good. I have a full house and that feels good.

Last week, we got our newest daughter all registered for school, took her shopping for clothes since she only brought one small suitcase with her, and took a quick trip to Killeen this past weekend to spend time with some friends. She has adjusted so well. I expected lots of tears the first week and lots of missing her mother. Although she misses her mother, she has been mostly smiles and that makes me happy. I really want her to feel comfortable, like this is her home even though it is quite different from Ghana.

I have been practicing cooking more Ghanaian meals now that I have two people in the house who prefer Ghanaian food to American food. We eat both types of food in our house but I want to make sure I can cook both Ghanaian foods and American foods. It is important to me that aspects of both cultures are found in our home, from meals, to language, to music and more. My newest daughter speaks both English and Twi so we speak both in the house. I only know a little Twi so I incorporate it in where I can, and she has been helping me with my Twi which is awesome.

My plate is full! It is a good full though. I really enjoy being a mother. I have four children now, ages 10, 7, 4 and 1, three girls and a boy. I am going to put myself and the kids on an evening schedule. I feel as if I have to, although I am not sure if it will work out or not. I will try it. I need a way to ensure than I am accomplishing all the things I need to at night. It is easy to miss reading to my 1 year old some nights, or to leave dishes in the sink, or to wash laundry and forget to fold it. I don’t want to miss anything. I want my family to be well taken care of. I want my house to stay clean. I want my laundry to never pile up on me. So I will make an evening schedule and try very hard to stick to it every night. Dinner at a certain time, homework at a certain time, baths at a certain time, etc. Do you think this schedule thing is over the top? LOL, maybe.

It’s been so crazy busy for me that my mind has been all over the place. I am in the final week of one of my classes for my MBA. I knew I had a final paper due but did not realize until Tuesday that it was due Tuesday night by 12pm. I had not written one word of that paper Tuesday afternoon when I found out. I e-mailed my professor for an extension until Wednesday and he graciously granted me one. Yesterday (Wed) after work, I spent a few hours writing that 10-page paper and got it submitted. I have been blessed with the ability to put my thoughts into written words very easily, so writing research papers are very easy for me. Whew! I’m glad that one is done though; I cut the deadline close (well actually missed the deadline but you know what I mean).

This past week and a half, I have still been watching what I eat, although I have treated myself to a few goodies. Although the numbers on the scale have not gone up, they really have not gone down either. I weighed in this morning at 155.6 lbs. My last week on WW I weight 155.4 lbs so it’s pretty much the same.  Once I get back in a routine of work, school and family life, I will get back to seriously trying to drop the last bit of weight I want to lose. I am feeling real slim at 155 pounds. I am not sure why. It makes me question my ultimate weight loss goal of 136 lbs. For now, I will leave that as my goal, after I lose another 10 lbs  I will re-evaluate based on my physical appearance. Okay, that is about it. I am still rocking my wigs I showed you all in previous posts. I am eight weeks post relaxer now and have been wearing my hair tucked away for majority of those weeks under either a phony pony or most recently wigs. I love it! Who wants to do their hair everyday? LOL.

Talk to you all again soon! Hope your enjoying some wonderful fall weather. I wish the area I live in looked like the picture below in the fall. It is beautiful.