Hello All!

It has been awhile hasn’t it? What happened? Covid19 hit and it really rocked my nicely ordered world. My work became wild and the stress and uncertainly were too much so my weight started going up, up and up. I never reached my all time high and I didn’t gain EVERYTHING back from where I had lost before with Weight Watchers but I came pretty close. Boo. It happens, right?

I decided that enough was enough and that I wanted to lose the weight for good and to keep it off. So, Gilbert and I started Noom. It is an app that you use on your phone, you can’t log onto the computer. I like it but what I think is the most helpful is that you log in all your calories. I get 1200 a day, 1400 if I exercise and when the calories are gone, the food is gone too. So, basically, it is just calories in/calories out. No magic pills, no magic formulas and no magic food. 

The band called The Killers couldn’t have said it more when they sang:

‘Cause it’s some kind of sin
To live your whole life
On a might’ve been
I’m ready now

It is so very true, I’m ready now and I will not live the rest of my life thinking about dieting, planning on going on a diet, or waiting until next week to start my diet. 

I’ve now lost all the weight that I gained. To celebrate being below my WW weight before Covid hit, Gilbert bought me a beautiful multicolored topaz bracelet. I love it. We are trying to do non-food rewards and celebrations. Gilbert’s lost 25 pounds himself. He is looking great. I am down a total of 28 since I started working at losing again.

We are doing lots of food planning, food prep, and cooking. When you only get 1200 calories a day, you make sure that the calories count—every single, last one of them!! 

Hunter Fournelle is super happy because he gets to go to the park daily. He loves walking. In fact, Hunter’s vet told us that he needed to lose a few pounds himself. We had to change his food to a weight management food. He seems to be ok with his new food but he also seems to know that he is on a diet too. The vet said that as Hunter ages, his metabolism slows down so the food that we were feeding him is good but it could be making his weight creep up so that is why we switched foods. We are all dieting at the Fournelle household. I have a “weigh” to go (get what I did there?) but at least I am working on it again. I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress. 

I’m starting back to school in January, nothing like saying “Happy 45th!” but being enrolled into college again huh? Who says that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? I’m just 32 hours away from having my BSN so why not? I’m going to UofM Flint and everything is on-line. It should be loads of fun (not) but I’ve wanted my BSN for a long time. If Covid19 has taught me anything this year, is that life is short and don’t delay! 

I love this time of the morning, early, right before the sun rises. Everything is so quiet and peaceful, except Hunter, who is right beside me, snoring. The trees are all light up and all the other objects that light up are on. It is a twinkly wonderland and I am just sitting here drinking my coffee and relaxing. All the cards are in the mail, presents wrapped, Santa has come, and all the baking is done. It is a time to just enjoy and take it all in.

I am also missing my grandmother, a lot. She loved Christmas time. She loved getting presents too and would have to tell me about each and every one. It certainly is a different Christmas without her around. The sausage balls are about to go into the oven and the coffee is nice and strong early this morning, you can’t ask for much more.

I caught a really bad cold about 3 weeks ago. I am finally doing better but while in the midst of the awfulness, I stopped journaling. The potlucks at work came fast and furiously and it was a time that I moved from losing to maintaining. I’ve learned that maintaining my weight isn’t hard at all. I am back to my lowest numbers since I started in August, yeah!

Gilbert and I have taken Hunter to his favorite park everyday so I am back to stretching my legs. I had to skip the park a few times during my sickness, the lungs wouldn’t take it. I haven’t been sick in a long time and I sure hope that I don’t get sick again for a long time to come! I am off from work for a few days and it is wonderful. I am getting some stuff done around the house, odd errands ran, and little things done here and there but I am not rushed at all. I can tackle what I want when I want and there is no time crunch, it is nice.

I baked a couple of times this season and it was fun. I gave my neighbors some treats last night and surprised some friends with some goodies as well. My friend invited me to celebrate Christmas Day with her family, as she often does when we are here in Michigan. I can’t wait to see everybody and catch up.

Hunter tried out his new pillow from Santa and it was heavenly last night. He slept on his own pillow, left mine alone, and we all three slept through the entire night. No more pillow stealing, hopefully. He’ll get the rest of his gifts very soon, once Gilbert wakes up.

I am certain that this time next week, I’ll post a good weight loss but for now, I am happy with where I am. Healthy—finally, and celebrating the joy of the holidays. Merry Christmas to all! My your calories be non-existent today as you celebrate this time of the year.

I had a great week! We miss seeing the sunshine and family back in Auburn, but we got settled back into our normal routine last week. I made sure that I was tracking everything, really concentrating on portion control and staying on plan and it paid off. I am down 4.8 pounds, making my total loss so far 37.4. I can’t wait to hit the big 4-0, maybe next week? Regardless of how long it takes me, at least the scale is going down once more. I planned out our meals and stuck to them this week and it really paid off. The key to everything is planning and planning and preparation takes time, but if I don’t, then I don’t seem to stay on track very well.

I can’t believe that Christmas is just around the corner, but it is. The house is almost decorated, it is getting there, slowly but surely! There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything accomplished that I want. I guess that is life.

I like the hustle and bustle of this time of the year. I want to get everything done all at once, but I remind myself that it doesn’t have to get done all at once. I tend to be an all or nothing kind of person but I am working really hard on slowing down and realizing that all things don’t have to happen at once. One day at a time, right? I will keep everybody posted on how next week goes.

We went back to Auburn for Thanksgiving this year and spent it with my mom and nieces. I left June of 1999 and haven’t been back since. I’ve always wanted to go back but never did. Am I ever glad that we had the opportunity to go back this past week and re-discover Auburn, some of which I remember, a lot of which I had forgotten! The extent that Auburn has changed, both on campus and off campus, is simply incomprehensible to write about. I can’t believe how things have exploded down there, wow! My sister was able to drive down and visited us too and it was so much fun. It was great spending time with family and re-exploring where we spent 6 years of our lives.

I am up two pounds this weight in. We traveled over 800 miles yesterday and stayed in the car for over 14 hours. I am sure that some of the weight is water weight but I weighed this morning regardless. I am not upset or sad that the scale is up. We made sure that we walked and was active every single day. We took Hunter to the local dog park every single morning, walked downtown Auburn, walked the campus of Auburn, went to the Arb and went to Chewacla. Instead of having wings and chicken fingers at Zaxby’s, one of the places to eat down South that hasn’t come up this way yet, I had a nice salad and left the bread. We ate at some of our favorite places but I didn’t overdo it. My mom had some loose candy around and I would eat one piece here and there, probably would just leave the candy alone if I had to do it again, but that is life. You live and learn and plan on how to do things differently. Thanksgiving day was just fine, I ate a normal plate and just had a bite or two of desserts and I was fine.

The most encouraging thing was that I went to a few doctor’s appointments last Friday for check ups. I passed with flying colors! My doctor says that I am doing great and to keep up the hard work. I am on a few low dosage meds because of numbers were starting to climb but my primary doctor says that I should be off all of my meds in less than 6 months with the progress that I’m making! Yeah! I don’t think that I could hear anything more motivating than that.

We’ll see how the first week of December treats me. I will report back next week.

• 

Today was a very good weigh in, I was down 2.6 pounds. I worked really hard on no extra bites here and there and concentrated on appropriate portions, which isn’t my strength at times. Weight Watchers changed up their program slightly but I stuck to the “original” program that I am on. I average 1-3 pounds a week on it so I figured why re-invent the wheel? If it stops working for me, then I can try one of the other programs but for now, I am staying with what I’ve been doing since August. I am very excited the see the negative results from the scale this morning. I made sure that meals were planned out and stuck too and the results were great.

On Monday it started snowing and it didn’t stop until around midnight. We got 9 and ½ inches of snow the last time that Gilbert measured. I had a slow drive home from work but I got home safe and sound. Gilbert was home from work so he didn’t have to deal with the mess or traffic. We bundled up and head out to walk Hunter when I did finally make it home. He loved that his snow was back. Last winter, towards the end, my knee was still hurting a little but when the snow was high, I really couldn’t walk in the deep snow. In fact, I sometimes just let Gilbert walk Hunter so I was a little hesitant trying it this year. To my surprise, I had no trouble at all walking in the deep snow this time. I think the combination of my knee being stronger, my new boots and the weight that I’ve lost, made it a lot easier keeping up with Hunter. I shoved the front porch and Gilbert plowed the driveway for us and made Hunter and I a path through the snow. Since the snow is still on the ground and really hasn’t melted all that much, we’ve used the path a lot and really appreciate it.

I still can’t believe that Thanksgiving is upon us. Time goes by fast. I got to add another paper clip to my chain. I am down a total of 34.1 pounds now. I am trying to get down to the next weight bracket, one pound at a time.

Hi All, well I did better last week but I am still up ½ pound. I think that it might be water weight related but I also know that I have to buckle down more. I am starting to see the results and I think that I wasn’t as diligent as I was in the very beginning. I did better than the previous week, I just need to keep going. I think that I’m at the hard realization that if I want to continue to see the results on the scale, I need to go down to the basement for my exercise equipment. Before the time change, I would sneak a day here and there and take Hunter to the park during the week. Now, with the sun sitting so soon, it will be basement time for awhile. I have Apple Music now free with the new phone so it makes listening to music much more easier and with my new ear buds, I really don’t have an excuse anymore.

With November being a month where everybody is reflecting on what they are thankful for, I’m thankful that Gilbert has really stepped up his game and helped me out a lot in the kitchen. I normally cook during the week but he has been the main chef during the weekend. It helps out a lot. He doesn’t mind tackling the harder recipes (in my opinion), or grilling some extra meat so I can use it throughout the week in recipes. I know that I wouldn’t be as successful without him pitching in so much. I am usually working on housework and he is cooking. We make a good team.

Even with the weight gain, I still feel pretty happy about last week. I am down another size in my jeans! I could barely wear my jeans when I started in August, went down a size and now I’m down another size! Yeah! It is fun going into my closet and finding smaller sizes that fit. It makes the idea of heading to the basement to exercise not all that bad. 😊 I also realize that I look forward to going to the park to walk Hunter now. I use to see it as a chore but now, I actually like going and can walk without my joints hurting. I can see and feel the results and that makes me want to keep going. I am confident that next week, I’ll be posting some negative numbers.

• 

Hello All! Well, it has been a rather tiring week. I don’t know if I had full on jet lag but I just didn’t fall back into a very good sleep cycle coming from California. I am not sure why. Sigh. The lack of sleep kept me from giving my eating my all. I partook in the Halloween potluck at work, which I enjoyed, but you know how those potlucks can get you! Ugh. I should had exercised my strategy of just eating one thing and enjoying it, instead, I filled my plate and then had dieter’s remorse. It is so very easy to fall back into bad habits isn’t it? The only good thing is that I didn’t let the potluck derail me completely. I didn’t go home and continue with the eating. I got back on track and had a healthy dinner and made sure that I prepared a good lunch and snacks for Friday’s workday. I am starting my 4th month of consciously trying to lose weight.

I have a rather lofty goal to reach, which is under 200’s by my birthday on Jan. 30th, just a mere 13 weeks away . I need to lose an average of 3 pounds a week to reach that so I don’t know if it is possible or not, but it gives me a goal to work towards so I’ll stick to it and let you know the progress that I’m making. Having that goal in mind, I know that come the next potluck, I will not be filling my plate full again. 🙂  I am still up 1 pound from vacation and I don’t know if it will magically disappear by tomorrow morning or not, I’m thinking not. I am feeling better physically and I can go up and down the steps without it hurting like it use to, so I know that I am making progress. I can still wear my x-large scrubs at work and they are getting lose, so I haven’t undone all of my accomplishments, even if I slipped up a little this week. I was very good on vacation but I just seemed to have extended vacation into this week and treated it more like a maintenance week instead of a losing week. 

This weekend the time changes and I don’t like that either. My system seems to be super sensitive and doesn’t do well with adjustments like these. I do have a pork roast and a turkey breast thawing in the refrigerator and Gilbert has graciously agreed to smoke them this weekend, so I know that we’ll have good meals this weekend. I do believe that preparation is key to making healthier choices. When I was on vacation, I actually missed eating my vegetable sticks for my afternoon snack. Can you believe that? Wow! I don’t think that I would ever have imagined myself missing vegetables before August 1st. It just shows that you can teach an old dog new tricks!  I also printed out some recipes to try so I don’t get bored with our food. I was eating oatmeal each day for my breakfast, and while good, I am bored of that too so I need to make sure that I change it up some next week as well. 

My mom arrived back in Alabama safe and sound. Hunter goes to her room and still looks for her so I know that he is missing his nanna. She spoiled him rotten and he constantly follows me around now and paws at me to stop what I am doing and pet him. He is something else. This morning there was snow in the tall grass and he was so very happy. The white slushy stuff is back and it is his happiest time of the year. I put on my winter coat from last year it it is way too big. I will have to dig into the coat closet and find my smaller sized coat. Don’t worry, I saved all my coats from the years of living up here so I have a wide variety to choose from. It was rather nice feeling the over-sized coat on my frame, I will not lie. It made me smile and it makes passing up all the left over Halloween candy way easier. Progress, not perfection, is my motto. Until next week…

• 

First, traffic around LA is insane. I am talking 6 lanes of stop and go traffic almost 24/7. The weird thing? I didn’t see lots of accidents. We saw two accidents the entire time we were here and that is it. If you had 6 lanes of stop and go traffic around Detroit, the entire interstate would be at a standstill. It is fire season and there was a fire in one of the areas that we drove through the day after we explored it. We were staying with some firefighters from Colorado at our first hotel and their fire truck broke down on the side of the road. One of the guys said that he defended the hill well all day long while they waited to get a tow truck that could tow their firetruck. We switched hotels 3 times while we were on this trip.

Also, Costco currently has poo-potpourri on sale and I highly recommend it. I am not going to travel without my bottle anymore. It is well worth the $$, just a friendly tip. The food has been good but I am trying to regulate things a little bit. The first day I over-indulged so I’ve tried to scale back. I’ve dipped into my fitness points now so I am thinking that if I can break even and not have a huge gain or just maintain for the week, then I will call it a victory. The thing that I’ve done, which I have never done before, it track all my food. Even after day 1, I’ve tracked what I’ve eaten. The new WW app on your phone makes things pretty easy to track so it isn’t very hard and I didn’t want to get out of the habit. I’ve been able to get a fresh veggie omelet for breakfast each morning, along with fresh fruit and good coffee so I start out my day well. Even for my “fat snacks” I picked out some hot flavored peanuts and skinny popcorn so I am being mindful. I didn’t have a scale to weigh in this morning so we’ll see what it says tomorrow, after I wake up. That said, Gilbert and I did split a Ghiradhalli ice cream bowl, so I am not being a saint either. I am on vacation after all, but I do go for my annual check up in less than a month so I am mindful of that was well.

I also found out that my summer clothes are all too big now. My capri pants are too big and my short sleeve shirts are too big. I didn’t realize that until I put on my clothing. So, some of the pictures I look a little bit bigger than what I actually am but I like the pictures that we’ve taken, even with me wearing the wrong sized clothes. I have realized that I hate having my picture taken from a side angle. Oh wow! All the progress that I think that I’ve done is undone in my mind when I look at myself sideways and I realize that I have a long way to go, but at least I have started the journey.

I have been the quintessential tourist while in LA. I had these index cards that I made out and I would arrange the index cards each morning of what I wanted to do and Gilbert would help me plan out the day. It has been great! I have loved every minute. It has been awhile since Gilbert and I were last on a trip together and we haven’t killed each other yet. I did discover that walking and climbing all the stairs and going to all the tourist attractions do not bother me at all. The initial weight loss was good in this regard. At the end of the day, I soak in a nice hot tub of water and relax. I also found out that although I can keep up with a full packed day, at the end of the evening, I am stinky and ready for a bath. I have to wash my feet twice, pooh-wee! He-he. I am having a lot of fun and Gilbert is the best driver/tour guide in the world. My beloved Hunter was spoiled rotten by his nanna so I didn’t even worried about him. It was good getting away. LA was a nice place to visit but I would never want to live there, ever. We are already planning our next vacation!

• 

I had another really good week. I was down 1.5 pounds for a total of 33.2 now, yeah me! I worked hard and kept track of my points so I think that was the key. I finally, finally got to go down in my scrub size at work. I strutted up and down the hallway modeling my new scrub size for my fellow co-workers during morning report. I got lots of claps that I liked, a lot 😉  I can now wear the x-large scrubs at work instead of the 3x scrubs (remember, at my work it goes from x-large to 3x—-no in-between). It was a good accomplishment and I’m proud. It makes me want to kept going.

My mom arrived safe and sound this week too. I love having her up to visit. She is keeping our beloved Hunter for a week while we are exploring LA. She received fantastic results from her last stomach surgery. It is such a huge relief receiving a clean bill of health for my mom. We have had fun visiting with each other and she’ll stay some when we get back home too. Since Hunter isn’t the healthiest doggie around and his vet thinks that he has an auto immune disorder that tends to make him sicker than normal dogs, I don’t think that I could leave him and go on vacation without my mom keeping him at home. Hunter gets all sorts of good snuggles and loving, even though I know that he misses us.

I don’t know how it will be for next weeks results, being on vacation and all. We walked a ton today and I got see Hollywood. It was amazing. The flight was good and we got our rental car without any trouble. Even with planning and trying to do well, I’m already negative points for the week. Soooo, not sure where to go from here. I am not going to avoid food while on vacation but I am trying not to over indulge either. Gilbert and I split an ice cream this afternoon for our snack. Normally I would had eaten one all by myself. I just ate a sandwich for lunch and left off the fries. I made sure to eat some vegetables this afternoon so I am definitely making better choices than what I have done in the past. I also tracked all my food today, which is something that I have never done before, hence I know that I am negative points. I will have to step up my exercise game this week to counter some of the extra food. I guess progress, not perfection, will be my moto for the week. I will keep you all updated. It is nice getting away with my husband for an entire week.

• 

I did it, I did it! As I thought last week, the scale was just being unkind due to water retention. I was down 2.6 pounds this week for a total of 31.7. I am so happy that the scale isn’t stuck anymore. Even with a long week, Gilbert and I ended up taking Hunter to the park 3 times. He loved it and slept great. The weather was so nice and it was good getting outdoors and stretching the legs after the long days at work. I did well with my meal planning and so Gilbert and I ate good dinners all week long. I am trying very hard to work on portion control. Weight Watchers says to think of your stomach as a balloon. You don’t want it to get so deflated that you are starving but you don’t want to eat so much that you burst your balloon, aka overeat. I am trying very hard to stop eating before my balloon is too full. My stomach is satisfied but my eyes and mind want to keep eating and eating and eating. Ugh. I guess this is why it is a learning process. I am wearing some jeans that I bought that didn’t fit when I got them about a year ago. They fit nicely now and I wore a new jacket to the park this morning that I bought and had forgotten about because it didn’t fit. Gilbert took it out of the closet this morning and pulled the tags off and told me to put it on. Not only did it go on, it could zip!!!! Who-hoo. Small victories. Now that 31.7 pounds are off, I am looking forward to the next 30 coming off.