Happy Hump Day all! Today was not a fun work day, however, I think I had a major brain break though tonight at my Weight Watcher meeting. NOTE: If you want to just read about my day and food, then, scroll down straight to the red stars *********.
I lost .8 lbs this week bringing me down a total of 5.6 lbs since I started back on my mission to lose the weight I gained last year. The receptionist really wanted to me to celebrate my success and give me a 5 lb gold star. Normally I LOVE getting stars and all that but I told her I felt guilty and lame since it was for weight I had already originally lost. She was like, you know, none of that matters. You motivate everyone when you share, no matter how big or small your losses are….you are the only one who knows “the bad” in your head, nobody else knows you are losing weight you’ve gained….they just know you lost. How can you argue with that? I gave in and celebrated away my shame.
So, why is this significant to me? Well I think for me this symbolizes a turning point where I can let go of the past….I can let go of the fact that I have been carrying guilt and feeling a bit like a fraud for not 100% maintaining my loss. Sure, I kept it off for 4 years, but, last year was the first year I let anything come back. I am not perfect and every day is a challenge. But, the most important thing is that I can use my past success to help me do it all over again. It’s like a huge burden has been lifted. I feel like, now, here I am with a fresh start on a new journey with a new goal….I can be proud I’ve lost 5.6 lbs and I am moving towards my goal. I can’t change the past but I can change every step I take in the future ~ embrace it, own it, be it! I can prove to you all that I can and will do it again ~ there is nothing to feel ashamed of….I am me, 100% perfectly imperfect and I am making the most of what I’ve got with every challenge life throws my way…isn’t that all we can really do?
My meeting tonight was awesome ~ I felt so empowered leaving and motivated. I’d be completely lost without my support system ~ I LOVE YOU ALL ~ The Husband as my biggest fan, my family, my leader & meeting, it’s members, and all of you! Thanks for listening to my rant….I really wanted to share it with you all since I don’t always share all the thoughts and voices that are in my head 😀
Here are a few of my FAVORITE quotes that they had at our meeting today that really rang true with me.
What you think about you, you bring about! (this may be my new motto)
Perfectionists become life’s biggest procrastinators because they can never get everything lined up perfectly. (OMG ~ total realization – so true!)
“This time, I will not be defeated by every little hiccup. This time I am an active participant in my change. My haiku expresses these feelings : Each day begins with new strength, resolve and spirit. I LOVE each NEW DAY!” (This was a member quote)
Have you all ever had a turning point like this and who is your biggest supporter?
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As a side note, I was super bummed that they moved the Biggest Loser to 9-11 pm. I passed out while they were weighing in despite my best efforts to stay away by sitting up, doing jumping jacks…then sitting down and falling asleep. I was OK with the brown guy going home, but, I am so rooting for the RED to go. I think my favorite new person is the PURPLE girl – I LOVED her encouraging everyone to run for 5 minutes without stopping.
This morning something crazy happened ~ nothing sounded good to eat at all?! I am a TOTAL breakfast person so that was weird.
I ended up ordering a grande DIRTY LATTE with a small banana ~ LOVE starting my day off like that ;) A dirty latte is FF Decaf Latte with 2 pumps of mocha for only 3 pts….you get all the chocolate flavor but save a point.
I actually started to get hungry about an hour after breakfast ~ go figure. So I snacked on some cashews and a lf colby cheese for 3 pts. Nuts and cheese always do the trick at taking my hunger pains away.
I had all good intentions of eating my Layered Up Turkey Meatloaf sandwich today for lunch, but, I really NEEDED to get out and get away from work today. After pacing and venting to The Husband about my day, he suggested we meet for lunch at his FAVORITE Steak Sandwich Place MS Tasty Burger.
I got my usual by asking them to cooked up any veggies they had in the back ~ AMAZING!!!!! Cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, pepper, soy sauce = LOVE!
Plus grilled teriyaki chicken bites that I didn’t share today (snort, snort!)
Total 8 point COMFORT FOOD lunch that surprisingly made me feel better without feeling worse since it was healthy. AWESOME!
Since I was helping one of my FAVORITE new Weight Watcher friends plan out her action plan for a Mexican food place today, I had to celebrate tonight with some of my FAVORITE TACOS!!!!
2 Crunchy Chicken Tacos from Vasquez Deli x’s two for 8 points. I order them HOT with extra salsa poured over the chicken. (So good Mom ~ I would’ve shared if you were here :))
SPRINGPAD FUN ~ Check out these Ultimate Super Bowl Recipes and see who is featured under the MAIN COURSES!!! :D I am SpringIt Famous ~ SO FUN!!! LOL….I am so drooling over everyone’s recipes though…..I NEED to host a party now so I can try them all or maybe have a party where everyone has to make one dish and bring it to try ~ now, that’s what I am talkin’ about!
I will be posting the Crock Pot Kung Pao Chicken Recipe for you all tomorrow. However, I think I am MOST excited about what is going into the Crockpot tomorrow morning….ready for this????
BBQ Brisket on toasty buns that are topped with healthy slaw with a side of butternut squash fries….You know I am totally dreaming about this tonight and all day tomorrow 😀
NIGHT ALL….Just two days til the weekend and it cannot come fast enough!
Run Sarah says
Congrats on the loss – definitely worth celebrating and I agree with the receptionists point of view! I have to try this ‘dirty’ latte – I actually find mocha lattes too sugary…and I have the biggest sweet tooth ever.
Tay says
Congrats on your loss 🙂
You know, this post really hit home and meant a lot to me. I started my weight loss journey over 4 years ago, and lost/maintained/lost more for a good 3 1/2 years. Just this past year was the first time I’d ever gained a noticeable and meaningful about back. Part of it had to do with eating habits, and part had to do with my drastic decrease in activity from an injury. I kept trying to get back on track and lose the weight, but never got completely serious. I recently have started to buckle down more, but I can’t help but occasionally get upset at myself for gaining the first 10 pounds, then the second 10 back. But what you wrote really means a lot. I’ve done it before, I can do it again. And I can’t help what happened in the past, only learn and move forward.
You’re doing awesome on your second journey 🙂
connie b says
Congrats on your weight loss!
Katie @ Health for the Whole Self says
Thank you so much for this post! Really inspiring! I think my favorite thing you wrote was this: “the most important thing is that I can use my past success to help me do it all over again.” You’re absolutely right that you have nothing to be ashamed of, and your past success can be a positive force to propel you to reach your current goals.
Marisa (Loser for Life) says
Congrats on your loss, D, but more importantly on your “breakthrough”! I had similar feelings and I decided that I am quitting the guilt, too! All that matters is that we are never giving up and we keep on trying 🙂
Tina says
I loved reading your thoughts and can totally relate!!! I will sometimes feel like a failure for putting back on weight that I lost for my competition and post pregnancy. I’ve come to be more okay with it now, when I had a realization that my body needs it to get pregnant again (it only likes to hold onto babies when I’m 10lbs higher than my comfortable weight). Its still hard and embarrassing sometimes though. But we have to remember that we are doing our best to be healthy and make the most of each day and THAT is what matters. So true that we bring about what we think about. So let’s stay positive! 🙂
Looking forward to the crockpot recipe 🙂
Lauryn says
Aww did I make you want mexican!?!?!? hahahah…those tacos look delish!!! And I totally know what you mean about feeling guilty!!! Im loosing all the weight that I had originally lost and then gained again…grr its such a longsuffering process!! lol but it will be totally worth it!!! Ohh…I have 1 ? for you…why do you order decaf?? Any paticular reason?? 🙂 Have a FAB day!
allijag says
We have the same computer 🙂
janetha says
danica~ YOU are so inspiring. i think you should for sure celebrate your loss. i love your attitude and your pep for life. i just love you all around, but i think you know that. and you are so lucky to have such a great #1 fan! well, next to me, i mean.. jay has some competition for fan club leader! i want that spot! xoxo
marie says
Congrats on the breakthrough! I, too, have those perfectionistic tendencies and have had to really, really work on losing them, as they are my worst enemy. For example, I use to think there was no point exercising unless I had the time and energy for an intense workout of at least an hour. It took me longer than I care to admit to let those attitudes go, and they still sometimes rear their heads.
And you are an inspiration, probably to more of us than you realize! I love following your healthy lifestyle adventures! Your recipes inspire me to cook more, and I love, love, love knowing that I’m not the only one out there who is trying her hardest to be healthy, even when it’s an effort–this is probably the main reason I read healthy lifestyle/eating blogs. And 3 cheers to you for setting your running goals and pursuing them in a reasonable, healthy way!! I hope you have success with ALL your goals this year, not just your weight loss target.
DanicasDaily says
HI Lauryn,
No worries ~ The Husband LOVES Vasquez on Wednesdays because it’s right near my Weight Watcher meeting. I like it because I get the night off from cooking and well their tacos are AMAZING. See, told ya, tacos are my goto favorite and totally worth every point 😀
I agree – success is in the journey, not the destination, right?
My heart cannot handle caffeine ~ it literally flips out, skips beats and does crazy things. So, I tried to avoid it as often as I can since it makes me feel awful when I have it.
Have a great day and good luck with the Mexican eats, I know you will do awesome!
Danica
Taysa (The Irritable Eater) says
Hey Danica, I can TOTALLY relate to this post.
My senior year in high school I lost 50 pounds, and before two years was up I had gained ALL of it back. For the last five years I have been trying to lose the weight again, with lots of false starts. Last year was the first year I was able to have another breakthrough with my weight (I lost 35 pounds) and it had a lot to do with forgiving myself for gaining the weight back.
Once I was able to forgive myself, I was able to truly commit to the idea of of healthy living as something that would stick with me the rest of my life–not just until I had lost those 50 lbs again. Thanks so much for writing this post.
Jenna says
Congrats! Be proud of yourself 🙂
Alison says
Danica, I haven’t checked in in a few days. But I think of you often. And I often think “what a great attitude she has – so positive!”. It’s good to know you are human though.
I reached goal a few years back and it has been a struggle to maintain ever since. I battle a lot of issues including binge eating. Just this week I had a bad PMS week which led to a major calorie bombardment. Now that PMS is over, it’s back to my healthy eating ways. I’m constantly working on finding ways to improve 🙂
What I really admire about your WW journey is that you do not deprive yourself and you can eat sweets a little bit at a time. I do not do a good job at that at all!!!!
I have a question as a new coffee drinker. The starbucks latte – what size do you get? I’d love to try one… soon!
Lastly you asked me about the Ellie Krieger books. I love the photos and reading the recipes but have only tried a few recipes to date. I really liked her nappa cabbage chinese chicken salad. Hmmm I should make it again really soon actually!
Jasmine Ohi says
ok, I have a lot to say – sorry to write such a long comment, but first off – congrats on the weight loss! its seriously a reflection of all the hard work you have put in. It really shows – I can see from all your posts how creatively healthy your meals are and how much you enjoy cooking.
regarding the “guilt” about not keeping off the weight you initially lost – I know from experience that the hardest part of weight loss is not actually loosing the weight in the first place, its actually harder to keep it off – the maintenance phase is by far the hardest for me. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for you – life/weight loss is full of so many ups and downs, so I guess this was one of them for you. you definitely deserved that star!
all that aside, I think you are absolutely gorgeous inside and out – you are glowing! I know that weight loss is more about how it makes you feel more than anything else, so thats why i am so supportive of all your hard work =) I’m here to talk if you want.
Danica's Daily says
Thank you everyone for your outpouring of comments and emails. It AMAZES me that I have such a support system here and I am so loved. I really appreciate every kind word, story and inspiration you all sent my way. I only hope some day that I can pay it forward to each and everyone of you. I responded to you all via email, however, if I missed anyone, shoot me an email to bonk me on the head and say – hey!
Now for Alison’s questions…
Thanks for the awesome comment! I am glad to know I can haunt you even when you are not reading 🙂 I can completely relate to PMS moments – ugh, I do not think I could enjoy sweets in moderation during TOM….I think the most important thing is to pick yourself back up and keep on going like you are doing.
As far as coffee goes, it really depends on my mood. I typically order a tall (smallest) for 2 pts (it’s CORE if it’s a latte and you can add caramel on top for 15 cal = 0 pts). If I want more, I get a grande (medium) for 3 points with caramel. If I have a chocolate fix, I add 1 or 2 pumps of mocha only for .5 of 1 pt. Here is an interesting fact though…if you order a grande iced latte it has the same points as a tall (2)….I typically do that in the summer.
It’s Ellie’s pictures that ALWAYS make me want to buy her book! MMM, Napa Cabbage Salad…..YUM….maybe I NEED to go look again 🙂
Hope that helps,
Danica