Workin' hard or hardly workin'?

For some reason, that question — a fave of my fifth-grade teacher — popped into my head this morning. He'd ask, "Are you working hard or hardly working?" any time he saw one of us staring out the window or otherwise not doing what we're supposed to be doing.

If I'm honest with myself, I'd have to say that when it comes to weight loss, I've been hardly working lately. Yes, I've been doing better since the New Year started and I adopted my "Just do it" theme ... but not good enough. Yesterday, I bought not one but two bags of little vanilla sandwich cookies from the vending machine at work. (I think those are one of my trigger foods ... can't seem to stop at just one.)

I still don't track every bite I eat (though I have been tracking more regularly).

And I haven't been working out the way I should. I do, however, think my legs are getting more toned just by virtue of wearing my Skechers Shape-Ups the last few weeks. (I'll take it!)

It's time for me to start working hard instead of hardly working.

An award & a contest

Kelly over at Pounds for Prom just honored me with a Beautiful Blogger Award.

Now I'm supposed to write seven random things about myself (and nominate seven people of my own).

Here are seven things that some of you might already know, but many of you won't:

1. I was a band geek in high school. At various times, I played flute and piccolo, and was in the color guard. All that marching helped keep my weight in check.

2. I spent a semester in England (eating Yorkshire pudding, giant jacket potatoes and pizza topped with CORN ... yes, you read right: CORN) in college. I went to Harlaxton College, the University of Evansville's British campus, which was featured in exterior shots for the Liam Neeson/Catherine Zeta Jones movie "The Haunting." I did a lot of walking while I was over there, so the bad eating habits didn't affect my weight too much (I'd already gained the freshman 30 by then!)

3. I watch repeats of "NCIS" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" and "SVU" on USA.

4. Thanks to the Boyfriend, I'm now a member of the WWE Universe. Yes, I tune in to "Monday Night Raw," "ECW" and "Smackdown" whenever I get a chance. Since I work nights (3-7 p.m.), I'm not always able to watch.

5. I'm not a huge fan of exercise. Big surprise, right? If I loved to work out and ate properly, I wouldn't be the proud owner of a weight loss blog, now would I?

6. My mom used to say I have champagne tastes and a beer budget.

7. Both my parents died in 2003, within a month of one another. That fall, after their deaths, my roommate and I started doing Atkins. I weighed 276 when I started. I low-carbbed my way to 169 (with a goal of 160) and then met my Boyfriend, started eating carbs again and regained about 70 pounds. Weighed 246 when I joined WW and am back down to the 180s.

I'll have to think about who I want to nominate and get back to you on that one.

Now, on to the contest. I love soup ... especially Progresso's light soups. They're fantastically filling and so low in Points. I can eat the whole can without blowing it.

Roni's giving us a chance to win soup:

I entered Roni's Souper Duper Contest!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.

Health screening

Had my health screening at work today and the results left something to be desired.

First off, their scale weighed me at 193.6 ... That's way off from the home scale, which said 186.something this morning. Granted, I did eat a donut at the mall this afternoon, but that shouldn't have caused a 7-pound gain. (The good news is the donut, filled with peanut-butter cream was way too rich. I won't be pining for one of those every time I walk past the bakery anymore.)

They did a body composition test (based on the higher weight) and my body fat came out at 34.3 percent. Not great, by any stretch of the imagination ... but I can remember when I first started Atkins, my body fat percentage bordered on 46 percent. That makes 34.3 percent an improvement. Still, it can be better — loads better.

My other results:

BMI: 27.8
Total Cholesterol: 169
HDL (good) Cholesterol: 44
Blood sugar (not fasting): 133 (I'm blaming the donut!)
BP: 140/76

With the stats recorded for posterity, it's time to concentrate on "The Biggest Loser." I think I'll do some exercise while I watch.

Good news from the scale

Finally! After about a month straight of gains, I saw the scale move in the right direction this week.

That's right: Down 2.8 pounds.

Can I get a woo-hoo? Sure, I'm still higher than I'd like. But at least things are finally going the right way. It's about time, too.

Even after all this time, I find it amazing how just a little success sets me up to have a great, on-plan day. Having seen the scale go down this morning, I'm determined to make good choices all day. I had a healthy breakfast and a lunch that focused on WW "Filling Foods."

The only thing missing from the equation today? Exercise. I haven't done any of that. I'm using my lingering cold as an excuse ... but it's not a good one. I should get in at least 10 minutes' worth of exercise. It won't kill me, and it might even make me feel better.

A girl can dream, right?

Why is it?

After a couple of days of very bad choices, I'm left wondering one thing: Why is it that when we feel sick, we go straight for the comfort foods?

I've had a horrible, voice-losing cold for the last few days. On Saturday, I couldn't speak above a whisper. Yet I managed to stuff my face with all kinds of bad-for-me foods ... mainly cheesy, gooey Mexican dishes.

I don't get it. But at least I'm on the mend now — thank goodness. Today, instead of getting a chocolate malt at Sonic, I stopped myself. I got a diet Dr Pepper with low-cal cherry syrup instead ... and a vanilla cone, but at least it wasn't the shake.

The even better new news? I've been drinking hot tea like it's going out of style, so I had no problem getting enough liquid.

(You know what Monty Python says ... always look on the bright side ...) :D

Cookies got me

I made a choice to eat a cookie at the mall at lunchtime. In retrospect, it wasn't the best choice I could have made. I figured I was doing OK by eating a cookie and not the baked chips that came with my turkey sub from Subway. Sure, it was 5 Points vs. 3 for the chips, but I really wanted the cookie — and at least I didn't eat BOTH.

And I'd have probably been fine had I not decided to have Starbucks, too, before I headed to work. That means I wasted 8 Points on a cookie and coffee, because I got a peppermint mocha (even with less syrup, I've been counting them as 3). The latte is pictured on my desk at work, along with a holiday photo of my darling nephew. Cute, isn't he?

Then, toward the end of my shift at work, the press guys came up and said "We have cookies in the back."

Now, I should have just said "no." But I still have a hard time turning down free food ... especially desserts. So I made the trek back to the pressroom (at least it put some extra steps on the pedometer!) and fetched us some cookies. :P

That cookie added 5 more Points to the total in my chart, meaning I had 34 Points for the day ... 11 FPs down on Day 2 of the WW week.

So that goal didn't happen. However, the other three did. I exercised, I tracked and I did something else I can't remember at the moment.

To shamelessly corrupt a classic Meatloaf song (sorry, Mr. Loaf), three out of four ain't bad.

Food	Units
egg scrambled w/ mushroom, onion, & 1 oz. ham on sandwich thin	4
6-inch turkey sub w/ veggies, cheese, mustard	6
cookie	5
ff peppermint mocha w/ 1 pump less of each syrup	3
ww 2-point almond bar - yum!	2
2 svg. easy fried rice http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=182921&sc=11	6
jello sf chocolate mousse	1
100-cal pk yogurt-covered pretzels	2
Total:	29

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Day 1 of the rest of my healthy new life ...

Got sidetracked over the weekend with the Boyfriend (which extended into Monday, because we're both off on Mondays), but I was back on track today.

Needless to say, the year so far has not been a great one for my theme, "just do it." I've had moments, but most of the time has been spent NOT doing what needs to be done.

That changes now. I need to do this for myself ... I need to do it to stop the scale's creep in the wrong direction (up another pound since last Monday's official WW weigh-in).

Today was a great day. I stayed in my Points, without eating any FPs, and I got in 20 minutes of exercise — a 15-minute walk, plus extra walking and some toning exercises while I watched "The Biggest Loser" season premiere that I taped earlier tonight. Right now I'm drinking green tea while I blog and watch the show, but as soon as I'm done blogging, I'm going to pick up the weights.

For dinner, I tried a new recipe. I bought the Hungry Girl recipe cards with part of my Christmas gift card from my brother and sister-in-law, and made the sesame peanut noodles (using tofu shirataki noodles). They were pretty good, though I think I prefer the "Hungry Girlfredo" fettucine Alfredo swap. Maybe if I bulk them up a little with some ham or chicken or something ... I was hungry too soon after eating dinner. Had to have some beet salad and then some almonds shortly thereafter.

Then again, the total for all that food was just 7 Points (4 for the noodles, 1 for the beets and 2 for the almonds). That's not a bad total for dinner (especially after several days of overindulging).

Here's the Tweet, Eat, Post chart for the day:

Food	Units
ww 2-point almond crunch bar — yum!	2
ww cheddar twists	2
greek salad w/ chicken	6
fiber one pop tart	3
hg peanut noodles	4
orange-beet salad	1
15-minute walk
100-cal pk almonds	2
100-cal pak chocolate covered pretzels	2
2 clementines	1
Total:	23

Table provided by Roni's Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Goals for Wednesday:

• Eat just 23 Points, using perhaps 2 or 3 FPs (no more)
• Get at least 10 minutes of exercise
• Drink at least 8 8-ounce glasses of liquid (mostly H2O)
• Track every morsel that goes into my mouth

Totally do-able, I know!