At the beginning of September, I had the privilege of photographing the wedding of Jennifer & David with Jennifer & Dennis Wilson of Silver Plate Photography of New Braunfels, Texas. Whew! How is that for a confusing sentence? Jennifer Wilson contacted me this summer and asked me to photograph the wedding with her husband, as she was a bridesmaid in the wedding so she was going to have to put down the camera for a change. It is always such an honor to work with another photographer in a situation like this, because she was contacting me for one of her long-time personal friends. It was such a beautiful day, and we all had a great time.

The wedding was at the Spring Branch Presbyterian Church, and the reception was at the Crystal Ballroom of the Rice Hotel. The band was awesome – Jennifer even got up and sang with them! – and the day was just FUN!

Feel free to check out the slideshow to view the whole day!

(Cross posted at the wedding photography blog and the slideshow has been added to the wedding photographer site.)

Links for today:
BMR Calculator which you can then use to calculate the calories you need to eat. Also, a much better way to calculate your BMI.

Today:
Breakfast:
Lender’s Onion Bagel, Brummel & Brown, garlic Jack cheese. Also known as “the usual”.

Lunch:
Feeling lazy, I resorted to Ramen.

Dinner:
Mashed potatoes from KFC (6 points)
Salad made of Romaine lettuce, 8 slices of turkey pepperoni (1 point), 2 oz of ham (1 point), and 2 Tbsp of Newman’s Own Parm Garlic dressing.

One thing I feel the need to point out though is that is not a “healthy” rate to lose weight, as it isn’t likely to stay off if you continue to lose that fast. Losing 5 pounds a month? A much better rate. I feel like I have at least met my goal for the first month – now I just have to keep it up with some temptations coming up in the near future. A retreat in Galveston next weekend and a trip to New Englad for a wedding the following week? It might be rough – but I can do it.

I was a slacker about writing down what I ate the past two days. That isn’t good, as it won’t help me later on when I need to look to see where I slipped if I have a weight gain. Actually, I know right where I slipped, and I’ll get to that in a minute…

First, a good moment. On Fridays, I go to the knitting circle at the local yarn shop. Often, we order lunch from a local sandwich shop. This week, as my friend Katy & I drove over there, we decided to stop and pick up sandwiches instead. I had brought my “Dining Out” guide book which has point values for many restaurants. I opted for a ham & cheese 6″ sandwich, worth just 5 points. It worked well within the rest of my day, so I was happy.

Today? Not so good.

Woke up late, ate “brunch” instead of breakfast or lunch.
- The bagel
- Garlic Jack cheese, 4 slices instead of 2
- Dt. Sprite

Exercise:
- Photo hunt walking on Westheimer with the Flickr meetup.

Dinner:
- Cheese only pizza at Empire Cafe. Sourdough bread-like crust, who knows how many points.
- Coke (with sugar) (and caffiene) (which I haven’t had in over a week) (so I am now wired at 2am) (GREAT.)

Snack (this is where it gets SO bad)
- Cold Stone Peanut Butter Perfection in the “OMG it is too big to eat it all!” Love It size. Seriously, could not finish it. Still stuffed hours later. Doh!

My “extra” 35 points for the week? BLOWN. And I’m sure I’m still about 437 points in th hole after that one.

I wonder if they will make me give the gold star back?

It is cold, cold, cold outside here in Houston, which prompted me to make chili for dinner on Monday, and sloppy Joe’s with beer cheese soup for dinner last night.  I ate small portions and had no seconds.  It is all paying off too – today’s weight?  TEN pounds lower than my “high” weight, and 7 pounds below my starting weight.   (I hit a high after I started.)

I’ll officially weigh in at the WW meeting tomorrow, but if their scale matches mine, I’ll be losing 1 point then too.  I’m perfectly ok with that if it means I am getting closer to my 10% weight loss!

On a side note – I have been working on increasing the veggies.  I promise.  Once the ice storm lifts, I’ll be making a nice full grocery store run so I can get more fresh fruit and vegetables.  Right now, the fridge is getting pretty empty.

Today’s food:

Breakfast:  Bagel, Garlic Jack cheese, 7 slices of pepperoni.

Lunch:  Ramen.

Dinner:  Sloppy Joe and beer cheese soup.  Carrot sticks on the side.

220. That is still such a painful number to look at though. Ack!  Ok, ok, I can do this…

Thursday food:
Slept in late because Mike was sick Wednesday night & I was worried about him. Got up at noon. Skipped an entire meal. Eek!

Lunch:
7 pepperoni slices
1 bagel with B&B

Snack:
Popcorn

Dinner:
2 slices of Papa John’s pizza (16 points total)
2 slices of cheese bread

(I should note that this was at a different WW center, and with a different scale. There is some chance that it just was off. I doubt it though.)

So my goal for the new week – which starts today – is to eat my points.

Breakfast:
The onion bagel, with Brummel & Brown.
Dt. Sprite

Lunch:
Grilled American cheese on sourdough bread with tomato vineagrette (sp?) sauce.
Small carrot salad (garnish size)
Water

Snack when my blood sugar tanked and my head was throbbing:
Reese’s Pieces. The whole bag. I had no willpower.

Snack II:
Annie’s Bunnies – yummmmmmmmy delicious cheese crackers. Think goldfish, only a lot better for you. 50 of them are 3 points, and I ate 25 (I counted), so 1.5 points total.

Dinner:
8 oz Blade steak with Penzey’s fabulous steak seasoning
Roasted red new potatoes
Roasted broccoli (saw it on Rachel Ray & had to try it.)

Activity: Setting up & standing at our photo booth. I don’t know if standing burns more calories than sitting, but it definitely wipes me out!

Sunday:
- Last 3 fried pickles from Saturday
- 4 Papa John’s cheese sticks
- Ramen
- Beef Stroganoff
- Several Dt. Sprites
- WW Cookie & Cream ice cream bar

Activity: Knitting and using the TiVo remote to watch TV.

Monday (Today):
My stomach has decided to attack me today. Also, we’re out of bagels. I need more bagels.

Breakfast:
Nothing. We’re out of bagels. Maybe this is what set off my stomach?

Lunch:
Dt. Sprite
1 bowl of stroganoff leftovers

Activity: Does curling up in bed & hugging the pillow count?

Yesterday, Elaine refused to let me have the pepperoni rolls of my dreams when I found myself in downtown again. I did eat a lovely French Dip sandwich at Katz’s that was huge, but I was feeling the need for beef, which normally means I need protein, so I ran with it. I had also eaten pretty light for the rest of the day, including a Lean Cuisine lunch which was only worth 6 points. I think I managed to stay in the point range for the day.

Today:
Breakfast:
The usual bagel. 4 points, plus 1 point for the Brummel & Brown spread on top.

Lunch: (not good)
Hot Dog from Lenny’s. BIG hot dog, with ketchup & mustard.  Based on the WW estimates, I would say 13 points with the bun.
Diet Sprite

Dinner:
Papa John’s pizza, 2 slices – 14 points. Over half of the daily allowance.
Diet Sprite

Daily points allowance: 28. Used: 32.  Taking 4 points from the weekly allowance.

Need to drink more water, but I have a sore throat so I am grumpy and don’t want to. No excuse, really – so I will make sure I drink more tonight before I go to bed.

Lunch (2:30pm)
French Dip sandwich at the Flying Saucer
(Beef, swiss cheese, roll – no mayo or horseradish sauce)
Au Jus
Small side of french fries
Coke

Dinner (7:00pm)
4 Pepperoni Rolls at Frank’s Pizza
Ranch Dressing
Coke

Other
Dt. Sprite
Gala Apple

Activity:
Light walking in downtown and Eleanor Tinsley park while photo hunting.

Notes:
I’m working on journaling for now, will add the WW Points to items later. I should have drank more water, and no Coke. Coke has too much sugar, too many empty calories, and too much high fructose corn syrup. (I want to avoid high fructose corn syrup as much as possible.) A salad for dinner would have probably been a better option than the pepperoni rolls.

This is a great plan, and it worked for other people. Me? I didn’t stick with it. Oops.

So this is round two. “5 At a Time” is still the plan. Works the same as before, and anyone who wants to join me is welcome to do so. Choose whichever method of weight loss you would like to use, (I have joined Weight Watchers and am going to exercise more) and do it. 5 pounds a month. Every month, you get a fresh, clean start. A clear slate. If you managed to lose 5 pounds in the month, fabulous! If you didn’t? No guilt. You have another month to start all over again.

Inspired by Elaine, I’ve decided to also start blogging my diet here for all to see. That way, when I’ve been really bad – everyone knows. You can then cheer me on or nudge me back on to the wagon (be gentle!) as needed.