“It sucked,” squeaked Claudette, her cheerful painted eyebrows making their best effort at a furrow.
”Pardon my French,” she whispered apologetically in her best kindergarten teacher voice.

I feel the same way.

Claudette was talking about her husband’s late night snacking on burgers and fries right underneath her slightly less pudgy weight watching nose.

I was talking about March.

I shared my new motto with the semicircle of men and women sitting thigh to thigh in the lime green plastic chairs; my Weight Watcher “anchor”:  Crush. This. Goal.

This is what I say to myself instead of huffing. and. puffing.  during  class.

With each tortured breath:

Crush.

This.

Goal.

A life size Jenifer Hudson beams down on me with approval; “Believe!” she encourages with an airbrushed wink.

An “argument” breaks out in row two. There is always a disagreement between Arguing Woman (there always seems to be an Arguing Woman at any kind of meeting – sometimes I am she) and another random weight watcher about the point value of a food. The debate goes on for a ridiculous amount of time. Eyeballs, set in not so jolly round faces, are rolling. I mutter, “Always a debate.”

This sort of explains why world peace is so elusive.

I feel a little bad for Arguing Woman because I think she must be right about the points – she is the only person who has lost a noticeable amount of weight. Apparently, the rest of us are shedding pounds from our earlobes and big toes. I guess her obsession with detail, albeit ^really annoying, is paying off.

I know what you are thinking, rapid weight loss is a bad thing (say what???).

Well, it hasn’t been rapid! I have been using the prolonged and ineffective method of: lose three pounds, gain back two, repeat.

I stepped it up a bit in March by losing zero pounds and gaining back seven.
I do not recommend this method which I like to call the “Chutes and Ladders” approach.
As Claudette would say, “It sucked.”

The things I did this week to lose the seven I already lost (again):

1. I honed my helicopter parenting skills. Ralphie signed up for a triathlon. Thanks to my worrywartness (aka compulsion to know every detail of his life), I caught his enthusiastic and infectious DETERMINATION bug.

2. Accidental derriere photography posted on the fridge next to before photo – MOTIVATION.

3. Exercising every day (see chart above) including a morning walk and an after dinner walk around the neighborhood. Everything looks so pretty when it’s not a blur out the car window.

4. Putting the correct portion on my plate, but not eating all of it. When I feel full, I set my plate on the counter and tell myself if I’m hungry later, I’ll eat it for “dessert.”
My brain is SO gullible!
I usually do not eat what I left on the plate, so I can use the leftovers for a delicious lunch the next day (steak salad below).

5. Trader Joe’s Homestyle Salsa Especial. This salsa makes celery sticks and yellow bell-pepper slices taste like chips. Once I fill up on vegies, I have two (yes TWO) chips to satisfy my crunchy salt craving.

6. Green tea, water, water, water . . . . and very, very, very little Pinot Noir!

Can you guess my favorite color?

7. Happy Hour smoothie (instead of Pinot Noir). It is filling, healthy, and drinking it doesn’t lead to the inevitable morning after question: “What happened to all of the chips?”

Question: How many ounces of wine does this glass hold?

Answer: 15 ounces!!!! That equals three servings of wine; in Weight Watcher speak: 12 points (almost half of my daily allotment). The smoothie is two points (Arguing Woman would probably beg to differ).

Smoothie recipe below post.

8. Planning and tracking.

9. Yummy salads for lunch (the key word here is yummy – this one is from One French Word’s blog – I substituted prosciutto for the duck and left out the bread. My salad looks different from her salad because, well, I don’t know how to apply heat to food. Thankfully, Tony does.

10. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day . . .  It’s April, damn it. Get up off the couch, get dressed, and crush this goal! Do it! NOW!

Smoothie recipe: One banana, one cup of unsweetened frozen pineapple chunks, one cup of orange juice, one teaspoon of wheat germ, a couple of handfuls of ice, one cup of sparkling water – blend. This makes two servings.

Photos from Sunday’s Three Hour San Francisco stairway walk.

Dawn


Filbert Street Steps

Steps to Coit Tower

Yoga in the City – this looks easier than it is!

Leftovers made a picture perfect picnic.

Guess which one is my favorite.

Lombard Street Steps. “Good evening!” a young tourist greets us with enthusiasm and confidence at 12:32 p.m.
That’s me in any foreign country without the confidence, “Buona sera??? Buon giorno???  . . . Hi.”

A secret stairway (if this is like Chutes and Ladders, I’ll probably gain 10 pounds at the top).

It leads to the Easter Bunny! If you did not read Patrice’s post The Velveteen Habit, you should. As always, it was wonderful.

Homeward bound which means down.

Unless it means UP! My toe hurts. Did I ever tell you about the chances of dying from falling down stairs?
Hold on to the rail!

Greenwich Street Steps. Not nearly as beautiful as the Filbert Street steps, but after 40 years of of walking up the Filbert Street Steps, it’s nice to discover something new just a few feet away.

And look a fairy lives there or is she an angel? “Believe,” she urges or at least read Blog of the Impossible’s post on perseverance.

16 Pounds Later