Curbing my Sweet Tooth...

It's finals week for me and that only means one thing....snack cravings! When I'm studying I get stressed, and when I get stressed, I eat. There's no way around it. I've been trying to come up with some alternatives to end my bad snacking ways; No one wants to only snack on carrot sticks when they're stressed. I want more. I want sweet. I want it now!

Going by what my Jenny Craig guides say, there are sweet alternatives I can choose to eat to curb those snack cravings I dread while I study. Fruit and non-starchy veggies are the obvious, but what other snacks and goodies can I consume?

• Sugar Free Candies. Not only does this satisfy the sweet side of things, but they last awhile too (as long as you don't crunch on them). My favorites have been the Crystal Light Candies. They are really flavorful and don't taste like sugar free at all!


• Sugar Free Hot Chocolate. I love hot chocolate and was bummed when I thought I couldn't have it while dieting. Apparently I was wrong. I was a little skeptical of a sugar free variety but it's pretty good. Definitely better than going without chocolate at all! So far I've tried the one by Swiss Miss. It's only 25 calories!


• Sugar Free Popsicles. Perfect for studying outside in the heat! Cold and full of flavor.

I can also always choose one of my Jenny snacks/desserts. Those are always great. My favorite is the chocolate brownie. It looks small, but it's really satisfying. Hopefully I will be able to curb my cravings and lose more weight this week! Wish me luck!

Tea to lose?

If you’ve been following me, you know that I’m trying the best I can to shed the 50 pounds that I’ve put on over the last few years. I’ve tried a multitude of efforts to achieve my goal from Weight Watchers to Jenny Craig, to joining a gym; but it wasn’t until a shopping trip this past weekend that I realized my love for tea could help!

I stopped in the mall at my favorite place to get tea, Teavana, just to get a glass of iced tea; much better and more satisfying than a soda from the food court. On the counter they had a canister of diet blend tea. Curious, I asked about it and why it was considered “diet” since to me, diet simply meant without sugar. Here’s a bit of what I learned.

All types of tea have their own health benefits and most teas promote well-being and a less caffeinated option to coffee or soda. There are three different types of tea that can help you with weight loss specifically:

• Maté is an Argentinean tea that has the equivalent caffeine to coffee, but has added health benefits. It can act as an appetite suppressant. It’s great to have in the morning instead of coffee and it can help keep your snacking to a minimum before lunch. I chose to try the Raspberry Riot Lemon Maté because I like fruit flavored teas.

• Oolong teas are typically fragrant and have fruit. They help with weight loss because they help to burn fat. I chose to try the Kamiya Papaya Oolong Tea because I thought the tropical fruit flavors would be complimentary to summer.

• Pu-Erh is a type of black tea that can help with dieting by breaking down fat and oils in the body. I chose to try Strawberry Slender Pu-Erh because I love anything with strawberries!

When I got home and tried the Raspberry Riot Lemon Maté and not only was it delicious, but I really did feel full. The best part was that I didn’t even have to add sugar. The natural flavors made the tea sweet enough. I was even able to forgo the sugar substitute that I typically use. Hopefully by drinking tea to curb my appetite and burn excess fat, I can make it further toward my weight loss goal.

Happy tea drinking!

If at first you don’t succeed, try again

After my battle with the scale last week, and not losing even a fraction of a pound, I was dreading this morning’s weigh-in. As I stepped onto my scale I cringed and was afraid to look at the number that was displayed. When I finally got up the guts to look, I was beyond pleasantly surprised; I even did a double, make that triple take. As of this morning I had officially lost 3.4 pounds this past week! All my hard work and discipline this week paid off; what a relief. I was afraid of what another unsuccessful week would do for my motivation. This is a huge deal as this means I am only 3.8 pounds away from my vacation goal and only 38.8 pounds from my overall goal! Okay, that overall goal still seems far away, but 3.8 pounds before June 26, that I confidently think I can do. After all of the support I've been receiving from friends and family, I have to! I've had friends offer motivation whom I haven't spoken to in years. It's amazing how making a life change like this can affect friendships.

This morning was a tough one for me. I had to wake up extra early to be at an event for work at 7:30am. I'm NOT a morning person. I proudly popped my Jenny Craig breakfast in the microwave (I had the stuffed breakfast sandwich), grabbed it, and ran out the door. The event was at a technical school and they had the culinary students cook both breakfast AND lunch for their visitors. Though I felt bad not accepting their food, I stuck to my plan; even though that meant eating fruit and my Jenny Craig lunch instead of a homemade meal that smelled AMAZING. I just kept telling myself that my weight loss was bigger and way more important than that one piece of chicken, mashed potatoes, and carrot cake. I'm proud of my accomplishment today. I knew my willpower was hanging out inside me somewhere, I'm just glad I finally found it.

Now I just have to look forward to sharing my success with my consultant tonight. I'm sure she will be proud; though I'm also sure she will warn me about losing too much each week as we are only supposed to be losing 1-2 pounds per week to maintain healthy weight loss. In my opinion, my body was just making up for my disappointment last week!

Keepin busy...

For those of you following my blog, sorry for the lack of posts! I've been trying to keep as busy as possible to avoid the temptations of snacking and I have to say I think it's working! The busier I keep myself, the less I'm thinking about food or snacking or even the fact that I'm getting hungry. I used to count down the clock until lunchtime at work, and now it sneaks up on me! It's great to not have my life centered around food.

I haven't weighed myself this week, but I know I'm doing well. How? I went shopping with my sister for a bit on Saturday (I have to start preparing for my vacation!) and though I wasn't a size smaller (yet) my current size fit better than ever. It wasn't a guessing game of "is this a true to size or am I going to get depressed?" I even bought a pair of shorts! This may not sound all that surprising since I live in Florida, but believe me, it is. I have thicker legs; probably from a mixture of the excess weight mixed with the muscles from dancing up until I graduated high school. I'm not going to lie, they aren't as strong as they used to be, but they're still there; and kind of one thing I don't love about physique. Because of this self doubt, I've avoided wearing shorts alltogether. I've stuck to longer skirts, and capris since wearing jeans all summer is not really an option where I live. My sister convinced me to try them on and I was shocked that they fit! It definitely gave me a confidence boost for the rest of the day.

Back to keeping busy...

I've been doing a lot of work around the house lately; trying to clean it up. It's been taking awhile since my dog likes to get in the way and mess things up all over again. Between my tax return and saving money on not going out to eat (thanks Jenny Craig!) as much I've saved enough money to redo my kitchen! I've been wanting to do this since I moved in, and now I'll keep myself busy by emptying out and sorting through all of my kitchen "stuff". I have to call it stuff because I have no idea what's been pushed to the back of all of the cabinets. I've only been in this house for a year but it's already a mess. A few years ago, I worked at Williams Sonoma as a seasonal employee to save some money, but most importantly to "pimp out" my kitchen. I've always loved to cook so gadgets make me all sorts of excited. In those few months I worked there, I accumulated quite a bit and now have nowhere to put it all. I guess it's time for a cabinet clean out!

That's pretty much what's been keeping me busy; that and studying for finals this week. Hopefully between midterms and now I've curbed my appetite enough to avoid the temptations of snacking during my most vulnerable moments. Wish me luck!

My first disappointment...

I knew it was bound to happen. I have been so excited for my weigh-in day since I've started my Jenny Craig diet but today was a bit of a disappointment. When I stepped on my scale this morning I was the exact same weight as I was when I weighed myself last week. I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself because I weighed myself two days after my usual weigh-in day last time, but I was hoping for more. I know I shouldn't be too disappointed though; it could have been worse. I made it through a holiday weekend without gaining anything! I guess that's an accomplishment. It makes me optimistic that I won't fall too far off track when I go on vacation at the end of the month.

Holiday weekends are a lot of fun but temptations mount to the fullest. I was bombarded with friends wanting to go out and celebrate (for dinner of course!) and BBQs to attend, so I had to stay focused. I did eat out a lot this weekend in order to stay social and not barricade myself in my home, but I know I made wise choices; as wise as I could for food that wasn't cooked by me! I ate sushi a couple of times. One of the nights I was WAY bad! I didn't eat nearly as much as I usually do, but one of the rolls definitely had fried shrimp in it. I know I should have tried better that night. The other night I was on a date, so of course the last thing I wanted to talk about was my diet. I've found that isn't really the best way to make a first impression. We ended up sharing a sushi boat and I ate moderately...this time staying away from the bad stuff (mayo, fried, etc.). It's nice to know I can still go out and not be obvious about watching what I eat.

My biggest triumph this weekend, however, was at my best friend's family's BBQ on Sunday. Her brother had just gotten back from Afghanistan and her parents were throwing a party to celebrate. I've known the whole family for quite awhile, so I was invited and was happy to attend. What made me really proud was I avoided ALL of the BBQ food (except for a couple carrot sticks from the veggie tray and a diet coke). I had eaten a late breakfast so I wasn't really hungry and I ate a Jenny Craig meal when I returned home. As good as all of the food looked, I know it wouldn't be as good as it feels to lose weight!

I'm hoping this no loss week doesn't set me too far back from hitting my mini vacation goal. I'll just have to try even harder to keep on plan this week. Still 42.2 pounds to go! Thanks for all the support.

An Elephant Never Forgets...

No more forgetting my weigh-in day! I just gave up two days to celebrate that I've lost another 2.4 pounds! That puts my total weight loss at 7.8, which is very exciting! Despite my skepticism, this Jenny Craig program really works! I realize that I can't expect my weight loss to continue at this rate, but I'll ride this train as long as I can.

I've decided to join LA Fitness because I found this great deal online! It expires on May 31, so if you want to join me on my weight loss quest, act quickly! It's an online-only deal but at $7.99 per week (which is about $34.99 average monthly) and no sign-up fee, its relatively inexpensive compared to other gyms around; plus you can get access to all of the LA Fitness centers in your state. This will definitely make it easier to find classes at convenient times. I'm planning to start out with Cardio Kickboxing, Yoga, and Aqua Fit, but hopefully once I'm confident enough I really want to start taking Spinning classes. I've heard great things, but I'm still too nervous to try it (I recently got over a foot injury).

In the meantime I'm making good progress. I was even able to hold back a bit at a networking event I attended last night at Chima, a Brazilian steakhouse. Of course I enjoyed my free glass of wine (figured it was a safer and lower calorie option than a liquor and mixer), but I'm quite proud of myself for not gorging on all of the free appetizers (which smelled delicious, by the way). In fact, I waited until I got home to eat dinner and feasted on the Jenny Craig Rising Crust Pizza and a salad of sliced tomatoes with Italian seasoning and balsamic vinegar. I have to say, the dinner pizza is MUCH better than the lunch versions; maybe its because the sauce on it is traditional red sauce. It was a great end to a great night.

Only 42.2 pounds to go and only 7.2 pounds to go to my vacation mini-goal! Thanks for all the support! You are the reason I can do this!

How could I forget today was weigh-in day???

It's 3:43pm and I'm still trying to figure out how I could forget that today was weigh-in day! I've become so used to the Jenny Craig program that I'm barely even thinking about the scale. I guess that's a good thing since weigh-ins have stressed me out in the past. This morning, though, I had other things on my mind.

For the past few days, my dog, Jack, had been making this gagging noise and it was starting to get me a little worried. I quickly made an appointment with the vet. I turned out that the noise was reverse sneezing caused by allergies. Definitely strange but not overly harmful. The vet sent us home with antibiotics and also told me to give Jack benedryl. At least that's one less thing to stress about.

Back to my dieting! I know that I'm slowly inching my way towards the 10 pound mark, and I can't wait to get there. I have to admit, I wish that my "big drop" stage lasted longer as I'm assuming that I didn't lose more than two pounds this week. This past weekend I spent some time checking out some local gyms and got some week-long guest passes so I could check them out. Tonight I'm heading to a cardio kick-boxing class with a friend of mine at LA Fitness. Should be interesting since it's been awhile since I've taken a class like this. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. I've narrowed my gym choices down to two different gyms but I'm definitely leading towards one. The grounds were so nice and everything looked brand new! The only issue is that it's a higher monthly cost than the alternative one. Guess that's a decision I'll have to make at the end of the week. Some of the classes I've been looking at taking are spinning, cardio kickboxing, aqua fit, and maybe a boot camp here and there. The only one I've ever done before is the cardio kickboxing, but it's been a really long time since I've done it.

I'm hoping that by adding physical activity to my routine will help me on my journey to losing weight. I really want to have lost at least 15 pounds by the time I go on a cruise with my family at the end of June. That doesn't give me much time but I do believe that I'm about halfway there.

Thanks for all of the motivational words of encouragement! It really helps! 44.6 (probably less!) to go!

When's the best time to eat dinner?

After reading through my many Jenny Craig manuals, they specifically say that it is okay to eat after 8pm (not that I ever really followed that rule anyways). I used to eat dinner as soon as I got home from work because that was when I was hungry. Now that I eat a snack around 4 in the afternoon, I'm not as hungry when I get home at 6:30pm. I've been trying to push off eating dinner til a bit later, usually between 7:30 and 8, so that I'm less likely to snack afterwards while I relax and watch TV, surf the net, or play with my dog. It's definitely working! Now I typically eat my dinner later, and have my one snack/dessert afterwards. Occasionally I will eat another vegetable as a snack if I'm still hungry, but that's less often than I ever thought it would be!

So far I've found most of the Jenny Craig dinners to not only be tasty, but also pretty filling especially considering their size! Must be from all the fiber (I'm learning!) Here's my ratings on the dinner selections I've had so far:

Turkey Chili
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Spaghetti with Meatballs
Flavor: 4.5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Chicken Carbonara
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Cashew Chicken
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Cheese Ravioli
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Traditional Lasagna
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Chicken Fettucine
Flavor: 2
Filling: 3
Overall: 2.5

Salisbury Steak
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Turkey with Gravy
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Penne Pasta
Flavor: 4.5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Even though all of the Jenny Craig Dinners are so good, I still miss cooking sometimes. Having the meals ready and prepared for me is great when I'm running late or don't feel like cooking, but there are other times where I wish I would have all fresh food that I prepare myself. I'm really looking forward to that part of the program where I can start incorporating my own healthy dishes that I create. I love doing that! I guess for now I'll have to stick with being creative when preparing my extra vegetable servings. Lately, my obsession has been adding broiled tomatoes to the side of my dinner plate. They are so yummy and really filling! All I do is slice a beefsteak or vine ripened tomato in half, sprinkle a little bit (and I mean a really small amount) of salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Then I stick it under the broiler for 15-20 minutes. They are great tasting just like that, but if I'm feeling fancy i'll add a bit of balsamic vinegar for some extra flavor. They look really fancy too! Next time I'll take a picture and show you all my creation! I'll have to think of some more healthy ways to prepare my veggies. Any suggestions out there?

Work temptations at Lunchtime...

No matter when i've tried to lose weight in the past, a huge factor in my failures has been lunches at work. Many of my co-workers choose to eat out for lunch which adds temptations to eat unhealthy food. Who wants to order a salad with lowfat dressing when your friends are sitting across the table eating a hamburger and fries?

The Jenny Craig options for lunch have not only helped me enjoy the healthy foods I've been eating so I'm not tempted to go out, but I've been saving a ton of money. I know that people have been detered from joining Jenny Craig because they think the food is expensive, but I actually think I am spending less by eating the Jenny Craig meals.

Over the past two weeks I've tried to sample as many of them as I could to get a feel for the ones I liked versus the ones that weren't quite my favorites. Just like the breakfasts that I blogged about last time, I rated them based on taste and fillingness (is that a word?). Here's how they stacked up:

Cheesy Potatoes and Chicken

Flavor: 4

Filling 4.5

Overall: 4.25

Creamy Chicken and Corn Chowder

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 3.75

Zesty Tortellini Soup

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall 3.75

Rotini with Meatballs (one of my FAVORITES so far!)

Flavor: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Chicken Stuffed Sandwich

Flavor: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Swedish Meatballs

Flavor: 5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.75

Meatball Stuffed Sandwich

Flavor: 5

Filling: 4

Overall: 4.5

Personal Pizza

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 3.75

Tuna Salad Kit

Flavor: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Beef Chow Mein (my other new FAVORITE!)

Flavor: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

I have a lot more lunches to try still because there is so much variety on this program. When I try them I'll let you know what I think as well. Look for my next post when I talk about dinner selections (and probably how much I actually miss cooking sometimes)

Jenny turned me into a breakfast person...

It's unbelievable but it's true! Jenny Craig has turned this not-so-morning person into a breakfast eater! I've always like breakfast foods, but never the waking up early to make them. I'm the kind of person who leaves herself JUST enough time to shower and get ready for work and get there. There's rarely time for me to even eat cereal with milk. Before Jenny Craig, the extent of me eating breakfast, if I ate breakfast, was a granola bar, dry cereal, or sometimes a yogurt; but most often I just skipped breakfast.

I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that it kick starts your metabolism daily, but for some reason I still skipped it...well, not anymore! Thanks to Jenny Craigs yummy breakfasts, I've converted into a breakfast eater. Now, instead of running out the door empty-handed, I grab one of the Jenny breakfasts and take it with me to work! I guess it's a good thing that I work at a desk!

Since I've been on the program for over two weeks now, I've had a good sampling of the food so far and thing it's time I let you all know what's what; what's good that is! Below I'm listing the breakfast items I've tried, how I think they taste, how filling they are, and an overall score (average of the two). Have you tried any of them? Let me know if you agree!

Oatmeal Breakfast Square

Taste: 3.5

Filling: 3

Overall: 3.25

Banana Nut Mini Loaf

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 3.5

Overall: 4

Blueberry Mini Loaf

Taste: 4

Filling: 3.5

Overall: 3.75

Cheddar Cheese Omelet

Taste: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Blueberry Pancakes and Veggie Sausage

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.5

Breakfast Scramble

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 4.25

Frosted Oats Cereal

Taste: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Sunshine Sandwich

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.5

Stuffed Breakfast Sandwich

Taste: 5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.75

French Toast with Berries

Taste: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Look for my next food reviews of the Jenny Craig Lunches!

Second time's a charm...

It's been a busy week for me between school, work and attempting to have a social life! Needless to say food has been the last thing from my mind lately; but I guess that's a good thing! This morning was my second time getting up on that scary thing we call the scale. The thought of it has been the bain of my existance because even though I have been losing weigh, I don't really feel it yet. This kind of makes me weary of weighing myself on weigh-in day because I'm always afraid that I won't lose anything, or worse, I'll gain weight back.

Luckily for me I was suprised this morning. I lost another 2.4 pounds! I'm sure this number might have been a bigger victory had I not have splurged over the weekend. My food consumption was great! I was able to eat out socially with friends but I was confident that I made healthy choices because I planned them in advance with my Jenny Craig consultant, Hillary. Where I lacked a little discipline was the "adult beverage" category. I know, I know, all drinks contain calories and I'm better off sticking to water or diet soda, or tea...but what fun is that?! I'm definitely not the person to go out and binge drink, but being able to drink socially with friends is what I like to do! I don't want to give that up! I did my best by mixing clear liquors with diet sodas and sugar free fruit juices, and one of the nights I just stuck to two glasses of white wine. I'm sure I could have cut it back more, but I was happy that I thought about it instead of just ordering a usual vodka and cranberry juice (sounds good but so full of sugar!)

I mentioned last week that I was looking for a new gym so I can start adding exercise to my weight loss plan. So far I've narrowed it down to two. I plan on taking advantage of the free week pass that both gyms offer so I can see which one I like better, and also see which offers a better deal! I'm all about saving money too! (I guess that's what working at Consolidated Credit Counseling Services does to me!) For now though, I'm sticking with walking with my dog Jack, who definitely doesn't mind the extra time outside...until it gets too hot!

It's been another great week on the program full of surprisingly yummy food! Next time I'll be sure to give you guys a review of the meals I've tried so far. I'm definitely forming a few favorites!

44.6 pounds to go!

~Anessa

With loss comes learning...

Why is it that the minute you try to do something good, so many things go bad? I'll I've wanted to do lately is stick to the program and lose weight. I know that there will always be temptations out there and things getting in my way, but so far I haven't had much luck avoiding the situations. I do however, think I've done well overcoming my obstacles so far.

Something I forgot to mention on my weigh-in day post was that this past Sunday, on Mother's Day, my neighbor passed away after being in a large car accident. At first I didn't realize how much it might affect me, but especially after going to the funeral yesterday, I realized how sad I was that I would never be able to walk my dog with him and his two dogs every morning like we used to. Of course it's not like losing a family member, but it's sad nonetheless. This morning my dog even tried to pull me up to his house and started wimpering. Poor puppy. He misses his friend.

Avoiding temptations was difficult, especially with the family inviting neighbors over to share the food brought over by others as a thanks for all of the caring and support (I live in a very friendly community). I'm proud that I avoided the temptations and stuck to my Jenny Craig meals and left the food for the family and well, anyone else who wanted some. Score one point for me and my will power!

It's really tough to lose someone, be it a friend, or a family member. I was speaking with a friend of mine yesterday about my weight loss goals and she said something that really stuck with me. When we were talking about how I put weight on after my grandmother's passing because I didn't know how to deal with the loss, she said that was excusable; as long as I didn't let it happen again. The important thing is that now that I have experienced it and begun to overcome it, I can't go back. The next time I am faced with a loss like this, I now have some experience in dealing with it and can hopefully prevent it from having a negative effect on my life, like gaining weight. Definitely a good lesson to learn.

My first weigh-in day...

So before I tell you of either my success or failure, I just want to explain my skepticism with this program that I felt this morning before I took that dreaded step onto the scale. I was finding it hard to believe that I was really losing weight. This entire week I've felt full. I've never felt like I didn't have enough food or for that matter didin't have enough good food to eat. I know that you're probably thinking that I'm only thinking about when I ate off of the Jenny Craig program, like on Mother's day or celebrating my sister's birthday, but I'm talking about all of the other days! I found myself sometimes leaving out snacks because I just wasn't hungry for them; especially the ones between breakfast and lunch. Maybe this eating breakfast idea was a good one. Before starting Jenny Craig I was the type to skip breakfast more often than I ate it. This isn't because I don't like breakfast food. In fact, I LOVE breakfast food; I'm just not a morning person, and my old ideal was that by skipping breakfast I could sleep more every morning before work! Thanks to Jenny Craig, and all of her fabulous frozen and prepackaged breakfast entrees, I can take them with me when I leave and eat them when I get to work! So much easier!

I know that if you've been following my blog so far you're probably most interested in my first weigh in and patiently waiting until I reveal my results. It's worth the wait! I had almost forgotten it was weigh-in day this morning when I got out of bed. Luckily I remembered as I was getting ready for work. I took a deep breath and stepped onto the scale...I lost 3 pounds! THREE WHOLE POUNDS! I almost didn't believe it! In fact, I stepped on and off the scale at least seven or eight times just to check. If I could be this full and satisfied with my food choices and lose three pounds, what on earth had I been doing for so long?

Then, it dawned on me. I definitely ate "off-plan" this weekend when attending my celebrations. Does this mean that had I eaten on plan (like I was supposed to, I know) I might have lost even more this week?! That's definitely the motivation I needed. Now it's really on! Only 47 pounds to go! Wish me luck!

Back to work...

Well I survived my first weekend on the Jenny Craig program. It wasn't easy being both Mother's Day and my sister's birthday, but I found ways to make it work.

At my sister's birthday party I managed to get away with eating only one slice of veggie pizza and filled up the rest on the veggie tray (with fat free ranch dip of course!). Okay, I admit it, I had a small slice of birthday cake, but it was totally worth it! Birthday cake is definitely my weak spot. Always has been, always will be. All in all it wasn't such a bad "off-program" night. I'm proud of myself for not overindulging.

As for the Mother's Day/Birthday dinner at Timpano's Chophouse I don't think I did too bad either. I split both an appetizer of skillet roasted mussels with my dad (and skipped the butter sauce cause they totally didn't need it) and also shared a spinach salad. For the main course I shared a 12 oz filet with my sister and we were able to have the kitched make a side order of pasta with marinara sauce. Way better use of carbs than butter loaded mashed potatoes; especially at an italian restaurant! Instead of getting a large dessert my dad ordered the cheesecake lollipop tree which is super cute when they bring it to the table. Unfortunately these delectable treats make it easy to overindulge, which I did by eating 3 of them! Okay, not so good, but I swear I'll be better throughout the week! I had a moment of weakness! I guess to my advantage, they are tiny so hopefully they didn't do too much damage to all of my hard work.

This week I plan on researching some local gyms. Currently the gym I am a member of does not offer aerobic classes, which I really enjoy, and even though I can go to the Nova gym for free, they don't offer many classes in the evening. Any suggestions would be more than appreciated! Hopefully I can find a gym that offers kickboxing, spinning, and other kinds of aerobic classes. I think it will be worth the investment...as long as my foot heals ( I sprained my foot 2 weeks ago and it isn't quite healed yet).

I have to say I'm very happy that my finals are over and my stressful snack cravings will hopefully come to a hault. I'm proud that I didn't give in to too much temptation. I'm actually looking forward to my first official "weigh-in" on Tuesday morning. I'll be sure to update you all with the results! One thing that I have to say is that I haven't been as hungry as I thought I would on this program. I have a newfound love for fruit and want to try as many new ones as possible. Maybe I can find a farmer's market in the area....that would be cool!

It's still all or nothing....and hopefully less than 50 pounds to go!

~Anessa

Whoever thought starting a diet during midterm week was nuts....

Oh wait....that was me! Here I am thinking that I'm being so good and starting my diet at the beginning of the month and this is what I get for it...my first week ending in 2 tough midterms in managerial finance and strategic thinking. I'm working toward my MBA at Nova Southeastern University.

Enough about that boring stuff.... I've been on the Jenny Craig program since Wednesday and so far so good. Most of the meals are pretty tasty; especially the breakfasts! So far my favorites have been the cheese omelet and the french toast. I'm not typically a breakfast person, but maybe Jenny Craig can convert me! Dinners have been alright. I loved the cashew chicken but I got a bad piece of chicken in my fettucine alfredo...guess I won't be ordering that one again!

My toughest time on this diet has been between lunch and dinner. It's probably because I usually eat my lunch around 12:30pm and then don't eat dinner until around 7:30 and sometimes later. Eating dinner later has helped curb my evening snacking which is good, but it's leaving me a bit "snacky" around 4-5pm and a little Jenny Craig snack so far isn't really cutting it. It's like eating a 100 calorie pack and saying, what's the harm in one more? I haven't really caved too much yet, except for my bubble tea fix at M&H cafe that I had yesterday; it was made with lowfat milk so I'm hoping it didn't send me too far off course! I had to do something to help my study snack fix without falling too far off the bandwagon.

Other than my one tiny slip I've been really good so far. My biggest test will probably be this weekend. Not only is it Mother's Day, but it's also my sister's 25th birthday. I promised her that I would go to the party that her friend is throwing and I'm sure there will be a lot of temptations there. She says her friend is making appetizers and ordering pizza. I trying to determine if I should eat before I go and avoid all of the food or to cut out my Jenny Craig dinner and some of my snacks to account for some of the extra calories from food and drinks. My only worry with that is that even though I might eat before I go I might be tempted to snack anyways....decisions decisions.

Tomorrow for Mother's Day, I'm in the clear with my diet until dinnertime. We have reservations at Timpanos Chophouse to celebrate Mothers Day and my sister's Birthday. Worryful dieting event #2 for this first weekend. My Jenny Craig consultant suggested that I order a steak, if that's what I want (as long as I order the leanest one) because I'm supposed to have 4 ounces of protein no matter what protein it is...wait a second....what steakhouse offers a 4oz steak???? This is depressing. I think their smallest filet is 8 ounces! I doubt anyone is going to want to share that with me.

If I make it through the weekend without hurting my chances at weight loss this week I'll be in good shape. I don't want to keep my expectations too high. I know that you are supposed to lost 1-2 pounds a week on this program but I have also heard that whenever you start a diet you tend to lose a bit more in the first week because your body isn't used to the healthy eating habits. Hopefully that's true and despite my weekend activities I'll still be able to drop a pound or two.

Any advice? I welcome it all!!!

So this is what it's come to...

I've had my share with ups and downs...well with weight, that is. It's strange; growing up I was called string bean and toothpick and hated it. Now I would love to be called something even close to that! It's like all of a sudden, when puberty hit (late of course) all the weight I never gained as a child came flying on.

I've tried a lot of different diets over the years with the most prominent one being weight watchers. It actually worked for awhile, but being the emotional eater than I am, I gained all of my weight back and then some when my grandmother passed away a few years ago. Since then it's been creeping back pound by pound and all I've done is sit and watch it happen.

I'm not sure when I officially decided it was time to try again, but I know it all started with thinking about my grandmother. If she was still alive, she'd probably take one look at me and shake her head. She would never have wanted to be the reason I was becomming this way. In fact, she was always the one encouraging me when I had lost weight in the past. Even if it was just a pound that I'd lost she'd tell me how great I looked.

Well this time I'm not just doing it for me, I'm doing it for her too. Hopefully that will help me get the motivation I need to lost the weight and keep it off. I could have gone back to weight watchers and tried again, but that seemed like same old same old to me. I needed something new to kickoff this healthy lifestyle change, so I am turning to Jenny Craig. I've heard from a few people in the past that it was a good experience and the food wasn't terrible either. I'm just worried about what will happen when I go out to eat with friends or to a happy hour or a party.

Well just see what happens. It's all or nothing this time! 50 pounds to go! Wish me luck!