Weekly Weigh-in

No, I am not going to tell you how much I weigh. Though I really don't mind that much. Heck, you see pictures. It's not a secret when someone is overweight. Speaking of pictures, I had Matthew take pictures of me from all angles (and closeups of my face and profile) the night I started Weight Watchers. He also took measurements of my arm, leg, hips, and waist. I am obviously weighing in every week at WW. Every four weeks, I am going to retake the same pictures in the same outfit, and have my measurements taken. That way I can chart some progress. And while I have a scale in my bathroom, I think that, at least for this week, I am not going to weigh myself at all throughout the week. I know that at least this week, I am going to stick to my points, so I would rather be encouraged by the prospect of losing weight than to obsess over it. And won't it be a pleasant and total surprise to step on the scale next Thursday evening after all my hard work and see what my weight is?

I plan on sharing my weekly weight loss each Friday (or Saturday) on my blog. I will also share how many inches I've lost every four weeks. The pictures will most likely have to wait until there is visible progress. I don't really want to be *that* public yet. Fat pictures are just fat pictures until you lose weight!

Yesterday was my first day, and it went very, very well. I exercised and ate well. I had all my servings of veggies, fruits, dairy, water, etc. I took a multivitamin as well. (I did not get my 2 tsp of healthy oil that I'm supposed to get, but I am not that worried about it. I don't mind using some healthy oil, but I did not cook anything that required oil yesterday.)

Daily points are determined based on gender, age, height, weight, and daily activity. Based on all of those things, I currently get 29 points a day. (Thank goodness for being tall and "young," which is under 37, b/c those each got me more points!) You also get 35 points a week to use all at once or a little at a time. You can choose to use these or not to, if you want to lose more weight. Exercise gets you "activity points," which you can choose to trade in for food or keep, to lose more weight. You are *supposed* to use all of your daily points (29 for me) to keep you from losing weight at an unhealthy rate. If your weight goes down (increments of 10) or your age changes categories, you are supposed to recalculate your points.

I've gotta tell you, I struggled to use my points yesterday! Dinner was over and I was full. I still had 6.5 points left! I ended up using them, but today I am trying to eat more earlier in the day so I don't do that again. For breakfast this morning, I had 7 points. Here is what I had:

1 egg--2 points
3 egg whites--1 point
2 pieces of bread--2 points (I bought some "light" bread that is only 0.5 point each, but I am using up my other bread first.)
1/4 cup low-fat sharp cheddar cheese--2 points
unsweetened orange spice tea w/Sweet N Low--0 points

It was very filling and delicious! The thing I love about WW so far is tracking my food and progress online. The tools are very extensive (most foods are in there, and if not, you can add them) and user-friendly. Here is a picture of my breakfast!



Enough about me. I know most of you read my blog for updates of the two cutest boys in North Georgia. Here are several pictures of Benjamin this week with his physical therapist, Natalie.



He's doing great with sitting! We're trying to get him to reach up for toys while sitting to strengthen his muscles. It took him several tries (on our part) to get him to do this on this particular morning. He just didn't want to!

It's hard to see in this profile picture, but he is laughing at his toy here. He loves this toy and always giggles when the gears start to turn.

Here, Natalie is putting on his therapy shorts. I call them straight-jacket shorts. Notice how they're sewn together in the legs and very tight-fitting. (They kind of remind me of biker shorts from the 80s....or was it 90s? Those decades sometimes run together as far as fashions and music.) Anyway, children with Down syndrome are not only very flexible, but they have very loose joints. So when Benjamin tries to get up on his knees, his knees often separate and go out into a "frog"position. These shorts help him to keep his legs more together and help to strengthen those joints so he can learn to crawl. He's not so sure about them...

Here's another view.

Working on standing. He still needs someone there at *all* times b/c he'll just fall down.

I love this boy!!!

The other night all four of us went out in the rain to use a "free sub" coupon for Quiznos that we got online. I found out that Quiznos is giving away one million subs. So I went to the website and printed off two coupons--one under my name and one under Matthew's. We also had a BOGO free coupon for a sandwich at Central Park. So we went off to get dinner the night before I joined WW. We got a couple of burgers and then tried to get our subs. Well, you know how all coupons say, "Valid only at participating locations"? Yep. Evidently not many of the Quiznos across the nation are participating in this million sub giveaway. There was a sign up how each store is independently owned, blah, blah. Whatever. We left without buying anything because I am not paying full price for those things! So while Quiznos might *print* one million coupons, they certainly will not actually give away one million. Sad.

So here is Andrew eating 1/2 hamburger from Central Park and playing peek-a-boo with Benjamin. Just in the past week or two, Andrew has started to interact with B a little bit. He's never been antagonistic toward him, but let's face it--B hasn't really been able to do very much up until now. But now that he's sitting and schooching around and making noise, Andrew has started to realize, "Hey, this is a real person!"

Here is Benjamin's ten-month picture. Only two more before we'll have a whole year to look at! I'll post each month's picture, and I'll even post Andrew's again, too, in the same outfit (a 0-3 month outfit, by the way), in the same chair. (But A's was at our old house.)

What my view looks like from the kitchen sink.

That's all for now! It is very rainy here today. Benjamin is napping, and Matthew took Andrew out on an errand-running marathon. I think there were several returns to make, a trip to the post office, and a few things to buy. Have a great weekend!