The Cost of New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve pre-party at a friend’s house: $0

Money saved on cover to a club when it was decided to turn the pre-party into a party and watch goofy YouTube videos: $12

Number of visibly impaired drivers avoided on the trip home: 2

Being home safe and sound, getting ready for bed and a snuggle with Ginger the cat, looking forward to putting 2009 behind me: Priceless

Hope everyone had a great New Year’s celebration, and got wherever they were going safely!

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Obligatory ‘Happy New Year’ Post

Here in Wisconsin it’s about T-minus 6.25 hours until we usher in 2010.

Much like my weight loss efforts, I’ve not been the best at keeping up this blog. I hope that will change in the new year. Besides blogging more, my one resolution is to respect myself more. Recently I’ve been reminded of my ability to keep my mouth shut and not speak up for myself.

Last night made me realize that has to change.

So that’s my mantra for 2010. I’m done being a doormat. And while I’m not going to run roughshod over people’s feelings, I am going to speak up for myself a little more and ensure that my own needs are being met at the same — or, let’s be honest, higher — level as everyone else’s.

Since this is a public blog and I am not in the business of slander, I won’t go into any more detail than that; suffice to say that I have a lot to learn about myself in 2010.

With that said, I hope everyone has a wonderful — and safe! — New Year.

See you on the other side.

Turkey Day Recap

My Dad is coming over tomorrow morning to help me bring my Christmas tree up from the basement, so I really need to get moving on this whole distasteful cleaning thing.

But before I do, I thought I’d recap how my Thanksgiving went from an eating standpoint. Below is a recap of my six-point-plan from yesterday’s post, with comments on how I did (or didn’t do) on each one.

1. Cut the pie. I didn’t cut the pie before I left the house, but I did cut it once I got there. I wanted to have just half a slice, but ended up having a whole slice and a small piece of carrot cake. Half-check.
2. Turkey Day workout. I went, I exercised, and today my whole body hurts. Check.
3. Limit pre-dinner snacking. I did a GREAT job at this, compared to previous years. I had a small amount of the Mexican slop dip I love (and feared my aunt would make this year) with some chips, but then stuck to a small amount of M&Ms, and carrots and cucumber from the veggie tray (no dip). Check.
4. Eat calories, don’t drink them. I did a great job with this as well, having just two glasses of wine. Before dinner I drank a TON of water, and then had two cans of diet soda the rest of the night. BIG Check.
5. No leftovers allowed. While I enjoyed a small amount of dessert at my aunt’s house, I did take two pieces of pumpkin pie home with me, and they were gone before I went to sleep. And, truth be told, I didn’t try that hard — well, at all — to get someone else to take them home. Uncheck.
6. Post-dinner walk. It was cold and windy, but I did get my cousin, three aunts and two other gals to go for a short walk around my aunt’s neighborhood. We were probably only gone ten minutes, but it was something. Also, I did the dishes which, while not burning a ton of calories, kept me moving and is something I don’t normally offer to do. Check.

You may remember my goal was to accomplish at least four of these goals and, by my complicated and top-secret check/un-check equation, I count that I completed four-and-a-half of these goals. Add to that the fact that I didn’t go back for seconds on the main meal, and I declare this Thanksgiving a rousing success.

I tried to tally up all my WW points when I got home last night. By those standards, I didn’t do so great of a job. (Let’s just say my 35 weekly allowance points are no longer available to me until they reboot six days from now.) When I put this Thanksgiving up against previous ones, however, I have to say I hit a solid triple.

If you take out the two pieces of pie I ate when I got home, it would have been a home run.

But I’ll take the triple.

Hope everyone who celebrates had a good time spent with family, friends and food. Now off to clean!

Turkey Day Plan

I’m too ashamed to write here how well I’ve not been following Weight Watchers these last weeks, so I won’t. Suffice to say it’s a miracle I’ve squeaked by with the few small losses I’ve enjoyed the past few weigh-ins.

Motivation has always been a challenge for me, and fortunately the holidays don’t make this problem even worse. Being single and not having in-laws to visit makes life a lot less hectic this time of year. Still, I’ve decided to at least be conscious of the pitfalls of holiday eating and take it one occasion at a time. And when there’s no holiday, one day at a time.

So here is my plan for Thanksgiving, which my Dad and I are spending at my aunt’s house:

1. Cut the pie. I’m baking a pumpkin pie Wednesday night, and am going to cut it into slices before I leave for my aunt’s house so I can control the size of piece I get. If I cut it into 16 slices, it’s four WW points per slice. (Note: I’m already planning to lower the fat content of the pie by using egg substitute and fat free evaporated milk. Can’t do much about the homemade — by request — crust.)
2. Turkey Day Workout. I’m meeting my friend/co-worker Melissa at the Wisconsin Athletic Club at 8 a.m. Thursday for a one-hour strength training class. I’m so glad she wanted to go, because it will virtually guarantee that I drag myself out of bed and get to the gym. Left to my own devices, I know I would hit the snooze (or not set the alarm at all). I suppose my back-up plan if she bails is to try my hardest to go anyway.
3. Limit pre-dinner snacking. Part of our family festivities this year is the Packer game, which starts at 11:30 a.m. We’re not eating until 3 p.m., so that’s a long time and a lot of snack foods.
4. Eat calories, don’t drink them. I will have a glass of wine or two, but then am going to switch to soda and water the rest of the day/evening.
5. No leftovers allowed. I will use the response I use every year when asked if I want to take anything home. “No, because I’ll just eat it.”
6. Post-dinner walk. The plan is to suggest a walk after dinner to settle our stomachs. I don’t think I’ll have trouble getting takers on this, as this is a semi-regular occurrence at our family get togethers. I just don’t usually participate.

Barring some kind of unnatural event, Nos. 1, 2 and 5 will happen, no question. If I can accomplish at least one more of the above goals, I will consider this a successful holiday, foodwise. I’m not planning to track what I eat on Thursday, but having these six goals in mind will go a long way in helping me to be successful, even though I’m not writing down every bite that goes in my mouth.

Happy Thanksgiving, my American friends!

Season of Giving

If you’re looking to help out someone in need this holiday, consider visiting http://www.childsplaycharity.org. The site allows you to choose a participating children’s hospital in your area (or the city of your choice) and you’ll be taken to a wish list of toys and games that they would like to have on hand for their little patients. I didn’t spend a ton of money, but I’m glad a friend of mine reminded me about it again this year so I was able to do something.

The toys go straight to the hospitals, so there’s no administrative costs being skimmed off the top like sometimes happens when you donate to charity. These poor little kiddies could be stuck in the hospital for weeks or months, and it’s nice to know they will be able to keep their minds off whatever it is that has brought them to the hospital, even if for a little while.

Like I said, I didn’t spend much — $10 for Scrabble Junior — but it’s nice to know exactly where my “donation” is going, and that it’s staying right here in my area.

So please think about visiting the Web site. Even spending $10 is better than doing nothing!

Now back to watching ‘White Christmas’ and decorating my tree!