Swag Bucks

Image via WikipediaWhat: Swagbucks is a discount comunity where you can earn points for reffering friends, taking surveys and seaching the web.

Does it work? Sure does, I'm not veryy good at remembering to do my daily searches and I am still able to earn about $20/year in Amazon.com gift cards.

Is it safe?  I think so, I've been using it and the tool bar for about 2 years nows.

Why am I sharing this here?  While I think I'm awesome I realize that you, the reader, need more value in my blog. I love to write about the weight I'm losing or not losing... but I no that you can hear shameless bragging or pouty whining with our coming here to see me.

This is an attemp to expand the scope of my blog and bring some value back to you the reader. I will also post when I find great deals and coupons.

If you have any questions now, or in the future, please let me know. I will do my best to answer your questions in a timely manner.

I have posted a link to swagbucks below and in the sidebar:

Wednesday Weigh in

I have chosen Wednesday as my week to weigh in here. I weigh Monday's on Stickk.com and truth be told I actually weigh myself at least once a day.

Todays weight....
288.0 one pound less then last week...  but it's a bit skewed....
I once read the best time to weigh was just after you got up in the AM, I did that today and for the life of me I can't remember exactly what it was... I think it was 286.8 but I don't want to really broadcast that number if I can't be sure wo the 288 weigh in is early afternoon right after some tea and a can of beef and barley soup.

I missed lunch with my hubby today, he chose to go into work. I honestly don't blame him. In fact, I'm kind of proud of him, he work for an hourly wage plus commission, today he chose commission over recreation.

Regaurdless of the pride, missing lunch with him has really gotten me down. We go see our freinds and have wings Thursday evening but our Wednesday lunch is just us.

Broke the 290lb mark!

Well, today it they day I can finally say I brok 290lbs. For the last 2 weeks I have really been struggling... I spent a week a few pounds heavier then I had been, then I spent a week not loosing at all but I think I'm back on track now.
Todays weigh in:  289.0

As of today I have lost exactly 19.4 lbs
11 week (approx) avg.      about 1.76 lbs/week

My average is down a little but it's still great to know I am loosing weight!

I slipped...

• lost 0.1 pounds since her last weigh-in! She's lost 18.3 pounds so far.  - 1 week ago
• lost 0.6 pounds since her last weigh-in! She's lost 14 pounds so far.  - a few seconds ago

Okay  so whats wrong with that picture...  yup I'm up 4 lbs over the last week... I fell prey to newbie thinking...
I've done so well so far, surely I don't have to read every package! Why do I need to log every bite?

I'll tell you why, if you don't log it you don't watch it! In just 1 week of eating close to where I should have been I managed to undo 2 weeks worth of work.

I think beer also has a lot to do with it. Now, I'm still firmly on track to exceed my initial goal of 50lbs in 50 weeks  but I was getting really excited to see that I could have been down 90 lbs in 50 weeks instead. Now stickk.com says I could weight 240 by December...  this has really set off my trend.

Now to get through today... One day at a Time! Perhaps when I weigh in tomorrow I'll have better news to report.

Can I get a hot tub!

OA, Overeaters anonymous...  this is not a group I ever thought I would be a member of. I've always known I was fat...  but, you know... I always thought it was because of my families bad genes... lol

Today, at work, my Outlook calendar reminded me of yet another OA meeting I was bout to miss... meeting are held 4 times a day online. At first I felt guilty, hmmm  yet another meeting down the drain!, then I reconsidered. I'm here at work trying to find free lit for another support group I recently joined... why not log in and see if I can become inspired...

 I'm not sure I can put into words what happened...  I'm not religious... I don't have faith in a higher power... but I think my higher power just showed up and blessed me!

I logged in to the meeting early fully anticipating I would get distracted like I usually do and miss the meeting anyway  when a guest reached out for help. She had missed work because she had been eating for 2 days and was too sick to leave the house.

I offered to start a private chat and get her through the next 15 min.... after all if she could just do that she would be able to do anything..

We chatted... she cried... I made small talk... she purged some of her fears... I related and shared some of my own... neither of us are alone in our journey... we are just on different paths..

After about 20 minutes the chat started to take a lighter note... I could tell she was starting to feel better. long story short, she's on her way to the gym....   not to refocus her compulsions to the machines but to sit in the hot tub and feel better...!

We exchanged email addresses and I expect to hear back from her when she gets home...
Now I sit... crying... not of pain but of joy..   I helped... I helped a perfect stranger on the worst day of her recent life...  I meant it when I told her she was worth it... I know that she has to be... I know that I am too...!

My Stickk.com profile

One of my favorit blogs of all time is Get Rich Slowly, JD has a way with words. GRS is a finance blog that not really about finance. JD and his guest writers have found a way to make personal finance more about life then money. Early in January when I first really committed to loosing all of these additional pounds I had so happily stored GRS published a post about financial goal tracking. One of the tools the writter used was stickk.com. I quickly reveiwed the site and signed up.

I chose not to have any money wagered on my success or failure. This is, after all, my first attempt at weightless. I have faithfully logged my progress every week.

Things I like about Stickk.com

• It's free
• People (strangers) can follow & encourage you
• You can specify a referee
• If you need the additional motivation of a punishment or reward you can build that into your program
• You lost your goals and it calculates your incremental goals based on your reporting preferences
• Most importantly to me....   I tells you what you are on pace to hit at the end of your commitment.

According to Stickk.com  if I continue to loose weight at my current weight I will hit 210.62 just before Christmas of this year (2011).  That would be 98 lbs. lost in just 52 weeks...  I hope I can do it!  No wait, I know I can do it...!!!

I do realize at 210 I will still be fat but it will be so amazing to see a whole new me!  I was exactly 210 lbs the first time I was weighed when I got pregnant back in 1998. the thought that I can reverse almost 12 years of gaining in just one solid year of work just fascinates me.

If you would like to friend or follow me on Stickk.com my screen name is 2drgns and my commitment number is #102687...  I can't find a link to me or I would post it here...

If you find Stickk.com useful let me know.
In addition to myfitnesspal.com and stickk.com  what web sites do you use?

Progress to date

I'm down exactly 17 lbs.!!!  With the exception of one person no one has noticed...  That's fine by me, I feel it.   I feel stronger! I feel I can handle more things emotionally. I know my strength is returning.

I had a major ass cramp the other day... lol...  I was leaving work in a very big hurry and I RAN up the stairs...  2 big flights right past the mezzanine to the second floor.  I did breath a little heavy at the top but man I made it up those damn stairs in seconds.  And I've noticed I don't huff as much on my stairs at home when I go to bed, DH still does, but he's not on a diet. Anyway later that night I had a terrible persistent pain in my right rear that eventually spread across my hips.  I took a few ibuprofen and went to bed....  all was better in the morning.

I have been "dieting" since January 3....  so far my diet includes eating MORE food... 
As of today I have lost exactly 17 lbs. right down to the tenth.

2 Months     about 7.5 lbs/months lost
7 weeks and 3 days     about 2.27 lbs/week

To say the least I am elated. I was always so afraid I would fail, I still might but now I know I can do it if I just try. I realize once some of the "easy weight" is gone I will need to exercise but for now the stairs and a healthy diet seem to work.