Do you have any idea how long it has been since I actually wrote out a grocery list?  Especially one that didn’t have the word “cookies” written on it?

So that’s my plan for right now.  To tough this out for today. Then I’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

My goals for today:

• Keep counting everything I eat
• Drink lots of water
• Get my grocery shopping done (with a minimum of treat buying – and swear that any treats I DO buy will be ones that I can calculate points for and count)
• Feel better.  Still feeling a bit like hell.  I honestly think the stomach issues stem from the stress I’ve been under lately with my weight, work, etc.

So I think all of those are reasonable for today.  The only one I don’t have a lot of control over is the feeling better part.  So after grocery shopping, I’m just going to rest.

Also, I have been boycotting The Biggest Loser for the past several seasons, because it was ticking me off.  The safety of the contestants seems like an afterthought and the trainers were making me mad with some of their comments.  But my friend, Skye, asked if I’d seen any of the current season as the male trainer is rather good-looking (and oh yes he is!).  I had finally gotten caught up on the last season of Supernatural (my parents bought it for my birthday which happened to be a couple of weeks ago) and had nothing better to do, so decided to give this season a chance.  I’m still trying to make my way through the first episode. It honestly was ticking me off in the first five minutes.  And Anna K. bugs me. But I’m going to at least watch the first two episodes and then I’ll decide if I want to continue.

But anyway, thank you all for the great comments you left on my last post.  Several of them brought tears to my eyes from your kindness.  I’m truly blessed to “know” you guys. Big hugs to you.

Hey, look!  Two posts from me in one week!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

New Determination

Sadly, as I suspected, I was up 4.9 lbs this week.  I mean, imagine that – gaining 4.9 lbs in three days.  Imagine what you’d have to eat to do that.  And that’s what I did.  I undid three weeks worth of work.  But hey, I admitted it, and I’ve been back on track for two full days now.

I’m absolutely loving your responses to my “Getting to Know You” post!  It’s so great to learn more about you guys, and Early was definitely right.  What a diverse group of people we’ve got here!  When I started this, I never imagined that anyone would be reading, let alone people from all over the world!  You guys are awesome!  I hope you keep them coming, and I think I’ll follow in the steps of some other great bloggers, and make this a regular post.  I’ll have to get to work on thinking up some more questions.

And a big thanks to Allyson!  She left my 2,000th comment!  Wow, 2,000! That’s so hard to believe!  Yay Allyson!  And thanks to you all!

****WARNING – BL SPOILERS AHEAD****

I just got done watching the Biggest Loser finale and have to say that so many of them look really great.  They did fantastic.  I’ll admit that I was wholeheartedly rooting for Daris to make the final three and he did!  Yay!  He is just so adorable, and I’ve really identified with a lot of what he’s gone through this season.  Plus he just seems to be such a sweet, decent guy.  I was a bit sad to see Sherri lose her grip on the $100,000 and was also a bit sad to see Koli get it.

What do you guys think about Jillian’s new show?  I’ll probably give it a try, but I really really am starting to dislike her.  Some of her weight loss products seem to go against the exact things she promotes on The Biggest Loser.

I about fell over when Michael appeared on the show tonight! Wow!  He looks amazing.  I knew that he had it as soon as I saw him.  I’m truly happy for him and all of the rest of them.  I think the only people that I was actively rooting against was the red team (and Koli a bit – I just didn’t like some of his actions).

It’s still a bit aggravating to me that at my lowest, I had lost a comparable amount to (if not more than) a lot of the contestants on the show.  But you know what?  I’ll get there again.  One thing I’ve learned over the past year is that I have a lot more determination and optimism than I ever gave myself credit for.

So did you see the finale?  What did you think?  My biggest wish for the past few seasons is that they would do a reunion hour like they do for the Survivor finale!  I’d love to hear them talk about and reflect on the season.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh In 5/25/10 & The Biggest Loser Finale

Just a quick post tonight.  I was down 2.8 on the scale today, but since I was up way more than that last week, I don’t really feel like it’s much of a success.  I’m going to just keep plodding along.

Anyone watching “The Biggest Loser”?  Are you watching tonight?  No spoilers since they showed this on the preview, but O’Neil about broke my heart tonight when he was struggling with losing his brother.  I’ve been there.  I know what he’s going through, and seriously, I almost couldn’t watch.  I wish I could give him a hug.

And I love Daris!!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh In & The Biggest Loser

First, I just called and checked in with my dad about 1/2 hr ago and so far so good.  You know, unless he’s lying to me.  But he answered and sounded coherent, so I’m taking that as a good sign.

I feel so bad for lying to my mom.  I called her on my way to work to see what time she was planning on calling my dad (so I could space out my calls) and it sounds like she’s having fun.  But she asked “how are things there?  Any problems, has he fallen?”  Immediately I said, “no, everything’s fine.”  Then that feeling of guilt spiked through me.  But like I said this morning, she doesn’t need to know until she comes home.  No need to spoil her trip.  My dad even agreed with me on this.

WARNING **** SPOILERS AHEAD ****

Are any of you watching this season of the Biggest Loser? I finally got caught up on it this weekend. I hadn’t seen any but the first episode.  Thank God for the fact that they took a break for the Olympics – they gave me a chance to get caught up!

I originally refused to watch The Biggest Loser when it first came out.  I saw it as merely an opportunity to exploit and make fun of overweight people.  Turn them into a spectacle for ratings.  I finally watched it a couple of seasons later and was happily surprised.  Though they were pushing them insanely, they seemed to actually care about making people healthier.  Except for the damn weigh-in outfits, they seemed to treat the people with respect.  I fell in love with the contestants (well, most of them) and fell into their personal stories.  Many, so much like my own.  I was happy when they finally had larger female contestants that I could relate to.

Over the past couple of seasons, I’ve been noticing a trend towards more outrageous stunts and less and less respect of the contestants.  The first few episodes of this season pissed me off so much I almost didn’t watch the third.  It now seems to be ALL about the idea of “how big of a spectacle can we make of these people” and “let’s see how quickly we can seriously injure one of them” and “let’s see how horribly humiliated we can make them.”  Like I said, it’s pissing me off.  Even Bob and Jillian and their reactions to and interactions with the contestants are ticking me off.  Must they profess so much shock and disgust at their weights and must they discuss the private personal problems of each contestant in front of every other contestant?

Luckily, I stuck with it and got caught up.  The rest of the episodes, while still exploitative, haven’t been quite as bad – they’ve been more focused on the individual journeys and stories of the contestants.  The part that I like.  In fact, I like most of the contestants this time around – so far.

I have to admit I was glad that Migdalia got kicked off, because if I had to hear her mom tell her not to cry one more time, I would have reached through the screen (or tried anyway) and smacked her.  Which I found ironic, because Miggy has done nothing BUT cry since Migdalia left.  In fact, I actually like her since she had her surgery.

Most people I’ve spoken to have proclaimed their hatred of the woman on the red team.  Surprisingly, she doesn’t bother me that much.  She actually seems kind of decent in comparison to some of the other people they’ve had on there.  I don’t know whether she threw the weigh-ins or not – the body and what happens on the scale can be a mystery sometimes.  But if she did throw them, so far that’s (and her arguments with the trainers) really the only thing she’s done that would make me not like her.

So are you watching?  If so, what do you think?  Who are you rooting for?

Also, here is an interesting article:  ‘The Biggest Loser’ Has Big Problems, Health Experts Say

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Biggest Loser

I ate out three times over the weekend.  Four, actually, if you count leftovers.  On Saturday, we went to Burger King and Taco Bell.  On Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day and went to a family restaurant that specializes in fried chicken.  I got a house salad with fat free ranch on the side, helped my mom eat some fried cauliflower as an appetizer, and then got the grilled chicken and rice instead of fried chicken and potatoes.  Unfortunately, I think that my chicken was as greasy as my mom’s fried chicken.  But I split the chicken and rice in half from the start on my plate and took half of it home for dinner.  We then went out and got Baskin Robbins. I got a scoop of chocolate chip in a cup.

I did my best to calculate the points for the mother’ s day dinner, but it was mostly a guess.  According to my calculations, I had about three of my flex points left for the week.  Now since I allowed myself more points than I should have, ate out several times, and really couldn’t calculate my points exactly, you can imagine how my weigh-in went today.

That’s right.  I LOST 3.1 POUNDS!  God, I love Weight Watchers.

I’m now watching The Biggest Loser as I type this, and am thinking that it is the best, most important episode of the season.  Seeing how they adjust to being at home and some of the stress that they go through really hit me.  I identify a lot with Tara.  More than I ever imagined that I would.  I went from one extreme (eating whatever the hell I wanted whenever the hell Iwanted) to another (military-style Weight Watchers with no room for compromise) and am now trying to find my balance.

I just can’t believe that The Biggest Loser is actually expecting them to run a full marathon.  Are they really trying to kill these people?!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh-In 5/5/09

Now, more importantly…….

***WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD***

Did the Biggest Loser tonight make anyone else a sobbing mess?  The first time it hit me was with Max, Mike’s brother.  Oh my goodness, that broke my heart.  That poor guy.  I can say that I know how he was feeling, because I’ve been there.  I know what he’s going through.  You already feel so alone being at such a high weight and then to add to it the feeling that you’ve lost the only people who understand has got to be agonizing for him.  I just wish I could wrap my arms around him and give him a huge hug.  At least it seems like he and Mike are pretty close and can hopefully help each other.

I’ve always loved the makeover episode.  I think it’s so emotional, but they all looked fantastic!!  The women looked gorgeous and the men were so handsome.  They all have a lot to be proud of.  I loved Laura’s new hair color and cut.  It looked great on her.

I somehow missed the part where they discovered Laura’s injury, so will have to watch that part when I get home to see what happened.  I can’t imagine how painful a fractured hip would be.  I didn’t want to see either Laura or Kristin go home, but am glad that it was Laura that went.  On one hand, I do like Kristin a bit better, but Laura seriously needed to heal from her injury.

After watching the preview for next week, it looks like it’s going to be another emotional one!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh-In and BL 4/14/09

I did better on Monday, though.  I put a freeze on my chocolate-fest (I was out anyway) and we went to Red Lobster for lunch.  I had the broiled tilapia (yum) with rice and broccoli and a garden salad with red wine vinaigrette on the side.  I did have two cheddar-bay biscuits though which were eight points just by themselves.

I guess the combo of all of the exercise and then doing okay on Monday food-wise balanced everything out.  I was lucky!  Of course, this could just be a testament to just how much more I ate last week!

So far so good today, too.  I’ve tracked everything so far and I brought a couple of slices of whole wheat bread, a babybel light cheese, a snack slice of WW cheddar cheese, and a whole bunch of fresh fruit for dinner.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD – The Biggest Loser was great tonight.  It’s really hard to root for anyone in particular when you like almost all of the teams!  It was hard to see anyone fall below that yellow line.  It’s terrible to say, but I think that my least favorite person right now is Tara.  I’ve just felt really sorry for Laura – Tara heaps so much pressure on her.  Kristin’s excitement at getting out of the 300′s reminded me of my own excitement.  To most of the world, the usual response would be “she’s excited to weigh 289 pounds”?!?  But for someone who has weighed more than that, I remember that excitement.  You feel positively skinny!  It’s all relative.  I’m really happy for her.

I’ve also seen those TRX trainers like what Bob used before, but I am now obsessed with getting one.  They look so awesome!

By the way, we watched “The Secret Life of Bees” and “City of Ember” last night and I loved both of them!  I would recommend checking them out if you haven’t already.  I’m not a huge fan of Dakota Fanning, but thought she did a great job in “Bees.”

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh-In 2/17/09

***

I just got done watching the season premiere of The Biggest Loser and can tell that it’s going to be a good season.  Having started at an extremely high weight myself, I am relieved to see so many larger-sized contestants, especially larger women.  I will find it interesting to see how they respond to life on the ranch and will wonder if that is how I would have responded.  My heart simply breaks for these people.  They have so much more courage than I.  I would never have been able to stand up there for critique the way they did.  So, here are some things I was thinking as I watched the show:

I was completely with Daniel (the young guy on the orange team) when he discussed his immediate fear of being picked last for teams.  My heart always sunk when it came time for that.  At least the purple team got a fantastic prize for being picked last.

I have a couple of gripes that have carried through from past seasons.

1. Why oh why is it necessary to have them weigh in either shirtless (men) or in sports bras (women)? I just don’t get it.  There’s no point.
2. I like Allison, but the way she announces each contestant’s weight still drives me up a freaking wall.  It’s just her tone of voice.

I’ve also been a huge, huge, HUGE Bob supporter for the longest time, but he kind of irked me tonight, too.  I thought the expressions on his face during the weigh-ins and some of his comments were a little over the top.

I like that they showed how weight loss surgery, while it works for many people, does not work for everyone and is not a quick, easy fix.

I was so amazed to see how much weight Jerry lost after he passed out on the first day!

I SO knew that the ones being sent home weren’t all going to be gone permanently.  I was also about to write that I really didn’t like this twist, until that one girl (was she on the purple team?) mentioned how she thought it was great because of all of us out here who have to do it on our own.  Hell, all of us out here are proof that it can be done at home!  But I’ll be interested to see how it plays out.  I will say I really wasn’t happy with Carla’s (silver team) attitude when she left and how she kind of threatened Joelle (I think that was her name) and said that it would be a test of their friendship.

I have a question about the cameras in their bedrooms.  Are they on the walls like in Big Brother or are there actual people standing in there with them?  From the footage, it almost looks handheld, but wouldn’t that suck? 

I just realized that I began every paragraph in this post with “I.”  Wow.

Anyone else watch?  What’d ya think?

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Biggest Loser 1/6/09 – New Season!

I stayed on plan today and counted all of my points.  Even better, I stayed within my points/flex points.  I’m determined to have a loss next week.

Lots of “loser” vibes to all those who still need to weigh in this week!

Sorry, Tony P., but I gotta do it:

WARNING  **** BIGGEST LOSER SPOILERS AHEAD ****

The makeover episode is always the one that gets to me the most.  As much as I hate some of these people (most of these people), I can still feel happy for them and the joy they’ve found with their new, smaller bodies.  It’s always so emotional.  And they all did look amazing!

Am I the only one in the world though that really thinks Tyra is kind of annoying?  I probably don’t really have the right to say that since I’ve never watched an entire episode of hers, but I’ve gotten that impression every time I’ve seen clips of her.

I’m really sad to see Renee go.  Both she and Michelle are amazing women with wonderful attitudes and both were extremely gorgeous (both internally and externally) even at their highest weights.  I think it’s fantastic what Renee has accomplished since she’s left the campus.

It disgusts me to see so many of the blue team members left in the game!!  Michelle better have a huge loss next week!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh-In 12/2/08

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I adored Amy, but after tonight…..ew, that girl’s on my list.

I’m so beyond disgusted right now.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Biggest Loser 11/18/08