My highs and lows in trying to Maintain my weight Loss

So, I'm in "maintainance mode" when it comes to my weight loss. Can I just say that this is the absolute HARDEST thing to do?!! I found that losing weight wasn't bad once you got going, but maintaining is so difficult, because you walk that fine line of having bad days, and just not caring- which in turn makes you gain- so you quick be healthy to lose it, then go back to bad days again. It's hard to be healthy ALL the time, so I find being at my low weight just doesn't stay that way unless I keep trying. I allow myself to gain 3 lbs, then I have to get back in check. But it just feels like a constant back and forth. blah.
Anyways, here is a recap of the past few months:

June:

 Popcorn- my favorite thing to eat at the movies...

 Dried Cranberries with vanilla yogurt...

 A tasty new Lean Cuisine I tried...

 One of the pretty drinks I had at my co-workers wedding...

 Amazing dessert at their wedding (instead of a cake)...

 Memorial Day Weekend S'mores...

 I love this place, though my diet does not!

 Banana cake my hubs made for my friend's Tony Awards Party...

 Only half the spread at my friend's Tony Awards Party...

 I managed to wear my old prom dress for the Tony Awards party of Fairy Tale theme.

 Awesome Panini and Sweet Potato fries at King George II Inn, out to lunch with my mom and hubs.

 Sushi!!! Tried new roll this time around.

 Went to see concert with mom...

 I love that the hotel gave us cookies! They were warm...

 We had tasty hummus after the concert...

 And I had this great Mac & Cheese (besides a beer) at the Perch Pub after the concert.

 I discovered this awesome beverage...

 And this tasty yogurt...

 Red Robin however will be the death of me. Most amazing milkshake ever!

 Being able to wear the same dress, but fits so much better now...

 A typical lunch at work...

 Dressing up for the show I was in...

 Having lunch at the Corner Bakery

 Indulging in Applebee's Brownie Bite.

 This WAS pasta at Applebee's. I was hungry, and my diet sure knew about it.

 Me in the middle, playing one of the Pigeon Sisters in "The Odd Couple" in June.

July

 Trying a top my mom gave me, being girly!

 4th of July cake! (before it melted)

 Hubs made homemade Calzone...

 Kid's sized Starburst Ritas- my weakness.

 Red Robin Turkey Burger, steak fries, and 10 cal peach lemonade- probably the meal this week that made me gain. lol

My outfit yesterday.

When I hopped on the scale, I was up this week, meaning this coming week is "lose it time!"
Hopefully I can find a happy medium for it all. Any tips from my Maintainers out there?
-M

Rollercoaster... of weight loss

(...As I sing the title to this post like the "Rollercoaster of Love" song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers). lol

So Last week I gained, this week I lost. So overall, pretty close to what it was a few weeks ago. Ugh. Goes to show you that I gotta keep up with things- Part of it was with the yummy food from an awards banquet for work (below). I just ADORE the way they made a "ring" out of the squash.

 Look what book I just got! Woo! Can't wait to try things from it.

Did a lot of yardwork, weeding, etc. Oh, exercise...

This past weekend I auditioned for a show, so I got a little more dancing exercise than I normally do. haha. I auditioned for Grease, so I was attempting to channel my inner teenager (below).

I thought I did a pretty good job at it, however I don't look as young as the 14-year-old boys that got cast as the Burger Palace Boys (T-birds), so I'll be playing the teacher. Supposably they want Ms. Lynch to be more in her 40s for this version of Grease. To be completely honest, I was kind of mortified when they first offered it to me (the hubs got cast as Eugene, mind you) but after finding out that pretty much the entire main characters are all 14-18, little 27-year-old me just doesn't fit in as a student. (sad panda face). But alas, I am an actress- I will make the best of any role given to me.
So I'll be playing a pretty British Chick in "Odd Couple" in June, then prudish English Teacher in "Grease" in August. Crazy how theater can be so out there, as far as roles.

I've also been on a huge "sweet salad" kick- Salad greens with Raspberry Walnut dressing, Dried Cranberries and Feta. YUM- and only 4 points (because the cranberries are sweetened- would be 1 point less if it wasn't for that).

So Red Robin's Turkey burger is 19 points plus. After a full hour of Zumba, I was starving, and I really wanted a burger- sadly, this is actually one of the lower points sandwiches. Luckily, I subbed out the fries for a fruit salad, had the 10 calorie iced tea and used some of those Zumba/exercise points to enjoy the Turkey burger. It doesn't look super great in photos, but it is quite tasty.

Anyways, I hope to keep up with things, and stop yo-yoing.

(Diet Grapefruit soda at friend's bonfire!)

I want to keep on the down-low!
Happy weight loss!
-m

On the right track to weight loss

So this past week went better on the weight loss train- I lost 1.6 lbs. I'll take it. After so many weeks of no loss or gaining, ANY loss is a win in my book.

 Check out my Weight Watchers friendly (shown below) Riesling Grapefruit Mango Spritzer recipe here!

It's been tough- these last pounds I want to loose are a doosy! But I figured out that if I trick myself mentally by allowing myself 30 points plus a day, instead of my allotted 26, I tend to do better. I try my best to not use all 30 and actually only use 26, but I think that the mental psych-out of having the potential to have more points keeps me more on track.

 (got my free Lean Cuisine lunch bag!)

 (This was my bad day of the weight loss cycle)

 (Banana Pineapple Upside-down cake recipe coming to my blog soon- only 2.5 points plus for 1/8 of the entire cake!)

Now I did had one bad meal (bar food!), but thus far this week, I've been pretty darn good on my diet. I even figured out the points for peeps, so I could indulge a tiny bit on some good ol' Easter sugary goodness.

 Easter breakfast anyone?

We shall see what the scale says come Wednesday though.
 Happy Weight loss all!
-M

A Milestone down...

So I lost another 3.2 lbs this week. Not only was this great because I lost so much, but also because that means I have lost a total of 50.6 lbs since I started Weight Watchers back in October. I am now under 10 lbs away from my goal (I might keep going if I find it goes ok, but overall, my goal is 150). I have lost more than 50 lbs in under 8 months. This milestone is such a big deal, as it means I am on the home stretch of my weight loss. This however also means I cannot relax too much, otherwise those pounds will come back (which I DO NOT WANT- I want to look good for my friend's wedding in September and decent this summer).
Clothes are still not fitting right, as I'm between sizes again. I do also hope to start doing some upper body exercises, as I'm find that my arms are the flabby part left right now (especially the underarm area- looks gross when you wear a strapless dress- like I will be wearing for my friend's wedding).
Here's this week's numbers:

Basically this week I stuck extremely close to my points. I didn't use ANY weekly points and only uses a few of my exercise earned points. It also was time for me to drop my daily points value down a point to 28. If I find that I'm not losing enough after a few weeks, I might need to drop to 27 daily points, as I'm pretty sure I need to be at 27 or 26 points plus for my height and current weight. We shall see.
Hopefully things go well this coming week, as thus far I've been pretty darn good- but I know Sunday, my friend's Tony Award party, is going to be tough to be good at.

 (Considering I had 2 slices of this kind of pizza for dinner out with friends on Sunday, I was surprised I lost so much. But I guess because I didn't go over in points, it worked out good.)

 (I wanted to reward myself for hitting the 50 lbs down mark with a mani/pedi, but since we are saving up every penny for our new house, I just did it myself. I was later surprised by my mom, who got me a gift certificate to get a mani/pedi at a place near the theater we do shows at as a Congrats on my 50 lb loss- I'll use it when it gets closer to the show. :D I decided to go with bright neon green for good luck on the last 10 lbs.)

Happy weight loss and *crossing fingers* the last 10 lbs go by smoothly and quickly.
-M