I Thought I Had it Figured Out

I am fascinated by weight loss. I love reading about it. I step on the scale every day. I love hearing people talk about it. I love to discover what works for some people and what causes other people to fail. I read books and magazines on the topic and have experimented with different things to accomplish the goal of shedding pounds. I have to work hard to lose weight and/or maintain a healthy weight and maybe that's why it is such a source of fascination to me.

I have always thought that Weight Watchers was a good plan. I am a big fan of Weight Watchers. The program allows flexibility and allows you to eat the things you enjoy in moderation. Nothing is really off limits and it is a healthy way to lose at a moderate pace.

However, every now and then my curiosity gets the better of me and causes me to try something new. Recently, I decided to give NutriSystem a try for 5 weeks as they had an online special to buy 4 weeks of food and get the 5th week free. I soon received all of my food and I was excited. New stuff to try! I wondered if it would really work.

I have currently been eating on the NutriSystem plan for about 2 weeks now. I have been noticing that the weight has been coming off fairly quickly, and I thought, "Hmmm, what's this about?" So, I decided to compare it to the Weight Watchers plan to see if I could "crack their system".

On WW, you eat a point value daily that is based on your weight. You figure out the "points" in food by using a little point calculator that takes into account a food's fiber, fat and calorie content and uses those factors to come up with a point value. It's fairly simple. I have to eat between 20 - 25 points every day.

So, my natural instinct is to think that NutriSystem surely must have me eating fewer points over the course of a day. That MUST be the secret, right?

Using my point calculator, I figured out that on average, with all of their meals plus all of the fruit, yogurt, cheese, vegetables, etc that is used to supplement their meals, I am eating about 30 points per day on NutriSystem. THIRTY POINTS PER DAY. Granted, I am eating fewer carbs than I used to, but I am still eating sugar, potatoes and lots of fruit, so it sure doesn't seem like it's a low-carb type of diet. I haven't changed my workout routine, so I know that's not a factor.

I really, really thought I had cracked their system, and assumed I was eating fewer points, but now that I know that isn't the case, I am really confused. What is it that makes this system work?!? Come on...their food can't be magic.

After the five weeks, I plan to go back to eating healthily and watching my overall "points" each day. However, this is truly one system that has me stumped. I'm not sure how eating more can allow me to have luck shedding pounds, but whatever it is, I'm not going to argue about it. I just wish I understood it.

Why not?

Why can't dogs dance? Dancing is a natural reaction to a beat, right? Even toddlers dance. So, why is it that dogs won't so much as tap a toe to a funky tune? Just wondering.

Don't Forget Your Feet

Life has been so busy for me lately. We've had out of town guests. Work has been hectic. The husband's job is busy and he's doing a lot of traveling. So last night, after the chores were done and the grocery shopping had taken place, I decided to do something spontaneous. I haven't had any time to get any sun lately, so I decided to get my first spray-on tan. One of the people who inspired me, is the lovely Eccentric Blonde, who looked fabulous in her "fake bake" the last time I saw her.

After going online and watching the instructional video and going to the tanning place and have them walk me through the instructions, I still had that moment of, "Oh my gosh, what if I turn orange?" Ever since seeing the photo of Charlize Theron at the Oscars a few years ago (where she was orange), I have had a fear of the spray-on tan.

Also, I can never quite get the episode of Friends out of my head when Ross tries this particular method of tanning. It's enough to scare a girl into staying pale.

I stripped down, put the special lotion on my hands and feet, put on the lovely shower cap and reached out to press the start button. (There is nothing scarier than that moment in the booth when you reach out to press that button.)

The first thing I noticed was how cold it was. I don't think anything really prepares you for that. Then, although I was trying to hold my breath, I ran out of breath and had to breathe while the spray had aimed down at my feet, but the fog was still in the air. I have to wonder...are my lungs now tan?

I then realized that I had scrunched up my face as I was getting hit with this stuff, so I quickly relaxed my face as I imagined the strange, non-tanned creases that would form in my face from my expression. I hoped that I had relaxed my face soon enough.

I toweled off, got dressed and headed for home.

For my first time, it wasn't too bad. I was really impressed! I was bronze in no time at all and it looked natural and not at all streaky. There was only ONE thing that I did wrong, and that was that I didn't put the "barrier cream" on the bottoms of my feet. This morning, when I looked at the bottoms of my feet, they looked like they belonged to a person of another nationality. I'm not entirely sure which nationality looks brownish orange (if any), but whatever that nationality is, I looked like it. I took a pumice stone to my feet for about 10 minutes in the shower. They sort of look normal now. Sort of.

Anyway, overall it was a great experience and I will get sprayed again later this week to maintain my summery "glow".

Only this time, I will put the cream on the bottoms of my feet too.

Friday Feast - 5/4/07

Appetizer
Name something you would not want to own.

Skinny jeans. That whole fashion trend of the jeans that cling to your legs and taper in at the ankle is just awful. They should have died in the 80's. I love my boot cut Levi's.

Soup
Describe your hair (texture, color, length, etc.).

Dark brown, just past the shoulders in length and can be straight if I blow it dry, or curly if I am too lazy to blow it dry (like today).

Salad
Finish this sentence: I’ll never forget ___________.

I'll never forget how it felt the day that my husband proposed to me. It was magical. Even a decade later, I can still remember how I felt.

Main Course
Which famous person would you like to be for one day? Why?

Maybe Jennifer Aniston because I'll bet she has a huge swimming pool and it would be nice to lounge by a huge swimming pool in Beverly Hills for a day.

Dessert
Write one sentence about yourself that includes one thing that is true and another thing that is not.

I have never broken a bone despite my avid love for skydiving.

Pennsylvania Barns

Isn't it crazy how you can live somewhere your whole life and see things everyday, but never really appreciate the beauty in those things until you leave and then return? I discovered this during my recent weekend trip up to see my Mom and Dad in Coopersburg (about an hour outside of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. I rediscovered the beauty of barns.


When I go home to visit, we usually attend the little church in Limeport that my family attended when we were growing up. It is also the church where I got married almost 11 years ago. On the short drive between my parents' house and the church, we pass 4 different barns.


The first barn is pretty cool. It is painted with an ad for Ceresota Flour. I just love the look of it.


Barn number two is a typical Pennsylvania Dutch style barn, complete with "hex" signs. I had my husband pull over on the side of the road to get a picture of this barn. As I was taking shots of the barn, an older gentleman was walking down the side of the road and told me I could pull into the driveway to get a better shot. It turned out it was his barn. He invited us into his very charming little farm house to meet his lovely wife and show us the model of the barn that a friend had built for him.




I thought it was great that I had never met this couple before, but it turned out that they were the parents of someone we had gone to high school with. What a small world. They were such a charming couple and just beaming with pride about their barn. I asked if I could take a photo of his outhouse on the way out.


Barn number three is another Pennsylvania Dutch style barn that is very similar to the second barn. It was just a short distance down the road from the last barn.



Barn number four is a barn that is right down the street from my parents' house. I took this photo from inside the car as we were driving by because quite honestly, I had forgotten there was a barn there. Where did all of these barns come from? I couldn't believe that they were there the entire time I was growing up and I just never really saw them before.


Barn number five is the most special of all. This is the barn that was converted into a house many, many years ago and where I spent the first 25 years of my life. It is a house where at one time eight of us lived and where now just my two parents live. Hours of playing, watching TV and riding bikes. Dogs and cats that lived and died there. Years of homework and studying. Climbing trees and crunching through leaves. Laughter, snowstorms, birthdays, graduations and Christmas mornings. These walls contain lots of happy memories.


Maybe that's why I love barns so much....