Remember me?

Maybe you remember me? I'm the one who had the bright idea that I'd be able to blog, do my work, play on Facebook, read my email, and scour the vast internets for new cooking ideas--all through my 3G mobile network.

Yeah. That worked.

So I bit the bullet, squeezed some blood out of my budget and got the slightly-less-than-speed-of-light internet package from my cable-internet company and here I am.

But even then, I've been sort of ignoring this blog. Oh, I've enjoyed your many posts. In fact, I would actually get incensed on days when NONE of you post something for my entertainment. The nerve of me! OK. Enough is enough. It's my turn. But first....let's catch up.

It's December again, and if you guys find Sherman and Mister Peabody and take the Wayback Machine to last January, you'll remember that my New Year's Resolutions (both of them) were to get in shape and stay there. So, I dutifully began a weight loss-exercise program in January and did pretty good right up until the field season began in April. Then, I basically took the summer off. I had lost about 20 lbs and put seven of it back on by August. In September, my sister (without asking ME, I might add) signed me up for Weight Watchers. WW gives you an allotment of points per day and you can use them as you see fit. On the up side, I will say it works, which is basically what I'm looking for in a diet program. And it's true that there is no food off limits. After 10 weeks on the program, they did a complete overhaul and revamped their points algorithm. No problem, I thought. I live for change.

BUT.

One would think that I should be able to eat the same foods I was eating before (and losing weight) on the new program. Oh contraire. Transfer my old diet to the new program and I was over my points allotment every single day. In addition, that claim that you can eat any food you want is a bit disingenuous because it is virtually impossible to follow the program and eat any bread product without starving for the rest of the day. I kid you not. Two slices of even the lowest calorie bread on the market take up such a chunk of your daily "points" that you will go hungry. Contrast this to the program they had in place a week ago on which I had a sandwich every single day--and still lost weight! They have made some concessions. I can fit more meat and beans into my diet and they give you fruits and vegetables for free. I still suspect if I ate bananas everyday, that the diet wouldn't work, but I'm willing to give the program a chance. I will be quite upset if I plateau because of these changes. (It's all fine and well to change a program to integrate new research, but if it slows down progress for people WHO ARE PAYING FOR IT, that seems like gouging.) This feels like the South Beach Diet now. I have done the South Beach Diet and it works, too. My thing is, if I wanted the South Beach Diet, I can do that on my own.

I guess the positive thing from the entire Weight Watchers program has been my self-realization that I'm pretty good at losing weight, but I'm even better at packing it back on. I don't really need someone to hold my hand through the weight loss process (I seem to have a sufficient amount of willpower and self-motivation). My problem is that I have no idea how to go off a diet and not gain weight. What I need is help in maintaining a healthy weight and that is why I am sticking with Weight Watchers. Once you become a "lifetime member", you no longer pay as long as your weight remains within two pounds of your lifetime goal. I want to get to the free stuff.

I can't say I'm thrilled about the brand new changes they made but who is every really happy about dieting? In any event, I've been following the Weight Watchers program (old and new) and have gotten back into the gym for regular exercise. By regular, I mean shooting or 5 hours a week, and usually getting at least three to four. For my exercise, I have concentrated on elliptical machines. They are a good aerobic workout and with my still mending hairline-fractured tibia, something I can do without jolting the hell out of my leg. Plus, this girl in New Mexico convinced me that I need to learn to ski. She's always getting me into trouble. Like that time she convinced me that what we really needed to do was poke a Mojave green rattlesnake. You know. To get a good picture.

So I have been researching, teaching, exercising, dieting, and playing with Scout dog. It's been a busy fall. Thanks for not giving up on me. I promise I'll do better with the blog.