Kristabella: Full of Snark Since 1977

Posted By Kristabella on May 9, 2011

Since the week before Easter (you know back when I posted this) I have gained 2.2 pounds. It was 1.6 pounds last week and then .6 this week. All in all, not bad at all considering there were holidays and celebrations and a lot of cake.

Most people would post a post like that and it would motivate them! It would give them the added incentive to keep it up! Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels! Or other such nonsense. Because you know what? Burritos are good. The end.

But me, I did the opposite. I let it all go to my head and while I’m still quite a few pounds away from my goal, I acted like I was Kate Moss and had the metabolism of a 20 year old and ate everything in sight. In my defense, I went up to Milwaukee to visit Ali for Passover, and then it was my nephew’s baptism (and dinner) and then Easter and then, and then, and then.

The goal weight I have chosen is at the high end of my BMI range. Because I’ve gotten down lower and it is virtually impossible for me to maintain. Because I like food and I like beer and I’m not going to be a miserable person and not partake in any of these things ever for the rest of time. Life is too short to pass on booze and cake. No cake and no booze is not a world I want to live in. Ever.

So I don’t apologize when I overindulge at holidays and special occasions. Because these celebrations usually involve, and revolve around, food. And I’m OK with that. (I mean, have you ever been to a meal for Passover or Shabbat at a Jewish person’s house? It is ALL about the food! And Ali and her family make very delicious things!) So half the fun is enjoying the meal together and I’m not going to use that time to not eat because I don’t know the points values.

But, my problem is that I can form bad habits in a half-second. In the weekend I spent eating and celebrating, etc., I had already gotten back into my bad habits from pre-Weight Watchers with overeating and not tracking and not being smart. It is OK to indulge, it’s not OK to eat the entire Taco Bell menu in one sitting.

So that’s my long explanation as to WHY I’ve gained 2.2 pounds in the last three weeks.

This is not a lot of weight. I know this. I’m not upset. I can take it back off. In fact, my 0.6 pound weight gain on Saturday morning could have been the extra salt I consumed the night before, the 2-3 miles I did of walking the day before or the fact that I hadn’t yet moved my bowels. Two point two pounds is not a mountain of weight to climb. I know this.

But that doesn’t make me less disappointed in myself. It is one thing to have a good week, track everything you eat, work out, do it all right and then on the scale and gain. It is a sucky feeling. But it is yet another thing to KNOW what to do and just……not do it.

I know what it takes to lose. I know how to work the program. I know what to do. I just hate when I let myself get in the bad habit of not doing it.

Yes, my schedule has been hectic. Yes, I’ve been busy. And yes, I have a vacation coming up. But that doesn’t mean I have to throw everything I’ve accomplished in the last four months out the window. The beauty of this new program is that you CAN indulge and enjoy food without gaining a ton of weight.

Writing it all down, this post in addition to what I eat, makes me accountable. And then I am going on vacation Wednesday morning. And then I am going to enjoy myself and the all-inclusiveness of it that I’ve already paid for. And then I am probably going to gain a few pounds while I’m in Jamaica. And then, and then, and then.

And that is OK. Because I know the minute I land back in Chicago on Sunday night, it is time to get back on track again.

And then…I will get to my goal.

Category: A Day in the Life of Me, WW | 7 Comments »
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Posted By Kristabella on May 3, 2011

One of the joys of my new job (yes, joys! I still love it! Yay!) is that I get to take public transportation to work. No more sitting in traffic, worrying about the insane increase in the cost of gas, or having to scrape mutant ice from my windshield in the winter. Added bonus? No more sweaty-ass in the summer since my car doesn’t have air conditioning!

And, as Ali mentioned, the blog fodder is amazing!

Where else can you just be sitting, silently, reading your book and then realize that the person who has his/her ass near your face just crop-dusted you?

Or, where else can you get a man to rub his arm across your chest, from the right breast to the left?

Yes, that really happened.

A few weeks ago, on a Friday night, I stopped to run a few errands downtown on my way home from work. I only point this out because it meant I was on different trains than I normally take.

I finished my shopping and walked out of the store and almost ran into this dude. I don’t know why I remember what he looked like, but I’m glad I did. He walked funny, but looked like a normal guy coming home from work, wearing khaki pants, carrying a computer bag, and wearing a Toyota baseball cap to protect him from the evening drizzle.

I went on my way, down the steps to the subway to take the Red Line. I was thankful it was later in the evening, since the Red Line can be super packed. I got a seat and went about reading my book and/or checking Twitter.

We got to Fullerton and I debated about switching to the Brown Line there, if there was a train at the stop. There wasn’t, so I went back to my book. But as I was glancing back down at my book, there was a dude running to get into our train car. He almost didn’t make it and got slammed a bit in the doors, but made it into our car. That’s when I noticed it was Toyota hat guy. Who had apparently gotten on with me at the subway stop and then changed cars at Fullerton.

“That’s weird,” I thought. “I knew that guy seemed sketch.”

We went to the next stop, Belmont, and I got off to transfer to the Brown Line. So did Toyota Hat and this other little, old man, who appeared to be with Toyota Hat. I waited a bit for a train, and as it pulled up, I made my way to the door to get on.

And that’s where it got weird. I got stuck behind the little old man. And as soon as he stepped foot into the train, he dropped the envelope he was carrying. When he bent down to pick it up, he was like Shaquille O’Neal blocking out the area under the net in basketball. He wasn’t letting anyone by until he picked up his envelope.

Keep in mind, this is all happening at the doors of the train, so me and the rest of the passengers are still on the platform, trying to shove our way on before we hear “Doors Closing.”

Little Man picks up his precious envelope and then I go to make a move around him because I notice an open seat and I want it. I move left and Little Man jumps in front of me and blocks me, as if he wants to go left. So I decide to go right, to go around him. Nuh-uh, KJ, Little Man is saying because he again blocks me out like I’m going for his rebound. I’m talking arms out, clearly NOT letting me get by. Like this:

This goes on for FAR too long (i.e. any length of time longer than ZERO SECONDS) and I finally see an opportunity to get past him and move to the back of the train to stand so that everyone can board and we can be on our way.

While I try to get past him, Little Man puts out his arm and rubs the back of his arm across my chest, breast to breast, like a full-on grope of my chesticles. Granted it was with the back of his arm, not his grubby hands, but STILL. There was a conscious effort to RUB MY GIRLS!

As this happens, I make sure to let Little Man know I didn’t appreciate his rudeness and his basketball skills by asking him “What the fuck are you doing?” I’m stunned, STUNNED, because I can’t believe I not only just got boxed out by Dennis Rodman trying to get on the train, but that I got felt up in the process!

He must have realized his mistake, because then he apologized. Probably because I called him out to the whole train and everyone was looking at him. The gig was up!

I kept my eye on him from then on out. I saw Toyota Hat appear at Little Man’s side, all of a sudden, and do a slight nod to Little Man. Then they got off at the next stop.

And I was just left standing there reflecting on the most fucking bizarre thing to happen to me in quite some time.

Ahh, the joys of public transit!

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Have you been following all my good stuff over at Food Lush? Yesterday I wrote about a perfect replica of Chick-fil-A’s Diet Lemonade, that you can make at home.

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, A Day in the Life of Me, Chi-town, Transit Tales | 14 Comments »
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Posted By Kristabella on April 27, 2011

So I’m sick. I am battling some sort of sore throat or something. It might explain the extreme tiredness, as well. I think this is par for the course for me whenever I start taking public transit to work. I forget that I’ve just touched something 10,000 others have touched and then I lick frosting off my fingers. Or something.

Or maybe I’m sick because it has been rainy and gloomy in Chicago for the entire month of April. You think I am exaggerating, but I’m not.

Anyway, so because I’m sick, I stopped off at the grocery store on Tuesday night to pick up some zinc and Emergen-C to nip this shit in the bud. Here is the conversation I had with the pharmacist as I was searching for the Emergen-C.

Her: Can I help you find anything?

Me: Yeah, actually I’m looking for Emergen-C.

Her: Oh, we keep that behind the counter.

Me: (thinking “that’s odd, I don’t think you can make meth with it”) Oh, you do? OK.

Her: (looking at what was probably a puzzled face) You’re looking for the pill, right?

Me: Um…

Her: The emergency contraceptive?

Me: Um, no. The Vitamin C stuff for colds?

Her: Oh, that’s by the vitamins.

Good to know if I ever do need the Plan B, that I won’t get hassled at the grocery store pharmacy.

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, A Day in the Life of Me, All A-Twitter | 10 Comments »
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Posted By Kristabella on April 25, 2011

First off, thank you all for your awesome comments on my last post! It is comments like those that make me think twice when reaching for something bad to shove in my face. It helps to get the encouragement from others to push you through. I’m doing this thing on my own for the most part, so my support is from all my friends inside and outside the computer. And as anyone who has ever been on a diet knows, it’s a long road and encouragement is exactly what we/I need to push me the extra bit when I just want to give up.

So, THANKS!

The side-by-side photo was an afterthought. I wrote the post not planning to put a photo in. But because I was a little discouraged and knew I had the “before” photo from the Biggest Blogging Loser contest, I figured it would help me to see the change, right in front of my face. And between seeing that, and you all commenting that you saw it too, it was awesome and made me remember all the progress I have made, even if I’m still in the same size pants. And made me put down the burrito the size of my head.

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So did everyone have a lovely holiday weekend? I’m just going to leave it at that, since that covers Easter and Passover. Which, speaking of, I celebrated both!

These past two weekends were two busy weekend and ones I was fretting just a bit.

Last weekend was The Weekend of Bridal Showers, with my friend Jayme’s on Saturday (which led to too much drinking and me missing the bachelorette party because I thought I could take a 10 minute “cat nap” after 7 hours of drinking and actually get up), and my cousin Jaime’s on Sunday. It was a long weekend, but I was glad I could help both ladies celebrate their upcoming nuptials.

This past weekend was The Weekend of Religious Things and Lots of Driving. It started when I drove up Friday evening to Milwaukee to visit my second family, the Martells. I had a small window available to go visit them while they were in Wisconsin for Passover, so I made sure to fit them in. And it was worth every single second. I hadn’t seen them since I was up to Toronto in October and man, I really miss all of them so, so much. I pretty much vowed that I can’t go that many months in between seeing them anymore.

I spent the night and then on Saturday afternoon, I drove down to my sister’s house, because my oldest nephew, Tommy, was getting baptized and making his First Communion at the Easter Vigil mass on Saturday night. And I’m lucky enough to be his Godmother. (It’s interesting that people keep making me the Godmother to their children when I never go to church and when I do, I end up talking to Skyler about stinky feet and making Shrek jokes whenever someone says Donkey.) (No, really.)

The mass was loooooong and it involved eight different readings and standing at the front of the church through the longest church song ever while Tommy was getting ready to be baptized. But then Tommy was dunked in a tub of water, and the priest made sure to give him the full treatment and he was soaked. So that was kind of worth it.

Sunday was Easter. I actually got to sleep in a bit, since because I went to a three-hour mass on Saturday night (getting home at midnight), I didn’t have to go to church on Sunday. I had two dishes to make to bring to my aunt’s house, and they were easy peasy, so it was a relaxing morning.

My Easter time with my family was short, because I had to leave early because this girl offered me a ticket to Game 6 of the NHL Playoffs between the Blackhawks and Canucks! WOO HOO!!

And let me tell you, Jesus is a Hawks fan, clearly, since on his big day, he let me witness one of the most exciting hockey games ever! And I got to see it all in person, and this was my view!

This was the first time I had been to a playoff game, in the stands, for one of my teams. I’ve never been to a Cubs playoff game. I’ve never been to a Bulls playoff game. I worked one of the Bears playoff games a few years ago, but was underneath the stadium, so it didn’t count. I’ve been to playoff games for baseball and football before, but never for MY teams. I obviously always watch the games on TV, in a bar or wherever. And last year I was in a bar with 100 other Hawks fans (and then subsequently out on the street celebrating with thousands more) when they won the Stanley Cup. That was pretty damn exciting. But Sunday night’s game was by far the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever witnessed in person, in the stands!

It was a nail-biter for sure. Or, towel biter if you’re me:

But the game-winning goal in overtime, with just a few minutes left to play, in the net right in front of us, was AMAZING! It was so fucking exciting! I think I picked DJ up and tossed her in the air like confetti! I was this close to hugging the guy next to me! And I don’t think he would have minded! IT WAS JUST THAT AWESOME!!!

So not only did I get home later than expected, I was completely wired and unable to go to sleep. I finally forced myself into bed after midnight. It was a long, long weekend.

But I wouldn’t have changed any single thing about it. This kind of tired is the BEST kind of tired.

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, A Day in the Life of Me, All in the Family, All Things Blogging, Chi-town, Church Lady, Holidaze, Sports | 7 Comments »
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Posted By Kristabella on April 21, 2011

I’ve lost 13 pounds in 16 weeks on Weight Watchers. I’m quite very proud of that, especially since I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with the scale. But the program is working, I’m making better food choices and I’m working out more (well, pre-new job. Although, new job does require me to commute, which means more walking and more stairs than back when I drove to work, but I really need to get back to the gym.)

I’m not sure how noticeable the weight loss is on me to others. I don’t really get any comments. But I notice it. I notice my pants are looser. And I notice that my shirts fit better and aren’t as snug. I notice that things fit and some things are starting to be too loose. This is a good problem to have. I’m not really complaining.

On Wednesday night I was meeting some of my old co-workers downtown for dinner. Since they were driving in from outside the city, I had some time to kill before meeting them. I figured I would take advantage of this time and do some shopping downtown.

I was looking for some new pants. All 5 of the work pants I have now are loose and I have the saggy ass. And they are just too baggy, to the point, I think, where I look frumpy. And I figured it was time to get some new pants.

I was excited to try on pants in a lower size. But, seeing as the pants I’m currently wearing are close to 4 years old, I wasn’t sure how the sizing had changed. I assumed with vanity sizing, I’d definitely be in a lower size.

I was wrong.

Now I know a size on a pair of pants shouldn’t upset me. Who cares what size I wear? The whole thing is that I am losing weight and getting healthy! Yay me!

But it was really depressing to go try on a pair of pants, have them fit and……… have them be the same size as the baggy pants I currently own. *sad face*

But! This means the capri pants and other things I have bought within the last year or so in that size, that were just too tight, should fit. And I can wear them and take the tags off. You know, if it is ever not winter here in Chicago. (Dear wool coat, hat and gloves, I am tired of wearing you.)

(Before photo take at the beginning of January for Biggest Blogging Loser. After photo taken today, 4/21/11. Wearing same pants and similar tank.)

And I’m not done. I’m not even halfway to my goal. This journey isn’t over. A smaller pant size is in my future. Guaranteed.

Category: A Day in the Life of Me, WW | 46 Comments »
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