I went to two different jewelers in town yesterday for estimates and ideas. I live far enough out in the suburbs where it would be a drive to larger chain jewelry stores but our town is affluent enough to have a couple of options locally. It has been almost 20 years since these rings were purchased, and I do not make a habit of visiting jewelry stores, so didn’t really know what to expect.
The first place I stopped was a goldsmith jeweler in a strip mall whose window dressings indicated that they also did gold repair. I didn’t really get good vibes from my visit there. I was worried that the diamonds I was dropping off wouldn’t necessarily be the ones I got back when I went to pick up the resized rings. He also seemed to be pulling numbers out of his butt when it came to providing estimates. I did like the numbers he gave, but just didn’t feel right about it.
The second place I went was a shop that was more artisan, home-grown, and well-established in the community. I seemed to relate much better to the non-slick manner of the woman that greeted me. She was definitely representing the “crafter” side of the business. I couldn’t imagine any chest-hair-laden-wide-gold-chain-wearing going on with her! Her prices were 2.5 times higher than what I got at the first place, but her attention to detail and obvious knowledge was comforting. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way about her was that she had a definite superiority complex. She put down the jeweler that set my solitaire (I didn’t bother telling her that it was purchased from a well-known jeweler on Jewelers Row in Chicago) and she also bragged that the “guy across town” that sized me didn’t know what he was doing because he marked me as 7.5 when I was “clearly!” a size 7 now.
Whatever.
I’m not wild about spending the extra money that the second lady quoted. Because they do everything in house and do not have a farm-out system, they have to charge higher rates. I get that. I also like to support small business-owners whenever I can and I think their esteem in the community makes them reputable. I certainly don’t want to hand over the most sentimental material possession I have to someone I don’t trust! I’m almost “sold” on the second quote. I’ve eliminated the first option and am just wondering whether I should get a third opinion. Maybe go to an artisan jeweler like option #2 so that I can compare apples to apples? Maybe there is more difference in services provided and there is definitely more value in having the work done by a “craftsman” (or woman) rather than farmed out where the work is performed by an unknown person?
I do want to act quickly, though, before these prized possessions slip away without me knowing it. Four sizes is a lot to lose!
Tags: ring resized
I have been putting it off and putting it off, trying to wait until all of my weight is lost, but I’m becoming extremely fearful that I will lose my rings. My wedding band is (I’m guessing) about four sizes too big and the engagement ring (not soldered) has a rubber spacer on the back of it but still slides around a LOT! Every time I wash my hands, I worry that the water pressure will make the rings slide right off and go down the drain. I curl my fingers like a monkey all the time just to keep the gold from slipping over one too many knuckles! Here are two pictures I took the other day, the top one which shows just the band and the bottom one with the rubber “resizer” that no longer makes up the difference!Tags: ring resized
Another three pounds are gone, and today’s weekly weigh-in showed me at 182. I made lots of sensible food choices and logged all of my intake diligently, so my weigh-in is a logical reflection of my eating.
I only worked out once this past week, and I would really like to be doing more, but I’m thankful for the weight loss despite the low activity level. I never count all of the running around I do with my toddler, so maybe that accounts for more than I realize! She is not particularly fast, but she keeps going! We probably walked to the park four times this week, and over to her little buddy’s house a few times too. While those destinations are all relatively close to home, the fact that we “walked” them instead of gone by car helps! It’s nice to live in a neighborhood where there are so many conveniences close by!
This coming weekend is the annual family reunion and with a potluck buffet line as long as our bloodline, there are endless choices and opportunities to splurge. I’m going to have to behave this weekend!
Tags: weekly weigh-in
Katie asked me recently what my goal weight was. She asked nearly a week ago and I have found it so difficult to find the time to respond, although I’ve really given it quite a bit of thought!
If you were to look on the blog header, you think that my GW (goal weight) is 168, as it will be at that weight that I will have lost 100 pounds from the day I started on my latest weight loss journey. I set that as a goal weight because it was a magical round number, not because it meant anything in particular to me.
Many people want to be the size they were in high school, or in college, or on their wedding day. For me, that is not necessarily the case, as I am already smaller than I was in college and on my wedding day. (I don’t remember for sure what I weighed when I was in high school, but I think I am close there too.)
Going based on BMI, I will be at 22.5 when I weigh 140 pounds. Should that be my goal weight? For my height, any weight between 120 and 160 is considered “Healthy” and no longer “Overweight”. So, around 140 would be right in the middle. That seems low to me, but perhaps it is just my perception based on what I have always weighed!
I don’t want to stop short and deny myself an even better health, but then again, as a 40 year old woman, I am not striving for perfection and I will not be strutting any runways!
With all things considered, I am going to make my ultimate goal be 148. Once I reach 168, which will mark 100 pounds lost, I am going to celebrate. I will continue working towards 148. If I don’t make continued progress (beyond the 100 pounds) or if the remaining 20 pounds take me a whole additional year or two to come by, it won’t matter. I am not going to dwell on the pound-a-week pace not being met, and in fact, I am hoping I can omit the daily calorie counting. After a few months, I’m getting pretty darn good at predicting how many calories are entering my mouth even if I don’t pre-plan a meal with the help of Lance Armstrong’s “Daily Plate” caloric content lookup!
I’m hoping that somewhere between my current weight of 183 and my ultimate goal of 148, I will have lost more of this stubborn belly fat! With only 15 more pounds to go in my original 100, I don’t think it will happen before the 100 pound mark, and this is the biggest reason I don’t want to stop at 168. I feel like I have the arms and legs of a 150-pound woman already but the belly of someone that still weighs well over 200! Ugh.
Tags: belly fat, BMI, counting calories, goal
I was out of town again this past weekend. I was doing an outdoor show in Indianapolis. It was HOT. I think this was good for me, as all the sweating and lugging equipment helped me use more calories than I needed apparently. After last month’s road trip resulted in 11 more pounds upon my return (bad food choices, lots of snacks, less sleep than usual, time of the month, etc.) I was determined to be satisfied if only two pounds to re-lose were displayed on the scale at weigh-in this morning…
Imagine my surprise when it showed two pounds less! Yay! I have to give myself a lot of credit though… all of my meals were sensible and I behaved very well. I had four of my meals in fast food restaurants and the highest calorie meal of those was still less than 400. At McDonalds I had a Chipotle BBQ grilled chicken wrap, apple dippers w/o the caramel and a side salad with vinaigrette dressing. At Wendy’s I had a small chili, a side salad with lo cal dressing and a cup of mandarin oranges. At Arby’s I had a roast beef sandwich with some raw carrots that I had packed ahead of time. It CAN be done!
So, I’m at 185 now and feeling on top of the world. Go ME!
I was reviewing my list of tag words and was happy to see that I haven’t used these words in a long time:
- plateau
- boredom
- plus-size
- rut
I haven’t used them because I haven’t felt them! Many people I come across are bored with their exercise routine or feel frustrated that they (think they) are eating right and exercising enough but still aren’t losing weight. Or, they’ve fallen into a rut or became stuck at a plateau.
Fortunately, despite a recent “bump” from which I quickly recovered, I have had steady weight loss for about three months — four in April, six in May, four in June and three so far in July! It is only averaging about one pound per week, but I am not complaining. I’m still ahead of target for losing all 100 pounds before the end of the year and I’m not bored with the process. Sure, I wish the journey took less time, and if I had been willing to beef up cardio even more, I could be doing this at a faster pace. But, I’m hoping that by losing it one pound (or occasionally two) per week will help enable me to keep it off, as have suggested many weight loss experts in articles I’ve read.
Weight loss is a journey that is much easier to take if the traveler is optimistic by nature. I’ve got that going for me!
While working with the Wii Fit Plus, I took the full Body Test, which measures weight, calculates BMI, determines center of balance, and issues little “tests” that along with your actual age helps determine your “Wii Fit Age”. So, as a 40 year old woman, I was delighted to see that the computer thinks I behave younger than I actually am. Sometimes I do feel younger! Getting some weight off has helped. Everyone tells me I look younger too, and I can’t say I disagree. It feels good — to hear it and to feel it. 
Tags: Wii Fit
This week’s weigh-in has me at 187, down one pound from last week. I’ll take it! I was pretty diligent with food, not going over my daily calorie goal (of 1350, which is what livestrong.com says I should consume to lose two pounds per week) any day of the week! Of course, I technically should have lost two pounds (according to Lance) but I’ll graciously accept the one pound. Any loss is better than a gain!
I also exercised more than average last week — long walks in humid weather and mowing the grass – so I am a tad disappointed that the second pound didn’t come off. With the lawn mowing job, which I did because my dear hubby is under the weather, we do not have a self-propelled mower and our lot is not conveniently flat. So, despite not being as winded as I remember being the last time I mowed the grass, it was still a good workout!
Oh well, like I said, I’ll take the pound and call it a victory! On to a new week!
Tags: exercise, walking, weekly weigh-in
I thought it would be interesting to share my calorie intake for last week, per day, and include what three items each day represented the highest portion of those calories.
Monday, June 28 — 11o0 calories
Macaroni and cheese (195), Cinnamon Life (120) , S’Mores (130)
Tuesday, June 29 — 1296 calories
Mandarin Orange Cake (287), Tuna Patty (217), Turkey Taco Meat (190)
Wednesday, June 30 — 1149 calories
Tuna Patty (217), Mandarin Orange Cake (191), Thomas Bagel Thin (110)
Thursday, July 1 — 1365 calories
Cube Steak (211), Cinnamon Life (120), Johnsonville Turkey Sausage (110)
Friday, July 2 – 1324 calories
Barbecue Beef sandwich (409), Vanilla Custard (330), Cinnamon Life (120)
Saturday, July 3rd — 1319 calories
Corn Dog (190), Steak Chips (150), Honey Nut Cheerios (110)
Sunday, July 4th — 2214 calories
Cheeseburger (500), Apple Pie (290), Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Extra (190)
Some things you might gather from my log above:
- I don’t deny myself sweets or desserts — although with a holiday and needing to try the (Mandarin Orange Cake, in this example) recipe on my family before I think of passing it off onto others I had much more this week than I usually do.
- When my top three (calorie-wise) items are subtracted from the daily totals it means that I fill the rest of my day with low-calorie options including lots of vegetables!
- It is rare for me to consume any one item that is more than 300 calories by itself. I know that if I do, it will be harder to stay in the 1300 – 1350 calorie target that I set for myself.
Tags: counting calories, food journal, low calorie foods, Recipes
After last month’s crazy ups and downs, I settled in with a really nice week last week. Last week’s Monday weigh in showed 191 on the scale, and this morning I weighed 188. I had seen 187 momentarily but it didn’t stay for long. Oh well, as Katie says, if the scale showed me 187 once, it means that I’m almost ready to weigh that much!
It was kind of odd (and exhilarating) but the scale went from 191 to 187 one pound at a time for four days in a row. I knew that it was just circumstance and that I was not actually burning that many excessive calories each of those days. But, I do think my deep breating techniques (as coached in the yoga portion of the Wii Fit) and also my attempts at increasing running times (again in Wii Fit) in combination helped me get there.
I am trying new things, and it has been shown that varying your exercise will help increase metabolism and therefore spur weight loss. I know the weight isn’t going to come off three pounds per week all the time, but it sure was nice seeing it this week, especially after last month’s roller coaster. If I can ease back into my one to two pounds per week for the rest of the month, I’ll be very happy.
Tags: deep breathing, metabolism, running, weekly weigh-in, Wii Fit
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