An Overdue Update

This month has been so busy.........

Kickstart Update:

Well.....Shapa this morning threw me back to light gray 😒.  Not happy about that but I'm not surprised.  I have kept up with my Kickstart tracking (honestly); but I've started a restart for myself today.. need to get the eating under control.

Speaking of eating....... I'm going to give you a product review.  I bought these at Aldi's:

What attracted me was the 14 g of fiber.  My goal is 25 grams/day (doctor's request) and this gets me pretty close in one meal!  I heated one in the microwave and cooked 2 eggs and made an egg sandwich with it.  I also had coffee and a banana.  This actually was very filling and gave me good total specs:  321 calories, 17.1 g fiber, and 20.2 g of protein.  I'm trying to move away from points, but in case you're counting the wrap comes in at 2 pts, whole breakfast would be 2 pts.  I also ran it through the Healthi app (Carb Conscious program) and the wrap is still 2 bites, whole breakfast 6 bites.

Horror Movie Update:

I'm still doing my horror movies and I've continued with the following:

Black Phone - Wanted to rewatch this before seeing the new one.  This is a good movie.

The Substance - This one got rave reviews but had a limited release and took forever to come on a streaming service.  It is a good movie with a lot of potential but the ending just ruined it for me.

The Thing (1982) - I really love this movie and it has an ending that'll keep you guessing!

Thirteen Ghosts (2001) - This never had good reviews but I saw it in the theatre when it came out and really enjoyed it.  Hard to find for free on streaming; so I dug out the dvd player and the dvd and watched it that way.  Still a good watch!

Carrie (1976) - Only the original will do, there has been remakes but only the original holds the test of time.

Black Phone 2 - Went to the theatre for this one!  Part twos are often hit or miss and this one was a hit for me.  It does help to see the original first!

Heart Eyes - This one is a fun slasher.

Dead Silence - There is nothing creepier that ventriloquist doll and this movie has many!

The Crazies (1973) - George Romero did more than just the Dead movies and this is one of them.  I'm going to follow it with the remake which is a little more horror then the original.

Movies, Kickstart and Products.....

First allow me to update my horror movie watching:

Phantasm: an oldie and after this watch I realized, despite being a cult classic, isn't really that good.

Sinister: whenever someone asks me to recommend a horror movie - this tops my list.  It's dark, it's creepy and it's got a lawn mower scene that'll jump you out of your skin (even at rewatches and you're expecting it).

The Dark and the Wicked:  this one is creepy and has some great scenes that will keep you guessing; but.....the ending ruins it.  So sad for a movie that had so much potential.

Vicious: this is a new one out on Paramount+ and it's pretty good.  There is a scene that is very hard to watch and you kind of know how it will end; but you don't care that it ends that way.

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Shapa has had me back and forth between teal and green; and I'm okay with that.  I haven't been perfect with all my commitments; but Kickstart isn't about perfection; it's about working to set healthy habits.  So I do feel good with my Kickstart progress so far.

A while back I did a product review on Protein Pastry by Legendary that resembles a pop-tart.  I wasn't fond of them and expressing that view gave me comments on posts such as:

Well you need to heat them up before eating them.  I did.

It says it's a pastry not a pop-tart; you shouldn't be expecting that.  Well then it shouldn't look like a pop-tart; and pop-tarts are pastries as well, it says so on the box.

I just didn't like them and felt the cost doesn't make them worth it.  This week I was in a local grocery store and they had the following marked down on clearance for $4.99 which is half the normal cost:

Only this particular flavor was on clearance but at that price I thought I'd give them a try.  If I had had a choice, I definitely would of chosen a different flavor; but this gave me an opportunity to give them a try.  I've been pleasantly surprised.  This one comes in at 5 pts. but definitely hits that sweet craving spot.  I want to try the other flavors.  (I see from their website that the chocolate above is being replaced with another chocoate, that explains the clearance price).

So the pop-tart like ones were a fail for me, but the sweet rolls are a winner!

Horror Movie

Today's horror movie is a classic the original Scream!  From the opening scene with Drew Barrymore until the twisty ending, this one keeps moving!

Horror Movie Update

Yesterday I watched Bring Her Back.  That was one of the best movies I saw this year.  It's creepy, you'll have a lot of WTF?, you'll wonder what is going on and there will be parts that are extremely hard to watch (even during a rewatch); this is one that will stay with you long after it's over.

Today I lightened up a little with Hell of a Summer.  This one is light hearted and fun!  A comedy slasher at it's best!

Weekend Update

I had meant to start posting my 31 Days of Horror Movies on the blog along with FaceBook and Instragram....but I forgot about the blog part!

So I'll do an update here, and try to remember to that one daily.

Every October I do a 31 Days of Horror Movies, basically I try to watch one a day but sometimes I do have to double up.  This year I started George Romero style with the movie that gave me the love for the zombie genre:  Night of the Living Dead (1968) .  There's been a lot of zombie type movies since then, but this movie is what started it all!  The opening scene at the cemetery still terrifies me to this day.  CC and I visited Evans City Cemetery where this scene was filmed and you really couldn't help looking around hoping not to see something stumbling towards you 😟!  This movie over the years has been colorized and even had a remake; but only the original black & white version is the best...the black & white just adds some more creepiness to it!

The next evening I did the second Romero film Dawn of the Dead (1978).  This one is a fan favorite and considered Romero's best (though I think Night is much better).  Another one of his movies that has been remade; but the original still holds the test of time.  The mall seems like a pretty good set up for the zombie apocolypse and having also visited Monroeville Mall, where this was filmed, it was fun to rewatch.

Last night I moved onto Day of the Dead (1985).  There's been a few remakes of this one most having nothing to do with the original other than the name.  This one is a little more fun than the previous two and by the ending you're kind of rooting for the zombies, especially zombie Bub!  No, I've never been anywhere near where anything was filmed (to my knowledge) BUT, I did have the opportunity to watch the film at a breakfast with some of the cast members!!  That was a lot of fun!  Also - look for a very young Greg Nicotero in this one.

My plan was to continue on with Land of the Dead followed by  Diary of the Dead then Survival of the Dead but I can only find Land if I pay for it!  I pay way too much for streaming as it is, not paying anymore.  So I ended the Dead series with Day.

So now that we're caught up so far on the Horror Movies.....

I'm still moving along with Kickstart.  I did, against my better judgement, get on a regular scale and realized I had lost nothing - only maintained....what a downer.  I am moving forward, however, and not backwards!

Kickstart Fall 2025 Edition - Week 1

Almost one week has passed since the start of Kickstart.  I've been doing pretty well and in case you are wondering; I am using the WW app.  What I am learning though is that points is so far away from calories (I did kind of know that but not to the extent it is), I don't understand why WW is bothering with them anymore.  I find myself just staying within the calories, protein and fiber levels and some days I'm way over in points and others I have a lot left over.

Yes I know there are other nutritional values I can follow, but those are the ones I've chosen for right now.

After being in Dark Gray/Light Gray for so long with my Shapa Scale.  In a span of one week, I got this:

I'm hoping to see Blue this week!  Though because of this, I don't think I'll get on a scale other than my Shapa this week.  As much as I want to see the number...I know if it isn't what I hope to see, it will derail me - and I don't want that to happen.  So I'm going to hold off on the actual scale for now - maybe next week.

For inspiration, I dug out one of my WW wins this week.  You remember WW wins: you earned points for tracking, going to meetings, weighing in and you could use those points to get stupid little things from WW.  One of mine was this keychain:

And then I went to Etsy and bought these:

My own weight loss charms.  I'll add them to the keychain as I progress or take them off if I'm moving backwards!  I only bought to 25 as I would be happy with that; right now though, I'm moving 5 lbs at a time.

Other than that; I've pretty much stuck to all my commitments.  I'm getting in more water; I'm walking daily (besides my normal everyday steps), I'm having breakfast daily, my lunch and dinner choices have been in check, and I've been listening to some WW audio clips on the app.  I'm keeping up with my day planner as far as marking everything down and I've been reading.  I started this book:

I got this at the Living Dead Weekend back in June.  The author was there and I bought 3 of her books.  They are available on Amazon and I think they are mostly for Kindle; the books were special for the event.  Alice is just a young adult and very sweet - so give her some support!

Kickstart Commitments

I've come up with my list of commitments for Kickstart.  It was hard to come up with 9 without changing much.  I did have to use the Shapa scale as one as I could not come up with another one.  At first, I set goals with them, for example, walk 1 mile daily...but then I remembered that Kickstart is about commitment and not perfection; so I made it walk daily.  As long as I'm getting a walk of any length in, I'm doing good! 

So my commitments are:

Track on Kickstart (everyone has that one)

Breakfast daily (doesn't have to be a full meal, just something to get going)

Wise lunch choice daily

Wise dinner choice daily

Water daily (again, I didn't set an amount - just more than usual)

Walk daily

Shapa scale daily

Journal daily (that could be this blog or my planner book or both)

Read one chapter of a book daily (any book)

Listen to a podcast daily (any and it could be an actual podcast or a youtube video)

Obviously the podcast will be weight loss related; not just fun stuff, lol!

Kickstart Fall 2025 Starts September 22!!

Kickstart is due to start Monday; go HERE to sign up.  It's totally FREE!!!

I've been eating like crazy all this week, so I'm looking forward to Kickstart.  As I've mentioned before there are Official Kickstart Journals available at a cost but you don't need them to participate.  Any type of journal will do or you don't need one at all!  I've recommended This Journal as a good cheaper option; it's available at Wal-Mart for about $11.00.

This time around though, I changed to this one:

It's actually pretty much a plain old Day Planner.  I wanted something that showed me the whole month and then the week with plenty of writing room.  Planners like this are pretty much available everywhere.  The one I bought has some months that have passed in it; but I'm going to tear them out and start with September full calendar with the week of the 22nd following behind.  The planner will take me through 2026.  I got it at Marshall's for $9.99.

I'm still debating on whether or not to use the WW app, Healthi or Lose-It.  I really like that WW now gives you item goals (for instance, I also track calories with points so it now gives me the calorie area to aim for), but I also am not sure I want to continue with WW once it runs out in December.  With Lose-It, I find that I pretty much eat anything (healthy or not) with my calories.  So I'm leaning towards Healthi for a WW plan that I actually like plus the Healthi checks (the old WW good health guidelines).  I'll have it figured out by Monday!

I need to work on my 10 commitments too.  I'll use some of the ones from last time but not all.  I'm so in the habit to use my Shapa Scale daily that I don't need to make that a commitment anymore!  That's the only one I've formed into a habit though!  Need to work on the others.

Weight Watchers Has A New Plan

Weight Watchers has a new plan out for menopausal women.

This plan is separate from the other plans.  In other words, where right now you can switch between the regular points and the diabetic plan (whether diabetic or not) and even the GLP-1 plan (whether on the drugs or not); you don't have the option to flip to this plan.  You would have to give up your current plan and switch to the menopausal one.  This is causing a lot of problems for those on free lifetime status and even lifetimers not at goal paying $14.95/month - you'll lose that if you switch.

I don't know all the ends and outs but check on YouTube with Dish With Dee, she's so much better at getting the information out, 😁.  

A Lazy Day

 Shapa threw me back into the gray zone; which depresses me a little.

I'm off work today due to having to be on a clear liquid diet for a medical procedure I'm having tomorrow.  Just a preventive procedure, nothing serious.

But it got me thinking that Saturday will make a good new start!  I really don't want to wait until the start of Kickstart to start over when I can start now and join in with them later.  Don't put off what you can do today.

Again, KICKSTART is free to join and there are no costs at any point.  You can, if you choose, purchase their workbook; use your own; or not use any at all!!  All information is at the link!

14 Years Ago Today.....

 14 Years Ago Today - I Made Lifetime Status With Weight Watchers.

I remember being so proud of all my charms that led up to that.

That was quite a while ago.  I only remember this date because it popped up on my FB memories.  That weight loss is long gone - it came back.

Weight loss is hard, maintaining is harder.  I've had many other keychains and charms through WW, but none were even close to the success I had back then.