And She Lived Happily Ever After

Once upon a time, a not-quite-40-year-old Queen named Jennifer traveled with her royal family to a far away land. It is a magical land. There, you can find beautiful princesses and handsome princes. You can meet magical faries and a mouse named Mickey. And soft cuddly characters like Eeyore and a silly old bear named Pooh, who loves to eat hunny and doesn't even stop once to consider the Weight Watchers points value.

They call this land Disneyland. Some call it the Happiest Place on Earth.

After months and months of anticipation, and daily questioning by Princess Piper if the day had come to travel to this far away land, the Royal Family boarded their carriage – a 2008 Toyota Camry.  They drove for miles and miles, stopping occasionally to use the royal throne at the Golden Arches. It really wasn't that royal, but it would do in a pinch.

On these occasional pit stops, King Christian, Prince William and Princess Piper would feast on Chicken Nuggets, french fries, and chocolate chip cookies. But not Queen Jennifer. Instead, she opted for a grilled chicken sandwich without mayonnaise, apple slices and a King Sized Diet Soda.

You see, Queen Jennifer was determined to lose 40 pounds by her 40th birthday. And that birthday, August 15th, was rapidly approaching. So she did everything in her power to try to stick to her diet and exercise plan for this weeklong adventure in this magical land.

She exercised at the gym every day leading up to the trip, and partook in no cheat days because she was saving all of her extra points for the voyage. In her trunk, she packed fancy clothes and practical shoes and even workout clothes, thinking just possibly she would be able to jog around this magical land of Disney each morning.

That silly queen. She thought she would have the energy!

But she quickly learned that a day in the land of Disney would zap every ounce of strength she had. She went to bed each day when the clock struck midnight with throbbing aching feet, only to wake up the following morning at dawn with the same throbbing aching feet.

Princess Piper at the end of a very long day at Disneyland.

It became clear that the exercise strategy was not going to be successful on this voyage. Instead, Queen Jennifer rationalized that the walking all day around this gigantic land and its neighboring land, California Adventure, would be exercise enough.

During the trip, the Queen resisted many of the temptations this land had to offer: freshly baked Churros, Mickey Mouse shaped cookies, and the most delightlfully smelling Kettle Corn that you can imagine. There were fresh beignets in New Orleans Square, corn popped in tomorrow land, and candy so light it was just like cotton. The queen knew that these culinary distractions would only keep her from her goal. So she stuck with her two-point Weight Watchers Almond Sensation Bars for breakfast, did her best to order salads and vegetarian burgers for lunch and dinner, and tried with all her might to ignore the delictible smell of Kettle Corn that seemed to be around each and every corner.

Princess Piper enjoying every bite of the castle cookie she decorated herself

That worked for a couple of days. But then she slipped, ever so slightly. One night, she had a hot fudge sundae. It was good...and worth the points. Another night she convinced King Christian to agree to ordering Spinach Artichoke Dip as an appetizer at dinner at a wonderful little restaurant called the House of Blues. And then there were some other very minor insignificant cheat moments that involved frozen lemonade and a margarita, the queen's particular weakness.

But all-in-all, she did fairly well. Better than many others fared in this far away land.

The Queen and her King, as well as her prince and her princess had such a wonderful time on their journey. It was quite possibly one of the very best vacations they had had. Princess Piper proved to be quite an adventurous little one at her young age of three, which meant the Royal Family could enjoy all of the thrills this land of Disney had to offer.

When the Queen arrived home after a very, very, very long carriage ride heading north in I-5, she collapsed into bed after they arrived back to their castle shortly after midnight, knowing she had to report to her official queen duties at work in just a few short hours. When she arose from her slumber, she decided to step on the scale to see how she was doing. To her great surprise, she learned she had GAINED 7.5 POUNDS!

"Oh shucks," she exclaimed! After all, queens don't curse, you know.

"How in the world could I have gained 7.5 pounds in one week?! " And then she said, "I just wish I had more time to complete my weight loss goal."

And then, the strangest thing happened. The very same Fairy Godmother that Queen Jennifer saw during Breakfast with the Characters at the land of Disney appeared. Sure, it was a little bit weird, given that the Queen Jennifer was all ready to begin her shower and get ready for the day, but she decided to play along.

Cinderella's (and Queen Jennifer's) Fairy Godmother and Prince William at the Breakfast with the Characters in the land of Disney.

The Fairy Godmother said, "I am here to grant you one wish. I know you had a wonderful time in the far away land with your Royal Family and you have a big birthday coming up. So my gift to you is to grant you one wish...any wish you want."

The queen thought and thought. And while a million dollars seemed like a good wish, for the purpose of her blog, Queen Jennifer said:

"I wish I could be granted an extension on losing the remaining weight needed to meet my 40-pound weight loss goal. It's clear that I'm not going to be able to do it by my birthday, even though I've come such a long way."

And just like that, the her wish for a two-month extension was granted. Her Fairy Godmother assured her that all her friends and family members who are following her blog will be proud of her for her accomplishments to date and would continue to cheer her on as she continued her journey to lose the remaining weight she needed to lose 40 pounds prior to her new deadline: October 15th.

Queen Jennifer was so relieved. And as her week went on, and the water retention resulting from the trip to Disneyland and her increased sodium intake from eating out every day subsided, her weight went down and down.

And as of this writing, she was back down to 154.5 pounds -- 12.5 pounds shy from her goal of 142 pounds and only .5 pounds above her weight from her last royal blog post two weeks ago.

Despite a slight gain, Queen Jennifer knew that she would, indeed, live happily ever after.

Here is this week's picture:

Until Next Week,

Queen Jennifer