Smells a Little Fishy!

Last night, a long-time WW member came in and had a 6 pound loss. She has been following WW for over a year and has done an awesome job losing over 75 pounds. She recently stopped smoking, has gotten a personal trainer and is getting very close to a goal weight. What happened this week? Fish!

To shake up her system, she ate nothing but fish and veggies this week. Breakfast, lunch and dinner! Fish, fish, fish!! I'm not sure if this is a plan that I could follow, but it seems when I eat more fish, I have better success on the scale. So, this week I shall follow the "Fish Plan." No way will I eat fish for breakfast, but I will eat it for lunch each day and if I don't have a dinner planned, I'll eat it then too. I'm not expecting a 6 pound loss, but a little success on the scale sure would be nice.

I like fish, but always pick other options for lunch thinking fish is "too hard" to prepare. Not sure why, since I have prepackaged Tilapia in the freezer at all times. In fact, last night I opened a bulk pack that I bought at Sam's a few months back. Maybe it's just that I don't know different ways to prepare fish like I do other meats/proteins.

So I'm declaring this week's plan: Fish Week.

Do You Need a "Plan" to Be Successful?

I've been following a few bloggers that have had difficulties as of late. The biggest thing that I have seen in common is that these individuals are trying to conquer their weight program without really following a "plan." If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you realize that I follow Weight Watchers and have gone so far as to work for them to keep myself accountable. Is it necessary to follow a "plan?"

I know several people who have followed different plans and have been successful. It seems to me that as long as you have a plan, you'll be successful! Doesn't matter if it's a plan that you have created or a tried and true plan, but if you are true to a plan you'll be more successful than if you just say, "I'm on a diet." "I'm on a diet" is another excuse to fail.

I haven't said "I'm on a diet" since beginning WW and don't plan on saying it; however, several people close to me have caught themselves when offering food. "Oh, can you have that since you're on a diet?" "Oh, that's right, you're still on a diet!" I may follow a different "diet" of food than I have in the past, but I don't feel like I'm on a diet. I am following a lifestyle plan!

Do you need a plan to be successful?

Routines

I'm still having problems roping in my evenings. I know that I'm eating supper WAY to late. I'm not used to eating after 7:00, but because I've been working three evening WW meetings a week, I've had no other choice. It didn't affect me much the first few weeks, but I've noticed that it has really messed with my eating routine. Since I'm eating supper so late, I'm continuing the eating frenzy and blending my supper into my dessert into my evening snacks and then the "OK, I've blown it, might as well keep eating!" Fortunately, I only have two weeks of evening meetings left to cover and I'm hoping that this change back to my regular routine will be a good thing.

Can't wait to eat dinner with the family and have after dinner walks once again.

The Five Thirds Burger

Unbelievable!

I heard about this new creation on the radio this morning and just had to check it out. 4000 calories, 300g of fat. Enough to feed some small countries. Not sure why they even have the lettuce and tomato on this burger? I know what I will NOT be having for lunch.

I Live to Eat

Last night at yet another WW meeting, one of the members brought up a saying that I have heard several times before. She asked the question: Do you live to eat or eat to live? It's a deep question that my answer to has changed over that past few years. I still live to eat. I love food!! But over time, I have learned to chose healthier options and my eating has definitely improved. Food still tastes good and I too often have times when I binge on foods that don't even taste all that good.

I am still learning how to eat to live and will keep working at it. I also think that this members "skinny friend" would have some foods that taste good. I don't know how anyone could eat the same foods day in and day out without getting somewhat bored. Planning and knowing limits/moderation will continue to be a key and I'm sure that a big part in the "skinny mind."

I've done a great job tracking the last 4 days and will continue to track everything...the good, the bad and the binging!

What's in the Frig?

This weekend, many members at the WW meetings I was working at confessed to opening the refrigerator just out of pure habit. Many had stated that their families do the same thing including the children. I remember doing this as a child, often going to the frig, opening it staring aimlessly, stating "I'm hungry", looking for something good to eat, stating "There's nothing to eat!", shutting the frig and going back to what I was doing. Why?

Shamefully, I have to admit that I still do this on occasion. Lately, my horrible habit has been dipping into the open frosting container and scooping out a BIG tablespoon of sugar madness. Not because I'm craving the sweet, but cause there's no other junk in the frig. Fortunately, I only indulge in the frig habit when I'm the only one in the the kitchen so my kids don't see this. Another reason the kids haven't picked this habit up is because our refrigerator is above our freezer. Believe me, they go into the freezer!!

The habits we create stick with us until we change them. I am so glad that I am not teaching my kids to go to the refrigerator for comfort. They realize that they will get food when they need it. I always offer breakfast, pack them a lunch, always offer a snack after school and they always get a nutrious dinner, not to mention dessert.

The refrigerator habit is a mystery to me...another habit that I am proud to say has all but disappeared is the "buying a candy bar at the cash register" habit that I had for a LONG time too. Any other mysteries? We used to always open a bag of chips and have them gone within a few days. This weekend, the girls asked for some potato chips. The "best by" date said March 8! We opened these chips on New Year's!! Amazing that the mystery of the missing chips no longer happens in our house either.

Happy Spring! It's raining here today, but we'll be trying to do some more Spring cleaning.

Pick Your Battles

As a parent, I have learned already that some things just are not worth fighting over. My four year old has been darting from our van every morning no matter how hard I try to hold her hand and safely get her across the lane of traffic in the school parking lot. I know all the cars are watching as it is a school parking lot, but I'd still like her to hold my hand and learn the safe way. This week, her teacher gave her a "talking to" and it turns out that was exactly what my little Caryn needed. Since then, she has held my hand and in turn, my second grade daughter has also held my hand too. What happened? Someone else stepped in and explained it a different way. This was a battle that didn't bother me all that much. I never thought about it once the rest of my day went on, but now that she has started doing it "my way," I can tell how this battle was really a battle.

I wish I had someone to give me a "talking to." Someone to explain it to me another way! My battle with food will continue and it sure would be nice to have that teacher to talk to me..."You've been eating when you're not hungry", "You haven't been exercising as much", "Why haven't you been tracking, it was a key to your success!", etc.

I shall keep on trying, but this is a battle I need to face head on before it gets "out of hand!"

Spring is in the Air

We have had gorgeous weather in Wisconsin this week and I am proud to say that I have finally gotten off my wintry arse and walked daily since Saturday. It's a huge accomplishment as I have been hibernating all winter. I've done well on the food front until today. That darn free food always gets me...enough said! I will not let a few (or more) WW mint bars ruin my week though. I know they were much better than a box of Thin Mints.

RIP: King of...

Excuse!!

Last weekend, a colleague was complaining about no being able to rid herself of her "baby weight." Another leader pointed out that her "baby" is now 4 years old and stated, "Honey, that ain't no baby weight anymore...any other excuses!!" Got me thinking about all the excuses I have made for putting on a few pounds. The latest ridiculous one being the air-popped popcorn. Of course, air-popped popcorn hasn't caused me to see a gain in the scale, I could point to several other poor decisions that lead to the scale fluctuations. Another excuse that I have used a lot is that the weather has been so cold, wintry, etc. and I just haven't gotten to go outside to exercise. Well, I know very well that I can exercise INSIDE, but then what excuse would I use. I need to keep an eye on the kids ;)

I shall attempt to rid myself of excuses for a gain. I know what happened and I know how to fix it, how 'bout you?

Not Surprised!!

Yesterday, I weighed in officially for the month of March. I knew I was over my goal weight of 190 for the first time in over a year and was actually surprised that I was MORE over my goal. I have been weighing daily again and yesterday was the lowest I have been for about two weeks. This week, after tracking my dinner and limiting my evening snacks, I've lost at least two pounds so I am not worried about having another repeat next month.

I also attended a WW staff meeting and the topic was maintaining a loss and picking an appropriate goal. Very appropriate topic for me!! When I picked my goal, I had discussed with my doctor what I thought I could maintain for a lifetime. I am still very satisfied with my goal, but would personally like to lose a few more pounds below my goal. The official WW stance is that to be a true lifetime member you will maintain two pounds below or two pounds above your goal. Many members have lower personal goals than their official goal. Some members have no idea what to choose for a goal. So the questions was asked: How do we choose an overall goal?

Many leaders encourage members to pick a "high" goal and continue to lose. This discourages the members to try to lose anymore. So leaders give little guidance, which leaves members thinking that they are alone. Other leaders pick mid to low numbers, which members feel they cannot achieve.

Another question: When do you set a "final" goal? It seems ridiculous to set a final goal the first day of a new lifestyle. Seems overwhelming...unachievable...etc. It feels so much better to set intermediate goals and celebrate along the way.

But now, what happens once a goal is reached. How do we teach maintenance? Still after a year, I am not fully sure that I know how to maintain. Still longing for the compliments and reassurances that I look good. Still longing for the joy I felt each time I had a loss!!

I'm not surprised about my 5 pound gain this month and I needed it...now I can celebrate a 5 pound loss once again ;)

Evening Snacking: Day 4

My week has been a very consistent week. I have actually stuck to my plan of tracking after 4pm and only eating one snack food after supper. Unfortunately, the last two evenings, that snack has been popcorn and usually that means a gain on the scale. I have used the air-popper that my in-laws brought over to our house since it was taking up space in their cabinets. Until, this week, it was just taking up space in my house as well. We'll see what the scale says tomorrow, since I need to weigh in for the month by the 15th as a WW employee.

Tomorrow, will be another challenging day as I will be at WW meetings all morning with less than an hour afterwards to grab lunch and make it to another center for an afternoon of staff meetings. Home at 4:00 and my wife has already planned to be at Grandpa's all day to help with the taxes (our return, already received and a nice one since we forgot to up our dependents till after the new year). I'll be planning my dinner today because I really don't want to come home and go on a major "time-home-alone-and-I-can-eat-whatever-I-want" binge.

Have a great weekend!

Evening Snacks: Day 2

Monday night, I tried to follow the advice of my leader telling me to track in the evening and eat only one food as a snack after supper. Did well Monday, snacking on baby carrots and I didn't even add the PB2 as a dip like I normally would.

Tuesday night, I did even better. I didn't snack at all after school and I think a key was that the girls didn't really ask for snacks either. My 7 yr. old had popcorn and my 4 yr. old had a custard snack/dessert that was leftover from Monday as she fell asleep very early. I was busy making dinner and didn't even think of snacking. Ate chicken breast, sweet potato, and assorted sauteed veggies for dinner and snacked on a few grapes. Haven't had grapes in the house for a while, so they were a welcome treat.

Yesterday, I took my first trip to Woodman's mega grocery store. The store was created by a WW lifetimer. It has tons of WW products and the fresh fruit and veggie department made my regular supermarket look very skimpy. It's a drive for us, about a 20-25 minute drive, but it may be worth it to take the trip once every few weeks. Plus, my 3 yr. old fell asleep on the ride home and slept till I woke him up to get his sisters from school.

Tracking my dinner and evening snack my be a key to getting myself back into the swing of things. It's a lot easier to remember what I have for one meal/snack than remembering the whole day.

My Tracking Plan

I've been working with a substitute leader for the last week as my regular leader is off on a cruise. She gave me a challenge as I told her I have been struggling in the evening. I do so well until after supper and then I just eat hog wild. In WW terms, I eat at less 10-15 points AFTER supper. Unfortunately, I don't have 10-15 points to play with after supper, so something has to change.

I have a three month journal, but the last time I wrote anything in it was March 1. Unfortunately, I usually track well from breakfast to lunch and then by 4:00 I stop writing stuff down. My challenge this week will be to skip the writing process in the morning and lunchtime and focus on 4:00 and beyond. I do well all day as I treat my day like a "workday" and rarely stop for a snack. It's after the girls come home from school that continues to haunt me.

My new leader friend, suggested that I eat one food after supper. Whatever I pick needs to be a "filling food" and I can eat as much as I need. This will be a challenge as I've been grabbing different things to satisfy myself. All healthy snacks, but the points still wrack up!! So this week, when I reach for the evening snack I will be conscious of what I want to eat. I will eat one thing and eat as much as I need to satisfy my snacking habit.

I'm hoping this new tracking system of only writing down from 4:00 on and snacking on one food after supper have a positive influence on me because I am longing for a little success.

The Price of Convenience

I was thinking over the weekend about the Subway deal, you know the jingle: 5, 5, 5 dollar foot-long!" Whoever created that campaign did not get paid enough!! A foot-long costs $5 while the 6-inch remains at the regular price. My usual, which sadly the Subway person knows me and usually gets out the three subs I normally buy, is about $3.69. My problem comes when I know I should be getting the six-inch, but the foot-long is way cheaper...but is it?

How much are you willing to pay for convenience? There are several things that I used to buy in bulk that I would not even dream about touching now. Chips and crackers usually enter the house in individual packs now, cookies the same. But there are also things that have made it into the house that hadn't in the past like the quart container of fat-free yogurt and the big packs of Craisins (I know they're not the best choice, but much better than before).

This past week, I splurged by picking up a bulk container of almonds. I received an ounce tin before Christmas and am trying to limit myself to one tin per day.

Unfortunately, I have a hard time passing up a deal, so my 6-inch sub has turned into a foot-long for the time being and I know the scale shows it. How do you pass up a deal?

How Much Difference a Half-Hour Makes

Yesterday, I was thinking of all the things that can get done in a half-hour. Now, I if would have just done all the things I was thinking of in the first place...well, then I'd have nothing to write about.

What can you do in a half-hour? I usually only take a half-hour to make supper. If it takes any longer than that, it's not worth it to me. I usually take less than a half-hour to get ready in the morning. More than that and it must be a weekend. I usually can exercise in a half-hour as long as everything goes right, no crying, kicking screaming tantrums, etc. I can take an awesome walk in a half-hour. I can watch most of my favorite shows in a half-hour. I can clean the dishes up in half-hour. I can get most of the laundry, excluding the socks (never touch the socks), folded and put away.

I can accomplish so much to better myself in a half-hour. Now, if I wasn't thinking about this...I wouldn't have been a half-hour late for the 9 month check-up appointment yesterday. So, today it's off to the doctor once again to try to be on time ;)

What is an Impressive Weight Loss?

Last night, a new member came into WW with about 10 pounds to loss. I thought to myself...Self, would you be motivated enough to come to WW if you ONLY had 10 pounds to loss? (I still haven't answered myself yet)

I came to WW with at least 75 pounds to loss. It took that long before I was motivated enough to do something about it. Another member at the meeting last night celebrated losing 70 pounds. She had been one of the members that I sat with while we were still losing together. I was near goal when she started at about this time last year. Is it more impressive to have someone do something about their weight when they are only a few pounds over weight, or is it more impressive when they have 100 pounds or more to lose?

Personally, I am glad I am not one of those who needed to lose 100 pounds. Even though I could stand to lose about another 10 pounds, I'll never reach that 100 pound mark. It is truly difficult to lose any weight, so I'm thinking that the member who loses 10 pounds is almost if not MORE impressive than the member who loses 75-100.

The member who lost 70 pounds last night, expressed the feeling that these last 10 pounds have been the most difficult. She lost the first 60 without needing to workout much and having a very easy time of it. Since, she has joined a gym, got a trainer and really had to work at losing 7 pounds in 3 months. Impressive?? 7 pounds in 3 months is still over a 1/2 pound a week and a very healthy way to lose.

Still mulling over myself to figure out why I should be impressed that I had to lose 75 pounds in the first place!

Fast Pants

When I weighed in at 270, I almost always wore what I called my "fast pants." My fast pants are mostly any pants that had an elastic waistband. By the time I was 270, that meant most any of my pants. Over the weekend, I wore my fast pants after working at WW on Saturday. My plan was to exercise right after eating lunch. I ended up just staying in my fast pants all day. I did exercise, but never changed back into regular clothes and I have to say that I just didn't feel right.

I felt like I was being lazy and just not ready for the day. I've been watching people lately and it seems that people who take care of themselves and are in adequate shape don't wear "fast pants." They know the difference!! Workout clothes are for workouts and those days when you just don't care. Saturday was one of those days that I just didn't care.

I'm glad not everyday is like that since I'd be wore out by being so "fast"...today, I have my slow jeans on ;)