Can You Eat That?

This week at Weight Watchers we talked about supporters and saboteurs.  You know, you have the chicken salad with the dressing on the side, and your friend says, "Oh you can have a hamburger now!"  or you might get the food police.  "Can you eat that on your diet?"  She gave great comebacks! 

"If you really want to know what I can eat, come to a meeting with me."

"I appreciate those cookies you made special for me.  I am going to take them home." (and give them to my family!)

I am very lucky in that I don't have saboteurs or food police.  I have lots of great support.  It helps to have my mom and my sister doing the program with me.  This week was disappointing.  I gained a pound and a half!  Oh I was not a happy camper.  I left meeting feeling somewhat motivated.  I loaded Ryan into the car, and as I did, I put my new fancy cup on top of my car.   I mean don't we all do this???

It is from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Hard plastic, look at the bottom of the straw.  It won't come up through the hole.  It is top rack dishwasher safe, but not meant for hot drinks.  It has a sister that is.  I love this cup!  It holds 22ounces.  I drove off and I heard a thunk thunk sound.  I remembered I had left my cup on top of my van.  I pulled over and got out to look for my cup--my mom was in the car so Ryan was not alone--that being said, I found my cup.  No lid, no straw.  I finally found them.  Yay! And not only that it survived with only a few scratches!  Now the whole point to this side track is this:  I didn't want my van to be in people's way--it really wasn't--but I just wanted to be out of the way.  So I started running back.  Okay I was jogging.  I don't run.  Seriously.  And what should happen?  My jeans were slipping.  I didn't end up with pants around my ankles, but they did slip down about 1/3 of an inch.  I had to hoist them up.  I was happy about that.  It's not always numbers.  Sometimes it's other signs.

Total Weight Loss:  15 pounds--or something like that!

Cookie Confessions

Jean Neidich is the woman who started it all.  I am talking about Weight Watchers.  She was just a regular gal like any other.  A regular gal with a secret.  A secret she could keep no longer.  So Jean invited some friends over to share her secret cookie confession.  She found out she was not alone.  Just like the Breck commercials, friends told friends about these weekly get togethers and an empire was built.  Okay maybe it didn't happen exactly like that, but that is the gist. 

I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookie yesterday.  They are stellar by the way.  They do have pumpkin in them...so there is fiber....but there is also fat, sugar and chocolate chips.   We are currently working on a more WW friendly version.  I hope we can figure it out soon because these things are what is called a RED LIGHT food.  In WW land, this means a food you have little or no control with.  I thought I would be okay.  I thought I could be strong.  No such luck.  I ate a total of 8 of those cookies yesterday!  And I could have eaten at least 8 more without batting an eye.  Although my stomach may have rebelled.  I sent my husband to work with them.  Take them out of my sight!  I kept some out for the kids, but not too many because I could easily eat one or two or even three and it wouldn't be noticed.  So those cookies are banned until further notice or until we figure out the more WW friendly version.

At WW this week, we talked about dining out and how we can prepare for it.  Things like having a light snack before you go.  Knowing the menu helps too.  You can also go to just about any restaurant site and find their nutrition information.  Use your (un)common sense and look for words like: grilled, broiled, steamed etc.  You can have it your way too...tell them you want veggies instead of fries.  Put the dressing on the side.  Make it interesting and tell the waiter you want him to bring you your salad naked.  After he picks his mouth up off the floor, you can tell him you meant the salad and not him.  ;)  Ask for a doggie bag up front and put half away. 

Happy eating!

Weight loss:  2 pounds
Total loss:  16.2  (I am 1 pound away from their goal for me....I will be able to attend for free after that, and I can choose to lose more...which I will.  At least another 10 pounds.)

Do this Instead

At Weight Watchers, our leader talked first about how when we learned how to drive we had to think everything through.  Think about it.  When you start your car now, and head off to wherever, do you really have to give it  a lot of thought to what you are doing?  No, you just do it.  It is the same with our eating habits.  We are on auto pilot most of the time, with a lot of what we do.  So now we must learn to "drive" a new way.

Let's start with something simple.  I can slather my veggies with butter...or I can spray some "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" on them.  I can have a bowl of ice cream or I can have a Skinny Cow fudge bar.  I can take the elevator or the stairs.  It's just little things like that.  I can eat six or seven cookies because there is yet another drama in my life, or I can listen to my body.  Am I hungry?  If I am truly hungry, I can stop a minute longer and think about what would satisfy that hunger.

So what did I do instead this week?  I took the stairs at the dentist office.  I went out twice this week and both times ordered the lighter choice.  I got up and did stuff--I know I have said this before but it bears repeating because I can be pretty lazy!  I chose "Weight Watcher Chocolate Chip Cookies" and they are yummy and one small point each. 

When we drive we know exactly how much gas to apply to the pedal to go at the right speed.  And we can do the same thing with our eating style.  We just have to retrain our brains.

What do you do instead?

Weight Lost:  2pounds
Total Loss:  14 pounds

Times Are Tough

I have been really struggling with food lately.  It's the curse of liking to eat.  When I was 20 I would have sworn up and down that I really didn't like to eat.  I was only fooling myself.  I love food.  I love how it tastes and I love how it is always there for me.  Except chocolate.  It always seems to be in short supply at our house.  I was at a 13 pound last week.  YAY!  I gained a pound this week.  BOOOOO!  I have been really struggling with just wanting to eat.  Okay...thin people, this means like eating because it is there, because you have an intense craving for one particular food item *cough* chocolate!  It's saying, "oh it's the weekend!"  Which is exactly what was discussed at Weight Watchers this past week.  I had to miss because Emily was sick.  Man she was sick!  She is better.  So what you have to do is look at it this way:  weekends and holidays constitute to one third of our calendar year.  Yep one third.  So that is three months of over-the-top eating.  This does not include birthday's, weddings, baby showers, family reunions, cruises, or any other time you can think of where food is involved.  Any church activity, no matter your religious preference is likely to be littered with all kinds of tempting creations! 

So what do you do when you have a love affair with food?  Well, you do exactly what I am planning on doing.  I am picking up and not starting over, but moving forward.  Why on earth would I start OVER!?  Doesn't it make more sense to move on!?  And so that is what I am doing.  I am moving on.  It's not an easy road, but then nothing worth having ever is.

Pounds lost 12!  Yay me.   

Slow and Steady

Slow and steady wins the race.  I did not gain my weight over night.  I didn't even gain it six months.  I gained it over the period of about 6 years.  Slowly ever so slowly the scales tipped up and up.  At first my clothes were too tight.  But it's okay, cause I still look pretty good!  I did.  Then I needed a bigger size because it was no longer realistic to get into those jeans.  But I still looked pretty good.  And hey, I can eat that.  I am doing good.  By the time I got pregnant with Ryan I was the weight I had started at when I wanted to lose weight in the first place.  Ouch.

This week at WW our leader talked about investing in ourselves.  When we set money aside for a rainy day we are investing for ourselves.  When make healthy eating choices, have friends who help us along the way, and (gasp) exercise we are investing in ourselves!  And aren't we worth that investment!  Yes we are.  We are absolutely worth the investment.  She issued a challenge to us all.  To start walking.  Just ten minutes a day.  She said, "That means I open my door and walk for 5 minutes then turn around and come back."  Now that I can do.  And after a few days you add a couple more minutes.  And you are moving and investing in a healthier and happier you.  I can do that!

We all have our (weight) ups and downs.  Down is easy.  We celebrate.  We get motivated to keep going.  Weight gain is hard.  It challenges us.  Plateaus happen too.  But you carry on.  Because it didn't happen over night.  It happened over time.  Slow and steady wins the race.

And now for that cookie recipe you all have been drooling waiting for:

haystacks

1 12 ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups of fiber one cereal.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave.  Use the lower power setting and go in 30-40 intervals.  Stirring as you go.  Mix the cereal into the melted chips.  I kind of crunched them as I stirred, but not mashed.  Scoop out with a tablespoon and drop on to a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Put in fridge to harden.  It makes 24 and in WW land they are 1 point each.  This is a dirt cheap treat!  It tastes more like a candy bar than a cookie.  I would advise letting the cookie sit out a few minutes before eating(after they have hardened) because they are hard.  Remember they are made with fiber one cereal so don't over do it.  They can be frozen.  I have mine in the fridge.  So far, I am the only one eating them.  More for me!  If you try them, let me know what you think!

Remember...

Remember her?

There is less of her!

Week 9

pounds lost: 11

What WAS He Doing???

Yesterday for "Wordless Wednesday," I posted this picture.   I asked what you all thought he was doing.  The most common guess was of course sleeping.  Kids DO sleep in the oddest places and positions.   However, in this picture,  Ryan is NOT sleeping.  He is playing with cars.  He is driving them on the cushions, in between the cushions and up and down the couch.  If you look really closely, you can see a car in his right hand.  Don't you wish you were still that flexible?  What weird positions have your kids gotten themselves into?  Were they playing or were they asleep?