Weigh in 38

What does a 5000 BTU window air conditioning unit have in common with my weight loss?

Both are 55 pounds!

Last week's and today's meeting discussions were mainly about family and friends who support us. Do we tell them what we need? Do we ask them to stop if they are sabotaging us? Who is (are) our support in our weight loss journey?

I am lucky that my husband and family are supportive but no one "gets" the program the way that another WW member does. After all these months, my husband will still ask "can you eat there?" if we discuss going out to eat and are trying to pick a restaurant. Some WW members are annoyed when their families ask that. I don't think anyone who loves us means this in a bad way. They don't know the program and simply are trying to be helpful. 

My family and close friends are definitely cheerleaders but when it comes down to who has my back (a term used last week and today), I have my back. That doesn't mean I haven't asked for help or won't ask again when needed, but I am the one doing this. I don't expect someone outside of WW to understand points or why I might eat ice cream one day and strip a sandwich of bread or bun the next. 

My husband golfs. I know there are clubs and irons in his golf bag but do I know why he picks one over the other when he is about to hit the ball? No. Isn't this the same thing? Unless someone knows a person is following Weight Watchers and intentionally tries to sabotage them by pushing food, I figure their comments or actions should be forgotten. 

Funny how no one pushes a cookie on you if you say you're allergic to nuts but some will insist one cookie won't hurt if you mention you are on WW or any other plan. If someone continues that behavior, they aren't being a true friend. In that case it is ok to drop a hint. Or a brick on their foot. Or maybe a 55 pound air conditioner!

Onward and downward!

P.S.  Susan Wheatley, if you see this, I would love to respond to you personally but I don't know how to reach you.  I added my profile to the bottom of the sidebar. If you email me, I can respond. 

37th Week. a Light Bulb Moment

Goodness gracious it is cold outside! The car's thermometer read -4* and turnout at the meeting was light, but I was glad I went.

Saturday was a family birthday party. Coney dogs after a variety to chip and dip appetizers was dinner, followed by cake and ice cream. I began by planning ahead, but over ate anyway. The difference between pre-WW days and now is my level of consciousness. I was fully aware and mindfully made the choice to eat spinach dip, but I ate it on veggies instead of chips and crackers. In order to enjoy the cake and some ice cream and also a lite beer, I skipped the chili and bun when I had a hotdog along with a good sized portion of salad.

My point is that I had a good time at the party, didn't feel deprived and while I didn't track everything (how much spinach dip was on those carrots? how many points in that dip anyway??), I didn't get out of hand by my definition.

Ever hear a sermon or lecture and feel that the point of the speech was aimed directly at you? One or two sentences at today's meeting hit me over the head. Suzanne said that she has read that 95% of people with weight issues are emotional eaters and she personally thinks the other 5% are in denial. We all laughed but I still didn't see myself as an emotional eater. She went on to comment that those who don't feel they eat when they are happy or sad but eat because they like the taste or feel of certain foods are emotionally tied to that taste or feeling.

 

What I've been learning since June is that one bite of something tastes just as good as 27 bites. I WAS an emotional eater! We all hear phrases like "too much of a good thing is wonderful" and many sayings about chocolate and all that it can humorously cure. Weaknesses in my personality have never been drinking alcohol to excess or shopping to the point of creating a worrisome debt. I'm talking habits, not occasional indiscretions.  

So why was eating different? I don't know at the moment, and maybe I never will unravel that mystery. Since I began eating as if WW points were dollars on a budget, or thinking of food as fuel rather than a pleasure (taste and texture) that I should stockpile, I haven't had a problem.

I was down 1.6 pounds at the scale today, for a total of 53.9 pounds. Onward and downward, with the light bulb shining brightly!

Weigh in #35 on the 36th week

I was out of town last week and my regular meeting was canceled because of a snow storm. Good time for me to be in Florida!

My family and I stayed at Nickelodeon Suites in Orlando. We visited the Magic Kingdom and Universal Studio theme parks and enjoyed many of the activities right at Nickelodeon. I can't say eating there was one of them. In the building they called the "mall" they had a bar that served a limited menu, a buffet where we ate breakfast with characters, a Subway and a pizza vendor whose name I've already forgotten.

The quality of the food at the bar and buffet were nothing to rave about, nor was the pizza, but this was all convenient. Three nights in a row we were going to go out for dinner but after a busy day, we were happy to stay put, especially with an almost 5 year old in our group.

Over the course of the week I had three alcoholic drinks while I normally go months without any. I had real ice cream one night. It wasn't worth the points or the price, but the company (my family) was good. I aimed for the best choices out of sometimes a poor selection. By the end of the week I was craving vegetables and fruit. We went to a Walmart at the beginning of the week and I did have bananas and yogurt most morning.

We had a very good time on this vacation and while I wasn't sure how the scale would read this morning, I didn't regret last week at all. Imagine my happy surprise to be down 2.2 pounds for a total of 52.3 pounds gone! All of the walking at the theme parks and around the hotel paid off!

I guess this is proof that if I walked or did some form of exercise during a normal week at home, I would be doing even better on weight loss. Maybe once the laundry is caught up I will do just that, but it won't be walking outside. Our high temps are only going to be in the teens for most of the week. 

Until shivering from the cold and doing laundry counts as a cardiovascular workout, I will remain a wimp.

Onward and downward. 

Weigh in #34 An eye-opener

I neither gained nor lost this week. I know that happens sometimes no matter how strict you've been, but to be honest, I haven't been strict.

I've been lax about actually tracking things some days but have kept a running tally in my head. Or so I told myself. Today was a busy day. Lunch was late and on the run, a McDonald's plain cheeseburger and a diet Coke, 8 points. When I sat down tonight to enter today's foods, I hit my daily total of 27 points before entering the WW salted caramel bar (3 points).  Oops!

But the bigger problem is a little item, specifically Hershey Nuggets.  There was a bag of gold ones (they have nuts) and a bag of silver wrapped milk chocolate nuggets left over from Christmas projects. I can easily avoid the candy with nuts. Those silver wrapped ones are sneaky though. 

Did you know that one of them is 1.5 points? I know I had three of them today, maybe four. This is what got me into trouble in the first place. I know not to eat a whole candy bar mindlessly but these darn little things are obviously a red light item for me. 

They are now in a container with a lid and inside a cabinet instead of sitting in an open bowl calling my name. 

We're all different. For someone else it might be chips that beckon. For me it is milk chocolate.  With eyes wide open and fingers ready to track (typing, not writing), I plunge into the week.

Onward and downward. Cautiously.

Weigh in # 33

Today was a big day at WW for me. I reached a 50 pound loss. Fifty point one, to be exact.

I am not giddy excited, but I am pleased. I have further to go and definitely plan to get there, but I am savoring the accomplishment so far and how much better I feel. I still am not exercising, but housework is less tiring, and I didn't realize how tiring it was before. I thought it was just boring.

Whatever your current weight and fitness level is, nobody would choose to carry this around day and night for an unlimited time right?

Ten 5-pound packages of sugar (or anything else) would make you weary and that is what I have carried, plus more, for many, many years.

It is so easy to put off making a change until Monday, but often Monday arrives along with an excuse for another delay. I did that for years, 52 times per year, consciously and unconsciously. If I had made the mental connection to do this 15 or 20 years ago, you wouldn't be reading this because I hadn't heard of blogging then. It doesn't matter when you start, just start. I'm not beating myself up for any yesterdays or yester-years. I am celebrating today and not afraid of tomorrow.

Onward and downward, with less to haul around.

A so-so week, but that's ok

Not much about this week has been typical. Monday should have been my weigh in and meeting but the road conditions were bad (snow and ice) and not only do I not like that, my car is still new (not a month old yet!) so why dodge drivers who act as if the pavement is clear and they can stop on a dime?

I weighed in on Tuesday morning. I was disappointed to be up .6 pounds again, but not very upset. There have been a string of days where dinner hasn't gone as planned. An impromptu family meeting on Friday became a pizza night, and not the pizza my husband and I usually choose. This was thicker, cheesier and greasier. I was hungry and had two pieces, points be damned.

The rest of the weekend followed suit. I didn't track, even though I've said all along this helps me, I've been lax. I haven't been snacking on high point items and I have made the best choices I could, sometimes from a menu that was nearly printed on fried paper.

Given this admission, what is .6 pounds, right? Putting together how I feel after eating bad choices and how this affects my digestion and elimination, I think the gain will be gone by the next weigh in.

Years ago I went to a hypnotist with a friend. The subject was weight loss and we were all supposedly  given the subliminal message "proper foods feel the best". That didn't help either of us at the time but it sure is true now.

I am not going to give up impromptu pizza nights with my family, but 80% of the time or better, I will choose foods that don't give me indigestion, sit like a brick or make the scale numbers go up.

Weigh in # 31

The first full week of January. Do you know what that looks like at a Weight Watchers meeting?

Just kidding on that photo, but it was a packed meeting. I hope most people have as good an experience as I have been having. I know all too well how easy it is to drop out after a few weeks.

Before WW this morning, I had a doctor's appointment for a routine re-check on blood pressure. I've lost 12 pounds in the two and half months since that last visit. Not earth shattering but steady. The best news is that I've gone from a full dose of blood pressure to half a pill daily in that time, and now I am trying a regimen of a half pill every other day. If all goes well for two weeks, I'll stop entirely and see how that goes. Next recheck is in six weeks.

Total loss is now at 48.5 pounds. I hope to hit 50 next Monday!

Onward and downward!