Monday & Tuesday January 7 & 8, 2013

Monday & Tuesday
January 7 & 8, 2013

It's been a busy couple of days. Every once in a while there is a week when my home fellowship group and my bible study group meet in the same week. This is that week.

One of the areas where I struggle REALLY hard with compulsive eating is any time I come home late. Any activity that brings me home later in the evening is a huge stumbling block for me. My food journals are evidence of this.

I'm realizing, even as I type this, that losing control and overeating when I come home late is a HABIT!! Or as we're learning in Weight Watchers 360....it's a routine I've developed over the years and its deeply ingrained in my behaviors.

I'm finally realizing that I am not powerless to change this. I'm not doomed to keep repeating this behavior. I can develop a new habit....a new routine.

I need a plan....a routine to follow when I arrive home late in the evening. I think a cup of tea with cream will be a good substitute.

I'm sure it won't be easy. It will take effort. But I can do this.

What I did right....I tracked everything. I used my weekly points allowance to cover my night time eating. I exercised. I drank my water. I haven't had any diet soda for weeks. It's so easy to focus on the failures and the struggles....but I have made significant progress with my lifestyle changes.

It's Wednesday morning as I type this. It's a new day. There is a blank tracker ready to record today's choices.....onward

Sunday January 6, 2013

Sunday January 6, 2013

I feel like this was a really good day. Sundays can be a challenge for me as we usually go out for lunch after church. And we usually go to places that challenge my self control!

This was no different. We went to Hometown Buffet, to face row after row of fattening, all-you-can-eat foods! So many comfort foods gathered in one place!!

I had skipped breakfast as I dinked around too long getting ready for church and ran out of time. (Note to self....boil some eggs) so we get to HTB and I'm hungry. The first thing I did was hit the salad bar and fill a plate with zero point goodies. There wasn't a salad dressing that appealed to me so I sprinkled it with vinegar.

Then I made a plate with chicken, roast beef, yams, and broccoli. I topped the yams with butter. I ate about half of the chicken and a few bites of the roast beef. The yams were to die for, so I had a second serving. It's not pictured here but I also had a cheese enchilada.

This is where it got tricky. The splurge of having a second helping of yams and a cheese enchilada put me at the edge of a dangerous place. Feeling like I had blown it brought me to that place where I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind and hit the dessert bar. ( After all, I can get back on track tomorrow with it being Monday and all...right?) I took a deep breath, pulled out my phone, and started calculating and tracking PointsPlus values.....while sipping my water. Calculating the points and putting them in my tracker was the action that backed me away from the edge. 22PointsPlus...almost my entire day's worth of points but still a salvageable day. All was not lost ....I was still "on plan." So we gathered our things, left a tip for the waitress, and left....without a trip to the dessert bar!!

Later, at home, I had some zero point WW soup and some grapes. Later still, I had mandarin oranges. And my night time snack was frozen bananas and milk, whipped into an ice cream-like concession.

At around 7:30 the urge to binge and eat everything in the house hit really hard. So, I went to bed. (It's not as crazy as it sounds. I get up at 4:00am)

So anyway...I managed to stay within my points range and I'm calling that success. I kept telling myself that I needed to go for a walk but it was cold outside and I was warm and cozy in the house....warm and cozy won out.

So....onward...

Saturday January 5, 2013

Saturday January 5, 2013

I started the day with a walk/run. I did 10 miles. I interval ran the first 6 and then walked the rest. I learned that 32 degrees is very cold!! I dressed in layers and I thought I would warm up from running....I didn't. The cold made my muscles ache and cramp. 32 degrees is very cold.....duh! I live in Southern California ...I am not used to cold, and yes, I don't know how to drive in real weather...lol. Anyway, I did 10 miles. My pace was very slow. I am more than a little bit concerned about how I'll do in the Tinkerbell half marathon in 2 weeks. I'm really not ready for it. I'll be happy if I can finish it in the time allotted. We'll see...
My 10 mile run earned me 13 ActiveLink points.

After my run I soaked in a hot tub to thaw out and then got my day started. This was a day of running a few errands and visiting my mom.

I had a snack before I started my walk/run, of some Greek yogurt and half of a banana.

My day was rather late getting started after I got back so I had breakfast at about noon. I ate at my shop while I was there catching up in some paperwork and banking.

I spent a couple of hours visiting my mom. I had black coffee and ONE cookie! I'm rather proud of only having one! Yay me!!

Dinner was chicken breast, leftover from a rotisserie chicken, a baked yam and mixed veggies. It was good...I was hungry.

My snacks were fruit, milk, cheese, and a bowl of beans. I really probably didn't need the beans. It was a small serving though and I tracked it.

I worked on putting my fork down between bites and sipping on water...and trying to be mindful of slowing down and savoring the bite I was chewing. I'm amazed at how much I have to work at this simple action. It does not come naturally to me at all!

All in all it was a good day.

Onward....

Friday January 4, 2013

Friday January 4, 2013

I stated on plan. I stayed within my PointsPlus range. I worked on my "healthy routines" that I hope turn into healthy habits and become second nature.

I earned 2 ActiveLink points. I am trying to get up and go for a short walk around the building every hour but its proving difficult while trying to run a business. I did go for two short walks and I'm going to keep trying for more.

We had chili dogs for dinner. I used Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Beef Franks...so good and only 40 calories/1 PointsPlus each.....Hormel Turkey Chili with no beans, Kraft Singles Fat Free Cheddar Cheese, and regular hot dog buns. It was 13 PointsPlus but it was soooo good!

I probably had a bit too much fruit yesterday but it's helping me to stop snacking on junk so I'm okay with it.

Okay....onward...

Friday January 4, 2013

Happy Friday!! And Happy first Weight Watcher meeting/weigh-in of 2013. I am up .4 of a pound this week. it could (should) have been a lot worse. I'm ready to start the new year strong and move toward my goal of being healthy and fit.

My weight this morning was 184.2. That is up 8.4 pounds from my weight on October 12, when I hit 50 pounds lost. It is quite eye-opening for me to realize just how quickly the weight comes back when I slip back into old habits.

So, as I sad yesterday, 2013 is my year to REALLY begin the transformation from the inside out. My year to REALLY begin to deal with the mental and psychological reasons for my overeating. This year I am going to follow the WHOLE Weight Watchers plan, rather than just doing the diet.

So, one thing I have begun is the suggestion of putting my fork down between bites and sipping on water. If you were to ask me if I eat fast I would probably tell you no. But I have started to notice that I am usually the first one done eating whenever I sit down to a meal with others. So apparently I need to slow down! I am not having 100% success with this habit yet. Sometimes I am several bites into a meal before I remember to get my water....but I am making progress.

One more thing I am going to be intentional about doing this week is to ask myself if I really want to eat this or that, before I shove it in my mouth. Just a way to be a little more mindful of my choices.

These are small steps but I think they will add up to a change in my behavior, eventually.

Lastly, I don't talk a lot about my spiritual life here, but it is very much a part of who I am and I'm realizing more and more that I need God's help in dealing with all of this. So, I am being very intentional about my quiet time in the mornings. Time of reading my Bible and asking God to help me in my journey. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how much of the sin in the bible revolved around food. The original sin in the Garden of Eden involved Eve eating something that God had told them not to eat. So anyway, I'm not sure what sort of insight I will gain from that but I feel like there's something for me to learn there.

So there we go! Happy New Year....let's DO THIS!!!

onward :)

Wednesday January 2, 2013

Wednesday January 2, 2013

I did it! I stayed on plan and tracked every bite. I drank 10 glasses of water. When the urge to eat everything in the house started I went to bed. It was tough. I felt like I was starving even though I knew I couldn't really be hungry. It's just tough to rein it back in when I've been out of control.

I didn't follow through with my plan to get up and move every hour. I got busy trying to get back into my routine at work and each time my alarm would remind me I would think, "I'll do it in a few minutes."....yeah, not so much. So I hope to do better with that today.

I'm relieved that the holidays are over. I know that staying on track will get easier as I get back into the swing of a healthy routine. This year I really hope to change enough on the inside so that the holidays aren't an excuse to indulge in another long feeding frenzy.

This year I plan to take a photo of myself on the first of each month....sort of a photo journal of my progress. I'm hoping it will be an encouragement to me.

January 2, 2013

Getting Back On Track

The holidays are finally over!! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of the season...even the crazy busy month at work! But there's something comforting about life settling back into a normal routine.

I've slipped way out of control this holiday season and its causing me to really think about some things. Things like; Why do I do the things I do? What needs to change in order for 2013 to be a better year in terms of my health and fitness goals? I ultimately settled on a couple of things. ...

First, while I SAY all the time that Weight Watchers is not a diet, it's a tool to help me change my lifestyle, I very often live like it's a DIET. What I mean is this...if I simply follow the food plan without actually doing the work of changing the way I think, the way I react to circumstances, the ways in which I comfort myself, then Weight Watchers is simply another diet.

A few weeks ago, when Weight Watchers rolled out the "Weight Watchers 360" plan, I purchased the new member kit. I set it on a shelf with the intention of going through the materials later. It set on that shelf until a few days ago. When I finally opened it up, I found a "Success Handbook" among the items included in it. As I began thumbing through the pages I realized that THIS is different!! This is a handbook designed to help one to make the very changes I am seeking to make! So that is where I am starting on this day, January 2, 2013. I have begun working through the handbook. There are some fun, scrapbook type things in the beginning if it that I will need to go back and do over the next few days...but chapter one is about "Master Your Motivation." So that us what I will be working on this week, starting with "3 steps that kick motivation into gear."
1. Take action
2. That action can be very small
3. The action doesn't have to be about following rules.

So, here's the actions I will be starting with. I will drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. I will set my alarm to remind me to get up and move every hour. And, I will track my food.

There we go! A plan for finding my way back to my healthy lifestyle that got lost in the shuffle of the holiday season. I can do this!! WE can do this!! 2013 is going to be a great year!!