Surviving the Holidays

Well, I made it through Thanksgiving without gaining major weight, but the fact that I'm up 8 pounds from last April is discouraging enough.

So on Monday, November 28th, Weight Watchers introduced their new PointsPlus program. Yeah, yeah, I thought. Just another way for WW to make money. Everybody is raving about "free fruit" -- no points for fresh fruit on the new program. Okay, I can go with it. I thought I'd get motivated. Nah, same old, same old for the week.

Then last Monday I saw an old friend at my WW meeting. Talk about a positive motivator, she's got me excited again (especially since it's Monday and I get to see her at tonight's meeting) and I tracked all week. Yes, I did!

So my friend says, with her big ol' grin and sparkly eyes, "We can do this! We'll be at goal and WW leaders before you know it!" So I have a new goal. Happy Monday!

Stress Eating

For the past two months, all I have done is stress eat. For two weeks, I pretty much had nabs and a candy bar for lunch every day. Unfortunately, this was because I have had an incredibly, horribly stressful time at work for the past two months.

I should probably be relieved that the stress eating hasn't caused more of a weight gain -- I'm at least 5 pounds up -- but I can't seem to get back into the cycle of good eating and tracking. Part of it is that I'm still a little depressed from work which I'm sure is complicated by the bad eating habits.

I really just want to sit around the house, never go to work again, and eat all day. Thank goodness there is no ice cream in the house.

Tracking the Good Life

Almost seven weeks into Weight Watchers, my re-commitment to tracking and food journaling, and I'm right at twenty pounds lighter. It's a great feeling to know that I'm on track, really into portion control, planning ahead and writing down every morsel that goes into my mouth.

What's different? When will it end?

Okay, so I'm trying to remain positive, but I've been here before; I've lost thirty plus pounds on WW in the past. How is this time going to be different?

My dad told me years ago that one day you'll just have it "right in your head" and you'll stick with it. Sounds like mind over matter -- maybe it is -- but I know what he meant now. Getting healthy is a priority at this point, for lots of reasons, and I can tell that it's "right in my head".

It's a good life!

Eating on Vacation

Well, I'm not really on vacation, but I am out of town for a professional conference. And that means eating out EVERY single meal. So I'm trying to make the best choices so that I can still stay within my points and enjoy a few regional favorites while I'm here.

Yesterday, I managed to use all my points and just a few of the weekly points AND I tried the Boston creme pie at the restaurant we ate at for dinner. My dinner companion and I halved the pie (I gave her the bigger half!) and it was plenty to get a taste of the delicious dessert. My dinner was on the healthy side -- grilled shrimp, Brussels sprouts, and spinach -- although I wasn't quite sure how to count the possible oils used to saute the spinach and sprouts. I did count them, though, and possibly on the high side.

We're trying right now to decide what to do for dinner, but I'm close to no daily points left -- I enjoyed some clam chowder with my salad at lunch today -- so I'm concerned about what I'll be able to choose for dinner.

I've got my handy-dandy WW points guide and I'm tracking, so I'm feeling good about my food choices while on vacation.