Where Have You Been, Missy?

Conspicuously absent, huh? (Or not so conspicuously, since about 3 people MAYBE read this blog, and I've probably lost the minimal readership I had thanks to not posting much.) Well, last week was CRAZY busy because the husband was working 24/7 finishing a paper, which means I was working 24/7 at a) my job and b) taking care of le bebe while husband was finishing his paper.

The good news is, I weighed in on Thursday and lost another 1.2 lbs. With the gain of the previous week, that's still 8.8 lbs down! Yay me. I only logged 9 activity points out of the 10 I was hoping for, but that's pretty good.

The notsogood news: We went away for the weekend and I totally indulged. I didn't count anything, I didn't journal anything, and I didn't pay any attention to my diet. I recognize that this is technically not part of the program, but with the weight I have to lose, I have to be in it for the long haul. And that means giving myself a break occasionally, and that includes when I travel. I don't travel much, so this is not a big issue in the grand scheme of things, but whoo boy this weekend. I ate a donut bigger than my HEAD (OK, maybe a third of the donut. No way I could finish that thing.) I drank cocktails. I had Dungeness Crab Canneloni and whole fried fish and a blackberry scone and it was glorious. It was totally worth it. But it wasn't failure. 3 days in the years it's going to take me to get this weight off is a mere drop in the bucket. And so necessary to my sanity.

To be fair, I also walked my butt off this weekend. That's the upside of traveling.

Now the 6 points I went over yesterday because I finished a bag of pretzels -- there's just no excuse for that. Onward and upward!

Upson Downs

I haven't been particularly regular posting this week -- partially because life gets busy, and partially because I wasn't feeling it. And I wasn't particularly feeling the program/diet/lifestyle whatever. I was technically staying within my points (including my flex points) but I wasn't measuring, planning, eating right. I was feeling sloppy. I woke up on Wednesday and went back to basics, but I registered a gain this week. Only .4 lbs, and I can't say I was surprised, but at least I know when I'm not working the program. Only a small setback, and one that's easily overcome. Hopefully.

Challenges for the week ahead:

Splurge a little for Easter dinner (my mother's fried chicken may not be resisted)

Vacation on Friday (I'm not going to measure or journal that whole weekend. Just try to make good choices.

Goals for the week ahead:

Get at least 10 activity points
Eat fruits and vegetables
No more sloppiness!
Water!

Notsogreat Weekend

I was down this weekend -- house is a mess, hubby worked all weekend, parents (aka relief childcare) out of town, friends cancelled plans. So I was down. And I ate. I didn't go on an all out binge, but I gave up caring enough to count (fortunately, I toted up Saturday's dinner of frozen shu mai and homemade Thai Sticky Rice with coconut and mango and didn't do too much damage), and I did get myself a treat (fortunately, instead eating all of a bag of cookies, I ate most of a container of dates, which did much less damage to my waistline. I didn't totally lose control.) Also, I ordered a shamrock shake on Sunday -- I had never tried one, and despite not knowing the points ahead of time (a big no no in my book) I wanted it anyway. I did throw it away after drinking maybe half. Is that all?

No wait, I broke into the baked Jalapeno cheese doodles I bought my husband on Sunday night. Didn't eat them all, but also didn't measure them.

Is this the end of my diet? No. I barely went over points, if at all, thanks to my gazillions of nursing points, but it did feel disturbing. I knew I was eating because I was down, I KNOW that's bad, but you know what? Food, at least temporarily did make me feel better. I have a hard time on weekends anyway, because I don't eat regularly, and then I get hungry and eat what's available. Add to that the feeling sorry for myself, and I'm in bad shape.

The thing about emotional eating is that all the diet magazines and Oprah seem to think that if you identify emotional eating, then you have fixed it. In reality, it's far more complex than that. I know I eat to make myself feel better. I know there are other things I could do, but I don't have the time/money for a lot of those things. Eating is fast, and it works. And yes, it defeats my long term objectives, but gah - it's hard to justify that in the short term.

It's a struggle. The best I can do right now is to make good choices.

Weigh In Friday

And down 1.2 lbs, for a total of 8. Which is pretty good for 3 weeks on a diet. Still, it's a bit of a letdown when you stop that early weight loss of 2+ lbs per week and slow down to a more reasonable weight. Part of me wanted to reach my next mini goal, which was totally unrealistic anyway. It's hard not to get impatient. I know this is a long process, and I didn't gain weight overnight and won't lose it overnight, but I can't wait to have some real, measurable noticeable weight loss.

I should be celebrating. 1.2 lbs is 1.2 fewer lbs than I weighed last week! It's 5 fewer sticks of butter. It's 1.2 lbs that I will never have again. And if a week has passed, it's better to be 1.2 lbs lighter than 1.2 lbs heavier.

I'll take my 1.2 lbs, and I'll own it. And I hope it rubs together and has lots of little 1.2 lb loss babies.

OK, that last part sounded weird.

It's the little things ...

I keep oatmeal in my desk at work and often eat breakfast after I've gotten to work in the morning. It cuts down my at home morning routine a little, and its healthy and filling. However, if I don't eat anything besides my cup of coffee in the morning, I can get a little lightheaded, what with the breastfeeding and the running around. I was having a piece of toast with some Laughing Cow Cheese or peanut butter on it before I left in the morning. Then I had an epiphany. I could drink a glass of skim milk, eat a banana, get a dairy serving and a fruit serving in, and be less hungry, all for not many more points. Aah! It's like the lightbulb went off over my head.

Putting your money where your mouth is ...

I saw a recent hack in lifehacks.com which led me to this blog entry in the NYT about loss aversion and weight loss. The basic idea is that people are more motivated by avoiding a loss than they are by a potential gain, and a way to get people to stick to their resolutions is to make them pay ... literally ... if they don't. Enter StickK -- a site that allows you to make "commitment contracts" -- you sign up for a goal, set stakes, and if you don't meet your goal the money goes to charity (or you can sign up to donate the money to an anti-charity -- one that opposes your values on gun control, abortion, gay marriage or the environment).

Needless to say, I was intrigued. Given how many diets I've started in the past 10 years or so, I could use something that would make me stick with it. But when I went to the site I hesitated. Yes, the weight loss one isn't the best idea, given that it's a timed goal over something you don't have ultimate control over -- exactly how much you'll lose by when. You can customize a goal, though, so why was I hesitant?

I don't trust myself to stay the course, really. Given how many diets I've started in the past 10 years or so. I don't believe I can do it for the long term. And if I don't believe that, then why am I here? I have to believe in myself and my ability to make the lifestyle choice, before I can even think about losing weight in the long term. And when you have as much to lose as I do, it's definitely long term.

Maybe this will help. I can give myself a goal that I can control -- I will stay on the diet for 12 weeks. I can't control the results -- what my body does -- but I can control what I do. I have to believe in my self-control. So $120 to saying I'm still here on June 4th.

Can't bring myself to give money to the anti-environment crowd though. Unspecified charity it is.

The ABC's of Vegetables

One of the hardest things about doing Weight Watchers (so far) is getting in the 8 Healthy Guidelines. Water is easy -- I drink that all day. The healthy oils are also easy for me -- I cook with a lot of olive oil and make my own salad dressing. But dairy I often forget (it's all about the cheese!) and worst of all are the fruits and vegetables requirements. There are just so MANY of them. I'm totally OK with having a salad with dinner and a piece of fruit as an afternoon snack, but that's less than half of what I'm supposed to eat. Fruit I can manage more of, but I'm just not in the habit of preparing veggies. So here are a few of my personal vegetable favorites at the start of the alphabet, with preparation methods.

Artichokes. Steam for 45 minutes to an hour, serve with 1 T light mayonnaise as dipping sauce.

Arugula. One of my favorite salads is arugula with maple mustard dressing (1/2 t. maple syrup, 1 t. dijon mustard, 1 t. red wine vinegar and 2 t. olive oil) and some grated parmesan (.25 oz per person is plenty for a large salad).

Asparagus. I like to toss these with a little garlic oil and roast at 400 for about 30 minutes. Alternatively, they're good steamed and tossed with vinaigrette or served with a sauce made of light mayo and chopped tomatoes heated on the stovetop (I know it sounds gross, but try it).

Beets. I buy the precooked beets at Trader Joes, then chop and toss with a mixture of goat cheese and plain yogurt. A good alternative is to toss with wine vinegar and a little crumbled blue cheese.

Broccoli. Steam and serve with a low fat cheese sauce or toss with parmesan and a little garlic oil.

Brussels sprouts. Cut in half, toss with a little oil, and roast at 400 for about 30-40 minutes.

Cabbage. I buy preshredded coleslaw mix and toss in some fresh ginger, seasoned rice vinegar and sesame seeds for a low fat Asian Coleslaw. This is great topped with teriyaki chicken or miso glazed salmon.

Carrots. Carrot sticks, obviously, but they're good braised with just a little butter and sugar and a lot of garlic.

Cauliflower. Either steam and puree with a bit of light butter and S&P for a mashed potato alternative, or toss with oil and garlic and roast at 450 until browned.

3 Granola Bars Left.