I'm not sure what force came over me today, but I did something I never thought possible. Just a little background: my new WW week's worth of points start on Wednesdays. If I'm having a bad week, I really look forward to Wednesday and having a clean slate, so to speak.
The last half of this past WW week was rough. It all started with teriyaki wings after excessive drinking on Saturday night. I couldn't have sampled just one of my boyfriend's wings. Nope; had to get my own entire order of ten. And did I mention it was approaching one o'clock in the morning on Sunday? Not exactly a nutritious choice.
What a waste of my WW points! In fact, I knew that it was such a waste that I didn't even track it or count them. And thus started a very slippery slope of binging and not exercising. Throughout this binging, I did accept that I would have get back on the wagon and refocused on Wednesday. Perfect timing, right? New week's worth of points = a clean slate in my mind.
Well...it turns out maybe there is no such thing as perfect timing. Today (Tuesday) at work I confessed to my buddies on the message boards all of the above and firmly declared that I would be back on plan "tomorrow morning."
And here's why I love the WW online message boards. Tanya said, "Question: Why tomorrow? Why not next meal???"
What a great point!!! I thought to myself, "Hello, Lesley! Why didn't you think of that?"
From that moment on I decided to turn my Tuesday around and not use my new week's worth of points that I knew were inevitable for Wednesday to be the reason to continue my poor food choices.
I started chugging water at work, and when I came home I immediately put on my work-out clothes and hopped on the treadmill. Nearly 600 calories burned and over 4.5 miles later, I feel like a new woman.
A complete 180 in one day. Wow. It is possible.
Thanks for listening, as always.
Lesley
I'm trying to do a better job of savoring foods and not letting them have so much power over me. Basically, I need to stop wolfing down my food - trigger, comfort and other!Years ago I saw a TV show (maybe Dateline) conduct a weight loss program with a small group of average overweight Americans. One of the rules the group had to follow was waiting 30 seconds between each bite; they all agreed that of everything they had to do while on the program (climb flights of stairs, park further away from store entrances, try new recipes, and even learn to cook for some) this rule was the hardest to follow.I remember giving this idea a shot and discovering how dreadfully long 30 seconds really is - especially when you are pausing between each bite and sip! However, last night while eating one of my favorite evening snacks of choice, Baked Lays, I looked in the bag after probably five minutes and all of a sudden they were gone. "Who stole my chips?" I asked of no one around. Um, it was me!
I think I need to revisit the idea though. I ate my Baked Lays (and pretty much everything else I consumed yesterday) too quickly. Why not say "hi" to my food before popping it into my mouth? I would venture to guess that my food tastes just as good eaten slowly as when I inhale it.
A good friend from the WW 50+ message board had this to say of one of her favorite indulgences, macaroni and cheese: "I need to learn that mac and cheese is alright. It's not a 'bad' food. It's just a food. The nutritional value for the food has more fat that I'd normally want to consume, so it's going to have to be an occassional food. And when I get it, I don't need to have 3 cups of it. I need to learn to savor the one serving I have and enjoy it for what it is. A favorite food of mine that isn't very nutritionally sound."
Thinking of my foods in that above mentality will surely help me when I feel a binge coming on. Savoring foods and creating a new relationship with food by savoring it is key to successful weight maintenance.
I'd love to hear from you. Do you "savor the flavor?" If not, is your quick eating style affecting your weight loss or weight management journey?
A lot of people ask me, "How do you do it?" I won't deny that maintaining a 90-pound weight loss is difficult, but I invite you to shadow me for a day if you wish...
On a typical week day, I'll wake up at 6 a.m. and (I'll admit) lie in bed for about ten minutes giving myself a pep talk about exercise. It usually goes something like this: "You're worth it! You'll have energy throughout the day! The hardest part is just putting on your work-out clothes! Don't be a lazy bones!"
I don't pre-plan the days I take off from working out, but sometimes I think I should. That would give me more control over the situation and most likely lead to less guilt. Fortunately either way, the angel on my shoulder often wins and I find myself standing on my treadmill by about 6:20 a.m.
I either run or power walk with incline. The radio talk shows I listen to help keep me distracted so that my time (45-50 minutes) goes by quickly. Next up are about 150+ crunches.
I don't lift weights, although I often think about starting a strength training routine once I hit my personal goal weight. I'm more of a "cardio, cardio, cardio" preacher, and I practice what I preach about four to five days per week.
Breakfast is an oatmeal packet with some Fiber One mixed in. And plenty more water to drink. At this point I've already had a full bottle of water during my work out. The oatmeal breakfast sticks with me (literally) until about 10 a.m., at which time I'll have a fruit serving from my lunch.
I always (well, 90% of the time) pack my lunch for work. I could probably count on both hands the number of times I've gone out to lunch with colleagues since working here for five years. By bringing my lunch I can control exactly what I'm eating, and I often eat at my desk anyway, working through lunch, which you can't easily do at a restaurant!
Today in my lunch satchel I have a cup of pre-cut, pre-washed fresh strawberries, a baggy of baby carrots, a light string cheese stick, a can of Progresso Vegetable Noodle WW-endorsed soup, three pretzel rods, and a Diet Moutain Dew. And yes, I eat the entire can of soup and count my calories accordingly! Sometimes I'll save the pretzels (or sometimes popcorn, Baked Lays, or Baked Cheetos) for a mid-afternoon snack to give me a boost at work.
I have a major weakness for sweets, so almost every day I treat myself to two Werther's Original hard candies from a colleague's candy jar. I make these two candies last through my entire commute home (about 20-25 minutes). Sadly, I look forward to this part of my day a little too much sometimes!
By the time I get home around 5:30 p.m. I'm ready to make dinner. My favorite dinner is a salmon fillet (20 minutes at 400 degrees; very idiot-proof). I love baked potatoes with ketchup (no butter or sour cream, thank-you-very-much)! Green beans, corn or a small side salad often accompany the main course.
Last night I had leftovers while my dear-boyfriend Bob ate fast food in front of me. Ugh. At any rate, I was extremely satisfied with my chicken/corn mixture wrapped in flatbreads and accompanying baked potatoes (two small ones).
If I'm eating dinner alone I'll usually make a big salad with tuna, FF cheese, FF croutons, egg whites and a low-calorie dressing. I love the Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger!! Or, English muffin pizzas are a nice alternative. I'll use Healthy Choice marinara sauce and FF mozzarella cheese, sliced mushrooms, oregano, other Italian seasonings, and fresh ground pepper.
I definitely cash in the majority of my calories (or points if you're a WW member) during the evening for dinner and late-night snacks. I cannot ever give up snacking after dinner. If I did, I think I'd surely fall off the wagon. An evening snack might be a serving of Baked Lays, Baked Cheetos, pretzel rods, popcorn, fresh strawberries with frozen FF whipped topping, a light string cheese, etc.
And I know I drink way more diet pop than I should, but we all have our vices!
By the time 10 p.m. rolls around, I'm tired and ready for bed...ready to give myself another pep talk on exercise in eight short hours...
