End of the month roundup…my ten tips on weight loss

It’s the last day of September, and when I got out of bed this morning, I decided that I would use the last day of each month to review my own findings on my weight loss journey.  By re-reading my 16 previous blogs this month, I was able to reinforce things that I already kind of knew but didn’t want to face and re-visit things that I would not have ever known about, if I hadn’t decided to join Weight Watchers again.

Here’s how September looks to me:

My refrigerator isn’t my enemy. 

As much as I would like to blame anyone but myself for messing around with its contents, I have learned to stock it full of better food choices and meet up with it when I am actually hungry.

Portion control is and will continue to be my toughest challenge.

Learning to identify three or four ounces of meat, chicken or fish is done best by using my scale right now.  What I thought was four ounces, before weighing it, turns out to be more like six or eight ounces.  So, the scale will be used until my ability to judge portions improves.  And, the added benefit is that you get a lot more servings out of a roast when you eat less of it each time.

Walking isn’t as bad as I thought.

I’m not turning into an athlete.  I  will be walking the three miles roundtrip to my Weight Watchers meetings and taking one additional walk each week.  It’s a start.

Staying for the whole meeting is helpful.

How else would I be inspired by our leader, Claudette’s, words of encouragement and the group’s tales of how they are making it work for them.  Whether it’s being “wowed” by the member who lost 130 pounds or feeling compassion for the one who has struggled to maintain her weight for one more week, there is always something to learn.

Giant fudge bars are great and have only one point.

No more needs to be said about this topic.  Good thing I stayed for the whole meeting.

Weighing- in once a week is good for me.

It’s just enough involvement with a scale to tell me what I need to know without making me crazy.

Free food isn’t really free.

Whether it’s a coupon “deal” or a wedding buffet, just because the food seems plentiful and low/no cost, there always is a price to pay.  I’d rather save the points.

Eating breakfast keeps me together until lunch.

I was a breakfast skipper, which made me a lunch/snack overeater.  Not any more…breakfast is a very cool way to start my day.

Milestones should be celebrated.

Stars are awarded for milestones at our meeting.  Nothing stops us from setting up a reward system for ourselves when we achieve important goals on our journey.  I will be patting myself on the back and buying myself a little something special for every 10 pounds lost.

Having someone say they are proud of me makes me smile.

I write this blog to help me be accountable.  The more people who are “in the know” about my journey, the more excited I am about reaching my goal.  And, to have someone I care about say that they are proud of me is the icing on the cake.

My final thought is this.  My husband and his friends use the expression, “it’s not a sprint, but a marathon” quite a bit, and I think that it applies to my desire to lose weight.  I used to be in a hurry to get the weight off, but I clearly didn’t pick up enough lessons to keep it off.  This time, I’m taking my time and savoring each lesson along the way.

Talk to you soon.

Weigh-in day...a love story

I remember being a child growing up in New Jersey and having my mother “bundle me up” in my snowsuit and then stand in front of me attaching my mittens to my jacket, so they wouldn’t get lost.  And then she’d send me off to school each morning with my lunch box and a kiss goodbye.

I got to experience a bit of that feeling this morning as my husband got me ready to go to my Weight Watchers meeting.  I was walking there again, by choice this time, and he was preparing me properly for my journey.  Instead of carrying my 20- pound purse, he appeared with a “fanny pack” to keep my arms free.  I loaded it with the essentials, my Weight Watchers monthly pass, the house key, my driver’s license and $10.  The $10 was just in case I wimped out and had to call a taxi somewhere along the route.  The driver’s license was in case I fell into a ditch and forgot who I was.

As I stood in front of him, he attached the ‘fanny pack,” something I have not worn before, and also attached a tiny iPod Shuffle so I could listen to music.  It’s funny that my friend Elaine suggested that I listen to music while walking, and I told her that it was not an interest of mine.  But, today, I gave it a try and Bruce Springsteen was singing to me before I got out the door.

And then, when it was time to go, my husband gave me a kiss goodbye.  It made me happy.

Today was weigh-in day and I’m pleased to report a drop of 1.2 pounds, for a total of 4 pounds in two weeks.  Yeah!

And, when I returned home, (and didn't call a taxi or fall into a ditch), my husband had left for work.  But in his place was a cold bottle of water and a note telling me he was proud of me.  I’m still smiling.

Talk to you soon.

Weight loss rewards...recognizing milestones along the way

I believe in rewarding success.  As a business coach and former corporate executive, I know the importance of setting goals and acknowledging milestones along the way. So, why not reward myself on my weight-loss journey?

I decided that a “fair” way to recognize my achievement is to treat myself to a small gift when I have lost 20% of my 50 pounds goal (10 pounds) and then to repeat those gifts every 20% until I lose the weight.  So, five gifts over 50 weeks…seems like a plan I’ll enjoy.

I’m not talking about BIG ticket items, here.  And I am not treating myself to a milk shake, either.  But, until I hit the first milestone, I can have some fun thinking about what reward will be my first.

Talk to you soon.

Playing fair in a restaurant...leave that bread right where it is

Saturday night…date night with my husband.  As empty nesters, any night can be date night and this week, we chose Saturday.  What happens on date night stays on date night with the exception of what we did for dinner. 

We like to support our town’s restaurants, so we try to stay close to home.  One of our favorite places to go is a Mexican restaurant.  But, I just didn’t feel ready to tackle my points with that menu.  So, we went Italian. 

I knew from the menu in the window that there were alternatives to pasta, and it was easy to find a meal that was “point appropriate” and desirable.  A grilled under a brick chicken breast served over a bed of fresh greens with fingerling potatoes kept me interested in my meal, especially remembering that I didn’t have to cook it.

The hardest part for me was staring at the bread…and the olive oil infused with herbs.  I could have asked to have it removed or not served at all.  But, in real life and with my husband who loves bread and oil sitting at the table, that option just wasn’t viable.  And it never will be.  I have to learn to enjoy other people’s pleasures without indulging in them each and every time.

I made it through last evening’s bread encounter with flying colors.  A sense of satisfaction came over me as we left the restaurant, but I actually think it was more because I didn’t have to wash the dishes than it was because I didn’t eat the bread.

Talk to you soon.

My theory of weight gain...it's all about the scale

I think that I must have been adopted.  Not really, but after speaking to my dad and my sister this week, I wonder why they are the way they are, and I am not that way.  Let me explain.  When my dad and I were chatting, he mentioned, for the one millionth time, that he weighed 195 pounds when he got out of the Army, and that now he weighs 205…pretty impressive for an 84 year-old guy. 

Today, I was chatting with my sister who mentioned that she weighs 115 pounds, the same weight she was when she got married about 30 years ago.  I won’t even go down the path of how a 5’6” person can weigh so little, but she has always been a size 2.  Averaging us together, we are a “normal” weighted person.

Which brings me to the question of how this happened.  I believe that the secret lies in owning a scale and using it.  Both my father and my sister own scales and go through the daily ritual of weighing themselves.  I, on the other hand, threw my scale out a few decades ago because, from what I remember, I didn’t want to know what it said.  It’s the old conundrum of the chicken and the egg.  I’m not sure which came first, my weight gain or my disposal of the scale.

But, now, I am becoming a little more like my relatives.  I go to Weight Watcher meetings and they have a scale.  A happy balance has been achieved.

Talk to you soon.

Don't skip breakfast...even when drooling

When I left for the dentist yesterday, I thought I was going in for my quarterly routine cleaning.  Too bad I had forgotten that I’d agreed to an interim appointment to have an “issue” with one tooth worked on.  I had not eaten breakfast before I left, because I figured I’d be home by 11 a.m., and it would give me something to look forward to while sitting in the dentist’s chair.

Well, I was wrong.  Eighteen Novocain needles into my “procedure”, the last thing I was interested in was my breakfast.  I just wanted to go home and dine on Advil. 

I did arrive home at 11, took the Advil and then made my breakfast.  I know from both common sense and my Weight Watchers program, that eating breakfast is healthy and going to help me control my appetite for the rest of the day.  As much as I wanted to eat ice cream because I felt sorry for myself, I didn’t.  I ate yogurt, fresh strawberries and a banana…soft foods that involved little chewing but held me over until a very late in the day lunch.

Lessons learned for the day were not just about portion control.  I patted myself on the back when I ate three meals and a snack, didn’t eat ice cream to “comfort” myself and stayed within my points.  Oh yeah, I was also pretty happy when I stopped drooling!

Talk to you soon.

No such thing as a free meal...even with a coupon

Have you ever gotten a coupon in the mail for a three -course dinner and felt compelled to order all three courses because you were paying for it anyway?  Well, last evening, my “Girls Night Out” group had our monthly get together, and I was the one with the coupon that was good for all six of us to get the three- course deal for $21. 

My other five friends are skinny.  They were excited about the opportunities contained in the choices of Caesar salad or minestrone for the appetizer, ravioli, chicken marsala or mahi mahi for the main course and ice cream or lemon bars for dessert.  All for $21.

I, on the other hand, was not excited.  I was annoyed.  I wanted “the deal” more because it was a deal than because of the food.  That made me think about some of my less than sterling eating decisions in the past.  Does my portion control issue get aroused even more when the food is seemingly “free?”  Is this why buffets and wedding receptions are really more fun for me than they actually might be?

I ended up ordering off the regular menu.  I paid $17 for grilled salmon.  I look at it as I saved $4 compared to the rest of the group and that I didn't end up adding points for food I didn’t need or really even want. 

Bring on that next buffet table…I think I can outsmart it!

Talk to you soon.