End of the month roundup…my 20 tips on weight loss

It’s time for my monthly wrap-up. I went back through my postings and picked out the “nuggets” that worked best for me during the month of October. They are in no particular order, but I believe that number 20 is really the key to the whole weight-loss thing.

1. Walking, for me, works better with a destination.
2. 50 weeks is a long time. It’s easier to think in 90 –day chunks.
3. About 3.5 hours between meals, and I’m hungry.
4. Planning for an occasion and eating before hand helps.
5. Going to Weight Watchers meetings is more fun with family and friends.
6. Gold stars are good incentives for me to perform.
7. Free lunch isn’t free if you eat when you are not hungry.
8. Clean plate club doesn’t apply my plate AND to other peoples’ plate, too.
9. Buy only what you are going to eat, if you think having extra will sabotage you .
10. Lose weight for your health not for an occasion.
11. Plateaus and gains happen, so get back in the saddle.
12. Plus size women do enjoy fashion.
13. Leftovers can be turned into fun and satisfying meals.
14. Little things you can control make life more enjoyable.
15. Excitement keeps my mind off eating.
16. Bring your own snacks on the plane.
17. Half a great pancake is better than missing out.
18. Order the kid’s meal.
19. Buy Halloween candy on Halloween, and give it all away.
20. Time passes anyway, so why not use it to lose weight.

“Stats” recap:

I have lost 8.6 pounds in my first 6 weeks on Weight Watchers.

“Nerd” recap:

I have lost 17.2% of my 50 pounds goal in 12% of my 50 weeks goal.

Summary:

I’m on track to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks.

Happy Halloween…get out there and look for trick or treaters so you can get rid of the candy.

Talk to you soon.

It's good to be us

My husband was born and raised in Marin County. Because he is a very outgoing, social kind of guy, he has maintained many of his friendships since his school days. I entered the picture about 18 years ago, and his friends have become my friends over the years. I’m always amazed by how many people he knows, and we can rarely go anywhere in this area without him running into a familiar face.

Which brings me to this evening. Even though he knows so many people, there is a small group of three couples that tries to meet every month for dinner. We have been doing it for a long time and even though we might miss a month or two, it doesn’t stop us from picking up where we left off. We call these dinners the IGTBU Club get -togethers, which stands for “it’s good to be us.” Through good times and bad, we are just happy to have each other’s company over dinner.

Tonight’s event took place in Santa Rosa at Syrah, a restaurant with a very interesting menu. We started by sharing a cheese course that included a selection of cheeses from our region and ended with several decadent desserts that also made the rounds. Two bottles of red wine, a variety of entrees, and three hours later, we were on our way home.

What did I learn this evening? I learned to pass the cheese platter and the desserts, and have no regrets about not sampling them. I don’t drink, so the wine thing wasn’t an issue. My entrée was delicious, and I substituted a dollop of mashed potatoes for the original cheesy grits that came with it. I didn’t have any qualms about speaking up and ordering the dinner the way I wanted it, even in a very upscale situation.

Most of all I learned that I didn’t care what we ate for dinner. I was glad to be with our very good friends spending an evening catching up on stories and laughs. IGTBU.

Talk to you soon.

I'm becoming a caricature

The house is very quiet today…just the dogs and me enjoying a sunny, Fall afternoon. Because I’m alone, I decided to pull out the tape measure and see what my measurements look like six weeks after starting Weight Watchers. The scale is not one of my favorite tools, so you can imagine that the tape measure isn’t enjoying much love either.

I entered my “stats” on the online e-tool when I joined. I actually forgot I did that and think that I forgot, on purpose, my original measurements. I like all the bells and whistles on the Weight Watchers site, so in was only a matter of time before I found the place where I had entered the original data.

I’m not one for caring much about the actual measurements. I like seeing pounds come off, but the rest is too much to care about for me. I know that when my clothes feel more comfortable, inches must be coming off, and comfort is the name of the game these days.

But, my curiosity got the best of me, and I measured everything. The good news is that there is 5 inches less of me on my hips, waist and bust than there was when I started six weeks ago. Just think, if things continued to work that way, at the end of the 50 weeks, I could be 50 inches smaller. You wouldn’t even see me anymore. I don’t think it works that way.

Talk to you soon.

Boycott on dinner

I was tired last evening. Too tired to want to eat. I made dinner for my husband, looked at it, and decided that it just wasn’t what I wanted. Has that ever happened to you?

I put his meal in front of him and sat down with nothing. He thought I was sick. I wasn’t…just tired and “turned off” by an entire meal. The “pre-WW” me would have sat down and eaten it anyway, because I made it. Or, I would have fixed myself a bowl of ice cream with a few cookies and sat at the table to keep him company.

The new, “at WW” me sat at the table and kept him company. I was happy to have the time to talk without worrying about having a plate of food in front of me that I really didn’t want. For about a minute, he thought it was weird, but he was too hungry to want to analyze the whole thing.

Two hours later, I was hungry. A bowl of Greek yogurt with some fresh raspberries did the trick. Sometimes, you just have to do things a little differently and the results can be surprisingly good.

Talk to you soon.

Time is flying...weight is dropping

Today is weigh-in day. I think I’ve said this before, but the weeks seem to fly by a lot faster at age 57 than they used to when I was a kid. Christmas used to feel like it took years before it came around again, and now, it is holiday season starting in August, and I’m thinking about gifts and preparation by Labor Day.

I think there is one advantage to the feeling that time is flying, and that is how fast the first six weeks of Weight Watchers has flown. Like Claudette says, the time is going to pass anyway, so why not do something that makes you feel better. I have now lost 8.6 pounds, which is another two pounds this week. I feel better. And, my buddy and son, Alex, is down 8.2 pounds in three weeks. He feels better, too.

As we walked home from our meeting today, Alex pointed out that I no longer make us stop along the way so that I can breathe. I think that my body is actually getting in shape, one stride at a time. This is a first for me; so, once again, I feel better.

Thanks for sharing my blog with your friends.

Talk to you soon.

1000 hits...a toast to us!

Today is dedicated to us. Together, we have passed the 1000 hits mark on the blog in just over one month. Pretty nifty milestone and one that continues to keep me excited about losing weight and sharing the day-to- day news with you.

Speaking of news, I’m getting ready to head out for a walk with Alex. The two of us originally had a “big plan” to get flu shots and to walk to CVS. I was on the phone at 9 this morning checking on the pharmacy supply, only to learn that there was none. The nearest supply is at my doctor’s office, which is about 10 miles away.

I don’t think I’m ready for that walk quite yet. My walking tour of Disneyland may have been about 10 miles, but rides and fireworks broke it up. The walk to the doctor’s office offers none of these distractions.

Tomorrow is my meeting day, so I know where I’ll be walking. Today, it will be a surprise.

Happy birthday to my daughter-in-law, Amanda!

Talk to you soon.

Football Sunday... time-out with my kitchen

Are you ready for some football?  It’s Sunday morning and to be honest with you, I have very little knowledge of how the game is played.  You’d think with two sons and a husband who are avid followers, I would have picked up something.  I haven’t.

But, the part I do like about Sunday football is the fact that we sit around the television as a family unit.  The guys are jumping around from one game to another, mostly yelling at the television.  I, on the other hand, catch up on my reading.  I sit with the group, but I leaf through the magazines and catalogs that have piled up on my coffee table during the previous six days. 

When it comes to the snacks that go with the games, I am totally out of the picture.  Both before and since joining Weight Watchers, I have avoided preparing, serving or cleaning up the food.  It’s the day I turn the kitchen over to the guys and let them do whatever they feel like doing….another reason I like Sunday football.

I hear a Crate & Barrel catalog calling my name. 

Talk to you soon.