Sitting here ...

eating ice cream. Not exactly weight loss friendly food, but when it's one of the few things I've eaten in two days, I don't think it's going to break me. Granted it's my favorite low-fat one, but still not the best choice for weightloss or for an ill belly. I've been fighting the stomach flu the past few days after a week of taking care of Morgan and this is the first food that looked appealing to me. So I'm not quite back to journaling, but I am eating a few pieces of fruit a day because the juiciness tastes so good. Other than that, it's ginger ale, water and sleep. I'm not dropping off this plan, it's always in my head, but getting better is the priority here.

I'll be back tomorrow

So sorry I haven't been around....I've been dealing with sick kids and although I'm keeping my food in check, making good choices as often as I can, I'm not journaling, getting through the days as well as I can and drinking good wine in the evenings. I'm also playing the Wii and know it's working my body.

I'm journalling tomorrow...promise (me and you).

Bump in the Road

I attended a birth on Friday night and all day Saturday and boy does that ever mess with a food plan. At midnight on Friday I was so hungry and thought I'd be hanging out for several hours, so I ate some delicious food that some of the family brought in. But then just an hour later, I figured it was better to go home to get some sleep, so I decided that midnight meal was a part of Friday and my new week started Saturday anyway.

Then Saturday I attended the birth all day and didn't get home until almost 8pm. Although the kids had eaten, Doug and our guest, Dan, hadn't and I was starving too. I had eaten a lunch the dad had ran out to get (delicious Tawainese food). But then we just ordered in a pizza and Greek salad from Pegasus Pizza. Sunday was way lower points with pretty much a latte, apple, some crackers and baba ganouch, two pieces of licorice and then finally a nice little steak dinner with grilled peppers and a salad. Yummy!

The scale is a bit lower today and I'm back to journaling.

Ack!!

I'm hungry....and do you know why I'm hungry because I chose to eat a big ass cookie today! It was yummy and well worth the points (still trying to guess exactly how many it was), but it gave me a sugar high and crash that made me hungry. It also means I'm left with very few points for supper tonight. I know that I haven't used any of my extra allowance points in the past four days and that's because with Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday I figured I'd already used them and my week ends today so I had set out that I didn't have those 35 points because I ate them all over the holiday.

Since I believe in eating when hungry and I had planned on a oven baked pizza and salad for supper, I'm still going that route and will acknowledge that I will choose the less point item (like the 2 bite brownie for 2pts that was also on the plate) next time and move on. It means that I will probably have a deficit of 3-4 points for today. Tomorrow is the start of the new week for me and I will be starting with all of my points available. It'll all make more sense and be easier then.

Thursday

The third and fourth days are often the hardest for me when I start back at plan. I don't know why, maybe I question if I can really do it and get weak under the work that is ahead of me or convince myself that one blip won't really matter. But today wasn't like that, I feel great, I feel strong about what I'm doing. I'm thinking 10 lbs really isn't that hard to lose if I just keep eating well. Then it's just another 10 lbs and an assessment of how I'm feeling and my fitness level.

I've reconsidered that maybe nobody is going to be interested in exactly what I eat everyday, but maybe I'll just share a few bits of meals and a points summary. I ate exactly 25 pts today and although I was busy doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen (again) and dusting, I didn't do any formal activity. I think WW considers house cleaning activity, but I don't count it. I've drank all my water and eaten 6 servings of fruit and veg. And still need to get out to buy vitamins (I'll let you know when I get them). I've had one sweet today and I'm finding my craving for them is waning already, so I hope that continues.

At lunch I had a bowl of this yummy Knorr Tuscan Bean soup (1pt for a cup) with a bagel and 2 tbsp of low fat salmon cream cheese (5 pts total). That salmon cream cheese on a bagel is so delicious and satisfying. For supper I made a meatloaf from one of my fav cookbooks (Eat, Shrink and Be Merry) with mashed potatoes (it's a traditional pairing) and some delicata squash that I baked and topped with 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp brown sugar (mmmmm).

I'm hoping that people will see that getting healthier doesn't mean deprivation. I'm eating the same foods I was eating before just in smaller portions and once in a while rather than everyday.

Wednesday in Summary

It's amazing what can be accomplished in a quiet house when kids are at preschool and napping and I don't sit on my rump snacking. I got some laundry done, bathroom cleaned, and the kitchen tidied up. I felt so tired today and had no patience with my little people, so I'm heading to bed early, the more rested I am the easier everything is. And now to my food journal...

Breakfast:
Grapefruit (I'm slightly addicted to these): 1 pt
Piece of toast (I eat high fibre Healthy Way bread): 1 pt
1 tbsp light peanut butter: 2pts
1/2 banana: 1 pt

Lunch (special treat at McDs because Morgan completed speech therapy this morning):
Side salad with low fat dressing: 1 pt
Chicken McGrill: 8 pts

Afternoon:
Grande Caramel Frapp Light (darn that addiction): 3 pts

Supper:
2 WW whole wheat tortillas: 3 pts
2oz chicken and mixed peppers: 2 pts
1 oz low fat cheese, ff sour cream and salsa: 2 pts

Post-gym:
Pear: 1 pt
1/2 cup (it's a really little amount) light Mocha Almond Fudge Ice cream: 3 pts
(this ice cream is delicious and is my favorite in a low fat version, it's Lucerne and available at Safeway)

And yes, I hit the gym tonight. I used the Cybex machine for 25 minutes, that earned me 2 activity points and then I did the Group Centergy class for an hour for 3 more points. So today I ate a total of 28 points, leaving me with 2 not used. The activity points can't be used for another day, so it's just a bonus to my weight loss. I also drank all my water plus a little extra, ate 6 servings of fruits and veggies, and still need to buy some vitamins.

Tuesday in Summary

Pretty busy day around here with the election, errands to run and some house cleaning to do. I almost skipped part of breakfast as I wanted to get out to the polls early before it started to get busy seeing I'd have the kids with me, but I poured a quick bowl of cereal because I knew that if I didn't eat something then it would catch up with me later and I'd be grabbing sweet things later in the day.

So here is my food journal:

Breakfast:
Grapefruit (1 pt)
40 g Honey Almond Crunch (2 pts)
1/2 cup 1% milk (1 pt)

Lunch:
Szechuan Veggie and Chicken (4 pts)
1/2 cup raw carrots (0 pts)

Mid-afternoon:
Caramel Frappucinno Light (3 pts)

Supper:
2 cups salad (0 pts)
1 1/2 tbsps Calorie wise dressing (2 pts)
Olafsson's whole wheat toaster bagel (3 pts)
Drained can of tuna, light mayo (1 1/2 tbsps), light cheese whiz (1 tbsp) (5 pts)

Evening:
1 cup mango (2 pts)
Skinny Cow Caramel bar (2pts)

This totals 25 pts. I also earned 1 activity point for walking to the polling station and home. I chose not to eat it because I feel satisfied and it was low intensity exercise. My sugar intake is a little higher than I would like having the frapp and the ice cream bar, so I am going to aim to lower it and I have to confess I have a huge Starbucks addiction that is also being worked on. I managed to drink 6 glasses of water, ate 6.5 servings of fruit and veggies, got in my dairy servings, exercised a bit, and forgot to take a vitamin. Need to get into that habit again.

I want to add that I do weigh and measure my food, I find I need to in order to be accurate, especially in the beginning months as it is really easy to fudge the amounts and end up eating more than I'm recording. I also find that my kitchen scale is easier than measuring cups because it is more accurate, and I can quickly add other things to it by weight rather than dirtying multiple measuring cups/spoons.

How Weight Watchers Works

Before I start sharing my days and how I'm going to get my food intake on track, I need to share how the Weight Watchers program works. There are currently two food programs with this program, one is the Core Program in which one can eat any foods from a Core Food List that keeps the person with a satisfied feeling of fullness, that is not overly hungry and not stuffed full. The other is the Flex program, which assigns a points value to every food based on the calorie, fat and fibre content of food. This program allows a person to eat whatever they want as long as they do not go over their allotted points for the day. I have always followed the Flex Program because I like a wide variety of food, feel that I may end up making two meals sometimes to cover my families likes and my own and feel that some of my favorite foods (ie sushi) don't fit in the Core Plan easily. So what you'll get from me is going to be information based on the flex plan, however, if the Core plan is interesting to you, please check out Weight Watchers for more information.

Based on my gender, age, height, job, and current weight, I am allotted 25 daily points. Every day I need to eat all of those 25 pts. I also get 35 Weekly Allowance points that I can use or not use at my own discretion. These points are usually used for extras like a glass of wine, a special occasion, or just weeks when appetite is a higher. And lastly any activity earns you extra points. Activity points are calculated based on level of intensity (low, medium, high), time spent exercising and current weight. It is recommended that these points be eaten because the energy spent in activity can leave one drained if we don't refuel our body. You'll see some days I choose to eat none, some or all depending on how I am feeling and how much activity I do.

I hope this explains the program I am following. I choose Weight Watchers because it is a program I know well and it was the program that I originally lost all of my weight on. It is also a program that is highly supported and regarded by medical professionals as safe and most likely to bring lasting results.

A New Beginning

Friends and family that have known me for a long time (6+ years) know that I have battled with my weight for most of my life. Seven years ago I married Doug probably around my highest weight of just over 200 lbs. Wow, when I type that, I can hardly believe it, it seems so far from real for me. Then on January 11, 2002 I decided to do something about it and joined Weight Watchers. Although the timing of it coincided with New Years and resolutions, it wasn't a resolution for me, it just felt right. By the end of November I had reached my goal of 140 lbs (I'd lost 65 lbs) and was strong, fit and full of energy.

I kept the weight off until the summer of 2003 when I got pregnant with Morgan. Although I gained at the higher end of normal I did manage to lose all but 12 lbs of it before conceiving Tess in the summer of 2005. I gained about the same as I did with Morgan and again managed to lose all but 10 or so lbs of the second pregnancy, but that meant I was still 20 lbs over my previously lowest weight. In the past two and a half lbs I've put on an extra 10 lbs and here I sit 30 lbs over my Weight Watchers goal.

Now my goal isn't necessarily 140lbs again, a dear friend has said that she thought I looked too thin then, really drawn in the face. So I'm setting an initial goal of 150 lbs. Christmas is 10 weeks away, I have set an initial goal of a 10 lb weight loss by Christmas. So that's a pound a week (slow and steady wins the race).

When I did this journey before I was newly married, working full-time, living in Kits in Vancouver and kid-free, so it was easy to hit the gym 4-5 times a week and add a couple of runs in there too each week. Fitting in exercise has been my biggest struggle over the past couple of years and this past couple of weeks I've been feeling the aches and pains of carrying this extra weight. I feel sluggish, tight and, well, blah. It's an awful feeling and I'm going to change it.

My exercise plan includes a hike, walk or bike ride on the weekend and hitting the gym at least twice a week (Monday and Wednesday evenings). Anything else I can add is a bonus, but I'm not putting expectations on myself. I will also return to my weight watchers meetings on Saturday, September 25th (this Saturday I'm not here). I will journal what I put into my body and the energy I expend as well. AND I will post it here for all to see, you will see the good days and the bad days (hopefully there will be more good than bad). And of course I'll post the results each week of my progress. Although I won't have an official weight until my next WW meeting, I did step on my mom's scale yesterday and weight 171.2lbs. So I'm using that number for now.

Included in my plan is to:

1. Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and veggies daily (aiming for 7 most days)
2. Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily
3. Increase my milk/dairy consumption
4. Take a multivitamin
5. Reduce my sugar intake to help stabilize my blood sugar level so I crave less sugar
6. Cook more family meals
7. Discover my food triggers and learn to deal with them again.

Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and your own weight loss journey if you are on one too. I know that it will help me to succeed and give me the push I will need some days. I will post in the next couple of days a summary of the Weight Watchers point system so what I post will make sense to you all. Now I'm off to walk to the election polls.