Month: October 2017

I woke up to a beautiful sky:

Perhaps my head was in the clouds when I left for work, or sometimes things go awry,  I left my lunch and breakfast at home on my coffee table. I have to admit when my husband called me and said, “Honey I’m so sorry you left your lunch at home.” A sudden frantic feeling hit me: I’m at work and I have no food with me. It was kind of weird, I’m not sure whether it was a loss of control or just plain hunger that brought on that feeling.

When you’re following plan once breakfast time rolls around you are actually hungry. So, I had to go with Plan B. I bought school food today. A tiny yogurt was 6sp! The graham crackers were surprising at 2sp. Apple and water 0sp:

It was a busy day at work and I felt as though I could not catch up no matter what I did.  I came home to picking up kids and running errands and it’s 8:51 PM and other than eating dinner this is the first time I sat down.

This is definitely a process and I am learning as I go, that’s the whole point of this. Take time to reflect daily and roll with the punches.

I hope you had a successful day on plan and as always more tomorrow…

 

Getting home from work…

I just finished packing and pre-tracking my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow (10sp). My routine is a little off because I did not do any grocery shopping yesterday.  I had enough in the house to cover today and tomorrow, which means I ‘m going to have to go shopping tonight.

I plan on buying a vegetable tray, some fruit water, lettuce, turkey, and seltzer/bottled waters.  I’m not sure what to make for dinner tonight but I’m leaning towards something quick like turkey kielbasa or burgers…

Getting home from the grocery store…

Going food shopping when you’re hungry is never a great idea. I try to be quick, but I can never seem to get that down.  Anyway, I made some good choices at the store:

My quick dinner was hamburgers, potato knish, and a green salad (15sp. It was delicious and easy a great conversation when you’re tired and hungry.

I keep thinking about my long weekend and what I remember most. I had so much fun going on that quad ride with my husband. I didn’t feel self-conscious sitting on the back looking over his shoulder. I felt so free, it was a totally exhilarating experience. Whizzing through the greenery, rounding the pond, and over the gravel trail.  Making memories was what that trip was about,

Making memories was what that trip was about – not the food.

More tomorrow…

P.S. I tried a kumquat (as seen in my grocery bag) it was interesting – tasted like extremely tart marmalade.

I am blogging to you from my kitchen, feeling exhausted and happy to be home. You know how it goes when you get home from a trip. The unpacking, the laundry, the errands that have to be shored up before the start of a new week. I had a wonderful time and now it’s back to my routines.

I’m slightly under my points range today at 22sp for the day, but I’m not hungry in the least so I’m going to call it a day, I have no regrets about my food choices. I stayed on track, and I’m not feeling at all deprived. I left Vermont full of fond memories and not extra pounds. Learning how to live the plan for life is a process, and these daily reflections are really helping me to uncover my why, well my whys…

There are many reasons I want to achieve this goal of weight loss. I want to be healthy and not get prematurely older than my years. I want to feel good about my appearance. I want to seize this opportunity to change my life for the better. Knowing that I have the power to change myself for the better is a very big deal. It’s worth it to take some time to reflect as to why you want to lose weight. Naming why you want to do this makes accomplishing it more – real.

Some gettingtogoal housekeeping… My top five things I’m proud of:

1. I blogged every day even when it was challenging
2. I was selective about the foods I decided to either eat or not eat
3. I took advantage of the beautiful outdoors I went for walks and quad rides
4. I was mindful as to whether my hunger was internal or external
5. I packed my lunch and breakfast for tomorrow 11sp

I keep thinking about the lifelines I mentioned the other day. Writing these posts, and thinking about the bigger picture is a lifeline. Having a supportive community that is cheering me on is a lifeline. Knowing that my family and friends are there for me is a lifeline. Understanding that I (and you) are not alone in this journey is a lifeline too.

Thank you for reading, more tomorrow…

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Going away is not over-rated, we are having a great time together. I’m not missing having Wi-Fi it’s nice being off the grid. We went into town and had breakfast at this quaint restaurant called The Rooster. I made an excellent choice, I had a light fluffy egg white omelet with ham, peppers, and onions, two pieces of rye bread. It came with hash-browns but I gave them to my husband. The whole breakfast was 10sp.

When something is important to you, you find a way and so I was able to track and log on my Weight Watchers Mobile Ap. I did pretty well yesterday, I did go over my points but not an exurbanite amount. I still have 25 Weekly Points left. The thing that’s important is that even if I’m off the grid technologically speaking, I’m not off the grid with my weight loss goal.

Tomorrow is my trip home.  More then.

Vermont is beautiful everyone is having a wonderful time. My choices with food have been pretty good. I used 13sp (I ate the most delicious homemade apple bread. I counted it at 5sp so worth it) at breakfast but it’s after 4:00 PM and I’m just starting to get hungry.

My plan is to have some cut up vegetables when I get back to the cabin and to limit the snacking. That has proven a little tricky, everyone around me is snacking, but I keep asking myself, “What do I really want? I really want to get to goal. I know I can anything I want, but what do I want most?” For now, this helping me and I don’t feel deprived.

Thank you for reading… In the meantime, enjoy some of Vermont:

Things are going really well. I’m blogging to you live from a Dunkin Donuts. The ride has been scenic and it’s so nice to have downtime with my family.  It seems obvious but it’s worth saying, this is the reason why it’s good to go away.

So far I have used 4sp:

• 2oz chicken – 1 sp (satisfying)
• 1 pear (very sweet)
• 1 oz Turkey Pepperoni (it takes a long time to eat)
• Cut up Vegetables 0sp
• Cracker Barrel 2% Cheddar Cheese (satisfying)

I keep thinking about lifelines… Oprah’s theme is all about self-care. Taking that time to prepare my foods, is an expression of self-care. I am not feeling deprived or like I’m craving anything and that is sort of empowering.

More tomorrow…

 

We are going away to Vermont for Columbus Day Weekend! My brother has a remote cabin that is home to many happy memories and family get-togethers. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is, you travel along a mountain road until it turns to dirt. Then you go over a bridge and hug the side of the fire-road until you come to a clearing and there is Bear Town. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures.

A little housekeeping…

I will be blogging every day, as this is part of my commitment to make getting to goal a priority in my life.  However, my brother’s cabin is so remote there is no WiFi up there, and no cell service either (and this is also part of the appeal). I will be going into town, and when I do, I will attempt to post but I can’t guarantee that I will be able to make that happen. I will do my best.

So there is a lot to do, to get ready for the trip. We each take turns making a meal. Everyone likes my homemade Mac & Cheese. I can’t tell you how many points that would cost. I am also making pulled pork, baked beans, and tossed salad. This is life, and I will figure it out when the time comes. I bought regular and light rolls.

I also packed many smart choices…

The big part of going away is getting a chance to spend time with my family. It’s late and I have more to do, so that is it for now. Wish me luck.

 

At 5:30 PM I was feeling overtaxed.  I had been home from work for about an hour and it has been non-stop. As soon as I got in the door I made my lunch and pre-tracked tomorrow’s points. As I was doing this, I kept thinking about my word choice from a couple of posts ago – brute effort. This constant effort has to be the reason why many people, including me, haven’t made it to goal yet.

As I read this back, I can see this is not productive nor is it kind thinking. So it is time to change the narrative: “Jennifer you’re doing great and losing weight requires a lot of work and dedication.”

To which my snarky inner voice says, “Well, duh…”

Again, this is not helpful, and now the word endurance keeps coming to mind. Losing weight feels like a marathon of mindfulness. When I came home, I was hungry (internal hunger because lunch was over four hours ago) so I ate 1/4 cup (with the shells) of pistachios (2sp) and then I heated up a serving of homemade vegetable soup (0sp).

A little while later…

Having eaten a little something,  I’m feeling better.  As I read back my post, I notice that my thoughts/feelings were negative and stressed. Stopping to write and reflect on what was actually happening helped.  I feel different. It makes me appreciate the difference from reacting and reflecting.

If I think about everything from a different perspective, I can say, “Jennifer you are completely ready for tomorrow. Great job making lunch and breakfast. It’s good to know that is done and is ready to go in the refrigerator.  Also, you laid out your clothes, so that’s another thing off your list. Nice going!” I have to say thinking this way makes me feel calmer and better about my situation.

I’d like to leave you with these words I found on Facebook:

This is true for me, and it’s true for you too. Sometimes a bowl of hot homemade soup, and permission to think about how your feeling is the best way to show yourself some love.

More tomorrow…

You’ve heard of The Hunger Games, well today was one of my: Hungry Days! What a challenging day it was for me. Ever have one of those? I’m a teacher, and we had professional development, and these days are famous for snacking. Here are some of the pictures of snacks people all around me were eating:

I’m working on how to gauge my hunger, is it external or internal?  It’s pretty simple it goes like this: something from the world around you e.g. stress or food aromas are triggering a hunger sensation (external).  Or, your stomach is empty and you’re actually hungry for lack of food (internal). Here take a look at my notebook:

So here the blow-by-blow for my day:

• 09:10: I ate my yogurt and some grapes. I had not eaten since yesterday (internal)
• 10:15: I checked my phone to see if it was getting close to lunch as cakes and cinnamon buns were being passed around.. Seriously, it was then that I knew this was going to be a hard day (external)
• 10:30: I started eating vegetables, and nuts, and drinking water from my lunch bag. I have eaten 3sp so far and I’m still hungry (internal)

• 11:15: Candy was being passed around and instead of eating it I took food pictures. My friend told me that, “if you take a dark chocolate at least it’s healthy for you.” So, of course, I took one, as you can see it in the background (external)
• 12:00: Lunchtime and I did my best to eat slowly.  In total, I had eaten 14sp by the end of lunch and I was satisfied (internal)

I had some running around to do after work, and by the time I got home I was hungry it was after 7:00 PM (internal).  I was strategic about dinner, I made turkey chili. This is a quick and easy meal to make. It’s a perfect solution after a long day at work:

At the end of the day, I still have my little piece of Lindt Dark Chocolate. If I elected to have it it would be 4sp. Who would think that a little piece of chocolate could be a source of empowerment? Strangely for me, it is – it doesn’t really matter if I eat it or not. What matters is my resolve is stronger than chocolate…

Today was tough, managing life and Weight Watchers can be tricky sometimes. Can you relate? I used a total of 29sp for the day. I packed breakfast and lunch and I ate those at work (14sp). Sometimes small purchases like a nice lunch bag make all the difference. It really helps because it’s easy to pack and keeps everything cool:

Act two of my day begins when I make it home, pack the lunch and breakfast up and cook dinner. Tonight’s meal was simple but very good Grilled chicken with Fingerling Potatoes. I’ve never prepared these potatoes before, and they were something of a novelty for me and my family. I totally recommend them:

After dinner, I still had 9sp left.  I went out of some errands with my husband and before I knew it we had pulled into the Baskin Robbins parking lot. Living Weight Watchers means knowing how to make the plan fit your lifestyle Going to Baskin & Robbin’s is going to happen from time to time. I ordered a sugar cone with one scoop of fat-free vanilla (the flavor they stick in the far left back corner of the ice cream case) . It was pretty good.

As always thank you for reading this post. I just made it, we are just shy of midnight. Good night everyone.

P.S. Check out my Featured Image it’s testimony to the power of the pen!