Quote to Live By... #10

The voice in your head that says you can't do this is a liar!

New Year's Resolutions - 2 Month Review

On 8th January I took the time to write down the things I'd been thinking about for my New Year's Resolutions, here's how I've been doing:

- get to goal and stay under it: so far so good.
- run 10k: almost, 9k is my furthest so far.
- stop shouting [at my kids]: going well this week, has been a struggle to learn strategies for change but feeling very optimistic about my newly learned skills.
- smile more...: smiling so much more, yes!
- date nights weekly, biweekly?  We are working on this.  Got out for a lunch date this weekend, great.
- wear dresses: wearing them so often and loving it!
- be last-minute-lady more often, spontaneity is fun: I have definitely been doing this.  Spontaneity is fun but it has not always had good results.  The kids are a bit thrown by it and I find I'm not as good at my job.  In fact, about my job, I'm just not spending so much extra time planning and worrying and stressing so I'm probably just as good at my job I'm just doing less of it in my 'off' time.  Since the goal was to stress less and enjoy more, I think I am succeeding.

I also added a longer-term 2012 goal: run a half marathon.  Well I've signed up for one in June so watch this space!

All in all I think I'm doing very well.  I'm sticking with & working on the skills and habits needed to keep to the resolutions and I think 2 months in, that's pretty good!

Quote to Live By... #9

Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
....
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
- http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html

Our Honeymoon - My New Relationship with Food

I have come to realise that I am not merely eating different food or the same food differently. I have actually forged a new relationship with food.

In this new relationship, I am less needy.

What I need from food is different.

Comfort Eating
I have always known that I eat for comfort in times of joy, sadness, boredom, frustration, exhaustion, elation... seems like most of the time food would be a friend, good company.

I am not yet sure what I will turn to in times of extreme emotion, but so far I am reaching for food less often. And it does not leave me lonely. I am not missing the comfort.

High Expectations
I don't need so much from each meal. Each meal used to mean so much more than it should have. It had to be so yummy and such a treat - health be damned!

I am now perfectly happy for my food to be tasty and healthful and satisfying. It does not need to satisfy any internal need except hunger. It does not have to be a treat every time or the perfect meal every time.

This means that I am now willing to try recipes, to risk a meal on something new. Much more fun!


I am conscious that we are enjoying our honeymoon period: I am giddy with excitement for our future, enthusiasm for how much we can accomplish together. Our relationship will no doubt settle into a more sustainable, mellow partnership. I just hope that we are committed enough to make it last.

Quote to Live By... #8

You cannot change what you refuse to confront. – You can learn great things from your failures and mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.... It takes a lot of courage to admit that something needs to change, and a lot more courage still, to accept the responsibility for actually changing it.  The most important step forward is taking the first step.  The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of positive changes – one building on the other.

- http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/02/16/10-good-reminders-for-stressful-times/

Cracking Tracking

I track relentlessly.  

I am certain that if I were not so diligent, I would not have been as successful as I have been.

Some things I do to make tracking work for me:

• Be honest.  If you are not going to be honest, why bother at all?  And I round up where some rounding is needed.  It's only for me and the more I work it, the more I benefit.
• Track the goodies first.  By assigning some points right off the starting line that are for my indulgences, I do not feel deprived.  Sometimes knowing I have a treat planned for later will help me avoid 'wasting' points earlier in the day.  And most of all, it ensures that I do not reach the end of my day without the points necessary for my treat.  It is a non-negotiable for me.  I must be rewarded for my hard work and that, unfortunately, is still a reward of food.  But by tracking it early, I can afford it.
• Be efficient with the tracking.  I don't track everything I consume, I just have no need for that information.  I track anything that has points or that I may want to know about later.  For instance, a nibble of something this morning may have equated to 0 points.  But knowing I may have more of it later in the day means I'll track it since that 0 may tip the points when added to the later nibble.
• Calculate BEFORE you eat.  I know this to be true: you will regret eating if you have not first calculated the points.  But it seems I forgot last week when I accepted a wrap from a platter at work and later discovered I had just had 12 - TWELVE - points for a not-so-great half of a wrap!  And only half!  Moral of the story: check the points and then decide if it is worth it for you.
• Track everywhere, all the time.  I am very open about being on Plan and I track everywhere I go.  I know that if I don't record it now, I'm very likely to forget about something I've had.

Some benefits of tracking:

• Keeps me honest.  A splurge, indulgence, big day is fine and quite frankly being able to have them and still succeed makes WW so do-able.  However, after the day is done I would be liable to very quickly forget all about it.  Well, that's not fine.  The weekly extra points are there for a reason.  Going over, once in a while is fine within reason.  But if I were to forget about my big days, I'd be having a lot more of them.  So, tracking ensures that I make up for my indulgences through the week.
• Helps me plan.  Just tonight I was entering my known points for tomorrow.  Some of it's easy as I have a pretty standard repertoire at work.  Plus I have made my lunch already so can track that.  In laying out tomorrow's meals, I came up with what I'll make for dinner.  Decision made, no more wondering and no last-minute high-point meal because I didn't plan ahead.
• Encourages the competitor in me.  Turns out I like to beat my points.  I like to 'win' by not going over at the end of the day.  I compete with my inner-eater and love to see the proof of my victory in the tracker.

Turns out that even though I am TERRIBLE with budgeting money, I am extremely good at budgeting my points.

Skinny Minnie

In the dairy section of the market today I struck up a conversation with a fellow mom as we selected cheese for our kids.  We veered onto the topic of our respective restrictions on cheese for ourselves, despite our desire for our kids to eat plenty for all that good fat little ones need.

Turns out she's on one diet and I'm on another but we both see cheese as our enemy.  Then she made a comment that was probably the first of its kind for me, she said something about me not needing to worry about such things, "Skinny Minnie" that I am.

Skinny Minnie?!  Hah!

Who would have imagined I'd ever be a Skinny Minnie?  I'll take it, don't get me wrong, but sure a far cry from the Lisa we have all been used to!

Beet Slaw Wraps

A crazy mix of stuff that I had in the house but so delicious!

Ingredients for the Slaw:

• Roasted beets, diced finely
• Spinach, torn up
• Radish, thin slices
• Cucumber, matchsticks or finely diced
• Carrot, grated coarsely
• 1/2 tbsp Mayo (could use fat free sour cream to be even more points-wise)

Optional Ingredients to Make a Wrap:

• Wrap
• 1tbsp Cream cheese  
• Chicken slice (optional extra points again)

Method:

Mix up everything in the first list to make the slaw - yum!

I served mine in a wrap with cream cheese spread on it with a bonus slice of chicken-lunch-meat.

Possible Alternatives / Things to Try:

The slaw would be just as lovely on a bed of greens, or atop a roasted squash or grilled portobello mushroom.

How do I Protect Mini-Me?

How can I protect new-found Mini-Me from regaining all the weight and transforming once again into Fat-Lisa? (I'm not calling her "Fat-Me" anymore as I want to distance myself...)

I need to be very clear about what is better now that I am slimmer. This is very hard to express, to encapsulate, but I'm trying hard and will no doubt continue to have lots of posts about it.

But what I have not been recording and what I think will help is a recollection of what I did NOT LIKE about being Fat-Lisa. So, here are some thoughts on why I don't want to gain back the 55lbs I have gotten rid of (have to stop saying I 'lost' the weight, I am not looking to find it again!):

1. I used to be SO uncomfortable: sitting, getting up, bending over, lugging around my big body
2. My feet hurt a lot of the time, especially in the mornings. Now, only high heels make me feel my feet. High heels?! Yes, my feet are so happy I can wear pretty shoes again!
3. I couldn't do any exercise, it was too hard to get started and was therefore NO fun at all.
4. I was out of breath after walking up just a few stairs or playing with my kids for just a few minutes.
5. I realise now that tidying up my kids toys, ie picking stuff up off the floor, was made annoying because it was hard work bending down over an over. Not 'sweating' hard work but now that I know how easy it is as a smaller person, I realise it was hard work before.
6. Sitting down, lowering my big heavy body, was tough. I was heavy, it was a lot to lower.
7. Getting up. Grunt. Groan. No more need be said.
8. Run? No way. Too much of me to lug around and too much wiggling about on me. When I started the learn to run program at the same time as starting WW, I was doing 60 seconds of 'running' (barely shuffling) at a time and was barely shuffling faster than walking. Hard to believe what I can do now!
9. Crossing one leg over the next was a balancing act, now one leg drops into place over the other.
10. Any stretches or yoga poses I try are possible now because there is not a bunch of 'me' in the way of my body bending!

I do NOT want that lazy, heavy, achey body back!

It is worth pointing out that I was not an unhappy person: I was content with who I was and very happy with my life. I just realise now that I have greater happiness feeling so fit and healthy in my body. The fitness allows me greater pleasure in all of my life, it's just a relative improvement. I was not unhappy, I am just now happier and want to keep that.

Things I've Noticed... My Compost Bin!

Okay, my compost bin is hard to miss - big plastic tub on our kitchen counter. But what I noticed the other day and was pleased to see was how beautifully full it was from the day's meal preparation. So beautiful, in fact, that I almost snapped a picture!

I had emptied it that morning and by early evening, after the dinner-time prep and next-day-lunch duty, it was brimming with celery tops, fruit and veg peels in every colour - it was like an artistic representation of the health of my family! I loved it.

It made me realise how well we eat now. I get all uptight when my kids don't eat a good meal or leave all but one item on their plates untouched. But seeing this made me blissfully aware that at the end of the day we have eaten our way through a marvellous assortment of fresh, wholesome, delicious produce.

The Afternoon Munchies - My Witching Hour

The afternoon munchies are one of my really tricky 'diet' issues... they come predictably and reliably, it's not like I can cure them! I do need to answer the call and fill up or I will suffer all the way to the supper table and probably overdo supper because of the prolonged hunger. Quite frankly, I need to satisfy the afternoon munchies to keep the "inner-B" in check as well, she surfaces when I'm hungry, no question.

So, what to do? I would really like something loaded with carbs (stave off the exhaustion of the day so far) and sweet (quick fix). But we all know those are not a good combo (danish, anyone?!)

Here's my tactic: snack on (a lot) of veggies and maybe a babybel first.  If the sweet tooth is still nagging at least you'll be more likely to satisfy it with something small.  I find I usually quench the urgent need to munch by the time I finish the crudités. Then if I'm unsure if I've had enough, the little cheese usually does it. Then if I still want something sweet, I'm perfectly satisfied with a little 2-point something (WW has some good little portion-controlled treats or a little bite of chocolate or a couple graham crackers).

Quote to Live By... #7

“How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'.”
- Martin Luther (German Priest and Scholar whose questioning of certain church practices led to the Protestant Reformation. 1483-1546)

Quote to Live By... #6

     
“Do or do not... there is no try.”
- Yoda (Fictional character from George Lucas's Star Wars)