Eat 'em if you've got 'em!

Clearly I'm a fan of Weight Watchers. I know it's not for everyone, and there are other healthy lifestyle plans that work for others, but WW has worked for me, so I'm an advocate of the program. However, there is one aspect of the program that I sometimes wonder if it's working AGAINST me!

Confession of the day: I have a love/hate relationship with weekly points.

See, I really appreciate the concept of the weekly points. Obviously they are WWs way of helping us through situations like:
- I chose the chicken entree (thinking I was making a healthy choice) from a wedding menu and the plate appeared in front of me with fried chicken smothered in cheese... Good thing I have weeklies left!
OR
- I had a healthy dinner planned but my best friend had a crisis so I ended up meeting her for drinks, which turned into dinner, which turned into more drinks... Good thing I can use my weeklies!
OR
- It was the end of the school year and one of my students brought me a donut as a thank you for being his teacher. I didn't REALLY want it, but it was a sweet gesture and I didn't want to seem ungrateful so I ate half... Oh well, I'll just use my weeklies.

All of these are situations in which I really feel okay about using my weekly points allowance. That's what they are there for, right? I try to use them for things like ordering mishaps, evenings out with friends (even then I still try to make the healthiest choices) or food surprises that I don't have the willpower (or heart, sometimes) to completely refuse.

However...

It seems like there are so many instances in which using my weeklies is completely unnecessary, but I decide to do it anyway. I feel like all I am doing by using weeklies this way is cultivating my ongoing unhealthy relationship with food! Argh!!

Case in point: Yesterday. Yesterday I made a day trip with my fabulous family (my hub, mom, dad, aunt, cousin, other cousin and her hub, other cousin and her boyfriend) to a glassblowing museum. Very cool, I even got to learn how to make a Christmas ornament by blowing glass!! (That's me, below, in my awesome safety glasses, getting ready to use my new skills).

Not knowing the food situation for the day, I ate a substantial breakfast of oatmeal with berries, a peach, and coffee. We didn't end up leaving the museum and getting to eat lunch until 3:00 and by then I was absolutely ravenous! My dad chose Bob Evans for lunch. I had never eaten there before so on the drive from the museum to Bob Evans I did a quick search using my "Eat This, Not That" app on my iPhone to see what kind of healthy options there might be. Even though I was super hungry and others were ordering tempting items like fried appetizers and cheesy omelets with biscuits, I managed to order reasonably healthy. I ordered from their "Fit from the Farm" menu, the only place where they showed nutritional info, so I felt pretty good about that choice!

Since the museum was a few hours away from where we live, by the time my hub and I were getting close to home, I was actually a little hungry again. Could I have gone home and had a snack and been perfectly fine? Would I have stayed within my daily points, even after eating out at Bob Evans? Would I have been able to avoid using unnecessary weeklies? Yes, yes, and yes.

But... Knowing I had all my weeklies left, and feeling tired and lazy, and craving something unhealthy and cheesy after watching everyone else eat at Bob Evans, what do you think I did instead? This is what I did:

... And I used about 20 weeklies on it.

Disclaimer: The breadsticks were for the hub, not me! I didn't touch them! And it was a thin crust veggie lovers pizza.

So it could have been worse. Definitely worse. But still, I get so annoyed with myself after the fact that I made good choices all day long and then made a not-so-great choice just because I had all my weeklies left. And ONLY for that reason. I made it through a wedding on Saturday making really great choices and not using any weeklies. I made it through a day of travel on Sunday and eating out at an unfamiliar restaurant. Yet I knew my points reset on Tuesday, so I might as well use them up on garbage.

See? Love/hate... I need to figure out a way to focus on the health aspect of eating and ditch the "eat 'em if you've got 'em" mentality!

Dusting off the sugar and moving on

Yesterday - 12 hours in the presence of cake

Today I am coming out of my sugar coma... Not because I ate a ton of the sweet stuff but because yesterday I was so covered in it I could almost feel it seeping into my pores. Another Lisa fact: I am a cake decorator. In addition to my full-time teaching job, I make cakes. I love, love, love it BUT it definitely adds to my weight struggle. Yesterday's projects:

(Both of these will be decorated with some fresh flowers today to finish them off before I set them up at the wedding, but in these pics they are mostly complete)

The Sticky, Sweet Struggle

I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that I became interested in cake decorating not only because I love the creative outlet it provides but also because I have an out-of-control sweet tooth. Back when I started decorating as a hobby it was not uncommon for me to make a cake just to eat at home (of course I told myself I needed to do it to practice my skills!). Now, however, I do my best to avoid a lot of processed sweets. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. Do I usually indulge in something sweet every single day? You betcha! I just make sure I have the points for it! I also like to think I am past the point of allowing myself to down half of a gooey cake!

So, herein lies the problem. When I am baking and decorating I am tempted all day long to taste. "Oh, I better have a bite of this chocolate cake to make sure it's okay. Well, that was good. I wonder about the vanilla. I should probably taste that too. The frosting tastes okay, I tried it earlier. I wonder what the chocolate cake tastes like WITH the frosting. I should try it and make sure it's edible..." and on, and on, and on.

I will admit, some amount of tasting is necessary. Especially for fillings and icings that I need to make sure have enough of a certain flavor. That being said, typically one itty bitty, tiny little taste is plenty enough to determine if something tastes "right". Clearly, my struggle is stopping after that one itty bitty taste. I have, however, acknowledged that struggle and really been working hard at overcoming that temptation.

Anti-Sugar Strategies

Here are some things I did yesterday to avoid going overboard with the tasting:

1) Ate a filling breakfast - Fiber One cereal, fat free milk, banana, melon cubes, coffee (By the way, I was the incredible melon slayer this week... See below... I hacked up an entire watermelon and cantaloupe to have in the fridge so I could grab it quickly for a snack. Talk about sweet! These are so good they're like candy! But much better for you, of course).

2) Packed a lunch and plenty of snacks - Sometimes I get caught in the trap of not having any food with me when I'm decorating and I get hungry! All that does is lead to snacking on cake trimmings all day long! So I brought chicken and orzo for lunch, and my snacks were carrots and celery with a spicy mexican dip and more melon.

3) Water, water, water - I made sure all day long to have water at my side and even brought limes to put in it since I think the tap water in the bakery tastes funny.

Was I successful?

I guess we will see for sure on the scale this week! Overall, I felt that it was a pretty positive day. I tasted only a tiny bit (I estimate about 6 points worth) and also stayed within my daily points despite the tastes. Unfortunately, I didn't get all my GHGs in, but today I am focused on doing that to make up for yesterday. So, I give myself a B- for the day... not terrible, but room for improvement next time!!

Good luck and stay healthy!!

Is my arm fat showing?

I have an unhealthy obsession with arm fat. I worry that it is jiggling while I exercise. I'm afraid to reach for things on high shelves because it exposes that oh-so-tender underarm area. I have perfected the technique of writing on my white board at school with my upper arm pushed tightly against my side (the last thing I want is my students to notice my arm fat waving at them!). And maybe worst of all... while having my wedding photos taken I asked my bridesmaids to please be on "arm fat patrol". I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I probably asked them 20 times that day if my arm fat was showing!

Today I published this blog and the first thing I did was report to the WW message boards for a little shameless self-promotion. The positive response I received after people looked at my pictures absolutely floored me. I have never in a million years thought of myself as "beautiful". In my mind I'm your everyday, average girl-next-door. But that was the response I got, and it made me feel so proud of how far I have come and so inspired to keep up the fight. And you know what? Not one person commented on my arm fat! Lesson learned, point taken...

Good luck and stay healthy!

Giving a Face to the Weight

I am ready to own up. My face is pictured to the left. Below is a photo of what my scale said on Tuesday morning, my last weigh in.

After journeying through the world of weight loss for the past three years, it is time for me to to put a face to my weight. This is a bold move for me (probably for most people). Throughout my life I've been a master of evading weight questions, fudging the number, and outright lying about it.

No more! I'm laying it all out there for anyone who cares to see! I will be posting my scale picture every week, my struggles, my successes, and my random thoughts on health, fitness, weight, self-esteem, and all that goes along with it! So many people have inspired me along the way, but I need some more help, so I'm counting on reporting here to keep me accountable. I'm not really one who considers myself wise enough to give words of wisdom, but hopefully my experiences can at least offer some inspiration and support to those following the same path!

Good luck and stay healthy!!