I want to be an Asterisk*

While sitting eating my breakfast which consisted of vanilla yogurt with a handful of granola and fresh blackberries I began thinking about how much I have changed since my healthy weight loss journey. Two years ago I never would have dreamed of eating such a yummy breakfast. I probably would have stopped at White Castle with my son and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches, potato rounds and a large coffee with extra cream. I wonder why I was out of control?

And Valentine’s Day? Geez. Bring on the box of chocolate! Fattening dinner out…maybe a decadent desert. Then the guilt.

 Below are six things that have changed about me since I began my Healthy Weigh-loss Journey in January 2007. WW is correct in saying, if you do not make it a lifestyle change, you will only fail in the end.

1. Labels – I always look at the label before I buy or before I eat. It may take longer at the grocery but I decided over a year ago I was going to take control over what went into my body.

2. Hunger Signals – I pay close attention to my hunger signals. If I am hungry at an odd time (say shortly after I eat or late in the evening) I try to determine if I am truly hungry or just tired, lonely, etc. Being tired is a big hunger trigger for me.

3. Weigh Scales – I weigh myself almost every day. I know that some people say that doing this is counter productive because the scale can be very fickle but it has helped me determine what certain food does to my body. For example, Chinese Food tends to put an additional 5 lbs on me for at least a day. That realization made me lower my sodium intake (and my Chinese food intake, although I still enjoy it from time to time).

4. Fruit – Although I have always enjoyed fruit, I didn’t eat much fruit as a snack. I enjoyed seeing it sit on the table but it was usually thrown out because it went bad. Seldom is fruit thrown out now. My children eat more fruit as well.

5. Cheese – I was bordering on becoming a cheese-aholic. My boyfriend knew to keep a deli drawer full of cheese for me. At one time I honestly thought cheese was healthy. I had never really looked at the calories or fat in cheddar. I remember the first day I joined WW. For breakfast, I thought I would kick the program off (before I went to my first meeting) by eating cheese and a hard boiled egg for breakfast. I was just ignorant. That is the last time I had that particular breakfast. I remember too that was what was so appealing about Adkins. I couldn’t do Adkins. I like pasta too much.

6. Meat – I have found that now I can live on 2 oz of meat a day. Sometimes I eat more. Who can turn down Flo’s fillet at Long Horn? I used to think I would have issues with my protein intake if I didn’t eat a lot of meat. Now I realize it isn’t that important as long as I get it from another source or I only eat very lean meat.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  If you fall of the wagon tonight, jump right back on tomorrow!