Posted by zazu on June 21st, 2007

Here are a few of the habits I’ve noticed replacing some of my bad habits.

1. Water for breakfast - I never used to drink any water in the morning, usually milk or juice. I know that milk and juice are not bad for me, but I have gotten to a point where I hate to drink any of my points. I still use skim milk for my cereal and an occasional glass with pancakes or waffles, but not nearly as much as I used to. I love milk and used to easily drink 3-4 cups a day. I would go through a gallon of milk by myself (hubby likes 2%), but today I threw out 1/2 of a gallon of unused because it had expired.

2. ICBINBS - This stands for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” Spray. I used to put butter on my corn, toast, waffles, potatoes, etc… Now, a few spritzes of ICBINBS! I love it - it’s free up to about 15 sprays.

3. Desserts - I was eating dessert nearly every day. We would buy the “tubes” of ready to cook chocolate chip cookie dough and bake 2-3 cookies each after dinner (followed by a huge serving of milk). I’ll be honest, I still *love* those cookies, but I haven’t had them once since I started following the WW plan. That doesn’t mean I can’t ever have them, but honestly, I am not to a point where I can have it in the house again. I notice that when my meals are more balanced with veggies and proteins, I don’t feel the craving for dessert. Occasionally I’m having Frozen yogurt or a smoothie, but for now, desserts are just for parties and special occasions.

4. Eating Out - Eating out is hard, but I am in love with Subway, and can get some stuff at Wendy’s or Arby’s that I like, too. Sit-down restaurants are harder, but I’m all about the flex points, baby! We were eating out 2-3x per week, but it’s so much easier to stay within points when I cook for myself. I still love to eat out, but I sure plan ahead for the times we do.

5. Journaling - I joined WW a few years ago and again in 2005. Both times I lost about 10-15lbs, but then I fizzled out. I think my biggest downfall was that I didn’t journal. I don’t know why - it’s so easy. I found the joy of journaling in Excel. It is so easy and I do it every morning when I check my email. I write down what I ate for breakfast, what I packed for lunch and an estimate of what I’ll fix for dinner. Easy I tell ya! Why didn’t I think of this before? I haven’t missed a journal since April 28! Woo!

Well, I’m sure there are more things I could list, but I’ll stop there. Hooray for habits (replacing bad ones with good ones!)

Posted by zazu on June 20th, 2007
-0.9! Can’t complain about that - especially after the feast on Sunday. I actually weighed myself before and after the shower. The second weigh was even less. Part of me was excited, but part of me was skeptical that my scale wasn’t accurate. I decided to record the first weigh to be “safe”.

I had my first person recognize I had lost some weight. Last night at dance class, one of the women I dance with came up and said - “You’ve lost weight ” I feel like I can see a difference in the mirror (especially in my dance clothes), but it was so reassuring that someone else noticed. I am down 11.5 lbs which is 1/5 of the way to goal and more than halfway to my first 10%. I have 8 weeks until I go to Hawaii and I really want to be to my 10% by then. That means 1 lb per week, and I can do it!Here’s my menu from yesterday:

Daily Point Target: 24
Food

banana 2
reduced fat wheat thins 3
Uncrustable PBJ sandwich 5
Chips 4
Carrots 0
Chex Mix 2
Chicken Cordon Bleu 7

Green beans 0

Very Berry Smoothie (shared) 2

Posted by zazu on June 18th, 2007
Well, I finished book and my 7 page paper (well, it was 6 1/2 pages with extra spacing between paragraphs - but who’s counting? I worked on it for about 5 solid hours yesterday before the father’s day festivities and survived it with only 3 pts worth of Chex Mix and a few glasses of ice water.
I started out the day counting points, but I knew that going to a potluck BBQ with my family was going to wipe out the rest of my weekly points. (Sundays are my day 7 in the week.) I tried to plan accordingly, but I munched a little too much, and tried to earn back a point or two with some DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). I had to estimate most of the points, but I think I was fair. I thought about not even bothering to write it down since I knew I would be over.. but I think that seeing it in writing helps me get motivated to get on plan for the next week.
Hope my Father’s Day feast doesn’t lead to a gain this week.

Posted by zazu on June 15th, 2007
Not much to say today . . . I tried some new Lean Pockets today. Not, bad. I ate the supreme pizza flavor for only 4 pts. Went out with hubby to Applebee’s tonight. I tried to offset the onion rings I had with their WW Southwest Cobb salad. I dipped into flex points by 3, but still saving the bulk of my flex for a family potluck on Father’s Day. I’m in charge of the dessert. I’m debating between my cream cheese brownies that I know everyone loves and experimenting with something lower in points. Suggestions anyone?

Daily Point Target 24
cheerios with skim milk & strawberries 4
Lean Pocket 4
applebee’s Salad (listed as 9 pts, but i didn’t quite finish it) 8
onion rings 6
few bites of hubby’s chicken wrap 4
BLT’s - some mindless munching (few m&m’s, 3 pringles, etc) 1
-3 (WP’s)
Total: 27

Day 5 in Week - Weekly Points Remaining: 27.5
Daily Activity Log: nothing today

Posted by zazu on June 14th, 2007

Today began with a long walk with a friend and my mutt (pictured) - about 70 minutes of walking - uphill to the lake, around the lake, then back home. I’m not sure how many miles - should measure that. I wore a pair of shoes I haven’t had on in a while and now I have a blister on the back of my heel. I don’t mind walking - especially with a buddy (the mutt is always willing to go) Other than dance and walking I can’t think of any exercise I really enjoy. I wish I was into running - I’ve checked out the Couch to 5K plan several times, but I know I’m not ready to commit to doing that even though someday I’d like to succeed at doing something athletic.I didn’t plan well today, and I’m running low on fresh produce so my food choices aren’t what I wish they would have been. It was a co-worker’s birthday so he brought in homemade PB cookies. I don’t know why I had one. I picked the smallest one, but honestly didn’t enjoy it - definitely not worth wasting points on. I’m still within my points range, but I know I need more veggies to see good losses. I’m also trying really hard to hang onto my WP’s because we have an ice cream social coming up on Saturday night and a potluck family BBQ on Father’s Day.

Posted by zazu on June 13th, 2007
I ended up eating out twice today - once for lunch with my husband since I worked a job close to his office, then again for dinner since I had to teach a class tonight and wasn’t going to be home during dinner time. I tried to pick “healthy” fast food options - not sure if that’s truly possible.
I know the points at Subway so I got my usual turkey on wheat. I usually choose my fats here; if I get mayo, I skip the cheese. If I get cheese then I leave off the mayo. Well, today the mayo was calling my name, but it was a bad choice because the girl put waaay too much on. I ended up scraping it off onto the paper. I do love that Subway offers baked Lays (haven’t tried their apples yet) and also sugar-free lemonade. I hate diet sodas, but love the diet lemonade.
I was on the run for dinner so I made my best guess at Taco Time, then checked points when I got home. The veggie burrito seemed like an OK choice to use my 8 pts for dinner on. It actually comes out at 10 points, so used 2 WP’s. After checking out Taco Time’s Website I can see that the chicken & black bean burrito is actually a point less so maybe I’ll try that next time.
Today was also WI day for me. I was down almost a pound (-0.9). wa-hoo! If I can keep that up I will be well on my way to my 10% before I go to Hawaii August 14. I was also wearing some Lane Bryant slacks today that I love. Only, they are getting a little baggy and actually did not look very good. It was bittersweet because I really like the pants and they aren’t very old, but hoping to fit into a size smaller soon!