It's Still the Same Underneath

I was pulling into one of my favorite spots for an afternoon giant iced tea, when I noticed this on their marquee.  I'm hoping someone was a really bad speller, but either way, I don't think I'll be ordering this menu item anytime soon.

Put all the "chilli" and "chesse" on it you want, you can still count me out!  Does that come with a box of tissues on the side?

Yuck.  Weight loss through food aversion.

Count 'Em!

Thursday's weigh-in was really good.  I hit a milestone!

Count those 5-pound stars!  And FYI - don't try to do the math.  That 5% sticker is just stuck on randomly.  I know someone thought she figured out my starting weight at 300 pounds from this pic.  Nope!  

 This is big news for me, because 35 pounds is halfway to my "high goal" with Weight Watchers.  What's my high goal, you might ask?  It's the highest I can weigh at WW and still make lifetime status.  My "big goal" is to be even below that, but I'm taking it a step at a time.  Oh, yeah, and I'm actually down 36.2 pounds total!!


And now for my Weekend Update...

Friday Night:
Big party animal that I am, I hit the gym.  Apparently I'm the only one in town with no social life this night, if the gym attendance is any indication.  At least I had my choice of ANY machine I wanted!

Lonely gym

Saturday Afternoon:
Back to the gym.  I decided to try to break my record for stats on the elliptical machine, and I did it!  Now, I don't know how accurate these things are, but it looked pretty good to me either way.  I did an hour plus a 5-minute cool-down, and it shows 6.56 miles distance and 912.9 calories burned.  Even if it's off by half, that's not too shabby!

My record high!

Saturday Night:
Casino Night Fundraiser for a local school.

 It was lots of fun, even though I didn't win any prizes.  The food was catered by one of my fave restaurants (Rails), and I think I ate sensibly.   I chose the spring mix salad over the Caesar salad, with vinaigrette dressing (just a drizzle) instead of the Ranch dressing.  I didn't take any bread or potatoes (hard to do, but not that big of a deal).  Then I had a smallish portion of chicken breast and a tiny bit of pork tenderloin, green beans, and a tomato/onion/pepper creole side item.  No dessert (cheesecake and chocolate cake), and a small glass of white wine.

My losing raffle tickets

Sunday:
My birthday!
Went with the family to eat Mexican food.  I wanted to have an enjoyable meal without going nuts, since it was my birthday.  I had chicken fajitas (just ate the chicken and veggies) with pinto beans (not refried) and a dab of guacamole (yum-o!).  I had a couple of chips with salsa, then asked for corn tortillas to dip instead.  That's GOOOOD!  I also had 1/2 of a flour tortilla, because they make them there at the restaurant and are my favorites.  It was a great time, and my kids were good while we were there, even though my daughter was disappointed that I wouldn't let them ask the wait staff to cram a sequined sombrero on my head and sing happy birthday.  (Fear of wearing a multi-use hat, not fear of attention.  Clearly, I love attention.)

Later we drove to Comfort, a little town nearby.  One of our friends was there and mentioned she saw my favorite (red velvet) in little cupcakes at a little restaurant/shop called High's, so we went out on a quest.  I really want to go back to High's for lunch one day.  It looked really cute, and the menu looked tasty.  Click here for the link if you want to check it out.  We took some of these little beauties home.

Red Velvet Cupcake - The Best!

Birthday Chick

 Because I'm still tracking everything I eat this day, I looked up the Points Plus value for red velvet cupcakes.  Uh, yeah, 14 Points Plus!  Yikes!  But it WAS my birthday, so I couldn't deprive myself and just cut mine in half.  Ah, just right!

Half the cupcake, all the flavor!

We also went to Sweet Comfort, a little candy and ice cream shop down the road from High's.  We picked up two of the biggest chocolate-covered strawberries I've ever seen.  I had a little bite of this (just enough) and let the family have the rest.  It's fun to share sometimes!

So.  Good.

 After all that indulgence, yes, I actually went to the gym this evening.  I didn't hit my record on the elliptical again, but I did come close.  It's probably because I had to change my age from 40 to 41 when I set it up, right?

Birthday Stats

 As I was leaving, the girl at the front desk wished me a Happy Birthday.  Then she asked why on earth I was at the gym on my birthday.  As I walked out, I realized something.  I was there on my birthday because I wanted to be.  Because I wanted to give myself a gift I've been denying myself for a long time.  I want to be healthy and take time just for me.  And that's a very good thing, and it was a very happy birthday indeed!

Food Choices

Our family was invited to a Super Bowl party on Sunday.  I decided to bring a veggie tray, to help me make better food choices there.  I wound up taking home almost the whole thing!  I guess veggies were not as popular as the meatballs, stuffed mushroom caps, and cheese dips that were available.  Oh, it was all so tempting!  I did have a few tastes here and there, but I loaded up on the veggies.  I could have done better, but I was quite restrained nonetheless.

Yesterday my husband took me to lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants.  I had my standby "Farmer's Market Salad" which is baby spring mix with green apples, a little Texas goat cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries, and grilled chicken.  It comes with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and I used that sparingly.

Yum!

This restaurant is called Rails - A Cafe at the Depot.  It's in an old railroad depot, and has a cool vibe about it and really good food.  I highly recommend trying this place if you're ever in the Texas Hill Country.  Besides the food, one of my favorite things is the ceiling:

Inside Rails

I'm trying to learn to enjoy dining out and enjoying healthier options when doing so.  I'm trying to focus more on the conversation, presentation of food, and details of my surroundings.  There are so many perks to going out to eat other than seeing how much fat and carbs I can cram down my throat.  It's not an easy transition, I must admit, but I'm working on it one meal at a time.

The Truth Hurts

Well, it was quite a big gain, as promised -- 5.6 pounds.  My friend Mandy asked if I was okay after seeing that.  I am.  It's just a result of my poor choices.  To get the results I want, I have to change my actions.  Next week I'll have a loss.  Take that to the bank!

Off to a good start.  My little guy's birthday was a few days ago, and he took cupcakes to Children's Day Out on Thursday to celebrate turning 4.  We made these, and he helped me decorate them.  I didn't have a single one!

I'm not holding my breath for one of those TV shows about fancy cakes to offer me a job!

In other news, I've tried something new.  I went to the grocery store for more fresh produce, and noticed something I've seen before.  It looked like a strange tomato in the fruit section.  It's a persimmon.  I got one and gave it a try.  It was okay.  Not a favorite, but definitely an interesting flavor.  The point more than anything was to give myself a boost by trying something new and unusual.  It seems like such a small and inconsequential thing, but somehow it really put me in the right mindset.

Persimmons could pull off identity theft of a tomato!

Oh, and my friend Denise made a new recipe.  She saw some hotsy-totsy french chef on TV making this.  I tasted it, and it was really yummy.  It was so creamy and rich that I worried about the Points value.  I put it in the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder and was shocked and thrilled to find it was only 4 Points (power points, the new version) per serving!  That's really good!  It could be even lower without sauteeing in oil/butter.

Here is the recipe.  No photo, but it's a creamy white soup with green leeks.  Give this simple recipe a try to serve up with a fresh green salad!

Rustic French Country Soup

(Potato & Leek Soup)

3 leeks, cleaned and chopped

1 quart chicken broth

1 cup potato flakes

1 cup milk

Saute chopped leeks in 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter until wilted.

Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Add potato flakes and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil.

Add milk and simmer for 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Hot 100 Update, Thanksgiving Edition

My update for the Hot 100 Challenge:

1.  Lose 15-plus pounds by the end of the year / end of the challenge.  I'm getting there!  I am just 3.8 pounds from reaching this goal!

2.  Get more sleep.  Hit or miss.

3.  Start taking vitamins.  I'm still doing well with this one, even though I might forget now and then.

4.  Make a plan for eating and exercising over the holidays and stick to it.  I totally showed Thanksgiving who's boss!  I managed to eat a little of my favorites, had a wonderful time with family (still at my parents' house right now), and didn't overdo it.  It was cold here the whole time, and I didn't get in much exercise, but I'm still pleased with how I did.

That's it for now, because I'm now going to visit the family and watch more football.

Hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Flush Away the Pounds?

Not sure how this happened, but when I weighed today, after just two days back on track, I've lost almost all of the 5.2 I had gained during the five days off the program.  This morning I was up just 0.8 from last Thursday (my official weigh-in day).  I wonder if the gallons of water I drank had anything to do with it?

Normally I save my weigh-in results for after my 12:15 Weight Watchers meeting, but my son has a Thanksgiving Feast today at lunch, and I might miss my official weigh-in.

Don't worry, I'm not tempted by this "feast" today.  It's total chaos but fun for the kids, and it's not easy to get a plate of food.  Then it's more of a potluck kind of situation, and I am not even planning to eat there.  I'll eat at home afterward.  I'm just not in the mood to try to calculate calories and points on all that.

Speaking of food, my friend and neighbor Denise made quinoa last night for her family's dinner and brought some of it to me.

It tasted SO GOOD!  I'll have to get her recipe and post it.  I wish I had taken a photo of it, but the three-year-old and I gobbled it up so fast there was no time.  It tasted a little like Mexican rice.  Just so yummy, and now I've got a new food to add to my limited rotation.

Anyone else a fan of quinoa?

Four Days of Debauchery

Bad, bad, so very bad.

I was trying to be mindful, but I slipped up.  I've had four days of extremely unhealthy eating and overeating.  Not good.

I'm finished eating for the day today, and tomorrow will be back on track.

It was so extreme that I feel quite certain I will NOT get my 25-pound goal on Thursday, but will instead have a gain.  I plan to undo as much damage as I can in the coming days by drinking lots of water, choosing healthy foods in small portions, and exercising.

I will turn it around!

Weekly Weigh-In (Belated Version)

Weigh-In:
Been so busy lately and somehow didn't post my weekly weigh-in from last Thursday.  It was disappointing but not surprising.  Big goose egg!  No loss, no gain.  I won't be ridiculous and try to trick myself by saying I have no idea what happened, because I do.  Very little exercise, and more sugar and carbs than I needed.  Stayed within my Points, but clearly I needed to regroup for this week.  Exercising is not going well.  I am finding it difficult to make time for it.  Notice I did not say that I don't have the time.  We all have the same number of hours in a day, but I'm not making it a priority for some reason.  Some weeks are like that, and I'm not going to get down about it.  I just need to move my butt.

So here's some more odds and ends from last week:

Medical:
Went for my yearly "well woman" checkup last week.  Now that I'm 40, I get to go for a mammogram.  Wheee!  Actually, I'm not scared!  I've had a few already, and it's not a big deal.  The doctor also put me on medication for my PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), and I'm having lots of tummy aches from it.  Supposed to get better though, which will be great.

Got my flu shot Wednesday!  I was way braver than my kids (they got the nasal mist), but nobody offered me a lollipop.  Guess they sensed my Weight Watcherness and respected my boundaries.

Had to get a new box of my vitamins.  They've changed the formula a little, and now it contains 7 tablets per day instead of 6.  So this means I am now taking 13 pills per day.  In a week, I'll up one of my medications, and it will be 14 pills per day.  I accidentally missed a time or two on various meds, so I made a decision.  I had to do it, even though I didn't want to.  I went full-on old-lady mode and bought this:

Daily Pill Case - Specifically Designed for Senior Citizens

Events and Food:
Tuesday was a luncheon to hear an author discuss the time he spent with legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.  Together they wrote a book called Conversations with Cronkite.

Walter Cronkite

It was a very interesting presentation.  The food, however, was one of those slip-ups that led to my ZERO WEEK at WW, though.  They served salad, which was already dressed with a little Ranch.  Not swimming in it, no big deal.  But the main dish was white rice (I had about half of it), nice veggies (naked), and -- lest you think it was a healthy lunch -- chicken cordon bleu.  Yes, that's right - Chicken stuffed with cheese and ham, then breaded and drenched in cream sauce.  What's that?  Yeah, you guessed it.  I ate about half of it.  Oh, well...

I was telling my friend and neighbor Denise about a recipe I read for quinoa.  It's hard to find in our little town, but she saw some while she was at the grocery store and picked it up for me!  She's so sweet!  I haven't yet tried it, because it seems like we've had something going on almost every night and I haven't cooked.   I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention how famous I am?  My picture was in the local magazine from when I was at the Breast Cancer Gala.  Hit the big-time, let me tell ya'!

Have a wonderful week!

Who's Afraid of Hunger?

I am about as far removed from a health expert as one can get.  So one of the things I love about this weight-loss blogging community is that I encounter so many different approaches to a common goal.  Some I dismiss as kooky or just not for me; some I try to implement; some are fascinating and require more research; and some amaze me and motivate me to push beyond what I normally imagine for myself.

I'm doing Weight Watchers, but I'm up to try tips and techniques others have had success with in addition to my plan.  One of the things that interested me lately has been the idea of Intermittent Fasting.  Steve at logmyloss.com uses this method regularly.  He writes about it in detail here, and after looking into it, I thought I'd give it a try.  Incidentally, Steve is also the guy who came up with the Hot 100 Challenge, which I really enjoy.  He and I had some back-and-forth on this, and he was really helpful in answering my multitude of questions about Intermittent Fasting ("IF").

Here's the timeline (starting last night) for my first attempt at IF, and the results below that.

5:00 PM - Just by chance, I had a very early dinner tonight.  This wound up playing a big part in my decision to go for it right away with IF.

9:38 PM - Email from Steve at logmyloss.com.  Decided it was a good time to start, since I hadn't eaten anything since dinner.  Then I'd kind of have a little freebie of a couple of hours when I wasn't even thinking about fasting but was doing it anyway.  Continuing to have no more eating tonight, as I'm now officially fasting.

11:00 PM - In bed, drifting around the fringes of sleep, when I get a little knocking in my belly telling me it's hungry.  I haven't eaten anything since dinner, and I normally eat up until 9:00 or even later, so I'm not surprised.  I finished dinner around 5:30, so it's been about 5 1/2 hours since I've eaten.  I thought about healthy stuff instead and went to sleep.

6:30 AM - Read follow-up email from Steve.  Felt really encouraged.  In part, he wrote, "Just remember, it may not be easy today, but your body is just going to be acting like a young child throwing a temper tantrum.  Once it realizes you are in control, which almost always happens quickly, then it will behave and let you go ahead and move forward." 

7:00 AM - Had water, no coffee.  Making lunches for the kids, I had to remind myself not to nibble.  I don't want to set off some trigger in my stomach or brain or blood chemistry that tells me I need to eat now.  A little hungry, but it's not too bad.

10:07 AM - Still good, and it's been almost 17 hours since I've eaten.  Using the computer to distract me from hunger and chores.  Time to tackle some to-do items on the list.  Two hours until weigh-in.

12:45 PM - After our Weight Watchers meeting, my friend Mandy invited me to Subway for lunch.  I said I would go but not eat.  When we got there, I caved in and ate.  I really was hungry, but I think if I'd controlled my environment a little more I could have gone the full 24 hours of fasting.

Stop the clock!  I've made it over 19 hours without eating.  My experiment has ended for today.  I really had planned to go for 24 hours, but I fell short on my first attempt.  I might try this again next week.  If nothing else, this is a good reminder of a few things for me:

1.)  Like most people, I eat when I'm not physically hungry.  I often say, "I'm hungry," when in fact I am not.  I might be in the mood to eat or might be craving a particular food, but I am not actually hungry.  There's a big difference.  Emotional hunger is not the same as physical hunger, and this let me feel a little physical hunger to remind me of the difference.

2.) One day's hunger will not kill me.  The human body can go for a very long time without food, as long as it has water.  According to an article at Discovery Health, "Medically speaking, most doctors agree that healthy humans can go up to eight weeks without food, as long as they have water."  Gandhi once fasted for 21 days, and the man was 70 years old at the time!  One day's not so brutal now, is it?

3.) Mild hunger is not scary.  It's an unusual sensation to allow yourself to feel hungry, especially when you're a chronic overeater.  But there's no panic, no "drowning feeling."  I didn't have a headache or get dizzy or anything like that.

4.) Being aware of the body's signals is a good thing.  My emotional eating got me into this bind where I now need to lose a significant amount of weight.  Now I need to pay more attention to those signals and be mindful of how I use food.  Use food as a fuel and not as a drug.  And if I'm not physically hungry, I don't have to eat.  I can choose not to.

5.) Not eating for several hours helps me put my snacking into perspective.  I tend to eat smaller / lower calorie meals so that I can snack throughout the day.  While I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing overall, I leave myself open to more opportunities to give in to temptation and make poor food choices.  I might have a serving of something less nutritious than if I had fewer food decisions throughout the day.

6.)  There's no reason not to try this again, for me.  I could argue against it all day long, but it truly didn't hurt anything.  Initially, I was unsure, but I think that hesitation comes from a fear of hunger.  I rationalized it by suggesting that I would have to deal with other physical problems as a result (see #3 - panic, headache, dizziness, etc.)  I didn't, by the way.  But I never used the excuse of physical discomfort as a reason not to overeat before.  Yet how many times did I have to double up on Pepcid because I had eaten so much and had over-the-top acid reflux?  How many times did I eat to the point of almost passing out, where I had to just sit or lie down?  How many years did I eat to the point of having the waistband of my pants dig into my skin?  I certainly didn't worry about my eating affecting how I felt then.

Do You Wear Your Carbs?

Have you ever said, "If I eat that, I may as well just apply it directly to my hips"?  How about, "If I eat that, I'll be wearing it for a year!" Well, photographer Ted Sabarese took the concept a step further and photographed models wearing the food they crave most.  I ran across these photos and had to know what the purpose was.  According to Sabarese's blog, the photographer was interested in the relationship between people and their food.

I wonder what effect wearing a bread dress or waffle pants would have on me.  Would I find the food disgusting? (It is, after all, being worn on the body and exposed to the elements.)  Or would I just go nuts and binge on my clothes, then wind up with a citation for public nudity?

Bread

Photo by: Ted Sabarese

Next

Pasta

Photo by: Ted Sabarese

Next

Meat

Photo by: Ted Sabarese

Artichoke Hearts

Photo by: Ted Sabarese

Waffles

Photo by: Ted Sabarese

Read more at Ted Sabarese's site or at Trendhunter.

Halloween Happenings

Friday was the "Pumpkin Parade" at my daughter's elementary school.  The kids bring decorated pumpkins to school, display them on stage, then form a parade to view the pumpkins and show off their costumes.
Some of my favorite pumpkins:

Because we'd been in such a hurry to get to the Pumpkin Parade, my 3-year-old son missed his breakfast at home.  We had some errands to do, so we stopped to get him a kolache.  What did I get?  Black coffee and nothing else!  (Had a protein bar in my purse, so I was all set.)

Later we took the kids to Fiesta Texas (Six Flags) for Fright Fest.  It was lots of fun, and the weather was perfect!

Giant Ferris Wheel

Despite my efforts to avoid buying candy for trick-or-treaters, I freaked out at the last minute and remembered the last couple of years when they came in droves and cleared out all the candy.  My next-door neighbor even had to come over to get some more because she ran out so early.  I knew I wouldn't have enough non-candy items to give out if we had the usual army of tots.

No, this is not the extent of the non-candy items I purchased for trick-or-treaters.

I went and bought several bags of candy just before dark.  Yes, some of it was chocolate, but I was confident I could resist the lure of binge eating it by the fistful.  Mostly, however, I was excited to solve a Halloween mystery:  It DOES exist!  A candy that doesn't call my name, that is.  Kids love 'em, but these are completely safe in my presence - Sour Patch Kids.

Sour Patch Kids Candy

I'm not saying I didn't sample a little candy.  I did.  I wish I hadn't, but I did.  What I didn't do was go nuts.  I wrote down EVERYTHING I ate too.

At one point the bell rang, and I could see through the window on my door that there was a tall figure standing alone on my porch.  Here's what greeted me when I opened the door.

My (normally) perky blonde neighbor

Took me a minute to recognize her!

I haven't gotten in nearly enough exercise this week, unless you count walking the kids down the street and up the hill.  Um, probably not.  So tonight I had not one, but TWO friends asking if I wanted to go walk.  So the three of us (me, Denise and Mandy) went for a walk.  Denise has a great little trail all mapped out.  It's 3.5 miles, and it's got some nice little hills along the way.  It was still really warm, even with the sun going down.  It certainly wasn't the November evening I see in the movies.

I'm wondering how everyone did with temptations this weekend.  For those of us who were less than perfect, just turn it around now.  Go work out, plan out your day's meals, whatever works for you.  We are about to be bombarded with two full months of opportunities to mess up our healthy plans.  How will you deal with it?

Betcha Can't Eat Just One

Yesterday I fouled up.

Here's what did it:



Feeling festive, I bought a bag of candy corn.  I don't normally keep treats like this in the house anymore, and this is one of those items that only comes out once a year.  "It's for the kids," I told myself.  Apparently, I lie to myself on a regular basis.

I realize there are worse things in the world, but I shouldn't have eaten as many as I did.  On a positive note, I wrote down the calories, calculated the Points, and went light on the rest of the day.  This enabled me to stay within my calorie range for the day, despite having about three servings of tri-colored sweetness.

Who said, "A calorie is a calorie, no matter what the food is"?  I'm gonna have to call B.S. on that.  As far as weight loss/gain, I might not argue the point.  However, by last night, I felt gross from all the sugar.  Had I enjoyed 480 calories worth of, say, apples or veggies or almonds, I don't think I would have felt the same as I did after 480 calories of corn-shaped sugar and corn syrup.

My plan for today is this:

Eat my regular breakfast and lunch.
One or two SMALL, healthy snacks between lunch and dinner.
Extra water.
Lean dinner.
Nothing after 6:00 PM.
Cardio.

I weigh in tomorrow at noon.  Hope I haven't blown it.  I've exercised more in the past two weeks than I normally ever do, so at least I know I'm doing something good for my heart.

I will be very diligent today and might try to come in a couple hundred calories below my norm.  I'm not going to starve by doing this for one day.  Tomorrow I will resume my regular pattern.

This is a good reminder to me that I need to be more careful with my environment, especially around the holidays.  I make it far too easy to set myself up with excuses during these months.  I really convinced myself that candy corn would be a safe bet, since it's not chocolate.  Clearly, I'm not that picky in how I blast sugar into my system.  Good to know!

Anyone else have a Halloween food item that triggers overeating?

Queen B

The birthday party I attended was at Queen B's English Tea Room.  It's in this old house which is filled with shelves and shelves bursting with antique teapots and cups and little knickknacks, all of it for sale.  The tables are right in the midst of all these items, and it's very cozy.  In the mood to be a little silly? Queen B's has loads of hats and boas and lacy gloves to add to your "posh afternoon."

The Tea - About ten of us ladies shared the day's celebration for our friend.  We each had our own little pot of tea, which we poured through strainers into our floral cups.  I chose vanilla, but the choices were endless.  There was Summer (fruity), Winter (spicy), Gunpowder (a strong green tea), and Chocolate (yep, chocolate), just to name a few.

The food - Wonderful and abundant food, with choices from soup and salad and sandwiches to more traditional English fare.  Then I had one little treat and put it in my food journal.  Still stayed within my calorie range for the day!  However, I must admit that despite my wee indulgence, I showed incredible restraint while sitting in front of this:

The gifts - We were instructed not to bring gifts.  I always feel a little funny about this, for some reason, but I obeyed the request.  At one point, the birthday girl said that she wanted to let us know that we had already given her gifts.  She then presented each of us with a slip of paper containing her account of ways our friendship had blessed her.  Each was specific to the recipient.  I thought this was such a sweet gesture and was a real celebration of friendship.  

The bonus - In the central area of Queen B's is a little shop with British items for sale.  I'm sure it's actually a lovely product, but I had to snap a picture of this item that caught my attention purely for its interesting name.

Cheerio, loves!

Ouch!

Well, the P90X workouts have begun.  My friend Denise and I started Friday.  I'm still sore from that day, but in a good way.  Not pain like I'm injured, but that reminder that I've actually tapped into some muscles that have gone unused for far too long.  Tomorrow is my least favorite workout - Yoga.  Yes, I know, lots of people adore yoga.  Me, not so much.  But I'm going to do it anyway and try to find that inner peace I keep hearing you can get from yoga.

Yesterday I attended a fundraiser for Young Life.  The event was at an open-air pavilion at one of the many camps located here in the Texas Hill Country.  The weather was perfect, and the pavilion was between a pond and the river.  It was catered by Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, but I still managed to stay within my food range - fajita meat, one tortilla, beans, guacamole, lots and lots of salsa and pico.  No chips,  no rice, no cheese, just one tortilla, no dessert.  No regrets.  It was good, and I enjoyed what I had.

Also, I got my first blogger award!  Thanks to Becky at My Walk From Flab to Fab for the "A Blog With Substance" award.  I'm so excited and so honored!  Becky puts it all out there and is very open with sharing her struggles and successes.  Check her out, and let her know I sent you to visit.

According to Becky, upon receiving the award, I must:

1. Explain my blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in five words.

2. Give the award to ten other bloggers.

Part I - Explaining My Blogging Philosophy, Motivation and Experience in Five Words

Like others, I wondered how in the world I could do this in just give words.  Ask me again in a month, and I'll probably have a different answer. But for now, five words that explain my blogging philosophy, motivation and experience would be this:  Being open grows my soul.  

Part II - Awarding 10 Other Bloggers

I'm still quite new to the blogging community, so I had a really hard time with this.  I don't really know all the etiquette of the blog awards, so I'm going to offer the award privately and will post the recipients after they reply.  

And since Becky said it so beautifully, I'm going to quote her:  "Thank you to all of you bloggers who don't settle for what yesteryear had to offer. Thank you for creating tomorrow anew and inspiring me and so many others to do the same."

Weekly Weigh-In

Nope, I'm not seeing stars today.  That's okay, because that would have required a five-pound loss this week.  It wasn't great - a loss of 0.8 lb, for a total of 15.8 pounds lost.  I did some experimenting with my Points this week.  The last few weeks, I was eating under my daily allowance of Points (bad girl!), and having zero weekly points and zero activity points.  Then this week I decided to try having all of my daily points (duh), and I had zero activity points, and a total of less than 10 weekly points (for the party at the Chocolate Lounge).  I'm going to try it this week too, and just see what happens.  If I gain or don't have a better loss, I might need to adjust it again.  We'll see.

There was some excitement and inspiration at my Weight Watchers meeting today.  First off, our sweet leader Debby just received a Diamond Leader award.  There are tons of criteria to meet in order to get this award, and it's a big deal.  Yay!  Then one member reached her goal with a loss of 45 pounds, and another woman reached Lifetime status with a loss of about 30 pounds.  It kind of pumped me up and made me imagine myself up there at goal/lifetime, with everyone clapping to my success.

The meeting topic was about going to the grocery store (or supermarket, as some of you probably say).  Perspiration vs. Inspiration - What stresses you about shopping for food and what makes you feel excited about shopping for food?

The usual stresses were things like kids/spouse, temptations, cost, and time.

The inspiration was a discussion on how to overcome those issues.  There were tips on shopping for groceries too:

- Shop the perimeter of the store.  This is where the fresh items are kept, like milk and yogurt, meat and seafood, fresh vegetables and fruits, etc.  Fewer of the processed foods are located in this area around along the walls.

- Don't shop hungry or thirsty.  This is one we've all probably heard before.  If it's not possible to eat before heading to the store, chew a piece of gum while there to help avoid food cravings that might lead to purchases (and binges) you'll regret later.

- Make a list, take it with you, and stick to it.  This will help you get through the store faster and will also prevent impulse buys.  Remember to take the list with you!

- Plan menus in advance so you will know what to buy.  Then put the ingredients on the list.

- Shop alone if possible.  This way anyone with you won't be able to toss unhealthy items in the cart or whine mercilessly until you give in on the junk food.

- Arrange your shopping list by category.  Our leader gave us a web address for a site where you can do this (www.grocerylistmaker.com).  You click items from your list, which are arranged by areas of the store where each item should be located.  This will save time so you don't have to double back for an item buried in the bottom of the list that you missed while you were on the other side of the store.

Happy shopping!

Epiphany at the Chocolate Lounge

Saturday night I celebrated a friend's 40th birthday at Coco Chocolate Lounge in San Antonio.  It was a lovely little bistro with a chocolate-themed menu.

Because there were several of us in the party, we had a predetermined menu.  We shared appetizers and desserts, had a salad and a choice of entree.

(Our Menu)

I had one piece of toast with goat cheese for an appetizer and passed on the other two options (fried calamari and some kind of salmon and cream cheese number). 

Salads were next.  They had a very light drizzle of raspberry dressing and were topped with a shaving of white chocolate.

Next was the entree.  They all looked fabulous, but I decided the shrimp might be the lightest option, and I just had a couple of small bites of the risotto.

Then came dessert.  The party planners were so smart to offer shared desserts.  It really was nice to sample them all and also not feel like a complete glutton.  I didn't get a photo of the Nutella Tart, but did get pics of the signature dessert called "The Kiss" and the fondue.  I had a little taste of each and was happy and satisfied.  Enjoyed it completely and left with no feelings of guilt or deprivation.

When I first realized the party would be at the Chocolate Lounge, I figured my whole post would be about how I either resisted chocolate temptations or how I gave into them.  And the truth is, I did a little of both.  I had a copy of the menu in advance, so I planned for what I would eat, had small portions, and arranged for a little indulgence.  But I did not lose control.

Now for the epiphany.   Here I was in this group of 20 or so women, and once again I was the biggest girl there.  As we were all chatting, I started to notice a theme in several conversations around me.  At one point, several women started talking about various races they were planning to run.  At another point, someone mentioned a vacation where they would hike and try surfing.  Several mentioned their exercise classes.  I started to realize that these women looked thin and healthy because they worked at it. Their bodies look like they do because they're responding to the very simple principles of calories-in-calories-out.  They make activity part of their daily lives, and they've found activities they enjoy.

And here's the second part of the epiphany.  I was seated between two thin and fit ladies.  One mentioned that she had been on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks.  This shocked me, because she is one of the tiniest friends I have.  I'm not sure what size she is, but I would guess maybe a 2.  I had to find out more about why she would feel the need to diet.  She said, "I noticed my clothes were getting too tight and I didn't feel good."  I had just assumed she was naturally thin, which she might be, but she also has to work to keep it that way.

What it all comes down to is this:  It does not matter if you have 5 pounds or 305 pounds to lose.  I've often looked at someone and said, "It's easy for her, because she doesn't have much weight to lose."  By the same token, someone might have had 200 pounds to lose and said the same thing about me.  And how many times have women said that about how easy it is for men to lose weight?  But here's the thing:  If you have any weight to lose, it all boils down to the same thing.  Why?  Because you don't get to lose the weight and then go back to your old habits.  You have to keep on eating smaller portions of healthy food and you have to keep on moving your ass.  If you don't, you'll wind up right back where you were before.  So eventually anyone can lose the weight, given the right efforts and time.  And then it continues.  Forever.  Unless you want to gain the weight back.  And you don't.  Neither do I.

All in all, I'd say my Saturday night was fun, delicious, and had an indefinable quality that left me feeling I'd been let in on a secret that could change my future.  Simple but true.

Viernes

(That's Spanish for Friday.)

Some friends called this evening and asked our family to meet them at Mamacita's, which is a fun Mexican food restaurant here in town.  I immediately had images of enchiladas and refried beans dancing through my thoughts.  But instead of ordering that, I ordered this:

It's a chicken fajita salad - lettuce, cabbage, tomato, onion, a little avocado, and grilled chicken.  That little crispy fried tortilla cup is filled with tomato, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.  I dumped the whole thing on top of the salad and tossed the cup aside.  I ordered light Italian dressing but didn't use it.  Instead, I poured spicy salsa all over it.  It was so yummy (though I realize from my low-quality phone picture here, it doesn't look all that wonderful) and so opposite of what I normally order there.  I was really guessing on the calories/Points.  I wonder how many Points others would give it.  I guessed 9, but I honestly have no idea.  

And instead of a margarita or pina colada or Corona, I drank this:

That's iced tea sweetened with Splenda.  It's not quite the sugary delight we call Sweet Tea here in Texas, but it was quite refreshing anyway.

And though I know I am "allowed" to have chips and salsa (or the green concoction based on avocado and sour cream Mamacita's includes with chips and salsa), I decided not to have it this time.  I am just starting out trying to develop good habits, and I knew I wasn't ready yet.  I would have made it one crazy food fiesta and gone overboard with that.

It was nice to go out to dinner to enjoy the company and the conversation -- what little I could enjoy over the wild antics of my crazy kids, that is.  Next time, I vote we call a babysitter!

Adios!