SIS#12 - Self Improvement Sundays

***11 weeks complete - ahead of pace >42 lbs - Goal 1 was 40lbs, Goal 2 is 60lbs by July 11***

I'll be honest with you, this was a tough week. I didn't lose any ground, but my pace slowed. I weigh myself almost every day, but I take it with a grain of salt since my weight can rise and fall in a couple of days as much as 4 or 5 pounds!  I'll be honest about something else: the blogging has helped keep me on track but I'm not at all excited about the idea of logging in with you all to say that I'm up this week.

That said, I'm sticking to my plan and so far it's served me.

I continue to hear from many of you and your personal challenges you're tackling. The weight thing is a big one and nearly universal in these parts. I've been encouraged to give a bit more detail of my nutrition plan. No problem. I'll do some of that here and there. Please understand, I don't consider myself an expert on anything to do with nutrition and fitness at this point. But it's working so...

Col and I do the Weight Watchers points at home. We bought the at-home WW program around 10 years ago and have tapped into it here and there. I think it was about $100. We get so many points a day based on weight, decreasing as you lose weight. A point is basically 50 calories, but the slide-rule calculator factors in fat grams and dietary fiber grams. At this point I rarely have to look anything up, usually just a glance at the nutritional info if anything. There are some free point calculators online, food and activity. Yeah, you earn more points with physical activity.

I certainly don't discourage people from officially joining Weight Watchers. I think that's the best way. If I didn't have Col as my "coach", it would have been tough in the early weeks.

Foods I frequent:

Breakfast: turkey ham or sausage, eggs/egg whites scrambled with veggies, cereal, light Italian bread with sugar free jam, coffee with flavored creamer

Lunch: leftovers! pre-measured containers of soup, stew, pasta. Light pringles. Fruit! Lots of apples. Oranges. Sliced up honeydew melon or watermelon. Light chunky type soups, points calculated in advance.

Snacks: fruit, diet soda, light pringles. I haven't snacked as much and focus on getting engrossed in my projects.

Dinner: Salads! I spend hours slicing up peppers, onions, tomatoes, purple cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and mixing a cake-sized tupperware container of salad I can munch for a few days. Then I can mix in lean meats, cottage cheese, fat free dressings. We still eat as a family sometimes, but I won't sacrifice my plan for anyone! My parents visited and they sat and watched me slice veggies. We visited family in Minneapolis and I ate what I could and used my stash to fill in. Easter dinner, I had some of the fancy salad and a couple pieces of ham.

Grilled stuff is awesome. Anything with flavor. Baked chips and salsa. The veggies I don't count, even if WW gives them some points. I put some fat free Italian dressing on two or three huge plates of salad and count 0 if there's no meat or cheese! If you run out of something, run to the store right away and get it. Pay a bit extra for what you need. It's worth it. And you're eating a lot less of everything else.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way home from church. I wouldn't even get a salad. What I want is at home. I'm doing my plan and I don't give a flying flip what anyone thinks about it! ;-)

Sometimes that ol' book of Proverbs just kinda says it like it is:

Do not join those who drink too much wine
     or gorge themselves on meat,
for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
     and drowsiness clothes them in rags. (23:21)

PS - Dill pickles!!!