Re: Eat all Points?

December 14, 2004

Aren't there times when you say to yourself, " Why didn't I do this

YEARS ago? " It just makes so much sense!

1. Eat within a range of reasonable calories every day.

2. Eat food you like in moderation.

3. Exercise every day.

4. Have treats once in awhile in a reasonable amount

Lose weight!

No eating meat until you feel like you've been eating a salt lick. No

cabbage patch soup until not even the dog will spend time with you. No

sipping gritty shakes twice a day. Just sensible, healthy eating. Who

knew??

I specifically remember, before I lost weight, sitting in a mall and

seeing a very cute, thin girl walk by and thinking " I'd do ANYTHING to

look like that. "

To which my inner-child replied in a sarcastic tone, " Yeah, you'd do

anything but eat right and exercise! "

It's amazing the lengths that we will go to to lose weight when we

really don't NEED to go to those lengths. I include myself among the

" we " . I one time went on an 800 calorie a day diet, counting out

saltines and eating broth. Shaking my way through the day. Another

time I did Atkins and was so depressed, hungry, and cranky that I

nearly lost my mind. I tried vegetarianism for awhile, which can be

very healthy...but wasn't because I replaced meat with high fat meat

substitutes and missed meat so much that when my husband would 'cheat'

and bring home burgers I couldn't help myself. Now if he were to bring

home something that is over my points I'd easily resist, if I needed

to, because I'd know that it was xx calories (or points) and that I

only had x left.

But he doesn't do that because he doesn't NEED to. Nothing is off

limits. Everything is okay. Sure, there are a few things I usually

won't eat because it's too " pricey " but it's a choice, not a ban.

Heck, today I had a potluck at school and I filled up on salad, had

brought fat free dressing with me, ate one of my 1 point pumpkin spice

muffins, some raw veggies, passed up the casserole dishes (not a

casserole fan) and looked over the desserts. I calculated my points

(had a few other low calorie things) and decided I'd go for a piece of

fudge. At the END I chose one piece and savored it on my way to class.

I found the nutrition information, since I knew it was fantasy fudge,

journaled it for 2 points, and was satisfied. Did I want more fudge?

Sure. I realized that in the " old " days I might have made that fudge

and literally eaten half the pan myself because I didn't know (nor did

I want to know) the calorie content of each serving. Good heavens! At

90 calories for 1/48th of the recipe that was over 2000 calories! Yet

now I can eat one piece, recognize it's " role " in my daily calories,

and move on.

Anyhow, I'm blathering now...sorry about that. There are just times

when I have these moments of " Isn't this just so awesome and why

didn't I do it sooner!? "

>

> JB - Me too! Like you and Tory, I continue to weigh and measure everything.

> You're right to not trust yourself on eyeballing things. That 1 tbsp of

> peanut butter has a way of rounding itself into a nice mound that can

> actually measure at 1 1/2 or even 2 tbsps!! It's amazing how we can trick

> ourselves into thinking an amount of food is less than it really is.

> As for eating several times a day -- my friends think I'm fibbing, somehow.

> They don't understand how I can eat literally every two hours, right up to

> 10pm before bed, and lose weight the way I've done. Maybe it won't work for

> every body, but for mine it works to keep that metabolism revved with

> smaller amounts, more often. I actually eat six meals a day, with sometimes

> lunch being the largest and sometimes dinner--depending on the day's

> schedule and activities. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Weight

> Watchers? Well.......I love Weight Watchers!

> Bette

>

December 14, 2004

Holidays are difficult when you're first starting, however they can be

navigated. Here are some things I've done.

1. Revamped recipes. On my website, www.msteechur.com, I have recipes

that I've re-done to make more points friendly. Is my pumpkin pie as

" good " as the full fat version? Not quite, but to me it's like buying

a knockoff purse. I still get a neat looking purse, but I don't pay

full price. If the full fat flavor is really important, I use the

points. If it isn't, and in this case it isn't, I do the low-cal

version and save my points for something else.

2. Plan snacks into your schedule and always bring food with you to parties.

3. Believe it or not, there is NO LAW that says the holidays have to

be full of goodies. How about making cookies on Christmas Eve, or the

day before. If you want to make the dough up early, do that and freeze

it. Make half batches, or make a full batch and immediately put the

extras you don't need onto a few plates and take them to the

neighbors. Then on Christmas Eve make a new tradition of decorating

cookies and eat them for dessert. You may have 4 or 5 " favorites " but

why not just pick out one or two, make smaller batches, figure the

points and then as soon as the holidays are over, give them away or

dispose of them.

4. Don't bake! It's not the end of the world. I stopped baking, but

instead will enjoy other people's treats. Or I bake low point things.

I brought the 1 point pumpkin spice muffins to the potluck today and I

had one of those and looked over the desserts very carefully and chose

one thing. I had one single piece of fudge, savored it (and oh it was

GOOOOOOOOOD) and went back to my classroom. Because the fudge was left

behind in the faculty room it wasn't taunting me from the kitchen.

5. Give baking over to the kids! Let THEM bake the cookies. You could

help decorate, and while you do have an assortment of veggies, nonfat

dip, diet sodas, other other things to knosh on. That should keep your

mouth busy. Then pre-journal a few of the cookies and enjoy them

sitting down with a cup of good hot coffee. The veggies will help you

to have something to put into your mouth while you're baking (so you

keep your fingers out of the dough) and will put something in your

tummy so when you DO have the cookies you're not hungry.

6. Stock up on the good stuff! Lots of fresh fruits and veggies! Have

those around already cut up and prepared for the times when the

holiday hungries hit.

7. Pre-journal your meals. You probably know what you're going to

serve if it's tradition. Find out the points for the meals and put it

in. Then leave a few extras for surprise stuff.

8. Treat yourself when you're out:

Tall sugar free vanilla latte with nonfat milk (2)

Like it size Sinless Sweet Cream with strawberries from Cold Stone Creamery (3)

Mcs Vanilla cone (3)

Costco frozen yogurt (4)

Starbucks gingerbread macadamia biscotti (2)

9. Be intentional in your eating. Before you start moving your hand

towards your mouth, write it down, measure it out, put away the box or

bag. Sometimes looking up how much those chips " cost " is enough to

make you say " Nope! Not worth it! I'll have some veggies so later

tonight I can enjoy a No Pudge Brownie and Grand Light Ice Cream

sundae later tonight (4-5 points...and if you make the brownie and put

the ice cream on it while it's still hot...to die for).

I'll be honest, it's easier for me now to do all these things because

I've lost the weight already and there is NO way I want to re-lose it.

That means I'm very careful about what I do. But think about

this...every time you eat without thinking and go over points, you

push back your goal date by a day or two. Wouldn't you LOVE to take a

Christmas picture of the new, skinny you next year? I lost 92 pounds

in 10 months (at a rate of 2 pounds per week). Now think about

this...let's say you have 50 pounds to lose and you lose at the rate

of 1 pound per week. If you start now and don't cheat, exercise, then

by this time next year you'll be at goal. But if you say " Oh, it's

only one day " , then you're looking at 50 weeks plus 1 day. If you do

this even 10 days over the next year, you're up to Christmas before

you can take you " goal " pic. Do that 20 times and you're looking into

2006. Wouldn't it just be SO sweet to send out a picture next year

that wowed the pants off of your friends and family?

On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:20:52 -0500, A Bocko

wrote:

>

> What do you do during the holidays? I have done fairly well until this

> month. I have started substituting WW recipes for regular ones and tried

> many new recipes. But it is so hard to change years of traditions. My older

> dd's especially asked " are we still having our regular Christmas eve and

> Christmas dinner. Still making cookies and candy. I have made these for over

> 20 years and my mom and grandmother before that. I thought, that's only 2

> meals but I cook the whole month of December. The kids snack and

> unfortunately I do too. Mostly without thinking. Any suggestions?

> Thank you,

> > 1. Set up a no-fail environment. Get rid of anything that you have a

> > hard time controlling. Don't feel guilty, or like you " should " be able

> > to control yourself. Don't say " Oh, but I have to have ding dongs for

> > the kids. The kids need Ding Dongs like they need chicken feathers! If

> > you're married and your husband loves to eat lard-cakes, tell him to

> > support you he can eat all the lard-cakes he wants somewhere else.

> >

> > Is it unfair to ask others to change their diet because you are

> > changing yours? No, not really. You're not asking them to stop eating

> > those things. You're simply saying eat them away from home for now.

> > Eventually some things will be fine, and there will probably always be

> > other things that you have a hard time controlling.

> >

>

December 15, 2004

It's funny to read this this morning, because I had a very similar

experience last night. I went to a party with friends, and the

friend who was hosting warned me in advance that she'd be having

pizza and subs " in case I wanted to bring the healthy stuff. " (She

knows I'm losing weight.) I brought veggies, low-fat hummus, low-fat

Boursin cheese, and low-fat sesame crackers. I drank water with

lemon and piled my plate with veggies all evening, with a few

tablespoons of the dips for flavor. Toward the end of the evening, I

had one glass of red wine and chose ONE piece of homemade peanut

butter fudge. I went home and journaled everything I ate.

It was easy, and I had a wonderful time at the party, without

worrying about what I would eat or beating myself up for being the

fat girl who couldn't stop stuffing herself. It's like a different

world from pre-WW, and I've only been doing this for 10 weeks. It

does take some pre-planning (hence the food I provided myself with),

but the satisfaction afterward is ten times worth it.

JB

230/213.5/157

> Aren't there times when you say to yourself, " Why didn't I do this

> YEARS ago? " It just makes so much sense!

>

> 1. Eat within a range of reasonable calories every day.

> 2. Eat food you like in moderation.

> 3. Exercise every day.

> 4. Have treats once in awhile in a reasonable amount

>

> Lose weight!

>

> No eating meat until you feel like you've been eating a salt lick.

No

> cabbage patch soup until not even the dog will spend time with

you. No

> sipping gritty shakes twice a day. Just sensible, healthy eating.

Who

> knew??

>

> I specifically remember, before I lost weight, sitting in a mall

and

> seeing a very cute, thin girl walk by and thinking " I'd do

ANYTHING to

> look like that. "

>

> To which my inner-child replied in a sarcastic tone, " Yeah, you'd

do

> anything but eat right and exercise! "

>

> It's amazing the lengths that we will go to to lose weight when we

> really don't NEED to go to those lengths. I include myself among

the

> " we " . I one time went on an 800 calorie a day diet, counting out

> saltines and eating broth. Shaking my way through the day. Another

> time I did Atkins and was so depressed, hungry, and cranky that I

> nearly lost my mind. I tried vegetarianism for awhile, which can be

> very healthy...but wasn't because I replaced meat with high fat

meat

> substitutes and missed meat so much that when my husband

would 'cheat'

> and bring home burgers I couldn't help myself. Now if he were to

bring

> home something that is over my points I'd easily resist, if I

needed

> to, because I'd know that it was xx calories (or points) and that I

> only had x left.

>

> But he doesn't do that because he doesn't NEED to. Nothing is off

> limits. Everything is okay. Sure, there are a few things I usually

> won't eat because it's too " pricey " but it's a choice, not a ban.

> Heck, today I had a potluck at school and I filled up on salad, had

> brought fat free dressing with me, ate one of my 1 point pumpkin

spice

> muffins, some raw veggies, passed up the casserole dishes (not a

> casserole fan) and looked over the desserts. I calculated my points

> (had a few other low calorie things) and decided I'd go for a

piece of

> fudge. At the END I chose one piece and savored it on my way to

class.

> I found the nutrition information, since I knew it was fantasy

fudge,

> journaled it for 2 points, and was satisfied. Did I want more

fudge?

> Sure. I realized that in the " old " days I might have made that

fudge

> and literally eaten half the pan myself because I didn't know (nor

did

> I want to know) the calorie content of each serving. Good heavens!

At

> 90 calories for 1/48th of the recipe that was over 2000 calories!

Yet

> now I can eat one piece, recognize it's " role " in my daily

calories,

> and move on.

>

> Anyhow, I'm blathering now...sorry about that. There are just times

> when I have these moments of " Isn't this just so awesome and why

> didn't I do it sooner!? "

> --

> Tory Klementsen, MCP A+

> IT and Health Educator

> The successful person will do the things that the unsuccessful

person will not.

December 15, 2004