Sea Shells

Helen, my Weight Watcher's leader, gave us each a sea shell as we left the meeting this week. She shared that the first time she had come to Florida she was a recent graduate from nursing school and was walking along Daytona Beach. She felt so happy and calm walking along the beach that she decided that she wanted that forever. She went back to the hotel, shower, changed and walked over of the first hospital and applied for a job. She got that job and she started herself on the path to happiness.

Her parting thought was go after your happiness.

This weeks Weight Watcher's topic was activity. Here are some of the points that were made

• Activity isn't about putting on a thong and going to the gym. :) (Helen loves talking about thongs).
• Looking good in a thong isn't worth crap if you are dead.
• Don't short change yourself on activity. Cleaning the houses, walking the dogs, taking a flight of stairs, etc are all activity.
• Helen has completed half-marathons in 3.5 hour or less, walking only! She never saw herself as an athlete but setting these kinds of goals have helped her stay in shape.
• "Members of Weight Watchers that didn't include activity as part of their plan during the losing phase end up going somewhere to have portions of their bodies lopt off. It ain't pretty and looks even worse if they don't maintain!"
• Start out by doing what is necessary. Then what is possible. Before you know it you are doing the impossible.

She went around the room to see what people were doing as a fun activity. These are a few that were mentioned.

• Line dancing
• Ballroom dancing (woohoo!)
• Zumba
• Walking
• Gardening

Helen's suggestions on Points Plus

• Eat your daily points, all of them.
• Eat your happy crap with your 49 weekly points.
• Always eat your weekly points before your activity points.
• Eat your activity points whenever you want!
• When a member tells Helen "I can't get all my daily points in" her answer is "Yes, you can. That is how you got here!"
• Over all her years being a leader she never had a member that came in from binging and overeating on veggies and fruit. Don't be afraid of the zero points veggies and fruit. Just eat it!
• Try veggies prepared four different ways. Suck it up and put on your big girl panties and start eating veggies.

Power Foods

• Reduced calorie bread is a Power Food.
• Potato is a Power Food.
• Not all Power Foods are zero points.

Week 5: Weight Watchers Weigh-In

January 5th to 11th, 2010
Current Weight: 236.5 lbs
Week to Week loss: 0
Total gain/loss: -5.5 lbs

Holding steady. I did so much emotional eating this week but I balanced it out with a lot of working out so instead of having a gain, I held my own. Feel proud of that but regrouping for this upcoming week. Yeah me!

This weeks accomplishments:

• attended 3 Zumba classes alone. Burned 1017 calories in one session alone!
• joined the Biggest Loser eight week program at work.
• went to Zumba in the evening on the same day I did the Biggest Loser workout at the fitness center at work. Felt incredible!
• did really well with evening snacking.
• didn't binge during emotional week.

Working on for next week

• do five workout sessions (3 zumba, 1 biggest loser, 1 home video)
• track, track, track
• get some non-workout exercise in (like walking the dogs, etc)

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The beginning of the year always brings out more people to both the Weight Watchers meetings and the gym. I personally don't mind this at all since I have been a participant in these new year waves many a time. Oddly enough, now that my mindset is on permanent mode, as in there isn't waiting for Monday, I am starting the change in the next few minutes....I wish I could lasso them all and keep them coming back....even when things start to suck!

I was explaining to my hubbster that a Zumba class this week was really good, high impact and full but that I got annoyed when I looked around at a room for 40 women and only saw a few sweating or flushed. How is it possible that you can take this class and NOT SWEAT? Shoot, just the number of people in the room should cause you to sweat a little! His response was "What do you care? You are there for yourself and you know you are giving 110%".

Holy crap, why do I care?
My observation didn't stop me from giving it 110%. Didn't deter me from enjoying the class. For meeting my goal for the day. So why the heck do I care? I think it is because I like it so much that I want everyone else to get the same benefit from it. They aren't going to keep on coming back if they don't see the results. They won't see the results unless they put in the work.

Why the heck do I care?
Because I wish I had my light bulb moment much earlier in life. I wish someone would have lassoed me. I wish I would have been saved from myself and years of struggling. That is why I care.

Week 4: Weight Watchers Weigh-In

December 29th to January 4th, 2010
Current Weight: 236.5 lbs
Week to Week loss: +1
Total gain/loss: -5.0 lbs

Recently Vane and I were talking about Pros and Cons of Weight Watchers versus calorie counting. Vane has lost a significant amount of weight and is a beast at working out. Let me repeat that....a beast! She knows how to get a good sweat going and keep that heart rate up! She has also lost about 70lbs already so she definitely knows what works for her.

The word that continued to come up was "diet". I kept on telling her that Weight Watchers is not a diet, it is a lifestyle. She wasn't "listening" to me and kept on explaining that she wanted something that she could do once she finished losing weight. This got me thinking...why do I love Weight Watchers. (don't look now, but here comes a list. :) )

The reasons I love Weight Watchers are....
...they develop tools that keep me accountable.
....they figured out that it isn't only about what I am putting in my mouth but why as well.
....they provide me with tools to get through the journey.
....I can eat anything that I want, whenever I want.
....They teach me how to recognize the correct portion size and don't punish me when I multiple the portion sizes. (lets keep it real)
....They give me focus with the Good Health Guidelines
....They encourage me for drinking water and praise me with a happy face when I reach the daily goal!
....They recognize that fruit and veggies are good for me and give them to me for "free each day" and also praise me with happy faces when I reach that daily goal!

....They never stop working on making the program better. Just like I won't ever stop working on making myself better too!
...They know that binging on fruits, veggies and water isn't what got me to this weight.
....They know that teaching me how to live is much better than teaching me how to live on a diet.

My WW leader, Helen, said something that was a fun quinky dink. She said "People lets keep this simple: eater better and move more!". That is so like the logo on the side of my blog. Striving on keeping it simple in 2011!

View thru a window

Although I have been doing WW on and off for a while, I really haven't used their tools very effectively....actually not at all. In the past two days I had the chance to review not one but two concepts! I have been talking to my bestpal SweetCheeks about exercising and eating right. We have promised each other a celebration trip next summer for our great success this upcoming year. More on that later.

Reframing - Ms. Bitchcakes covers it very well in her blog. It is basically about changing the way we look at or think of things.

Original thought: Food today = BAD. No preparation, no time. BAD BAD BAD
Reframed: Food today = not optimal. I will make better choices for the remainder meals.

Original thought: I am afraid to be in pain.
Reframed: A little pain today means that I’ve made an effort towards my goal.

While I was on the treadmill I started to get shin splints. I only had about 15 minutes on there and the first thought in my mind was "oh, well I am done with exercise today". Then I gave myself a few seconds and reframed that thought. I jumped on the elliptical. That didn't hurt my shins and gave me a good workout. It is great to see the change in my attitude from just one week ago.

Like I told SweetCheeks I am on a really good roll since late last week. I don’t know how long this will last and when or even if this bubble with burst but I am taking her ride along with me!!

The other tool was Anchor. I don't even remember ever hearing of that tool. Must have been covered during one of my many missed meetings! Here is how Ms. Bitchcakes explains it:

Anchors are anything we use that can put us in a place mentally that help us to get re-focused. They can be physical things that we see, hear or touch that trigger a memory that remind us of our goals one of the Weight Watchers Tools for Living that I always had trouble with. Anchors are anything we use that can put us in a place mentally that help us to get re-focused. They can be physical things that we see, hear or touch that trigger a memory that remind us of our goals

Last week I started using my win of the ballroom competition. I don’t actually think about the actual moment I won but more a compilation of all the hard hard practice sessions and how I felt right before I went on that last night. I tried something different, odd, uncomfortable that made me feel wonderful at the end.