"Never put food in your mouth with food in your mouth!"

I decided today, while in my Weight Watchers meeting, that I should write on here weekly at least.

I am enjoying my meetings here. Seriously, the leader makes a big difference and I have been lucky to have great leaders wherever I have been. The leader here always does parody songs. This week it was a parody of "Frère Jacques". You know the one: "Are you sleeping, are you sleeping? Brother Jack, Brother Jack?" Anyway, she came down the middle isle today singing: "Are you hungry, are you hungry?" And I piped in with "Of course I am, Of course I am." Because, seriously, this girl is always hungry. Food addict, I am!

Basically, we discussed hunger and how we know when we are truly hungry. This really is tricky for lots of people, because we are accustumed to eating ALL. THE. TIME. So we never even have the chance to be hungry. I remember being in tears over some eggs I was frying back when I first started my weight loss journey because it was the first time I actually remembered feeling hungry. I kept saying: "Oh, this is what it is like to be hungry. I feel bad for starving people!" Quite a perspective isn't it? I have learned to listen to my body signals(even if I don't always listen to them!) and feel like I have a better manage on when I am truly hungry and also when I am truly full.

Here are some tips fro me, Little Old Alice, who is still learning lots about herself. If you think you are hungry, take a moment and analyze. Are you willing to eat carrots rather than the potato chips? If you are truly hungry, you will want to carrots. Also, slow down when you are eating. I noticed that my body takes a bit to communicate that it is full and I am often eating really fast. If you eat too fast, your body goes from being hungry to holy cow being majorly full! Listen and be aware of what your body is communicating to you.

So there are your tips of the week that came to mind as I was at my meeting.

I am traveling to Chicago this weekend for a few day visit to the city. I will be seeing two pro baseball games in two days. I will be in heaven, but I am still having a bit of anxiety about food. I know I will be tempted to eat too much. I better pack my running shoes and some healthy snacks! Life is always a challenge when you are trying to be in control of your weight. What a great journey! Cheers!

Fun Quotes and a Summer Hello!

It's been a long time since I posted on here so I thought I would write a little something-something. (I am planning a ten steps to being successful at weight loss, so stay tuned for those posts!)

Here is a favorite quote from my Weight Watchers meeting today: "If you bite it, write it. If you snack it, track it. If you drink it, ink it. If you put it in your smacker, put it in your tracker."

Really, writing down everything I eat makes me accountable and helps me to know what I can eat to maintain my weight and what I cannot eat to maintain my weight.

I am a little stressed about this weekend because it will be a party for my parents 45th wedding anniversary. As with any parties, there will be lots of eating. I may actually let loose a little bit. It is okay to do that sometimes, but I do also have to remember that letting loose all the time is what got me 60 pounds overweight!

I had a really nice complement from my dad today. He said to my brother: "Don't you think Alice looks a little gaunt?" In dad language that means I am looking quite skinny. My brother and sister-in-law saw me for the first time in 2 years and also said very nice things to me. It is times like that that make me remember where I have come from and it also reminds me that I do need to keep working at maintaining because it is totally worth it. Skinny does really feel better than anything tastes...although s'mores are really doing it for me lately. :)

A little more of the journey

So. I went on vacation to California. It was warm and sunny and plain gorgeous.

I ate and ate and ate and then ate some more. I take full responsibility for my actions. I am to blame for the millions of pastries and candies that I ate. I also ate my weight in s'mores. I did it. I am to blame. I was off track and the consequences were the eight pounds I gained while on vacation.

So here I am wanting to hit my head against the wall and am disappointed in myself. I feel weak and like I am out of control. I really need to reboot and do better. I have decided that from here to May 28(the day I plan on heading to Wisconsin for the summer) I will track everything I eat. If I don't know what the PointPlus value(Weight Watchers lingo!) is for the food I cannot eat it. I really need to get those eight pounds off and figure out exactly what I can eat to maintain.

So, there is a good thing that came out of all this madness, I do have a new determination to be on track and figure out maintenance.

The new best fad diet...

...prep for a colonoscopy!

I was down 8 pounds at one point yesterday. This really is no way to lose weight. It totally drained me and was not a joy. Just sayin'.

Hmmm...So You'e Saying This is a Journey?

I have known all along that this whole weight loss thing was a journey. I always had it in the back of my mind that I was going to go slow and I didn't have to lose quickly. I was on a path and I was determined to enjoy the journey. I experienced amazing success during the eleven months journey.

The funny thing about this whole experience is that once I hit that goal weight, I almost felt as if my journey was over. That goal weight was always my end point and what I was focused on and heading toward. So, really, mentally I was thinking that the journey was to a certain number of pounds. In reality, this didn't hold true. The whole goal should have been: "I am going to get to a healthy weight and then maintain it FOREVER."

Maintenance is a whole new journey. For some reason, it is a whole lot harder than I had ever imagined. I am totally still in my weight range and have been maintaining for about two months, but it still is a whole lot of work. I HAVE to keep doing exactly what I was doing before to lose weight but now the focus is to maintain. I attend my weekly Weight Watchers meeting, I track everything I eat, I track what activity I am doing, and I work hard to curb my never ending urge to eat the world's supply of chocolate and french fries. I have not reached the end of my journey, just a little milestone or mile marker on the road trip. (Don't you love the travel analogy here?)

I can totally see why people stop and start gaining all the weight back they lost back. I think it is natural to think that you reached the end of the journey. The problem lies in the fact that if you are a foodaholic, then you will always be one. It is very similar to being an alcoholic. You can overcome the addiction and rehab, but the temptation will always be there. You must constantly work to deal with that temptation in order to remain sober or in a foodaholic's case: skinny. I think a food addition is even harder because you really do have to eat in order to survive(sometimes I actually go to bed with the thought that I need to sleep so I can wake up and eat again. Silly!). With drinking you can avoid the bars and never buy the stuff for at home. I tell people all the time that I go to WW instead of AA.

Those candy bars are still my problem. I was thinking about them today. I just need to manage them better. It is okay to eat them on occasion but I definitely shouldn't be having them everyday. I had some today and yesterday. I like chocolate, but I do not like it enough to constantly be overeating. I like my new jeans and clothes. They keep me focused now!

Good Quote

One of my friends had this on her facebook wall. I thought it was appropriate:

“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of those pieces”

Of course my new goal is to have the strength for the next week at least, to have NONE!!!

Get that CANDY out of my face!!

I have to admit a huge weakness that I am facing. There are two huge bags of little candy bars in my desk drawer in my office. I thought I had good willpower, but I totally have been eating at least five a day. I need to stop this habit. I actually gained two pounds since last week. It could have something to do with eating out three times last week too. I need to get back on it and eat less chocolate and exercise more. Next week is another first of the month weigh in and if I gain two pounds I will have to pay and that is not what I want to happen. I am getting back on the wagon!