math lesson: greater than and less than

My mentality about food is finally changing. 

My attitude towards activity has actually been modified. 

I am becoming more aware of what I need to do in order to get what I want. 

This is how my mind works:

1.  I begin by being presented with a problem. 

Boneless buffalo wings are always a problem. 

2.  I let the problem consume me until eventually I consume it. 

Except that was the old me. 

3.  Before I consume the problem in order to destroy it so that it stops taunting me, I ask myself what is greater than my problem. 

I have come up with several interesting answers. 

If I have activity points for the week, then I make the ultimate decision that The buffalo wings are less than my activity points earned, therefore I can consume them.   

If I do not have any activity points or I know that I am not going to be doing any activity in the near future then my decision sounds more like The buffalo wings are greater than my activity points earned, therefore I am going to have to wait until I get my ass to the gym before I can cosume a buffalo wing. 

If I really am at fork in the road, and I haven't had a buffalo wing in a very long time and I don't think I can get my hands on one for a while after this occassion, then I ask myself a very important question.  Is my desire for that buffalo wing greater than my desire to healthy/skinny/lighter/etc? 

The answer is usually no. 

I want to be healthier. 

I want to weigh less. 

I want to feel better. 

Most of the time, a buffalo wing isn't going to get me to any of those feelings. 

Don't get me wrong, there are moments in my life when that buffalo wing is essential to my survival.  I don't know how or why it happens, but every now and then my "swapportunity" just isn't a viable option and I don't want a grilled chicken breast with hot sauce.  Sometimes, I make myself try every other healthy alternative over several days, until I finally decide that the fat little devil on my shoulder just will not shut up until I give her a damn buffalo wing. 

So I feed the urge, track the points and move on. 

I leave the guilt on the hot sauce soaked napkin.  

I forgive myself. 

I move on. 

activity review: dusting off my wii & wii fit

I was originally going to just call this post "activity review: wii fit" but then I realized I'd be lying to all of you, and myself.  The truth is that I have had some bad days, just over 1000 of them to be exact.  Let me re-cap.  

Back in 2009, my boyfriend and I decided to move in together.  He was preparing to graduate from college and join me in the working world, so we started looking for apartments.  Whoa, did the Lord have different plans for us.  The places we would have like to live were in the range of about $1500 per month, and when we started to do the math we realized that we could own our own home for that kind of money.  

That's right, we could buy a place to live cheaper than we could rent one.  

So we started looking.  

We made offers.  

And we looked.  

We made more offers.  

And we looked some more.  

This is where it gets ugly for me.  You see, this was all happening at a great time in my life.  I was in the 160 pound range and less than about fifteen pounds away from my goal and becoming a lifetime member at Weight Watchers.  I was eating right, living at home, exercising a lot, and on the road to a great life.  

Then, the stress hit.  I was so worried about finances that I stopped going to Weight Watchers so I could save the extra money every month.  We were house hunting each and every night and weekend, so I stopped meeting friends at the gym and taking classes on my own.  I wasn't happy with my current living situation (living with my parents) so I stopped going home to eat dinner with them and turned to fast food instead.  

Just before all of this, I had bought myself a Wii and my boyfriend had bought me the Wii Fit as a gift.  I apparently set it all up and tested it out a few times, and I will tell you why.  

Fast forward nine months.  We finally moved into our first home.  A two bedroom, one and half bath condo in a gated community and a perfect little yard for me to kill plants in.  It took us nine months and about 30 written offers to find this place, nearly another two months in escrow, and a month of superficial overhaul before we could move in.  Yah, if you did the math, it was nearly an entire year long process.  We started looking for houses in April 2009, we moved into our first home on March 25th, 2010.  

Crap.  

Then we had to put a LOT more work into the house.  

First, we tore apart the kitchen and we lived out of a closet.  Yup, Mike's dorm fridge and a box of pantry items.  Needless to say, we ate out a lot.  

Then we spent our evenings doing things like installing shower curtains (me, not pictured) and new shower heads (courtesy of Big Mike).  

And eventually what you see here, finally became a kitchen again, and someday I'll post pictures of it, but for now, just trust me.  It's better than the crap you see here.  

During that time, I had packed my Wii and Wii Fit away and had forgotten about it.  What a waste of money!  Nearly two years after we moved in, I got it out again, fired it up, stepped on, and it informed me that I had not only neglected it for about 1000 days, I had gained 15 pounds and was now considered obese.  

Thanks Wii, you're telling me like it is.  

The sad part was that I had already lost over fifteen pounds on this round of Weight Watchers before I stepped on the dang thing!  

Then what did my Wii do?  It made my stupid freaking little brown haired avatar on the screen bloat up like a balloon.  A big fat balloon.  

That was horrible.  I felt fat.  My avatar was fat.  At that point I wanted to throw it out the window.  

But I didn't.  I got on it.  I did 10 minutes of advanced step and 10 minutes of various yoga poses.  I earned 2 Activity Points Plus.  

Then I got off of it, exited the Wii Fit program and turned on my Netflix.  I put a couple of workout DVD's in my queue and decided that I wasn't going to be mad.  

After all, it wasn't my Wii's fault that it had to make my avatar fat, right?  

It was myself for making myself fat.  

There, I said it.  I am going to make friend with my Wii and the Wii Fit.  

Anyone have any other suggestions on Wii titles I can use to burn off this pudge?  After all, I wouldn't want that poor little cartoon girl on the screen to stay fat forever.  She deserves a happy, healthy, skinny life and so do I.

activity review: 30 day shred (level 1)

I know we've all seen it in the stores, most of us know people that have tried it.  Heck, if you're like me, you probably bought it in January of 2011 when Target had all of their workout DVDs on sale, but you only tried it once or twice and gave up.  

That's a fact.  Last year, when I was almost 200 pounds, I tried this DVD.  I didn't make it through the second circuit of level one (there are three circuits in each level).  

I digress.  

Let me introduce this workout properly:  This is a DVD created by Jillian Michaels that uses her "3-2-1" form of exercise.  What this means to you is that in her three levels of workouts on the DVD, she cycles through three minutes of  strength training, two minutes of cardio exercises, and one minute of abdominal work.  You complete this six minute cycle three times for a total of 18 minutes, combined with a 3 minute warm up and a 3 minute cool down.  Twenty four minutes total.  

Like I mentioned, I had picked it up last year when Target placed all of their workout gear on sale in January.  Check for it here.  I picked it up for $10 if I remember correctly, and I tried it twice last year and gave up both times. That's right, I stopped less than half way through the workout.  I was a fat ass.  Not only was I almost 200 pounds, I wasn't in any sort of shape at all.  Well, that's not true I guess.  Round is technically a shape.  

After seven weeks of walking and spin classes twice a week, I went back to it.  And I did it!  That's right, I kicked level one in the pants!  

Well not really, but the nice thing is that there is a modified beginner version for most of the exercises.  I can do this level a few more times and improve before I move up to level 2.  That will be a separate review.  

A few of the things you can expect from this DVD are: jumping jacks, jumping rope, squats, light weight arm curls and rows, and crunch abdominal exercises.  

The pro's: 

It's less than thirty minutes!  This is great if I need to get in a bit of activity before work.  

The pace is rather quick, meaning you don't do any exercise for more than one minute.  This keeps you from (a) giving up, (b) getting bored, or (c) getting really exhausted from one single thing.

You only use hand weights and a mat (optional) in this level, and in reality you don't even need the hand weights.  It's completely feasible to use cans or water bottles for the exact same results.  

There are two instructors in the rear of the studio showing you beginners and advanced modifications for most of the exercises.  

The con's:

I'm not exactly a huge Jillian Michaels fan.  I can't explain it, I just get irritated by her every once in a while.  

There aren't really moments to grab a drink of water.  I understand it's only 30 minutes, but I appreciate a brief chatty moment in an exercise DVD so I can slurp some H2O.  

Push up's.  There, I said it.  I hate push up's.  Always have, always will.  There are two sets of push ups in the beginning of circuit 1.  I did them, I lived.  They just bug me for some odd reason.  

So there you have it, take what you will from my review.  I'm going to attack level 1 a few more times and I'll review levels 2 and 3 when I get to them.  For the time being, I rated myself between a medium and a high level of intensity for the workout, so that's somewhere between 3 and 6 Activity Points Plus for me.  It's up to you what you call it for yourself.  

Also worth mentioning is that a friend of mine recommended Collage Video to me a while ago, and while I haven't ordered anything from them as of yet, I know they have this DVD.  Click here for price and availability. They also have a place for you to view part of the DVD to see if you like it.  

recipe review: cherry cheesecakes

I made these a few weekends ago for a potluck and they were a hit!  No one realized they had come from Weight Watchers, and they gobbled them up.  The only thing that was a bigger hit was my Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they're 3 Points Plus per cookie, and simply not as filling or satisfying as these mini cheesecakes.  

I highly recommend that you make these for your next family gathering, office party, or just for you and your friends!  

Cherry Cheesecakes

3 Points Plus

makes 12 servings

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (this is about 1/2 of a sleeve of graham crackers)

2 tbsp of light butter

2/3 cup low fat cream cheese

6 tbsp fat free cream cheese

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup lite pie filling, cherry

Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Spoon 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture into bottom of each liner and press down gently; refrigerate until ready to use.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat both types of cream cheese until fluffy. Add lemon juice, egg whites, vanilla extract and sugar; beat until smooth.

Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly into muffin liners; bake until set, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon cherry pie filling. Yields 1 cheesecake per serving.

You will have extra pie filling, so I put it into a plastic bag, removed the excess air and threw it in the freezer for the next time that I make this.  

I couldn't find light butter or fat free cream cheese, so I had to make due with "full fat" butter and all low fat cream cheese.  This added one Points Plus, bringing the total treat to four Points Plus but to be honest, it was still worth it!  I felt like I was eating something I definitely shouldn't have been, and the egg whites make the treat sort of light and fluffy!  

did you really miss it?

So often when I'm out at a restaurant or maybe at a friend's house for a party, I am faced with food obstacles.  This would be things like beautiful cupcakes, delicious cookies, spinach dip with bread slices, and cheese filled dips and chips.  

We all battle with this, right?  

Good, I thought so.  

In the past, I might start off with a little of each to satisfy my taste buds.  After that, I would say to myself "Well you've already blown it, go ahead."  So I'd go back and fill up a plate and really  blow it.  

Eventually I learned a saying, "The first bite is often as good as the last."  This enabled me to slow down a little bit, not eat as much, and not try to finish off the bowl of french onion dip in front of me.  

Now I ask myself, "Are you really going to miss this?"  

That's right, if I were to avoid eating something would I (a) go home and get on with my life or (b) go home and be sad that I didn't try that cheesecake with the blueberries on it while dreaming of the buffalo chicken dip?  

I usually answer (a). 

Every once in a while, I decide that the food in front of me is so unique that I should try it and I answer (b).  

Perhaps it is something I've never had before.  Maybe it is something from my childhood that I don't know how to cook or don't know where to buy.  Likely, it is an old favorite from my eat anything days.  Even then, I shouldn't be eating.  

So the next time you're faced with this struggle, ask yourself if you're really going to miss the item of food in front of you.  If you can walk away from it for a few minutes, and forget about it, then you should probably just pass.  But remember, Weight Watchers isn't about deprivation, it's about moderation.  Allow yourself a treat every once in a while.  

points bomb: the patty melt incident

How many of us have ever gone into a restaurant, taken a look around the menu, ordered we something we thought was a good idea and then discovered later it was the complete opposite? 

Well, I have. 

In fact, I'll give you an example.  I went to a restaurant a while ago with my boyfriend and decided to try something new.  You see, I usually get the exact same fifteen Points Plus meal every time.  This time, I ordered a patty melt, hold the cheese, hold the 1000 island dressing, please. 

Bread, meat, onions, fries.  How bad could I have been? 

I'll tell you how bad, thirty four Points Plus bad. That's right, 34.  

It was what I like to call a "points bomb" or something that after you've consumed it, has completely demolished all of your points for the day, week, or even year! 

I only consume twenty eight points per day, and at the time of consuming this patty melt, I had about ten of those left.  I was out of my activity points for the week, and I hadn't dipped into my weekly points (thankfully!). 

But in reality, I don't use those forty nine extra points.  They aren't usually nice to me because when I used to use them they all went to beer, wine, and junk.  So now, I stick to the mantra that you can only eat what you've earned.  That's right, I only eat my twenty eight daily points and whatever weekly activity points that I can earn.  I'm crazy like that. 

So there you have it, lesson learned.  Plan ahead, or stick to the things you know won't hurt you. 

restaurant review: red robin

The boyfriend and I like to go out to eat together, quite often unfortunately.  It has been a big past time with us, almost as big as our expanding waist lines.  

The bigger problem is that he tends to be more picky then I am, and that dictates where we go to eat.  He enjoys Mexican food, burgers, diners, and things of the like.  This can be a diet disaster!  That is, unless you plan ahead.  

I like to keep three or four dinner ideas for each week, and this allows me one night a week to have dinner with my mother, and another two evenings out with the boyfriend or other friends.  Also, once I find something that I consider to be a Points Plus bargain at a restaurant, I usually save it in my online tracker and order it quite often.  It's a good way to prevent a meltdown while I'm out and about.  

One of my favorite things are chains that put their nutrition information online, and even better than that is a chain that has its own recipe builder!  Enter: Red Robin Gourmet Burgers!  

At the bottom of the page is a handy little tool where you can build your meal!  

After plugging in what I ate (I ordered a "Keep It Simple" burger) and adding in my side of steak fries, I was able to very confidently track my fifteen points plus!  They even have an iPhone app, but unfortunately I have an EVO.

All you do is select your burger and customize whatever you added or took off of the burger!

And then hit the button at the bottom-right hand side of the page that says "Calculate Nutrition."

And then take that and plug it into your online points calculator.

It's awesome and easy!  You can pre-track or wait until after you've eaten to discover the damage you may have done.  I recommend the former.  

weighing in: no matter what

I've heard it over and over again:

When you have a good week, your meeting needs you.  When you have a bad week, you need your meeting.

Well, ain't that the truth.

I usually weigh myself the day before, the morning of, and when I get home from my meeting.  Then I avoid the scale for the rest of the week.  Why?  I have no idea.  

I was reading a friend's blog, Bikini Countdown, and she talked about how she would avoid the scale and tracking all week until the day before her weigh in.  Then she'd avoid eating all day just so she could weigh in at the same or similar weight as the week before.  

I wish I could say that I've never done this, but I have.  I have woken up on a Monday morning after a really bad weekend and panicked about my Tuesday evening weight in, then I avoid food all day only to completely over indulge on Monday evening.  Or I avoid food all day on Monday only to over indulge on Tuesday, just hours before my weigh in.  

None of this is realistic or good behavior!  

How about the Tuesday afternoons that I used to realize that I'd had a bad week or bad weekend, so I was just going to skip my meeting?  That happened a few times also!  The best thing that happened to me that changed this behavior was that my mom joined Weight Watchers with me last fall.  Since that time, we talk every Monday about meeting at our meeting the next day, and we have dinner after our meeting and talk about our week together.  

I have to say, this has really helped us as Weight Watchers, and as a mother-daughter duo.  We're already close, but I'm so proud and happy that she's chosen to join me on this journey (again!).  

So now, I can't skip meetings anymore.  Today, I take the bad with the good.  From here on out, I weigh in weekly even if I know I face a + sign on that tracker.  It isn't about losing every week, after all.  It is all about changing my lifestyle in the long journey that I hope will be my life.  

I'm leaving you with another Zig Ziglar quote, one that happens to be very pertinent to this particular weight lost battle.  

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.

to track, or not to track?

The simple fact is that I try to avoid weighing myself at home, but I simply cannot do it.  My meeting is on Tuesday evening, which means that I become neurotic and starting weighing myself hourly on Sunday evening. 

I don't like surprises.  

But why do I do this?  Why do I ignore the scale and my tracking on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday?  Then I become a super tracker on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Oh, I'm sure that's a great way to do things.  

NOT!  

I can't do much to change that scale on Monday morning if I've over eaten all weekend long!  So why am I not more aware?  That was a huge problem for me in 2011, and I've struggled with myself for several weeks to break it.  Tracking three days a week isn't the right way to do things, so I forced myself to track more.  The final result?  

I tracked 29 out of 31 days in January!  That's right!  I kicked January's butt!  Tracking forced me to become aware of my weaknesses (bread, chips and salsa, beer) and take a look at my strong weeks (fruit, fruit, and more fruit).  If nothing else, it opened my eyes.  

So take a look at your tracker, dust it off.  Open up that app on your fancy phone, sign in.  Put the excuses down and pick up the pen.  

If you nibble it, then scribble it.