Little Things...

Its the second week for the Little Things Linkup and I'm sitting here trying to rack my brains for that little thing that's made me smile or feel good about myself.

1. The lovely gentleman at the Tim Hortons drive thru that let me go ahead of him this morning.  There's two entries to the gas station where I hit the "On The Run" Timmies for my morning tea.  He had come in where the lineup tends to be when there is one, I had come in from the other side.  So I was ready to wait my turn.  He waved me in!  Thank you so much for that kind gesture this morning!

2. My weigh-in this morning was not what I was picturing it to be.  I had visions of getting out of the 190's, I had a start weight of 190.4 lbs.  I stepped on the scale this morning to see 190.2 staring back at me.  What a let down!  I know why my number didn't give me that happy-weigh-in-buzz.  I got empty leg syndrome on Monday night and started eating like food was going out of style and that kinda continued yesterday as well!  At times I was physically hungry, at times I ate just because it was there.  So instead of giving up, I'm turning that negative into a positive and I'm going to try harder and eat ONLY when I'm hungry.  Also on the positive side I tracked everything last week!  I'll continue this week.

Okay now while I've already touched on the subject of Timmies... I'm really good almost all the time when I hit Tims (if you don't know about Tim Hortons its a Canadian institution, a coffee/doughnut shop).  Its always for a cup of tea in the morning, its also a great place to stop when road tripping for either a sandwich, soup or bagel and you can find them in almost everywhere in Canada.  They are also at every stop along the 401.  That's if you can stay away from the sweet treats.

Look at what was staring me in the face when I got up to the drive-thru!!!  OMG my mouth started just watering looking at the latest additions to their menu!  I LOVE Oreos, I don't buy them for a reason and if they are Golden Oreos I'm likely to knock you over to get at the bag and eat a whole row!  Now the doughnut didn't tempt me as much as that Oreo Iced Cappuccino!  Oh my!  In the summer I find there is noting more tempting than an iced coffee-drink-thing or soft serve.  To throw Oreo cookies into the mix.

I haven't given in to temptation ... yet but I might find myself allotting the points to have one in the near future, just to try it.

Another Reason To Stay Motivated

Today's November 1st do you know what that means?  Its the start of NaBloPoMo!  That's right, its National Blog Posting Month, so for the month of November we are encouraged to post one blog entry every day for the whole month.  I participated 100% last year, so let's see if I can do it again this year!

So hopefully I can use this to spur myself towards getting back on program and loosing weight, by having to face you my readers on a daily basis.

Today's evil culprit I couldn't resist!

I did okay today, though temptation abounded again!  I don't think I did as well as yesterday but I did well.  This morning at work our breakfast in support of United Way.  The tables were laden with big bagels, croissants, tasty loaves, cheese and other goodies.  So this  morning I made sure I had some yogurt and instant oatmeal on hand before I left the house just in case breakfast wasn't what I considered "point friendly".  After perusing the choices I grabbed some fruit and one tiny piece of banana bread (I love that stuff) and took it up to library-land to get away from the rest of it.  I was okay until lunchtime when one of my co-workers had cut into one of her daughter's from scratch cakes that was amazingly decorated.  I had to try a little piece.  Oh my goodness!  I had to have a second small piece!  It was the most amazing cake I've had so far!  I felt pretty guilty about the second piece after I ate it but you can't undo that.  Since I had already indulged today I stashed away the two mini chocolate bars that materialized on my desk when I cleared away some paperwork.  Those can be my dessert tomorrow night!

Tomorrow evening, I weigh in!  Ack!

GOOD News and Getting Ready to Run for the Cure

I got the best phone call ever this afternoon, it was my Mum... from HOME!  After four weeks of being in hospital she finally got discharged!  It has been a long road to get to this point and its still a long road ahead of us.  But its good to know that she's feeling well enough and strong enough to be at home!

I feel like 200 lbs have been lifted off of my shoulders!  What a ride this has been!  For about the first three weeks I struggled to keep my weight under control on top of dealing with this family crisis.  I struggled with it quite nicely for awhile.  I managed to drop a few pounds but the last week I have become more and more tired and more and more careless so my weight moved back up to where it was before this all started.  Sigh, a little disappointing seeing the number on the scale the last few days.  No place like the present to start fresh right?

This Sunday I'll be running again!  Sunday October 2nd across Canada is the CIBC Run For the Cure, its a very moving 5K run/walk to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  I had a very close call back in 2007 and this is my 3rd year participating and fundraising in this event.  My first year I raised over $600, last year I raised almost $1,500, so far this year I've raised just over $1,000.  I was hoping to beat last year's total but life's circumstances got in the way, and I think I've done very well under the circumstances!  There is still time to make a donation!  If you'd like to make a donation towards my run please go here to donate online, its not too late!!!

If you have already donated, thank you very much!

I think 5K is going to be a piece of cake ;-)

I'm Here, I'm Trying to Come Back

Its been a long time hasn't it?  If you're here, reading this and checking in on me thank you so much for sticking with me!  It just proves that there are people behind me in my struggle to "stay skinny".

What a struggle it has been!  Back in late March/April "staying skinny" suddenly hit a stumbling block.  I ate myself up seven pounds in two weeks.  Despite affirmations from friends and the people around me with the usual line that I truly hate "don't worry, you'll get it back off" echoing in my ears I have not gotten it off.  So I'm still not where I should be, my goal weight.  As of this morning's weigh in I am currently 8.2 lbs over my "magic number"  In terms of weight loss over the summer I seemed to fluctuate up and down three pounds but I've not even cracked that 5lbs within my goal weight. 

I've had stints this summer where I have a very good 2-3 weeks  I eat right, track honestly, and move more.  During that time I'll fight tooth and nail and drop 2-3lbs 0.3-0.5lbs at a time no big drops in weight just little dribs and drabs.  Then the next thing I know I gain over a pound one two weeks in a row and I'm back where I started.  Its almost been like a broken record for months now.

I saw an all time high at the scale on Monday, after a weekend of camping... which I wasn't as bad as I could of been.  Also I did some very serous trail running and hill training with some friends leaving me very sore.  I found myself weighing 157 lbs.  Oh boy, not good at all, when you consider my goal weight is 145.  I did have a sneaking suspicion (since I was up 3 lbs from Friday) that some of the weight was due to fluid retention and lactic acid in my poor muscles!  I started that morning weighing and measuring all my food, tracking every lick, taste, and bite and managing temptations.  I also decided at the moment that I need to weigh myself daily so there are no Friday morning surprises anymore!  Its been encouraging this week to watch the scale drop a little each day.  This morning, I was down 4lbs from Monday!  From last Friday's official weigh in to this Friday I'm down 1 lb which is again, encouraging especially considering most weeks where I have had losses they've been under a pound.

Here's the last couple of months at a glance:

The sad thing to all of this is I should be able to do this, I should be a success, I have been a success.  For some reason it just doesn't want to click, and when it does click its for a few short weeks.

So this week the motivation is there and I feel like I can do this.

Where have I gone wrong for months now?  I can assure you these are all excuses:

• exercise has been erratic, good weeks where I earn more than the minimum suggested activity points according to Weight Watchers (over 28)
• exercise excuses : too hot to run (actually it was a stupid hot summer), too tired, raining outside (bullshit because I have a treadmill), too busy, etc.  My distance running has seriously suffered since the Kilt Run at the end of July, partially because that was such a hard race for me.  I think I made it into the gym less than 5 times, the only times I did go into Taekwon-Do was when I was on the schedule to teach
• Not tracking
• Half assed tracking
• Dishonest tracking
• Poor eating and a little too much ice cream
• Too much fruit, yes there is such a thing
• Getting into the habit of eating when I got home from work despite not really being hungry
• Eating dinner very late (between 8-9 PM)
• Having a quick snack right before going to bed despite not being hungry
• Eyeballing portions
• Stupidly going to the Lindtt Chcolate outlet and buying a ridiculous amount of chocolate, now on the upside I did gift a lot of it and share a lot of it.
• Did not go to any Weight Watchers meetings all summer long, but I did make a point of weighing in once a month ... and paying which is required of a lifetime member who is over their goal weight.  Sadly having to pay $17.00 to weigh in has not motivated me enough to get my act together.

So you can see there many stumbling blocks that I have shared with you, areas for me to improve upon.  Like I said I started fresh again this Monday, like I have too many times to count this summer and here's what I've focused on:

• Weighing/measuring food
• Tracking 100% honestly, every lick, taste and bite
• Almost daily exercise, I've run almost 17 km this week, gone to Taekwon-Do once, the gym once.  I managed to get in some form of activity Saturday-Wednesday this past week
• No tempting foods, no treats except the ginger cookies I allow myself to have in the house.
• I turned down pizza for lunch on Wednesday
• Despite the temptation to get ice cream on two occasions this week I didn't
• I'm dealing with a VERY SERIOUS STRESSOR and I've not reported to stress or emotional eating AT ALL (so far)
• Despite being 10lbs over goal weight on Wednesday (155 lbs) I went and weighed in for the month anyhow, I was very tempted not to bother but I made myself go.

Besides deciding it was time to take the bull by the horns, get this soaring weight under control I've had a very tough week.  I work in a school, and the kids come back next week so its been crazy trying to get my library ready for the first day of school (next Tuesday), and I can assure you ... its not ready.  This summer I had to deal with packing my entire collection into boxes so the room could be completely emptied for the carpets to be replaced.  When I came back from holidays I lost a week of unpacking boxes to working in the main office since all of the administrative assistants were still on their holidays.  I then lost two days this week to software training... not only was I dealing with a collection in boxes, I have a new library software to learn.

Then on Wednesday night my Mum was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  She had not been well for some time now, but we couldn't get her to seek medical attention.  This week things were bad, and my Dad had to resort to calling 911 to get some help to get my Mum to the hospital.  She was admitted that night, and she's been there since.  We don't have a clear picture on what's wrong yet, we just know its to do with her liver.  So between trying to get the library set up at work the last two days (which I must admit was not very productive) I've been spending my evenings at the hospital keeping my Mum company until visiting hours are over.  Its been emotional, its been hard its been stressful.

My Mum is not well, she's very weak but I'm already seeing some improvements.  Her colour is returning (last time I had seen her, she had a grey pallor), today the IV fluids were no longer needed and she's gone from IV antibiotics to being given a pill.  She's eating her meals (she wasn't eating), and drinking plenty of fluids.  She's had a few tests already, an MRI is next on the list.

At this point I need to stay positive, to not just take care of my Mum but take care of myself.  To remember to stop and eat good food when I'm hungry, and drink my water.  I've realized over the last two days that I kept forgetting to drink my water.  At the moment I've not been tempted to bury my emotions by shoving food in my face but if that urge does arise I hope I can recognize it and do my best not to give in.  I also will be challenged to find the time to exercise (and to run... I'm doing a 1/2 marathon in 16 days!) as my Dad does need a break from being at the hospital, so I've been spending the evenings there so far.

My shift at the hospital tomorrow isn't until the evening since my brother is able to take care of a few hours.  So I'm hoping to go to a meeting in the morning and get in a run.  Ideally I'd like to get in 5-10K, if my run ends up being on the shorter side tomorrow, then Sunday will definitely be the day for my long run.

So there it is... I've laid it all out here for you and the world to read.  My shortcomings (failures) this summer, my repeated attempts to jump start getting back to goal.  I'm not sure how long it'll be before I post again since I am dealing/coping with an ill parent.

Here are some pictures from this summer of some of the things I did, I did enjoy my summer.

 Fishing with Todd... no I don't want to kiss the pike!

 Playing tourist in Quebec City

 Teaching at the TKD annual outdoor training/camping weekend

Taking in a show

Setbacks Lead To Comebacks...

Setbacks lead to comebacks, if that's true.... why are comebacks so hard?

I've been playing lip service to getting these 8 lbs I've put on back off again.  As of yesterday I've started yet again to get "serious", to get back on program.  Boy is this hard oh so hard.  At home my environment is temptation free, but work is a different story.  On Monday alone, two candy dishes with chocolate on it, more chocolate on the back counter at work, cinnamon buns, and assorted fruit breads on a table in the staff hallway, and cupcakes in student services.  Each of these traps I had to navigate yesterday, I almost crumbled a few times but I didn't.  I'm proud of that.  Today, not so many stumbling blocks, the same candy dishes are well stocked, I did spot cupcakes again, and one different temptation doughnuts.  Arrrgh!  Again I walked away from all of this.  Day two, successful.

The other thing I'm coming back from is that darned cold I had over a week ago now.  It took until mid last week to get my energy levels back.  This past weekend the congestion in my lungs finally cleared up and I ran for the first time on Saturday morning in 10 days.  It wasn't a big run, only 2 miles running 5 minutes, walking 1 minute.  No where near the 10K I'll be running in 10 days.  Today I had to fight myself to get back on the treadmill after work (the weather has been so cold, wet and miserable, almost like October).  Tonight I managed to run for 15 minutes (at a slower pace than before my illness) without a walk break, I was determined to put in 5K tonight.  The rest of the time I ran at a 5:1 ratio.  I completed it, proud of that. 

This comeback is going to be a really long road.  I just have to keep trying, eventually it'll stick.

I THINK I've Figured It Out

For some time now I've been down.  I wouldn't say unhappy but no-so-happy.  Hard to be excited about anything, hard to be my smiley bouncy self.  I've been wanting to stick close to home, I've been tired.

Last night I was asked by someone I've known in the Taekwon-Do community since almost day one who I don't see very often how I was doing.  He could tell in my voice that things were just okay.  Not "great" as I would often say, because yes I'm usually great.  When we had an opportunity to talk he asked me what my goals were.

At this moment it clicked.  What are my goals?  I like to think I'm a goal driven person.  I like to have things to strive for and things to look forward to.  At times in my life its been Taekwon-Do promotions, tournaments, weight loss, and well there's my stitching too.  I find something and I become determined like hell to do it!

I think right now I'm lost in the woods with no compass, a runner with no finish line.

I do have Ottawa Race Weekend coming up in about a month now.  For this, the biggest challenge for me was actually registering.  I've run 10K in the past (on my own), I know I can still run to 10K.  From the moment I registered I have stated this is just a goal to complete, even if I have to do some walk/runs I will go and finish this race.  At this point I'm still not excited or nervous about race day.

I was asked about my 4th Degree Black Belt as a goal.  At the moment that's more of a long term goal, and I have to get out of this funk and just go and TRAIN for this to happen.  Well that and I need to go to an International Instructor's Seminar before I can qualify to test.  The rule of thumb is one year per current belt level before you can test.  This November will be my 2nd year as a 3rd Dan so I technically can't test until at least November of 2012.  Of late I've not felt as driven or pushed to go and do better, be a better martial artist.  Again this could be all a part of this whatever feeling I've got.  Getting my 4th Dan would be a lovely feather in my cap, the first female 4th Dan at our school.  Yup I should get on that.

I've not been to a Weight Watchers meeting since early April, when I last weighed in.  At first it was because I was away, but really that was only one weekend this past month.  The other meetings have been missed because, I didn't want to go/get out of bed on a Saturday morning.  This Saturday its time to go and face the music, get weighed in (the weight hasn't really budged but its not gotten worse), pay for being more than 2lbs over my goal weight, and get back into the habit of weekly meetings.  I haven't wanted the support that my Weight Watchers meetings have offered in the past, I probably need this the most right now and I've kinda turned my back on it.  No one can be successful on their own.

So all of this has led to some very poor eating on my part.  Giving into my cravings, poor food choices, eating when not hungry, eating just because, and not exercising (my week ends at midnight and as of right now I have 7 activity points for the week... normally I get 25-35/week). 

Its almost sad that I've gone from this focused, driven person to what I used to be, a lump sitting in my chair at home stitching or taking a nap.  I don't want to be that person anymore or ever again.  I want to find my drive and vigour for life... I need something to strive for, and I don't want it to be just maintaining my weight (yes I want to do that), because that has been my life focus for over 3 years now and there's more to life that that.

Today's Lesson

If you look closely, every day has a little lesson for us.

After being a Weight Watchers member for over 3 years now I learnt that I cannot buy sweet temptations in more than single servings.  Today was official Eat a Cinnamon Bun in front of Dani Day.  Twice someone was sitting/standing right next to me eating a cinnamon bun!  Oh my gosh the second time this happened I was ready to die, just wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole, I wanted one THAT badly!  It was such a bad craving that on my way home from work I stopped at a local grocery store known for descent baked goods (I wasn't having just any cinnamon bun, it had to be a good one if I'm going to have one) and picked up a pack of 4 from the bakery (sadly I couldn't buy just one as I would of liked).  I couldn't even wait to get home I ate one BIG gooey, sticky icing covered tasty bun as I drove home (not an easy job in a 5-speed manual).  By the time I got home I had another 1/4 of a bun.

This is just the perfect reminder that I can only have sweet treats in controlled servings or where I can give the rest to someone else.  Even after 3 years I can't buy a 4 pack and have one the next day.  I have to eat them all and I have to eat them now!

Soooo, 2.75 cinnamon buns ended up smushed up in the garbage can when I got home, removed  from the package and all so that I couldn't "rescue" any of them.  Sabotage was necessary.

Penance, 4.6 miles on the treadmill, 3.25 of it running the rest at a brisk walk... 60 minutes of praying to the treadmill gods.

Survived Christmas... for the most part

How did everyone do over the biggest food weekend of the year?

I did not too bad, I weighed in (at home of course) on Christmas Eve morning, and I was down 0.5lbs not bad really, considering how much I ate out that week (can you say 3 days in a row).  So my tactic of exercise every day and watching all my other meals worked.  I followed up that nice little weigh in with breakfast out.  Todd and I go out for breakfast to our favourite local restaurant for the last 3 years on Christmas Eve.  Its also our chance to pick up a few last minute things.

Me, Todd and my niece Emma

That night was Christmas with my family I host it every year and its very informal.  I made a massive amount of chili!  We had chili cheese dogs (well I just had the chili I didn't think the hot dog and bun were worth 6 points), salad, and ice cream Christmas log for dessert.  Now that Christmas log... worth every point its super yummy!  I got some lovely gifts this year... including a nice box of Toblerones!  So far I've only eaten 2 and I'm hoping to remain in control with those.

Christmas Day was spent with Todd's family we had a more traditional meal, turkey, roast beef, stuffing and all the fixings.  I did pretty well at that meal as well in terms of portions and filling 1/2 of my plate with veggies.  Normally I can ignore stuffing, except Todd's Mom's its divine!  There was also homemade pie!  Apple and a cherry pie, I had a small piece of both (heck I ran 3km before leaving the house).

Now it was Boxing Day that did me in, I was in no mood to go out shopping like Todd and I had discussed originally.  I was good until the afternoon.  I got up in the morning and made meat sauce to stock up my freezer, which also had a lot of leftover chili in it.  I also put the turkey carcass from Christmas in the crock pot to make stock (will turn that into soup today).  In the afternoon I had a slice of leftover Christmas log and it went downhill from there!  I had 2 slices of ice cream log and small pieces of pie (apple & cherry) as well that was pretty much dinner.  Now I didn't eat ALL of that at once but it wasn't healthy food.  I seem to be really good for an amount of time then I'll have one day where I kida go nuts-ish.  But I'm always pretty good at getting back on track.

Boxing Day Deals!  Nice new winter coat (Mum paid for most of it)

(New winter boots, mine looked like crap)

Always need pants for work!

Yesterday Todd and I went out shopping, looking for the "Boxing Week" deals.  I got myself a really nice new winter coat (ski jacket).  Last year I bought myself a cheap one since I had so much to buy as my weight had stabilized and my old winter stuff was miles too big!  I also got a deal on 2 pairs of pants, and a steal on new winter boots!  That has been the one huge advantage to loosing my weight, I enjoy going shopping for clothes!  Most things fit and look great!

Bad girl!

Now I was bad and since we were in the East end of town which we don't go to very often, I wanted to check out the Lindt Outlet store.  I did buy a "little" chocolate, and I hit the Bulk Barn for the jujubes I've been craving!  Felt a little silly spending 81 cents but as we all know its better to buy a little and enjoy it than buy a lot and pig out!  I'm hoping with all these goodies in the house I can practice restraint.  We'll see.

Weekly Meeting Topic : Understanding and Trusting PointsPlus

I have a feeling over the next few weeks our meeting talk will be mainly focused on the new program PointsPlus (as its being called in Canada).  There was supposed to be a structure to the meeting but it pretty much turned into a all around general discussion about the program, problems and feelings about it.

Did you know that 4 years of research went into the new PointsPlus system, testing it on various subjects before it was released this year?

There is more freedom and flexibility with this program, I really do think the free fruit is the main reason for this.  Did you know that all people can talk about are bananas lately?  See, on the old plan they were 2 points and a lot of people felt it was silly to spend 2pts on a measly, good for you banana when you could have a Cadbury Thin for the same number of points!  We all gravitate to the foods that taste best, now I have always LOVED bananas and both on the new and old plan I eat one every day.  I have to admit though with the change in fruit I sometimes find myself having two in a day.  So what I mean to say is with fruit being free there seems to be a few more points to spend elsewhere.  At least in my case there it.  It is interesting in the meeting to hear about how many people where restricting their fruits on the old program because they had points.  I had a banana and an apple every day before and I'll continue to have them now.

This program is designed for sustainable weight loss!  From what I'm hearing people who have been on the new program awhile now find themselves loosing a little more weight (especially those who were on the high end of their goal weight) and its staying off too!  Like I said on my last post, I still have high hopes for this new program I DESPERATELY want to loose my last 8 pounds!  Please!  I WANT to be a meeting leader (since WW won't even look at me despite my success, I will share my experiences here with you instead).

The key focus of this program is to eat high fiber and high protein.  I must admit I have been definitely focusing more on the protein side of things, and yes I am feeling fuller longer.  If I feel peckish I don't feel guilty grabbing that piece of fruit anymore.

Now here's the best information I got out of the meeting : eat all your points!  Yes you should eat all your daily points (the weekly and activity points are up to you).  Weight Watchers believes that if you eat your daily target your body will have all the nutrients it needs to loose weight and be healthy.  If you under eat your target it will cause you to be deprived and loose motivation.  Did you notice they don't talk about it stalling your metabolism anymore?  That's right they and the science doesn't feel that under eating your points causes you to go into starvation but that your body isn't getting the things it needs to function properly... to loose weight.  We were actually told DON'T OVEREAT TO MEET YOUR TARGET. (I found myself eating when not hungry to do this).  It is OKAY to under eat slightly (by a few points, not a lot) now and again.

Hey Canada!  If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, the WW app is now available!  I'm loving it!

This new program is a learning curve, we all have to take what we USED to know, throw it out and pretend we are all Weight Watchers newbies!

I wish you all the best of luck with you holiday food challenges!  Tonight I went to one last party, where I actually indulged and had a light beer (oh it tasted so good), and a few baked goodies.  My tip for parties?  Don't grab a plate!  No matter what you do or if you're offered one say no to the plate!  If you have a plate you are tempted to fill it up with so many goodies.  I other grab one item and step away from the table and eat that or put one or two items on a napkin.  Its a round about way to practice portion control, but it does work.  When I caught myself starting to mindlessly pick at food on the table I got a piece of gum out of my purse.  Its at least a little gross to eat food and chew gum at the same time.

Good Weigh In and Not So Good Food Weekend

With all that has been going on, I forgot to share with you this Friday's weigh in.  I was down 1.5lbs which puts me back at my goal weight!  I'm very happy about this.

However, I'm not so happy/proud of how I handled this weekend.  It was one of my girls stitching getaways.  I started the weekend with the best of intentions and I did not too bad food wise until about Saturday afternoon, and its kind gone down hill from there.

I ate temptations like this for lunch... (mind you I only ate 1/2 of the chicken and 1/2 of the rice)

Followed by this for dessert... I meant to eat half... honestly!  Oops, I ate it all (remember me and my love affair with cake)

This evening was a bit of a challenge as well because its my Dad's Birthday and we had a great family dinner.  I feel like I've eaten way too much, I ate 3 yes 3 pieces of garlic bread!  Also more cake, but this time it was only a sliver.

I've spent way too much time feeling bloated and uncomfortable from eating too much.  I know I've done better than I used to do, cause I used to eat whatever I want without a second thought.  Now I just spend a little time (not too long) feeling guilty about a poor decision.

Now on the other hand I'm hoping the exercise I've put in over the last 3 days will kinda balance out the food I've consumed in the last day and a half (and flush the sodium out with a lot of water!).  There was Friday's monumental 12.5 km run, Saturday I walked about 10km (in two installments), and this morning I put in another run this time only a gentle 4 km.  I have to admit my poor legs are a little sore!

Meeting Topic : Challenges aka : the Christmas Season



Me & Master Lu, I started Taekwon-Do as one of his students
Christmas 2009



My American readers might think I'm crazy that we're already talking about Christmas at Weight Watchers. We're not crazy, for us Thanksgiving happened AGES ago!  We have said goodbye to the Turkey and the Pumpkin, now we're saying hello to the Christmas Tree!

This time of year leading up to Christmas if FULL of challenges!  There are the parties, the dinners, the pot-lucks, the after work drinks and nibbles and more!   Here are a few things we need to keep in mind to try and keep us on track, or as close to on track as possible!

TRACK - Track what you eat and if you can, plan ahead.  Plan your meals ahead.  If I know I'm going to be at a social event with food I often will plan most of my meals to be low point so I have some extra points to enjoy a few of my favourites at said social event.  I'll also do my best to eat "lighter/healthier" a day or two leading up to and following the event.

STOP! - How many of us have felt we have "blown" our day and we think "what the hell, I might as well keep eating"!  I think we all have.  This isn't an excuse to keep eating.  If you think you've blown your day, try to stop yourself, sit down and figure out how many points you've eaten that day.  It might not be as bad as you think, or it might me awful!  You can use this instance as a reminder for the next time you're tempted to keep eating once you've blown the day.

BE POSITIVE - Don't spend every waking hour beating yourself up for eating something "bad".  This is the beauty of WW, we can have those small indulgences.  Even when you have a slip up, instead of beating yourself up know that you ARE doing better than you used to!  Think back to how you used to act/eat at social events and how you handled it this time.  Next time you will handle it better

FRIENDS/FAMILY - Use those who care about you and are close to you.  Ask a friend to remind you not to stand near the food, or in the same room as the food (I'm okay as long as I'm not standing next to the food).  There is power in numbers!

PLANNING - Plan your meals and snacks to fit the day and the event!  Don't go to an event hungry, and don't go too long between meals.

EXERCISE - If you know you're going to be eating a little extra, get in a little more exercise as well.

ONLINE - The Weight Watchers communities, blogs and e-mails are a GREAT way to get support from those around you.  If you ever need some help or support please, don't hesitate to e-mail me!  I'm always there to help, make a suggestion, or just help you celebrate a Non Scale Victory or Milestone!!

RECIPES - Go through your cookbooks or the Internet come up with a few low calorie/fat recipes and make them your signature dishes for those potlucks.  The only way you can help yourself is by bringing a low point WW friendly dish!

REST - Don't burn the candle at both ends (I am SOOOOOOO guilty of this!), get some sleep.  When we're tired our defenses are down.  We eat more, and sometimes we eat just to help us stay awake (I know I do this!)

WATER - Drink your water, lots of it!  A lot of these party foods will be much higher in sodium than we're used to and you will retain water.  The only way to get rid of the fluids you're retaining is to... drink more water!

BE PREPARED - Look up the points of your favourite holiday treats, then you will know if its worth having or not!

FIRST BITE - That first bite always tastes the best, savour it.  Have a second bite, it may not taste as good anymore.  Maybe that one bite was all you needed?  There is no rule that we have to finish everything on our plates.

Here's my little party tip.  Don't grab a BIG plate, actually don't grab a plate at all if its nibblies.  I take only a napkin and I put one or two things on that napkin at a time.  Its a round about way to control portions.  I also do my best to be in a different room from the food or as far away from it as possible.  I find if I stand next to the nibblies, I start nibbling even though I don't really want the food.  Also take some gum with you.  Its hard to eat potato chips when you're chewing a piece of gum!

Darn You Twisty Red Sweetness!

What did I buy on Sunday night for my drive home??? A nice big bag of Twizzlers!!!  Oh my you tasty ropes of red licorice!  We have had an ongoing battle since Sunday night!  I can imagine this bag won't last much past Wednesday/Thursday night. 

I have to admit I have been MUCH better about eating these than I used to be.  Once upon a time I would of had half of the bag polished off in my 2 hour drive.  Instead I ate them slowly and savoured each bite.

I have always loved Twizzlers, and always will, and its got to be the brand name, no-name substitutions won't do!