Posts from — September 2011

Have I told you ???? 

Last time I’ll complain about it.  Promise

I didn’t let it stop me from running this morning, though!  I wasn’t quite up for badass status, so I hit the treadmill in the basement.  I’ve been avoiding a regular running schedule lately.  I just haven’t been feeling it that much. 

I have been trying to get at least one day a week in to keep up my endurance.  Today’s run was a steady 2.4 miles using 2:1 intervals on my old friend, the GYMBOSS…

Then, I ran right to the kitchen for breakfast!  I had prepped it last night and couldn’t wait to dig in!  I don’t usually get this excited over oatmeal, but Emily’s recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry and Apple Baked Oatmeal looked too good not to get excited!

I served it warm and topped with a drizzle of almond milk (6 PP)…

So delicious!

For lunch, I brought back a favorite – Buffalo Chicken Salad (9 PP)…

In the mix…

• Trader Joe’s Breaded Chicken Tenderloins
• 2 tbsp. Frank’s buffalo sauce
• sliced carrots
• sliced celery
• romaine lettuce
• 2 tbsp. Hidden Valley Light Ranch Dressing

A combo that never disappoints…

I may have seen a ray of sunshine come out later in the afternoon.  I thought it was a mirage…

I whipped up a smoothie in celebration (3 pp)…

New favorite mix…

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 scoop pea protein powder
• 6 frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 4 ice cubes

Dinner was “fend for yourself night”.  Pancakes for the family and chili for me.

The “open a can of Trader Joe’s veggie chili” kind ( 6 PP) …

Shout out to Roni!

Altogether with cornbread from the deep freeze (6 PP)…

Yesterday, I had another session with Ellen Shuman, my emotional eating recovery coach.  I had an interesting week of many revelations.  I have a lot of “homework” and actions to work on each week.  At times, it feels overwhelming. 

I’ve had a few “awareness” moments this week and the work that is presented to me for the coming week already makes me feel resistant.  Sometimes, it’s just easier to eat than deal with things.  Ellen is guiding me through it, but also pushing me.  It’s exciting and scary at the same time.  Part of me feels annoyed that I’m this messed up with food.  Part of me feels uncomfortable with having to spend this much focus on myself.  It makes me feel self-centered and self-absorbed. 

Ellen assures me the work I’m doing is quite the opposite.  I’m teaching my body a new “language”.  It takes time and focus before it becomes natural… instinctual.  A part of me.

Have a great day, everyone!

I can’t thank you all enough for your support and insightful comments on my last post.  This work that I’m doing with my emotional eating coach is highly personal.  It’s hard to put myself out there with such a sensitive subject, but I’ve shared so much of my weight loss journey with you all in these last three years that I decided to be honest about this part of my journey, too.  It’s been a lifelong struggle and it’s hard to finally acknowledge that.  Thanks for receiving this new journey and supporting me along the way.  Big hugs to all of you!

~~~~~~

I had planned on an outdoor run this morning, but got thwarted by the rain …AGAIN!  It’s getting on my nerves, I must admit.  Sun….hellllloooooo….where are yooooooooou?!

Instead, I opted for a quick kick booty session – The 100 Workout.  I still love this “do anywhere” workout!  I have the husband hooked on it, too!

After sweatin’, I got to eatin’.  <—–Don’t ask me why I’m talking like this.  It’s the rain gettin’ to me.

Nothing some nice, bright raspberries won’t fix!  Scattered around a bowl of Trader Joe’s High Fiber O’s with almond milk and banana (6 PP)…

Beautious.

But, not very filling.  I was starving about two hours later.  Luckily, I was meeting my MIL, SILs and niece for an early lunch.

We met up at McKenzie Brew House …

There were lots of yummy sounding paninis and pizzas on the menu, however, I really wanted veggies!  <—- It’s the rain.

I ordered the Fresh Market Vegetable Plate …

It was a lovely mix of roasted asparagus, tomato, carrots, portobello mushrooms, zucchini and grilled red onion served with jasmine rice and a tomato aioli.  The veggies were so fresh tasting and cooked perfectly!  I ate all but the onion for an estimated 8 PP.

Snack time called for some crunch.  My new favorite is hard sourdough pretzels!  Served up with a lite string cheese (3 PP) …

Dinner was not a favorite.  I tried making Black Bean Enchiladas (9 PP)…

My corn tortillas broke up while rolling and my filling needs some tweaking.  Anyone know the secret to keeping the tortillas from splitting? I tried warming them and even dipped a few in water, but they still broke when I rolled them!

I served them topped with a good blob of guacamole…

Guac makes everything better, right?

Alongside,  a salad dressed with salsa and light ranch …

Meh.

Wanna hear something weird?  The family ATE it.  Without COMPLAINING.  Or crying.  Or feigning illness.  They just…ate.  Weird.

It must be the rain.

Have a great day, everyone!

What’s your favorite Mexican dish?

This week, one of the action items from Ellen Shuman, my emotional eating recovery coach was to write my “story” with respect to how I feel about goal weight and why I give so much meaning to it.  I thought I’d share it here…

~~~~~~

I have never been at a weight I was happy with.  Looking back at those high school pictures at 130 pounds, I realize how thin I was.  Yet, I never felt that way.  From as far back as I remember, I have always felt like the bigger girl.

Because of that, I was always dieting.  They were extreme diets and not usually nutritionally sound.  I was excited to start each one;  thinking it was going to be “the one”.  Inevitably, a few days in, the diets would end in binges of epic proportions.  Diet over.

I was a great STARTER, but never a FINISHER.

When I began this last journey of weight loss, I was determined to be a FINISHER.  I stayed focused, changed my lifestyle and lost over 65 pounds.  I started to feel good in my skin.  Overall, I like the way I looked in clothes (except for the lack thereof in summertime!) and I was changing my body through exercise. 

However, I remained around 10 pounds from my Weight Watchers goal weight.  I just didn’t have the motivation to drive it all the way home.  Something was holding me back.  The bulk of my weight was gone, so I didn’t work quite as hard anymore.  I pretty much maintained for a year, give or take a few pounds.  But, I started to feel that I wasn’t a complete “success story” because I hadn’t gotten to goal weight.  I needed that validation of being declared a “Lifetime Member”.  I had coveted it for so long.  In all the years of dieting, I never got to claim goal.  I wanted that FINISH;  that symbol of success.

Recently, I decided to focus on losing again, although ended up going the opposite way.  Every day, I would start strong but, often end in overeating or bingeing.

Now, goal weight is 30 pounds away.  I’m not back at the start, but the FINISH line seems miles away.

~~~~~~~

When I was given the task to write this story about myself, I wasn’t exactly sure of the purpose for the exercise.  But, like a good student, I followed through with my homework.  A while after writing the story, I had an “aha moment”.  Did goal weight really matter?  At the time that I was only a few pounds away, what difference would it have made?  Would I have looked different?  Would everyone I met instantly know that I had hit goal weight?  Did I wear that number on the scale so that I could tell the world that I’m a LIFETIME MEMBER? 

Of course, the answers were “no”.  I wish I could have seen that then.  I wish I could have been happy and proud with the huge accomplishment of losing 65 pounds and feeling good in my body.  I wish I didn’t place so much weight (no pun intended!) on the FINISH. 

I wish I could have realized… I was already there.

Have a great day, everyone!

What are your thoughts on goal weight?  What role does/did it play in your weight loss?