Back to Basics

When I started blogging my weight loss back in August, I had tremendous success for the first four months. No cheating. NONE! I didn't lose the weight as quickly as I had hoped but it had nothing to do with my lack of adherance to the program. Since the holidays, I've had a harder time sticking to it although I feel like I'm 'back in the zone' again now.

I decided that I needed to think back to what I was doing that was working so well and how I was staying motivated. I realized that I wasn't doing any of those things anymore. They were little things, but all together, they were helping a lot. Here are some of them:

When I get up in the morning (I get up around 6:30 to make Jim's lunch for work and start my day) I eat a healthy breakfast and follow it with LOTS of tea. The tea helps to keep me full and is REALLY good nutritionally.

Keep lots of fresh veggies available. Cut them up in the morning in bite size pieces and use them like chips! Sometimes it's the motion of eating that we miss, rather than the actual food itself. Yesterday I had a big bowl of celery. I know....sounds exciting, but it actually did the trick when I was rooting around the kitchen looking for a snack. Carrots, snow peas, sliced up raw turnips, radishes, green pepper, raw mushrooms. broccoli,.....the sky is the limit. Then there are all those delicious fruits ......oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. (My apologies here to Pam as I know these things aren't available to her)

I need to stay on my feet. I moved my laptop to the kitchen counter so that whenever I use it (I do everything on the computer - pay my utility bills, make grocery lists, you name it), I have to stay vertical! Once my derriere hits the couch, it tends to stay there for a while. This way I get more done, and I'm using up just a bit more energy than if I'm sitting.

When I'm done eating a meal, I brush my teeth right away and use some perfumed hand cream. It might sound silly, but if you're a person that's still fixing meals for your family all the time and spend a lot of time in the kitchen, the toothpasty taste can keep you from plopping something in your mouth that you don't need, and who wants to pull chips or cookies out of a bag and have them smell like Japanese Cherry Blossom hand cream? Silly? Maybe. Every little thing helps.

I need to make sure that I don't run out of the things that work well for me. In the beginning of January, I would find myself always looking around for something to eat and would grab something that was high sugar, fat, or both. Then I realized I was out of carrots, my oat bran jar was empty, the eggs were gone, I didn't have a can of garbanzo beans in the pantry, and I always wanted ice cream because my Dannon Light N Fit yogurt wasn't in the fridge. These are foods I love that also happen to work well with Weight Watchers.

I've gone on and on here but I will post one more thing for accountability's sake. Below is a list of everything I ate yesterday. All of it. I will be doing this every day.


Morning
1 medium orange(s)
1 Tbsp peanut butter
whole wheat toast 1 slice

Midday
1 medium carrot(s)
michelina salisbury steak - yeah, it was a pre-made lunch -lame- but low WW point
Evening
2 cups homemade beef stew
6 oz Dannon Light 'n Fit Nonfat Yogurt Strawberry Yogurt mixed with...
1/2 cup Kellogg's All-Bran Extra Fiber
Snack
1 medium orange(s)