I've got a problem

That's pretty obvious given that I was so overweight. But this is a problem that is still plaguing me even as I am losing weight and learning to do things better.

I can't seem to stop eating even though I may not be hungry. This is most often a problem at restaurants and when cleaning up and putting away leftovers after a meal. For instance, last night I was putting away pizza for lunch today and also Michael hadn't gotten home from work so his pizza was still sitting on the pan. I had just eaten broccoli and 2 pieces of pizza and yet I just COULD NOT STOP myself from picking at what was left. A bite of crust here, a cheese covered mushroom there. It's ridiculous! Why is it so hard for me to stop myself when I am satisfied? Maybe to my brain, satisfaction isn't necessarily linked to a full stomach. Eating yummy food is satisfying to me, whether I am starving or about to burst.

Any tips to help me in this way of thinking?

Brick walls, favorites, and a recipe..

Sorry, it’s been a while. I have been quietly and not super successively plugging along. I feel like I am never going to reach the elusive 18 pounds that I’ve been hovering near for several weeks. I was so close two weeks ago, only 0.4 lbs. Then when I weighed in on Friday I was only down 0.2 lbs- who even counts 0.2 pounds!? That could be the difference between weighing on an empty stomach or having just drank a glass of water. Geez.
There is some kind of wall built up around the 18 lb mark, and I’m not sure whether it is going to be busted through or not. I do admit that I have not been tracking for the last few weeks, but I’ve been pretty good with food choices- better than in the past at least. That’s really what I need though; to get back to basics since it is so easy to slide in a few or lot of extra points when I’m not religious about writing things down. I have started this week off right though, tracking yesterday and today- so hopefully I’ll have the momentum to smash through and go beyond 18!
Now on to a positive topic. Callie tagged me a while back to name my 6 favorite things, and here they are in no particular order:
1. Emily’s face: all of her really, but I just love holding her sweet face between my hands and gazing at all her cute perfect-ness :)
2. OBX- mostly Nag’s Head/manteo area: I spent a semester of college here studying with a small group of other students. It was one of the best times of my life and it always feels so “right” and magical to be back there.
3. Books: my favorites at this point are the Harry Potter series and Pride and Prejudice.
4. That first night sleeping in crisp clean sheets. I don’t know why, but it is just more relaxing to sleep in a freshly made bed.
5. Dessert! I don’t think I could pick favorite out of all desserts, b/c I just love so many. I will say that I don’t generally like desserts with nuts or raisins.
6. Sleeping in. It happens so rarely and I have always loved my sleep, so it’s an extra special treat now.

I’m not sure that there are a lot of other readers out there that have been tagged, so I’ll just tag Miche.

And lastly, here is the recipe that I mentioned in a previous post. Sooo yummy and if you find some low fat chips- or even just use it as a salsa to go on southwestern-style turkey burgers, quite healthy!

Corn Salsa
* 4 medium ears fresh corn, husks removed. (canned is fine, but get “no salt added” kind to cut down on the extra sodium)
* 1 (12 ounce) jar of roasted red bell peppers. Drained and chopped.
* 2 ripe avocados, chopped
* 2 green onions, finely chopped
* 1 large tomato, seeded and minced
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and miced
* 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
* 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
* 1/2 teasoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon cumin

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Cover and chill at least 2 hours

Enjoy!

So Close!

First an update from the weekend. The wedding was fun but they had a buffet rather than plated dinner, so this was dangerous! I ate a mini bag of popcorn beforehand and that really helped to keep me from going overboard, plus there were two big fruit and veggie trays for a healthy option. As for the cake- I just ate the icing so I wouldn't feel like I had denied myself since I love dessert so much!

At my grandmother's birthday party, the main dish was grilled chicken, which is a nice change from the usual hamburgers and hotdogs. My SIL made a delicious dip that was basically corn salsa; no cheese, oils, dressing, etc so it was quite healthy. The most fattening thing in it was tiny bits of avocado which are such a healthy source of calories. I need to get the recipe and will definitely post it! Also, I didn't have any cake here either, which is quite surprising. But my mom made homemade ice cream, so I sacrificed cake for a couple of small bowls of that.

Then I played cornhole for a while. I certainly wouldn't say that is a great source of exercise, but it kept me off my butt and away from the food! I think this is a big downfall at many parties. I should definitely make an effort to do something outside or in another part of the house so there is not that constant food temptation.

On to today's weigh in and my goal for this month.....

down 1.2 lbs, so only 0.4 lbs short of my mini-goal. argh! I am happy with a loss this week though. I know that 0.4 lbs will come off eventually, whether it's in 2 days or 12!

Next week at the WW meeting we are doing a recipe swap. I'm excited for this and hopefully I can get some good new ideas. I am thinking about taking in the Cheesy Chicken Cups or Crockpot salsa chicken recipe- both so good and so easy!

On a not-so-related note...our house is officially on the market! It's so surreal to see it up on those realty sites. I am hoping we get a lot of people to walk the house, but I am a little concerned that we might be forced to have a few more meals out if we need to vacate the house at inconvenient times. Meals out are not so good for the wallet or the belly! Anyone know what restuarants other than Applebee's list weight watchers items and points on their menus?

Surprising Success

I was all ready to have to write a "woe is me" post today after weigh-in. As you may remember, I set a mini-goal a few weeks ago to get to my 10% weight loss of 18 lbs by Aug 1st. Well, since then I had only lost about 2 pounds, and felt that today's weigh-in wouldn't get me much closer. Guess again baby, b/c I was down 4 lbs! No one is more surprised than me about this, but now it means I'm back in the game. I have 1.6 lbs left to lose to get to 18!

It's funny though. Before I weighed in, I was assuming that I would be so far away from my mini-goal, that I wouldn't really even bother too much this weekend about being good. But now that I am so close, I am realllly hoping that the thought " only a pound and a half" will help me stay strong at the wedding and my grandmother's birthday that we are attending. It will be utterly impossible for me to resist cake at the two functions- but maybe I'll just eat the icing and definitely forgo the ice cream. I might even eat a light meal before the wedding to help curb my appetite at the reception. That could blow up in my face of course if there is some really yummy food there that I can't resist (I'm definitely a food-aholic, if you haven't guessed) thereby getting 2 meals worth of calories

At least we will be at my parents' house rather than ILs or somewhere else on the road, b/c my mom does WW too, so I should have more hope of finding decent options for snacks and small meals while there. And speaking of WW... their yogurt is GROSS! It is sweetened with sucralose, so has the taste that I associate with diet soda. I very rarely drink anything other than water, but when I do decide to have a soda, it's never diet, I'd have to drink something else just to get the taste out of my mouth!

Hope everyone has a healthy weekend!

Blah

That's how I would describe my efforts and motivation. Only down 0.2 lbs at weigh-in, so I am not going to even consider that a loss. There goes my 6 more lbs by Aug plan!

I know it's my fault. It's not like I have been eating bad or anything, I just haven't been eating great nor done anything physically active. It's like my momentum has already waned after 8 weeks. I really need to push through this lull of the last couple of weeks and get myself recommitted!

Darn you Gooey Butter Cake!

My husband made this last night for a work bake sale (yes you read that right, my husband BAKES) and it is "the debil" sooooo good but oh so bad. Box of cake mix, 3 eggs, 2 sticks of butter, a pound of confectioners sugar and a package of cream cheese! Surely no one can guess who this lovely confection is made by :-p

So I absolutely had to have a piece last night. But can we just take a minute and notice that the recipe says it yields 6 to 8 servings!? Michael cut it into 24 pieces and believe me, while I could have (gladly) eaten much more, who can afford the calories in 1/6th of that thing- wow, not me!

I was down 1.5 lbs today so that brings my total around 12. 6 more lbs and I'll have lost 10% of my total body weight! I should try to make it a mini goal to get there by Aug 7th. That would be an avg of 1.5 lbs/ week, hopefully that won't be too hard. I'll just have one tough weekend to get through- a wedding and my G'ma's birthday.

Hope everyone has a healthy and safe weekend!

Always be Prepared

It's not just for the Boy Scouts! I find that for my new healthy diet, it is a very important motto. Along with that I include "plan ahead". I need to be surrounded by healthy foods- especially snacks at work- and have food at home that can be easily prepared for dinner.

We definitely weren't prepared on Monday night. The grocery shopping was over due and the only meat we had was frozen. We also aren't the type of people that have a pantry/refrigerator full of odds and ends that can be miraculously thrown together for a last minute meal. So...not only did I not get supper until too late (after 8pm), but we spent too much money and I was so hungry by then that I ate almost all of my stromboli (not a healthy choice in itself).

I think I have the snack thing covered, but what are some quick and easy dinners that I can always have on hand in a pinch?

Last week my weight was 0.8 lbs over. I'm not too down about that though. I had just eaten my lunch (2 heavy-ish pieces of pizza) b/c I went to a different meeting and couldn't hold out until I got back to work. Usually I go on an empty stomach (well as empty as it gets when you eat a snack every couple of hours!) and immediately start munching on some carrots after I weigh-in.

I'm not too sure about this week though. It seems like my weight loss has gone through a particular pattern- big loss one week, then the next only slight loss or gain, so I am on track for a good loss. However, I have not counted my points since last Thursday, but other than the stromboli, I think I have done pretty well. Oh wait, I did have that little brownie...but only one, that's improvement :)