Main » December 2005

December 30, 2005

Trying the Core Plan

It's almost the New Year! Are you thinking about going back or trying WW for the first time? You should try Core!!Do I sound like a commercial???? Sorry. I love January though...not for the weather, which sucks this time of year, but the whole idea of renewal and being more motivated.

This month will be six years I've done WW (at least, most of the time). We'll see next week what the number is; I haven't been brave enough to weigh in yet after Christmas. I thought about doing points this week while I was home on Christmas vacation, but I just can't. Really. I'm so sick of counting points after all this time that I go over on principle. ha ha. Which leaves me with Core. THANK GOD.

Excuse me as I sound like a commercial again, but core is the best thing that ever happened to WW. First of all, it basically shows you the way you're supposed to eat, and encourages it. You know, fruit? Veggies? Milk? All "free" on the core plan. There's no eliminating an entire food group like some plans do. (No carbs for you! LOL)It's made a huge difference for me since I will eat Core free foods before something I have to take out of bonus points. But on flex, I did not have the same motivation to pick healthier choices and ate too many junk food type items (chips, cookies, ice cream).

I know, I know, I lost 100 pounds on flex, how could I pick on it? Well, because I also gained back 40 lbs. counting points. Problem with flex (in my opinion) is that it's not a life plan. Core is. It's easier to eat out on it too, I had grilled chicken, salad, and a baked potato tonight, all core except for the salad dressing.

Oh, and I don't hoard points anymore either. On flex I would eat lighter breakfast and lunches so that I had more points for dinner. I was STARVING when I got home from work. Now I just eat core foods, and the funny thing is, I don't really eat more overall. Weird why that happens, but it does. A mind game maybe? Since I know I can have it, I don't need to overeat it. Ah, there are so many tricks we play on ourselves....

Happy New Year!

(Heather, thanks for writing, I hope this answers some questions!)

Posted by Mary Elizabeth at 05:29 PM | Comments (3)

December 28, 2005

Definition of Success

Soooooo....it's after Christmas, I'm supposed to be writing about how AWFUL I did, how UNBELIEVABLE I was, how many COOKIES I ate, etc, etc, etc. But guess what. I am not going to do that. Who the Hell doesn't eat crap at Christmas? Of course I ate too many cookies. Of course I didn't do well. I didn't plan to eat salads!

yeah, I'm a little fired up today. I got so tired of listening to people on the WW message boards talk about the perfect plan they had for the holidays. The perfect core meal, how they would tell off their families who dared to make them a non-WW dinner. Imagine! It was pretty nauseating. Guess what! I wasn't perfect. I didn't plan to be. After almost six years of weight watchers I have learned a lot. If you drive yourself nuts you will want to quit. So I let the holidays happen, I enjoyed them, with my new husband and all four sides of our families. Yeah, that's right. FOUR FAMILIES. Do you think you could stay on a diet (or healthy lifestyle, like good weight watchers are supposed to say) with four families to visit!!! LOL. But it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. If you ate the whole fruitcake, so what? I ate so many cookies my heart raced all night. My body doesn't want to eat that way forever, and I knew it was a temporary break.

Here's my definition of success: do you let the holidays ruin what you are doing for yourself, or do you understand that Christmas is Christmas and move on? I have always moved on. YES, I know, I haven't been losing in months, but I have maintained, and that counts for something. I was so excited yesterday to start core again. I was thrilled to go grocery shopping and get good, healthy food for myself. New Year's aside, it is the time to renew yourself, and I have started already. I really, really, really would like to reach goal by next summer. I know core can get me there.

Posted by Mary Elizabeth at 06:59 AM | Comments (2)

December 14, 2005

Fast Food is Still Really Lousy

If you're watching your weight and you think you miss eating fast food, don't bother. It's still terrible. Now, I'm not talking about your baked potatoes and your salads that you can get. I mean real fast food.

Last night I had a lousy weigh in I didn't feel I really deserved. So, in that case I felt I had two choices:

A. Be mature, remember all the rules of the scale, remember my successes, and know that I can and will do better next week.

B. Be not-so-mature, go out to Wendy's and get a double cheeseburger combo meal instead of the salad, since I figure, heck, I'll earn that number on the scale.

You can guess what I did. The burger was awful! I can't even tell you how bad it was, which of course didn't stop me from eating it, and then I felt worse for getting it in the first place.

Whew. Not a good night. But I'm back on core today. Just a'spinnin my wheels.

But Saturday is my Christmas party. And I'm going to make a few core items. My friend is bringing the ever necessary veggie tray, and I'm making oven fries and low-fat spinach and artichoke dip. Oven fries are the best! You just cut up baked potatoes, put a little olive oil on them, a packet of onion soup mix, and bake for a half hour. My husband loves them. Plus I'm going to buy some shrimp, also core. Sure, they'll be other stuff there that I will eat too, but I figure if I can set myself up for more sucesses, why not?

Persistance. I've said it before. Yes, I gained this week. Yes, I haven't been losing. But I haven't given up, and won't ever, since that would just mean I gain more, and faster. I will lose, I will get under 200, hopefully by the new year, but I'll get there.

Posted by Mary Elizabeth at 08:04 AM | Comments (2)

December 06, 2005

Stuck...

Still doing core. Still stuck around the same weight. And it's not like I don't know what the problem is. Every week I do all core all week until the weekend. Then I use some bonus points for date night with hubby. Then I use a few more on Saturday. Then, if there are any left, they are gone during football or whatever on Sunday. Usually by then I'm over too. It's so frustrating to weigh myself and watch it go back and forth, especially when it's me holding myself back. I'm starting to wonder what I'm afraid of? I can't wait to be back under 200, but I can't seem to make the sacrifices to get there.

Thanksgiving was pretty good. Had dinner at dad's, and more to eat at mother-in-laws. Knew it would be a tough day, since I never use bonus points during the week. Ta-da! Two pound gain. It hasn't helped that I've been sick too, so I haven't been working out. But, I won't give up. I haven't been losing, but I haven't been gaining either. That should count for something.

Posted by Mary Elizabeth at 07:41 AM | Comments (0)