Roni’s Weight Watchen Page(s) - Take 2 (the rebuild)

Seems like you have been doing a great job working out, but why haven't you been weighing in???? As far as I can tell, it's been 2 months since you hopped on the scale.
-Joyce

Funny you should ask that today! I was planning a post about this very topic for a a while now. Let me start at the beginning and by the end (I think) I'll answer that question.

In my teens and my early 20s I would say I was obsessed with my body more then I was obsessed with my weight. Sounds funny, doesn't it? But really, I wasn't a scale obsessed girl. I was conscious that I was a overweight and I didn't like the body I was in but I don't remember hopping on the scale every day. I don't even remember having one. I weighed in at doctors appointments and when I saw scales in my friends bathrooms.

Then in my mid 20s I started to become more scale aware. I bought my own. I weighed all the time and I really let if affect my mood. This was my crash diet phase. I was educating myself on diet and nutrition yet making unhealthy choices purely to change the number on the scale. When the number didn't behave the way I wanted then I'd get depressed, eat more, get mad, starve myself and there you have it, the making of a classic yo-yo dieter.

My next scale phase started when I joined Weight Watchers. I loved the idea of having an “official” weigh in on their scales. It's was like I was reporting to someone and that motivated me. Like I had something to prove to them and to their scale.

I started the Flex plan and something clicked. The plan seemed easy, logical and perfect for me. The scale started to go down and I was getting excited. So excited I started weighing myself every day. Many people may not agree but this helped me, immensely. I started to learn how my body reacted to certain foods. I saw the scale go up when I ate processed foods and I watched it go down when drank my water and made my own meals. This is what I call my domino phase. One good choice would lead to the next, and the next and I could measure the results on the scale.

This daily weighing lasted over 2 years. Some may say I was obsessed but I really wasn't. At least I don't think I was. I didn't depend on the scale to tell me how my day was going, or let it affect my mood. If the number went up I was motivated to make healthier choices (not starve myself) and if it went down it made me smile and reinforced I was moving in the right direction.

Once I made goal and entered into maintenance I continued to weigh every day. Still gathering information about my body and learning about myself. By this point the habit of waking up, peeing and hopping on the scale was so ingrained in my morning routine I'd thought I'd do it forever. The scale wasn't what I turned to measure my success it was another tool in my weight maintenance arsenal. Just like my food scale, my meal journal and my blog!

Now, well, now I'm can feel myself returning to scale indifference. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not falling off the wagon. I'm just evaluating myself using different means. Since starting my workout routines, weight lifting and now running I noticed my body is behaving differently then I expected. What I learned about myself and my weight while losing is not necessarily true now. The scale may go up when I'm doing well because I'm building muscle or recovering from a workout. And guess what? That's OK. The weight watchen' thing is so much more then a number on the scale for me now. It's how I look, how my clothes fit and most importantly how I feel.

So, yes, I haven't weight in for about a month (I actually have one weigh in I didn't post yet-can we say busy? WOW). It's not that I'm never planning on weighing in again but I'd thought since my schedule has been so insane and I couldn't make meetings anyway I'd use this time to “test” myself. Could I walk away from the scale, away from points, trust myself to eat healthy, to workout and to just live an active life without scale worry? Could I be one of those people. Those people who just seem to do the right things naturally?

I do plan on weighing in “officially” at Weight Watchers on Wednesday. It's my favorite meeting, with my favorite leader (the one who I lost most of my weight with). Now that I don't have classes my schedule (should) ease a bit. I guess I'll find out how my little experiment has gone then. But honestly, whatever that scale says on wednesday, I know I've been doing really well. I feel great and (if I do say so myself - this is hard) I look great!

I hope this answers your question, Joyce. I know my scale habits aren't for everyone and you may totally disagree with my philosophies. So in an effort to get everyone's opinion on this I ask... (I probably should save this for a question of the week but, what the heck)

How do you weigh in? What are your scale habits?

Labels: askRoni, insights, WeeklyQuestions

I'm going to be quick tonight. As usual, I'm trying to do too many things at once after a very busy day. Let's see...

• I recorded a new video for GreenLiteBites, so that's rendering. It's a whole different style and should be up tomorrow morning.
• I made a new recipe tonight, Ginger Garlic Chicken with Vegetables. The husband thought it was a winner!
• I'm TRYING to catch up on BlogToLose community news. For those of you over there, WOW! What activity and support! The forums are hopping, groups are popping up and everyone is SO friendly! As of now we are 381 members strong!
• I started to pack my office up at work. I'm hoping to have final grades in tomorrow to wrap up the semester.
• I had my exit interview at work. It's really starting to sink in that I'm finished there and moving on. SCARY!
• I got in a little balloon ball and wiffle ball with the toddler today. (Balloon ball is our made up game of baseball with balloons. We use a long skinny one for the bat and a regular one for the ball. LOADS of fun!)
• Did great on the food front but my journal fell apart at the end of the day.
• I ran 2.5 miles tonight (you were all right, it's addictive) in 30 minutes with my new play list . This ones my favorite so far! (see below -warning some explicit)

Ok, *takes deep breath in*, it's time to hit the hay. Tomorrow is just as busy!

Song	Artist	Album	Length
Rebel Rouser	Duane Eddy	Rebel Rouser	2:23
Laid	James	Laid	2:37
Smack My Bitch	The Prodigy	The Fat of the Land	5:43
A-Punk	Vampire Weekend	Vampire Weekend	2:18
C'mon C'mon	The Von Bondies	C'mon C'mon	2:14
Dragula	Rob Zombie	Hellbilly Deluxe	3:43
E-pro	Beck	Guero	3:15
Everything Sucks	Reel Big Fish	Turn the Radio Off	2:41
Mother Mother	Tracy Bonham	The Burdens of Being Upright	3:01
United States of Whatever	Liam Lynch	Fake Songs (Bonus DVD)	1:29
Awesome	Veruca Salt	Eight Arms to Hold You	3:33
Total Running Time:			32:48

Labels: journal, music

Allison submitted an Ask Roni question about this not too long ago and I agreed that it would make a great question of the week! So here goes...

I think we are “trained” at a young age that food is a fun reward and we use eating as the main way to celebrate big events. How many times have we heard, “If you're good we'll get some ice cream” or “If we win the big game well go out for pizza” how about, “it's your birthday, let's bake cupcakes!” I'm guilty of this myself, recently bribing the toddler with a piece of chocolate if he goes on the potty. There is just something special about an editable treat!

Now I'm not saying we can't/shouldn't celebrate with food and I don't think we should outlaw birthday cakes anytime soon. But overall, I think we need to break the food/reward connection in our brains. There are other ways to celebrate and sometimes food really isn't an appropriate choice.

Case in point... How many times have you wanted to celebrate a weight loss success with food? Have you said to yourself, when I reach x-number of pounds I'm going to have a slice of pizza? or when I get into those 8's I'll celebrate with some hagen daaz.

Come on... I can't be the only one, can I? Admit it, you've done it TOO! (please admit it)

To help break the food/reward connection I ask this weeks question in hopes of coming up with a great non-food list of rewards and celebration ideas for everyone. Soooo here goes...

How do you reward yourself?

Me? Well I have a massage waiting for me when I climb that darn rock wall! I was so close tonight I think next week may be the week! (those that don't know what the heck I'm talking about check out my goals)

Some of my other rewards include...

• buying a new piece of clothing to help celebrate a size,
• taking a sick day to spend with the toddler. (taking a sick day to spend with myself) ;~P, and
• facials!

How about you? How do you reward yourself?

Labels: WeeklyQuestions

I'm about to post the question of the week but I wanted to post this first.

P.S. Had a FABULOUS day!

Labels: menus

It's my last late monday!!! YAY! OMG I'm ecstatic! No more 12 hour days!

On top of that great news I had a GREAT day. For the first time EVER, I started my day with a run. I never exercise in the morning but I knew I wouldn't have time tonight and I really wanted to start the week off right after my overindulgent weekend.

My plan for tomorrow is another great day, a new dinner idea and a trip to the gym!

Now, it's time for bed I'm really trying to get some more sleep. It was/is really starting to affect me. So here's the menu and I'm signing off.

Labels: journal, menus

Hope from WeightingLine tagged me a few days ago but I haven't had time to reply. I’m supposed to tell you seven off the wall things about myself that you may (or may not) know. So here goes…

7 Random Things About Me

1. I love horror movies, gory, campy, suspenseful, you name it, I'll watch it!
2. I worked at McDonalds for 5 years and in high school I actually had 2 jobs. I guess I've always been a bit of a workaholic. ;~P
3. I read at least 3 books to the toddler a day.
4. I hate wearing shoes. If it were up to me I'd go barefoot everyday.
5. The husband and I have been together 13 YEARS! Holy crap I feel old considering I met him Freshman year of college.
6. I used to refuse ice cream as a kid unless it was chocolate. Boy do I wish I kept that pickiness as an adult!
7. I love playing poker and I wish I was better then I actually am.

So there ya go. I’m now supposed to tag seven other people but I'm going to be honest, I just don't have the energy so consider yourself all tagged!

YOU’RE IT! :)

Here are the rules (That I broke):

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share seven random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Labels: meme

That's what I keep telling myself about this weekend. I had a lot of fun but I also ate quite a bit and right now I feel like CRAP!

I'm SO looking forward to getting back into a routine this week, hitting the gym hard, training for my 5k and wrapping up the semester.

Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day! I'm signing off early so I can start the week with a good night sleep (although it's already after midnight!)

Labels: journal

So the EVIL husband bought a 4 pack of Cinnabons today. A FOUR PACK?!?! I don't know WHAT he was thinking.

He popped one in the microwave about an hour ago and the smell was enough to drive me mad. So I had 1 BITE of his and then proceeded to scoop out a serving of Breyer's Free Vanilla and sprinkle cinnamon on top. YUMMY!!

It hit the spot, cured the craving and saved me about 35 points! Plus I don't feel like a beached whale right now!! LOL

It's all about compromise and substitutions!

Labels: journal, Tips

Last week of classes is OVER!! That's right, OVER! **Breathing a sigh of relief**

Oh geesh, I have so much to tell you I don't know where to start. I think I'm going to have to do a list. It's just how my brain works...

1. The new weight loss community, Blog to Lose is going GREAT! I am having so much fun reading and participating it's my new favorite past time. (Now that I'm not dealing with an influx of automated SPAM , thank you very much!).
2. Food this week hasn't been so great for me. If you remember I had the pizza incident early this week and tonight I fell apart after dinner. HOWEVER...
3. On the workout front I'm kicking A$$! Running, spinning, lifting and even attempting the steep inclined wall a few times (didn't make it yet, but I'm close). I'm sore as sore can be but I FEEL GREAT!
4. I tackled a kitchen fear tonight and cooked a tuna steak at home! So glad I did! I'll be making it again!
5. One of my GreenLiteBites videos is being played on Cooking Light for Mothers Day! The toddler submitted it in a contest they had. Wasn't that nice of him? ;~P
6. I'm reading Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir and Jennette (aka as PastaQueen) will be stopping by here on her blog book tour May 23!
7. I have some big decisions to make career wise (Hmmm maybe this is why I'm excessively snacking?? - there's that stress thing again) My plans were to leave the college and embark on my own business adventures but now I have a long term project opportunity and the college may be offering me a really good position to stay. I know my problems could be worse but it's a little nerve racking when you have to make such big decisions. At least it is for me. I tend to obsess, over-analyze and freak myself becuase I think I'll make the wrong decision. I know this about myself and I still stress. However...
8. My home office is complete! I finally have a place of my own and a new computer. I so feel like and “official” blogger now. :~)
9. Oh! and MizFit linked to me (I'm glad she reminded me because I forgot!) on her Link Love and a Friday FREEBIE! post. She always has the most fun links!

OK, I think I touched on everything. I'm going to head over to the chat room and see if anyones in there.

Have a great night!

Labels: journal

Check out my quick meal idea with these Ramen Noodles

Oh boy! If you are anything link me you lived off Ramen Noodles in college. They were cheep, fast and the perfect midnight snack!

The problem with them? Well let's see, deep fried noodles. Ummm yeah, enough said.

So shortly after college I stopped buying them and honestly, I forgot about them until a couple of weeks ago. Someone mentioned in an email they saw a healthy version at the grocery store and wondered if I tried them. Sure enough, there they were! Right above the regular version in all the flavors I remember, chicken, shrimp and beef.

I bought one of each!

So how much healthier are they? well the bag (that's right, the whole bag) is 280 calories, 2 g of fat and 4 g of fiber! That's only 5 points for the whole bag!

That's a HUGE serving, a real quick lunch and they taste e-x-a-c-t-l-y like I remember them!

Check GreenLiteBites tomorrow as I'm planning to make them for my weekly video posts!

Have you guys seen them already? Anyone else try them? I'm normally pretty late on these types of things! ;~)

Labels: FoodFinds

This weeks question is the direct result of my pizza incident yesterday. Although I've been considering this topic for awhile.

I think there are a few different reasons why we eat. That sounds stupid, but really let's things about what situations cause us to put food in our mouth.

We are actually hungry

This is a given, of course. And I think we really know when our bodies need food. Stomach growling, low energy, emptness.

Celebration

Let's see, it's someone's birthday... we eat cake. Graduation? More cake. Anniversary? Go out to dinner. Holiday? Forgettabout. It seems that an easy way to celebrate any event involves food.

Bored

Yup, sometimes there is just thing else to do but eat.

Peer Pressure

I'm eating so you should be too!

Sad/Depressed

Food comforts a lot of us.

Smells

Ohhh we've all done it. The smell of bread from a bakery or my personal demon, Cinnabon!

I could go on and on. It's seems we may turn to food for many reasons besides just being hungry.

For me stress definitely causes overeating. I used to think I was an “emotional” eater but when I really look back at times I shove food in my mouth it's normally at times I'm feeling overwhelmed, overworked, under appreciated and overall stressed out! For example I find myself shoving bread in my mouth when the toddler is acting up at a restaurant or scoffing down pizza when I have just too many tasks on my plate. I truly think this is the last hurdle I need to overcome.

So how about you? What causes you to eat? Or overeat for that matter.

Labels: WeeklyQuestions