Confessions of a Weight Watcher: Portions

It's been awhile since I posted a WW confession, probably because I've been an all-around bad Weight Watcher. Sigh. But I'm getting back on track which means I'm discovering more sins to confess.

And I must admit: I suck at portion control. 

When I measure, I'm good. When I eat zero-point foods, I'm good (because I pig out). But when I say, "I'll just have a bit", that bit turns into everything in front of me.

Like today, when I ate 3/4 of a small container of Haagen-Dazs rocky road ice cream - and logged a cool 26 points for my efforts. Was it a delicious 26 points? sure. Was it a worthwhile 26 points? Erm, not really. Will I do it again? There's a chance. I mean, those marshmallow swirls were so good and the chunks of almonds were awesome...

But with only 29 points per day, I can think of better ways to spend them. Like on, you know, the food my body needs to function and stuff.

Oh, Haagen-Dazs, it was nice while it lasted.

WW Weigh-In #15

Oh hi! I can't believe I almost missed posting today! It's actually been a busy day for me: I was working from home this morning, had to take the car in for service this afternoon and then NHL playoffs tonight! It's the first round so there's so many games on - including three tonight. I'm in my own special heaven.

But about the numbers:

Last week: 184.6 lb
This week: 185.0 lb
Total gained this week: 0.4 lb

Weight loss target: 181.8 lb
To reach target: 3.2 lb

A bit of a gain and 1.2 lb gained over the past two weeks. Sigh. I keep reminding myself that, since starting WW, I've lost 17 lb, which is awesome. I just really want to lose that next 15 lb!

I know why I've been slipping: I haven't been as diligent with tracking my points. I've been guessing more than I should and I haven't been measuring my portions as often. I know what I need to do - but sometimes it's the doing that's hard.

But if I want to lose that next 15 lb, I have to do it! 

Up-Down Challenge Weigh-in #19 and dinner tonight

Golden delicious polenta

We didn't publish an issue of the magazine last night, so I went to work today.  Because of that, the Beau took on dinner-making duties tonight and made an amazing dinner of polenta topped with a spicy chicken and mushroom tomato sauce - so good!  Polenta is one of our favourite carb substitutes; we buy it by the tube, slice it into thick disks and roast it in the oven so it's crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.  Polenta is made of cornmeal so it's not white-flour heavy like pasta or bread, but it's still delicious and really filling.  We've also started buying dried mushrooms because we both love mushrooms but can never cook the fresh ones quickly enough.  The dried mushrooms work really well in a sauce and added a nice touch to tonight's dinner.

But on to the weigh-in.  I didn't make it to the gym today, not because I didn't want to go but because it was so busy at work today that I didn't even get a break.  I probably could have stayed a bit later than I did, but not getting a lunch break meant after-work errands and I wanted to get home in good time.  Though I think a break from the gym was good for me; my muscles are a bit sore from weights yesterday and my shins were a bit achy (I've been stretching a lot because I really want to keep my running up!).

Tonight, the scale looked up at me and said 193.6 lb.  That's 0.8 lb down from last week (yay!) but still not the 190.2 lb that will get me a book (boo).  It's also not where I wanted to be but at least the number is going the right way. 

I know I can do this and I have to really work at not getting frustrated.  I also have to really work at making better choices and - this is most important - watching my portion sizes.  I've mentioned this before and I'm still not doing what I need to do.  But I am getting more vegetables and I've actually discovered I enjoy some fruit! 

So I'll keep trying. 

(Hm...can I blame the not-much weight loss on weight gain due to muscle gain?  Somehow I think that's wishful thinking!)

What I had for lunch today

I had a great big honkin' salad.

 

I'm lucky that, at work, we have a salad bar as part of our cafeteria.  There are lots of awesome options at the salad bar and it's charged by weight so you don't necessarily have to break the bank to eat well.

My salad today came in just under $6, which isn't bad considering I loaded up on mixed greens, mushrooms, green peppers, cauliflower, red onions, chickpeas, chopped egg and corn salsa.  I also indulged in a wee bit of pasta salad and a sprinkling of bacon bits.  And I topped it all off with balsamic vinaigrette.  

There are lots of other great options at the salad bar, so I'll probably start being more selective with my salads each day so I don't get bored.  Other things I can add are roasted red peppers, orange segments, apple slices, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, sunflower seeds, carrots and broccoli and each day the cafeteria does 3-4 special salads (the pasta salad was one of today's).  Normally these salads are loaded with pasta, creamy dressings and other not-so-healthy things but sometimes there's beet salad or sweet potato salad, which will be good to try.

Also, the selection at the salad bar will help me to eat low g.i./high fibre foods (i.e. LOTS of veg).  I just have to exercise restraint and not go for pizza instead.   And because it's veg, I'm not so worried about my portion sizes, although I do try to keep my dressing to a minimum.  Even the healthy stuff adds up in calories.

For awhile I was trying to bring my own salads for lunch but I quickly realized that the cost and effort to keep the fresh produce and make my salad was quickly outweighed (heh) by the cost and ease of salads at work.  As long as I make breakfast at home and bring my own snacks, I should be able to keep my lunch-buying costs down.  

(I WILL be posting about my finances and budget, I promise!  I've started getting my tax forms so once I've got them all and have the black-and-white proof of where I stand with my student loans and other financial info, I'll be able to delve more into how I'm going to improve my financial health this year.) 

Eating good and stuff

I kicked off my healthy eating today and it was great!

(One day down, the rest of my life to go!)

In my endeavour to get in shape/lose weight/be physically healthier I've decided to go with low g.i. foods.  I'm not following the G.I. Diet, as I'm not looking for a diet so much as a lifestyle change.  G.I. stands for glycemic index and determines how carbs affect the body's blood sugar levels.  Foods that are low on the g.i. scale will keep your blood sugar lower, meaning you don't crash and get cravings for sweet, sugary stuff.

Eating low g.i. foods won't be that hard for me, as most of what I eat is considered low g.i.: whole grain bread, veggies, the few fruits I can choke down, lean meat, cheese, milk, whole wheat pasta, stuff like that.  As long as I avoid the white bread/potato/rice (but not basmati, thankfully)/processed stuff, I'm good.  It's my weakness for pizza that could be my downfall.

The other catch is portion size.  It doesn't matter that I'm eating whole wheat pasta if I'm eating half the package.  But I'm taking this in baby steps.  Right now, I'm going to focus more on the low g.i. foods, particularly good options for lunch.  I'm currently bringing great big delicious salads for lunch but a girl cannot live on salad alone so I'll have to find something else that will fill me up at lunch but isn't bad carby.

Once I've got the food thing down I'm going to really focus on portions.  Deep down, I know this is my Achilles heel in the whole weight loss thing but I'm going to work at this.  I'll likely get a kitchen scale so I can properly weigh things and really know what a portion size is and how much I should be eating.  And I won't sneak tasty bits from the chocolate drawer either - although, oddly enough, Snickers bars are low g.i.  I haven't had a Snickers bar in a very long time but if they now come in dark chocolate, I could be in trouble.  It's probably best if I just stay away completely.

I'm also lucky that the Beau is on board with this too (particularly because he does almost all the cooking in our household).  He's going to make sure we keep low g.i. foods in the house so he can not just cook with them but make them extra delicious (it's what he does).  It's great having his support and encouragement and it also helps me because I feel accountable to him.  I know he won't kick me out if I have a potato chip or three, but I feel that if he's making an effort I really should too.

Off to bed soon - sleep is another part of my health plans but I'll talk about that later.

Good night!