Overused, or used just enough?

"Check yourself before you wreck yourself."

"Progress, not perfection."

Both of these have been running through my head this week. Both have helped me to stop and think before completely derailing myself.

On Monday night, I almost binged. I was eating chocolate graham crackers (my "healthier" alternative to oreos choice for the week; don't ask me why I thought that they wre healthier or why I thought that I'd be less likely to binge on them). I ate a strip, then another, then another... before I knew it I had eaten 10 additional weekly points. My plan for the week had been to spread them out, eating 5 every day.

My plan was ruined. Suddenly I wanted to give up on the day. I wanted to keep eating the rest of the graham crackers and to stop counting. Who cares?! No one would know but me, and they are only graham crackers! They won't hinder my progress... or will they?

I remembered the phrase "Check yourself before you wreck yourself". It was a powerful message for me at that moment! I wrapped up the remaining graham crackers and tracked the 10 points that I had consumed, noting that I still had 11 weeklies left for the rest of the week. It was not the end of the world, and I was still OP.

Last night I realized that I hadn't gotten in my healthy oils for the day. I still had a DP left and it was time for my post-workout-late-night snack. I remembered the phrase, "Progress, not perfection" and I prepared some steamed vegetables with a teaspoon of EVOO. Yes, I would still be one teaspoon shy of the requirement, but the fact that I took the initiative to get in one at the end of the day instead of reaching for something non-filling shows how much progress I've made.

So those are my two helpful phrases for the week, and I'm sure to find more as I stumble through the rest of the week.

What cliche phrases have been especially helpful to you lately?

having technical difficulties again on this blog. No matter how many times I go back and edit in paragraphs, when the post comes up, it is ONE BIG PARAGRAPH, which probably makes it hard to read. I finally gave in a made every other paragraph bold, which hopefully helps you read this... sorry!

No chips - Day 4

...and going strong! I have to say that it took a lot of willpower to start this challenge right before a weekend.

Usually one of the rewards that I give myself after a great weigh-in is a bag of light lays. I know, food shouldn't be a reward... but, still, that's what I've been doing.

On Saturday, I stepped on the scale and it said "166.4" which is a new low for me. Yay!!! I'm now offially only 11.4 pounds overweight. That's not very overweight at all. :-)

I am not stopping eating chips because they have hurt me on the scale. No, I was definately getting away with my post-weigh-in chips ritual.

I'm stopping eating chips to prove to myself that I don't need them. There are healthier alternatives to potato chips out there, and I'm using this time to get to know those options better.

You know what I was craving this weekend? Honest to Goddess. Salad. SALAD. So I added lettuce and spinach to my grocery list, and made a big ole' salad when I got home. And it was amazing. And I plan to have another one tonight. Want to know my super-secret zero-point salad dressing recipe? Here it is:

Leah's Super Secret Zero-Point Salad Dressing

- 1 part (this can be a teaspoon, tablespoon, or just eyeball it) lemon juice
- 1 part (ditto) balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

Stir and enjoy.

It's amazing!!! Oh, and if I need another healthy oil, I could easily add a teaspoon of EVOO to that, and it would probably taste pretty good, too.

Okay, that's all for today, my beautiful readers. I hope that you are all having awesome days!

3 Weeks no chips?

I'm going to (once again) start a "no chips" challenge for myself.

I've read several places (no source will be mentioned in this entry, just "several places" will have to do) that it takes three weeks (or 21 days) to make a new habit, but three months to kick a bad habit for good.

So I'm going for the three weeks.

No chips!

I have gotten entirely too addicted to Lays Light original (and sometimes ruffles) potato chips. I have been eating 1 or 2 bags every weekend. Gross.

So I'm not saying that I will NEVER eat these again, but for three weeks, I won't.

Here we go, three weeks NO CHIPS. I can do this. I will do this. And the reason that I can do this is that I'm not giving up potatoes, or crunchy salty snacks. Just potato chips.

Time to make some homemade guacamole and break into the wasa crackers. Yum! Or some air-popped popcorn with EVOO and sea salt. Or just a plain baked potato... The possibilites are endless.

Progress Pictures! 168.2 *the front*

<---178.2

<----168.2

Progress Pictures! 168.2 *my profile*

Not much a difference from the side in the last 10 pounds! The ones with the blinds open are from 178.2, with the blinds closed 168.2

More Progress Pictures! 168.2 *my back*

<---178.2 pounds

<---168.2 pounds

Shamelessly plugging my dorky new blog...

Who- me! And all of you are welcome to follow along, too. :-)

What- my new blog: Memphis is Just Like New York City is about how I'm going to make it as a Memphian who wants to be a New Yorker.

Where- http://memphisisjustlikenyc.blogspot.com/

When- Just started today. Updates will be at least weekly.

Why- I just wanted to expand on that part of my life a bit more, and keep "Leah: The Kind Weight Watcher" mostly about my dieting and exercise. The new blog will be about me and my life outside of dieting, with a big focus on my goals and dreams for the future.

Okay, shameless blog plugging over. No pressure to follow it, just wanted to let you know about my new blog! I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with it, and that it will inspire others to really think about what they want out of life, too.

Some vacation photos!

This is me right outside of the Met, the best museum I've ever been to. When I move to NYC, I will become a member so that I can go there as often as possible! Without having to say, "Yes, I'd like to pay nothing, or a LOT less than the recommended $20 a person..." which is embarassing, even though it is allowed (and supposedly encouraged, the reason they have that option is so that no one is left out of seeing the art.


This is one of only two full body shots that I have of me on vacation. So this is what I look like at around 168 pounds in NYC. :-)




Here I am playing with the marionette that my brother got me for a birthday present. You may not get it, but this is a perfect present from my brother. Amazing.





Kind of a strange angle, but I think that I look pretty good. Especially since this was taken after a day of traveling.






This is a cute shot of me and Stacey, my boyfriend. He had so much fun in the city! He officially wants to move there with me some day, so I guess that he passed the test. Yay!













I will close with a picture of my brother Joel and me! This was right after the real reason of the visit, a reading of his new show. (He's a musical theatre writer, see his link to the right joelbnew.com)







My vacation was amazing. I hate to be back to life and reality, but it's necessary. I have a lot to do before I go back to NYC to live. The memories that I have from this trip are amazing. I can't wait to see Joel and the city again! :-)



How did my vacay game plan go? Well... I did NOT track for most of the time, and I had one day with a lot of indulgences (belated b-day celebration with lots of vegan restaraunts). But I made really wise food decisions most of the time, and exercised almost every day.



And now I'm back to tracking religiously. So we'll see how the scale will respond this Saturday. I'm hoping for a loss! But time will tell...

Vacay Game Plan...

I'm going on vacation! Yay!!!

I'm going to New York City! Yay!!!

I'm going to see my brother! Yay!!!

My boyfriend is going with me! Yay!!!

There will be lots of delicious food! Yay!!!

My routine will be disrupted! ...


I am such a creature of habit. Especially when it comes to diet and exercise, especially when what I'm doing is working for me. So as amazing as this vacation is going to be, I'm a little worried about my routine being disrupted.

There will be lots of delicious food, for real. I am planning on going to at least one vegan bakery and at least one vegan restaraunt, both luxuries not offered in Memphis. I am scared that I will be so joyful that there are vegan options almost everywhere that I will feel the need to overeat on vegan goodies. Also, my Nordic Track is here, not in NYC.

So, I need a game plan. A plan that will help me to stay on track while on vacation. Maybe with a bit of wiggle room with the GHGs. Okay, here's what I can think of:

1) Get up early every morning and go for a walk/run for an hour. That, plus all the daily walking that will get done while site-seeing should ensure that I get more than enough exercise in.

2) Track everything, even the foods that I will have to guesstimate that points. Overestimate points on things like baked goods.

3) On days that I eat out, forget about the following GHGs: healthy oil, dairy, limit sugar and alcohol, whole grains. Just focus on total points and getting plenty of fruits and vegetables in, as well as lean protein.

4) Pack a lot of non-perishables in my suitcase (canned beans, packets of crystal light, granola bars) and go shopping for some produce upon arrival. Plan to cook at least once a day.

5) Have fun, and don't worry about it SO MUCH. I'm on vacation. But that doesn't mean that I'm on vacation from Weight Watchers. For once in my dieting life, I feel that I don't need to stray from my diet just because I'm on vacation. This must mean that I've finally made a...

LIFESTYLE CHANGE!!! Yay. :-)

Okay, that's it. That's my game plan. Wish me luck, I will be back to blog about how I did on October 19.

the most motivating picture I have...

...is one of myself before I gained the weight (this time). I lost a bunch of weight before, and got down to the weight shown in this picture, 135 pounds.

Oh, and I was three years younger, and blonde. (I used to get highlights, I'm naturally a dirty blonde/light brunette.)

Anyway, I love this picture because of how thin, healthy, and beautiful I look in it. I will be that thin again, in about 34.2 more pounds. :-)

But despite how much skinnier (and probably prettier) I am in this picture, I have to say that now I am much happier than I was when this was taken.

And that is much more important! I was miserable, despite my phony smile. My life was bad. My fiance (now ex-fiance) would make very mean remarks that made me feel fat. I thought that

I was much heavier than I actually was. I never felt "good enough" or "thin enough" for him (or for me).

So when I left him, I immediately gained a bunch of weight, quickly. Then I lost a bit, then I regained even more.

Now, here I am, less than 35 pounds away from weighing what I weighed in this picture. I'm ready to be thin and beautiful and KNOW that I'm thin and beautiful. I'm sick of feeling "less than". I'm finally feeling beautiful again, and I'm feeling healthy. And I know that I'm getting closer and closer to my ultimate goal weight.

And this time, when I smile into that camera, it will be a genuine "I love myself and I love my life" smile. :-)

No Guilt about my birthday eating...

...because I did pretty well. :-)

My family and I ate at Whole Foods last night (Dad, Mom, cousin, and boyfriend) and everyone agreed to eat vegan in honor of my birthday. We ate from the buffet and the salad bar, and it was a very nice experience.

Things that I especially enjoyed: chicken-fried tofu, onion-pepper squash, soy nugget stir-fry, potatoes and leeks.

Oh, and the dessert. The WF in Memphis doesn't carry vegan birthday cakes, so I got a dozen vegan chocolate chip cookies and brought in my own frosting. For dessert, I made everyone there cookie-cakes, with a thick layer of frosting between two cookies. Yum!

All in all, I guesstimate that what I consumed added up to 35 points. I am not sure if that is accurate or not. I guessed 15 for the food, 15 for the cookies, and 5 for the frosting. I used the last of my WPA plus about 15 AP. Again, this is just guessing.

I'm hoping that I overestimated, and actually ate less than what I guessed. But, if not, I had the APs for it, and should still (in theory) be able to get a loss this week.

Lots of people on the ww.com message boards say that if they eat their APs, they don't lose. But I think that for me, I will. :-)

No guilt. The food was amazing, I still got in an hour on the Nordic Track, and enjoyed every bite of dinner and dessert.

Today will be a 23 points day with lots of water and exercise.

Tomorrow is the last weigh-in before my trip to NYC.

Wish me luck!

26.

I am now 26 years old.

That is all.

P.S. I own "Now That's What I Call Music" 1, which featured such artists as "Spice Girls" "Backstreet Boys" and "Hanson".

Bullies!!!

Story time!

So I'm out on my bike ride last night, not a care in the world. It's the first week as a WW-er who has lost over 50 pounds, it's the last week that I'll be 25 years old, my body feels great, powerful, and healthy. It's a bit cold out, the first taste of the fall weather here in Tennessee. I'm feeling great about life, and about myself!

I turn a corner and there is a group of boys, probably ages 8-12 (I'm bad at guessing kid's ages. They could have been 6 or 15, too, but 8-12 is my best guess.). I don't think anything of them, just acknowledge their presence in my mind as carefree kids shooting the breeze on a Tuesday evening after school.

As I approach the group (as it's on my route), one of them shouts at me, "Hey, lady you need a better bike." That doesn't bother me, I just ignore them and keep on biking. My bike is a pretty nice one by my standards. I bought it from a yard sale last summer for $15, it's green, and everything works. But kids will be kids, right?

Then as I bike away, I hear the same one shout, "You need a better booty, too!"

I'm not going to write here what I shouted back to him in response. I'm not proud of it. That kind of rash behavior towards rude children is one of the many reasons that I'm not ready to have them myself yet.

If you know me, you know now that I am pretty darn sensative about my butt. It's big. Probably out of the 50 pounds that I've lost, only 7 of them came off of my butt, so with my now much smaller waist, it looks even bigger now. (I know, cry me a river, right, complaining about my smaller waist! I'm not, I really love my waist!!) Anyway, the point is, my big butt is a sore subject for me.

Kids used to tease me about it all the time when I was a teenager. So those memories came flooding back to me when that evil neighborhood kid was rude enough to make that comment.

I just thought that my days of being bullied by children were over, since I myself haven't been a child for 8 years now. But I guess that I was wrong.

So a warning to my readers: Kids can be really mean. Kids can be bullies. Even to adults.

50 Pounds and 50 Followers!!!

Hurray! I got my 50th follower today!!! Thank you, everyone, for following my blog. Especially those who read it and comment. I really feel like I have so much support, just for reaching out into the blogging community. I love this blog, and I appreciate all of you. So, here's a blog award for all of my readers! Enjoy. :-) Wow, this picture turned out creepy. I promise that it was supposed to be cute.

50 POUNDS GONE FOREVER!!!

I don't quite know how to put into words how amazing I feel to write that I have now officially lost 50 entire pounds of fat.

Just know that I am very happy with the results of both Weight Watchers and The Kind Diet. Having the rules of Weight Watchers to follow has helped me to learn more about portion control and hunger signals, as well as the importance of exercise. Being vegan has helped me stay out of my boyfriend's Cooler Ranch Doritos, Little Debbies, and Totinos party pizzas. :-)

I have updated my next goal weight: 155. I can't believe how close that feels now! I now weigh 169.2, which means that I am only 14.2 pounds overweight.

Meaning that when I reach my next goal of 155, I will no longer be considered overweight on any BMI chart. And yes, I still plan to go on to lose 20 more pounds after that, to get closer to the middle of the range and to feel truly fantastic about my body!

But I'm already feeling pretty darn good about my body. It has definately shrunk and tightened up this year.

This week, on October 7, I turn 26 years old. It is my goal to not let my birthday mean "permission to binge-eat" like it has in the past. I am planning to earn a lot of Activity Points this week, and to probably eat most of them on my birthday. This is because my family is buying me a vegan birthday cake from Whole Foods, and I will probably eat a fairly large slice or two. ;-) But it's my birthday, and it's planned, so.... there.

I also have more exciting news: On October 13-18, Stacey (boyfriend) and I are visiting my brother Joel in New York City! Not only will this be the most awesome trip ever because I will get to see Joel (see link to joelbnew.com in my list of links to the right), many pictures will be taken and I will post a few here.

Oh, and it's almost time to take my next set of progress pictures. I took the last ones at 178.6, and I'm now at 169.2. I'm looking forward to see what difference the last 10 pounds made, if any. I'm sure that my waist is smaller!

Okay, I hope that all of my readers/followers have great weeks.

Thanks for following me!

edit: I have started a mini-challenge to earn 25 AP by Thursday (my birthday) to eat a few slices of vegan birthday cake! :-) Hurray for the flexibility of this plan!

edit #2: I need one more follower! I think it would be super awesome to get my 50th follower right after I lost my 50th pound!! :-)