I kid, of course. There’s nothing I like more than going to the beach with the family but dooood, with two kids you need a lot of $hit!

I did get a weight training session and I ran 1.5 of my 3 mile goal. I’m going to hate [...]]]> Training is full steam ahead, even though my run was cut short tonight. The husband came home late from work and I couldn’t fit everything in. It just got too late and too dark.

I did get a weight training session and I ran 1.5 of my 3 mile goal. I’m going to hate myself in the morning, but I LOVED it! I forgot how I like to lift. It’s been a long time. I think I stopped when I was 4-5 months pregnant.

I also weighed in today. I’m trying HARD not to say….

"Only."

As is I’m ONLY down .2.

Nope.. I will not allow myself to have that mentality. It’s still moving in the right direction. I feel great. I’m making the best choices I can. I’m working out. Why let the scale decide if I’m succeeding?

I AM succeeding.

I sent this out on twitter this afternoon.

Screw you scale. I don’t need your support. I’m doing fine without you anyway.

And I meant it. Soon Mr. Scale will see the err in his ways. :)

Here’s the food journal. Click here for my weight progression so far and here to see my training schedule.

Food	Notes
TONS of blueberries topped with a cup of light blueberrie yogurt	I just didn’t feel like making anything else
granola bar	breakfast was satisfying enough
Miracle Noodles with a quick homemade sauce	I’ve been getting a lot of questions about these. I’ll be posting a reiew soon. In the mean time you can see them here
Deli turkey and cheese roll ups with a side of Dorritos	NOT a stellar lunch. Like breakfast, I was in a grabby mood
quick turkey meatballs with whole wheat pasta	Little Guy and I good together it was AWESOME!
Activity
1.5 mile run plus weights! Day 4 of my training complete!
Water/Vitamins
slightly better

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I think I was unconsciously procrastinating becuase I’m really not sure what I want to say. Or, rather, how I want to say it.

Let’s start with the good news. [...]]]> I’ve been trying to start this post for days. Well, at least part of it. Now I’m jamming too much in as usual.

I think I was unconsciously procrastinating becuase I’m really not sure what I want to say. Or, rather, how I want to say it.

Let’s start with the good news. I had a RIDICULOUS week on the weight loss front. At my Weight Watchers meeting yesterday I weighed in 4.6 lbs less!

How is that even possible? I’m thinking I’m stills shedding some water weight from the baby.

Here’s the funny thing. I didn’t count points. Nope. Not one. That’s why I didn’t put any food journals on the site like I did last week.

Now don’t get me wrong I kept my food journal. I just didn’t assign any points or pointsplus values to what I was eating.

Why?

Well, it’s a combination of a few things.

For starters I’m not sold on the new pointsplus for ME. Honestly, I just don’t like them. That’s my OPINION, so no need to attack me in the comments.

I’m sure they are working for some folks and not for others just as the old points did. My problem with them is simply ease of use. Again, in my OPINION, I don’t find the new plan to be as intuitive as the old. I understand all the benefits others have mentioned (nudging more fruit intake, focusing on filling foods, more points feels like I get more, etc) but I don’t need any of that. I already eat lots of fruit. Never once did I think I was "wasting points" on a banana as I heard another member say in this weeks meeting. I already focused on filling food–anyone remember this ancient post where I talked about bulking? And as for more points, I don’t care? In my final weeks of weight loss I was down to 19 points a day and that didn’t bother me. I knew I had 35 more points to add in if and when I needed them. That is the beauty of Weight Watchers.

So for me and how I eat, the new pointsplus plan adds nothing except confusion, stress and more work.

It was this comment from Nancy on last week’s weigh in post that helped me "see the light" so to say,

It’s fruit!! It’s not like we’re downing sleeves of cookies here. Although, I’ve certainly done that more than once! :-0 I have been as confused as everyone else here about the fruit issue, but then decided. . . It’s fruit! I’m not going to put this much more thought into it anymore. So, I decided that I will eat all the fruit I want as part of a meal or a snack for 0 points. If it’s part of a recipe I throw it into the online recipe builder and it is what it is. Having said that, I do try to make sure I stick to around 4 fruits a day or less. However, if having some extra fruit at night is going to ward off mindless snacking, I have some.

In the end, we all need to do what works for us. Maybe it’s not a matter of what’s “right” but what’s “right for me.” What’s right for you, is healthy, managable, and will allow you to continue the journey to better health over the long term? Gee, who knew fruit could generate so much conversation?! :-)

Roni, congratulations on your weight loss this week. Obviously, whatever you are doing is working for you! Keep up the great work!

It is working! And my second week weigh in proves that to me.

I still love Weight Watchers–the weekly meetings, the sense of community, the accountability–but at this point in my "weight loss career" I don’t need their food advice. In a way, they taught me everything I know and now it’s time for me to move on.

I just don’t NEED them anymore.

WOW That was so freeing to say.

Hmmm I could be getting cocky.

You know what… I am!

I maintained my weight loss for 6 years. Through some pretty stressful events, might I add. And in that time, I adopted a love of fitness and a running habit. For Pete’s sake I ran a freakin’ marathon!

I’m a completely different person when it comes to how I approach eating and my body now. I should start to recognize and embrace that. Wait… I AM recognizing and embracing that.

I’m sure people will chime in with all sorts of opinions on this but I’m standing by my decision. No PointsPlus for me. If I find I actually do need the structure of a food plan I’ll go back to tracking old points as they are simply easier for me. Not to mention I have a history of success with them. Why fix what isn’t broken?

I will be continuing to go to meetings and weighing in until I reach my goal. As I stated above, I really do love the meetings. I found a new leader I like and officially weighing in weekly helps keep me honest.

So there you have it. I’m not sure what else to say on the subject except that I’m completely confident in my decision.

In other news…

• I got my walk in today,
• made an AWESOME vegetarian wrap, and
• someone had a good check up at the doctors today!

Ok, I need sleep. Little Bean’s been having a VERY fussy day.

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Anyway I had quick conversation with Dinneen aka eatwithoutguilt tonight on twitter that got me thinking.

She tweeted…

If you count calories, fat grams, or weight your food — you do NOT have [...]]]> Hey.. look.. It’s a Question of the Week! I miss these. There will be more now.. I promise. :)

Anyway I had quick conversation with Dinneen aka eatwithoutguilt tonight on twitter that got me thinking.

She tweeted…

If you count calories, fat grams, or weight your food — you do NOT have a healthy relationship w/food. Sorry to tell you that..

my response…

Not sure I agree.. RT @EatWithoutGuilt: If u count calories, fat or weight your food — u do NOT have a healthy relationship w/food

@EatWithoutGuilt If u overeat & binge u don’t have a hlthy relationship either. There is a middle ground, being aware is a huge part of that

Her Response…

@RoniNoone Counting calories can help in beginning…but not sustainable. No way. Not over long run. And who wants to?

@RoniNoone And overeating & bingeing are def not healthy relationship w/food. I totally get that. It’s about balance :)

Mine…

@EatWithoutGuilt Agree.. but there has to be a balance. Everyone is in a different place. We need 2 educate not make people feel ashamed

Please excuse the "twitter talk" we do only have a 140 characters to get our points across but I think you get the gist.

As someone who’s been on both sides of the fence with food her tweet struck a cord with me. Probably because I am a food weigher and I feel I have a very healthy relationship with food. A much healthier one then when I was bingeing on entire stuffed crust pizzas and sneaking little Debbie snack cakes.

I don’t obsessively weigh. I don’t bring my scale to restaurants. I don’t even weight for every meal. But I use my kitchen scale as a tool to educate me on portion sizes. When I try a new cereal, I like to see what a serving looks like. When I want cheese (a trigger food for me) I weight out a serving as to not go overboard. I also use the scale a lot when measuring ingredients for GreenLiteBites.

Again, maybe I’m biased but I think you can have a healthy relationship with food if you count calories or use a food scale. I agree with Dinneen that you aren’t going to want to do it forever but you may very well be at a point in your journey where you are learning or even gathering information on you eating habits. And I think using a scale for measuring or counting points/calories/fat/etc for accountability is very helpful.

I’m sure others disagree.

So….

Do You Count Calories, Fat or Weigh Your Food?

How do you "weigh in" on this issue?

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Anyway, my [...]]]> Did I get ya? LMAO Don’t get your hopes up they didn’t call about me. They wanted to know about Weight View and since I didn’t actually use one of their weight reduction pictures during my weight loss they weren’t very interested or impressed. :( *sigh* oh well. A girl can dream. :)

Anyway, my other news… I FINALLY made it to Weight Watchers for an official Weigh in. After 3 months of not weighing in I am… *dun* *dun* *dun* pretty much the same. Up 1.6. Whopty freakin’ do. After my Easter blow out I’m surprised it wasn’t more.

Anyway… just wanted to let you know those two things. I’m off to bed. This whole getting up at 5 AM is really helping me head to bed early and skip the night time snacks.

Here’s my menu today… Oh! and I updated my weight progress and workout calender..

Table provided by Roni’s Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

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It’s so funny [...]]]> Last week I weighed in for the first time in weeks and I was happy that my weight was still within a very respectable maintainer range. I’m not quite sure why this surprised me, my clothes all fit great. I’m working out like a madwomen. I’m even training for the relay.

It’s so funny that I still grapple with the thought that somehow I’m going to gain 50lbs overnight. Like that the cheesecake I ate this weekend will translate into at least a 5 lb gain. It’s like I ignore the fact that I workout 4-5 days a week, HARD. That I can easily run 3-4 miles and that I’m consciously aware of everything I put in my mouth. I am not at all the same person I was 5 years ago. I can say confidently that I’m in the best shape of my life. I truly have changed my (sorry, I have to use it) lifestyle.

Why did all these feelings come to the surface tonight? Well, I weighed in again this morning and the scale showed a 1.2 loss. I was shocked. Then I had a long talk with myself which ended with a one statement….

Trust yourself. You are doing it and you will continue to.

OK, enough soul searching and back patting. I have a big decision to make. Well I guess it’s not "big" per say but definitely FUN. I just found out the Food Network is doing an open casting for the Next Food Network Star this friday! It’s only an hour from my house and I’m seriously considering going.

I’m not sure I have what it takes but I love working on GreenLiteBites, I’m fairly obsessed with food and I LOVE to cook, so why not, right? RIGHT? OK, I’m trying to convince myself.

The life lover in me is screaming "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE! GO" The negative nilly is saying, "Why bother, you have so much work to do and you chances are pretty slim anyway."

I guess this is were I ask what you think. Although I have a feeling all comments will tell me to go as it’s the "nice" thing to say. Is anyone willing to be really truthful and tell me I’m crazy? If I decide to go I have a lot of work ahead of me to get ready! I better run!

I can’t focus anyway, the only thing swimming in my head right now is… "What’s my culinary point of view???" LMAO

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Why am I so excited?

Well at this point on 2008, even though I didn’t reach my personal weight goal, YET, I am maintaining very nicely. I ‘m [...]]]> I FINALLY made it to a weight watchers meeting!! AND I updated my weight on the side bar AND I finally updated my Weight Progress page!

Why am I so excited?

Well at this point on 2008, even though I didn’t reach my personal weight goal, YET, I am maintaining very nicely. I ‘m within 2lbs of my yearly starting weight.

My plan is to weigh in a bit more regularly for next couple of weeks, especially since I’m taking the Y Fitness challenge. I’m curious how my weight will be affected with all these crazy boot camps!

Besides that, I have NO time to do anything else tonight. I spend most of the week working on a client project and it put me behind on my blogs. :~(

I’ll catch up.

No food journal tonight, I ate great! Just didn’t really record and I just don’t have the energy.

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Notice I said the scale is up not me. I know there is no way I have gained 10 pound of fat in 7 days. I know this. It’s still shocking to [...]]]> No time to wallow in self-pity about my vacation gain and, OH, what a gain it WAS! The scale is up 10lbs!!

Notice I said the scale is up not me. I know there is no way I have gained 10 pound of fat in 7 days. I know this. It’s still shocking to see but the one thing I have learned in the past 2 years is to approach the scale level headed. I can’t take back the vacation eating. All I can do is take it choice by choice now and get motivated.

The one thing that always gets me motivated and back on track is being creative in the kitchen. Being creative without grocery shopping is even more fun! That’s right, I have not hit the store since returning. Besides a small trip to a farm stand on Saturday (which is almost all gone) I’m running on pantry reserves and leftovers from beach snacks. Not a bad day considering.

I plan to shop tomorrow which will give me the whole “I just went grocery shopping motivation”.

So between today and tomorrow I should have a good start on the week. Hope you all had a great weekend! I’m off to bed.

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