Science Experiment

One of the most challenging parts about losing weight is changing the way you eat. At least for me. I am not a good cook at all- unless it's something cheesy and fatty and Italian (oh wait, that's me). Even so, I do try to find new recipes here and there, to wedge in between the endless nights of baked chicken and steamed veggies. I have a small library of cookbooks and cooking magazines, amassed back in the day before I discovered Cooks.com and the Food Network. Last week I decided it was time to break out the Crock Pot, and dig up something new to throw in it. Above would be a recipe I located in a slow cooker cookbook from 1995. I should have left it, undiscovered, back in '95. This is Spicy Pineapple Pork Chili, which looked great on paper. Only, there was hardly any pork and even less "spice". The dried beans were still crunchy, even after nine hours of cooking. It was worse than my own old tried and true chili recipe. Something about the fall weather just makes me crave homemade soups and casseroles and yummy concoctions from the Crock Pot- but, this was definitely not one of them. But, we try to be a thrifty household and the leftovers got tucked away into the freezer. I'm sure I will revisit them before the season is over, but I definitely won't be making another fresh batch of this again. On to the next new recipe...

Sandy

Extra Credit!

I decided to revisit my weight loss tracker at the bottom of my page. I started it back when I first joined Weight Watchers. But then I realized, I'd lost a few pounds on my own at the beginning of the year before starting WW. I felt like I was short changing my efforts by not recording it and not "counting" those pounds, too. So I've updated the tracker now, to reflect my true weight loss for the whole year and to give myself the credit where credit is due!! Hey, I've earned it!

Sandy

Change...

Okay, I couldn't look at that other gross photo of me any longer!!!!! So instead here's a nice one of me and the husband in the Virgin Islands last year.

I Didn't Chicken Out

So here I was this morning, sitting in my car outside of Weight Watchers. I got there ten minutes early, so I had plenty of time to reflect on the deeper reasons of why I was there and why I needed to be there. I decided that since I drove 30 miles to get to the meeting, it would be a waste to not weigh. I was surprised and shocked. Only a 1.4 lb gain. I guess getting back on the right track earlier in the week paid off. It was all the encouragement that I needed. I was dreading weigh-in for no good reason whatsoever. My previous meeting a month ago, I had a 1.4 lb loss. So, I feel as though I am back at a great starting point, and I'm wiping the slate clean and giving myself the second chance that I need. In the past, I would have just given up, and maybe when January of the next year rolled around, I would slink back into a meeting. I've still got a whole quarter of a year left! So instead of spending the holiday season on the sidelines in 2009, just passively waiting for the year to end and New Year's Resolutions to begin, I'm instead going to set myself up with a goal of losing at least another ten pounds before 2010 gets here!

Sandy

Advance Planning

Above is the last entry from my Weight Watchers book where my weigh-ins are recorded. As you can see from the date of 9/4- it's been almost a month since I stepped foot inside a meeting. Sure, I've got a zillion reasons why I was absent those weeks- it was storming rain, I was on my period, I overslept- but the fact is in the month that I've been skipping meetings, I gained 8 pounds back. From the first week I started in February, until I fell off the wagon last month, I'd only had two meetings where I gained weight, and both times I had just returned from vacations. Forgivable sins. All the other weigh-ins were successful and hard-fought losses. My leader always insists that going to meetings is the surest way to stay on track with weight loss. Just "knowing" how to follow the program isn't always enough. There's the accountability of weigh-ins, the support of fellow members, and the information and tips provided at the meetings. And in the back of my mind, I've known all along that she is right. The only time Weight Watchers has ever worked for me- and it has- is when I go to the meetings and go face the scale. Their scale. Not the one I have in the dark corner of my own bathroom, where no one else knows my trials except for me and the dust bunnies.

My meetings are early on Friday mornings, and in the past I have always been delighted to load up my cute little bag with my WW gear, get all dressed up, and drive the half hour to the center in Peachtree City. On the way home, I always stop and do a little shopping, sometimes even meeting the husband for lunch out. I always looked forward to Fridays. Tomorrow is Friday, and I want to go to my meeting with every ounce in my soul. But I know what that little sticker will have printed on it. The one they stick in my permanent book, the one that announces what the scale records when I step on it. I just don't know if I want to see that in print tomorrow morning. Of course, I know how much I've gained, because I weigh here at home. And even though their scale always weighs me heavier (don't they always!), it is still a gain of several pounds. I plan on going to the meeting, I just haven't decided yet if I am too chicken to weigh officially or not. See, I do have a Get Out Of Jail Free card. Specifically, a coupon I can turn in at the front desk where they will allow me to attend the meeting but bypass the scale. Tonight I'm trying to decide if I want to use it, or just go face the music. I already KNOW how much I've gained, so why is it bothering me SO much to know that it will be recorded for eternity in my little book? Silly, huh??

I don't think I will know until I walk through the door if I'm going to weigh or not.

Sandy