In which cookies don't control me

Baked goods are my red-light foods. They can cause me to make bad decisions. Which lead to more bad decisions. Which lead to more guilt, more bad decisions and adios Weight Watchers.

So, as you may surmise, I don't bake much anymore.

But, I do have 3 little kids who loved baked goods, and since I refuse to turn my home into WW Boot Camp, they should enjoy their treats (in moderation), too.

When planning and shopping for Sunday dinner today, I walked past the refrigerator case and decided, "I think I can handle this today." I grabbed one of those break-and-bake packs of Nestle Toll House Cookies and put them in the cart.

I baked them. Everyone enjoyed them. And I didn't touch one - not because "It's not on my diet" (hate that phrase), but because I know where they lead. I chose not to partake. And, frankly, I decided the 4 Points per cookie could be better enjoyed on other food.

Here, three days later, there are still a few cookies left and I haven't had the urge to even consider them. I saw them on the counter and I thought, "You're still here?" Seriously, I've never seen one batch of cookies last so long in our house.

Progress!

In which I wonder: Adios Resolutionistas?

This morning I was greeted with a beautiful sight when I got to the gym at the usual 6 a.m.

Every treadmill was free.

Since New Year's, there were traditionally 3 to 5 of the 6 treadmills occupied when I arrived. Sometimes they were all in use. But, usually one or two would free up within 5-10 minutes.

I know it's stupid, but when I drive the 10 minutes to the gym, it's always in the back of my head, "What if there are no free treadmills?" I know there's plenty of other cardio equipment, but I psych myself up to run and keep moving forward in C25K, so I want/need a treadmill.

Anyway, I hope it keeps up. It's one less thing I have to stress about in regards to working out.

Week 22 Weigh-In: Anxious

So, last week I drove in a snowstorm to my meeting, only to be rewarded with a gain of .4, my first since rejoining.

It bugged me for most of the week. But I KOKO'd and had a good week, food-wise and especially workout-wise.

But, I won't lie, I was nervous returning to the scale. What if I was up again through no fault of my own? What if I'm doing everything right and nothing's working? All sorts of negative self-talk assaulted me Monday/Tuesday morning.

However, gun-shy I returned and stepped on Donna's scale. I swear the 10 seconds it takes to capture your weight takes forever. Donna gasped. "You're down so much!"

She wasn't kidding, -4.6, for an even 60 lbs gone. I hadn't lost that much in one week since my fifth WI, Oct. 12.

The skies were blue again! The birds were singing! I could have probably done cartwheels throughout the meeting room.

And, although it was awesome, it is BS. For the most part, I ate the same food and exerted the same effort in workouts in those 2 weeks. One week I was dashed, another I was walking on air. I know the scale is crap. Just a number - one number - at one exact point in time. And I know in my head it kinda means nothing, but is one piece of a larger, healthier puzzle.

But in my heart, damn, it was awesome.

In which I remember to remain humble

I love the original Star Wars, especially when scene in which Han and Luke are taking out Tie Fighters, and Han warns a celebrating Luke, "Great, kid. Don' get cocky."

I thought of that today when my new winter vest arrived. I didn't want to buy a new one halfway through winter and halfway to goal. However, my old vest was now 3 sizes too big and not very warm. LL Bean was having a sale, so I got a new vest, an XL. A women's XL, no less.

I checked out the sizing specifications online and I knew it would fit, but just barely. I tried it on and it is snug. Not zipper-busting tight, but snug. Which, I think, is good. It's a daily reminder: You are not done yet.

It's easy to become complacent after you've had some success and think you've got it all figured out. And that's a dangerous time. In my life, complacency leads to weight gain. So I think this new vest is a not just a piece of clothing, but a kind of reminder: You're doing great, but you've got a ways to go. Don't get cocky.

C25K Week 4 Roundup: I think I can

Week 4 was awesome. As sketchy as Week 3 was, 4 was so much better.

The run/walk intervals, for the first time, were more run than walk. Longer time running, shorter time walking in between. I had some great runs. I felt challenged but not in cardiac arrest. I felt controlled and confident. I felt, kinda, like a runner. A slow one, but a runner nonetheless.

So, onto Week 5. It's over the halfway point and onto my longest continuous run - 20 minutes straight. Here we go!

In which I invent a new favorite salad

I'm not a huge salad freak because lettuce doesn't really do it for me.

Sure, I'll order a salad here and there, but I never find lettuce especially satisfying as a base. But the other day I was perusing some WW online recipes and I found one for "Flatbread Salad," which basically is a salad on top of a piece of flatbread. But, the recipe called for feta (a cheese I was never crazy about until recently) and bacon, so it immediately piqued my interest.

This discovery was on the heels of a recipe I found on the back of a bag of shredded Red Cabbage. A friend brought over a huge salad to share recently and it had a ton of red cabbage in it, which I loved. So off I went to get some Red Cabbage to add to a salad, and on the back I found this:

Braised Red Cabbage

1T canola oil
10 oz Shredded Red Cabbage
1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
1/4C white balsamic vinegar
1T packed brown sugar
3/4 cup crumbled cooked bacon

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add cabbage, apples and 1/4C water. Cover and cook until just tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and bacon, serve hot.

Makes 4 1-cup servings.

The thought of it warm was kinda blech to me, so I just made it cold, the cabbage, apple, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar (1 pt) and bacon (2 pts). It was great and very low Point.

Eventually, the two recipes merged in my mind to result in:

New Favorite Salad

Shredded carrots and red cabbage (as much as you want)
1T brown sugar (1 pt)
1T balsamic vinegar
1 oz feta (2 pts)
4 slices Oscar Meyer precooked bacon (2 pts)
1 Flat-Out wheat wrap (3 pts) I cut it up and use as croutons on top.

That's a massic amount of food for 8 pts. What I really like about this salad is you can remove ingredients at will if you have fewer Points to spend. Some days I don't have 8 Points for this, so I'll leave out the wrap and it's just 5 Points. The bacon is a fantastic Points bargain. 4 slices is a good serving and super flavorful.

Wrapping this up, I realize this is the nerdiest post ever. Yikes. But it is good.

Week 21 Weigh-In: Valuable lesson learned

The ridiculous winter here in New England has messed with my weight-loss endeavors mightily since the New Year. It's delayed several gym mornings (putting me about 1 week behind on C25K) and one weigh-in due to commuter storms, bad roads, etc.

Last week, my weigh-in was delayed by a day and, dammit, that was not going to happen again. I work hard all week for those 30 seconds on the scale and I want to know how I did. I woke up and, as predicted, it was snowing. My husband decided to work from home and although it was snowing, I called the WW 800 number to see if my meeting was on. After waiting 10 minutes to get an agent (seriously, WW, you need more agents or post the cancellations online...), I was told the meeting was on.

It was snowing, but I was going.

I got in my trusty, superlight weigh-in clothes and slowly took off. The conditions on my small cul-de-sac were bad, but then again they always are until much later. I got on our main cross street. Roads not good. About a mile down the road I think, "Maybe I should turn back." But, stubbornly, I wanted my numbers right now and waiting one more day was out of the question. Maybe I would screw up! Maybe I would jinx myself! And, given the storm was supposed to last until the following day, it meant delaying weigh-in by 2 days.

The main Route to the meeting was terrible. Again, I think, "Turn back." But I don't.

A trip that takes about 20 minutes took about 35. I pull in, head into the center and Donna The Wonderful Receptionist says, "I can't believe you're here." Even our leader called in, but the center was open for weigh-in.

I unbundle. I step on the scale. I hear Donna clicking. I don't hear her traditional, "Good!" I hear nothing. Then, I hear, "You're up .4."

I stubbornly drove through a snowstorm for a gain. A gain! My first gain since rejoining. What a kick in the gut. Then, insult to injury, I have to drive home in a snowstorm, which was getting worse. On the way home I was full of coulda-woulda-shouldas. I had a good OP week. I had two parties I attended over the weekend, and I made the best choices I could. I didn't regret any food choices I made over the week and made all my workouts.

I was left with a nagging feeling that I failed. Something "went wrong." Somehow, I screwed up. But, how? But, after time I realized I didn't screw up at all. I had two weeks of very large, consecutive losses. No doubt, this was just my body adjusting, taking a pause, before it started downward again.

Weeks with a gain, especially an unearned one, are terrible. All that hard work, for nothing!

But it wasn't all for naught. There were good choices in tough food situations. Great workouts and numerous excellent decisions day after day. It gets so easy to get super-focused on the scale. But the scale is just the end game. It's everything that leads to it that is the real victory.

So, onward and downward.