Eating, running, and weight watchers???

Like the homing pigeons above, I need to come home.  I AM GOING TO GO HOME.  I am headed back to weight watchers again tomorrow.  I will admit, I have a sense of shame about going back.  Not because of the weight I have gained or anything like that.  I feel “worthy” of going back but what I feel bad about is stopping my meetings in the first place.  I love them you know.  I care about the people there and they care about me.  There is no reason but full on self-deception that has caused me to stay away.  So today I will make a grand entrance at my “home” once again.  I will go there head high and weigh in.  To be honest, even as I write this I am telling myself that I should not go back.  That I should just stay away and forget about it.  But that is my unhealthy side talking.  I know what works for me.  I know what I like to do for my body.  I have listened and listened and listened to my body for so long now there is really no arguing with what works for me and WW works.  And in fact, it works for an endurance athlete as well.  I have made WW work for ultras and marathons.  It will do the job.  I say “it” but really it is just eating healthy and eating the correct amount of calories.  “It” is like any other normal eating program.  The only difference from what I am doing now is that IT IS NORMAL. LOL. 

I am going to start training hard again with my running and on top of that I will be doing three days a week of resistance training.  I long for this.  I am in recovery from the Strolling Jim at the moment but I will be back hard at it soon enough.  I yearn for the self exploration that it all brings, and the self revelation that I experience.  I can’t wait for the sense of accomplishment DAILY knowing that I am doing the RIGHT thing for my body.  The right thing for my life.  I never would have guessed that running would have become such a part of my life.  I never would have dreamed that I would write a post about my third year of long distance running and that I completed my 22nd long race.  I don’t say this stuff to be arrogant and I hope you don’t see it that way.  As I write I am even humbled by the process.  The process of step by step growth.  The process of learning what and what not to do while running.  I am humbled that I can even call myself a runner and to be honest at this point in my running life I still sometimes don’t think I am a REAL runner.  Now that is crazy because a REAL runner is just a normal person who runs, jogs, walk/jogs, etc.  There is no distance that makes you a runner.  There is no magic number of races that changes your identity to be someone else so that you can finally be a REAL runner.  There is no days per week that you must run to be REAL.  All you have to do is get out there and do it.  Fast or slow, smooth or uncordinated, natural or unnatural.  So I am going to get out there and do some more running becasue I want to.  I don’t have to.  I am the same person with the same worth and the same integrity if I do or don’t.  But I want to run, and I want to experience all that it has to offer me in this short life.

New Secret came in today. 73 secrets are now disclosed on the secret page

It has been a little while since the secret page has been used, but today we have the blessing of sharing the journey with a secret person.  They have confessed their emotions to get liberated.  Come and read the new secret HERE.

Mid-afternoon snack. Mmm good!

Chicken Tenderloins and Yams

I get hungry a lot around 12:30 p.m.  This is mid to late day for me.  I start at the very latest at 5 am so hunger strikes.  I eat this snack all the time and what you see in the picture is 5 WW points.  It is chicken tenderloins and yams.  Some call them sweet potatoes but these are actually yams.  They are very yummy.  I am such a caveman that I actually just through it on some printer paper after I microwave it.  I eat it from there.  It fills me up and I don’t seem to ever get tired of it. 

give it a try.  If you have any ideas of your own, share it with all of us so we can be cool like you.

Real research to help you lose weight: Eating with others is good for you

Here is a little gem of information that is founded in real research on people and the way they eat.  We all know that we live in a fast and crazy paced life.  It seems that we don’t have time to do anything.  We scrape by and try and get done what we can each day.  At least for me, I feel like I don’t have enough time as I go through most of my days.  I found another good reason that we should take the time to eat with our loved ones.  Doing this actually helps eat healthier foods according to an ADA Scientific Journal publication called: Making time for meals: Meal structure and associations with dietary intakes of young adults.

I like scientific research because much of my education dealt with performing research regarding family and relationships.  Anyway, this journal article found that people actually tend to eat healthier when the eat with others.  The also found that when we eat on the run and are alone we tend to eat higher fat, more “POP”, more fast food, as well as leaving out other healthy options.  The research shows us that when we get together with others we are more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables.  This was surprising news to me.

I guess it could depend on who you like to eat with, but it really does make sense that when you eat with other people you do tend to eat a full meal that includes a variety of foods.  When I eat alone and on the run I most certainly do go for the fast food with lots of fat.  Here are some of the benifits that the research says you can get by eating with others more:

Benefits of eating with others

• More intake of fruit
• Higher intake of vegetables in general
• Higer intake of dark green and orange vegetables
• More social interaction and quality of life (my opinion)
• When you talk you eat less (my opinion)
• More enjoyment of food (my opinion)

What do you guys think about this research finding?  Does it match up with how your life is?  Do you eat worse on the run and by yourself?  Do you eat better when you are with others?

Weight loss blunder again!! Went hog wild.

Last night as you know I skipped my WW meeting to get some work done at home with my landscape plan.  I planted 8 trees actually which is pretty good since they are huge and my ground is spongy clay. HAHA  Anyway, without even thinking about it, I went hog wild on the way home from work.  

As I left the building, I walked right up to the red van that sells homemade donuts out of the back.  I bought 4 regular but very sugar coats donuts.  2 bucks.  As I was driving to my next stop about 8 miles away I chowed those down without hesitation.  Next, I stopped at circle K to buy some more food.  I got 3 sticks of pepperoni and a bag of chips.  Well, that should last me a while right?  bwa ha ha ha ha!!!

On my way home from there, about 5 miles, I ate all of the new snacks.  I finished off the last bite of chips and pep. just as I opened my truck door to get out at home.  Then I walk inside, took a big drink of water, and finished off half of a tube thing of Ritz Crackers.  How about that!!  Freakin crazy.  And I am serious that I did it without hesitating.  It was like it was automatic for me.  The old self took over and my car went on auto-pilot.  What to do now?

I am holding up ok for now though.  I am not letting the guilt kill me although I do feel ashamed about it.  That is why I am telling you all right now.  Might happen tomorrow if I don’t but since I did it won’t for sure.  My WW week starts over tomorrow also.  That is one thing I was thinking about while I was eating.  I will admit that much.

So my life goes on.  Hopefully I burnt off some of the 1000″s of calories I ate while planting trees.  We’ll see how weigh in goes next week I guess.

UPDATE:

I also ate three south beach bars and two pieces of toast with massive amounts of honey and butter.  This topped my night off around 9 pm.  Dang it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another odd thing that is happening with this little episode is that I have no desire to keep on eating bad.  It is weird.  Normally I would still be tempted to keep eating like this but I am not this time.  It is like I took a short break.  I resting period.  And now I am up and walking again heading towards my goal not looking back.  HAHAHA  Now that is something kind of new for me.

Pizza is my friend. How to get your pizza in.

Ok, you want to lose weight but you want your dang pizza too.   Can you have your pizza or not?  Yes you can! I thought that I might have to give up pizza forever when I started on my weight loss journey in Dec. 2006, but I was dead wrong thank God.  I have eaten pizza at least monthly since I started.  Sometimes more.  I could eat it weekly if I wanted to if I just planned for it with my points budget.

There are many ways to fake pizza at home.  Many of these ways are great substitutes but they are just not real enough for me to “feel” like I have eaten pizza.  They may be good alternatives but they are not the same.  Here are a couple of them.

• English muffin pizzas with low cal ingredients
• Flatout bread pizzas with veggies and cheese
• Home made pizzas with whatever ingredients you want that fit your program
• Lavash bread pizza supreme

Now these are all good options for MOST people.  Not good options for me.  If the pizza comes from stuff that is not normal in a pizza I don’t feel right.  Here is what I do for my pizza fix and it works like a charm every single time.

A fast food secret was added to the run4change secret page today

We all get down in the dumps.  We who love our food tend to go to it for comfort.  I know I have a millions time over and I know many of you have to.  The secret page was updated today with a confession of using food for comfort, for medication of negative thoughts and feelings.  Come on in and be encouraged to know that you are not the only one.

And don’t forget to share your own weight loss journey secret confession too.  Go HERE to read the updated Secret Confessions Page

Make sure you don’t miss out on any new confessions that come in by subscribing HERE

Feeding off of feedback. Working at continual improvment of health

Image credit: http://www.emeraldinsight.com

When we are working at losing weight and becoming healthier, we need to learn how to learn from ourselves or our experiences.  Actually, no matter what we are trying to do this is a good thing.  For example, lets say that I gained 2 lbs last week.  It would be good to know why right?  So I go back and look at the food I ate, the exercise I did, and the water I drank, etc.  I take note of what I did but I don’t change anything yet, I just wait and see what happens (easier said than done).  If I gain a little the next week, it is time to change it up some.

It is so important to look at your body’s feedback.  If you gained, for more than 1 week, you are probably taking in (eating) more than you are putting out (exercise).  So what do you do?  You need to learn from the feedback.  You adjust you points/cals a little.  Or maybe you eat the same amount but exercise more.  This way you get back into a calorie deficit.  This is really good to do.  If we take a look at what we are doing we can correct what is happening and get more meaning out of the numbers.  This is also why it is important to document the what, when, and how of the journey.  Read on for a simple bullet point outline of some good feedback information:

Dinner Time: Nobody starves at my house, especially ME!

Alright everybody, I have gotten mucho feed back when I post some of the food I eat on the blog.  So I decided to do a post on a meal that is sure to fill you up yet not steal away all of your points.  This meal is one that I often make whether I have a lot of point left over or just a few.  I love it, it tastes great, and IT WILL GET YOU FULL AND SATISFIED!!!  The pic to the left is a pic inspired by many of your pics that you take of food.  The pic below is to demonstrate the raw size and amount of the food that you get.  I like quantity and I emphasize it when I cook.  Here is what is in the meal.

• Tilapia Fillet= 2 points  (Pan fried with cooling spray)
• Asian style veggies= zero points (Steamed)
• 9 oz potato= 3 points (Baked, thinly sliced, then pan fried with cooking spray)
• Popcorn= 1 point (Microwave)
• Sugar free/fat free jello and cool whip= 1 point

Total number of points for this huge amount of food= 7 POINTS

Bonus material:  I can wear a size 32 jean.  Before I wore a size 44.

Tired and vulnerable: After work eating antics

Pic from musiccitybowl.com rib eating contest

 

 

There are times when I have a crazy day at work.  I leave work feeling exhausted with a sense of entitlement.  That sense of entitlement tells me that “I deserve to eat whatever I want when I get home.  I worked hard, I want to relax with my friend (food).  I am worth it.”   It’s not  always a conscious thought, sometimes it is just sitting in the back of my mind and I almost don’t notice it.  But then, when I least expect, my resolve flies out the window and I go for it.  It doesn’ t happen all the time, but it does happen.

I am learning to remember this scenario on my way home so that I can assess it and stop the steam train before it starts to pick up speed.  After all, it is only going to take 5 minutes for me to blow my points, it is not even going to be very satisfying, it might bring a gain at the scale, and I will feel guilty for a couple of hours.

So now when that sense of entitlement says, “I am worth it,”  I agree and tell it right back that since I am worth it, I am going to take care of myself, live longer, live happier, and stay thin.  That IS worth it.

 

Everyone has crazy days at work.  Do you ever let your weight loss guard down when you get home from work?  Take the poll.

Super Skinny Super Models: Give me something beefier!

image credit: pennilessjellyfish.webs.com

Image credit: http://www.piercemattie.com

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the modeling industry.  I had a friend back in the day who was a model.  She was 5’8″ and weighed 120 lbs.  After she became a model, they wanted her to lose 15 pounds.  That is crazy.  In order to do so, there was not much eating and a whole lot of partying.  The first picture from pennilessjellyfish had a comment by it that asked if guys thought that this was attractive.  I sure don’t think so.  Not that there is anything wrong with the girl, she just fell for the lie about health and  what is attractive.  The second picture dealt with Spain putting a ban on models that were too thin.  I like the idea myself.

I think that this overly thin look isn’t good for anyone.  It’s not good for the models, it’s not good for the kids, it’s not good for the adults, it’s not good for anything.  Sure it brings in the dough like crazy and that’s why they do it, but at what cost.  Most people have meat on their bones.  A whole lotta people have a whole lotta meat on their bones.  Boy, the pressure in that industry must be agonizing.  

I mean, I go to weight watchers and see all these wonderful and beautiful “real” women.  They will never look like this probably and I thank God for it.  They might want to look like this, but that is what makes me upset.  It ‘s good to have a visual image for your goal, but one that is healthily attainable as well as maintainable.  This is just my two-cents worth of course. 

Most recent evil foes to my health!!

image credit: http://www.kettlefoods.com

Here is a picture of my most current evil foe.  I have been sooooooooo wanting to eat these it is not even funny.  Everyday I consider going to the store and getting a big bag of them.  My plan is always to eat the whole thing by myself.  I am not sure what it is about these, but I absolutely love them.  There is (I think) approximately 50 something points to the 14 oz bag.  I was leaving work to go buy some just now but I decided, reluctantly, to do a post instead. 

I thought it would be a good idea to uncover the temptation and let it out.  So here it is.  Now you know what tempts the living heck out of me on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the other thing that tempts me most.  The chips and these maple bars are the two items that I seem to want to go off program with.  Other stuff I don’t think on much, but these maple bars coupled with the above chips is a heavenly dream weight loss nightmare. HAHA  When I have gone for it and had maple bars, I usually will have 3 or 4 of them at a time.  It doesn’t matter where they come from either. 

Thank God I haven’t had one of these maple bars yet. I happen to love bacon too. UMMM, Yummy!!

 

So there you have it, some of my recent temptations.  Hope you enjoyed it.

You can eat more on your weight loss program

If you want to eat more on your weight loss program, YOU  CAN!  Here is one key principle that will allow you more “wiggle room” when it comes to calories.  This last week I did pretty good on WW.  As you all know, I had my battles and my moments, but it went well over all.  Here is my activity and intake stats.

• On average I ate 7 points more than my daily allowance per day.  My daily allowance is 31 points for weight loss.  I want to loss 7 more lbs before my race in May.
• On average I did 10.8 points worth of activity a day
• I consumed all of my extra 35 points
• I had a calorie/points deficit of 56 points at the end of the week.
• I did 7 hrs and 32 min. of running and walking.  My average pace during walking and running combined was 11:59 per mile. And I did a total of 39 miles with a long run on Sunday of 20.5. I ran for 4 days this week.

Activity gives you “wiggle room”.  Simply because of running and walking, I was able to eat some extra nuts, olive oil, and pie through out the week.  I was also able to go to Red Lobster for dinner last night.  I ate 3 bisquits, 6 oz salmon, a baked potato, broccoli, and salad.  I did pretty good on counting and I don’t think I lied to myself that much.  So whether you are losing or maintaining, activity will help you eat more.  That is all for now.  Bye bye.

“Weight Isn’t the Problem; It’s A Symptom of Something Else”

Here is a great guest post written by a great woman, Melissa.  She is a fellow journeyer.  She has a wonderful blog at talesofadisorderedeater.  It is a very encouraging and informational blog.  Make sure you check it out.  It is there helping lots of people on their journey.

.You’d have to be living under a rock to not have heard about Oprah’s recent confessional: how much weight she’s gained the past few years and how unhappy she is about it.

This past Tuesday night on his show, Larry King interviewed Oprah’s team of advisors: her doctor (Dr. Oz), her spiritual advisor (Michael Bernard Beckwith) and her personal trainer (Bob Greene), to see what was going on with the mega-star.

During the segment, Bob Greene nailed the issue of weight on the head: (I’m paraphrasing here): “Weight isn’t the problem; it’s a symptom of something else.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks, just how spot-on he was. Even with all her success, even with her team of experts, Oprah still hasn’t found peace with her body.

You don’t have to be perfect to lose weight!

Thank God for that.  You don’t have to be perfect to lose weight.  If that were the case, I never would have lost 130 lbs.  If that were the case, I never would have even started.  Last night I did great but I wasn’t perfect.  This is fine, it was ok.  I got home and ran for 35 minutes.  After that I made a big thing of popcorn (5 points) and started doing some blogging.  Oh yeah, I ate a lot of pickles too.  I eat a lot of pickles.  They are free (no  points).  My wife finally got home and she pulled here special blend of healthy nuts out of the pantry.  I couldn’t resist.  I ate some and did not count them.  I guess I could count them today, but I did not count them last night for what they really were.  I put like 4 points to them but I am sure they were more since nuts are pretty expensive points wise.  Then she wanted to go running and it was dark so I went with her for another 30  minutes.  Activity good, eating not perfect, the day was pretty successful.  Tonight I go to my weigh-in.  I am looking forward to it this time and I think that the result on the scale will be a minus or an even.  I hope anyway.

Do you make these mistakes?

Sometimes we just say “screw it”! The mistakes we make during our weight loss journey can really beat us up.  It is easy to leave a restaurant feeling like a failure.  I know because I did it yesterday. So what are these mistakes and how do we improve after making them.

1. Sometimes we just say “screw” it!  This is a mistake we really never have to make.  We never have to stop counting what we eat.  Even if we falter big time, we can still count, write down, and keep track of what we eat and learn from it.  You can improve on this weight loss mistake by carrying a small note pad with you to jot down what you ate while you were away.  Also, jot down how you might have been feeling when you said, “screw it”.  This will help you prepare for future events.
2. We wait to long between our snacks/meals!  This is a huge mistake.  If you wait too long between meals, you are going to be unnecessarily hungry.  When you are ravenous, you are not wanting to eat fruits and veggies but rather fast junk like cookies, chips, and other trigger foods.  Once it is too late, you try to tame that wild hunger and get stuffed and probably don’t count it.  Improve on this by being prepared with snacks on hand.  Fruit, low cal. bars, lots of water, and anything healthy thing that will get you by and keep your hunger level even.  I eat every 1.5-2 hrs on most days.
3. We don’t plan!  Going out on a date, to a movie, visiting friends, or going to an office party? YOU NEED TO PLAN.   If you don’t plan you are likely to just say “screw it”, let yourself get to hungry, and feel like crap for not doing good on your program.  You can improve on this by taking just 5 minutes to make a mental picture of what you are going to do in the circumstance before you leave.  To take it a step further, write down your plan before you leave and check out the menu’s on-line of the restaurant you’re going to .

Just so you know, I make these mistakes too.  Actually, I made all of them yesterday.  I went skiing with my wife, didn’t eat for many hours, and guess what happened.  Well, I said “screw it” for only 13 minutes out of 24 hours and the pictures show the damage :).  I didn’t eat it all by myself.  I shared it with my wife.  I didn’t count it at the time, but today I am going to go ahead and back track to get it all down on paper to deal with the damage right up front.

 

Good run, great bagels, and doing fine

Darn it!!  I have officially eaten all of my 35 extra points.  I am still totally within my program.  That is why I have those extra points.  I feel pretty good about it.  All the time I am learning to be more balanced and less obsessive with my weight loss/maintenance.  I also got to run last night.  I ran 3 miles while my wife talked with a friend who was visiting.  It was really cold with snow and ice on the road.  I wanted to stop after the first loop.  The loops at my house are 1 mile each so I did three.  I wanted to stop less and less as I got more into the run.  Again, I ate a little bit of junk last night too, but I counted it.  I ate some Ritz crackers.  Oh the buttery wonderfulness.  So succulent and tasty.

On the advice on another weight watcher at my meeting last week, I have discovered a wonderful bagel.  The entire bagel is only 1 point.  It has 110 calories and 7 grams of fiber.  It is a healthy choice for those of you who like bagels.

Check out the website for these bagels.  I loved them.

Q&A post 9: How long did it take me to lose 130lbs?

100 lbs of fat Image credit: mypetfat.typepad.com

I know that this Q&A answer is out of order, but it was a nice and concise question that called for a nice and concise answer.  The answer is simple statistics.  Here is the question:

“….so how long have you been on the fitness journey to get you from 307 to were you are now? Is there anything you would have done differently?”

Ok, I want to start off by saying that what happened to my body won’t happen to every “body”.  At least not as fast.  I lost a lot of weight pretty quick, but don’t give up or get discouraged if you don’t lose like I lose.  We are all different, walking in the same journey.

• Journey start date and weight:  December 13th, 2006.  I weighed in at weight watchers for the first time at 307.6 lbs.  Afterwards I went and ate a half-pound bacon burger, large fry, and a large coffee/chocolate milk shake.  That is not to mention the snacks I ate once I got home.
• Started running on: April 5th, 2007.  I had lost around 60 something pounds at this point and could just barely run/walk 2 miles on the treadmill.
• Reached doctors goal: around September I think.  My doctors goal was 210 lbs.  He actually wanted me to weigh 155.  I told him he was insane and left to do a lot of research and take my body fat.  I went back and told him what I found and he made my goal 210. 
• First marathon:  October 5th, 2007.  Finished the Portland Marathon in about 5 1/2 hrs.  I weighed 194 going in.
• My goal: was to weigh 179 like I did when I was a sophomore in high school.  I reached this goal 1 yr later on December 13th, 2007.  My body fat went from 51% to 11%.  My cholesterol went from 307 to 151.  Pants went from 46 to 32.  Shirt went from xxx to medium.
• 2 years later:  Was able to maintain my weight within 10 lbs on Dec. 13th 2008.  I currently weigh 185.
• Would I change anything:  I don’t think so.  The only thing I wish I could have done was finish my 12th marathon in one calendar year.  I was not able to make it to my 12th because of work.  I attained 7 marathon finishes and 4 ultramarathon finishes in 1 calendar year.. Other than that, the journey to now was more than I could have ever asked or imagined. 

Thanks for asking this question.  Answering it has inspired me a lot.  I will keep on my brother.  Thanks.

Weight loss victory and relief: My weigh in results

I fight with my dog over food.  I take stuff that I put into the garbage out if it looks clean.  I try and hide food from myself but always seem to find it.  Oh yes, I am in the battle for weight loss.  The good news is that I am doing great right now.  I weighed in last night.  This was the first time that I have went 1 month between weigh-ins.  It was tough, it was discouraging, and it was scary.  I went anyway though.  When I stepped on the scale the lady told me to get off because she wasn’t done with my sister who weighed before.  At that moment I saw a special glimpse of the first 2 numbers in my weight.  What a relief, what a victory.  I ended up losing 3.8 lbs. which put me at a present weight loss of 122 lbs.  My goal is to be 185 and under for my maintenance.  I weighed 185.  I really want to be in the 170’s, but it is more realistic to be at <185.  What a relief.  I was pretty freaked out!

You can’t escape

image credit:healthy-lifestyle.most-effective-solution.com

No matter how much you eat or drink, you can’t escape.  In a moment of  weakness some time ago, I saw a picture in my mind that really made it clear to me that I can’t escape my problems by eating or drinking.  It was a person escaping from their problems by eating/drinking.  They floated up and away from their problem situation peacefully, but as soon as the emotional eating episode was finished, they just dropped right back down into the same difficult situation.  They hadn’t even moved an inch.  The problems and the emotions were still there.  NO GROWTH.

We think we escape, but we actually just step away for a moment and then when we come back we realize that our eating never changed anything.  On top of that, we now feel guilty for eating like that.

I am choosing to not using eating as a medication anymore.  I want to grow, grow beyond where I am today.  Life is so much healthier when you don’t try to escape anymore.  You just face it (that is VERY hard sometimes), walk through the fire, and on the other side you are refined by the fire.  I thank God for His help on this one.

For some simple steps on how to reduce the impact of emotional eating on your life today, keep reading…..