A new dawn ahead: Weight Watchers, Running, and a Fresh start

A new year is ahead of us.  This year has been a very wild ride for me personally.  I have not been posting here at all for sometime for various reasons but have not stopped writing because writing is something that helps me learn about myself, my ways, and my weight loss journey.  I hope that I have not lost all my friends here.  I am going to start posting regularly again and I am pretty darn excited about it.  Please feel free to join in on my adventures for 2011. 

For starters, I have gained about 50 lbs.  Yeah that is a lot but what can I do about it now except move forward into a new and exciting dawn. 

This was during my run tonight.

Here I am just days ago during my family christmas

Running

Part of the weight gain came about because of a serious burn out on running that was largely due to personal life stuff that I described on the blog earlier this year.  I tried hard to hold on to all the running I was doing but I just couldn’t, not with the mental stress and life changes.  Plus, I was working really hard on balance. I think I went to far with it though………….LOL!  So I never stopped running but I cut way back and am currently on my way back to running more and getting fit.  Come along with me as I progress again in my fitness, endurance, and running.  I feel like I am practically starting all over with running but I am far from that I think.  Still, way out of shape in my opinion and the extra wait is not fun to run around with.

Weight Watchers

I am, as you may have guessed, doing weight watchers for the “healthy eating” portion of my journey.  I get lots of points on this new POINTS PLUS plan.  Seems pretty well.  At the current time I am not going to meetings but doing it online.  I am having good success with it so far and plan to continue that for sure.  With the exception of xmas day I am eating pretty good and counting EVERYTHING. I know what to do, I am not making excuses, and I will succeed. Soon enough I will look like this again. LOL

Stay tuned to the blog to follow my journey-a-fresh.  I am excited and I hope that my posts can help you on your own journey with real life inspiration.  IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK.  I AM COMING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD!!!

My food until dinner time today

Here is my lunch for the day.  This is pretty much everything that I am going to eat from morning to evening.  I have already eaten my breakfast which was a protien shake with oatmeal in it.  It’s about 5 points on WW.  So I just threw this lunch together kind of because I woke up late and had no time to really make sure it was well balanced.  Here is what I got:

• Two string cheeses-2 points
• One nectarine- 1 point
• One apple- 1 point
• One yogurt- 2 points
• One cup of spaghetti noodles- 4 points
• 3 ounces of chicken in spaghetti sauce- 3 points
• 3 ounces of potatoes with veggies- 1 point
• Half a cup of lean ground beef- 4 points
• Half a cup of rice-4 points
• 100 calorie popcorn

That is 22 points total for my food I eat at work.  Counting my shake it would be 28 points.

I’m trying to get more organized with my food and exercise.  I hope to be able to be posting more now……………I have not been motivated to post much at all for a long time now.  It’s good for me to post as it helps me stay on track and give me motivation.

Do you remember???????????????

This is my journal which contains every step of my journey over the last 6 months. It's got pictures, song lyrics, in-depth reviews of my own emotions, and lots and lots of processing. The small book on top is my newest WW book without any stickers.

Today I am choosing to REMEMBER!  On my way to work I stopped to get my morning coffee (which I am going to hopefully stop soon) and the powerful urge to get a donut or a pepperoni hit me.  I have developed some bad habits in hermitville.  But today I remembered why I started this health journey.  I remembered how it makes me feel to eat donuts on the way to work in my car all by myself so nobody sees.  I remembered how proud I was of myself when I was eating better, not perfect, but better.  So today’s motto is REMEMBER WHY!

Here is why I first started and continue on my journey.

• I was starting to breathe hard just getting out of bed.
• I had a very hard time to get my shoes on.
• I felt like shit about myself because I was not living according to the way I really wanted to.
• Being overweight was like being in an emotional tumble drying, my mind constant knocked me around about it.
• I lived more secretively because I was afraid to be honest about my eating.
• I was more afraid of rejection and that caused a lot of the secretiveness which in turned only caused weight gain.
• I wanted to feel good about the way I was living.
• I wanted to run a marathon someday.
• I wanted to be fit and healthy so that normal activities would be WAY easier.

So those are the things I am rememering today.  What is it that brought you to the starting line of your own journey?  Are they all physical things like skinny jeans, small shirts, flat stomach, etc?  Or were some of them emotional and mental things that brought you to toe the line for the first time or possibly again?

There is no shame at trying again.  There is honor in it though.  EVERYBODY who succeeds has had to try again.  Mess ups happen, it might be a little easier to get back on track if you remember why you wanted to start this journey in the first place.

It can happen! Take a step back and reassess.

It can happen to anyone!  Falling into old habits even after losing and keeping 130 lbs off.  In fact, it is pretty easy to fall back into the old ways.  Why is this??  Well, the old ways are the old ways for a reason and they are old because I did them for so long.  Truth be told, the old ways work for what they are used for.  Oh yeah, you heard me.  THere is no denying that eating junk food makes me feel better at the moment I want to feel better.  There is no denying that it tastes wonderful like a party in my mouth.  I just want to shed the false belief that using food for comfort and security does not work.  It does work and if it did not work we would never use food to comfort ourselves.  However, there is a downside as there always is for self-medicating with potentially harmful stuff whether it be food, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc.  It brings guilt and shame and weight gain and bodily harm.

So at the practical and reality based advice of another great blogger on the journey, I took a step back to reassess my situation and take a reality check.  I took a step back to way the costs and rewards of my actions.  As  you know I have been on the wayward side of WW for a bit.  I am still right here at my WW goal weight but things have been getting increasingly unhealthy for me both mentally and physically.  Steve’s words yesterday hit me just how I needed it and brought about a major lifting of the veil over my eyes.  Now that he helped me see much more clearly, I am taking my reality check here on the blog.

What is my unhealthy eating doing for me?

Well, like I said, it is making me feel better about whatever I am feeling bad about for the moment.  This is true.  It is also making me feel worse in the long run and causing a great crop of negative thinking to sprout up.  Waying this cost is hard for me because I like the immediate benifit of feeling better and don’t particularly like the delayed gratification that denying myself the junk brings.  BUT, after long thought focused on Steve’s comment, the delayed gratification FAR OUT WEIGHS any other possible benifit that junk food can give.  So for today I feel strong and healthy and resolved with new passion for my health goals.

How is my fear of failure molding my situation?

I am scared to gain it all back.  Unfortunately, the way my little mind works is that when I fear failure I tend not to try as to make sure I don’t fail.  Now taking a step back on this one shows that this is crazy because it is self-fulfilling.  I am scared to fail so I fail on purpose and do the exact thing I am afraid of. HAHAHAHA  No more of this.  The reality in this is that I can’t fail if I just continue to do what I know how to do as far as healthy living goes.  It is a no-brainer really.  I know what to do and that is to keep my eyes on the prize, don’t let go of it, and then make nice little decisions throughout everyday to ensure a victory.  This is not easy at all because the fear is still there but the fear is not as powerful as the full life that can be lived in health.  Self-sabotage many call it.

My addictive side?????

My addictive side grabs hold of that which makes me feel better.  This side of me will barely let go of the medicine.  So when I eat two candy bars with wonderful peanut butter and sugar inside, I feel better for the moment, then my addictive side says, “Oh hell yeah that felt good.  What is wrong with wonderfulness.  Lets keep doing this.”  Contrary to much popular advice that I recieve here and away, small dabbles in such wonderfulness are not a livable scenario for me.  I am often told it is MORE of a lifestyle when I allow this stuff into my life as it is less rigid but I just can’t live that way.  I know myself and taking this reality check helps me to realize that abstinence is the best way to go for several foods in this world.

Negative thinking?

I can get seriously deep into some negative thinking about myself and my journey.  So negative in fact that I can completely forget a good thing that I just accomplished.  This is crazy but it is a reality so why should I deny myself the knowledge of the truth or the opportunity to talk about it.  I can pick out one negative thing out of a sea of positive.  It can be a beautiful day out but I will see a cloud the size of a man’s hand 100 miles away.  HAHAHAHA  I am going to work on this.  WW is not really that hard and it is certainly not impossible.  What is hard is staying on track while I am off track.  The contrary actions.  The lying to myself that I am doing it when I am not doing it.  What the hell!  If I am not doing it I am just going to say to myself I am not doing it and then get back on track.

Gotta love cheeks! My lunch treat for the day

I was extra hungry today since I woke up late and did not have a good lunch to bring.  I has pretty much eaten all of my days worth of food by 9:30 am.  What was I to do.  Well, I walk outside to a truck with a hand written sign that says:

Cachetes, Pollo, Azada, Chuleta, y Tripas.

Well, I got the cachetes.  That is, I got the beef cheek tacos, two of them in fact.  I love beef cheeks and it is not a normal food for most of us but I have always liked them.  They are very similar to a slow cooked pot roast that just falls apart with tenderness.  These tacos were very yummy.  I counted them as 4 points each.  Probably not accurate but I had to make a guess.  Here is the picture of the Cachete Taco

Jason’s food: My lunch for today

It has been a while since I posted what I was eating so I thought it was time again.  I have some different things than just my plain old normal lunch.  Many things are the same though if you remember any of my other lunch posts.  Lots of food, decent points, and all healthy choices.

• Two carrots
• 10 pickles
• Orange
• Apple
• 1/2 cup of F/F refried beans
• 2oz chicken breast with salsa and a tiny bit of black beans
• Two burritos (1/4 cup 97% lean ground beef, refried beans, salsa, and avocado)
• 1 large bag of Jiffy Pop Kettle Korn 94% f/f
• 1 banana
• 2 bags of lower sugar oat meal
• 1 Thick and Creamy yogurt
• 1 light string cheese
• There is also an un-pictured alternative bagel with WW cream cheese and turkey that I had eaten already. MMMMM yum yum!!

Fiesta chicken: Yummy low fat eats with salsa and black beans

I am starting to see a pattern here!

RUNNING = EATING. 

That is the pattern.  Since my 35 miler, I have not been doing well on weight watchers.  That would be two weeks of not doing good on weight watchers.  This is a dang pattern.  The more I run the worse I eat.  I truly don’t believe that my body “NEEDS” a lot of extra food and especially bad food, but I think it is me telling myself, “Oh I can have this because I bet the running will make up for it”.  I hate this pattern.  I am scared of this pattern.  It is true, the last two weeks have been very big running weeks for me but that does not mean it is time to just eat whatever.  I still think that I might be ok at my Tuesday night weigh-in but I am not sure nor am I confident about it.

Nights and weekends

I have really had to make a conscious effort to count my points at night and on weekends lately.  Sometimes I do ok and other times I don’t count at all and just end up “estimating”.  I don’t like this at all.  I don’t like feeling a little out of control with the food.

Groceries and Organization

One of the biggest reasons for the struggle lately is that fact that I have not taken care of myself in the area of preparation with groceries.  As you know I have been busy working in the yard and running so I have not been to the grocery store for a long time now.  I went yesterday and stocked up on lots of good healthy foods.  I also came home right away and prepared a good portion of my daily lunches for the week.  This should help me get back on track with my points and monitoring.

Do you make the excuse to eat more or badly because you had a big exercise day?

Do you have a hard time with counting points/calories at night and on weekends?

Does grocery shopping and planning help you succeed?

Bit of a struggle on WW.

I have been having a hard time with my eating since Saturday.  I know it is because in my mind I have given myself permission in a way because of the 35 mile long run that I did.  However, this is no excuse for not counting or eating healthy.  I count really good all day until I get home.  When I get home I jump right into working and don’t eat anything.  Then, around 8 o’clock I eat.  I have been eating my kind of regular dinner stuff but also snacking on junky stuff too.  I have my weigh-in tonight and am not thinking that it is going to go very well. 

I am also going to where jeans at my weigh-in for the first time since I started Weight Watchers.  This freaks me out but I figure it is about time I stop worrying about what clothes I wear to my meeting.  Anyways, chocolate coverd peanuts have been the evil predetor to my healthy efforts these last couple of days.

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?

Good eats with no treats!

image credit: http://www.thevancouverite

Oh thank goodness for mistakes that move into the past tense.  So so much easier to talk about something that you aren’t doing anymore. HAHAHA  So I had a blowout with donuts but that is over.

Yesterday I ate really well for my weight watchers program. I also ate a bunch of really healthy food and not much snacky foods.  After work I ran for about 4 miles nice and easy as a recovery run.  I am going to take it pretty calmly this week since I did run harder than I ever had.  However, I will still be able to get a fair amount of running in.  The run was very beautiful since the weather was just superb.  Sunny, warm, and no rain.  I wore lots of clothes to begin somewhat heat training myself for my 40 miler.  Although it was warm out, I wore gloves, hat, long sleeved shirt, and a coat for the run.  It was nice.

Once I got home I snacked on some salsa before I went out to plant some more trees.  I got three more done and two of them were of the largest group.  They are around 12 feet tall so the holes had to be really big and the trees themselves are heavy also.  It was well worth the effort though and my wife liked it too so that made it really worth the effort.  My wonderful wife made me some whole wheat noodles, chicken, and veggies for dinner.  What a great WW day it was.

Above is a picture of Pamela Anderson chowing down.  We all gotta get our eats!!

See other celebrities eating here.

Grilled home-made pizza link. Check it out.

Here is a link to help you get started on home-made pizza.  It is a great post so don’t miss it.

http://tastenotwaist.com/2009/01/01/a-slice-of-heaven-on-earth/.

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.

I was all alone this weekend but I did good.

My wife was gone this weekend.  Boy does the house get lonely without my Love around.  Usually when she is gone I get into some mindless eating because I am bored and don’t have her around to talk to.  I did good on my points from Friday onward.  I am happy about that and if I don’t have water retention from sore legs I hope to lose weight on my Tuesday night WI. 

This weekend I had what many call a “block”.  It is a back-to-back long run.  So on Saturday I ran a speedy 10 miles at race pace.  That happened at about 6 p.m.  Then on Sunday morning I ran 20 miles.  So in a time span of about 15 hours I ran 30 miles.  This is one way people build endurance up without having to run an overly long run of 30+ miles on their long run day.  I personally prefer just doing the one long run but the coach has me doing a back-to-back every other weekend because I get most of every other Saturday off.  This week I did not have it off so I had to run the 10 miles after work.  That always makes it harder.  I did great in both runs though and I am a bit sore today but nothing big.  It will be gone by tomorrow for sure.  That gave me 43 miles for the week.  I have a marathon this Sunday and I am going to try and break the 4 hour mark.  I won’t be rested or have done a proper taper for the marathon but that is a good thing because it will prepare me better for the 40 miler where I will be forced to keep running with tired legs and body.  I generally recover pretty fast now from 20+ mile efforts.

Yesterday I felt dizzy after my long run because I stopped eatin/drinking at mile 15 for some reason.  I guess I just forgot.  I went out for sushi with my mom and sister, then spent much of the day going here and there to buy my food for the week.  Once I got home I made lunch for my wife for her work week so that she could just come home and have a nice smooth transition back into work.  I also made some of my lunches.  I made 6 two point burritos and 6 three points sandwiches.  I will have both of them each day this week as part of my work food.

See you all later.  Don’t forget to subsribe to my feed if you haven’t already.  This way you will be updated each time I post about my journey.  Click HERE.

Running perfection but I went nuts with weight loss efforts

Last night I found these dirty little son’s-of-a-guns.  These dang nuts are from the devil I swear.  See how the can says heart healthy.  Well dang, I bet they aren’t good for your heart when you are practically laying down so you can pour them down your throat.  BAAAAA HAH AHA HA!! 🙂  I didn’t really do that but I kept going back to them gosh dangit.  I guess it is better than eating chips and candy but geesh.  Other that driving myself NUTS I did pretty good.  I had a big potato, some wonderful lean beef, avocado, a famous sister shake, and a giant WW fudge bar.  Yummy nummy for my tummy.

Before all the knock down fighting with the nuts, I had the blessed run.  An easy 4 miler was on the menu for yesterday.  I ran relaxed and easy. AHHHHH.  What a refreshing run.  It was running perfection.  I felt like I was effortless gliding along in the sunshine.  I ran along the river in the cool brisk air.  It was amazing.  I think I smiled for the whole first 5 minutes and then on and off.  

I also got some new ear bud head phones yesterday.  Boy did I need these.  I spent the extra money and got some really nice ones that fit into my ear but don’t cause me to have to go to the hospital for ear pain after every run.  I love these new things and I highly recommend them.

Will power and weight loss.

Is will power all it takes to loss weight?  Can you lose weight without being a strong willed person?  Mommymeepa thought a post about will power would be cool, so today I am posting on will power and weight loss.

Is will power all I need to lose weight and keep it off?  I don’t think so. I suppose that I could label those little choices I make right off the bat in the face of temptation as will power though.  Will power is some un-seen force that people believe that they either have or don’t have.  I just don’t believe this.  I feel that everyone has the same chance at losing weight and getting healthy.  I also feel like it has more to do with changing the way we think and the way we organize our environment.  Here are some thoughts on why I think that the battle is not won or lost on will power alone.

Totally Rad (funny word eh?) Food Find: Tortillas

I love burritos. Before I lost my weight I always made stuff into burritos.  I made mac and cheese burritos, rice burritos, bean, cheese, ham, etc.  Everything can go into a burrito.  I stopped this because for the most part burrito shells are to high in points and even the ones that are lower in points are really not that filling.  That is until now.  I have found a God send for my love affair with burritos.

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb/Lowfat Large tortillas are the best find yet as far as my burrito savvy is concerned.  They have mucho fiber so they fill you up (some people can’t take this much fiber on their stomachs, it is not a problem for me though), they are low in fat and they pack the punch of ONLY ONE WW POINT EACH.  Now that is what I’m talking about. 

I have been using them all week to make burritos for my lunch.  The night I bought them I basically made the whole package into burritos that I could just grab from the fridge in the morning as part of my lunch.  Below is a picture of my burrito and it’s mammoth size.  I put my cell phone next to it for perspective.  It weighed about 3/4+ pounds.

Here is what I put into this burrito to make a filling snack that was ONLY 3 POINTS.

1. 3oz chicken breast (2 points)
2. One large tortilla (1 point)
3. Four slices of red and green bell peppers
4. Pico de gallo salsa

I am so happy to be in burrito land again.  Do you guys like burritos/wraps?  Have you had these tortillas?  What do you think about them?

Healthy fast food

I have asked this question of myself ahead of time so that I can be prepared, but I am not always able to go according to my plans 😦  For me, it is a must to have food in the house that I can just grab, throw into an old grocery bag, and call it lunch.

Here are the foods that I call the “healthy fast foods”.  These foods work if you use them.  They will bring the victory where you usually might get beat up by other fast food choices.

See the great food choices by reading on.

Salsa recipe that will hold you ’till dinner.

 One of the wonderful readers here at run4change is Mike.  He loves to hear about the different stuff I and others eat on the weight loss journey.  I told him that I loved to snack on salsa right when I get home to kind of hold me over until dinner time.  He told me that his wife makes the best salsa ever so I asked him for the recipe.  Kathy is the master mind behind this salsa. She tells me there that it is more than a recipe, it is a process that you make to your taste.

I had a baaaaad weight loss, exercise, and health weekend!

image credit: files.blog-city.com

I did not have a good weekend.  Make sure to take note of the progression from not so bad to ultra bad all because of my stinkin thinkin.  Sure, the good thing was that I was happy and had a wonderful time with my wife, but my food was baaaaaad!  My food adventure started out on Friday night.  On Friday night I went out to eat with my dad which was great but for the day I ate 73 WW points.   I counted all of these points up so I was doing pretty good at that point but I was on the verge of giving up on counting because I had to estimate a lot and I felt that I wasn’t perfect enough in my counting.

Saturday came along and I was excited because it was supposed to be my Saturday off.  I get most of every other Saturday off.  I just go into work to make sure all is well and then leave.  Well, this Saturday all was not well and three people were missing.  I had to stay at work.  I brought no lunch, no water, no nothin.  I was so pissed off about having to be at work I made excuses to be unhealthy.  I went and bought some chew and I ate off the lunch wagon at my lunch time.  Not only that, but I was a total grumpy face to everyone around me.  My lunch cost my 15 points so I decided I was just going to eat and chew all weekend and not care anymore.  Read on to discover the even darker side of the weekend.