Saturday, July 11, 2009

Week 1 challenge: where did those calories come from?

I belong to Weight Watchers. I read the message boards, but I don't quite put in all of my foods lately. A big part of that is because since my husband got sick, I tend to do a LOT of comfort eating. Or I tend to think a bite here or there doesn't count. Yikes, I was really wrong on that last one - yesterday I ate 4 Oreo cookies and when I plugged the points in, it "cost" me more than my regular lunch.

Anyhow, on the WW boards, there are weekly challenges named super-cute things. Most people scroll through the board and find their "clique" and chat with them via a string of threads. I confessed to my friend, Amber, this week that I need to focus on finding more real life friends that can give me real life hugs when times are tough, versus cyber-friends. I still enjoy the cyber-friends that I have, but I need to have some balance with some face-to-face friend time, too. Does that make sense? Therefore, I read a bunch on the boards, but I don't really jump into any one group.

I get support from my Mommy-friends that have kids in my kids' classes at church (where we will be heading in about an hour). We've been issuing little challenges every once in a while. I thought I would share them here for anyone else that's interested. All of our challenges are related to health. A few weeks ago, there was a challenge put out there to take the pressure off of "the scale" and put the control back on being healthy. You'll notice the ticker is gone off my site - because the constant visual reminder that I'm not where I want to be was really weighing me down. I put the scale a way for a bit and then pulled it out again this morning. My last recorded weight some time last month was 150 pounds (my goal is to be 125, I'm 5 ft, 3in). My weight this morning is 147.2 pounds. It is what it is, and I'll still weigh every once in a while because I am an objective data kind of person, but I've gotten over the obsession of jumping on the scale every time I pee. :)

This week's challenge is directly a result of my 4 cookie Oreo binge. I wouldn't really call 4 cookies a binge, but if you knew how many points they were - I could have gorged myself on some vegetables. With no further ado - this week's challenge: watch out for sneaky calories. I plan to write down in my new health journal (aka, spiral notebook found in unpacking this week!) all of the condiments that I use this week - mayo, salad dressing, butter - etc. All those tiny things that either I add or anyone else cooking adds to the food - I'd like to research how many points I'm spending, but also the real side of food - the sodium, fat side. And come up with some healthier alternatives.

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