This week the topic in my Weight Watchers meeting was how we handle stress. I'm sure you are all aware of why this would be an important topic for Weight Watchers to cover in meetings. Afterall, how do most of us who have struggled with our weight deal with stress......eating.
I've heard some people say that they were so stressed that they couldn't eat so that's why they lost weight. That's only happened to me once in my life. There was one event in my life that caused me to respond with very little eating and that was many years ago. Ever since then, my traditional response to stress is, "What can I eat that will make me feel better?" Obviously as a WW member, eating would not be the ideal response to stress.
It has struck me extra hard this week that WW was talking about stress in meetings. I've realized that God wants me to look at how I manage my stress. He's talking to me and I need to listen.
My husband recently switched jobs so our health insurance changed. With the new health insurance we were told that we could take advantage of a Wellness Program. If we take advantage of this program they will put money in our health account so I am determined to participate. Taking care of the health needs in a family of 7 is not cheap!! One of the Wellness activities was to take some surveys online. In one survey they asked me about all aspects of my health: weight, eating habits, exercise habits, aches/pains, stress, etc. It was a very well done survey. I then had to take specific surveys concerning my exercise habits and stress in my life. With my involvement in WW for so many years I wasn't told many new things about exercise that I didn't already know. WW does a fabulous job of training their employees about exercise and eating. I learned a ton in my 3 years of employment with them. Now that I am no longer an employee I actually miss all that I learned. That's one of the reasons that I attend meetings each week. I'm looking to learn more and more about my body.
The stress survey I took was very interesting to me. I don't think about stress much. That sounds silly as I write it. How can I not think about stress much? Am I stressed? Well, let's see. I have 5 children ages 13, 10, 8, 7 and 8 months. I home school the 4 oldest children. My husband works 2 jobs with a total of 65-75 per hours a week. I work at my church one day per week. I volunteer at my church an average of 2 days per week. I take my kids to dance classes, piano lessons, gym classes, home school co-op activities, baseball, etc. Do I have stress in my life? Just a little;)
I have stress in my life and have often said or shouted, "Ahhhhhhh, I'm stressed!!" But I haven't often thought of how I deal with it. Yes, on occasion I think about stopping myself from eating my stress away but haven't thought of the many other tips I was given in the online survey I took. It was very enlightening.
The day after I took that survey I went to my WW meeting to talk about stress yet again. There was some great conversation. I hope that those of you who are members make it to your meeting this week to talk out the stress. Just talking about it helps. That's one of the tips that I got out of the meeting.
How do you all deal with your stress in a healthy way? Click on the comment button and leave your ideas for all to read. I think it would be fabulous for us all to have a list that we can we can copy and then keep in our homes, offices and cars to go to when we are stressed and tempted to eat those stresses away. Afterall, eating the stresses away never works. It just adds more stress.
One tip I have is that I keep a running list of to-do's on my refrigerator. When I think I need to eat because of my stress I turn to my list of to-do's so I can keep myself busy. It takes my mind off of the stress, I get something accomplished which just makes me feel less stressed, and I replace eating with another activity.
Let's see your tips.
Have a wonderful "stress-less" day!
Corinna
"As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?" -Psalm 42:1-2
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Rules, Rules, Rules
I recently had a Weight Watchers friend email me about some of the Weight Watchers rules. She is a Lifetime member who has gained back some of her weight. I know that we can all relate to gaining back some of the weight lost whether we are a Lifetime WW member or never a member at all.
She emailed me hoping to get my opinion and get the answers to the rules. She was one of my members at my meetings when I was a WW Leader so she knew I would probably know that answer to her questions. She also knew that I have been a WW Lifetime member who has had to lose the weight again.
Here are some of the things I told my friend that I thought many of you would find both interesting as well as helpful:
Lifetime WW members have to weigh in at least once per month. They must weigh in at the first meeting that they attend each month. If they are over goal by more than 2 pounds, they pay the weekly fee that week. If they weigh in again the next week and are over goal again, they pay the weekly fee again. If they weigh in any week during the month and are at or under 2 pounds over goal, they are free that week and every week for the rest of the month no matter what they may weigh. Those are the rules and have been ever since I was a leader. It's a bit confusing but I really believe that they make sense. Weight Watchers has found that these rules help Lifetime members keep their weight off because they are wanting to weigh in free.
Lifetime members who are free also get etools for free. This is a new rule that I absolutely love. It's one more reason to keep the weight off. If you are paying for etools and would like to attend meetings each week (which I would highly recommend) then I would just buy a monthly pass which will include your etools plus your weekly attendance fees. As soon as you are back to your goal, you can drop the pass and get etools for free. One of the benefits to being a lifetime member is that once you are back to less than 2 pounds over your goal you will be free again. You do not need to get all the way back to goal to be free again, just back to the 2 pound range. Another benefit to being lifetime is that you don't need to go through the 6 weeks of paid maintenance all over again. When you are ready for maintenance though, I would recommend talking it through with you leader each week to be sure you're used to maintenance again.
This is one of these rules that I used to discuss in the meeting when people became lifetimers because it was so confusing, but most people didn't really understand it unless they were currently going through it because they were over goal. It's one of those rules that most people don't pay much attention to until it affects them.
I'm very proud of my friend because she is going back to WW even though she is over her goal and may have to pay. After being a free Lifetime member, it's hard to justify paying again. My advice to her and anyone thinking of joining or returning to WW is: If you can swing it financially, I would go back to the meetings each week to get that weight off so you can feel good about your body. It's must easier for us to take care of others when we are feeling good about ourselves.
One thing I would also recommend to anyone returning to WW is to reconsider your goal. If that goal is no longer the best thing for you, don't be afraid to change it. You can change it any time as long as it's in the healthy weight range for your height. You will find that chart (I think) on your weight record.
My friend wanted to know what I have been doing as far as paying or going for free. Here's what I've been doing. I am a free lifetime member right now. Even though I am still trying to lose weight, I am within my goal range. When I became a lifetime member I made my goal the top of my healthy weight range for my height. I hadn't been that weight in 10 years and wasn't even sure if I could get that low again. I did get that low and was thrilled. After I made my goal, I continued to try losing weight once in a while to see if I could get even lower. Some weeks I practiced maintenance and some weeks I tried to lose. I know that I had been lower in high school and wasn't sure if it was possible, but wanted to try. I was able to continue to lose weight and eventually got back to that "high school weight". Even though I was continuing to lose weight, I was doing it as a free lifetime member because I was under my goal. This is something that Weight Watchers does not recommend. Their main reason for discouraging it is because it's hard for someone to be motivated to lose weight when they are coming for free. Paying for meetings is a big motivator! I'm sure you agree with that. Even though they do not recommend it, their rules do not prevent it so it's really up to you if you choose to do this or not. When I reached a weight that I was truly comfortable with I could have changed my goal to that number and still have been free but I didn't. I kept my goal the same because I didn't know if I was done having children and I wanted to be free again without having to change my goal.
Weight Watchers also has a rule about Free Lifetime members who just had babies. They can attend meetings for free after the baby is 6 weeks old if they were free when they got pregnant until the baby is 3 months old. They can continue to attend meetings for free if they are nursing with a doctor's note. I provided that doctor's note that gave me until Samuel was 6 months old to get back to my goal. I just squeaked it in there. I now attend meetings for free.
Anyone who is finding themselves in a situation similar to this one I would tell you to bite the bullet and get to a meeting. You'll feel so much better when you get to a healthy weight for you and only you and your doctor know what that is.
The whole thing has me thinking about rules. How can they help us? How can they hinder us? How have you used them to your advantage? Have you let them frustrate you to the point that you have given up? Use the rules to your advantage. Maybe they are hard for you to swallow now but you will see the benefits of them later.
Corinna
"The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites - everyone whose spirit God had stirred - got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." -Ezra 1:5 Are you attentive to the stirring of God in your heart?
She emailed me hoping to get my opinion and get the answers to the rules. She was one of my members at my meetings when I was a WW Leader so she knew I would probably know that answer to her questions. She also knew that I have been a WW Lifetime member who has had to lose the weight again.
Here are some of the things I told my friend that I thought many of you would find both interesting as well as helpful:
Lifetime WW members have to weigh in at least once per month. They must weigh in at the first meeting that they attend each month. If they are over goal by more than 2 pounds, they pay the weekly fee that week. If they weigh in again the next week and are over goal again, they pay the weekly fee again. If they weigh in any week during the month and are at or under 2 pounds over goal, they are free that week and every week for the rest of the month no matter what they may weigh. Those are the rules and have been ever since I was a leader. It's a bit confusing but I really believe that they make sense. Weight Watchers has found that these rules help Lifetime members keep their weight off because they are wanting to weigh in free.
Lifetime members who are free also get etools for free. This is a new rule that I absolutely love. It's one more reason to keep the weight off. If you are paying for etools and would like to attend meetings each week (which I would highly recommend) then I would just buy a monthly pass which will include your etools plus your weekly attendance fees. As soon as you are back to your goal, you can drop the pass and get etools for free. One of the benefits to being a lifetime member is that once you are back to less than 2 pounds over your goal you will be free again. You do not need to get all the way back to goal to be free again, just back to the 2 pound range. Another benefit to being lifetime is that you don't need to go through the 6 weeks of paid maintenance all over again. When you are ready for maintenance though, I would recommend talking it through with you leader each week to be sure you're used to maintenance again.
This is one of these rules that I used to discuss in the meeting when people became lifetimers because it was so confusing, but most people didn't really understand it unless they were currently going through it because they were over goal. It's one of those rules that most people don't pay much attention to until it affects them.
I'm very proud of my friend because she is going back to WW even though she is over her goal and may have to pay. After being a free Lifetime member, it's hard to justify paying again. My advice to her and anyone thinking of joining or returning to WW is: If you can swing it financially, I would go back to the meetings each week to get that weight off so you can feel good about your body. It's must easier for us to take care of others when we are feeling good about ourselves.
One thing I would also recommend to anyone returning to WW is to reconsider your goal. If that goal is no longer the best thing for you, don't be afraid to change it. You can change it any time as long as it's in the healthy weight range for your height. You will find that chart (I think) on your weight record.
My friend wanted to know what I have been doing as far as paying or going for free. Here's what I've been doing. I am a free lifetime member right now. Even though I am still trying to lose weight, I am within my goal range. When I became a lifetime member I made my goal the top of my healthy weight range for my height. I hadn't been that weight in 10 years and wasn't even sure if I could get that low again. I did get that low and was thrilled. After I made my goal, I continued to try losing weight once in a while to see if I could get even lower. Some weeks I practiced maintenance and some weeks I tried to lose. I know that I had been lower in high school and wasn't sure if it was possible, but wanted to try. I was able to continue to lose weight and eventually got back to that "high school weight". Even though I was continuing to lose weight, I was doing it as a free lifetime member because I was under my goal. This is something that Weight Watchers does not recommend. Their main reason for discouraging it is because it's hard for someone to be motivated to lose weight when they are coming for free. Paying for meetings is a big motivator! I'm sure you agree with that. Even though they do not recommend it, their rules do not prevent it so it's really up to you if you choose to do this or not. When I reached a weight that I was truly comfortable with I could have changed my goal to that number and still have been free but I didn't. I kept my goal the same because I didn't know if I was done having children and I wanted to be free again without having to change my goal.
Weight Watchers also has a rule about Free Lifetime members who just had babies. They can attend meetings for free after the baby is 6 weeks old if they were free when they got pregnant until the baby is 3 months old. They can continue to attend meetings for free if they are nursing with a doctor's note. I provided that doctor's note that gave me until Samuel was 6 months old to get back to my goal. I just squeaked it in there. I now attend meetings for free.
Anyone who is finding themselves in a situation similar to this one I would tell you to bite the bullet and get to a meeting. You'll feel so much better when you get to a healthy weight for you and only you and your doctor know what that is.
The whole thing has me thinking about rules. How can they help us? How can they hinder us? How have you used them to your advantage? Have you let them frustrate you to the point that you have given up? Use the rules to your advantage. Maybe they are hard for you to swallow now but you will see the benefits of them later.
Corinna
"The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites - everyone whose spirit God had stirred - got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." -Ezra 1:5 Are you attentive to the stirring of God in your heart?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
True Confessions
Today I ran into a friend of mine. We have shared stories with each
other regarding our weight-loss journeys for the last 5 years or so.
She is one of my readers of this blog and told me today that she really
enjoys it. It's always so nice to hear that. Sometimes I wonder why
anyone would want to read my ramblings.
She got me thinking when we were talking today. She hit the nail on the head when she said that it's nice to know that I struggle too. That's exactly why I enjoy writing this blog. It's nice to share our stories, struggles and triumphs. But as I continued through the evening to think about our conversation I realized just how important it is that we have people in our lives that can understand what we are going through. I am one of those people for my friend and she is one for me.
I don't know if you all realize that you are just as much an inspiration to me as I am to you. I really love to hear from you but even when I don't hear from you, I think of you going though the same things that I am. I also think of you all doing everything right because I know I am not alone when I think that others must have it together better than I. I'm sure you have all done it too. You wonder how she or he stays so thin. You figure that they have never had the struggles that you have. Little do we know that most of those people we are thinking of have or are struggling just as we are.
If you would like proof, here it is....my true confessions. Wednesday was my weigh in day which is then the beginning of my weight loss week. That means that my Weekly Allowance PointPlus Values start over that day. On Wednesday I blew through the activity points I had accumulated for the day and almost all of my Weekly Points. Plain and simple, I ate too much food. We had a few too many treats leftover in the house from Valentine's day so since I ate such nice, small portions on Valentine's day I decided to eat larger portions on Wednesday. I ended the day, though, not feeling stuffed like I usually feel when I have eaten too much.
As I went through Thursday I finished off my Weekly Points and then some. The good news is that I continued to track every bite. That caused me to see exactly how many Activity Points I have to earn to even it all out before next Wednesday.
Friday started off very well. I was going to keep to my points without a doubt. Then, Bryan asked me if I would like to go out on a date. Yes! We have been very busy and needed a date. My mom agreed to babysit so we could go out for dinner. I made good choices at the restaurant......it was going to Kopps for dessert that did me in. The good news is that we shared a sundae. The bad news is that I was now even more in debt for the week. Again, I tracked the whole thing so I could see just how much "damage" was done.
Now it's Saturday. I started the day with a healthy, filling and point friendly breakfast. Then a snack, and another, and another. Did I mention leftover Valentine's treats? Yep, had some of those too. What am I doing? Before 11 in the morning I had used all but 12 of my points for the day. That's crazy! Was I really going to over another day? It wasn't too late to gain control. I said no to the treats my kids were having. I said no to the pizza. I ate strawberries. I love strawberries. I had corn. Yes, it's points but it's a vegetable, it's filling and it's yummy. They are like treats for me.
Tonight we had a dinner at church. We have this dinner once a month. It's always tricky for me because there is lots of good food. I didn't know what was being served but knew that there would be some fruits and veggies. I filled 3/4 of my plate with fruits and veggies and then the other 1/4 with protein. I ate no carbs. I didn't need the points and had plenty of carbs in those treats I had earlier in the day. I ate and was satisfied. Somehow I ended today without going over my Daily PointsPlus budget. It feels so good to gain control. It's never too late. I will continue to exercise like crazy to make up for my overages for the rest of the week. I can do this.
What was wonderful was that my friend and I had this conversation just before I got my plate of food. It was that extra boost that I needed to make good choices tonight. I'm so grateful for the wonderful people in my life that are there to remind me to take care of myself....many times they don't even know that are doing it.
Don't forget that you are not alone in this journey. Many have gone before you. Many are joining you now. Many will go after you. Let's do it together.
Corinna
"The Lord our God is our protector. 'He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail.'" -1Samuel 2:9
She got me thinking when we were talking today. She hit the nail on the head when she said that it's nice to know that I struggle too. That's exactly why I enjoy writing this blog. It's nice to share our stories, struggles and triumphs. But as I continued through the evening to think about our conversation I realized just how important it is that we have people in our lives that can understand what we are going through. I am one of those people for my friend and she is one for me.
I don't know if you all realize that you are just as much an inspiration to me as I am to you. I really love to hear from you but even when I don't hear from you, I think of you going though the same things that I am. I also think of you all doing everything right because I know I am not alone when I think that others must have it together better than I. I'm sure you have all done it too. You wonder how she or he stays so thin. You figure that they have never had the struggles that you have. Little do we know that most of those people we are thinking of have or are struggling just as we are.
If you would like proof, here it is....my true confessions. Wednesday was my weigh in day which is then the beginning of my weight loss week. That means that my Weekly Allowance PointPlus Values start over that day. On Wednesday I blew through the activity points I had accumulated for the day and almost all of my Weekly Points. Plain and simple, I ate too much food. We had a few too many treats leftover in the house from Valentine's day so since I ate such nice, small portions on Valentine's day I decided to eat larger portions on Wednesday. I ended the day, though, not feeling stuffed like I usually feel when I have eaten too much.
As I went through Thursday I finished off my Weekly Points and then some. The good news is that I continued to track every bite. That caused me to see exactly how many Activity Points I have to earn to even it all out before next Wednesday.
Friday started off very well. I was going to keep to my points without a doubt. Then, Bryan asked me if I would like to go out on a date. Yes! We have been very busy and needed a date. My mom agreed to babysit so we could go out for dinner. I made good choices at the restaurant......it was going to Kopps for dessert that did me in. The good news is that we shared a sundae. The bad news is that I was now even more in debt for the week. Again, I tracked the whole thing so I could see just how much "damage" was done.
Now it's Saturday. I started the day with a healthy, filling and point friendly breakfast. Then a snack, and another, and another. Did I mention leftover Valentine's treats? Yep, had some of those too. What am I doing? Before 11 in the morning I had used all but 12 of my points for the day. That's crazy! Was I really going to over another day? It wasn't too late to gain control. I said no to the treats my kids were having. I said no to the pizza. I ate strawberries. I love strawberries. I had corn. Yes, it's points but it's a vegetable, it's filling and it's yummy. They are like treats for me.
Tonight we had a dinner at church. We have this dinner once a month. It's always tricky for me because there is lots of good food. I didn't know what was being served but knew that there would be some fruits and veggies. I filled 3/4 of my plate with fruits and veggies and then the other 1/4 with protein. I ate no carbs. I didn't need the points and had plenty of carbs in those treats I had earlier in the day. I ate and was satisfied. Somehow I ended today without going over my Daily PointsPlus budget. It feels so good to gain control. It's never too late. I will continue to exercise like crazy to make up for my overages for the rest of the week. I can do this.
What was wonderful was that my friend and I had this conversation just before I got my plate of food. It was that extra boost that I needed to make good choices tonight. I'm so grateful for the wonderful people in my life that are there to remind me to take care of myself....many times they don't even know that are doing it.
Don't forget that you are not alone in this journey. Many have gone before you. Many are joining you now. Many will go after you. Let's do it together.
Corinna
"The Lord our God is our protector. 'He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail.'" -1Samuel 2:9
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Boy was I nervous
Today is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers. I was not able to attend my meeting last week. We were down one car in the house and apparently it was more important for my husband to get to his jobs than for me to get to my WW meeting;)
So even though last week was a good week for me I wasn't able to see the fruits of my labors on the scale. I had to rely on how I was feeling and what I accomplished. It made me nervous. I entered my next week with extreme cautiousness. I was very careful to track everything I ate and did for activity. I was also very careful not to go over even one little point for the week.
For the first time in months I lost a good amount of weight. I lost 3 pounds today!! That's for the past two weeks so that's a 1.5 pound average for the last two weeks. I am so thrilled!! I have worked so hard. I am that much closer to my final, personal goal. I was so nervous to weigh in today so to see such a great loss was a great relief.
As I often do after a weigh in, it is time to take stock. What is working? What worked? What didn't work? What do I need to change? What can I keep the same?
What's working is tracking online with weightwatchers.com. I have't missed tracking one single bite into my mouth since I started tracking on etools about a month ago. That is surely a record for me. I have been a Weight Watcher for years and I know that I have never gone a full month of tracking every single bite. I've always gone off one day or one meal here and there.
To be completely honest, in the past several years I was able to track 6 out of 7 days and still have a successful week. It was when I extended my 1 non-tracking day to 2 or 3 days that I then found I struggled. Tracking on etools has stopped me from having any non-tracking days. That has given me the tool to see exactly what is going on with my body. I log all of my food and exercise so I can see if I need more or less PointsPlus Values or exercise.
I found out that I regularly was going over my weekly allotment of PointsPlus values even with my extra nursing and exercise points. I also worked and worked each of the last 4 weeks to get that under control. Two weeks ago I took away one of my nursing points to see what difference it would make. I realized that in order to see if that would push me out of plateau I would need to track more accurately and not go over my allotted PointsPlus values.
Over the last 4 weeks I have gone over my allotment each week EXCEPT for last week. Each week I would make it a goal to do better than the week before. Each week I went over but I went over less than the week before. I really believe that this journey is a learning experience and I need to keep learning and growing in my knowledge (not my pants size).
I'm excited to work just as hard this week as I have been working the past 4 weeks. That will give me great results again. And when the great results fizzle then I will change things up again. One thing I will never do is give up. I can always change......for the better.
Corinna
"My beloved is mine and I am his." -Song of Solomon 2:16
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
I've come a long way baby!
Yesterday started out to be a stressful day.
My car has always been a loud car. We purchased it used and have always noticed that it's louder than our other car (which happens to be the exact same year and model). We've just learned to talk to each other louder in my car than in Bryan's. A couple of weeks ago I decided that it had now gotten so loud that I was afraid that pieces were going to start flying off as I was driving down the freeway. We took it to the mechanic.
He found all kinds of general maintenance things wrong with it. $1200 later we had a much quieter car. I love driving my car now. I can actually hear the kids talking in the back seat. They don't have to scream at me anymore.....not that they don't just for old times' sake;) It's an 11-year-old car. It has over 130,000 miles in it. We are going to run it into the ground. I'm hoping for at least another 3 years of service out of it.
Saturday evening Bryan says that we need to drop his car off at the mechanic's now. What?! Bryan is always telling me about strange noises his car makes. We have learned to laugh it off unless it appears serious. We often joke that it's Christmas all year long in Bryan's car because of the many lights that are on his dashboard. He said it really needs to go in this time.
We love our mechanic. He's honest and tells us when something doesn't really need fixed as long as we don't mind staring at the light on the dashboard. He knows we can't afford to spend a lot of money fixing things that don't need to be fixed. He know that we don't drive cars that are dangerous so if it's dangerous we will fix it. If it just means that we just have one more light on the Christmas tree, then Merry Christmas!
Yesterday I called the mechanic to see if he had any answers for us yet. He had the car for over a day now and I hadn't heard anything. That scared me. I was seeing dollar signs. After a couple of conversations with him and his diligence in trying to find us some cheaper, used parts we came to an estimate of $1900 to fix Bryan's car. Uggggh! My mechanic know we are trying to drive our cars into the ground. We don't have the money to purchase new ones any time soon. I asked him what his opinion was and he gave me the opinion that we still had plenty of life in this car. We just needed to fix some of these general maintenance issues that all came up at the same time.
So he's going to fix what needs to be fix and ignore what can be ignored. We will still have some our our Christmas lights on the dashboard. This means that we will be able to drive Bryan's car for a few more years I hope. The bills are adding up and credit card companies are loving us. Yuck! I don't like supporting the credit card companies but we have to do what we have to do.
Money issues are one of my biggest stressors. This is an instance that would have led me right to the kitchen cupboards in the past. What I realized yesterday is that even though I was stressed I didn't run to the cupboards. I didn't use food to comfort me. I exercised a little bit and went on with my day as usual. I thought about eating because that was a habit at one time in my life but I quickly dismissed it as foolish. What was the food going to do to fix my car or my finances? Nothing. If anything, that food would just upset me more because I would then be stressed about that decision too.
I've come a long way and I 'm proud to say that I saw it and conquered it yesterday. I'm sure it will rear it's ugly head again and I will be forced to make a decision about how I am going to use food but I can say that yesterday was a true testament as to how far I have come and how different I am today than I was earlier in my journey.
Take care everyone and Merry Christmas?!;)
Corinna
"'Blessed be the Lord your God, who had delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.' Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones; never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon." -1 Kings 10:9-10
My car has always been a loud car. We purchased it used and have always noticed that it's louder than our other car (which happens to be the exact same year and model). We've just learned to talk to each other louder in my car than in Bryan's. A couple of weeks ago I decided that it had now gotten so loud that I was afraid that pieces were going to start flying off as I was driving down the freeway. We took it to the mechanic.
He found all kinds of general maintenance things wrong with it. $1200 later we had a much quieter car. I love driving my car now. I can actually hear the kids talking in the back seat. They don't have to scream at me anymore.....not that they don't just for old times' sake;) It's an 11-year-old car. It has over 130,000 miles in it. We are going to run it into the ground. I'm hoping for at least another 3 years of service out of it.
Saturday evening Bryan says that we need to drop his car off at the mechanic's now. What?! Bryan is always telling me about strange noises his car makes. We have learned to laugh it off unless it appears serious. We often joke that it's Christmas all year long in Bryan's car because of the many lights that are on his dashboard. He said it really needs to go in this time.
We love our mechanic. He's honest and tells us when something doesn't really need fixed as long as we don't mind staring at the light on the dashboard. He knows we can't afford to spend a lot of money fixing things that don't need to be fixed. He know that we don't drive cars that are dangerous so if it's dangerous we will fix it. If it just means that we just have one more light on the Christmas tree, then Merry Christmas!
Yesterday I called the mechanic to see if he had any answers for us yet. He had the car for over a day now and I hadn't heard anything. That scared me. I was seeing dollar signs. After a couple of conversations with him and his diligence in trying to find us some cheaper, used parts we came to an estimate of $1900 to fix Bryan's car. Uggggh! My mechanic know we are trying to drive our cars into the ground. We don't have the money to purchase new ones any time soon. I asked him what his opinion was and he gave me the opinion that we still had plenty of life in this car. We just needed to fix some of these general maintenance issues that all came up at the same time.
So he's going to fix what needs to be fix and ignore what can be ignored. We will still have some our our Christmas lights on the dashboard. This means that we will be able to drive Bryan's car for a few more years I hope. The bills are adding up and credit card companies are loving us. Yuck! I don't like supporting the credit card companies but we have to do what we have to do.
Money issues are one of my biggest stressors. This is an instance that would have led me right to the kitchen cupboards in the past. What I realized yesterday is that even though I was stressed I didn't run to the cupboards. I didn't use food to comfort me. I exercised a little bit and went on with my day as usual. I thought about eating because that was a habit at one time in my life but I quickly dismissed it as foolish. What was the food going to do to fix my car or my finances? Nothing. If anything, that food would just upset me more because I would then be stressed about that decision too.
I've come a long way and I 'm proud to say that I saw it and conquered it yesterday. I'm sure it will rear it's ugly head again and I will be forced to make a decision about how I am going to use food but I can say that yesterday was a true testament as to how far I have come and how different I am today than I was earlier in my journey.
Take care everyone and Merry Christmas?!;)
Corinna
"'Blessed be the Lord your God, who had delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.' Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones; never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon." -1 Kings 10:9-10
Monday, February 6, 2012
I feel like.....
EATING!!! Yes, today I woke up and just felt like eating. What is
that? Why would today be any different than yesterday or the day
before? I have felt like taking care of myself and eating right for
weeks and as a result I have been eating right, exercising and feeling
good. So, why is it that this morning I felt like eating every box
Fiber One brownie (a staple in my house) in sight chased down with a
gallon of milk? I also felt like just cuddling up on the couch with a
dozen warm blankies and giving the kids the day off of school. It just
felt like a good day to take off from reality.
So you are wondering.....did I do it? No, I took a step back and looked that situation carefully. I did start my day eating a fudge dipped granola bar (not the most nutritious start to my day). But I stopped myself from eating the entire box. On these days I am also tempted to give up tracking for the day. That way no one knows (especially me) just how poorly I ate. I didn't give in to that temptation either. I tracked my poor choice of a breakfast and then added a little bit of protein by making some turkey sausages so I could out weight the poor choice with a good one.
I realize that because of my poor breakfast I will have to fight myself a little today to eat the right things. I'm proud of myself for making the right choice when it came to getting myself out of my funk though. I've had plenty of days in the past where I would let that feeling of laziness take over my entire day which would in turn take over my entire week. I have worked too hard to get this far in my goals. I'm not going to let one feeling trump all.
I investigated this feeling. I think it was brought on by my tiredness. Samuel is not a good sleeper. I haven't had a full night's sleep since he was born 7 months ago. He also has a cold, cough and double ear infections right now. He was the last of my 5 kids to get this cold. And now Bryan has it too. I think Bryan got it worse than any of the kids too. He's been snoring up a storm and coughing in his sleep so between Samuel and Bryan sleep is not something I am allowed right now.
What can I do to keep myself on track then? Fight my urges. I will eat lots of fruit and veggies to fill me up since my body often confuses tired with hungry. I will also eat lots of healthy food because those foods will give me the energy that I am not getting from sleep right now. I also need to exercise. Friday and Saturday were crazy busy in my house so I didn't get to do my exercise routine. Sunday I was only able to squeeze in one of my DVD's instead of all 3. That was certainly better than nothing but not everything I needed. Today I will do all 3 of my DVD's. I know that exercise always helps me with my energy levels in the long run.
It's worth it to fight the urge to eat and eat. It's worth it to fight the urge to lay around. It will be worth it when I step on the scale at WW on Wednesday and see a loss. It will be worth it when I end the day with all of the energy I need to home school and take care of my 5 beautiful children and wonderful sick husband. It IS worth it.....and so am I.
Corinna
"And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. The Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever." -1Kings 8:10-13
So you are wondering.....did I do it? No, I took a step back and looked that situation carefully. I did start my day eating a fudge dipped granola bar (not the most nutritious start to my day). But I stopped myself from eating the entire box. On these days I am also tempted to give up tracking for the day. That way no one knows (especially me) just how poorly I ate. I didn't give in to that temptation either. I tracked my poor choice of a breakfast and then added a little bit of protein by making some turkey sausages so I could out weight the poor choice with a good one.
I realize that because of my poor breakfast I will have to fight myself a little today to eat the right things. I'm proud of myself for making the right choice when it came to getting myself out of my funk though. I've had plenty of days in the past where I would let that feeling of laziness take over my entire day which would in turn take over my entire week. I have worked too hard to get this far in my goals. I'm not going to let one feeling trump all.
I investigated this feeling. I think it was brought on by my tiredness. Samuel is not a good sleeper. I haven't had a full night's sleep since he was born 7 months ago. He also has a cold, cough and double ear infections right now. He was the last of my 5 kids to get this cold. And now Bryan has it too. I think Bryan got it worse than any of the kids too. He's been snoring up a storm and coughing in his sleep so between Samuel and Bryan sleep is not something I am allowed right now.
What can I do to keep myself on track then? Fight my urges. I will eat lots of fruit and veggies to fill me up since my body often confuses tired with hungry. I will also eat lots of healthy food because those foods will give me the energy that I am not getting from sleep right now. I also need to exercise. Friday and Saturday were crazy busy in my house so I didn't get to do my exercise routine. Sunday I was only able to squeeze in one of my DVD's instead of all 3. That was certainly better than nothing but not everything I needed. Today I will do all 3 of my DVD's. I know that exercise always helps me with my energy levels in the long run.
It's worth it to fight the urge to eat and eat. It's worth it to fight the urge to lay around. It will be worth it when I step on the scale at WW on Wednesday and see a loss. It will be worth it when I end the day with all of the energy I need to home school and take care of my 5 beautiful children and wonderful sick husband. It IS worth it.....and so am I.
Corinna
"And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. The Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever." -1Kings 8:10-13
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Feedback
My last blog about how good I was feeling and how the scale should
just be used as feedback. Today was a true test of how well I could
take my own advice.
I went to my Weight Watchers meeting not really expecting to lose much because of my encounters with my home scale this week but still hoping deep down that I would see the loss that I was working so hard for.....drum roll please.....I lost .4 pounds. That was not the loss I was looking for.
Although it was disappointing I knew right away what I needed to do. I even told the receptionist that it was clearly time to start taking away my nursing points. I've been dreading this moment for months. Samuel is 7 months old. I have been nursing him since he was born. That means that I get extra points to use each day. It's wonderful. I get to eat a whole lot more food than when I was on maintenance before getting pregnant with Samuel.
The catch is that when the baby starts eating cereal, veggies, fruits, etc. the nursing mother needs to start eating less. Samuel has been eating cereal since he was 4 months old and veggies since he was 6 months. It is clearly time to feed myself less.
I suspected this a couple of weeks ago but I needed to test my theory by being very strict with my eating and exercise to see if my theory was true. This was my final test week. When I am eating, tracking and exercising like I was the past week I always have a weight loss higher than .4.
So starting today, I redid my daily pointsplus target to be one less than it has been for the last 7 months. I'm only taking away 1 point per day to see what happens. If I lose above a half of a pound next week then I will stick with that new target until I no longer see results again. If I lose less than a half of a pound next week then I will take away another point. WW recommends that when you take points away from your daily target to take them away 2 at time but I'm being selfish here. I want to eat all I can get and still lose weight. I really don't like being hungry. It's a sure way to fall off the wagon completely and I don't want that to happen.
The hard part now is being patient. I took my weigh in today as feedback, not failure. As my receptionist said, "At least it was in the right direction." Yes it was but after combing through my weigh in booklets for the past 2 months I see that I am averaging less than a half of a pound per week and the program is designed for an average a half of a pound to 2 pounds per week. I know my body can do better.
The trick will be to get myself used to eating less. Even one point per day will make a difference in my habits, but it's clearly what I need to do and it will be good practice. I will have even more nursing points to give up the older that Samuel gets.
Did you use the scale as feedback this week? Really think about what it said. It wasn't just a number. It was telling you something. Did you snack too much? Did you exercise enough? Are you tracking enough? Did you get enough liquids? Did you do everything just right? Listen and use the feedback to help yourself.
Corinna
"David understood God's great mercy." -2 Samuel 24:14a
I went to my Weight Watchers meeting not really expecting to lose much because of my encounters with my home scale this week but still hoping deep down that I would see the loss that I was working so hard for.....drum roll please.....I lost .4 pounds. That was not the loss I was looking for.
Although it was disappointing I knew right away what I needed to do. I even told the receptionist that it was clearly time to start taking away my nursing points. I've been dreading this moment for months. Samuel is 7 months old. I have been nursing him since he was born. That means that I get extra points to use each day. It's wonderful. I get to eat a whole lot more food than when I was on maintenance before getting pregnant with Samuel.
The catch is that when the baby starts eating cereal, veggies, fruits, etc. the nursing mother needs to start eating less. Samuel has been eating cereal since he was 4 months old and veggies since he was 6 months. It is clearly time to feed myself less.
I suspected this a couple of weeks ago but I needed to test my theory by being very strict with my eating and exercise to see if my theory was true. This was my final test week. When I am eating, tracking and exercising like I was the past week I always have a weight loss higher than .4.
So starting today, I redid my daily pointsplus target to be one less than it has been for the last 7 months. I'm only taking away 1 point per day to see what happens. If I lose above a half of a pound next week then I will stick with that new target until I no longer see results again. If I lose less than a half of a pound next week then I will take away another point. WW recommends that when you take points away from your daily target to take them away 2 at time but I'm being selfish here. I want to eat all I can get and still lose weight. I really don't like being hungry. It's a sure way to fall off the wagon completely and I don't want that to happen.
The hard part now is being patient. I took my weigh in today as feedback, not failure. As my receptionist said, "At least it was in the right direction." Yes it was but after combing through my weigh in booklets for the past 2 months I see that I am averaging less than a half of a pound per week and the program is designed for an average a half of a pound to 2 pounds per week. I know my body can do better.
The trick will be to get myself used to eating less. Even one point per day will make a difference in my habits, but it's clearly what I need to do and it will be good practice. I will have even more nursing points to give up the older that Samuel gets.
Did you use the scale as feedback this week? Really think about what it said. It wasn't just a number. It was telling you something. Did you snack too much? Did you exercise enough? Are you tracking enough? Did you get enough liquids? Did you do everything just right? Listen and use the feedback to help yourself.
Corinna
"David understood God's great mercy." -2 Samuel 24:14a
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