Encouragement From My Past Self

This week I am working on putting together my Nuts and Bolts series.  Part of my process has been to think back to the early days of weight loss and the tools I found most useful.  I rediscovered a few posts I wrote for a blog that didn't get off the ground a few years ago.  Those posts, from January 2009, are a great reminder of what I was feeling a few months into the journey.  Below is one of those posts. I hope you enjoy this little trip in the, not so, Way Back Machine.

Unexpected Motivation

So my husband and I have been losing weight together on Weight Watchers since the end of August and as I was telling someone last night our names would be in literature with a * after them. *Results Not Typical. Losing weight has been a wonderful gift to give myself everyday since we started. I feel like I have reached a point where I can finally see results in myself. People have been telling me that I look different for awhile but I can finally see it for myself when I look in the mirror. We have been mastering eating within our points and exploring how to make the foods we love healthy and delicious. I cook he cleans and we get better every day! 

For Christmas we "exchanged" pedometers and I think it was just the thing I needed to catapult me to the next level. I find myself keeping close tabs on the numbers of steps I have taken throughout the day. Last weekend we were out and about on Sunday and I got up to over 9300 steps. I was so excited because it had been a busy day but I hadn't built in any specific exercise. At home I have figured out that due to the rectangular layout of our house I can go from one end to the other five or six times and get 300 steps in just a few minutes - during a commercial break no less. The more I find ways to build steps into my day the more I am motivated to look for even more. 

I have been working in the same building for two and a half years and for the first time it occurred to me that while we only occupy the ground floor there are 5 flights of stairs that I have easy access to when ever I want. So Monday I was having a rough time focusing and decided to go get a little exercise in to help my brain. Up those stairs I trot! I was breathing heavily by the time I got to the top but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. On the way down I stopped on the parking garage level and did a lap around the small garage. Back at my desk I felt pretty pleased. The next day I popped my lean cuisine into the microwave and rather than standing there for 4 and a half minutes watching it spin around slowly I popped out to the stairs again. This time I went up and did a couple of laps in the parking lot and was back before the microwave finished. How cool is that? Well I think it is cool. 

Today I saw that it wasn't raining so I grabbed my iPod and scooted out the door. I was so excited to be getting out to walk around the neighborhood (we have recently been snow bound so I think I am still recovering from cabin fever). It was cold and damp but I kept a comfortable brisk pace and due to a misjudgment in my route I covered just over a mile! I was sad to have to go back even though it had begun raining again. I have this energy bursting out of me and it feels incredible. 

For the past couple of years I have had to deal with minor to moderate SAD in the winter so it is such a relief to be motivated to do anything let alone go charging up and down 5 flights of stairs on a whim. I do think my pedometer is helping because it is a concrete gauge that I am getting up and moving more. The more I move the more I move it is a wondrous feeling that I never thought I would have. I just pray that this is the beginning of something I will get to experience for a long time to come.

If you would like the read the other posts there are a few more at http://roseslittleblog.blogspot.com/

Show me Something Sweet.

I love desserts!  I really feel that a large percent of my early weight loss success can be attributed to keeping desserts a part of my normal eating routine.  My initial approach was to merely eat less.  By breaking everything down to a points value I simply started each day with a budget and subtracted as I went through my day.  Most days I was able to eat to satiety and still have a handful of points left for a bit of something after dinner.


My favorite everyday dessert is slow churned low fat ice cream (or frozen yogurt).  Perhaps like me you tried low fat ice cream a decade ago and, threw it away.  The texture was wrong, the flavors were limited, and it just did not satisfy a craving for something creamy and cold.  Well, hallelujah, times have changed!  Now I can go into most any grocery store and pick from a vast array of reduced fat options.  I still read the nutrition label when choosing among the flavors.  Some flavors start at such a high amount of fat that even after it is reduced there is more than I want in a single serving.  I try to stick with the flavors that come in at 4 grams of fat or less per serving.


On a regular basis I like to sprinkle my ice cream with a little something just to make it a bit more fun and add texture.  It adds a few more calories, but with a little creativity there are many choices that won't break that bank.  Here are a few sprinkle ideas: smashed graham cracker, semi sweet mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, a few mini chocolate graham cookies, any sliced fruit or berries, a few gummy bears, or a few toasted nuts.


The key to enjoying desserts and staying on track is to measure, measure, measure your portions.  If you want to eat straight out of the carton, get an empty carton, measure your serving into it, and then go to town.  My preferred way to measure is with a food scale.  By placing the bowl on the scale and then zeroing it out, I can measure the weight of my serving, saving my measuring cups for other tasks and often I get to eat more too.  I have found that the majority of the time when I use the scale to measure it yields more food than if I had used a measuring cup.  Hello, sign me up for that!


As much as I love ice cream it is not always what I am in the mood for.  I like to keep a box of No Pudge! Fat Free Brownies in the cupboard just in case I need them; sometimes I do.  If you haven't tried these you are missing out big time, (unless you don't eat chocolate in which case I'll catch you with the next one).  Go to the store and look for the pink box.  The basic directions are good but the alternate method with applesauce is out of this world!  Seriously.   I have a small toaster oven sized baking pan that works great for a single batch.  They come out pretty sticky so I foil line the pan and then spray the foil with cooking spray.  When they come out of the oven I lift the foil out and peel it off before cutting into the brownies.


Another favorite dessert in our house is a fruit crisp.  Pretty much any fruit makes a great crisp especially when it is in season.  While there are many recipes out in the world for making a crisp, I won't share a specific recipe at the moment because I don't have one.  I tend to experiment with slightly different approaches every time I whip one up.  I can, however, give you my collection of fruit crisp tips:

• Use Splenda or Stevia, rather than sugar, to sweeten the fruit.  A little goes a long way and once you get the topping on you won't notice a difference in the taste.  
• Stick to real brown sugar for the topping.  Streusel is all about texture and the brown sugar alternatives that I have come across just don't hold up in that department.
• Use a butter alternative to cut calories.  I like Smart Balance.  Also, use less butter than the recipe calls for your topping will still be toasty and buttery and you won't miss the extra fat.  If it does look too dry you can add more but it is harder to subtract.
• Graham cracker crumbs added to the oats in your topping add an unexpected flavor.
• Use extra oats; they get a great toasty flavor and boost the overall nutrient content.

Finally, I have no qualms about starting the day with a serving of fruit crisp over a scoop of plain Greek yogurt.  Life, as they say, is short, and it is best to eat dessert first!