Lifting Me Higher

              I started out two weeks ago feeling bad about not working the program. So I got into it. Points Plus gave me a boost in two very important ways. Fruit and exercise. You're probably thinking, Carin weren't you already doing those things. Yes I was, but I was also losing some of my mojo due to the change in season/weather. I was feeling depressed about it being dark in the mornings and early evenings. I was feeling down about being bundled up in my coat. By the time I got home at night, I just wanted to crawl into bed. The introduction of the new Points Plus made me pay close attention to things again.
              At first, I did not lose weight and that can be a little frustrating. But then I pushed myself just a little. I bought a new pedometer and found out that the activity points are higher. I told myself that I could do at least two points a day to get started.
Day 1: all day =   4pts
Day 2: two 20 mins dvd workouts = 4pts
Day 3: all day + two 20 mins dvd workouts = 6pts
Day 4: all day = 3pts
Day 5: all day + four laps walk/jog aournd track = 10pts
Day 6: rest day
Day 7: all day + two 20mins dvd workouts = 5pts
Total for the week: 32pts
         I surprised myself that I could do that much when I push toward a goal of more activity. I also did all that activity while fighting a head cold.  I also ate more. I had two major challenges on Day 3 and Day 4. On Thursday, we had our annual holiday luncheon. When my leader Melanie asked us about our upcoming challenges, I had forgotten about the annual luncheon. The food is served buffet style and yes, the dessert has its own table. Also, you are in the room with the food for two hours playing Bingo. So I brought my trusty camera so the you could see all of my options.

          I chose a small square of veggie lasagna, salad ( wild bitter greens- I could not eat them), seafood salad ( vinagrette not mayo) and melon.

 I was never so happy to see fruit in my life. Before Points Plus, this would have been a situation. But when I saw the melon. I knew it would workout. So while some folks were scarfing down petit fours, I was eating honeydew melon. At the end of our lucnheon, our manager has a couple of giant baskets filled with assorted chocolates. We are each allowed to take one as we exit. I saw a jar of olives in the basket and claimed it for my own. Olives before chocolate. I also won a theater card and a metro card at Bingo.

           As though the luncheon was not a big enough challenge, the next day I was invited to a farewell for one of my co-workers. The menu for the farewell was cupcakes and champagne. CUPCAKES AND CHAMPAGNE!! But I went to the farewell and politely said "no thank you". And when I got back to my desk, there was a banana waiting for me. Every Monday I buy a banana and keep it in my desk drawer. I call the my "IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS" banana. It's there just in case I feel a little hungry or my stress level rises to the point that I need to medicate myself with something in my mouth.

         When I went to my meeting the next week I lost 3.6lbs which was kind enough to bring me back to my 44lbs weight loss. There was another wonderful surprise at that meeting. Dave, the marvelous CEO of Weight Watchers was present for Tuesday night meeting happy hour.

          My next challenge was my first week of vacation. I usually do well on vacation because I have more free time to plan workouts. But not the week leading into Christmas. I do not drive and tend to walk to most of my local errands. Even though I was not able to do a formal workout, I racked up alot of activity points.
Tuesday: all day: 4pts
Wednesday: all day : 6pts
Thursday: all day : 8pts
Friday: all day: 6pts
Saturday/Christmas: rest day
Sunday: all day: 7pts
Monday/Snow day: rest day
Total: 31 points
          I did have food challenges. I bought Dunkin Donuts for the guys and wound up eating two of those decadent gingerbread donuts. Damn you gingerbread donuts!  Those things are so wrong. My friend Angie invited me and the boys to her office holiday party which is geared towards the children. The menu was chicken nuggets, french fries, macaroni and cheese, mini burgers and fries, pigs in a blanket, mini pizzas and low and behold a fruit cup. 

These are for you, Tam.

         I chose pigs in a blanket, fruit cup and water.  I was tempted to have the cupcakes folks. Very tempted. As a matter of fact, after passing them again, I picked up another fruit cup.

         The next day we went to my sister's house for Christmas eve. Here is where I lost reason. The dinner was good and I took very small portions of everything, but I consumed way too many Ghiradelli chocolates that my sister laid out on the coffee table. I swear I must have eaten between 8-10 of those things. When did they create ones with peanut butter inside?  For my own family, Christmas dinner was turkey burgers, frozen fries and onion rings. A couple of years ago I decided to stop making a multi-course dinner on Christmas because my extended family celebrates on Christmas Eve. Since it's just us at home on Christmas day, we chose to eat like any other day. It saves on there wear and tear on me and it's still a good dinner.
          I have to confess that I made lasagna and homemade blueberry pie on Sunday. I had extra lasagna and chased it down with a slice of pie. I paid for my crime when my husband and I were in a fetal position for the rest of the evening.
           Yesterday my son Josh and I were catching up on the last two episodes of Fringe on dvr. Sometimes this turns into a snack fest. I decided to arm myself with two good snacks. Fat free popcorn and a pomagranite. I purchased two pomagranites from a fruit vendor on the way home from the kiddie cupcake party. I haven't had one in a while and they are alot of work. Eating one lasted a whole episode. I stocked up on bananas, pears, apples and oranges to keep me in check while home on vacation. So thank you to my meeting homies for recommending the pomagranite and the persimmons( I have no idea what to eat them with but I will give it a try). 

what do I do with these?

            Also a big thank you to Sheryl and Jenn. Their Jingle Jog insipred me to get out on the track and get back to jogging. I was only able to jog one lap and walk for the other three. It has been a while since I jogged and I was exhausted after one lap. But it was nice to complete one lap of jogging. I am hoping to do a running 5K in the spring so I need to get on it.