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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

2013....My Lifetime Achievement Chart

That's what I'm calling it. Roberta, my new coach, suggested that I come up with an important name for my chart, and since I am feeling very confident about my new strategy, that's the title I came up with!

This is a goal I have wanted to achieve my whole life. 2013 hasn't started off so great, so why not take control over what I can and force something positive into this calendar year?? It will for certain go down as one year I will never forget!

The left hand side starts with my current weight at the top, and the bottom left is the date, starting with this Friday, March 1st. The diagonal line that you see is the line I plan to chart my weight along twice a week, and ends at the bottom right at 150 lbs on August 30th. I have 26 weeks to get to that bottom right hand corner. I'm liking this chart thing already!






I did realize on Monday that I do spend a lot of time thinking about food, and as I spend today sitting down to blog throughout the day, I realize I have lots of thoughts about this. Roberta told me on Sunday, when we had our meeting, that she noticed, via my blog, that I spend a lot of time thinking about food. So now I have been thinking about why I have been thinking about food so much!

We actually had a WW meeting about this one time. I cant remember the numbers, but I do think I blogged about it. The average person makes a ridiculous number of decisions regarding food, each day. I think that was the subject of discussion? How many food decisions does the average person make each day? It's a LOT!

I have developed a love for cooking the last few years, so food for me has really become a hobby that I enjoy. Cooking seems to be very trendy these days. Look at all of the cooking shows and the cooking websites and blogs that are out there! Pinterest is covered with recipes! More and more people are really enjoying the "art" of cooking! I love to read recipes! I think it's fun to try new foods and to try new cooking methods. Lots of people love to talk about food! I know I have exchanged recipes or meal ideas with friends on many occasions. Plus, food is something we HAVE to think about everyday, several times a day. So even though I need to view it as a necessity as fuel for my body, shouldn't I also be able to enjoy the pleasure of it? Or? Is my new fascination with cooking and creating causing me to eat more often than I should, and more quantities than I should? I don't know.

When I started blogging with pictures of food, the whole idea was to show WW members that they could really enjoy what they were eating and satisfy all of their cravings by actually putting MORE thought into the food they were preparing and eating. I think by planning and being creative with my meals, I was forcing myself to try harder to create low point meals that were filling, tasty and physically appealing! I also received a lot of positive feedback about the food photos and their point values.

I also like to take pictures of packages of food. For me, a favorite part of my WW meeting is when other members bring in items they have discovered and that they recommend. I do like telling others about a great tasting, low point food I have discovered! Maybe I'll just do that on occasion. It's not like I buy a new product every day?

I had planned on recipes being a large part of my blog. My initial plan was to blog about a recipe, take pictures as I went, list the WW Points, then catalog it on my blog website. Well, I have an old Desktop that I haven't even turned on in months, so my iPad has become the complete source for my blog, and doing detailed things on my blog, such as labels and pages, can not be done on the iPad. So until this house see's a new computer, or the blog app is updated to do those things, the labels and pages part of my blog are a tad on hold.

I realize that I get a lot of personal satisfaction at the end of the day when I have stayed within my points and I look at the pictures of all of the food that I ate. I guess I am a visual person, and I assume others are too, and perhaps seeing all of the food that you can eat and lose weight, can be encouraging to someone that is just getting started.

So........those are several of the reasons that I can come up with for explaining why I spend so much time thinking about and blogging about food. This has been an interesting reflection for me.

What are your thoughts Coach? I am curious.

Do I take a break from the photos and food blogging?
Do I go about it differently?

Excited to get your coaching advice!

Here is my journal for Monday.






Can you read it? I want the world (okay, my few readers) to know what I ate, that it was all delicious, that I was completely satisfied all day and night, and that I stayed within my points!!!!!





"love the life you live, live the life you love"

8 comments:

  1. Interesting questions.

    I think you made an interesting observation when you talked about the weight watchers meeting where you discussed the number of decision people make about food every day. The trick is to reduce the number of decision you actually make, on a daily basis. In other words, before you go to bed at night, or when you get up in the morning, your food for the day should be completely planned. All of your decisions should be made. Then you don't have to make any other decisions, you just do. Every time you make a food decision, you are giving yourself an opportunity for choosing something that will not help you reach goal.

    That's sort of the point of your two free events a month, too. Twice a month, you don't even need to think about it. That is why I felt like it was important to limit the number of hours to the event, but not the number of drinks or the food you eat during the event itself. Otherwise, you are trying to enjoy yourself but you are counting drinks or counting points, and then it does not end up being the treat that you want it to be.

    I think you can do both. I think you can limit your daily food decisions and blog about your food. In fact, I think it works out perfectly. Before you go to bed at night, or before you eat anything in the morning, put up a blog post and say, this is what I am going to eat today. Tell us what you are looking forward to, because it is one of your favorites, and what you are eating because it is a staple and you know the points, and it satisfies you. I guess what I am saying is blog about what you are going to eat and why you are choosing those things (it tastes good, it is high in protein, it satisfies my cravings for sweets, it's high in vitamin c...you get the idea). If you are going to try something new, take a picture of it while you are cooking it and post the recipe that night (or later in the week) and let us know if you liked it or not. I think it is a great idea to keep a file with all your recipes, points for the recipes, and photos. This is something you can share with other people, but it will also help you when you don't feel like be creative. You can just pull out your recipes and pick something. Or have Mike pick something. Did you say that you are unable to post new recipes now because you don't have a computer? That's a bummer. I love the idea of having a recipe tab (preferably with photos). Because then you can use the blog to tell us about the new things you tried and post the recipes to the recipe tab. Then when you put up your post about what you are going to eat that day, you can refer to the recipe tab for anything that you have had before.

    I do know that a lot of people are more successful with weight loss if they keep their food routine. In other words, the less they have to think about what they are eating, the easier it is for them to stay on track. It's something to think about, but we are all different and we are all motivated by different things.

    It's late and I need to go to bed. I hope all this made sense!

    RB

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    1. I could do the planning thing. That has worked for me before. I don't think I will blog it though. Sounds boring and I still want the blog to be fun. It's Wednesday and today I plan to eat an Oatmeal pancake topped with peanut butter, soup, chicken taco salad and fruit. :) Yes, my computer is not working. :(

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  2. I enjoy blogs with food, ideas and pics. I have a ton of blogs in my reader and if they dont catch my eye, I usually move one. I have always enjoyed your blog and I love how you let us have a peek at your journal!

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    1. Thanks Libby! I am so glad you are still reading and always love your comments!

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  3. By the way, I love the title of your chart and your SMART goal picture. Perfect!!

    I knew helping you would help me. I thought about what I told you about limiting the decisions you have to make about food to once per day. That makes a ton of sense to me. If I make all my food decisions in the morning, then I don't have to make any more food decisions for the rest of the day. It reduces my potential for making bad choices. This is going to help me, as well!

    Have a great day!

    Roberta

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  4. I'm just impressed that you made that poster all with your left hand! Impressive!

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    1. Apparently......I am ambidextrous! ( my right hand did help a bit )

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