The challenges of traveling for work

I am headed out of town today for a conference in Pasco, WA.  Oh yeah!  Traveling is hard when it comes to weight loss and weight maintenance.  Especially when it is for work and meals at the conference are included in your conference registration, and your bosses are there and you can't really ditch!  Here are some things I have done over the past few years to make traveling easier:

• I take my shoes and workout clothes.  I have almost always made myself hit the gym at the hotel at least once on my trip.  This trip is no exception, I have them in my bag and ready to be used!
• I have packed instant oatmeal to allow for a healthier breakfast option.
• When I have had a fridge in my hotel room I went to the closest grocery store and got breakfast, lunch, and dinner stuff. 
• I always ask for an egg alternative at the restaurant.
• I eat only part of the lunch or dinner that is served, and make sure I eat the veggies.  And really, how often are these hotel meals any good??? 
• I try to drink a lot of water and tea. 

I have had a very good week, even got a walk/run in this evening.  I am hoping to use some of my learned skills and keep myself on track while I am traveling.  I pledge to get into the gym at least once and not eat my complete lunch each day.  Please, hold me to the pledge! I will blog on Saturday about how it goes! 

Monthly Birthday Celebration

Today is the dreaded monthly birthday celebration I am sure every office has in some form or another.  Our celebration happens once a month to celebrate the birthdays in that month.  We rotate who brings the treats.  We have had some awesome treats!! I love tasting all the awesome treats!  Today I am one of the lucky suppliers of the treats!  I planned to plan and bake something last night, but that did not happen, life got in the way!  I will go at my lunch break to find some delicious at the grocery store, of course keeping in mind what might be a bit healthier and more point friendly. 

I am sure there are some people out there on diets that lock their office door and hide during the dreaded birthday celebrations.  And yes, I have done that before.  When I first started Weight Watchers I would go get coffee during that time, or shut my door and pretent I was working too hard.  All that, just to avoid the awesome treats!  As time went on I decided to just give in and allow myself to enjoy the treat and the social time.  Most times (not always, I am not perfect!) I will plan my breakfast and lunch around the event.  I will also make sure I stay away from the candy dishes that day! 

Today, I have a light lunch, left overs of Chicken Taco Chili, and had a Starbucks Spinach and Feta wrap for breakfast.  I have had no snacks and plan to drink lots of water and stay away from the candy dishes!  I am ready and prepared and cannot wait to have a taste of those awesome treats!! 

{On a side note, I wanted to say I did go back and journal for the weekend, and I got a good walk in last night!!!}

Monday Madness

I thought I would start a couple of themed posts.  Monday Madness just sounded good!  I might have done this backwards, but I thought of the blog title first, and came up with the content of the blog second. 

Monday Madness blog posts will include the madness that is Monday in my life of weight maintenance.  Today I will tell you what the madness is all about for me on a Monday and next week I will do my first post. 

When I started Weight Watchers in June 2007 I decided to weigh in and attend a meeting at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday. Yes, I am crazy!  The reason was because my evenings were busy with my family and attending a meeting that early on a Saturday meant my daughter was likely still asleep and I would not miss time with her. 

Over the years that weigh in came to mean I had my weekend to splurge.  I would always wait for Saturday night to do the pizza, etc.; never on Friday night!  And I would enjoy Sunday and eat extra points.  I think I use most of my extra 35 points on the weekend.  Which brings me to Monday, and the madness around playing catch up and trying to live within my points for the rest of the week. 

I have never tried to change this because, hey, I lost the weight, right? So it must be okay.  But, now my life is different and there is less time for gourmet weekday meals and less money to buy the more expensive foods that tend to have fewer points.  While I still plan to splurge a bit on the weekends, because that is what weekends are for, I am setting a goal for myself to hold my self responsible for the points I spend on the weekend.  I will make an extra effort to journal on the weekends and hopefully cut down on the splurging just a bit. 

In future editions of "Monday Madness" I hope to be sharing how I tried to not have the crunch feeling on Monday or the shock at the scale on Monday! I do not want to spend all weekend gaining what I spent all week keeping off or loosing and end up in a vicious cycle. 

It is about MODERATION!!

That has been one of my mottos throughout my weight loss and into my maintenance.  It is all about moderation.  I never deprive myself of a good meal and good food.  I let myself go out once in awhile.  I let my self indulge.  I prepare for the indulgence and plan for it.  So, that brings me to date night and my favorite food, PIZZA!!!  I cannot live without pizza.  My love affair with pizza was one of the main reasons I decided to follow the Weight Watchers plan.  I did not want to go on some diet that would not allow me to eat what I love! 

We got out for a quick date last night, thanks to my sister!  I have been craving pizza for weeks! So, last night, I will be indulged! I ate some yummy Sparta's real Italian pizza with lots of cheese! I sipped a glass of wine as I enjoyed every bite of pizza.  I do not regret my pizza!!

To prepare, I had a spinach and egg white omelet for breakfast, small turkey and spinach wrap for lunch and some grapes, and a small snack of nonfat Yoplait yogurt.  No, I do not know how many points all that was, I do need to journal it (Please, someone remind me!!).  But, I know I cleaned house all day and probably earned one or two activity points.  And, I know I have 35 points to use how I want.  So, I am going out tonight and enjoying myself and not looking back!  That is the way to do it!

I am still alive and kicking!!

Wow, I really haven't blogged here in awhile and I really should have.  I know I don't have a ton of readers probably, but I think I want to blog more and maybe inspire someone or I guess inspire myself!  Maintenance is HARD! I made it through two years and decided I didn't need the online tools anymore, that was mistake #1.  I did need them.  But, now we are cutting our family budget, so I am making myself use the tracking book, so got a stack of them in August, and oh, used like 2 of them.  That was mistake #2.  And I thought I could just watch what I ate and not worry about points, Oh, and forget moving, I didn't need that anymore either, or did I???  That was mistake #3 and #4. 

Oh wait, this morning our WW leader told us to celebrate and not dwell on mistakes.  So, here I am to celebrate.  I walked 4 out of the last 6 days! Yeah for me! And, I got my sister to join me for two of them!  I had only 3 or 4 pieces of my co-workers candy all week!!!  And believe me, that is something to really celebrate!!!  And, I made sensible meals and limited my extra snacks!  Okay, so I have something to celebrate today!  AND, after a hard couple of months and (SHOCK!!) trying to avoid meetings, I weighed in at goal for the month of October!  Thank goodness! I was 2lbs over goal on my home scale about a week and a half ago. 

So, here I am, going to blog again and share more and hope to get more readers that can help hold me accountable.  Please, share with me what you are celebrating today.  No dwelling on the mistakes!

Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism

I am just loving Jillian Michaels!!! I have still been doing the 30-day Shred. I am currently at L2D5 (day 14 overall). I am mixing it up with other things too. Yesterday I had hoped to jog and Shred, but my work schedule got in the way. Instead I tried the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism workout offered OnDemand. WOW! I was sweating buckets, but it felt great!! What an awesome workout!

I have WI tomorrow morning, so we will see if I am loosing any more lbs. I did not take measurements, but I know I am loosing inches. Clothes are hanging on me. And, I bought a sundress at Old Navy the other day in a SMALL!!!

Fresh and Light Salad - Fitness Snacks - Fitness-Friendly Foods: What to Eat After a Workout - Photos - CookingLight.com

This is a great salad and can be a dinner entree on a warm summer day!!

Fresh and Light Salad - Fitness Snacks - Fitness-Friendly Foods: What to Eat After a Workout - Photos - CookingLight.com

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