Food Therapy; Food Personality

About five years ago, I took diet pills (with doctor supervision) for weight loss - I refer to it as food therapy. My doctor had me to keep a food journal that included:

1. What I ate
2. What time I ate
3. Level of hungriness
4. Emotion at the time I ate

The food journal was the first time for me to identify that all emotions trigger me to eat. Boredom, happiness, sadness etc. all trigger me to want food. 

Today with Kathie Lee & Hoda is typically on while I'm working. They recently ran a segment called What's Your Eating Personality (totally worth clicking on the link and watching for 2 minutes) with Madelyn Fernstorm. The segment hit home with me in a big way. It made me think a lot about food therapy and the WW Project.

My food personality is:

• 3 meals a day This is without a doubt me. I find that I eat because I think it's time to .. not because I'm hungry. Even though I consider myself and emotional eater, I tend to do it more at meals.
• Carb Craver This label might be one that is more because of convenience. I love eggs, but it's quicker for me to grab a granola bar.
• Volume Eater This was an easy one for me because the night before the segment aired I made myself a root beer float. Volume is without a doubt a thing for me. I would rather have more of something with less calories than a little of something super delicious. If points weren't an issue I would always buy Blue Bell ice cream. It is the best ice cream! Now, I buy low fat frozen yogurt from the Schwann's guy. I can eat more of it, and it doesn't taste bad. 
• Part sweet tooth; part fat tooth I think because I love ice cream so much, I'm a fat tooth. I also love Milky Way candy bars (haven't had one in more than 2 months). 

I feel that if I take what I take the knowledge I have from food therapy, food personality and Weight Watchers that I will be more successful with the WW Project.

WW Project - Month 2

That's me; the pear on the right. I really didn't want to include pictures throughout the project, but then I decided pictures would make the process more real. For some reason, I don't want to share my starting weight. I figure I give enough clues that you can guess a range. I will share my height; I'm 5' 6 1/2".

The picture to the right was taken on June 13, 2012. The jeans are too tight for my liking - they are size 24 from Coldwater Creek. The shirt is a 2 XL (20-22) from Coldwater Creek. At this time the bottom button will barely button.

Month two of the WW Project was really about staying focused and inspired.

Achieved: Goal 1 - Lose 5% of Start Weight
So, I met my first goal - which was to lose 5% of my start weight. That 5% is equal to 15+ pounds. My reward for the 5% loss was to redeem a facial that I purchased in December. Well, the place went out of business! That's right, I'm out the money and no reward of a facial. So the reward is the satisfaction of knowing I accomplished the first goal.

Staying Focused and Inspired
Looking at losing weight as a work project has really helped me. This is not an easy project, but I really can't think of many work projects that are easy.

• Foods I love: Knowing that I can eat (in moderation) the things I really enjoy has made it easier to stay focus and inspired. Food scales and measuring spoons / cups are my new best friends. The mini-scoop is the best tool. I can still have chips and salsa! I love having it for a treat (sometimes it's my meal) 1 oz of Baked Tostitdos (3 pts), 2 T of On the Boarder Salsa (0 pts) and 2 T of Kraft 1/3 Fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese (2 pts). You know what, that's a lot of chips and salsa!
• Milestones / goals: All projects have milestones / goals, my next goal is 25 pounds of total weight loss. Another way that I'm looking at it is 10 pounds because I've lost 15. Those 10 pounds should make all my pants fit comfortably. 
• Shopping options: I have a few friends that I've told that I'm looking forward to going clothes shopping with them. By this time next year, I should be able to shop the same stores they shop. It'll be interesting to see if my personal style changes once my options open expand.
• Working from home: I feel fortunate that I have a job in which I work from home (90% of the time). I travel to California three to four times a year for a week at a time. In the morning, the TV in my office is usually on the Today show. The Joy Fit Club is one of the segments that motivated me to get on a weight loss program. The stories are real and I related to so many of the stories.
• A salad a day: Since veggies and fruit are great filler and little to zero points, I try to have a salad a day. It really helps with the total points.
• Accountability partner: my dear friend, CJ, is my official accountability partner. I check in with her weekly. I have other family and friends that I check in with on occasion. 

Activity Points Are Everywhere
Who would have thought cleaning (light cleaning) the garage equals activity points? We bought our home in 2010, sadly we have a mess in part of our garage. Much to my surprise - 45 minutes of cleaning in the garage is 4 activity points. It has been a lot of work, and I still have a lot of work. Not only am I getting rid of shit, I'm getting activity points! Yay for cleaning the garage.

My husband and I hoed, hedged and weeded the entrances to our subdivision. We spent about four hours (consumed a lot of water) cleaning it up. I looked at it as multi-tasking: cleaning up the entrances, working on my tan, and earning activity points.

Libby's Great Idea
My friend, Libby, shared her exercise and weight loss reward system with me. She counts calories and exercises regularly. She rewards herself with things like music or book downloads or a movie for working out on the weekends. Libby is very dedicated to working out through the week but has a hard time getting motivated to work out on the weekends. She has various levels of rewards for different things related to exercise and weight loss. I love the idea and I started something similar.

Check back in 30 days to read about month three of the WW Project.

The WW Project

Like a lot of people, I've gained and lost weight several times in my life. For years, I've said that I want to be in the best shape of my life at age 40. I will be 40 this December.

Through Pinterest, I've discovered so many wonderful blogs by women that have succeeded at weight loss. Admittedly, I read some of them while eating Girl Scout cookies. Reading their stories made me start looking at my own life and what has got me here.

I don't have a sad story as to why I'm overweight. My short story is that for years, I've put everything else ahead of my health. Some of my family and friends would tell you that I'm a workaholic. Some would tell you I'm lazy and others may tell you that I'm my own worst enemy because I love to bake. Then there are the ones that would tell you that I lack willpower when it comes to things for me.

All the success stories and my own self reflection inspired to begin what I'm referring to as The WW Project. The project kicked off about 30 days ago and will wrap up around December 2013. Only a few people know about the project. The following for my blog is minimal, so I feel okay sharing the details of the project.

The WW Project is how I've chosen to look at my journey to a healthier me. The realization for me was that I need to look at achieving my weight loss goal as a project. I can manage a work project great, so I decided to apply my project management skills to becoming a healthier me.

Weight Watchers online is the program that I opted to use to get me to my goal. You guessed it the WW represents Weight Watchers. The online tools are great - the app for the iPhone is also great. There was still something missing for me, so I created an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has formulas, so it is easy to identify milestones and how long it will take me to get to my goal weight. It's a quick visual that makes sense to me because it's set up much like a work project plan.

I'm thrilled to share that I've lost 11.5 pounds since I signed up (April 22) for WW.

Key Takeaways for the First 30 Days

• A small scoop is a must have for things like peanut butter, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo etc. Get one that is 1 Tablespoon. It makes it so easy for portions.
• I can make a delicious PB&J sandwich for around 11 points.
• Adjusting to low sugar and natural sugar items is an acquired taste. These low sugar baked oatmeal cups from Sugar-Free Mom are okay with a little honey on them. You have to know going in they are low sugar and the texture is a little different. The win is that they are only 3 points (4 points with the honey) and they are extremely filling.
• The reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese is the tub is 2 points for 2 Tablespoons. A wedge of Laughing Cow Lite Swiss is 1 point - a wedge is about 1 Tablespoon.
• Thin Mints are 1 point each - Who can eat one cookie? One sleeve, yes ... one cookie, no.