MORE FOOD THOUGHTS

I just had a tasty, healthy, filling, one point lunch.

Curious?

Here's the deal - fry some garlic in spray oil stuff; slice a good size onion and sautee that too; dice a couple of tomatoes and throw them in; roughly chop a bag of spinach and add to the pan with a bit of salt.

The secret ingredient is what they call Masala in India, which is where I got it, but over here we'd probably call curry powder. Stir well, cook gently for about five minutes.

It's a whole plateful of food, with absolutely zero points. (You could add whatever you want for added flavor of course if curry doesn't do it for you.)

The one point I mentioned was the WW English muffin I ate with it.

Bon appetit!

SHRIMP IS YOUR FRIEND

Hunger is not my friend. Never has been and never will be.

One of the things I love about the WW program is that I have seldom gone to bed hungry, but that does mean that smart decisions are necessary.

With 26 points to juggle every day, if I ate bacon, two eggs and a buttered bagel for breakfast, all washed down with coffe and half and half, I would certainly run the risk of having no scope for anything substantial for the rest of the day.

Which is why I love shrimp -

4oz of beef is 8 points

4oz of pork is 6 points

4oz of chicken is 4 points

But wait for it ...

4oz of shrimp is a mere 2 points!

That means I could eat a whole pound of shrimp or a quarter pound of beef - You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out which I'm eating for dinner tonight!

I seldom eat red meat nowadays. It's not that I don't like it - it's just not worth it!

TAKING IT STEADY

We've had friends staying with us for the past two weeks and so our routine has been very disrupted (in the nicest possible way!).

Add to that the fact they're from India and have cooked several Indian meals for us - this happens to be my favorite cuisine and seems to invariably involve the use of a lot of oil, butter, etc.

So I've gained a rapid seven pounds - that's right, seven!

Time to reign things in and start going steady - it will probably take another two weeks to get this off!

WEIRD FEELINGS

Having spent the last couple of days in DC with friends, doing the tourist thing, I must confess to having done very little exercise - apart from what has been involved in walking around various places of interest.

Strolling back to our Dupont Circle hotel from the Metro last night, a number of joggers passed me - and I wished I was out running too.

As someone who has never found great pleasure in my daily running regimen, I wonder if what I experienced yesterday means subconsciously I actually enjoy it???

Weird, huh?

PLANNING

I'm looking forward to a big event tonight, a banquet in a beautiful setting that will be focusing on some of the humanitarian projects our church is involved in.

I know what's on the menu because I helped decide what would be served to all the guests, so of course I picked some stuff I love. I won't eat it, but it'll be good to see it there and I hope those at the event will enjoy it.

I'm going to eat something before I go so that I don't arrive hungry and will have already had something substantial that is also healthy. Then I'll push some salad aaround my plate al evening.

Forward planning is a key part of eating well. You need to have a supply of healthy eats in the fridge or you'll pick up junk. You need to plan meals ahead so you have the ingredients or you're likely to fall back on mac and cheese. And when you're going out, you really need to have a strategy.

Planning is a vital element in my lifestyle. I generally think ahead at least 24 hours and let's face it, when you're eating far less than you have most of your life, you want to make each meal count!

TRAINING

Still going through the process of learning the ropes at WW. Not sure when I'll be doing their leaders' course, but am finding out what it's like to be on the other side of things. That's why I was to be found in the Selden center before 8.00 yesterday morning, with members already arriving for the packed 8.30 meeting.

Yesterday, in addition to weighing in an endless stream of people, I shared with some of the groups the fact that on my way to shedding 133 pounds I actually lost a total of 208 pounds, because there were gains as well as losses during those two years.

Seems that helped a lot of folks as they were relieved you can be less than the perfect Weight Watcher and still succeed in the end.

It's keeping going that matters in any area.

I'm less than a perfect Christian too, but I'm still heading in the right direction and I'm doing better with that than I was a year ago too!

KEEPING IT REAL

We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory today to celebrate Mother's Day. Okay I know it's a bit late, but we reckoned that on Sunday every restaurant rips you off and apart from that, because we weigh in on Mondays, we wouldn't be eating much the day before anyway.

So today we went somewhere special and we ate!

No salad - didn't pass on dessert - left feeling stuffed.

But that was it, it's over and I'm back on program now. You have to break out now and again or it wouldn't be normal. No one can live without the odd binge!!!

LIFETIME

Okay, it's official - today was my sixth week on maintenance and having stayed withing two pound of my goal weight (slightly under actually), I am now a lifetime member of Weight Watchers.

What does this mean?

1. Weight Watchers will get no more money out of me as I no longer need to pay to attend meetings (don't get too confused here, I am currently still attending a weekly meeting while training to lead one myself!).

2. Lifetime membership is a reminder that for the rest of my life I need to continue to take care of my health by monitoring my eating and exercising. It isn't the end of the road, it's the continuation of a journey that has to continue every single day.

WW has worked well for me - I thoroughloy recommend it, but you probably worked that out already!

BASEBALL AND ICE CREAM

Went to my six year old grandson's baseball game tonight. It's hilarious watching them - clearly most of the players have little to no idea what they're meant to do, but the coach made sure they all had a good time and was a great example of positive reinforcement throughout the game. This guy is brilliant at building kids up.

Anyway, our team won and my boy batted 1000, 4-4.

So I took him off to Friendly's after so he could get some ice cream. I toyed with the idea of just drinking diet soda, but when I discovered they do a fat-free soft-serve ice cream, I had some. It was pretty good. But then I faced a major issue ...

The waitress mentioned they have a sugar-free hot fudge sauce and I thanked her for the information. A few minutes later she brought me another cup of ice cream, with the sauce on it. What to do???

I really did not want to eat it, but I didn't want to appear ungrateful either. So I did the polite thing and reminded myself that it was all still within my points plan for the day.

Sometimes you just can't do the right thing however much you want to! So you suck it up and remember that all the excess weight did not come from half a cup of ice cream in the first place, so half a cup won't put it all back on.

WHEN'S THE CLASS?

It's weird, but people I hardly know are asking me when I'll be teaching a WW class, as either they want to join it themselves or they want to recommend that a friend or family member comes along.

Problem is, since I can't do the training course next week due to a full personal schedule, I'm not too sure when I'll actually be able to get started.

My current membership is the fourth time I recall joining WW. I have always lost some weight on their program, but never continued all the way through to reach my goal.

On reflection, the main thing that has been different this time is that when I joined I made the commitment to always stay for the weekly meeting, rather than simply weighing in and leaving as I had generally done before.

The meeting has been a great help. The weekly motivation has reaped dividends.

Let's hope when I get to lead a group I can give something back, or rather pass it on to others!

SECRETS FROM INSIDE WW

Seems that I am now officially an employee of Weight Watchers (for a whole 90 minutes a week!) and having worked through some of their training manual and done a couple of hours of hands-on at the Selden center, I am beginning to get some interesting insider information.

So here we go with my expose of this multinational corporation.

THE TRUTH ABOUT WEIGHT WATCHERS #1

You don't lose weight at Weight Watchers meetings.

That is the official word. It is well documented and comes as a startling revelation to all except a handful of retired postal workers in Milwaukee who sat outside a Weight Watchers Center for six weeks monitoring the sizes of hundreds of people arriving at and leaving weekly meetings.

No one is saying that Weight Watchers don't lose weight. But you don't lose it at the meetings. Here's when you lose it -

+ When you order your toast dry in a restaurant
+ When you put skimmed milk in your coffee instead of half and half
+ When you pass on dessert
+ When you drag your tail out of bed in the morning to exercise
+ When you keep going at the gym though your body is screaming that it wants to go home now

At the meetings you'll get motivation, support and menu ideas, but the actual work is done in the other 6 days and 23 1/2 hours of the week. You see the results at the meeting, but the real work is done when no one else is watching. It's about taking control of your own future.

TRAINING DAY

Tomorrow I start my training to become a WW group leader. Doesn't sound like they'll overwhelm me on day one as I'm scheduled to be in Selden for one hour to observe registrations and weigh-ins.

There's a four day training seminar later this month, but it won't fit into my calendar, so I'll try to work the next one into my schedule, whenever that will be.

I am really looking forward to leading a group. The opportunity for interaction with a whole group of people I don't know pumps me up. That day may still be a few months away, but in the morning we'll start moving towards it.

WORKING OUT

When you're out of your routine, everything becomes a challenge. It isn't just trying to make wise choices in restaurants, there's the whole issue of trying to fit exercise into a different timetable.

I didn't do too well while we were away over the weekend.

No exercise Saturday as we left home early and were traveling.

Sunday, managed to fit in a 2 1/2 miles run.

Monday, fairly pathetic and brief walk on the beach.

Tuesday, ran 5 1/2 miles - road running really takes a bigger toll on you than a treadmill does.

Wednesday, no exercise as we left early, traveled half the day, I caught up in the office this afternoon and have a meeting tonight.

Sure there was a treadmill in the hotel, but I have this weird thing about treadmills - there are few that I like. They really do all have a different feel. There are at least 25 of them in my gym and while I haven't tried them all, I've been on quite a few and there are only two that I am totally comfortable on.

It really messes up my morning if I walk in and find both of them occupied!!

Anyway, one good thing about being home is tomorrow I can get back into my routine.

TRYING

It's tough to know what's a good choice sometimes when you're eating out. I've commented here before that Applebees does have a WW section on their menu and we had a good dinner there last night. With several other chains you can go to their website and check on the nutritional content of the items they offer, which is very helpful.

But when you're meeting friends for breakfast at a local diner called - Eat And Get The Hell Out - it can be a challenge to know what's best to have.

My plan was to go for cereal and just in case they didn't have skimmed milk, I purloined my own little carton of 2% from the continental breakfast buffet offered by our hotel and took it with me. The waitress was new. She knew they didn't have fat-free milk but wasn't sure about cereal. Fruit Loops or Frosted Flakes was the choice. I opted for neither.

An egg whites omelette with some veggies in it is generally safe - but not down here in redneck country! I was invited several times to have cheese in it too, but declined. Yet it seems in the kitchen they are incapable of making breakfast cuisine without it. Whatever style any of us at the table ordered, every omelette contained cheese - mine included - and they were fried in enough grease to keep a car engine running throughout the Daytona 500.

Anyway, I had declined homefries or grits and had gone for wholewheat toast - dry. Yes, you guessed it, they can't serve dry toast in the south either!

So I tried, God knows I tried! But the rest of the day I'll be making amends for all that I unwittingly found on my plate before I got the hell out!