WAY TO GO

It's the last day of May and we had a total of 288 people in our four Saturday morning WW groups today. That's the same kind of number we were hitting at the height of the New Year diet season in January and February.

I love the commitment of our folks - they're sticking in and they're getting there ... one week at a time!

SUMMER DRINKS

We got to talking about drinking in my Saturday WW groups this morning and I tried to emphasize the importance of knowing the Points value of our favorite summer beverages as we move into the barbecue and party season.

Here are some recipes one of our members passed on - thanks Edie!

WW MARGARITAS - 2 Points

1 Can diet lemon-lime soda

I Pkg Lemonade Mix-Ins

1 1/2 Tbs Tequila

Shake all together with ice in blender

MOJITO - 2 Points

1 Pack Splenda

1 Lime

4 Mint leaves

2 oz Rum

Club Soda

Put mint into cup and add lime juice, Splenda and rum. Smash mint leaves with spoon. Add club soda and ice.

(CORE if Rum extract is used instead of real rum)

PINA COLADA - 2 Points

1 Pkg WW French Vanilla Smoothie Mix

1 Cup Skim Milk

Crushed Ice

Pineapple chunks

1/2 tsp coconut extract

Blend all ingredients together.

Makes two servings - 2 Points each or CORE

I NEVER REALIZED

Last December I took my wife to see Cirque De Soleil's Christmas Show at Madison Square Garden. It was our wedding anniversary, so we went into the city early, looked at the lights, ate at one of our favorite restaurants and made our way back to the WaMu Theater to take our seats - very good ones too - for the show.

It was shaping up to be a very nice evening out for us to celebrate 38 years of marriage, that is until the usher asked us to make way for the two men who had the seats next to ours.

They were big.

One was very big and he ended up sitting beside Gill and spilling over into her space considerably. She was uncomfortable and I was unhappy. This was not going the way I had planned and I found myself seriously resenting these gents for being the size they were.

It was then that I realized that I had been that person most of my life. I had been the one no one wanted taking the seat alongside them at a show, in a concert, on a plane, at a game, in church or anywhere else for that matter.

That was a wake-up call.

Seeing ourselves as others see (or saw) us is not necessarily pretty, but it reminds me how much I don't want to go back there!

SUMMER TREAT

Here's a cool Frostie recipe I found over at www.skinnyweek.com

1 point for 1/2 cup
1 can fat free Eagle Brand milk
1/2 gallon low fat chocolate milk
12 ounces fat free whipped topping

Mix the chocolate milk and condensed milk together then fold in the whipped topping. Put in an ice cream freezer and freeze as usual.

You can substitute diet Sunkist orange for the chocolate milk and have dreamsicle ice cream. Use a 2 liter bottle. It is then 1 point per cup.

ONE POINT SMOOTHIE

Just got back from a visit to The Diet Shop on Portion Road in Ronkonkoma to stock up on their 1 Point VitaTops, 1 Point Oatmeal Raisin Squares; 2 Point Fruit Pies and 4 Point Shepherd's Pies. A few other odds and ends too, but those are the main goods I get there - whoops, almost forgot the family favorite 2 Point Carrot Cake.

Anyway, while I was there I decided to try their smoothies and had a 1 Point Vanilla Smoothie, which was excellent. If you're in that area, I thoroughly recommend you stop by for a delicious, cool summer drink. They have Caramel too and a Mocha one for 2 Points that I'll try next time. I didn't want to use the extra point this afternoon as we're having dinner with friends tonight at my favorite restaurant - The Curry Club in East Setauket.

Say a prayer for me - that I'll behave!

SOMETHING NEW

Tomorrow evening I'll be starting as the leader of the Wednesday WW groups in Miller Place. I'm following an excellent long-serving lady who has left the compnay and am looking forward to building on her good work.

When I was first approached about leading some meetings, I said I would do one a week. This has now stretched to six and will definitely have to be the max that I take on.

While I take what I do very seriously and thoroughly enjoy it, I look upon this as my recreation. I don't hunt, fish or scrapbook (God forbid!), so this is something that offers me a total change of pace from what occupies my mind the whole of the rest of the week.

But there's only so much time in a week you can kick back!

IT PAYS TO CHECK

We ate out all the time while we were in California last week and discovered www.dwlz.com was our best friend. Planning ahead is huge and it's the best way to be sure to stay on track.

One of our favorite restaurants in Orange County is Claim Jumpers and just for the heck of it, I checked out their country fried steak dinner at dwlz.com. It is 85.5 Points! Can you imagine? Their sirloin steak dinner is a whopping 90.5 Points. That's why it's better to find out than to guess.

I'd never have thought that either of those would account for three whole days' worth of eating.

HELP ME OUT SATURDAY

Okay, so if all goes according to plan, we should be landing at JFK tomorrow evening at 10.10, which after we've collected our baggage, picked up the car, etc, should see us back home for midnight.

When I get up at 6.00am on Saturday, it will feel like 3.00am to me after four days on west coast time, so the bottom line is if you're a member of one of my WW groups, please make sure you're awake in this week's meeting as I may not be!

CALIFORNIA

I'm in Orange County most of this week - back Saturday for my WW groups of course! - and it's been an interesting trip so far, catching up with some friends, having meetings and attending a conference too.

It's always challenging when I travel to another time zone, but one plus here is that I was wide awake before 5.00 this morning, so still had time to run even though there was a very full day scheduled once the sun came up.

COLOSSAL

Yesterday in our Saturday WW groups I shared a few scary facts about Friendly's menu that indicate the restaurant isn't very friendly at all if you're looking for healthy eating.

Today I was in Ruby Tuesday's - Turkey Mini's with no fries, 13 points - and I saw the biggest burger I've noticed in a while. I'm guessing it was their Colossal Burger, which according to Dotties' Weight Loss Zone ( http://www.dwlz.com/ ) weighs in at a round 50 points - add another 7.5 points for fries.

Of course if the customer ordered an appetizer of buffalo wings, they score a further 60 - yes 60! - points.

Add beers or sodas for maybe another 6 points and that's a 123 points meal - so let's just hope and pray he didn't have room for dessert.

My thanks to Ruby Tuesday's - they're guaranteeing I'll always have a job!

CHEESECAKE

Trust me, this does taste like the real thing. It's a recipe from a frfiend of mine who's in one of our Saturday WW groups -

16oz Fat Free Sour Cream
I Pkg Fat Free/Sugar Free Vanilla Instant Pudding

Mix and refrigerate

You can add chopped fruit if you like - I tried it with crushed pineapple!

3 Points per half cup

FRESH AIR

I had a few things to take care of pretty early this morning, so I opted to run outdoors instead of driving to the gym, just to save some time.

I didn't run as far as I normally do, but I did cover two laps of the 1.6 miles course I've mapped out from our house. It was far better than settling for the fact that I didn't have time for an hour at the gym and therefore doing nothing.

Running on the road is altogether different from a treadmill and generally I prefer to be in the gym, but today I enjoyed the fresh air - probably because this was the first time I had run outdoors this year.

It was also good preparation for the first race I plan to do this summer - The Bellport Clipper in July.

EXCUSES, EXCUSES!

GET USED TO IT!

This morning I attended my regular Monday morning WW group as a member, as I have done for more than three years now. It helps me stay focused, keeps me motivated and I also get to see how Jocelyn deals with the recommended topic of the week before I prepare for my own groups.

One new member expressed very real disappointment at losing just two pounds in her first week and it was interesting to see everyone else jump all over her comments.

In a world of quick-fixes and instant gratification when will people ever learn that the pathway to health is a long one and it takes time to get there? You won't find a 14-day cure and though Britney Spears apparently managed to lose 15lb in four weeks (do I look like I really care?), that's not the solution to the long-term issues most WW members need to address.

A healthy, sensible, average weight loss is half a pound to two pounds a week. So it will take months, a year, or a couple of years. But once you get to where you want to be, the time it took to get there is an irrelevance.

It'll take a while - get used to it!

WHERE TO GET YOUR PROTEIN

Members of my Saturday morning WW groups know I'm on a protein crusade right now. Here's some info I found interesting -

Protein Content of Common Foods

Steak, sirloin 26
Peanuts (1 oz.) 7
Ground meat 20
Walnuts (1 oz.) 4
Hamburger 14
Peanut butter (2 TB.) 8
Bologna 10
Sesame seeds (1 oz.) 5
Hot dog 10
Sunflower seeds (1 oz.) 6
Venison 26
Flaxseeds (1 oz.) 6
Buffalo 13
Tofu (6 oz.) 12
Bacon (1 slice) 21
Soybeans (½ cup) 11
Ham 2
Soy milk (1 cup) 7
Turkey breast 26
Kidney beans (½ cup) 8
Roast beef 21
Lentils (½ cup) 9
Chicken, light 26
Chickpeas (½ cup) 10
Salmon 18
Split peas (½ cup) 8
Scallops 14
Tofu (5 oz.) 10
Oysters (2 oz.) 8
Oatmeal (1 cup) 6
Crab 13
Pasta (1 cup) 7
Cottage cheese (½ cup) 14
Brown rice (1 cup) 5
Cheddar cheese (1 oz.) 7
White rice (1 cup) 3
American cheese (1 oz.) 6
Whole-wheat bread 5
String cheese (1 oz.) 6
Mozzarella (1 oz.) 7
Whole milk (1 cup) 8
Skim milk (1 cup) 8
Low-fat plain yogurt (1 cup)10
Low-fat fruit yogurt (1 cup)10
Egg (1) 6

All are 3-ounce servings (approximately the size of a deck of cards) unless otherwise indicated. Source: 1996 First Databank.

THAT WAS FUN!

Did I ever say I enjoy doing my Saturday morning Weight Watcher groups? It's not just the fact that we had people reach goal and other milestones along the way this morning, it's that after almost eight months of doing this, I feel a huge sense of connection with most of the members.

Our numbers are staying way up, with us averaging as many coming on Saturdays in May as we were seeing at the height of the "diet season" in January. These folks are on a mission and it's a privilege to be a part of it.

Of course I missed my final group today as I had to head to Stony Brook for the biker wedding - that was fun too, with a whole stream of bikes coming down the road for the ceremony.

It seems the bride's definition of a "core" food reception was a pretty liberal interpretation of the core program, but we sat with some old friends, caught up with them and ate sparingly from the good food on offer.

A good day!

I TOLD YOU I WAS TIRED!

Went to bed early last night and slept 9 1/2 hours!

There are two key components to weight loss - moving more and eating less.

However there is another ingredient that is crucial to all-round health and that is getting adequate rest. Sleep deprivation is a major issue in this country, so while you watch what you eat, it's essential to make sure you sleep too.

WIPED

I've been tired lately and so have not been to the gym since Monday, but have slept later instead. I'm probably going to do the same tomorrow. I don't exercise on Saturdays.

So it will be Sunday before I get back to it. That's a calculated decision. I am not falling by the wayside, I'm catching up on sleep and I think that's smart!

WEDDING FEAST

I'm doing a wedding on Saturday afternoon at The Three Village Inn, which happens to be my wife's favorite restaurant - personally I think she likes anywhere that's pricey!

It'll be an unusual affair, starting with a ceremony on the green across the street from the restaurant. It's a biker wedding, for which the invitations said the dress code will be "biker casual" and the bride and groom plan to ride in together on a Harley. I'll settle for driving there in my Mustang.

Anyway, I was a little anxious about the challenges the food might present me with, until I met with the couple this afternoon to make the final arrangements for their big day. It was then that the bride-to-be told me, "Don't worry about what to eat, I ordered all Core foods." Then she explained that she had lost 50lb on Weight Watchers!

So my apprehension was definitely unnecessary!

There are more of us around than we realize!

TWO MORE

Last week I had a lengthy chat with the WW Territory Manager for Eastern Suffolk County as she is looking for a leader to fill some gaps coming up shortly.

I couldn't take on what she wanted me to, though as a relatively new staff member I was flattered that she asked. I like to be able to commit myself 100% to what I do, so there's no point in overstretching myself.

In the end I agreed to lead just two more groups each week, on Wednesday evenings at 5.30 and 7.00 in the Miller Place center.

It will be fun to work in a different center - pass the word on if you have friends living in that area and encourage them to visit me, starting at the end of this month.

TOO MUCH?

I didn't get to the gym yesterday as I was driving into the city in the afternoon (my usual Sunday workout time) to see Mama Mia - a great show if you didn't catch it yet.

So this morning I decided I'd better do a bit extra and since this is my day off, I figured I had the time. I arrived at the gym shortly before 7.00 and ran seven miles on a treadmill, which is my normal routine several days a week. Then I decided to stretch myself and do a further three miles on an elyptical.

A total of ten miles was way more than I normally do and I was pleased with what I had accomplished, but to be totally honest, my legs are still complaining more than 12 hours later. I have a fairly early appointment tomorrow, so I'm planning to sleep a little later than usual and skip working out to give my aching limbs a chance to recover.

The moral of this story is - if you can keep your exercise moderate but consistent, your body is probably less likely to rebel!!!

CHILI CLASSIC

Thought I'd put this back up here again - this makes a big pot, leaving plenty for freezing to use another time.

BEST EVER CHILI

1lb 97% lean ground turkey
1 large onion
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can fat free refried beans
1 can corn
1 16oz can chopped tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce
4oz can green chilies
1 package taco seasoning
1 packet Hidden Valley dressing (not buttermilk) dry mix - totally optional
Chop onion and brown ground beef. Add the rest of the ingredients – do not drain anything. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

CORE or 1.5 Points per cup

START OVER

START OVER ~author unknown

If you’ve started out in pursuit of your goal and you’ve really tried with your heart and soul, but somehow things got out of control – START OVER

When you’ve tried your best to do what you should and you thought this time that you surely would, but once again you didn’t do good – START OVER

When you’ve worked so hard for a healthy way and you fought to win every day, but one more time you went astray – START OVER

When the road to success seemed much too long and each temptation was oh so strong and once again you gave in to wrong – START OVER

When you’ve told your friends what you planned to do and trusted them to help you through and soon discovered it's up to you – START OVER

When you know you must be physically fit but your hope seems gone and you're stuck in a pit. That’s not the time for you to quit – START OVER

When the week seems long and successes few and at weigh-in time you're feeling blue, remember tomorrow is just for you – START OVER

To start again means a victory won and starting over AGAIN means a race well won and starting over AGAIN proves it CAN be done, so don’t just sit there – START OVER!!

ALL BY MYSELF

My wife was talking to her rheumatologist the other day and mentioned my weight loss. Apparently he was pretty impressed and asked whether I had undegone a gastric by-pass or had a lapband. When she said neither, the doctor was even more gushing about what I have been able to accomplish.

Let's be clear about this though, I may not have had surgical help, but I did not do this alone. Here are a few of the folks I'll always be indebted to -

+ My wife who regularly encouraged me to lose weight as she "needed me around".

+ The folks from WW in bygone days, who made such an impact that I wanted to go back and try again - especially Lynn who was there each of the times I joined and re-joined Saturday morning goups.

+ Fran who led the Monday group that I joined in 2005 and gently encouraged me forward.

+ Jocelyn who took on the group from Fran and continued to guide me towards goal.

+ Lucia who was the warm, welcoming person I saw behind the desk every Monday for more than two years at the Selden Center.

+ All the group members who supported and motivated me.

+ My family and friends who commended me and thus spurred me on.

I may not have resorted to surgery, but I did get a whole lot of help. I certainly did not get to where I am all by myself!