ON THE ROAD AGAIN

I'm in Mount Pleasant, SC for a couple of days this week - back home Wednesday lunchtime.

That means a couple of things -

1. I've switched to the Core Program, which is always a lot easier in my estimation when you're out of routine. Had a great dinner at Outback tonight - all Core!

2. I brought my sneakers and running gear with me and went for a run on the road this morning. There's an exercise room in the hotel, but I don't like hotel treadmills. They are generally very inferior to those in my gym back home, as was proved last year in Houston when I tripped on a treadmill, the Stop button didn't work and I seriously skinned my knees. Anway it's warm here - great weather for an outdoors run!

Too many good snacks on offer at the conference I'm attending. They were handing out Coldstone Creamery ice cream sundaes during one break today, but I'm glad to say I passed on that offer. My resistance crumbled with the shrimp in sauce over grits during another break - but it was a small serving (cocktail glass size).

Traveling has its own challenges, but there are solutions too!

MY FRIEND TURKEY

One of the best finds in the past year, or whatever, has got to be 97% fat free ground turkey. It's so much healthier than any kind of ground beef and the fact is that since I always use it with some kind of sauce, there's no real taste issue either.

4oz is only 2 Points, whereas 4oz of ground beef is 8 Points.

So it's tasty, economical (Points-wise that is) and it tastes good. We do a lot with it - like the South African dish Bobotie that I just made for tomorrow night's dinner. It's delicious and only 4 Points for a generous serving.

I'd give you the recipe, but the key ingredient is a blend of spices I got in South Africa that is certainly not on the shelves in Pathmark.

Okay, I just remembered Google - here's a recipe -
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/meats/bobotie.html

MID-WEEK MEANDERINGS

+ They've opened a new pizzeria right next to the WW center in Miller Place. Trust me, from what I saw last night more of their customers need us than they do a sicilian pie with pepperoni and garlic knots on the side.

+ The Lose To Win initiative is going really well in the two centers I work in - loads of food coming in for local not-for-profits.

+ Not sure if I like the new version of The Biggest Loser. Maybe that's because I missed week one. We'll see.

+ If anyone knows how to prepare the new WW Mexican Rice side dish that we're selling in our centers without it being a sloppy mess, please let me know. Obviously it involves something other than following the instructions on the box.

+ I've been encouraging members to get the Skinny Songs CD. You can check it out for free here - www.skinnysongs.com - look out for my mug shots on their website.

+ Biggest weight loss in last night's 7.00pm group - 4lb. How did she do it? She told us she wrote everything down. Now there's a novel concept.

+ Last Saturday was my first anniversary of taking over the Saturday groups and our numbers were up 14% on the same weekend last year. That was encouraging. Not good enough of course, but encouraging.

+ Met a friend for breakfast in a diner today. I've never been a big morning eater, but whenever I was in a diner I would eat a full breakfast. It did cross my mind to stray a little as I looked at the menu, but my friend helped me by commenting, "Why are you looking at the menu when you know what you're going to have?" So that's what I ordered, my new normal, oatmeal.

FROM THE BOSS

Some good stuff here in a CNN interview with WW Ceo David Kirchoff -

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/09/22/news.092208.weightwatch.cnnmoney

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of my taking on leading the Saturday morning WW groups in Selden. One year ago tonight I didn't sleep too well as I was nervous about the prospect of taking on the considerable responsibility of becoming the coach/ mentor/ adviser/ friend to several hundred people most of whom were still on the journey to health that I had only completed myself six months earlier.

I knew I could give a reasonable presentation - I've been doing that with groups of people since I was a teenager. But that isn't the issue. Sure, I knew the program, but being able to pass on accurate information is not what this is all about for me.

It's all about people.

People desperate to win a battle that has been a lifetime's struggle for many of them. People who simply want to live longer, enjoy life more and feel better about themselves.

Could I really help the members?

With God's help and the support of a great staff team, I think I'm doing it and hope to continue to do so for a good few years to come.

CONFESSION

I always recommend to my WW members that they go into every potentially challenging situation with a plan - be it a birthday party, a company dinner, Thanksgiving, or whatever. My theory is that it is better to deviate slightly from pre-determined actions than go in with no plan and blow it all.

So the feedback on yesterday's city trip is this -

I did have a plan and I did deviate from the plan. I guess an Indian restaurant is probably the most tempting place that I can ever find myself in and I did succumb. But there are some positives.

1. I had allowed plenty of points for the occasion.
2. I refused both appetizer and dessert.
3. Bottom line, it was just one meal.
4. Today is another day and I'm back on track.
5. I enjoyed it!

WEIGHING THINGS UP

Gill and I are heading for Manhattan in a half hour or so, to see Celine Dion in concert in Madison Square Garden. We don't go into the city together that often - I think the last time was our wedding anniversary trip in December - so we want it to be special ... which includes dinner!

Recognizing that special is not sitting some place and eating a grilled chicken salad, I've been planning for this evening and a visit to our favorite Indian restaurant on 44th Street.

It's a simple plan, but may be of help to others -

1. I've made this a low-point day so far, so that I have plenty left for dinner.
2. I've got a number of my 35 felxible points for the week banked for tonight.
3. I've looked over points values for Indian foods and know what is a good choice - and what is not!

So wish me luck and pray that my resolve holds!

GETTING OUT OF A RUT

I find weekends exhausting. Saturday is absolutely non-stop from 6.45am until dinner time. Then I get the last bits and pieces sorted out for church on Sunday, go to bed and leave home at 7.00am to help transforming a movie theater into a contemporary church in time for a 10.00am service.

In recent months I've got into the pattern of crashing on a Sunday afternoon and dozing in front of the baseball on TV.

That's not good, because for the past three years I had been spending that time in the gym. It's easy to be too kind to yourself, especially when you're tired, so today I decided I needed to shake that habit.

I did watch some baseball and as soon as my team blew their lead and the game in the 9th inning, I headed out to run for a while. It wasn't as full a workout as I used to do in the gym, but a medium distance run on the road was far better than I've been doing on Sundays of late.

And I was glad I did it!

SATURDAY

I'm shot, but this was a good day!

Seems that things are returning to normal at Weight Watchers now, with numbers way up and thankfully a number of people back that I have been missing over the past few weeks.

It's so easy to get disconnected and to start undoing all that has been accomplished, so I'm always glad to see members coming back in through the doors.

We had new faces in every group too, which meant that the action was non-stop from arriving at the center at 7.00 to leaving around 1.45. It wasn't just me who barely came up for breath - our excellent support team out front excelled as always.

Like most things in life, it's a team effort that makes things happen and I have the best team.

WHEN YOU'VE A LONG WAY TO GO

One of the worst things that happened to me on my weight loss journey was achieving the 100lb weight loss mark. Don't get me wrong, on the morning I weighed in at WW and saw the reading on the scale, I was ecstatic. Later that morning I even went along to the lunch buffet at a nearby Indian restaurant and really celebrated.

I know that wasn't the best response, but one meal wasn't the issue. It was the Yes, I did it mentality that messed me up. The problem was that I hadn't done it - I was not at my goal. I still needed to lose 33lb and it would take me another 13 months to get there.

So how do you stick at it for the long haul?

1. Promise yourself you're there until you totally succeed - no matter how long that takes.
2. Never lose sight of how far you have already come.
3. Keep plugging away at the basics - weigh, measure, write down, exercise.
4. Try to connect with someone who had as much to lose as you and who was succesful.
5. Remind yourself of the benefits so far and of how many more are ahead.

FYI

I've had quite a number of people in my WW groups ask me about our church lately. Now for obvious reasons, I don't say anything about it in the course of our meetings - that's not what we're there for.

But I figured I'd post a link to our website for those who want to know a bit about it or at least are mildly curious about what I do when I'm not in WW.

www.churchatthemovies.com

1.1 BILLION

Last year there were roughly as many underfed people in the world as there were overweight people -1.1 Billion. I have the source for that, though not at my fingertips at this exact point in time and I'm too idle at this late hour on a Saturday evening to go hunt for it! So take my word for it!

So today when I told my WW groups that over the next six weeks we are going to give them the opportunity to tilt the balance a little in the favor of the underprivileged, there was a great response.

In both the Selden and Lake Ronkonkoma Centers they're going to be accepting food donations throughout this Win To Lose campaign and everything that comes in will go into our overstretched Grace Care Food Pantry, which supplied around 9,000 people with food in 2007. There's the potential for a massive boost to our supplies as we head into the fall and I am grateful to our Territory Manager and the Location Coordinators in the two centers.

INTERNATIONAL WEEK

I don't know if there's something weird going on or what, but I've had visitors to my blog from all over Europe this week - Greece, Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland and Holland.

There've been readers from Vietnam, China, Mexico and Guatemala too.

So whoever you are and wherever you live, welcome to my corner of the worldwide web!

LOSE FOR GOOD

I'm pumped about WW six weeks program that will lead to the company donating up to $1m to charities for the needy both here and overseas. The only catch is that their part will be in proportion to the weight members lose during that period.

It's kind of weird that so many of us are watching our food intake while much of the world just wonders whether it will even eat.

Glad we're doing something.

PROTEIN

I've been eating a lot of protein this past couple of days, refocusing myself on an area that I emphasize when I'm speaking to others about weight loss.

Protein has two big things going for it -

1. It fills you up.
2. It gets the metabolism moving.

There are probably few people reading this who would not do well to follow my lead and up your protein this week - it may not seem this way, but protein is our friend.

ROUTINE

Okay, so this is it - Labor Day! - and while I'm mourning the fact that this means fall is just around the corner, to be inevitably followed by the snow-shovelling days of winter, it also means that life returns to some semblance of normal.

Barbecues, picnics and pool parties are behind us. Vacation is over.

Now I can settle back into my routine which has been so rudely interrupted so often during the past three months, making it a challenge to stay on track at times.

This morning I returned to the gym for the first time in two weeks - I did work out whilst on vacation, but not to the normal degree - and I started on page one of a brand new three months tracker.

I'll miss summer, but I'm glad to get back in the groove.