Starbucks Does it Again

As you are likely aware, I am insanely addicted to the Apple Tarts at Starbucks. Well- it is quite possible they have outdone themselves...

Starting this week, the Rustic Apple Tart was no longer available (there are still about 20 in my freezer though); instead, they have a "Peachy Apple Tart". Basically, it's the same thing, but square, and slightly smaller but with 2 peach slices on top of the apples.

It looks like this:



And to give you an idea of size, it's nearly 4 inches square:



But where it surpasses the Rustic Apple Tart is in the calorie count:



That's right- it *claims* to be a very respectable 120 calories! I nearly squealed with delight when I discovered this. I almost don't even believe it, but considering the apple one is 190, and this one is nearly identical (but slightly smaller), I suppose it's entirely possible.

So I've been enjoying this fantastic NEW breakfast all week (and logging my points, thank you!) Unfortunately, this item is not yet listed on their website so I'm not sure if it's 2 or 3 points (I'm guessing only 2). I actually called the fine folks at the bux (1-800-23-LATTE) to get all the info and even they didn't have it yet. They're supposed to call me back, and if they do, I'll give you the fat and fiber so that we all know the actual point count.

Until then, I will be enjoying this tasty breakfast treat and highly suggest you try one if they're available in your area!

Weekly Meeting Topic and Personal Goal

I know it's been too long- I'm trying to get back to everything, I swear!

That being said...

Tonight's meeting was about squeezing in more activity; and the simple steps you can take to be more active. My leader always likes to get my participation during these topics because I am living proof that you CAN become active, even if you've led a sedentary life for 35 years- I accomplished what I never would have considered possible: I made the transition from certified couch potato to actual fitness enthusiast...

I've been through this story a million times, but I'll tell it again...

I was never an active person. My whole childhood was spent on the couch, watching reruns. I didn't go outside, I didn't participate in any sports at home or in school and as an adult, I was so lazy I would drive 1 block to the dry cleaners (true story, as recently as 2005).

So how did I become the new person I am today?

In short: DESPERATION

I desperately wanted to start taking weight off and knew that muscle mass helped speed up the fat burning process.

I joined the gym... reluctantly... and forced myself to go.

I hated it. I dreaded it. I felt like my heart was going to explode. But I did it. A little at a time, slowly building up my duration and intensity.

After 2 months I realized I looked forward to going, and started going more frequently.

After another month, I saw actual physical changes in my body that I didn't think were possible.

Then I was hooked!

Since then I have added activity- punk rope, biking, pilates, yoga, and more walking per day than I used to do in a week!

The important thing to note though, is that I started slowly. I challenged myself, but realistically. I found activities I enjoyed, and when I was more confident and in shape, I added more activities- At that point I was less self conscious, less afraid, less concerned with how unco-ordinated I looked, or inexperienced I appeared. I realized that everyone starts somewhere, and I've seen amazing progress in everything I've done. So I'm willing to try and do things I would have never done prior to joining the Y. And I'm thankful for that!

The trick is to start slow- and that's what this meeting was about- even if it just means committing to taking the stairs instead of the elevator; or walking more by parking further/getting off the subway a stop earlier. Start somewhere- sneak in some exercise, and find activities you enjoy and gradually increase them.

My goal for this week is to figure out how I can sneak in some more activity. I realize I do a lot already, but I'm sure I can do more. I may add extra minutes to the cardio machines at the gym or increase the intensity level. I will take "stair breaks" at work- every 2 hours, walk 6 flights of stairs and then go back to my desk.

Think about what you can do and do something- I promise you will feel a sense of pride for doing it, in addition to feeling better physically. Who knows, you may realize how much you enjoy it and come up with a routine like I did! You'll be glad you did it. Trust me.

Free Cones at Ben & Jerry's Today!

Note: I am going to try to write my "weekly meeting" blog tonight after my workout. In the meantime, I had to share this!

Today is Ben and Jerry's annual Free Cone Day! Click this link to see where there is a Ben and Jerry's in your area and find out if they are participating.

Also- they are very good about posting the nutritional info on their page (although all info appears to be posted 3 years ago- Hopefully the numbers are still accurate), so you can decide which flavor you want BEFORE you go.

I am going to try to make it over the mall this afternoon and get my cone! Who doesn't love free ice cream??

Yippee!!!!!!

NYC's Calories on Menus Law

Hi guys! I miss you! Let me mention that I had to miss this week's meeting because I had tickets to see Chelsea Handler with my friend Lainy, and I didn't have time to go to my weekly meeting before the show. (Chelsea was awesome, by the way! And no, Chuy was not there)



Anyway, I wanted to tell you about something exciting in NYC that will help the calorie conscious; and I hope this gets expanded to the rest of the country soon- A new law was passed so that if any restaurant has 15 or more locations, they are required to post the CALORIES of the food items!

They attempted to pass this legislation last year, and it was very controversial. I loved the idea, but it failed at the time. Somehow though, they got it through and as of June 3rd, any restaurant within the parameters of the law that does not comply will be fined. Of course there are still many restaurants and groups have been trying to get this law over-turned, but I hope they are not successful.

Keep in mind, these are chain restaurants where the nutritional information is widely available online (but some sites make it tricky to find it- Quizno's comes to mind). And if you're in the restaurant, the info is usually NOT available at that time. That's why this is such a great, useful tool.

Starbucks, wonderful company that they are, has already started (I realize the calorie information is hard to see in these photos, but it's very clear in person)-





I can't believe how much they are STILL fighting to overturn this law. This is about information - information that people can ignore OR use to help them make a better choice than they might have made other wise. I have nothing against someone wanting to consume a highly caloric meal (heck, I do it on occasion!) - that's everyone's CHOICE. However, if you do want to know how many calories you are consuming, and want to make the best choice possible, it's nice to have this information readily available.

Those of you in NYC should start looking at for this at all the major chains!

Weekly Meeting Topic and Personal Goal

Tonight was a subject near and dear to my heart: EXERCISE! You can call it activity, or movement, if the "E" word is too scary. It all comes down to moving more.

I don't quite get the connection, but they had the acronym "REACH" written out on a board. It broke down like this:

Recognize an excuse (what excuses are you using to avoid activity?)
Ease into activity at your own pace (go slow and build up your level, intensity, duration- that's how I did it!)
Ask for help (don't be afraid to talk to other people, especially at your gym for advice or assistance with routines or equipment)
Change negative thoughts (turn your negative statements into positive ones-stop saying can't!)
Have fun with it (do an activity you enjoy, or be adventurous and try different things till you find some that are fun, which you look forward to)

Whenever the exercise topic comes up in our meeting, I end up talking - I tell everyone my exercise history and how it's literally changed my life; how prior to this latest time I joined WW, I was never active- I hated exercise. I hated any activity. I was the absolute epitome of laziness. And impressively enough, I totally turned that around...

When I joined in September 2006, I decided I just needed to do *something* to help get the weight off faster. At the time I made the decision to join the Y, I had no idea that I would end up loving exercise. I never imagined I could feel so good physically. I never dreamed of curing my depression and moodiness. I had no idea that my body would change in such beautiful ways. I couldn't have known the sense of pride and happiness I would eventually feel - In short, I had never done anything for myself that felt so good, and was so good for me.

It is for those reasons that I still exercise 6 times a week. It is because of what a powerful and positive impact exercise has had on my life that I encourage everyone to exercise, or at least consider exercise- because I was not always like this; I know how it is to be on the extreme opposite side, the lazy side. But now that I know how incredible it is to be on the active side, I do everything possible to motivate people to move.

So if you are using excuses, admit it. And stop it. The sooner you start moving, the better you will feel- in ways you can't even imagine yet.

As for my goal for this week:
I have no activity related goals, I am just going to keep doing what I've been doing. But as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, my goal for this week is just to get back on track- One thing is that I want to limit my alcohol to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (no more than 3 drinks per night) this week. Just as important as limiting my alcohol, I want to be accountable - I need to track my food and points. That's most important to me right now, and something I haven't done consistently in a while. I know how fantastic it will feel if I get one week of that under my belt, and I'm looking forward to that feeling as well.

When Life Happens

I realize it's been a while and thanks to all of you that wrote to me asking for my return! I really DID miss you, and missed writing. I love the responses from my real life friends as well as my internet/blog friends via comments and emails. It inspires me and means so much to me to see how you care about my personal journey, and to hear your own stories. We all have our own personal history and demons, but they are remarkably similar. And I think it's great to have other people to relate to. So thanks for caring and reading...

Basically, I've just had a lot of personal stuff going on. And while it has all been good for the most part, it has affected my eating patterns and other health related behaviors. It occurred to me that it would be good to write about; since you will likely experience it at some point too.

Weight Watchers aside, life happens- things in your life will change for better or worse and they may affect your routine: you might move, or get a new job, or go through any other life change (good or bad). Any of these things can affect your food intake or behaviors. And that's exactly what happened to me...

Since I last posted, I've started dating a new guy (my Missed Connection from my commuting blogs, if you read those) and things have been awesome. :) But I have spent so much time with him, that everything else has had little attention. I haven't blogged, I haven't been tracking, I rarely have time to cook so I've been eating strangely, and I've been drinking way more than usual. The good thing is that I haven't deviated from my workouts. And we even work out together sometimes, which is one thing I love about our relationship. In fact, we did yoga together this morning! My first time! I felt amazing after the yoga and went on to do 35 minutes of cardio - which felt even better than normal. I left the Y feeling stronger, more powerful and taller. My endorphins were pumping- I felt amazing! It was a great way to start a Sunday!

But I realize that I need to reign in the other very important part of this- the food and my other behaviors. I need to get back to tracking my points and planning my meals and adult beverages- So that is what I focus on this week. It's more important than anything else right now. After all, I can juggle a new relationship *and* take care of myself. So I am making that my priority, before things get totally out of control.

So when you find yourself in a similar situation, do as well as you can; but get back on track as soon as possible. And don't beat yourself up in the mean time. It's persistence, not perfection, that matters.

Weekly Meeting Topic and Personal Goal

First I will start with how I did with my Goals from my previous "Weekly Meeting" post- I had 2 goals:

1) To consume the 2 servings of oil daily
2) To track daily

My results:
I would give myself a 50% for both of those goals, so I am continuing to work on them this week. I'll admit, even a 50% on the oil is pretty good for me. But I want to hit at least 5 days a week for both of those goals, so I will continue to work on them as long as I have to until they become incorporated into my daily life.

Now for this week's meeting:
This week's meeting focused on "Reframing", which is one of the WW Tools for Living. I happen to love the Tools for Living, I think they are so helpful. If you are a member and haven't read them in a while, please do. Basically, Reframing asks you to identify a a bad habit that you engage in, ask yourself WHY you do that thing- what are you getting out of it?- and HOW you can change that behavior? What can you replace it with?

One bad habit I have that I can focus on is STRESS EATING. Not every emotion makes me turn to food, but stress does. So what I need is a strategy- The next time I am feeling stressed and know I am going to turn to food as a way to deal with it, what can I do? I want to change that behavior to EXERCISE. So if it happens at work, I can go up and down the stairs as much as I need to until the feeling passes. If it happens at home, I want to practice a pilates move that I have trouble with.

My leader mentioned something she did a while ago (she's had 60 pounds off for 13+ years)- She wrote a list of all the emotions that make her eat. Next to each item, she wrote what she will do INSTEAD OF EAT when that emotion hits. And she has that list posted on her fridge and uses it to this day! I think that's a great idea- one you might consider yourself!

So that's Reframing in a nutshell: Identify a bad habit and have a STRATEGY for dealing with it the next time it happens.

I am adding this to my weekly behavior goals (in addition to the oil and tracking)- to make sure if I get stressed out about something this week, I find a PHYSICAL ACTIVITY to do. I do not want to eat through the stress!

See if you can come up with at least one for yourself.

Why all points are not created equal

Being a 'math person' and someone who likes rules and consistencies, I used to be very frustrated by the inconsistencies of points. These principles are especially important if you realize you are not having the results you expect- you may be consuming more points than you realize just because you aren't tracking as accurately as you thought. I'll tell you what I noticed and how I got over it:

Why does 1 = 1, but 2 = 4?

Look at these 3 snack examples and their points values:
a) 100 calories, 3 grams fat, 4 grams fiber = 1 point
b) 200 calories, 6 grams fat, 8 grams fiber = 4 points (the cals/fat/fiber are doubled but the points value was quadrupled!)
c) 100 calories, 3 grams fat, 0 grams fiber = 2 points (the cals/fat are the same as line a but without any fiber, it's 2 points instead of 1)

So in this example, 1 serving of this snack is 1 point (line a). But if you eat 2 servings of that exact snack (line b), it's 4 points. The reason for this is because *usually* 4 grams of fiber (or more) per serving subtracts 1 point. To show this, look at line c- the same calories/fat without any fiber would be 2 points. (that's why 2 servings = 4 points, because 1 serving is really 2 points, but that little bit of fiber saved you a point)

I think the intention behind this inconsistent math is to teach you to eat higher fiber items in single serving amounts so that:
1- you stay full (fiber helps fill you up)
2- dissuade you from having more than one serving (to teach you portion control)

When 0 does not equal 0: (Read this great article on the WW website regarding why zero doesn't always equal zero.)

I see it as the same logic I described above- Typically 1 serving of a zero point item is zero points. BUT when you get into multiple servings of zero points items, there are usually points attached to those greater servings. Again, I think the reasoning for this is because even though you may be eating healthy (carrots, broccoli, mustard, soy sauce etc), eventually you are consuming too many calories for them to NOT count. That, and again, if you eat an unlimited quantity of zero point items, you are not learning portion control.

Most items actually work this way (where 1=1, but 2 does not = 2). So consider subscribing to e-Tools (which is great because you can even enter most items by ounces/tsp, etc for a very accurate point count AND it's free if you do the monthly pass) or remember to multiply out the cals/fat/fiber TOTAL of however many servings you consume- you should use THOSE total numbers when you look it up on your points slider.

Happy tracking!

Quick Note

I realize I haven't written in 2 weeks. There's a few reasons for that- One is that I haven't had a spare minute because of social activities, but also my Grandma passed away last Monday- so I missed that night's meeting and that occupied some time during the week too.

Anyway, I didn't forget about you all and I apologize. I'll try to write tomorrow. I want to my blog explaining why all points are not created equal.

Have a good Saturday night.

And RIP Grandma- who never got to see me all fit and healthy :( xo

Weekly Meeting Topic and Personal Goal

I've been considering doing a weekly blog installment on Mondays, after my meetings. I decided to start tonight. I'll use this weekly blog to mention the topic of that week's Weight Watchers meeting and include my own personal weekly goals. For my weekly goal, I'll probably pick one of the "WW Tools for Living"(you have to be registered to view this page), one of their "8 Good Health Guidelines", or whatever other behavior I think I need to focus on...

At tonight's meeting, we talked about "Writing it vs. not writing it" (journaling).

It was perfect timing for this topic because after not journaling for about a month, I finally decided I wanted to be accountable again; and started journaling again this morning.

Some people hate journaling, but it probably won't surprise you that I actually like it. Not only do I enjoy keeping track of stuff, but I know that when I journal I do infinitely better than when I don't. Yet even though I know how important journaling is and how integral it is to my success; I'm not consistent with it. Sometimes it's lack of time, sometimes it's laziness, sometimes it's because I know I'm so far over in points that I don't want to face it.

So my goals for this week are:

1. Journal every day: Every meal, snack, beverage, etc. (My leader says "If you bite it, write it. If you nibble it, scribble it. If you snack it, track it.")
2. From the Good Health Guidelines: Consume my "2 oils" per day. This is a HUGE challenge for me since I don't even get 2 oils per WEEK right now. But I started with dinner tonight, sauteeing my vegetables in 2 tsp of olive oil.

I'm off to a good start so far. Just 6 more days to go. I will do it!