Ick- Sick.

I'm sick. Not horribly so- but definitely sick. I rarely get sick- but when I do, I am rather babyish about it. I want sympathy, I want someone to take care of me, bring me soup, tea, and more. I am also unsure about what to eat. Last night I did something that I haven't done in ages... I ate a dinner of... Ramen Noodles! We have no good groceries in the house, since I hadn't shopped since I got back from Hawaii, and Mike doesn't select what I consider to be 'good groceries. So my choices were very limited, in that (a) he had to be capable of cooking it, (b) it had to be good comfort/sick food, and (c) readily accessible. I actually ended up stopping at the grocery store on the way home from work, thinking about the parameters of my dinner. Granted, I could have gotten a frozen entree of some sort, or even canned soup that could be heated up on the stove top, but no, I opted instead for Ramen Noodles! I think that I have some foggy memory of being sick in high school and being comforted by Ramen, so that was it. I got home, Mike cooked my Ramen, I ate it, and you know what? It really wasn't all that good. Big surprise there, huh? I used 11 PointsPlus values on those stringy, over-salted noodles. Sigh. Point of the story? When you are sick, your normal choices may not work, and that's okay. Thankfully I am confident that I'll be well soon enough and until then, I'm tracking my food and feeling good about that. This morning I had oatmeal, diet ginger ale and light cranberry juice.

"Benefits" Fair- smoothie scam?

So today at my campus we had an annual HR-hosted benefits fair. You know the kind- all sorts of voluntary benefit vendors (i.e. investment firms, vision insurance providers, etc. etc.), credit unions affiliated with higher education, etc. etc.. The main section of the fair was actually a helpful resource for a new employee such as myself, as I had the opportunity to speak to representatives from my new health insurance provider and ask the sorts of questions that a new member might have.

I then ventured to the upstairs area of the fair where they advertised 'health screenings' and flu shots. Well, I'm not much of a shot/blood person (an understatement...) so I slid right by anything with needles, but was intrigued with the idea of health screenings that did not involve bodily fluids!

First up was a lung capacity test. I basically blew into something that looked like a breathalyzer (for the record, I've never actually been breathalyzed) and it somehow was supposed to measure my lung capacity. My reading placed me in the average/low range (not ideal- high is good in this case)- but no big shocker since the analyst's comments and follow up asked a lot of questions about weather or not I am an athlete (no), and related things pertaining to exercise which made it pretty apparent that the way to get a high/good rating was to be in tip-top cardiovascular shape (I'm not). Okay, I accepted that no problem.

Next up I was told that I'd have my body fat analyzed. I was imagining those awful pincher things, but instead was instructed to hold a metal device out in front of me that would send some low-level shock wave up my arm. Okay- I was game and glad to know that they are no longer subjecting people to the pincher things too! This was painless, discreet (no lifting shirts to grab flab...) and quick. My reading indicated that my body fat % was in the average range for a woman of my age (27.8%) and I took her word for it.

At the next booth I sensed right away that something was different. I needed to wait in line a few minutes (not a problem), and one of the staff members wearing an official looking shirt with some sciencey sounding name on it started chatting with me. Since this booth was advertised as being about bone density she started asking me questions about calcium consumption. I shared that I eat a vegan diet at home and that I get my calcium through less traditional sources than the Standard American Diet (SAD). She gave me an odd look, but continued to tout the benefits of dairy. I smiled politely and waited my turn in line. When my turn came I was instructed to stand on a strange looking scale-like machine. Without much (any?) explanation I was also asked to grab two pulley handles from the machine and to stand still. Okay. About 90 seconds later I was told that I was 'done'. The woman (also in the same science-sounding logoed polo shirt) poked at a few buttons on what appeared to be a reader (still no explanation to me of what this thing was even doing...) and then got a somewhat worried/concerned look on her face (picture pursed lips and scrunched eyebrows). Not knowing that the booth down the row had given me a body fat % reading just minutes earlier she informs me that my body fat % is of concern, my bone mass is too low and my muscle mass could use improvement. Okay... none of this is necessarily shocking information to me (particularly regarding the need to increase my muscle mass)-- but the next part is where the concern lies. She then informs me that her suggestion is that I loose "about 20 pounds". Now, I'll add here that I am not at my all time lightest weight here today, but I am well within a healthy weight range, have a totally healthy BMI, and would, in fact, have a BMI that would be .2 lbs. short of being 'underweight' (courtesy of the cdc.gov website) if I did indeed loose 20 lbs. In short, my weight is not the issue here. Still, I decide that I'm going to politely nod along and hear what else she has to say. The nodding must have had the effect that she though that I was now interested in learning how to loose 20 lbs... because next she explains the sciency sounding name of the company she represents. The sciencey-sounding company is indeed a supplement company that 'specializes in meal replacement smoothies'. Immediately red flags are flying in my mind... but it gets worse.

She then proceeds to tell me that most of their 'clients' use a smoothie to replace breakfast, but that for 'people like you, who need to loose weight' that it would be a good idea to replace both breakfast and lunch with their smoothie. I resist the urge to tell this woman that I actually know a thing or two about weight loss, and am completely and utterly in opposition to her approach. I play the part of a potentially interested 'client' to see where this is going. I pick up the sample jar of a vanilla powder and see that the smoothie mix itself has only 90 calories/serving. When I mention this she says, "Yes! Only 90 calories--- and although the instructions say to mix with milk (adding calories), you can loose weight faster if you mix the powder with water instead!". So let me get this straight. She is suggesting to me that a good approach to loose 20 lbs. would be to replace breakfast and lunch with a 90 calorie powder mixed with water- thus resulting in only 180 calories consumed until a late afternoon snack or dinner? Yep- she confirmed that she did indeed think that this was a good way to go. I debate (again) in my mind if I should 'reveal' myself as a Weight Watchers leader and debunk her totally asinine approach, but decide against it (after all, I'm at work-- and not my WW work-- there are others in line, and frankly I'm not sure that it would do much good). So I smile politely again, decline her sample (which, by the way, has dairy in the powder- so circling back to my initial concern wouldn't be a product that I'd use at home anyways...), and move on.

So where does that leave me? I've decided that I'm going to write a brief and friendly note to the HR staff who organized this event, thank them for hosting it, show my appreciation for the opportunity to speak to some of the resources in attendance, and concisely note that I'm hopeful that they will reevaluate the role/fit of the particular "screening" company that did the "bone density test". I'm the type who's not going to sit back and ignore what is a significant problem--- but I also don't want to cause a huge stink. It did leave me wondering... if it weren't me, someone with a relatively rationale approach to weight maintenance/loss, would I have fallen for her propaganda? Yikes! Maybe HR would be interested to see the productivity of staff who are surviving on 180 calories the entire work day...

Blogging Benefits

Helllooooo... anyone out there? I am guessing not- short of my #1 blogging fan, my Aunt K (thanks for the reminder, K!). I neglected this blog... oh... about a year ago (eeek!). At the time my full time job was keeping me busy (a bit of an understatement... maybe 'keeping me wildly attempting to stay afloat while neglecting many elements of my personal well being' would be a more accurate descriptor-?), and life was just too hectic to blog. I was considering my blog as a tool to communicate with my Weight Watchers members, and hadn't really considered the blog as a tool for myself.

Fast forward to today- November already (yikes)! I've changed full time jobs after being with the same institution for 6 years. Change is good. Change is hard. However, in this case, it is truly for the best (despite the challenges that being a 'newbie' brings...). I've had some time to breathe, reflect, and consider my life- not just my work life- but really my life (and no, those two things aren't one in the same...). In the summer I resigned from my regular WW leader role because at the time I was still working crazy hours and was finding myself needing to find substitutes too often for my meetings-- not ideal for my members. Since then, I've remained on the staff roster and am available to sub meetings myself when the needs presents itself and I'm available. The best of both worlds if you ask me!

When I stopped my regular meetings I figured I'd stop the blog too (although really I had been remiss in my posting for some time even at that point...). I figured if I wasn't leading a meeting and didn't have member 'followers' what's the point? Again- the focus was on others.

As I've had that time to reflect, I've realized that blogging can be beneficial for me- Braelin- the member, the person- not necessarily the leader. Although I've never been a diary/traditional journal writer, I did enjoy blogging while I was at it. So, I'm back to the blogging- this time for me. Granted, I expect the topics and themes to still be focused on weight maintenance/loss- but I'm writing for me this time (and my Aunt K, and anyone else who cares to read-- I'm not kidding myself-- blogging is inherently a public forum). The benefits that I hope to realize include:

• A 'space' to ramble... (err... I mean, 'reflect'...) on my own successes, challenges, and goals in regards to my own weight maintenance. I've always be an "auditory processor" (translation: I think out loud and talking through things helps me form my ideas)- so writing can have the same effect. It just may take me a few pages or posts to make my point. Hey- if I'm doing this for myself, that's a-okay!
• A place to hold onto my thoughts and keep them for future reflection. I am a nostalgic person. There's nothing that I love more than reading old letters that I have in boxes in my basement. I like a reminder of who I was from reading letters, old school papers, and the like. Now most people might not immediately link reading traditional letters (think curled up paper, creased notes from 6th grade, cool handwriting, etc.) with the web-log (blog)- but the way I see it, blogging is a more streamlined way of capturing the memories, and perspective from the past. Traditional letter writing is still something that I enjoy, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy electronic communication too! I totally hope that I'm reading this very post years down the line much in the same way I read old letters and notes.

Really, that's it for now- the benefits of blogging are for me this time. Simple and straightforward. I may still 'speak' to an external audience (just b/c I think that's more fun to write sometimes)- but my purpose behind the posts won't be about providing information to others. If there's a secondary benefit of that- great! If not, hopefully the blog will benefit me in the ways that I've outlined.

Snowy Day-- are we Closed? No Way!

Hello Wednesday night members- just a quick note to say that we are indeed planning on being open at the Westminster Center tonight (3/24/10), despite the snow. Stay safe and warm today. If you come out for the meeting drive safely! See you in a bit.

Braelin

The WW Friendly Kitchen

This week's meeting topic was particularly pertinent for me. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. As such, it is important to have a kitchen which supports my weight-loss efforts- not impedes them. Here are my tips for managing my (kitchen) environment:

1. Label it. I get out my Sharpie when I come home from the store and mark up the POINTS values of items right on the box/can/bag.



2. Pre-portion/make my own 100-calorie or 2 POINTS snack treats. A ziplock or tupperware style container with pre-portioned grab-and-go snack helps both my POINTS and $$ budget.



3. Keep the good stuff front and center, and push the challenging foods to the side (hidden behind a big basket of fruit or another filling food...). This way, when I open the pantry or fridge, I am greeted by POINTS friendly filling foods from the get go. What meets the eye first is often the best choice.



4. Give my food scale "prime real estate" on the kitchen counter. I keep my scale out- front and center. This reminds me to measure the weight of different foods.



5. Have multiple sets of measuring cups. This way, I can't use the excuse that the measuring cup is in the dishwasher/lost/dirty/etc. when it comes to portion control. The Weight Watchers Easy Measure set is another good option when needing to measure easily.

I challenged members this week to make 10 changes to their kitchen this week. I too am going to do this. Already I'm planning on: getting a few new tupperware containers, organizing my tea cabinet so that it is easier to see my selection and thus easier to choose a cup of tea when I'm wanting something flavorful, getting some freezer bags, checking out those green produce bags that someone in my meeting mentioned (thank you- they are supposed to make fresh produce last longer!), and a few other tricks.

Back to Blogging

Well hello there. Remember me? I've been more than a big neglectful of this blog, and for that I do apologize. Life has gotten particularly hectic lately- so I've really had a hard time keeping up on some of the "extras". Unfortunately that also means that I've been struggling a bit to keep taking care of myself a priority- but that needs to change! Remember a few weeks back when we talked about emotional eating? Stress, in particular, seemed to be a popular emotion for members to turn to food to "fix". I'm right there with you! That said, I've been employing a few of the techniques we talked about in that very meeting to my own life.

You may recall at the end of the meeting I suggested that we all create a list of 10 viable things to do when we are emotionally hungry (meaning, that we are not physically hungry, yet an emotional response is triggering the desire to want to eat...). I displayed a large list of my Top 10 on the flip chart, and in jest, I suggested that I should post that giant sized list on my own fridge at home. Well, I did that! Yep... the entire bottom half of my fridge is covered in flip chart paper with my list. Is it working? Well, as I sit here with my cup of pumpkin-ginger spiced tea, and "cuppa' tea" is the first item on my list I'm feeling pretty good about things! So, again, here's my list of things to do to combat emotional eating:
10) Cuppa' Tea
9) Call a friend (I just did that one too...)
8) Take a walk/bike
7) Into a good book
6) Shop... (could be dangerous...)
5) Clean
4) Shred (workout DVD)
3) Make a list
2) Get out of the house! (i.e. a bookstore, library, etc.)
1) Listen to music and fall asleep...

Oh- and I will add that if you post this in a public space (or in my case, very public b/c of the blog and b/c it is just so big on the fridge...) be prepared for an additional bonus- in doing so, you open the door to ask for help. Your friends, family, or anyone who visits your house will surely see your list, and this in turn can easily prompt a discussion that can lead to you asking for help (another Weight Watchers "tools for living").

Resolution time

Eeeek- I've been neglectful of this blog- sorry about that! Well, that's one thing that I'm resolving to change. I don't make weight-loss resolutions any longer, but I do consider the new year as a nice time to think about changes that I'd like to make in my life. I've enjoyed going back and looking over my past blog posts, so I'm planning on being a bit more regular with my posts going forward.

Another change that I'd like to make is something that I talked about on Wednesday night at my meeting. I'd like to be more intentional about recognizing the positive moves that I make each day. I have a bedtime routine (brush teeth, wash face, etc. and read for a few minutes). I'm going to add to my nightly routine- I'm going to acknowledge one thing that I've done that day that's been helpful for me- for my health or my overall well being. It could be a choice that I made about food or exercise, or it could be something that I did to reduce- or prevent- stress. It could be something that I said or asked of someone else, a move that I made to manage my environment, or even a basic Weight Watchers program skill that I executed well that day. The point being, that I (like most of us) can really benefit from focusing on the positive for a few minutes each day. All too often our thoughts drift to our mistakes, or lapses, or our shortcomings. However, to keep our positive momentum going, it is incredibly helpful to think about what we are doing well. As we discussed on Wednesday, in doing so, I'm able to give myself the often needed boost of energy that I can do things right! In turn, this positive energy can help motivate me to continue to do things well. If, for example, I remember that I threw away the Enstrom's toffee that was gifted to me before I totally overdid it (true accomplishment- yeah!), I am capable of saying "no thank you" to another treat, or of taking only a reasonable portion of another.

So, this year I resolve to focus on the positive for a few minutes each and every day. I've got reminders all around me about what I'm doing right- sometimes I just need to pause and acknowledge my accomplishments- no matter how small they may seem.