Rewarding yourself and "flex points"

The question of how you reward yourself has come up to me many times, along with the question of flex points on the Weight Watchers program. The way Weight Watchers works is you have your daily points allowance which is like your daily calorie goal. Then you have 35 extra "flex points" as they call them. These are extra points which you can use freely throughout the week.

I have used flex points off and on differently throughout this journey. In the beginning I never used them. I was so big that I started with 35 daily points. Points are calculated by your age, weight, and activity level. As you lose weight you lose points. I did not feel I needed to use them in the beginning because I looked at them as "cheating points" I thought I would be more successful without them. Well I did well in the beginning for about 3 months I was consecutively losing weight and happy with my progress. Then I hit a small plateau and began to get frustrated.

At that time I had switched centers and spoke to my new leader about it. Well she encouraged me to start using them because my body needs the calories to keep going and if you do not consume enough you will not keep losing your body will start to want to store everything. It made sense so I gave it a try. Well I had success! I started losing again and got back on track. She did advise me to use them wisely and suggested using them throughout the week on extra protein and vegetables etc.

So yes I eat my flex points every week. I track daily and track these too. I use them on lean protein and vegetables and an extra serving of fruit every day. I have an ISO 100 shake most days and this costs 2 points. I like having fruit in the morning and then sometimes I have more at night to satisfy a sweet craving. I like to add the weight watchers 1 point cheese to my veggies sometimes and that will use a point. So you see you can fit them in everyday in a healthy way and not using them as "cheating points"

This brings me to my next point on "cheating" many many times I get asked well don't you cheat sometimes? Don't you miss xyz. My answer is no. In the beginning of course i did. Of course I was not used to sticking to healthy choices and giving up a bowl of ice cream at night. But you know what after awhile little by little I stopped missing those things and started craving the healthier things. It was a natural process my body adjusted to.

I truly believe that you have to change the way you look at food to be successful and keep it off. Food should not be some taboo thing you avoid like the plague and feel tempted to cheat with. You must develop a healthier outlook with it. I just think of some things as not worth the calories. Like I can have a small 1/2 cup of ice cream or a whole mango and some yogurt for the same amount of points. It is like I have said before Make Every Point Count.

This is how I use my flex points. I make them count towards healthy choices and keep me full. If you are full you are not temped to make bad choices. I do believe it is working since I am losing a consistent 2 pounds per week. Now when I do well I like to reward this success.

When on a weight loss journey a major part of that journey is changing the relationship you have with food. Too often we see food as this glorious reward especially when it comes to junk food. Also we see food as something to bring family together and enjoy. This is part of the problem food is always there as a security blanket. And I know that comfort eating it was always my problem, drama would bring on a binge and it just never ended. So I have s l o w l y changed my way of thinking towards food. I think of it as fuel for my body, and I have come to love my body so I only want to put the best stuff in it.

So when it comes to reaching my weight loss goals how do I reward myself? Well it is not with food. Along this journey I have never allowed myself a reward with food. I do not want to think of food as something to reward me with because that was the root of my original problem. Food is fuel and that is all. I like to reward myself with shopping :)

Every time I hit a new goal I set for myself I go shopping and buy 1 new piece of clothing or workout equipment I have wanted. I hit 60 pounds lost this week so I will go out and buy myself something. I plan to go shopping tomorrow so I am thinking it will be some new running pants. It is not something big and expensive but it gives me something to look forward to. Plus I need to get some warmer running gear with winter coming I am determined to keep running outside :)

So what do you do to reward yourself?

60 pounds gone and then some!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I went into Weight Watchers tonight with the hope that I at least lost 1.2 pounds to bring me to the 60 pounds loss mark. I go into every weigh in hoping for something but I try to keep my expectations low since I know I should not obsess over the scale.

Well once again I was pleasantly SURPRISED!!!!!!!!!!

The lady shook her head, I am standing there in anticipation and then all of a sudden she shook her head! I was like oh boy this cannot be good. Then she looked up and smiled at me. I knew I hit it! She goes wow you are doing so well Colleen keep up the good work. So well indeed. I lost 3 more pounds this week!!!! This brings the grand total to 61.8 pounds gone.

Bye 60 pounds. I will never see you again and trust me you WILL NOT be missed!!!! I felt so amazing I almost started crying I was so happy at the meeting. I am almost saying good bye FOREVER to the 190s and welcoming the 180s with wide open arms! I am looking and waiting to hit my mini goal of 185 pounds. On this day there will be a giant celebration as I will never ever anymore be OBESE! Thats right my BMI will go from obese to just over weight in a few short weeks. That victory is so close I can taste it. I will be tasting a lot of vegetables to get it :)

So I am rocking this Shrinkvivor challenge along with my awesome tribe Nero girls!!!!! 3 more pounds down this week!!!! And its only week 3! I set my goal to be at 185 by the end of shrinkvivor and I know I will make it!!!

New time on the treadmill 5K in 27:30 :)

Well I sucked it up and went to the gym tonight. I was wicked sore from damn power yoga and shred it with weights from yesterday. But I knew I needed to get more workout minutes in so I took my tired ass to the gym!
This week for shrinkvivor challenge I managed to earn 370 minutes of exercise from Thursday to today (Tuesday) I think that is pretty damn good!

Tonight I managed 63 minutes and burned over 500 calories :)

At the gym I did 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was pretty easy, I have not been on it in a few days and I was worried but I made it through and did the cross train routine. The elliptical and I have a love hate relationship lol and most days it leans towards hate. But tonight it was leaning to the love side. Maybe I paced myself better and knew it was not the major part of my workout.

Well the major part was my run! I got on the treadmill. Now since running outside let me tell you I despise the treadmill a bit. It is just getting boring, and I think its harder. I ran more freely outside if that makes sense? I guess its easier because you can change your pace at your will and not be fumbling with the buttons. At any rate, I set out to do 30 minutes and started a quick walk to warm up and then got down to business! I ran 3.1 miles which is a 5K in 27 minutes and 30 seconds. my fastest 5k time previously has been 28 minutes. I never thought I could crack into the 27's :) It was hard, I felt so hot and I was dripping sweat so badly ugh.. But I got outside and it was raining! So I got to walk home from the gym in the nice cooling rain. It was the perfect end to a grueling workout.

Yoga, how I loathe thee!

Today was crappy. It was raining outside so I could not go running in the morning. I ended up staying in bed. Then after work I was home solo so no baby sitter so no gym. The baby did nap for a little over an hour so I had to think quick, how could I still get a good workout in? Of course On Demand videos! Exercise TV has hundreds and hundreds of videos all for FREE :) so check it out! No gym? No problem! 

I did Jillian's Shred It With Weights first and it was tough. Well I was sore from doing it Friday and Saturday so surprise surprise I was still sore today haha. It is such a good workout though, I truly enjoy it. The kettle bell makes it more dynamic and fun! I actually was able to do the advanced versions of all the moves today so I felt really good about myself.

After that video I realized the baby was still sleeping so I saw Jillian has a Power Yoga video. Now I have done it once before and suffered through it and hated it and never went back to it lol. Well I do not know why tonight was going to be any different but I figured hey why not? Plus I needed to rack up some exercise minutes for the Shrinkvivor challenge so I knew I had to get through it! Well lemme tell you it is definitely POWER YOGA hahaha it was tough, I was able to do the advanced versions of the moves though. I made myself push past the pain and sweat and finish it. Of course I felt great after wards. I think I said I felt like a warrior, lol maybe it was the warrior pose talking. But that Yoga just makes your whole body work, especially your core. So if you are looking for something different to work your core I definitely recommend it!

I did earn 60 minutes for my Shrinkvivor challenge and burned some calories! :)

Making the most out of breakfast

The most important meal of the day is breakfast. I really noticed how important breakfast is when I began my weight loss journey. My focus lately has been to eat lean protein and vegetables more and less carbohydrates. I love egg whites and I made an omlet which filled me up and costed very little points!

This is so quick and easy to do!

Chop up a small tomatoe, half of a zuchinni or summer squash, and half a small onion
In a small saute pan saute the onion and zuchinni until the zucchini is soft. Then add the spinach and tomatoe
When it is almost done
Take 3/4 cup of egg whites and pour into a frying pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray
Let the egg whites cook and keep cooking the veggies . once the egg white is almost done you toss the veggies down the middle.
I like to add 1 point worth of cheese usually I use a slice of WW cheese and just sprinkle it over the veggies
Flip 2 sides over and there you have it
A huge breakfast for 4 points!!!!!!!