Am I in a Rut?

Today's Weight (Saturday, December 5, 2009): 182.4 Pounds

This Week's Weight Loss: 1.2 Pounds

Well, this is now my third entry in my blog, and it appears that I seem to be having a degree of success in my quest for a leaner, healthier me.

While I'm thrilled that the number on my bathroom scale is going down, I wonder if I'm doing enough to maximize my efforts. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that the number is going down, but somehow, I can't help but think I could be doing more or something different to increase my weekly weight loss to somewhere in the recommended 2 pounds per week weight loss. Today, I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting and the topic for discussion was "Are you in a rut?"

This got me thinking...am I in a rut? Well, I eat the same breakfast 5 days per week (light cream cheese on a1/2 a whole wheat bagel). For lunch, Mr. Cutey makes that and doesn't change things up much...10 baby carrots, a cold cut sandwich on whole wheat bread, a zero fat yogourt, a apple (or orange), and a granola bar. These are all quite healthy choices, but somehow I feel like I could use some more variety to avoid the "lunchbag letdown" I seem to be experiencing. I may have to teach Mr. Cutey about keeping lunch interesting (that my readers, is a huge challenge, and a whole other topic for another day.) On the positive, at least I have control over the dinner menu and I try to vary that on a nightly basis. I typically have a green salad with carefully measured salad dressing, a protein (chicken, veal, fish, pork, and on occasion, beef), a carb (usually rice with a veggie thrown in), and a steamed vegetable. Even with the control I have with the dinner menu, I still feel like I want to try different things to keep me interested and motivated to keep going. So, to that end, I'll be checking out a whole bunch of other websites geared towards healthy eating choices to see how I can get out of my eating rut. I think I'll start with the Weight Watchers website, and even check out Hungrygirl.com or Rachael Ray's website. I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to find something to add to my dining repertoire. When I do, I promise to share my findings here.

The other thing that I'm feeling that I'm in a rut with is part of my exercise routine. When I started out, I was only doing my 1 mile walk every evening from the subway. Well, now that winter weather is really only days away (or so the meterologist says!), that will severely limit the days I'll be able to do this walk. Also, I'm starting to get bored with walking the same route. Perhaps I should change that a bit, and maybe try using some side streets to change things up a bit. Also, I do have my twice weekly exercise class, which I must say is truly amazing - the instructor really works all of us. I don't recall the last time I sweated so much! But again, that only takes care of 2 days. For the other five days, I'll need to find something else. I know that my parents have a stationary bicycle at their place, which they never use (right now, it's in their den acting as a laundry depository!). I've been told that I could have it anytime I want to come over and pick it up. Very soon, I think I'll be taking them up on the offerand make good use of a great peice of equipment.

This Week's Challenge:

I don't have many challenges this week, except that my boss is hosting the annual departmental holiday luch get together this coming Friday. I'm really worried about what will be served. When I spoke with her assistant and asked her what was being planned, she told me that the plan was to go with all hors d'oevres. Anyone who's been on a weight loss plan knows that hors d'oevres are the proverbial kiss of death and can quickly undo a week's hard work in a few nibbles of piggies in a blanket or mini quiches. I desperately don't want that to happen, as the next day I have to get on the scale and don't want to face disaster. I brought up my concerns about this gathering at last week's Weight Watchers meeting, and the group had some suggestions on how to handle this. Some ideas were okay but others were simply not practical. One woman suggested that I bring something I can eat. That's a great idea, except, when your boss is having the gathering catered, the last thing I want to do is bring my own food - it's different if it were pot luck - then that would be a great idea. Another woman suggested that I keep something in both hands thereby making it impossible to eat anything. Again, an interesting idea, but this is a lunch thing, and I don't want to pass out from hunger into the veggie dip (that is, if there will be any). So, the way it was left was "try to plan for the worst, and hope for the best". Next Saturday, I'm supposed to report back to the meeting how I made out. So, my fingers (on both hands) are crossed, and let's hope for the best. I'll let you know what happened next week.