T-R-A TRA C-K-I-N-G CKING TRACKING

Sooooooo... well... *look around guiltily*

Truth be told, Sunday's weigh in, which initiated my little burst of indignation, was following a friend's call for support in her own effort to get back "on track". Call which I gladly took, first and foremost because I really do care for her a lot and would do pretty much anything to help her out, but also because I had a feeling that my own lifestyle was slightly slipping. Not badly mind you, I'm too good for that, just thought that here and there, I was slowly adding a snack or two which wasn't the most effective way to stay on track.

With that in mind, I stepped on the scale expecting my weight to be on the high edge of my usual maintenance range, a sort of "get your ass back in the game" kind of weigh in. Surprise, surprise! I was past a number which I hadn't seen in months if not years. Nothing horrible, I have lost 70 lbs and am nowhere near getting even close of maybe gaining it back, but high enough to make me weigh in 4 times in a row. "That cannot be right..." It was!

So I got angry, I got depressed, and then I got myself a plan! I trotted out my tracker and got busy! Here's what my tracker looks like:

The black line in there is a desk calendar plastic

corner I use to hold my page.

It's a Moleskin which I paid entirely too much for, but it's perfect for what I want to do:

• It opens on the short side, making it easier to open and to keep open.
• Pages are big, so I can use the recto for tracking, and the verso of the previous day to make notes, write recipes, detail my work out, or make shopping lists.
• It's hard cover, so writing on the go is easier both on the recto and the verso.
• There's an elastic band that keeps it closed, and that I also use to keep my pen close by.
• It's very thin, doesn't overtake my purse.
• There's a little pocket in the back where I can keep my gym schedules.
• It's very nice and sophisticated looking (or was when I got it, it's getting beaten up).

So there! It is big, it is expensive for a notebook, but it works for me!

Tracking is not only a way to "stay on track" for me, but it's a way to really slow me down and force me to think about what I am doing. Do I really need this? Am I eating it because I'm hungry? Or because I'm bored?

People who do not have compulsive tendencies will not understand how important monitoring your behaviors is, how actually relaxing and healing it feels to know what you are doing, and how it impacts you directly. It's not a headache for me to monitor myself, it's a freeing experience. I know what I'm doing, I know where I go wrong, and I can easily adjust if needed.

When I'm not tracking, I don't know. I feel like I'm doing everything right, and nothing is working. How frustrating is that? I'm working out like a fiend, but I'm not improving. Worst, I go directly from being overly strict to I don't give a falala, back to being super strict and it goes back and forth with food and activity until I end up hurting myself at the gym, or eating my way through an entire box of crackers. Not a good outcome.

There's a "reset moment" of when I sit down and prepare my tracker for the week. Because I use a notebook, I prepare each tracking page for the coming week on the weekend, so that I have it nice and ready. Having to put everything together could be an excuse to not track. Then all I have to do is fill the blanks. Easy easy!

Today I'm home, so I'm eating fewer (and bigger)

snacks and meals.

Having that extra page for notes, recipes, or whatever I want to write about is very helpful. Often I put together a recipe on the spur of the moment, and it turns out delicious, writing it down in my tracker permits me to count it accurately, but also to do it again, or to blog about it later without forgetting anything.

There's a work out plan and 2 recipes there. Both

delicious I must say!

Like anything else, it's not about perfection, it's about persistence. Some days I track every single bit as they happen, and detail every single morsel. Some days, not so much. I know that if I track what I eat and what I do, I am happier, more relax, more in control. I am successful and motivated. Sounds like a good reason to keep tracking doesn't it?

I lost 70 lbs, in less than 9 months by tracking every bit, every piece, every sip, every move. It works for me, that's all I need to know.

Be good n stuff!

Seriously?

Ok, weighed myself this morning, and not at all happy with what I saw. Really? Really? I'm up again? I worked hard, I took gym classes, I cooked, I avoided many goodies, I snacked on fruits. WTF?!

Been there? Doesn't matter if its true, please tell me you have! You feel like you've done everything right, in rough waters, you have avoided the big reefs and stayed on course, and yet, the destination is nowhere in sight. How frustrating is that?

Thing is, I didn't track, so I can't show the proof of my righteousness. I can't whine about this, because I got no proof, so I'd be met (rightly) with "Yeah, riiiight, you did everything perfect, you probably forgot a few things along the way..." That answer, which I give freely, pisses me off. Who do you think I am? I'm no newbie at this, I've been doing this for 9 years! It's not like I don't know what I'm doing. The nerve!

I know I snacked a lot, I know this, but I snacked on fruits 90% of the time! I DID eat 3 full bags of green grapes in 3 days, along with a few banana and apples, but it's fruits, It doesn't count! The other times chips occurred, but that was only like 3 times... I don't think I ate that much, well there was that one bag that I pretty much ate by myself, but I didn't eat the WHOLE thing.

I also know we brought sandwiches stuff in once, and they didn't have our regular little rolls, so we had the Pugliese instead (you know the ones you have to bake a little? So delicious! I always eat a whole huge one, which is why we don't get them usually). We did eat out quite a bit this week but I was careful. Breakfast in Sausalito, I had an egg white omelet (with avocado, tomato and bacon, so good!), sushi, we cut down our usual sushi feast to one less roll (usually we pig out for sushi!) so we had a lot, but it could have been worst. Friday we had Indian and I ate only half of my Channa Masala! I didn't have cucumber salad though, so I had rice.

Yesterday was "system D" day which comes from Mom's house. "D" stands for "debrouille toi" which is figure yourself out. So System D means, everybody figure out something to eat for themselves. So lots of wraps, canned soup and leftovers all tinkered together.

So that's my week, add in a cookie or two that we shared at Cafes... oh and a few lattes (it was a rough week) and Friday I had quite a big lunch between meetings, and I also hit the WW snacks pretty good at work... Oh and I had that brownie Friday while waiting for Dan to pick me up, forgot about that. *sigh*

The worst part of all this is that had I tracked as I went along I would have realized that avoiding "worst fare" didn't make what I was actually eating healthy. It's like saying "Being punched in the face shouldn't hurt because you didn't get hit by a truck". The more I look back on my week, the more I realize that I'm lucky I'm not up more.

I was right, I am no newbie at this, newbies aren't generally confident enough to get cocky, and to assume that they are above having to follow the basic rules because they don't need them. I've been at this about 9 years, and I still have to do the work. How annoying!

Alright girl, swallow your pride, take that tracker out and get going. You know what to do, you know how to do it, but if you don't do follow the program, it will not work. Who's with me?

Be good n stuff!

Simple Basics

So, I have more time on my hands right now, and at first that was freaking me out a little. What am I going to do? Well, I did start with a major clean up of my apartment, and that felt GREAT! now, I realize that I need to set myself straight also!

Funny thing is, my work out routine has been on the fritz for a while, and I was blaming the lack of time. Well, lately I've had plenty of time and still I couldn't find the time to get to the gym. Here's my problem, I have come to the point where going to the gym means researching and planning my work out, getting to the gym, finding the needed equipment, doing a full work out, putting everything away, shower, clothes make up... That's like 2+ hours. Even with a lot of free time, who wants to spend that much time on working out?

This week I had plans on doing a class every day, well that didn't happen either. The classes I do like were at inconvenient times and well... I started well, I did a fabulous Yoga class at the Richmond District Y Monday morning. I did push a little though, and Tuesday I was too sore to work out.

Wednesday I had a meeting at noon, and one at 5, so I decided to head to the Stonestown Y in between. Now, I was surprised by the level of testosterone I found in the weight room. Grunting loudly, dropping the weights loudly with every set, Dude, you're at the Y, deflate a little bit.

Finally, after 20 minutes of intense weight work, I couldn't take it anymore, and went upstairs thinking that my decent work out was blown. Not so! I decided to hit the elliptical for some cardio. I hadn't done that in ages, choosing to take my cardio outdoors, and wouldn't you know it, I had a blast! 30 minutes of pushing as much as I could. I got out of there all noodle-y and hyper. My poor members! Like I'm not hyper enough already!

This morning, somebody got up late and didn't have time to walk the dog. Mind you, it was raining. I admit I was the one who campaigned to get a dog, promising I would take care of it, but it was RAINING! So, I got dressed and walked the dog.

As we were walking, it stopped raining, and quite frankly, it was beautiful out there, so I extended the walk and went to the produce market a few blocks away. I didn't do anything major, but got a bunch of basics thinking I would make a vegetable soup in the crockpot to eat and freeze and you know... it's been a while, so I did!

It looks like it's only cabbage (Napa cabbage that is) but actually there is zucchini, yellow squash, onion, shallot, broccoli.. whatever I could find! :o)

So, i made my soup, and then I realized it was lunch time and I had nothing to grab. Ooops! So I took my cutting board back out, dug in the cabinet, and made a Lobster Desperation Soup!

It was tasty, satisfying, and very much "my" kind of food. My husband isn't really a seafood lover, he will eat fish, but shellfish is beyond this Missouri boy's comfort zone. Every time I make myself such food, I feel like it's very exclusively mine for some reason.

Ok, so I know you are thinking, there is nothing outstanding in all this. Why are you blogging about it? Because it's been quite a long time since I've felt so in control and effortlessly "on plan". I'm eating right, I'm moving, I am satisfied with my meals, and not in the least worried about my next weigh in. I can be "on plan" any time. I know how to do it, and I can always make it work somehow, but I was missing that feeling of "this is just what I do" as opposed to "I have to do this". Does that even make sense?

I think it's not so much about having time, but rather about keeping it simple and uncomplicated. You don't have to cook gourmet food to have lunch, you don't have to have a pro training to hit the gym. I tend to forget that sometimes.

Be good n stuff!

Leftovers Magic

One thing I've gotten really good at lately is recycling food. I can do anything with pretty much any leftovers.

The last few days, I have been cleaning house; not just vacuuming, but rather going through papers, books, clothes (and next is the kitchen AH!), and I have been too busy to cook really. So last night we decided to order food, only I'm in a phase where I just don't want to eat junk. I had a huge junk food phase, but now I'm totally over it. I want to eat real food! So we ordered Indian food. We both love it, it's moderately healthy, 2 blocks away, and they deliver (oh shut up! It was raining!) we still do that (too) often, but now we've learned to order with leftovers in mind so we feel a little more righteous about it.

Last night I ordered tandoori chicken and a cachumber salad. Now at Great India, you can order a full tandoori chicken (mind you it's a rather anorexic one) for only a few more dollars than you pay for half, so I always do that with leftovers in mind. Tandoori comes with sliced onions and bell pepper which I rarely eat. Last night I decided to save those and pack them separately from the chicken in the fridge.

Today I'm home, so I trotted out the veggies, and sauteed them in a saucepan a little bit, added the little spicy hot condiments that they send along with the samosa (it's chile-onion chutney something), I added some frozen chopped bell pepper, and cooked that some more, about a minute, then added the chicken and 1 cup (or so) of chicken broth. I brought it all to a boil, and cooked for about 1 1/2 minute. Doesn't that look delicious?

The smooth taste of the Tandoori along with the freshness of the peppers and the spiciness of that little chile-onion condiment is a perfect blend. It was truly delicious, not to mention that it was about 5 minutes from start to finish. Cook thing is I still have another meal worth of Tandoori chicken in the fridge!

Added note: I made this post yesterday afternoon and last night I used the rest of the Chicken Tandoori by throwing it in the Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry which I made for dinner. Proteins baby! Look it up on the Recipes Blog!

I also do a mean soup with leftover Chana Masala and vegetables, I'll have to share that in a future post.

I think my cleaning/organizing frenzy is helping me and not only by making my apartment nicer to live in. It's like hitting a reset button. Reclaiming my place, my time and my life. Out of the blue, I want to cook again, I want to be a mad scientist in my kitchen and mix things up and see what happens. This is a slow tame start, but it IS a start! Hang on, most to come in the next few weeks!!

Be good n stuff!

The Rebirth of the Lifestyle Blog

Hi world, it's been a while right?

This blog has been dormant since 2009, and since then my bloggitivity has been focused on my Weekly Note, the blog I keep for my members at Weight Watchers. As I am taking a step back from Weight Watchers (not quitting! just slowing down a bit), I realize that I feel once again the need to connect to the world as an adventurer rather than as a Weight Watchers leader.

So, I'm hoping to start sharing my adventures and discoveries in the world of healthy living in San Francisco on this blog.

There are all sorts of sub-blog attached to this, and a few more attached to my Weekly Note blog. Hopefully I can keep them all straight, and I'll find time to keep them all going.

Ok, I'm a smidgen intimidated, but I'll make it work! So keep an eye out, I'm baaaack!

Be good n stuff!