What does a Halloween morning run outside in Minnesota look like?

Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law for the Olympic mittens!

WOW!  I much prefer the Before picture

I've never run outside when it has been this cold before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I'll admit the scarf was over the top.  In fact I threw it to my husband as I walked out the door, but I really did need the hat and gloves for about 90% of the way.  I ran 2.9 miles in 30 minutes.  I have to say I much prefer running in the cold in Minnesota to running in the heat!

Have an awesome Halloween.  I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my sweet little boy in his costume and the pumpkins we carved!

Before I go I want to give you my best advice for Halloween?  Buy yourself a couple of killer pieces of chocolate - Godiva anyone? - and make that your special treat when everyone else is gorging on cheap candy.  Remember that Halloween candy was likely packaged around Easter... yuck!

(sing it with me now) ah ah ah ah stayin' the same a a ame!

That's me...I have been within .2 of a pound of the same weight for the past 2 weeks.  I know I'm a lifetime member, but I'm not completely on maintenance yet, so this is NOT really a desired result.  Although I agree it is much better than up.  I'd like to lose another 12.5 pounds before I give up losing for good. 

So as I reflect back on these 2 weeks... what is keeping me from seeing the scale go down?  Well... mostly that I was attacked by some chocolate chips, and that I am taking really small licks and tastes of stuff here and there and not feeling the need to track it.  These are commonly known, at least in the Weight Watchers world, as BLTS - Bites, Licks, and Tastes.

I've never really had a problem with BLTs throughout this journey until a few weeks ago.  If I'm being completely honest with myself I see a lick of honey here, a handle full of chocolate chips there, 2 cashews, 4 honey roasted peanuts, a finger in the Nutella jar, eating the crust off "L"s toast, a pita chip swiped in cream cheese, an extra ounce of wine in the glass... etc. etc. etc.  All little - insignificant alone - but together certainly adding up.  I need to get rid of these BLTs to get these last 12 pounds off.  So what am I going to do?

Well... for starters I'm making sure there are no more half open bags of chocolate chips, candy etc around me.  That will definitely help.  But I'm also going to remind myself whenever I find myself with a finger in the Nutella jar... that if I want something to eat, that's OK, but I should take it out, measure it, put it on a plate and count my points.  For some reason I think if I eat it out of the jar it ceases to have calories - oh if only that were true... the world would be a better place, right?  Forcing myself to "plate it" will make eating it more real to me.  Real enough to track and count. 

So here's to my battle against BLTs this week!

Do you have problems with BLTs??  If so what are some strategies you use to keep your fingers out of the Nutella jar?

Have an awesome Halloween weekend!

Just a short note to let everyone know that I've updated the recipes section of my website to consolidate the recipes I've posted so far on this blog.  I'll be adding even more in the coming days and weeks.  I only want to post stuff for you that is tried and true, so please be patient with me.  I'm also working on adding pictures of the existing recipes, as well as making sure pictures are provided for any new recipes.

ENJOY!

Ironic that the label says 'CHUNKY'!

I had a run in with some chocolate chips last night. I was the running back just trying to make it into the end zone, and out of nowhere these chocolate chips tackled me. Can you even believe that?  I'll admit, it was a clean tackle. There were no penalties. I wasn’t running quite fast enough, and the other people on my team weren’t blocking for me. Then once I had been hit the chocolate chips, I figured I was already knocked down, and in my weak state the honey roasted peanuts finished me off (Ok, seriously honey roasted peanuts and chocolate chips taste amazing together, but I digress). This was NOT a dream, unfortunately - True Story.


Do you ever feel like that? You are doing great - running into the end zone for your touchdown and then bam out of nowhere you get hit. Maybe it is some trigger food calling you from the cupboard, or maybe your husband/wife/kids leaves an open bag of your favorite chips on the counter, or maybe its bigger than that - your kid is sick or in the hospital, or you are feeling sad because you can’t get a job, have a baby, get a date, fill in the blank with your own “tragedy of the moment”. Then since you are already down…you figure well… I just as well finish myself off, and you keep going, because what's the point anymore now?. Maybe you finish yourself off for a day, or a week… maybe a couple of months, or maybe just maybe a couple of years. Some might call this “falling off the wagon”. Why do we do this to ourselves? I mean the only person we are hurting is ourselves.

It’s funny… we’d never stumble on one step and because of that throw our entire body head first down the stairs, would we? But yet we do this over and over in weight loss. We screw up one meal; just as well throw the day out, right? We screw up one day and just as well throw the whole week out, and once the week’s gone, just throw the whole month out. On and on it goes until we are back to where we started from, or worse… higher than where we started from. I’ve been there… and done that. I spent between 2000 and 2008 doing that. I have 8 good years of practice, so I think I actually qualify as an expert, right?

How can we reverse this cycle?
Well… I’ll tell you what I did. I determined that I would only focus on ONE meal at a time. I wouldn’t group my day together as a whole. At any time during the day I could “start over” if I wanted to. There was always the next meal to make better choices. I would never ever “wait until Monday” again. Admit it… how many of you have said, “I’ll start over again next Monday?”

STOP IT and Start today… Start right now this minute!

Think about where you might be one year from now if you started today.

You could be 50 pounds or even maybe 100 pounds down!

You could be at goal.

Your life could be changed.

Don’t you want that for yourself? Don’t you deserve it?

So what did I do after the chocolate chips tackled me last night and the honey roasted peanuts hit me while I was still down? I took my vitamins, drank a glass of water, forgave myself, and went to bed. This morning I woke up and ate a sensible breakfast and had an appropriate lunch. I’m planning on a healthy soup for dinner. Even if the chocolate chips attack me again tonight or the next day, I know that I’ve learned enough in the past 2 years to know that I will never “wait until next Monday” again.