7th January 2011 facebook email

Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of someone else. Judy Garland
Six years ago this week I started working as a Weight Watcher leader with my own meetings, I had all the training in the months before and I started with my own meetings in January. Best move I ever made, it started as a couple of meetings a week to help keep me at my own gold and a bit of extra cash and by the July it turned into my full time job when I realised how unhappy I was in my other job and how much happier I was being a leader. Best move I ever made and I’m still loving it, I couldn’t do any of it without my helpers I love them all dearly. (if anyone likes the idea of helping out in a meeting, let me know and I can tell you if I need any help in your meeting).



Anywho, how’s the getting back on track going folks? Isn’t it a challenge to get back into in after that Christmas break, especially if you stopped tracking altogether and gave yourself permission to eat anything and everything? One member actually told me if it hadn’t moved for 3 minutes she either ate it or licked it ;-)



Even though I was really busy yesterday I still managed to cook my main meal (I have it at lunchtime), it took ten minutes from when I walked in the door to getting it in the oven, we had Parma Ham Wrapped Chicken Breasts with Blue Cheese (recipe on Weight Watchers website for monthly pass holders) and it was 7 ProPoints of delicious, served it with butternut squash and peppers. Tea time was a different matter altogether, it was 8pm when I was on my way home, I’d been up since 4am, done 5 meetings and really had no intention of cooking, plus felt like I could’ve eaten the world. Luckily one of my helpers works in the chip shop at Stubby Lane so that made me realise I shouldn’t be having chips! Which meant the big red lights of Tesco Express were calling, it could have got ugly as I tend to turn into a truffle pig when I feel this hungry and tired after a week at work, and have been known to fill a basket full of all the reduced stuff (irrelevant of ProPoints value) and generally blow my diet) but luckily the wonder that will remain being the convenience of the Tesco garage have seen the light and ProPointed the light choices range, which includes their sandwiches – yay, all hail the Tesco dude! So my tea was Roast Chicken & Stuffing for 8 ProPoints and a sneaky glass of wine.



Have you noticed if you’ve been overeating for a while, that when you decide to cut back, you seem to feel that you’re hungry all the time? But is it really possible to be hungry all the time? No, it isn't possible to be hungry all the time – sorry I know that’s not the answer you want. If you're not sure when you're really hungry and when you're just emotionally hungry, read below.



Real hunger comes on slowly. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly. Real hunger can be satisfied with any food. Emotional hunger comes with a craving for a certain food. And it usually isn't carrots. When you get hungry look at the clock. Ask yourself a few questions. How long has it been since you've eaten? What was the last thing you ate? Was it something nourishing? If you suspect your hunger might be emotional, ask yourself what you could be really hungry for. Is it affection, nurturing, assistance or rest?



Can you ask to have the real need met by someone, or meet it yourself? It can even be helpful to simply write about what it feels like to have the need go unmet. Often times, we fear that our real needs can't or won't get met and so food becomes the one need that we feel like we can control. When you feed both your real hunger and your emotional hunger, your weight becomes unmanageable. But, when you feed only your real hunger your weight is easy to manage.



The beauty of the weekly allowance is you can use it to sometimes satisfy that emotional hunger because lets me honest I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t experience comfort eating at some time.

The weekend is almost here, let’s make it through to weigh day and start losing weight in 2011, for those of you who weren’t brave enough to grace me with your presence, do it next week, otherwise if you leave it hoping to 'pull back!' it makes things worse. One week becomes two and then you feel blue. Missed weeks become missed weight losses. Bite the bullet, face the music, we've had gains this week ranging from 1 to 15lb, they’re just numbers and we all know we can lose weight because we were doing it in 2010. xx