Pal Power!

"I did this all by myself, on my own, without any help!"

Do you remember proclaiming that proudly as a kid after such feat as tying up your shoe, or buttoning up your coat? Such pride, right? A lot of us were taught early on that we should be able to handle things on our own. "Don't be a baby, you don't need any help!" As if needing help was a sign of weakness...

Sometimes things gets difficult, or boring, motivation wavers, and we find ourselves moving away from our goals. Nobody can lose weight for us, obviously, but a buddy can be of great help in many ways.

This week we will see how having a weight loss buddy (or buddies) can really help you in your weight management efforts. The trick is to find the right person (s)!

If you have a special someone who is helping you out with this weight management journey, we want to hear about it, or even better: meet that person!

Tool of the week

In San Francisco we love our restaurants don't we? We love to eat out. Sometimes it can be challenging to go out and still stay on plan. The Dinning Out companion is just the tool to help you do that!

It has all the major chains in the US and Canada, it has an ethnic & regional favorites list and finally an A to Z list of foods you find when eating out. It’s the perfect tool to help you keep on track when eating out!

In the Kitchen

I have been going over my old blogs, reviving some of them, putting aside others, and I found a few things that I had forgotten about. One of them is my Black Bean Mini Burgers. Those little guys are great for dinner, but even more for packed lunches!

I made up the recipe by mixing up a few recipes that I had found on different food blogs. I didn't want to put in bread crumbs, so somebody suggested to use cornmeal instead. Later on I would a little bits and pieces of roasted red pepper to it but not too much, so it doesn't start falling apart.

Here's what I did:

Black Bean Mini-Burgers
9-10 servings 1P+/serving

Ingredients
1 can of black bean, rinsed drained
1/2 carrots grated (very mushy, but that's ok)
1 small shallot, minced
1/4 cup red bell pepper minced,
1 whole egg lightly beaten
4 tsp (more or less) fine cornmeal
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 Indian red chili powder
Pinch garam masala
Salt, pepper

I mashed the beans with a fork, it makes a coarser texture than processing it. Then I added all the ingredients and mixed until combined. The mixture was pretty wet, but I managed to make 18 tiny patties that I put on a rimmed baking sheet (I covered it with aluminum foil and used cooking spray, less cleaning).

I pre-heated the broiler, sprayed garlic olive oil on the patties and then put them about 4-5 inch under the broiler for 3 minutes. Then I took them out, flipped them gently (use a flat spatula to keep half the patties from staying on the sheet) and cooked them another 3 minutes.

Finally I flipped them again and cooked them about 1 minute. Don't overcook them cause they'll get dry. Keep an eye on them!

They are about 1 P+ per 2 mini patties.

Activity

Next week we are starting the Walk It Challenge! You don't want to miss it, even more since it's coming at the perfect time to prepare for Bay to Breakers!

Now, I've been bragging about starting to work again with a personal trainer. I do realize that it involves quite a bit of money (even at the Y!) and that it's not possible for everybody. Still I think that if you can afford it, it's a good way to get yourself well on your way to achieving your goals.

There are quite a few things to take into consideration when choosing a personal trainer. The right trainer will motivate you to push yourself (safely) and will design your training in line with the goals you are trying to achieve.

I thought I'd give you a few hints that will hopefully help you make the right decision.

Certifications:

Not anybody should proclaim themselves "Personal trainers", but sadly it happens a lot. You want to make sure that the trainer you are hiring is certified by a reputable organisation.

You want to ask when the trainer was certified, and how committed the trainer is with continued education. Personal training, like so many other fields, has changed enormously in the last 15-20 years.

The point is that somebody who is certified (and insured!) is serious about being a personal trainer and has the background and the education needed to be able to build a routine that will be safe and effective.

Availability - Price

One of the advantages of being a personal trainer is that you can more or less make your own schedule right? Well, if you like to work out first thing in the morning, and super dude doesn't start until 3pm, it might not be the best fit.

Don't be afraid to ask if there are discounts, bundles (I just got a great deal at my gym, 16 sessions for the price of 12!). Mid-March to Mid-April is a little bit of a slow season, in Mid-April people will start thinking about the coming summer and hit the gym again. It's the time to go for great deals.

Personality

Ok, that seems obvious, but you want to find a trainer that will have a personality that fits with your own. I remember a trainer I hired a few years ago that I dropped in the middle of the first session. He was yelling at me, trying to bully me into something I knew my bad knee would not do. I stood up and left, got refunded and took my money elsewhere. I don't do very well with bullies, I just end up yelling back...

What kind of personality do you think would keep you motivated?

Laura, my trainer, has a great sense of humor. We laugh all the way through the training and that makes it all the more fun. She also knows to tweak my pride when I would flake. That's what fits me!

You want to find what you want, someone very focused and "military"? Someone who can make it fun? Someone pushy who will "force you" to go beyond what you thought possible?

Don't be afraid to speak up!

You should always feel very at ease to discuss with your trainer about your goals, your expectations, how you think it's going, modifications you would like to see.

One of the big challenge for a trainer is to really know what the person wants and expect, the clearer you explain that, the more you will get out of the sessions :o) Personal trainers are not mind readers, "I want to get fit" can mean a million different things.

Have a great week!

There's a lot going on!! We have the first Lifetime member monthly meeting on April 3rd at 11:30. We also have the Walk It Challenge starting next week, Bay to Breakers coming in mid May, and other things that I'm forgetting about just now. I will put up the April Events on the Events blog tomorrow, next weekend at the latest! Come back and look it up.

I have added a tab (up top!) for my Bento Blog. This blog is part of the "Willow" blogs. There are several of them and they represent my personal thoughts, adventures and opinions. Feel free to read if you will, but be aware that those are no in any way connected to Weight Watchers. ;o)

In the meantime, please never be afraid to drop me and email if you need anything. You can also comment on any of these blogs, I will answers those as well!

I'm here for ya!

Melanie

Leader

“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”