Track and lose

February is all about taking those good habits that we set in place in January, and locking them solidly in place so that we can keep the course all through the year and for the years to come.

I think that to do that, some of us have to take a different point of view on those new habits. Instead of of looking at them as limitations that we impose on ourselves to achieve our goals, why don't we look at them as enhancements we are bringing to our every day life?

• I'm not limiting junk food, I'm enjoying more healthy foods.
• I'm not forcing myself to work out, I'm doing something fun while making myself fitter, stronger, happier
• I'm not forcing myself to not snack in the evening, I'm just finding healthier ways to wind down. 

It's a slight change that does take some practice, but in the long run it makes this new lifestyle more natural, more enjoyable and less like a series of punishment. Which brings me to this week's topic:

Recently Jennifer Hudson was asked "How do you stay motivated to track everyday?" She answered "Really?!? I get to look like this- and all I have to do is to track?"

I had never thought of it quite that way, had you? We keep talking about how important it is to track, how it keeps us on track, but still we act like it's a chore, something painful that we have to do if we want results.

What if we starting thinking about it differently? What if tracking was a gift we're giving ourselves? What if we could make it work, make it effortless, make it fun? Lets see if we can find ways to do that together!

Member Corner

Well, since I wasn't around last week, I have no idea what happened!

I just wanted to pipe in this section anyway and remind you that if you want me to post something on here, I will gladly do that. This is to be YOUR section of my blog. If you are looking for a walking partner, a recipe, an obscure cookbook or exercise tape, send me and email and I'll be happy to post it on here. :o)

It's a Lifestyle

As I have been down with the flu for over a week, not much as been going on other than a lot of online time, couch time, and whining. HA!

I did manage to win a giveaway online which brought me to a realization about what direction I want my lifestyle to take. You are never really done building up your life and deciding which direction it is to take at any given moment. Here's my thought process about this whole Vegan/not vegan thing.

I did try a new food! Mung beans!I made a soup and it was absolutely delicious! Look it up here : Whole Mung Beans Soup.

After the Farmers Market Sunday before last, I swung by Jai Ho a little Indian grocery store (awesome by the way) for spices, and grabbed those little green beans/lentils thinking I should give them a try. I did and I LOVE THEM! Give them a try!

Setting down the foundations of success

The warm up is done, we have identified the steps we need to take, and learned how to take them. Now it's time to fine tune them and find our second wind. We're in this for the long haul, and we're in this together! We will not let the momentum slow down, we can make this work because we Believe!

I'll be back in the meeting room this week, I can't wait to see how you are all doing. In the meantime, never be afraid of emailing me. I'm there for you!

Your leader,

Melanie Bourgeois

Change from the Outside in

Change is a funny thing. You'd think that it's a very simple process, that you make the decision to change and that's all there is to it. If only... Changing one's life is a process, it is complex it happens in stages. To try and do everything at once is putting a lot of pressure on ourselves, often it's setting ourselves up for failure.

A few years ago, Weight Watchers had a poster that was called the Levels of Change and it looked pretty much like this:

When it comes to changing our habits for successful long-lasting weight loss, it's easier to proceed by stage. We are changing from the Outside In. First we control what's around us. Distancing ourselves from temptation and surrounding ourselves with "safe foods". As we get better at this, little by little we move toward the center of the circle until our very identity has evolved into "I am a healthy, active, thin person."

It's only January though, a lot of us are just getting started, or restarted. Why don't we start by the beginning? Or is it begin by the start? This week lets deal with that outside circle, the environment. How can we manage our environment for a successful, enjoyable and durable weight management?

Come to your meeting and see... ;o)

Member's Corner

It's been a crazy and awesome week out in the meeting rooms! When I say that you guys are a bunch of losers, I mean it in the proudest and most loving way!

San Bruno on Tuesday night had 50 people weighing in. 50! I am so happy that I had Adelina and Samina there to take care of everybody! It got a little crazy, but we are inviting an extra receptionist next week to make sure we don't get overwhelmed.

Those 50 people at Bayhill lost 54.8 lbs! 1.1 lb/member!  You guys rock!!

Stonestown was also a little crazy with 54 members. We had already staffed up though, and this week the computers cooperated (thankfully!) so it went pretty smoothly I believe.

Now the weight loss at Stonestown is just crazy. The 54 members who weighed in lost 72 lbs. That's 1.3 lbs/member.

Stonestown wins this week! I am incredibly happy and proud to see everybody lose so much weight! I'm also happy that it seems like the winning meeting switches back and forth. The game is on my friend!!

I repeat myself I know, but again thank you for your patience. Bigger groups make for longer lines, but also for very animated meetings and the merging of more ideas tricks and suggestion than we see in the smaller group.

I have also seen many "already members" extend a helping hand, take the time to explain things and share their wisdom with the people who are walking in our doors for the first time. Thank you, you are reminding me of why I am truly doing this.I don't always have the time to thank you on the spot,  but you are noticed and greatly appreciated!

It's a lifestyle

I've been cooking up a storm lately. I made a delicious fish soup Friday night ( January 6th) that I had to share It was a Tilapia-Kale Soup.

I've also been bragging about my Goulash Hongrois all week! It was delicious, easy, and I got to freeze quite a bit of it for future use.

Finally, I made a Butternut Squash-tomato Soup that was very much made up as I went but turned out to be absolutely delicious!

I cooked many other things, but those were too common place to bother blogging about it.

I haven't posted on my lifestyle blog this week. Just have been doing my thing, one day at a time. Not slowing my efforts, just feeling a little more quiet and introspective this week. Or many I'm just too busy cooking! ;o)

Onward and Downward!

We are putting down the bases on which we will build success all through 2012 and for the years that follows. I'm impressed by the cheer energy and push forward I get every time I step in the meeting room. We are on baby, and we will achieve our goals!

Lets keep the momentum going. In the meeting room, talk to your neighbors, check in and make sure that that person who was sitting next to you last week is there, and reach out. Check in with your friends and make sure they keep coming with you, or that they start coming if they aren't already. What's better than a partner in success? (well I can't say a partner in crime here right?).

I am here if you need me, just drop me an email! Thank you for being there for each others and for me. It is a great feeling to be part of such a wonderful and powerful group of people.

Yay us! See you in the meeting room!

Melanie
Leader

Making Powerful Plans

You've been running all day. It's 5:30pm (or later) and you're running in the house, drop your stuff and look wishfully at the couch when someone pops a head around the corner and ask: "What's for dinner?"

You run everything you know is in the fridge and the pantry in your mind and realize that anything you come up with will be at least an hour of preparation and cooking (not including thawing out the meat!). There is just no way, you're tired, hungry, it's just not happening. "How about we call in pizza?"

We all have that happen every once in a while right? How often does it happen though? Ever look back and realize "Woah! I've  "called in" dinner 3 times this week!" That's a lot of extra calories, and dollars!

Putting dinner on the table doesn't have to take very long, or be very complicated. All it take is a little thinking ahead, a little organization and the right tools*! You can have a home made meal on the table everyday without having to spend hours in the kitchen.

*Tool like a simple meal plan template. I made this one in about 2 minutes:

This week we're talking about how powerful planning can make your meals easier and healthier!

Member's Corner

We could tell the January fever has hit the meeting rooms already! We are seeing more people, and happily a lot of people came back after a little holiday hiatus. Welcome back everybody!

I want to thank everybody for their patience. More people means longer lines, and we are doing everything we can to keep things moving. It's all so exciting though!

San Bruno had 30 people weighing in and we lost 16.2 lbs which is 0.54 lb/member

Stonestown had 48 people weighing in and lost 24.8 lbs which is 0.51 lb/member.

How close is THAT? Last week San Bruno was behind, but they more than made up for it this week. I must add that being the first weigh in of January, with a lot of people coming back after taking a little break, both weight loss are impressive! You rock!!

I lost my award sheet *blush* and do not want to go by memory for fear of forgetting someone. So all of those who passed milestones this week CONGRATULATIONS!

I will email myself the award list from now on so I can't lose it. Being more organized was my resolution for 2012... thankfully I'm doing better working toward my goals than I am with my "Resolution". ;op

Recipe Club

There is a meeting of the Recipe Club this week at the Stonestown Center Wednesday at 7pm (after the 6pm meeting). It's a fun way to get together and talk about cooking, new recipes ideas and tips and tricks to make meal prep more fun and less of a chore!

Here's the Flyer:

All you need is 1 recipe relating to the theme. It doesn't have to be a complicated recipe! Actually, we've turned out to be a very practical-minded group. The simpler the better! We love to cook, but we don't want to live in our kitchen!

Bring your friends, all are welcome!


My Lifestyle

Wednesday I wanted to cook some bulgur, but I had no broth whatsoever. I hate to cook grains in water, it doesn't taste like anything. I didn't have time to go to the store and all that, so I decided to improvise. I must say that it turned out quite well. See what I did here in my No Broth No Problem post on my Recipe Blog.

Thursday I was hungry and couldn't decide what to make for lunch so I decided to improvise! Look it up in my Clean the Fridge post. It's nothing complicated really, more of an example of how you can make things work if you keep it simple!

Friday I was greatly inspired after leaving my first meeting in a while. I stopped by Whole Food Market and got shrimps, Kale and decided to spoil myself a little: Shrimps with Kale.

This week has been on of many lessons for me. After realizing that I was putting much more in the process than in what I was trying to achieve, I started putting things in perspective. A little accidental miche of bread started the whole thing. If I ate the whole thing (minus a slice that I gave my husband), is it lame? Or can it become a victory?  It's all in how you look at it, see my post: Lame or victorious?

Finally, as I mentioned I went to a meeting as a member. It had been a long while, for many reasons I did not feel that I could go to a meeting and feel like a member. It's difficult to put the "Leader aside" and just focus on "me".

I found a leader whom I felt completely at ease with and a ground in which I had made many friends, so I finally showed up thinking "Just go in, if it doesn't turn out well, then... at least you tried." I received a warm welcome from everybody I knew in there. It was like walking home! I walked out of the meeting feeling inspired, motivated and full of ideas! It's like this thing works! See about it here: All in a meeting.

We are just getting started!

I have been a leader for over 8 years now. Lets just say it is not my first January at Weight Watchers. This one is starting with a special energy. We have a good thing going, everybody is ready, motivated and it's contagious! We are settings serious, realistic (if ambitious) goals, and we know deep in our heart that we can totally achieve them. Lets keep the current going!

I will see you in the meeting room this week! Until then email me if you need anything. Have a great week!

Melanie
Leader