Debbie's Weekly "Food for Thought" 10/30/23 - Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween Everyone

As we launch right into the season of Holiday's Candy, more Social events, and busy work schedules, it very common for our eating patterns to go awry, for us to get cravings and feel totally helpless and stuck on the Candy train for the rest of the year heading towards Doomville!!!.

But, it really does not have to end that way, we can stop the train and take a different mode of transport, we can plan ahead and make allowances, and we can all have success on the scale.

I know this sounds like a haunted tale right now, but all month WW has been preparing us for success for Halloween and throughout the rest of the year too, drawing our attention to Sustainable eating, building meals that keep us strong and energized, understanding our own personal portions and last week we talked about being more aware of our eating habits and this week we will talk  about how to manage cravings.  This is the one you want to get a sneak-peek into now, so go to your WW app, tap on the menu and scroll down to Discover Content and it's the top article.

We all know that eating when we are not hungry is 100% normal, everyone does it, and it is also 100% changeable too, and this week we will practice together a technique I often refer to when emotions hit, known as "Surfing the Urge", this helps us create space between urges to eat and the act of eating which can help us make an intentional choice.

I do hope you will join us at the workshops, we are seeing attendance drop recently and I am keeping my fingers crossed it's just a coincidence and that you will be there to support us all.

I know many of you struggle, even with knowing what to eat and how to work the program, and I want you to know I am no exception.

Full disclosure, I have gained 9.6lb since February, every month it is creeping up, occasionally I get a dip but then it's back climbing ever so slightly, and seeing the number on the scale Sunday really knocked me off my feet, I felt defeated, doomed, and out of control.  

I have been tracking everything and honestly, but I have been more tired, my workouts have been more of a struggle, and I have been having more joint pain, the shock of the number on the scale this week really gave me a wake up call, so I started reflecting back on what I was eating, doing and feeling when I was at my happiest weight, and I found out a few things about myself.

I have added Cookies as a food group, instead of 2-4 Maria's a day, these crept up to 8, and I also added a minimum of 2 of my UK Digestive cookies a day, combined these equaled a total of 9 points.

I know we can eat the things we enjoy and track them, but I also paid attention to our topic last week that said it's okay to incorporate these foods once or twice a week, not 7 days a week like I was doing.  These were becoming a meal, and because they are a lot of points, my food choices got compromised, zero point foods were okay, but limiting dairy, unsaturated fats, wholegrains' etc. I was not getting enough nutrition, and adding the cookies created a gateway to more sugary foods, Pan Dulce and more fruits, consequently my joints started hurting more, my exercise intensity lessened, and I have been feeling so tired.

Another thing I noticed was my change in lifestyle, my hours got greatly reduced, meaning more time at home, and with a much smaller income, staying home more seemed a good thing, until I was starting to not want to leave the house unless I had to for work or groceries.

All these changes have really thrown me off balance, I started feeling low in my moral again, sad more frequently, and very low on energy, and thoughts started to get compulsive about food again and trying to work out more and more, all with no results.

Breakthrough came Sunday when I felt as though I had reached my max and had no choice about making some changes.

So what am I doing:

Tracking 100% honestly

Thinking about the day once at the beginning, setting my menu plan and sticking to it.

No Cookies right now, these need to take a break and eventually become a treat again and not a regular.

Planning my workouts for the whole week, including a day of rest, and this gives me balance and variety, and adding in 10-20 minutes, twice a week of strength training with weights so I don't lose any more muscle mass.

Changing what I listen to, and I found a WW related Podcast on Spotify, it's called "beyond the scale", and it is very insightful, for many reasons, Firstly as your Coach I need to be educated to support you all, but also as a former obese member obsessed with sugar, I need to be kind to myself and really understand the disease I had/have, and how I still have obese tendencies and thoughts, and learning to live with them and how to take control.

We all know that 90% of our journey happens in our minds, and this is so true.

If I was not a Coach and regularly reading all of our WW material, and having the privilege of sharing it with you at our weekly workshops, this would be the time on my journey that I would get back to the workshops as a member and really immerse myself again and create hunger for success again and feed weekly in the company of my like minded peers.

I will for the month of November be a fully committed member and I will let you know my progress as I go each week, and know that at each workshop I take away so much from you guys too, so this is a two way journey and I love that I get to share this with you all, and that you all make me feel safe to be truthful and vulnerable too.

I look forward to seeing you all, have a Happy Halloween, and just be mindful, and know you are worth it.

Here are a couple of links to get familiar with how much sugar is in the Candy: 

https://www.insider.com/halloween-candy-how-much-sugar-2019-9

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/heres-how-much-sugar-is-in-the-10-most-popular-halloween-candies.html

*The AHA suggests a stricter added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams) for most adult women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.

I can't wait to catch up with everyone this week.

Much love as always

Coach Debbie xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Here is my Weekly Workshop schedule

​Temple Emanu-El Del Cerro

6299 Capri Drive, San Diego 92120 

Wednesday - 9:30 AM 

Point Loma Assembly Hall

3035 Talbot St, San Diego, CA 92106 

Friday - 9:00 AM  

BONITA - Sweetwater Community Church

5305 Sweetwater Rd, Bonita, CA 91902

Saturday - 8:00 AM 

Saturday - 9:30 AM 

Join me and other members on my Personal Facebook Group Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/552026984828516/