Good Choices at Applebees... BUT you have to go to the BACK of the menu! =)

So my best friend and I wanted to get some lunch the other day. I wanted to go somewhere where I knew there were good choices. I suggested Applebees, as I knew they had a Weight Watchers menu, but I had never tried it.

We are seated at our table and the hostess hands us the menus. The cover is splashed with yummy looking fattening as heck appetizers. I turn the page, more great looking, very bad for you stuff... and to make a long story short, I had to go through about 5 pages of this. I finally reached the back of the menu, to find the Weight Watchers menu on the very last page. It was VERY difficult to order from the WW menu! Not that the selections didn't look good, but how could I pass up all of that other exciting stuff!

Well, I did it, and so did my BFF. We ordered the Onion Soup, which is VERY GOOD! I can't believe it is only 150 calories. We actually had to ask the waitress if it was the right one, because it tasted to good. She ordered the Steak Portabello, and I ordered the Chicken Sandwich, and we shared. I wouldn't recommend the Steak Portabello, but the Chix Sandwich was pretty tasty.

After we were done, we were very satisfied and proud we didn't give in to the 90% of the menu that looked so exciting. We made good choices at the BACK of the menu!

Back on the Saddle!

I forgot what a high it is to exercise! I started up my fitness regimen again today. I had a problem with my knee which caused me to stop exercising for a few months. I didn't really gain any pounds, but I did gain a few inches back! But the good news is I am back on the saddle!

I was so proud of myself. First, I met with my trainer, and we spent the hour taking measurements and filling out forms. But when I was done with him, I wanted to walk to the car, but instead I marched my butt over to the elliptical machine. I jumped on and hit one of the program buttons. 60 minutes came up for the time. Are you kidding! Wait, I thought, I can do this. And I did! I think that was the first time I did cardio for that long at once! And let me just tell you it made my day. There is something about working out that helps me make better decisions. Not just with food, but everything.

I am really excited for Monday. I finally convinced my husband to join the gym, and he has his first session with the trainer on Monday. It is so much easier and more exciting to do this together!

It is just a Grocery List!

I can't tell you how many things I have read recently that advocate going to the grocery store with a grocery list. While this is a valuable tip, what needs to be clarified, is how much time and effort can go in to building the list. I am the type of person that wants everything to be perfect.

I wanted to create a foundation for easy, simple and healthy clean eating meals. I rely a lot on diet products such as Lean Cuisine and 100 calorie packs and these products have a lot of artificial ingredients or preservatives. Additionally, most of the snacks I have on hand are empty calories.

So, when I set out to plan and build the perfect weekly meal plan and grocery list, it turned into a 3 day project. I am sure some of you can appreciate this. First, I pulled out ALL of my cookbooks. Then, I pulled out my recipe box of stuff torn out of magazines and printed off of the computer. And last, I had to search the Internet, to make sure I hadn't missed anything. By day 3, I was so overwhelmed!

With the help of my husband, I got back on track. I made a simple spreadsheet on Excel, I sat down with a grid of all of the meals for the week, and tried to write in meals for each of us. OK, that didn't work either! After talking, my husband and I realized that we are the type of people that don't want to always make an elaborate meal. It is important to have quick, easy and HEALTHY alternatives for when we are busy and/or lazy.

So, we came up with a solution. We took our daily calorie goal, divided it by 6 meals, but left fewer calories for the sixth meal, since it was later in the evening. This gave us a calorie goal to shoot for when looking at meal ideas, and build a toolbox of easy go to meals for the future. This doesn't mean they have to all be recipes. Some of the things we came up with are not even the full calories, so we knew we would have the flexibility to add fruit, veggies, whole grains, or even a fun desert.

I tend to be very elaborate and over think things, so it is great to have my husband to help simplify things. With the two of us putting our heads together, and me completing the task by myself, I had a great game plan and grocery list in under 2 hours. Now, I know you are all saying, "I don't have two hours a week to plan my grocery trip." I don't either, but this was the foundation. Next week, I will take a look at what worked and what didn't and plan my grocery trip, much more quickly.

There was another element to my planning, that I will discuss after the week is over and I test it out. I came up with a cool spreadsheet and easy index card process. Also, a lot of the meals I am preparing involve a prep period on the weekend to prepare ahead for the week, and some of the meals I will even make ahead and freeze, so we have quick, healthy alternatives with all natural ingredients. I will share with you next week after I test out all of the kinks.

If I Could Pay to be Skinny!

When talking about weightloss, people always say things like:

• You have to do it for yourself
• You have to hit rock bottom
• You have to do it for you, or it won't work
• If I could pay to be skinny I would!

Well, this last one is something I had always said, but it wasn't until last October that I really understood what it meant. I am not sure exactly what day it was, or what triggered it, but a light bulb went off in my head! Shannon, if you could pay to be skinny, you would... so pay for it! Now you are wondering, what does that mean?

Let me go back a second. I have struggled with my weight all of my life. Five years ago I had Gastric Bypass Surgery. I weighed over 420 pounds. In less than a year, I lost 140 pounds, but then the weight loss stopped. I knew why it stopped, but I didn't want to admit it. Well, actually I would admit it, but for some reason it did not change anything. So, for the next 3-4 years, not only did I not lose anymore, but I gained 20-30 pounds back!

So now we are back to my light bulb. I said to myself, "If I could pay to be skinny I would." Then I asked myself, "Would you really? Would you pay $5,000 to be skinny? Yes! Would you pay $10,000 to be skinny? Yes!" And then I asked myself, "What is keeping you from losing weight? Exercising. What is keeping you from exercising? Discipline." Then it came to me. If exercise is keeping me from losing weight, and discipline is keeping me from exercise, I need something or someone to force me to exercise. A PERSONAL TRAINER!!! I had never gotten a personal trainer before because I couldn't afford it. I couldn't afford it now either. But I just said I would pay to be skinny, so why not pay for a personal trainer! LIGHT BULB!

So that is how I changed my life. Honestly, I can't afford a personal trainer, but if I am going to use my savings or a credit card for anything, this would be it! There is no price tag on being healthy, and happy with yourself.

I am not suggesting you go out and spend 1000's of dollars on a personal trainer (They really are expensive, over $60 a session). What I am suggesting is that you do some soul searching. We are all the way we are for a reason. I learned about root causing in my leadership training. As a manager or coach, a technique to help your employees, is to get to the root cause of the issue. In most cases when we are talking to others, or even talking to ourselves, we assume we know the problem, and then we create a solution. Maybe the solutions aren't working for us because we haven't found the root cause. I challenge you to look deep and find your root cause. My root cause was the discipline of exercising. Another strategy in coaching is asking open ended questions. Ask yourself open ended questions, or better yet team up with a friend and ask each other. Find your root cause for being overweight, or whatever you are unhappy about. Then, do what ever it takes to fix it.

We sacrifice so much every day for things that don't take us to our ultimate goal. We need to quit wasting energy on things that are not that important to us, and focus on our priorities.