Face It Friday: Different Holiday, Same Result 12/26/14

Does anyone else have those out of body experiences when in the middle of an activity? I felt like I was flying above my body on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and just shaking my head at poor choices left and right. Now I made the mistake of weighing in on Wednesday morning rather than waiting until my normal day on Friday morning.

Why did I weigh in early? Well I could tell you that it is because I was subbing the meeting I normally weigh in at ... but that would be an excuse.

I really wanted to get the weigh-in over before choosing to overindulge on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Yup I set myself up for failure disappointment there. You would think that I would be smarter five years into Weight Watchers, but we are all still learning.

My weekend wasn't that great. I had a few more beers than the past two weeks and could feel the bloat stay with me all week.

I ended up being up 0.6 this week (12/24 weigh-in) and accepted that.

It wasn't what I wanted, but I did the best I could on Monday and Tuesday to get back on track. I missed two days worth of on spot eating and extra activity. Life is life.

I was happy to be within free lifetime range for the second-straight work. Woo! Tiny victory.

Now once the weigh-in was over I tried to stay on plan for as much of Wednesday as I could... until our Christmas Eve tradition would start.

Well I promptly emotionally ate 14 pts worth of Simply Tostitos. Now I made the mistake of opening the bag in the car! NOT AGAIN! Remember: Never Failure, Always Feedback. So remembering that for future reference.

I am proud that when I got home I calculated how many grams of chips were in the whole bag, weighed the amount of chips remaining and did the math to get an accurate PPV for the incident in the car. That is how I figured out it was 14. I will take THAT as a Bravo moment.

We enjoyed the holiday tradition: Chinese food, wine, PJs and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I inevitably had the extra helping of Chinese food I didn't need and same with the wine.

BUT I did track it all. Another tiny victory.

I woke up at 7am on Christmas morning to get in a 10k run - 5k with my dad biking with me and 5k with a friend - in the rain! Go me.

Once home from the second 5k, my friend Lori and I each had a beer to celebrate. :)

We - my parents and I - opted to stay home for the Holiday, which I was behind. I thought it would help me stay more on plan, but actually backfired. I made one poor choice after another. I had more on plan food downstairs in my apartment, but instead went with the higher PPV foods my parents had. Ummm hi Dani you know better.

I think my downfall was giving myself permission to enjoy the Holiday as long as I tracked it all... which I did. I made sure to practice self-kindess and self-forgiveness... but maybe a little too much! You know what I mean?

Next Holiday

**I need to give myself a PPV cap. I think that will give me the flexibility to have what I want, but to keep it in control.

**I need to stick with my normal weigh-in day which would also keep me more in check on the Holiday in question.

Now, I am proud that I saw how my Christmas morning went and opted to get out for a third run to bring the total of Christmas miles to 9. Woo!

While I am happy that I tracked all through the week, I didn't like the choices that I made. This folks is why it is so helpful to track no matter what - I have something to look back to and see what worked and what didn't.

We know this isn't the first or last Holiday I will experience so I can improve each time.

I did end up hitting 94 APs earned over the week, which is my highest in a few months. Woo!

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Overall not my best week and not my worst. It was kind of there. BUT I did move more, tracked it all and didn't feel like I "wasted" any PPV.

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How did you Holiday go? Did you practice self-forgiveness for choices made?

Dani Dishes: I'm A Closet Eater

On this episode of Dani Dishes It's time to get real with myself and admit that I am a Closet Eater!! It's true.

Hi! My name is Dani and I am a Closet Eater.

It is a tough thing to admit, but I have and will continue to work on recovering from it.

Can you believe this guy said only "fat" people can be closet eaters? Sooo not the case.

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So what is helping me work through my closet eating?

1) Buying pre-portioned foods. There is something about opening a second bag of something that makes me second guess the decision.

2) Track. Honestly facing the choices I make when in that mindset has helped lessen the closet eating incidents over the years.

3) Share your struggle. If you can't find someone in your personal life to reach out to, please know I am here. There are also therapists, overeaters groups and folks on social media available.

4) Eat on a schedule. Since some of my closet eating will happen when alone during the day while working from home, I try to eat during a schedule. Keeping myself satisfied throughout the day can sometimes help the secret eating stay at bay.

5) Try not to feel alone. It is when I start feeling lonely that it can really come on. So if no one is physically home - besides the pups - I will call, text or tweet a friend that would understand my situation.

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These are just a few of the avenues I have been trying with some success over the years.

If you are someone who suffers from closet/binge eating, how do you handle the urges?

Have You Heard of #WWCHAT?

Do you love Weight Watchers? Do you want to learn more about what Weight Watchers is about?

Do you love Twitter?

Do you love chatting?

Do you love connecting with new friends?

Do you love me?

Woah! I went a little off base there. My bad.

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I've been attending Weight Watchers meetings since November 2, 2009 and couldn’t imagine my life without them. The ideas and suggestions from the group are great AND they gave me a sense of belonging. Sometimes during my life I felt like I was the only person dealing with certain problems, but joining Weight Watchers showed me that I wasn’t alone – people “got” my struggles.

Thanks to Weight Watchers I have shed 64 lbs (took me 2 years and 2 months to reach goal) and I have been working on maintenance since February 2012.

Social media enhanced my meeting room experience. I feel like I always have people in my corner or someone to turn to when I need help. Or if I need a reminder to step away from the cupcake.

Twitter and Facebook have opened my eyes to so many new Weight Watchers friends. It is amazing to connect with folks from all over the world that enjoy the WW program as much as I do. It also gave me an avenue to motivate/inspire WW members that do not get the meeting room experience – the online only members.

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Twitter chats are fun ways to connect with other members of the Weight Watchers community and get some great support and motivation.

Since October 16, 2013, we have "met" each Wednesday night from 8pm-9pm Eastern Time to discuss different Weight Watchers topics using the hashtag #wwchat. There are usually 5-7 questions posed by me (@IrishEyes1982) for folks to answer.

Each week I hope participants find motivation, get tips, make new WW friends and find a sense of community like that in the WW meeting room.

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Still want to know more? I asked some participants to share why they like #wwchat so much and here is what they had to say:

"I've only participated a few times, but I love having a group of other like-minded people on the same journey to bounce ideas off of, and get inspired by." - Amy, @amyjrock

"It's the perfect midweek pick me up! My meetings are Saturday so it just really helps me stay motivated and focused during the week. I look forward to it all day on Wednesday. It's also a great source of tips & tactics." - Angela, @lovelysplendor

"Here's what I love the most - people on the same path as me, who are closer in age to me than my meeting. Don't get me wrong, I love my WW "moms" but sometimes it's hard to relate or be related to because we are at different points in our lives. Our weekly chat helps me in that way, by connecting me to people who are on similar journeys in more than one sense." - Kristen, @kitenarie

"I love being able to chat with other people around the country- and world- who are similar in age and struggle with some of the same things I struggle with. It's good to feel like you have support especially if you don't have a great "real life" meeting." - Sarah, @SparklyRunner

"It's like a giant virtual WW party where it doesn't matter where you are on your journey or where you have been...you're accepted. You opinions & suggestions are appreciated." - Suzi, @SuziStorm

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Will you be joining us for #wwchat?