I feel the need, the need for...food.

Emotional eating. Everyone does it at some point, right? Well, I'm guilty of eating my feelings...or at the very least, burying them under a pile of carbs, fake cheese product, and fatty food in the pit of my stomach. I want to eat until it hurts...but I haven't. True that I ate more than I would have liked over the weekend and I ate long past the point I felt full on a couple of occasions (like that burrito from Chipotle that easily weighed 5 pounds). I did recognize when I was on the prowl for food even when I wasn't hungry. The good news is that I stayed within my points. Evidently. Admittedly, I stopped tracking them. I'd mentally keep track and when I decided to go for broke with food choices, I figured I had enough flex points to cover it. The proof that I stayed in my new points allowance is that I lost 1.8 pounds this week. Almost 2 pounds.

I'll take it.

I think the walks with the dogs saved me. This week's already thrown me off on that though. I didn't get to walk last night because I was trying to convince Little (with a temp of 104) to take a nap and then I was exhausted and needing to get ready for our upcoming vacation. (Woot woot.)

That's the other thing. We have vacation coming up. There's really no way for me to track points at some of the restaurants we'll be going to. Many are the homestyle cooking, stick to your ribs, kinds of places. I know I'll regret it if I eat what I want and gain 5 pounds so I think I'll try to stick to portion control. Eat until I'm full and doggie bag the leftovers. We'll have a full kitchen so there's no reason I need to lick my plate clean. A good thing is that our vacation is divided between two WW points weeks so that means I can blow through essentially 70 flex points during that time, as long as I'm good the rest of the weeks. 70 sounds like a ton of points, but when you look at point values at restaurants when things are 25, 30, 40 per meal, it goes fast.

A huge motivating factor? A coworker just stopped in her tracks, looked me over and said "You're really thinning down!" It's great when other people notice and are impressed with your efforts. It makes me feel good. A couple of people have given me compliments (thank you Mom T in particular) and a couple others are looking into doing WW because they've seen my progress. (Ahem, Weight Watchers? I know I haven't actually paid to use your program, but I am making referrals and I wouldn't be opposed to compensation in the form of cash, a personal trainer, or some workout equipment.)

That said, I know I need to step it up and get fit, rather than just lose weight. When we started the doggie walking routine last week, I would add jogging sprints just to get my heart rate going and to challenge myself a bit more. I'm not too keen on the excess skin look when losing weight and I want to be able to chase after Little easily and it'd be nice to feel more limber than I do at the moment. If anyone has a solution to the post-pregnancy pooch besides a tummy tuck or "mom jeans," please let me know.

I think it's a transition period right now with figuring out what I can eat in a day and still stay within my points. I do need to be smarter. Munch on 1 or 2 point snacks. The house is getting sparse on healthy snacks since we're going out of town.

I did what I said I wasn't going to do and that was that I set goal dates for the smaller goals. That's a mistake since I'm about to miss reaching my next one by the goal date. I think it's better to just stick to the big milestones, knowing that weight will fluctuate and so will weight loss. Some weeks will certainly be better than others.

When it comes down to it, 28 is an awesome number. 73 will be soo much better, but I'll get there. In all seriousness, WW is a really fantastic program. It doesn't involve strictly frozen or dehydrated foods that I'm not going to want to eat long-term (and wouldn't be able to afford long-term). Although those programs work fantastically well for others, it just doesn't fit in well for me. I like the flexibility. I like just really looking at the points value and not fretting over calories, fat, and the debate over which is more effective to track for weight loss.
I just Googled for a WW photo and got this. Hopefully others share my humor. Reminded me of a mix between Gracie and Hooch (of Turner & Hooch).

I need ideas to make fruits and veggies more appealing. Perhaps a hummus dip for veggies instead of ranch dressing? How about fruit? What can I do to make them more appealing and feel more substantial? (Keeping in mind I have an objection to peanut butter.)

How do you handle eating/food choices when you're on vacation? Do you throw the rule book out the window and make up for it afterwards or are you the type to pack a food scale in your purse and haul it out in restaurants? Somewhere in between?