CORE and NSVs

Hi! First of all - thank you for all your kind comments (to me personally, but not published to the blog page) regarding my first post. I think one of my DWLZ friends said to me that this should be something I do for myself, and if anyone else reads it and finds it funny, uplifting or informative, so much the better. From the responses I have gotten, I think I rounded all the bases, so I'm very pleased I took the blog plunge. In order not to get blog burn-out I will try to post maybe every other day, so you can look for new entries "sort of" on that schedule.

Well - I have had three full days on CORE. It's funny what upping your protein and diminishing your processed foods can do for you. I am hardly ever hungry, and when I am, the choices are easy. I had forgotten how much I liked this program, so I am grateful I still have all the materials to do it. It will also be helpful when my son comes home in a few days, because we can just have loads of fruit, cut-up veggies, and grilled seafood, chicken and steaks. He also loves things like beans, lentils, whole grains, etc. - so it will be easy to make some nice side dishes. (When he was home last summer I switched from CORE to FLEX thinking that would help, but it didn't.)

Do ya'll know what NSVs are? They are Non-Scale Victories, and can be as powerful (or more so) than any scale victory. These past few days have been very stressful, and so my NSVs have been to NOT turn to food (not even CORE foods) when stressed. One of my favorite quotes is "If it's not hunger, food won't fix it." I have to tell you this is where CORE has been more helpful to me than the flex program. If I was stressed then I would look at how many points I had left for the day (since my stress eating is mostly at night when my defenses are down and I have dissolved into a puddle) - can I have ice cream? chips? left-over dinner? crackers? cereal? candy? How may flex points do I have left? With CORE, I say - hmm... will this hard boiled egg really make me feel better? Answer: Not in the way chocolate would! (Or the way I think it would.) Granted, I have the 35 points anyway with CORE, but they are more valuable. By the time I put cream in my coffee and sprinkle walnuts on my salad all 35 are accounted for. Granted, tearing into left over chicken or salad is CORE, but will that really solve anything or even make me feel better?

I guess that's why I find CORE actually easier. CORE food doesn't seem to be loaded with the emotions the way that cookies, candy, cake, bread, etc. are. I often said that I would binge on a head of lettuce if that was all there was. But truthfully - it's only a vehicle for the dressing - so if I don't have the dressing why would I eat the lettuce??? (I have a salad daily and so I really do love the stuff, but put into perspective, it's not something I would binge on.)

I remember when my daughter was a little girl she was crying about something (a broken heart or a skinned knee - I don't remember now) and I offered her a cookie. And she looked at me with such a weird expression. WHY would she want a cookie? I can't remember where I read the story, but another mother had a similar experience. Her daughter skinned her knee and the mother said - "Here, take this cookie" (to stop the crying) and the little girl took the cookie and put it on her knee. HMMM... when do we make the change from the little girl who puts a cookie onto a skinned knee to the big girl who stuffs her face with them over the same skinned knee? I am so incredibly grateful that I raised two children who would be the type to put the cookie on the skinned knee!

I'm a Tony Robbins fan and one thing he encourages people to do is to find FUN ways to approach challenging projects and situations. As I said in my first blog, this does not have to be all work and seriousness (approaching food only as fuel), so fun is the way I am approaching CORE this time. First of all, I may be one of the few, but I LOVE grocery shopping (I like any kind of shopping, but grocery shopping is my favorite!). I found a beautiful farmers-market type basket (example) that I had once bought and when I went to the market the other day, and instead of using one of their ugly plastic baskets, I brought my own to the store and pretended I was shopping at an outdoor market in Paris! Then I picked out a couple of nice recipes using ingredients that I didn't even have in the house, and made them. For lunch at work I packed a picnic basket instead of throwing stuff in a used plastic shopping bag for transport. I also "set" my desk - clearing off all my work and putting down a placemat and eating from dishes not containers. Okay okay - it's only the first week... how long will this last? Even if only for another week, I've shown myself that I don't have to just slosh fuel around! lol

I put a sign up with the date I think the Disney Princess Half-Marathon will be in 2011 (probably March 6th, if it's the same weekend as the 2010 marathon). I am so sorry that I won't be doing the 2010 one, but I am not ready to walk that many miles at the required pace, and besides I'm going to Disney this coming December to meet up with a wonderful group of DWLZ zonies! Talk about having fun while you are losing weight :) Going in December AND the following March is just a little too decadent - even if I could afford it!

Nothing to do with weight loss - but I am getting ready to send out my August belly dance newsletter. If anyone here is interested in receiving it please send me your email address (to amirajamal - at - yahoo - dot - com) and I will be happy to put your name on the list. You might not be a belly dancer but it might be nice to connect!

Have a great day, and I wish you all many NSVs!

Samida