The people who you live with influence your diet the most. Ray and I started dieting together. However, he said that if he was sadistic and wanted to throw me off my diet, all he had to do was quit his. He was right. We cook for each other, we grocery shop for each other and we generally eat together. If Ray was to “quit” his diet, mine would go down hill too. That’s why we started together, and we continue together.

In my long visit home, my Mom and Dad are practicing no healthy eating, no regular exercise and no good cooking. They aren’t pathetic, I still love them! However, now 18 pounds fewer, I am reverting back to my old, bad habits. Eighteen pounds will only stay that way if I continue practicing the good habits I started with Ray. We are separated now and he has fallen out of his routine with P90X, exercising every day and heating a protein heavy diet. I’ve started eating whatever crosses my path– not literally. My parents go out to eat a lot. Therefore, I have gone out with them. The first few times I ate a soup and salad for my meal. But, they order appetizers every time. Thus, I eat my share. They keep hot pockets in the freezer and Helluva dip in the fridge and pistachios on the counter. Oy! How do I resist? I’m not shopping anymore, I’m not cooking anymore and now I’m not eating with anyone who gives a damn what they’re eating!

There is a treadmill in the basement at my parent’s house. It’s folded up to save space. Every time I come home, my dad says, “Can you teach me how to use the treadmill?” Who needs to be taught to walk in a straight line with a moving walkway underneath them? Yep, my dad.

I miss home, with Ray! I have my YMCA membership and my Wii Fit Plus! I buy the groceries and I cook the meals. And, I need to save money, so we don’t go out that often.

Moral of the story–the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis DO affect your habits. Duh. The diet becomes obsolete when you are surrounded by people not doing it, yet you are trying so handily to keep up with it yourself. It is hard work. I envy the people who garner success from that. I, however, need a partner. When I participated in Weight Watchers in 2005-2006, my roommate, Lindsay went with me to meetings every Saturday morning at 8 a.m., and shopped and cooked with me. We kept up with each other, encouraged each other and bitched about everyone who already look incredible, ha! She was a great partner.

Ray, like I said before, is a wonderful and challenging partner. I need them! I’m not alone. If you get distracted by life around you, as you will, you lose the goal and each objective on your path to attaining it. I’m going to get back on that horse, and hopefully continue down path toward my goal. I will have to do it alone for a while, but hopefully I will be able to do it. Grab yourself a partner. It’s much easier when you have someone pushing you. I’m accountable with this blog. Therefore, I will have better news with the next blog– either more weight lost or better developments in my eating and exercising habits. Watch and see, and pray that this works! Next objective, tomorrow is a new day.

That takes time–putting on the winter gloves, hats, coats, snow suits, etc– time we don’t want to give. Thus, we stay inside, out of the cold and in front of our televisions, computers, books, video games or other stimulating electronics. If not stimulated by some activity, some of us turn to eating, munching or snacking on whatever is available. I know that one of my favorite all-time snacks is goldfish crackers. With the Weight Watcher’s program, measuring calories, dietary fiber and grams of fat, I can have 58 goldfish crackers for 3 points. Sometimes it’s too difficult to count out 58 little fish, so I grab a handful and throw down in front of the television. November and February are “sweeps months” for television, so there will undoubtedly be great shows on. Then, I become lost in my snacking and lost in the great television. Then, I am not losing weight.

Pro tip: Eating in front of the television is not good. Psychologists say that one of the ways you can help yourself lose weight is to eat away from the television in another room, focusing on each bite of food you take. Focus on yourself chewing each bite of food and swallowing it. Picture it going down into your stomach and starting the digestion process. If you focus on each bite, you eat more slowly, thus giving your stomach a chance to let you know it’s full. Psychologically, that seems like good advice. If I’m think about the food I’m eating, and listening to my body telling me I’m full, I’m less likely to eat past my “full point.”  Umm…what about if you think you can eat more and you have an addiction to food?

Pro tip: Find something to munch that is healthier. For me, cucumbers are amazing. There are less than 8 calories in one cup of cucumber. Wow! I guess you burn more than 8 calories walking to the fridge, cutting up the cucumber and tossing it in your face. So, I will eat an entire cucumber, sliced, chopped, or straight. It’s easier to eat sliced though…Cha Ching! I feel satisfied and even a little good… because I just ate a vegetable and I feel kind of full now. Sure, goldfish are tasty and salty, but throw a little salt on your cucumber and you have a crunchy salty snack. (I don’t use salt).

Let’s be serious, we eat because it gives us something to do while cooped up inside.  Even with all the video games, books, board games and other things to do inside (FitTV for those of us with cable), we still turn to old faithful (food) for stimulation. Winter sports are not so bad. The extra time it takes you to suit up in your winter gear actually helps you burn calories. Then, even a walk in the snow takes more effort; burns more calories. Too cold outside? Jump in your vehicle or public transportation and go to the YMCA or get a cheap gym membership. I love Wii Fit Plus. I’m grateful to have a Nintendo Wii game system. I don’t have to leave the house, but I can do Yoga, Aerobics, stretching, calisthenics, boxing and other games. It keeps track of my calories burnt and weight gain or loss. It tracks my overall activity. How awesome is that?

Go bowling. Many bowling alleys have free bowling time. Go ice skating–same with free skate. And, don’t forget–spring is just around “the corner.” By corner, I mean a few weeks. The days will get longer, the sun will be out occasionally, and people will start to pep up in anticipation. The spring anticipation. Think of what you used to look forward to growing up. In elementary school, spring was time for field trips, and the impending end to the school year. It even smelled better as spring approached. Use fond memories to keep you trucking through winter. Don’t listen to Pucksatawny Phil, either. Winter is long and arduous and it’s going to suck. But, winter inevitability can be avoided. It’s tough to perk up, but don’t substitute happiness with food. Easier said than done, but take some of these suggestions to heart and using your time for these things will burn calories and “inevitably” lend to your weight loss.

Turkey Sausage Omelets for 2

• half-pound of turkey sausage, crumbled
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 c. 1 % milk
• one chopped green pepper
• 1/4 c. chopped yellow onion
• 1 c. cheddar cheese
• 1 T. Old Bay Seasoning
• pinch of Salt and Pepper if necessary
• Optional: Any other vegetables you might like with your omelet like tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers

*Chop your vegetables and grate your cheese in advance.

Sprinkle olive oil around the bottom of a saucepan or skillet and crumble turkey sausage inside saucepan to brown. Watch very closely, as this sausage is lean and will cook quickly. Do not let it burn. Drain turkey sausage on several paper towels. In separate bowl, mix eggs and milk with a whisk. Pour egg mixture into heated skillet over medium heat. Let the eggs cover the bottom of the skillet and cook for about two minutes. When the edges start to brown, lift with spatula, but make sure some eggs still run over the top. Put in turkey sausage, cheese, onions, peppers, and sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning over all. With spatula, fold one half of omelet over the filling. Let heat and cook for two or three minutes. Only fill the omelet so that it’s not overflowing. Make sure omelet folds completely in half and cheese starts to seal the edges. Season the outside of the omelet with Old Bay or salt and pepper to taste. When the outside of the omelet is slightly brown or dark yellow, serve it onto a plate and enjoy! Watch closely as eggs will cook quickly if the skillet is preheated properly! Spread ingredients out for two omelets.

Or, download a calorie counter that lets you use it on your blackberry or iPhone or other Smart Phone. Personally, I follow Weight Watchers and I work out for one hour every other day at our local YMCA. Remember to keep your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes to reach a desired level of cardio fitness. You’re not really “warming up” if you do anything less than 20 minutes. I usually begin with 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and then do a timed circuit of free-weight machines. I also use the mats to stretch and do abdominal exercises. When I’ve reached an hour of continuous movement and sweating, I drink a recovery shake or eat a protein bar to replenish my electrolytes and sustain my energy. If you burn a large amount of calories during a workout, you will collapse afterward if you don’t “refill” your energy pipeline. Drink plenty of water but drink a myoplex shake or eat high protein bar.

One thing Ray and I have started doing is eating low-carb to no-carb dinners. Consume the bulk of your carbs in the beginning of the day to give you energy to make it through the day without “crashing” in the afternoon. For dinner, eat fewer carbs, more protein. I made Rachel Ray’s artichoke-stuffed mushrooms recently along with a meatloaf for dinner and Ray loved it.

Ray made omelets for dinner a little while ago–stuffed with tomatoes, ham, green peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese. Mine was phenomenal! It doesn’t hurt that Ray is an incredible cook (very much more than me), so his food always comes out great. I find it nice to share recipes that help in the weight loss journey, so I’m going to try to post one with every post. These were given to me and found in books and blogs. All recipes have one thing in common: I’ve eaten every one of them and I enjoyed them. Therefore, I’m sharing.

Chicken with Orzo and Cucumbers

(taken from Laura Kuttler’s blog, “Living Insanity’s Loving Food.”)

• 3 chicken breasts
• sprinkle of balsamic vinegar
• springs of ground thyme
• olive oil to coat the pan
• 1/3 c. Feta cheese
• 1 c. milk
• 1 T. plus 1.5 teaspoons flour
• half a lemon’s worth of juice
• ground black pepper to taste
• dried oregano
• cooked orzo
• fresh cucumber chunks, peeled

Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and place chicken breasts in the pan. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar and thyme on both sides of each breast. Cook the chicken through, maybe 8 minutes per side. Cut the chicken to make sure it is white with clear juices. Remove the chicken from the pan to a plate. Add flour to the pan stirring it well so you don’t have a lot of lumps of uncooked flour. Then add the milk and heat it to a simmer. Cook for about two minutes so the mixture thickens. Add the feta cheese and lemon juice and stir until the cheese melts. Season the sauce with black pepper and oregano. Add the chicken back to the pan and heat everything together, letting the cheese mixture coat the chicken. Then, plate some orzo and place chicken and sauce on top. Sprinkle fresh cucumber chunks around the chicken and orzo and enjoy the Greek delight!

Ray and Emmy Circa 01/2010

In 2005, I was a sophomore in college and 30 pounds heavier than when I graduated from high school. After joining Weight Watchers in April 2005, I started losing weight very quickly as my body adjusted to the lifestyle change. I continued to lose until about April or May 2006, when I reached -45 pounds. Ray and I started dating February 2006 and going out to nice restaurants was our perrogative. As one can imagine, the good food, good company, all led me to be a good deal bigger than I was when we started.

At the beginning of 2010, Ray and I looked in the full length mirror only to be horrified at what we saw. “How many chins do I have?” “I can’t fit my arms into cap sleeves or nice shirts because I have the elbow hangover fat!” Oy. This journey will be easier if we work together. The collective groan at the possibility of completely changing our lifestyles yet again was audible throughout the house.

Ray began Tony Horton’s P90X extreme workout program on January 1, 2010 with other individuals from his office. For those of you who have not heard of this work out–check it out: http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do?code=P90XDOTCOM.

It is an intense 90-day, three-phase workout and diet plan geared toward bringing you to your best health and fitness level as soon as possible.

I started Weight Watchers again, because I had great success with it in 2005-2006. As of February 12, 2010, Ray is -20 pounds and I am -10 pounds! So, this blog will chronicle our (my) weight loss journey, as it will propel me to workout and eat right, knowing I have to share my successes and failures with the viewing public. Occasional pictures will be posted and I hope to get some followers, because I think blogging is another way of keeping me accountable. It really is a lifestyle change.