Tag Archives: weight watchers

MAKE IT COUNT MONDAY

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“Don’t give up! It’s not over. The universe is balanced. Every set-back bears with it the seeds of a come-back.”
Steve Maraboli

Good Day to all, it is  Weigh In Monday and I am off for two days. I love to use my days off to catch up on my writing and my plans. I am always redesigning my life, even when set backs happen. I continue to forge forward always, and I never give up. I love this quote above, it truly speaks to me.

I think I am going to call Weigh in Day “MAKE IT COUNT MONDAY.” It has a special kind of hopeful ring to it.

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This week the scale did not budge, but I expected that. I stayed at 159 lbs. I know the scale can sometimes be that fickle friend, one day it shows you love and the next day it stands you up. There you are, standing on the scale with all the hopes of the hard work you put in the previous week, and then nothing. Not one bit of movement, no matter how many times you step on the darn contraption. 

Weighing in should not cause that much drama, do not view the scale as a frenemy; someone you love to hate. Instead embrace the process, weight loss is just like life; you will have your ups and downs. Each week is a brand new chance to reinvent your approach. This week I did not feel well, I felt a bladder infection coming on and I drank all my extra points in cranberry juice. I knew the extra calories of all that juice could alter my outcome on the scale, but my body needed healing. I recently discovered cranberry pills, highly recommended by friends and I am now on the mend. Remember, this is all for your health and wellness. I am completely fine with the scale staying the same this week.

I am embracing the process of the journey. I am going to work harder on my fitness this week, and keep my food clean and keep my points on point. Monday is my splurge day, but I will not go overboard. Splurging within my point range.I will make an effort to get at least 6-8 fruits and vegetables a day. Maybe I should begin making smoothies with veggies again. I will stay motivated and put in the work, it is all about the work.

My workout schedule for this week:

The 3 W’s. Four days a week on my work days after work, I will do my workouts by #benderfitness. I am tailoring them to the fact I have a shoulder injury, and I will also be doing exercises for my shoulder to help myself heal. I will complete two walks a day on my work days. This is all easy to remember, if I work, I workout and walk. The 3 W’s, walk, workout on work days.  http://www.benderfitness.com

Three days a week I will run, I will work up to 3 miles each day. I will also do home yoga and flexibility training 3 days a week. Again, 3 days off equals 3 miles. No way I can forget this plan. Here is my yoga, flexibility and running plans.

http://www.benderfitness.com/2015/05/5k-training-for-new-runners.html

http://www.benderfitness.com/2016/10/daily-yoga-challenge-10-sun-salutations.html

http://www.benderfitness.com/category/flexibility-training

I will work on sleeping better, and not stressing even though life can sometimes throw a pie in your face, and trust me I have dodged a lot of pies lately. Willpower, a good attitude and a smile works wonders; and perhaps just a taste of the pie. 

I am off for now. Namaste’ Love and Light.

Happy Monday,

Make it Count

Rose

MAKING FOOD MY FRIEND

Your body is a temple not a trash can. At the same time, you have to learn to live with food, not without it. It is fine to occasionally eat foods that are not considered healthy. For me, I now follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat real, clean food, and the other 20% I allocate a little wiggle room for occasional treats and goodies. I find this plan is sustainable for life and living. I can maintain this forever, and not feel deprived. This is how I am moving forward in my weight loss journey, and my life.

Rose Bruno Bailey

Food, it is a necessity of life, the staple of living. We need fuel to live. Food not only feeds the body but it can nurture the soul. Food can be healing, and it can be addictive. For some food can cause anxiety and fear, how much is too much?  One cannot decide to just quit food and go cold turkey. You have to learn to live with food, to achieve balance, to make food your friend.

For the longest time food was my enemy. When I was age 13 I began dancing, and an adult dance teacher told me I must lose 30 lbs between freshman and sophomore year of high school. That began my journey of making food my enemy. I had eating disorders and spent most of my early days trying to avoid food. You can read about it here. http://mychangeforaten.com/eating-disorder-past/

That post was in 2013. This is now 2017, and I am here to say the old habits came back after that moment. I decided I did not need Weight Watchers after some time, and went at it on my own. I lost my weight, but the old feelings of being obsessive about food came back, in the form of what I was eating instead of not eating. I went from my starving days of yesteryear, to being obsessive over good vs bad foods. Carbs, gluten, sugar, just a little sent me over the edge of guilt and obsession. I think I was bordering on a new eating disorder called Orthorexia. Melissa Bender from Melissa Bender Fitness was the person to suggest this was how I was behaving. She knows my background with food.

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or·tho·rex·i·a
ˌ
noun
  1. an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy.
    1. a medical condition in which the sufferer systematically avoids specific foods in the belief that they are harmful.
      noun: orthorexia nervosa; plural noun: orthorexia nervosas

     

I am happy to say here I am in February 2014. I feel like I am back in control of my eating disorders, and I have done so with Weight Watchers Online. Melissa Bender told me she is so happy I am making food my friend, and I am too. I can safely say I am still eating healthy, but I now have a little wiggle room. I no longer obsess with what I am eating, I track it daily on the Weight Watchers App and I am done with it. I eat clean, but I allow some treats here and there. I work the plan each week, and if I feel something is not working, I try something new the next week. I have broken my year long plateau and lost 9 lbs since January 14th, 2017. That brings my weight loss goal closer, I am now 24 lbs from 135 lbs. I will always do this, I will maintain my weight by the points system after I get to goal. I will achieve lifetime status with Weight Watchers, and have a healthy relationship with food.

I am grateful for the food that nurtures me and fuels my body to do the things it loves to do. I will not obsess over bad and good food. I eat clean and healthy yet I enjoy life, and with life comes the occasional treat or celebration. Food is no longer my enemy, food has become my friend. Every Monday, after weigh in I enjoy a treat with my coffee. I do that, and I am still losing weight. I really look forward to the scale, and the treat afterwards.

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I will leave you with this, a quote from the weight loss guru himself.  We miss Richard Simmons. If you would like to hear the number one podcast in the country, Missing Richard Simmons, here is the link. I was interviewed on the last day of Slimmons. I hope Richard is well. https://www.facebook.com/MissingRichardSimmons/

We miss you Richard Simmons.

I’ve always practiced this: Love yourself. Move your body. Watch your portions.

Richard Simmons

 I love myself, I am watching my portions and moving my body Richard. Thank you.

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WEIGHT LOSS MILESTONE

16387009_1393904893988306_2621029889834396704_nMy weigh in day is on Monday. I am working so hard, and I really get excited for weighing in. This week I finally made it into the 150’s, a milestone I have been chasing for over a year. I finally broke my long time plateau with Weight Watchers Online and I lost 9 lbs in a little over a month. That is 10% of my body weight.

I lost my initial weight between the summer of 2013 and 2016 and than the scale just stopped moving. I continued to work hard on my fitness and I continued to eat healthy but nothing could get the numbers to go down. I even kept off every pound through an ongoing crisis. I never gave up nor will I ever give up. One day I will write about the crisis I am in, but for now I keep all of that private.

I can officially say I am 24 lbs from my goal weight of 135 lbs.

Cue Happy Happy face.
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EASY ITALIAN CHICKEN

Hello to all and Happy Saturday.

I am busy, and sometimes it leaves little time to cook. I do love to cook, when I have time to be creative in the kitchen I can concoct some delicious recipes. On other days I try to cook something that takes little time and preparation. Let’s face it, we are busy but we still wish to eat healthy and delicious home cooked food. I tend to cook a lot of soups and chicken dishes, foods that help me stay within my smart points on Weight Watchers.

One of my go to recipes is a one pot chicken dish, Italian style. Have you heard of Dump Cakes? It is when you just throw all the ingredients in a pan and bake and voila you have cake. This is my version but with chicken.  It is absolutely delicious and low smart points if you follow Weight Watchers. I usually serve it with mashed cauliflower. One pot meals make eating healthy and staying within calorie and point range seamless. I buy frozen chicken because I am on a budget, but the recipe can be used with fresh chicken as well. I hardly call it a recipe, it is so simple to cook. Healthy home cooking on a budget doesn’t have to be complicated.

My portion of one piece of chicken, mashed cauliflower, sauce and one small red potato was 10 points.

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You will need:

I bag of frozen chicken

Two tablespoons olive oil

Vegetables of your choice cut into pieces. I used Portobello mushrooms, zucchini, red and white onions, yellow squash, red potatoes, green and red peppers, and about 8 cloves of garlic. 

Two cans crushed tomatoes (low sodium)

Half can of water

salt, pepper, oregano

In large roaster, add two tablespoons of olive oil. Than add chicken, vegetables and potatoes and garlic. Finally, add two cans of crushed tomatoes, garlic, and season with just a little bit of salt, pepper and oregano. 

Mix all ingredients and cover, baking for over an hour at 375. It depends on your oven, mine took a while. I always just check the chicken. The package of frozen chicken says to bake it for 30 minutes, but that is not correct for my oven. My chicken took over an hour.

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This is a simple recipe, and it makes the most delicious sauce. It is all done in the oven. The Mashed Cauliflower is so simple as well. 

Boil Cauliflower until soft. I just added two tablespoons of lite butter and used a potato masher. I spooned in some of the tomato sauce for flavor and mixed with pepper, oregano and a dash of sea salt.

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Happy Saturday. Food that is simple leaves more time to get active. Have a wonderful day.

Rose

5 reasons I went back to Weight Watchers

The journey is never over, each time you get close to your destination life decides it’s time for you to take a different route.

Rose Bruno Bailey

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My weight loss journey, my life. Ups and downs for sure, but in my heart I definitely feel I experience more ups than downs. In the beginning of this weight loss blog I began with Weight Watchers, and after some time I decided to go at it on my own. I lost about 60 lbs and then hit one major snag, a plateau that lasted about a year. When I moved up to San Francisco my weight actually went up about ten pounds. I lost that when I moved back to Los Angeles, then I got stuck at 168 lbs. I even did a six month clean eating challenge, and did not lose a pound.

On January 14th, I joined Weight Watchers Online. I decided this was it, I needed to do this again, and I planned to journey with Weight Watchers all the way to my goal weight of 135 lbs. Since that day and moment, I am loving this new route of my journey and I lost 7 lbs. I broke that plateau, and I truly am loving the ride. 

Here are the 5 reasons I went back to Weight Watchers Online.

Weight Watchers works in real life, it has been proven. You get a set of daily points, and some extras weekly points. I broke my plateau since I joined on January 14th, 2017 and I lost 7 lbs. You get live support if you attend meetings, and virtual support online if you do not. You can choose to have a coach for a little extra, and for some I am sure that is a life line. Weight Watchers works for weight loss and maintenance. This is not a fad diet, this is forever.

Weight Watchers Online is only 19.95 a month. That is truly doable. For someone on a budget I know I can make that payment. I get the app and all of the wonderful features that comes with it. I track my food, my progress and weight on the app. I get recipes and ideas and share inspiration with others on their Weight Watchers journey. Weight Watchers Connect is like Instagram and Facebook, but for all of us on Weight Watchers. So far I track everything I eat and drink, and I would never do that without the app. I love it.

Weight Watchers helped me with my food issues. I admit it, I had eating disorders. I always looked as food as being bad or good. I would get anxiety if I ate something considered bad. I was getting obsessive and it wasn’t pretty. Now I eat whole grains again, and I am losing weight. Weight Watchers keeps my portions in control for me, teaches me to love food again. I couldn’t be happier.

Weight Watchers may be a format, but I can work the plan the way I choose to, and each week I can change it up if I feel something is not working. On Mondays after weigh in, I have coffee cake with my coffee. I would never have done that before. I actually love weigh in Mondays!!

Weight Watchers is for everybody. Anyone can rock this plan, and everyone can be successful at it. I have seen people on Connect who have lost over 100 lbs with Weight Watchers, people of all ages. It can be done, and I am going to get to my goal of 135 lbs with Weight Watchers. In about ten pounds, I plan to start going to meetings, and when I get to my goal weight I can be a lifetime member. Lifetime members get to attend for free. Talk about the perfect weight loss maintenance plan. 

I am all in with Weight Watchers. All the way, journeying to my goal and beyond.

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MIGHT AS WELL JUMP

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu

Happy Thursday to all. It’s been well over a month since I posted, things literally changed in less than a months time. I always say change comes on slow and then runs you over. We wanted to move back to West Hollywood so I decided to make it happen. Blogging had to take a hiatus so I could take the time to find a new home and move back to Los Angeles where my blog began. I decided it was now or never. Now was the time to make things happen and move in the direction of our dreams.

James and I were listening to Van Halen one night after I got home from work. I admit, I was never a fan of the band my husband adored until this particular moment. The lyrics “Might As Well Jump” resonated with me deeply. I started to think, why are we here and what would it take to make a big leap and move back to the city where we were at our most happiest? We wished to move back to West Hollywood but finding an apartment while you are living in a different city can be daunting.

James happened to find a listing and we spontaneously called and set up an appointment to see the apartment. Within hours of getting home from a long shift, I got on Caltrain to San Jose and took a bus to Hollywood. There I met my friends and saw the apartment. Not too thrilled with it, and the process took longer than I expected so I was forced to stay the night. That night  James happened to come across an email about an apartment right in the heart of our favorite neighborhood and by the end of the next day I had the keys to our new home. It was perfect in every sense, and the whole process was Kismet.  (Kismet, that moment when everything just seems to align perfectly, right time, right place, right people).  We were renting from lovely people in a prime location. I loved the apartment and already pictured us with our cats there. Flash forward to today, we have been here almost a month and we could not be happier. 

Might as well jump. It took me less than 48 hours to get to LA, find a place and come home with the keys to our new castle and future. Angels above must have been guiding me to move back to the city of angels because it all came together too flawlessly.

I jumped, took a huge leap and landed on my feet back home in Southern California where I belong. Where we both belong.

Of course moving and setting up a brand new home from the ground up does take its toll on your routine. For me I slacked off a little on my clean eating. I was happy and I indulged in foods that normally would never cross my lips. My workout and running routine was compromised as well. I knew this, so I decided to do something about it sooner rather than later. I accidentally stumbled upon a Weight Watchers Group near where I am working. I went in, I joined, and I faced the scale and my inner insecure demons. Yes, I gained 13 lbs back but that is fine. I am now in control, and really looking forward to the next phase of my weight loss journey. I hope I can meet my goal with the help of Weight Watchers and  MelissaBenderfitness.  My leader Susan is absolutely fabulous,which makes all the difference in the world. The group is supportive, loving and most of all lighthearted and non judgemental. It was hard for me to admit that I slipped but I am human and flawed. With my humanity comes a strength that urges me to pick myself up and get right back to what makes me tick. My health, my writing, the charities I help along the way. I love this blog and I will continue on even as I take one step forward and two steps back. Eventually I will have to take another step and move forward or I may find myself stagnant and miserable. I will never give up.

So, today I weigh 13 lbs higher than my lowest weight I reached on my blog which was 165 lbs. It is day two of Weight Watchers and my new starting weight is 178 lbs.  I will be blogging all about my recipes, my weight loss and fitness, my goals,  and most important my new charities. I am in contact with a local well-known charity I admire and I will be posting about my nest ten pound charity event soon. In an essence I feel like today is my new day one, and back in Los Angeles where it all began.

I have never called myself an after, and I am forever a work in progress. Learning, evolving, and becoming the best me I can be; inside and out.

Namaste’ Love and Light

Rose

 

 

 

A quick primer on what I eat

Good morning to all, it is coffee time and then running and a workout before work. A quick post before I make it happen on this sunny October Tuesday. I weighed in today, still stuck in the mid 160’s but to me maintaining is better than ever gaining. I will be consistent and break my plateau and get to goal. I am focusing on fitness and health first.

It was suggested to me to do a post about what I eat daily, and Sunday through Thursday I pretty much eat the same each day.

Monday was a good day, I did not skip any meals and I made sure to eat something at work. I do not really believe in rules, since I think it makes your mind a little crazy when you tell yourself you cannot have a particular food. With that said, I do eat clean and try to do the 80/20 rule. Most of my diet is clean, and then and now I sneak in a little treat. What is life without the finer things? Oh and coffee, coffee is a non negotiable every morning after my 16 oz of water and banana. 

What I eat Sunday Through Thursday pretty much is the same, Friday night and Saturday I still eat healthy but I have a little more variety.

Breakfast daily

16 Oz water and then water every hour

coffee with sugar and non dairy cream, and a little inspirational reading before my workout

banana or two, and a ThinkThin bar, peanut butter or Brownie Crunch

After workout and running my Lunch

1 cup cottage cheese or greek yogurt, or two eggs

fruits, and veggies

1 slice Food for Life Ezekiel tst

On commute I either eat a few almonds, a kind bar, or pick up a kale smoothie with fruits and veggies and almond milk

Dinner at work

Chicken breast, veggies, and one sweet potato

Late night snack

dole chocolate covered bananas, 4 to a pack. Or fresh fruit. Sometimes I dip an apple in caramel sauce, just a little.

This is pretty much how I eat daily, with Saturdays as my day off I deviate a little. Friday nights I will eat something like a Homemade soup or Chicken Chili.

 

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Like I said on weekend I may deviate a little and have a little San Francisco sourdough bread if we are out to dinner, or a little pizza or whatever we are eating. I try to also eat healthy when dining out. Last week on Saturday we went to the famous Sutro’s Cliff House restaurant and I had the vegan plate to stay in balance, with a little bread and butter. I was there for the view.

This was grains and mushrooms with a sweet potato cake and kale. I did have some bread with it, and a bit of butter,

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That is pretty much how I roll on days I workout and work. It is easy to stick to my regimen on those days. Saturdays are the most challenging for me. I have tried cutting out carbs completely but it made me cranky. Off to run and workout. Have a sunshiny day and never give up.

Namaste’ love and light. 

Rose

 

LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD

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Good Morning Monday. Here is my schedule for the week. This is week 4 of the BenderFitness 12 week bikini prep workouts. I am totally sticking to it, and I feel great and motivated.

I have this app on Facebook that looks back at my memories, and at the same moment I was looking for a great and inspiring fitness quote to include in this post. My memories were two years ago when I began my weight loss blogging journey, and when I was in a Richard Simmons Video.  The quote I happened to come across is from the man himself. So today as I go forward with all of my goals, I will reflect on my beginnings two years ago when I met the man Richard Simmons, a man who really changed lives and helped people believe they can do it too. I am honored I had the opportunity to not only dance with him in his video, but to attend many of his classes before he decided to take some time off. I am always inspired by Mr. Richard Simmons as I continue on with my weight loss/fitness/philanthropic goals. I am forever grateful for the impact he has on me and so many others in the world. When he decides to teach again, I will be waiting outside Slimmons with bells on. Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to sweat!!!

What’s the secret to weight loss? People ask me this all the time. Let’s ask the weight saint himself?

Number one, like yourself. Number two, you have to eat healthy. And number three, you’ve got to squeeze your buns. That’s my formula.

Richard Simmons

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Monday: 15 Minute Home Workout

Tuesday: 3 mile run

Wednesday: 10 Minute Fat Burn

Thursday: Flab-U-Less Arms and Abs, 30 Minutes Cardio

Friday:Fitness Transformation: Workout 5, 30 Minutes Cardio

Saturday: Off 

Sunday: Mix It Up Workout, 30 Minutes Cardio

GOLDEN GATE GOALS

Good Monday Morning to all. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I had an awe-inspiring Saturday with my husband James and friends on a boat cruise in San Francisco. It really was a special moment and it truly showcased what a stunning city San Francisco is. I am blessed to have the opportunity to live in such amazing cities and I am forever grateful. I try to schedule my fun days on days I take off from working out, since it just makes sense. I love making new friends, and meeting new people.

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I am so determined, even with the struggles and challenges that come my way. My husband and I have decided we are going to really live and we definitely have in the past, but from now on nothing will get in our way as long as we have our health. I am definitely much healthier and stronger than I was when I began in 2013, and I am far from done. Now it is time to lose my remaining weight, get much more fit and strong and tackle my fitness bucket list. I have also contacted a charity I am interested in, and I am planning a run over the Golden Gate Bridge to raise funds for an animal rescue locally. If I do not hear back I will contact another rescue, time is of the essence because they may be another transition in the near future. I got this though, and I am not stopping. The Golden Gate Bridge is iconic, and I can say I drove over it, walked it twice, ran it twice, and now I went under it in a boat. I am so grateful for the places I have lived, and the amazing souls I encounter and make the journey such an adventure.

Here is week two of Melissa Bender Fitness Bikini Competition workouts, a 12 week program. I am on week two, and I am tailoring the workouts for my schedule so it may look a little different here than on her site. Tomorrow is week five of my Weight Watchers Online experience and I am also loving that as well. I weigh in tomorrow. So far I have lost an additional 8 lbs since beginning Weight Watchers Online. Taking photos on special occasions is so much more fun when you feel good about yourself, no longer do I avoid the camera like I did in the beginning of 2013.

Here is my schedule for the week. Namaste’ and go get it!!

Monday Day 8 Quick Fit Full Body Workout

Tuesday Day 9: 30 Minutes Cardio (run)

Wednesday Day 10: Abs On Fire Workout

Thursday Day 11: HIIT 15 Minute Home Fat Burning Cardio, 2 Mile Run

Friday Day 12: Fitness Transformation: Workout 3

Saturday Day 13:  DAY OFF

Sunday Day 14: 30 Minutes Cardio (run)

WEIGHT WATCHERS ONLINE

I remember when I began this journey, my weigh ins were on Tuesday. I decided picking Tuesday as a weigh in was a great way to stay on track over the weekend. I also did Weight Watchers in the beginning, but I found with my schedule and my workouts it was hard for me to make it to meetings. Flash forward to today, I decided now that I have an iphone doing Weight Watchers online with the app was the way to get my weight to goal. I can keep track at the touch of my fingertips. For me food is always an issue, not eating too much or the wrong things but just skipping it completely and drinking a shake. Food was a chore.When I went out of town a few weeks ago I went on a little binge and actually gained 11 lbs and I realized that is a slippery slope.

This week I begin my third week of Weight Watchers Online with the WW app and I am loving it. I track everything that I eat and drink. The first week I lost 5 lbs and this week I lost 2 lbs with a total of 7 lbs since I signed up two weeks ago. My current weight is 169 lbs, up 4 lbs from my lowest weight. I gained a couple pounds when I went out of town and now I am tacking those pesky pounds with four more to go to get to where I was. Once I am at 165 lbs I am picking a charity and moving on to the My Change For a Ten format, getting myself to 155 lbs.

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I am also working out and running with Melissa Bender Fitness as my guide, my intention is to become strong, flexible, and be able to tackle all of my fitness bucket list items.

Through this slippery slope of change I am landing on my feet. Love and Light to all and keep on keeping on.

Namaste’

Rosebf