Category Archives: smartpoints

NOT A NUMBER

What is a number? Are we defined by numbers? Think about it, how many times a day does someone ask for your bank number, your credit number, your age, weight and phone number? Do we have names or numbers? I admit sometimes I wonder if people think differently about me after I share with them my age number. I admit to being so excited about my weight loss and the fact I finally weigh in the 150’s. Does that mean I am different than what I once was? There is a fine line between past and present, here and then. At the end I choose to be Rose. Not better but not worse, just the same me who is just so grateful to see yet another day. I’m just getting stronger and healthier. I will never lose sight of any of my dreams and goals just because society has deemed me a number. Names not numbers.

Rose Bruno Bailey

Happy Monday to all. Monday is my Saturday, since I am off Mondays and Tuesdays. It is also my weigh in day, and the day I allow a little wiggle room into my healthy eating plan after I jump on the scale. Today my treat of choice is Russian Chocolate Coffee Cake from Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles. They bake everything homemade and the Russian Chocolate Coffee Cake is my favorite. Of course with some delicious cinnamon coffee from Dunkin Donuts my day is dusted with sugar and spice and everything that is nice about the simpler moments of life. A little quiet time to enjoy my treat, and retreat into the cavern of my mind and do a little writing. Even the most extroverted person needs a bit of solace found in silence.

Weigh in day, my updates have been the same for over a month. It seems my body has decided 159 feels good, 159 feels strong. My body is telling me to get off the scale and focus on fitness; work on your running, flexibility and yoga practice and I will get back to you when I am good and ready. That is the message I am getting from my body after one month of stepping on a scale that is not cooperating. I have finally deciphered the translation in the numbers, get off the scale and get moving. YOU ARE NOT THIS NUMBER.

Message heard loud and clear. I am not a number. I am still going to pay attention to the scale, because even in maintaining weight loss it is good to know where you stand; just don’t stand on the scale more than once a week. Jump on, mentally record where you are and get moving. This week I am back to focusing on my fitness now that my toe is on the mend. I have also found a way to do my Yoga Sun Salutations without injuring my rotator cuff any further, and I will post about it in a few weeks.

I love life, and that means loving the body I am in. I am not chasing a new body, but a body that is stronger and healthier to allow me to achieve all of the goals I set for myself and to keep living my best life.

I have come a long way from where I was in 2013 and I am grateful, and I will continue on this journey; losing weight without getting to caught up on the numbers on the scale. The numbers are there to guide me, but not to define me.

Love and Light and Happy Monday,

Rose

TRANSFORMATION TUESDAY

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Good morning to all. Happy Transformation Tuesday. Yesterday was my weigh in day, and I stayed the same holding steady at 159 lbs. Being at this weight gives me a little anxiety. You may ask why being the lowest weight since I began my weight loss would cause anxiety. This is the reason: I know that weight can go up and down, even during a weight loss journey. I stayed the same for two weeks, and I lost 9 lbs since the middle of January. I know there will be a time when I do everything right and the scale will stay the same or tip back up. I just do not want it to go up when I am in the high 150’s. This may seem silly, but I am so proud to make it to the 150’s, and I want to stay here for some time. Since I broke my plateau in January 2017 I lost 10% of my body weight. That is a win to me.

This photo was me in 2013, well above 210. This is me today at 159 lbs and so proud.

This begins a brand new week. I am really loving Weight Watchers Online and having the app on my phone. It is freedom and totally liberating to me. I eat healthy and have done so since 2013, but the little bit of wiggle room I have now makes this feel more like a lifestyle than deprivation. If you remember I went six months without a cheat day, and that drove me crazy, and I didn’t lose a pound in those six months. Balance, I am finding my balance. Yesterday I had a inspirational brunch with a friend Emily at Mel’s Drive in West Hollywood. Eating out doesn’t have to be impossible. We split our entree and made healthy choices. The omelette was egg whites with veggies, cooked dry with no cheese. I had a few of the grilled potatoes. It was all about the coffee and conversation. Balance is key to life, and enjoying yourself makes it worth living.

Speaking of balance, I am working on my fitness, my yoga and my running. I am also a bit of a klutz and I bruised my toe. I do not know how, but I have injured two toes in the last few years, and bruised one toe I previously injured. I did not trip on my own feet, it was choreography. They say dancers and former dancers tend to be klutzy, and I am here to say that is a true fact for me. Today I feel so much better, so I will get out for a walk and perhaps a run. I do really need proper running shoes. I have learned that shoes make all the difference. I prefer Saucony. Do you have a favorite running shoe?

I am learning that weight loss and fitness is not linear. It is up and down, and back up again. There will be times when your body tells you slow down, and times when you kick it up a notch. The key is to listen to your body. Don’t let setbacks stop you, take a rest than keep moving forward. It is Transformation Tuesday and for me transformation would be impossible without the day in, day out daily hustle to get to my goals. Have fun while you are out killing it.

Lee Strasberg once said, It’s about the work.

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.

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

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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.

or·tho·rex·i·a

noun

an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy.
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.

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.

WEIGHT LOSS MILESTONE

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My 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.

EASY ITALIAN CHICKEN

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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.

Manga

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.

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.

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

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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

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.

WEIGH IN MONDAY

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To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

Emily Dickinson

Happy Monday, good morning world. It has been a while since I posted here, I have been updating my social media pages, but I have neglected to write more blog posts. That is changing today. Life takes over, worries and fears crushed my motivation to write anything new. We have had our ups and downs, disappointments and distractions. I decided to put my seat belt on and ride the wild roller coaster of life with the enthusiasm of a child at a theme park, instead of getting run over. I love life too much to let the problems of living take me down.

I joined Weight Watchers Online on January 14th of 2017. I felt I needed something new and fresh to get me to that elusive goal weight of 135 lbs. Since joining, I have lost 7 lbs. I now weigh 161 lbs, I am getting so close to the 150’s. I am really loving using the app for Weight Watchers Online, and counting points. I still eat the way I have always done since beginning my weight loss journey, but with wiggle room. Today is weigh in Monday, and I have to admit I get so excited to weigh in. After, I allow a little treat with my coffee, of course I portion control it and count it in. Today I ate a portion of Russian Coffee Cake with my delicious Dunkin Donuts coffee, with zero guilt. I officially weigh the lowest I have ever been since I began this weight loss blog.

In addition to committing to posting here, I am writing out a new cardio and work out schedule. It will be geared to my rotator cuff injury. That has slowed me down, but I am going to begin doing the exercises I can do, along with running, walking, and some rotator cuff injury exercises. Of course I am working out with Melissa Bender Fitness.

I am also looking for ways to update this blog, I added pages at the menu or the top of the blog, and I plan on adding more. Down the line when things improve I am going to get someone to really help me jazz this blog up. I added before and now photos, photos from my volunteering and my experience with Richard Simmons and Slimmons, and all the friends I met through that part of my journey. I am going to add pages of how I eat and my workouts, and races as well. I am also going to do a collaboration on a brand new book, and market my poetry Camellia in Snow. I am excited to be featured more than once in Asana Journal, and I plan to write and submit more, volunteer more etc. Lots of creative and exciting endeavors to focus my energies on.

Plus the work of life, do it all and survive. That is the challenge.

Since January I have lost 7 lbs. That is a beginning of a brand new year I wish to see more of. No more worries and stress. I will work hard and work off the worries with endorphins through exercise, of course listening to a motivational playlist.

The scale is finally moving again, hurrah.

Weight loss, worries, we got this. Are you with me?

Ready, set, Go!!

MIGHT AS WELL JUMP

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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

MY CHANGE FOR A TEN

Rose Bruno Bailey’s site about vegan weight loss, fitness, philanthropy and more. I’m chasing joy and all of my dreams and goals by becoming my own happiness guru. Let’s spread sunshine and be happiness gurus together.

Category Archives: smartpoints

NOT A NUMBER

TRANSFORMATION TUESDAY

MAKE IT COUNT MONDAY

MAKING FOOD MY FRIEND

WEIGHT LOSS MILESTONE

EASY ITALIAN CHICKEN

5 reasons I went back to Weight Watchers

WEIGH IN MONDAY

MIGHT AS WELL JUMP