50 by Fifty Friday

Steady progress; that's the best way to describe this week of weight loss. I lost .8 pounds and I am at 3.2 pounds lost in 3 weeks. SO, I'm right on track at this point with my goal of one pound per week for a year! I have to say that writing down/tracking everything I eat has been very important to my progress. I'm very encouraged that it has been relatively easy to keep up with recording my meals. It actually gives me a certain level of comfort knowing right where I stand on points in a given day...even on the days when I have slipped up and over done it. At least I know where I stand and can more easily make corrections than if I was just guessing my status.

My food tip for this week involves the necessary evil of eating out, particularly at fast food restaurants. I don't know about you, but a certain amount of eating out each week is pretty much unavoidable for us. Therefore, I have to have a strategy going in, or I'll be sunk. I have a Weight Watchers Dining Out guide which lists points values for common foods from numerous popular restaurants...everything from Applebees to Whataburger...so I try to review the selections and their point values BEFORE I go. That helps me to stay on track and not be swayed by higher point food selections.

Our favorite fast food restaurant these days is Chick-fil-A - yummy chicken sandwiches and salads with a number of lower point options. We are especially loving the "Chick-n-Strips Salad" which is just 8 points, plus one more point for a packet of non-fat honey mustard dressing. It makes a very substantial meal and is very filling and satisfying. They have a number of other moderate point chicken salads that are equally appealing that I haven't tried yet...looking forward to sampling those soon. Even the classic Chick-fil-A sandwich is just 6 points...a great alternative to a burger. Eating fast food doesn't have to be a disaster - it just takes a little planning and research.

If you would like to see the points value (as well as the calorie, fat gram, and carb counts) for LOTS of restaurants all across the country, check out Dotti's Weight Loss Zone, Restaurant List - Dotti has been accumulating restaurant data for years and has entries for most every restaurant I've ever heard of, including smaller regional chains...

With God's help, I am feeling more and more confident each day that I will stick to this and not bail out like I have so many times in the past. It will take some vigilance on my part (and trusting God when I am feeling anything but vigilant), but the rewards are so worth it! If you are on a similar journey, I pray that the Lord will exchange our weakness for His strength!

Thanks for checking in! I will do my utmost to post during the week about more things than just 50 by Fifty - thanks as always for your patience!

"Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."

2 Corinthians 12:9