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[00:00:06] Hello Club Members!

[00:00:09] Welcome to the Eden Rose podcast Kate Knightley here motivational author, colleague, and coach. Bringing you information and inspiration for living life with confidence, connection, and conviction. You can find a transcript of today's show notes, your free purpose planner, connect with the club, and much more at EdenRoselife.com. Insights about issues that matter for a life well lived. Now let's begin.

[00:00:45] This is Episode 1 of our podcast. Today I'm interviewing my longtime friend and lifetime WW member Anna and about how she manages her weight. She's only five foot even. She has a degree in culinary arts and Applied Business Management. Married for thirty five years to a clinical psychologist. Together they have co-authored a book on marriage. Recently Anna handled traveling aboard a luxury cruise ship for three weeks (tough life! ha!) so we'll get her insights on that as well. Today's show is all about living lifetime and maintaining our weight. So here we go on with the show.

[00:01:31] Welcome Anna. So great to have you as my guest on the inaugural Eden Rose podcast.

[00:01:38] Well thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you and I thank you for the invitation.

[00:01:43] Today we're talking about all things weight loss. So let's kick things off by sharing a little bit about our general experiences in trying to lose weight. What's your weight loss history. How long have you been at your lifetime goal weight with WW, previously known as Weight Watchers. Give us the scoop!

[00:02:02] Well you make me want to laugh because I'm about say "how long is this podcast?" I have quite a history but I'll keep it really short. I probably joined Weight Watchers in the the late 60s early 70s back when we were required to have liver once a week and we weren't required to exercise. So they've come a long way and it's been great watching all the changes. I eventually made it to my Lifetime goal weight, and so I've been on and off I probably struggle with 10 pounds down 10 pounds up and right now I'm about five pounds from my lifetime goal.

[00:02:46] That's good to know. So in other words we don't have to be afraid that if we're five pounds up, we're never getting our lifetime weight back again. Right?

[00:02:56] Correct! Because there was a time that I was twenty five pounds up. So no, We just keep at it.

[00:03:04] Well you know what's funny about that, I've known you all these years and you were obviously on Weight Watchers you said since the 70s, since before I knew you, but I didn't join until you took me in 2016--and you know why? Because I always thought that you had to get up in front of the group and weigh. And I said there's no way I'm going to do that! Can you believe it was only 2016 when you finally convinced me I wouldn't have to do that. I have also had a weight loss journey probably since the 70s because I think I was maybe 13 when I started feeling like oh I needed to lose weight but Weight Watchers has definitely made a huge difference in my life. And then I've also had a lot of success following The Beck Diet Solution principles which you know is not so much a diet (or food plan) as as habit change.

[00:04:05] Speaker: you were doing that for a long time. Yes, I was. I think one of the key differences now especially with Weight Watchers is having connect and having people to talk to and having that kind of support and then also obviously you and I have support with each other.

[00:04:22] It makes a huge difference. So let's discuss our thoughts on food tracking. Are we going to track forever? Do we track points calories both. What are your thoughts on tracking?

[00:04:35] It's important for me and I have the best success when I track. I know people who they don't track, they do well, they've got their system down. But I believe for me. I'm going to track but I don't know if it'll be forever. Yeah I think it's a good thing.

[00:05:00] Yes. There's something actually comforting about tracking. There's more freedom when you're tracking because you actually know what you're eating instead of that feeling: Well did I overeat or not? But some people apparently have internal awareness if they've overeaten or not. And it works for them. But I agree. I hope I get to that point, but just being honest maybe I'm gonna just go ahead and track most of that time. So let's talk about our experiences with freestyle. The current WW plan versus some of the past plans. When I started I had a brief time when you introduced me to points plus, and then the last plan was called smart points beyond the scale. Which plan works best and why?

[00:05:51] For me following smart points worked, just like calories works now for me. freestyle does not work for me because I eat healthy food. That is my default. I love the fun foods but my default is healthy food and I can eat a lot of healthy food and I can over eat a lot of healthy food. So freestyle does not work for me. I still have to track. So I'm now tracking calories.

[00:06:19] You know you can jury-rig the the Weight Watchers app but I think that's not very intuitive for most people, and it's more work. I think we both just sort of accidentally discovered that we were each tracking calories, so we knew exactly what we were eating every day. And so far that's working out. With freestyle, my thinking is the reason some people really love it is when you first need to lose weight there's something comforting knowing you don't have to be hungry and you are free to eat 200 foods without tracking. But I think when we get close to a goal like we are It's easier to overeat, so then it goes back to what we were saying about monitoring. My hunch is that they're going to have to offer a second plan. I don't think they can take freestyle away because when you give people free food you don't want to go away. (laughs)

[00:07:14] That's what I like about Weight Watchers. I sort of wait, what's the next thing they're going to come out with? they've done some great stuff. In fact it was good food (fun food) and eating a Cinnabon before. That was what it was. You got so many points and you could use them whichever way you wanted. And I don't think that was good. And so this was a very very good move (the nudge to healthier eating). And I can't wait to see what they're going to do next.

[00:07:42] Yeah. I feel the same way. But I will say I like smart points beyond the scale because it gave us the free fruit and vegetables.

[00:07:51] I wasn't feeling resentful of the two point banana anymore and it was avgood an incentive to eat more fruits and vegetables.

[00:08:00] So we'll see, we'll see what they do. All right. So here's the next question. When you first made lifetime what happened next? Did you immediately move into that maintenance mindset or were you so used to losing you stay and lose mode.

[00:08:17] Well unfortunately for me, the weight loss number was the goal for me for so many years.

[00:08:26] I'd work I'd get there and I really didn't concentrate on on maintenance. I was in a good pattern. It worked for a while but within a year or so I started gaining back the weight again. So it took years for me to really get in the mindset of a good lifestyle, a good diet a good you know good healthy food took years because my goal for so many years was to get to that point, I made it, and I was I felt I was home free, which was crazy.

[00:09:03] Yeah. I felt the relief myself. And believe me I was very keenly aware that there's "no cure," right. I could gain it back. So you know you make a goal on Weight Watchers and then you wait for six weeks and that was probably the the most frustrating time because it was even harder than just trying to lose because I kept fearing Oh no am I gonna make it in six weeks??

[00:09:30] But anyway once I finally made lifetime I remember that very first morning I went home and I thought oh good I don't have to worry about if the cheese is mounded on my one tablespoon of cheese that I put in my eggs. I thought oh dear maybe this is not the right thing. All of a sudden I'm not worrying about measuring. I have to say I never added in the extra six or seven points that they allowed at WW and I really just try to hit my daily calorie goal now.

[00:10:05] I'm not sure if there is such a thing as maintenance mindset. Maybe, we'll see, but so far no. All right. So here's a good one. This applies a little more to you than it does me. You enjoy wine. And how does that factor into your weight maintenance? How do you manage alcohol?

[00:10:29] Well you have to. Now I realize I can't have wine like I did before because it is empty calories. So talk about mindful drinking. I can do it only occasionally because it's calorie dense and also after you have the wine you enjoy food more and you eat more. And so I really have to just have it every so often just like anything else.

[00:11:00] That's interesting. So when you have the wine it's not just the wine calories you're saying it's a feeling--then you kind of get in this mood of being happy and wanting to eat more?

[00:11:11] Sure. It just stimulates your appetite. In the last year or so I'm taking it to another level as far as health wise is concerned. I want to drink moderately. Just like there are certain standards of how much of certain foods you should have. It's the same thing with the wine. You should only have for a woman one glass per day. [Speaker: Yeah. I think five ounces] Right five ounces which is very small and probably I'm not going to have five ounces. So that means I'm not going to drink every day. So you know if I want two glasses, maybe I'm going to wait until the weekend and have that and that probably would be a safer thing to do. But but again you're counting calories and you have to make your tradeoffs.

[00:11:58] If any winemakers are listening please bring us better wine in smaller quantities.

[00:12:06] We need little bottles of better wine. And that's nice and then it goes into the beautiful packaging. Just such a nice little treat in that little bottle.

[00:12:17] Yeah exactly!! Okay. Speaking of treats you have been on two cruises in the past few months and recently a three week cruise four weeks away. Where did you go. Because I just kind of want to know. And then tell us if you had a strategy before you left and just how you handled the travel.

[00:12:39] Well we took a cruise late last year seven day cruise and it was just the coast from Canada down the coast of California. and we saw a pattern that we were eating and snacking and we thought I don't think we want to do this on our next trip. So on the following trip [to New Zealand] that was for three weeks. we basically stuck to breakfast lunch and dinner and had wine with dinner. But when we went in to see the shows I would immediately order a glass of water because I figured I had my wine. I only gained three pounds, which I thought that's fantastic four weeks away three pounds. I thought it was going to be seven eight nine. So I was I was pleased with that. I enjoyed the meals. I felt it was success but I haven't taken that weight off yet.

[00:13:30] Well I was going to ask you, so when you get back from travel like that, it completely has disrupted the routine and the habits. Right. So do you do you jump right back on as soon as you get home and try to refocus? Do the habits come back?

[00:13:49] Well, yes, I eat healthy, but I think I have to do something a little different. You know, kick it back a little more in order to break the cycle. I guess it's what they call set point. Your body's just locked into it. And so I have to back up a little bit and cut down a little bit more in order to break the cycle. Pull out all our little strategies.

[00:14:09] Yes that's right. Well and in fact here's a question. So what about exercise. Is it necessary? Do you up the exercise?

[00:14:19] I do. But I exercise more for health reasons. I wear a FitBit and I love it. It computes my calories. So if I exercise more it gives me more food to eat. So it is kind of nice when I can have just that little bit more. That's an added benefit but I do try to exercise because you want to keep moving. You don't want to lose your muscle mass. And so I find that again your health guidelines are getting a bit of a aerobic exercise and strength training, but I don't overdo it.

[00:14:55] Yeah. The weights and strength training are very important. The older we get. We want to keep up the muscle tone. I'm really big on functional exercise. So now I've retrained my mind to not feel so negative about housework or if I do yard work, I pursue climbing stairs whenever I see them, and more walking.

[00:15:18] Just adding more activity in the day, being, I'll say, less productive now. If I have to make several trips upstairs that's OK. Yeah. Don't try to do it all on one trip because there is a benefit to just working into our day more functional exercise right.

[00:15:39] Yeah. Today I had to take some things down to the kitchen and I couldn't do it in one trip and I just thought hey that's more steps. So I went up and down three times in a row.

[00:15:53] Bravo bravo. That's exactly what we have to do. All right. Another thing we hear a lot about that we have to do is have those eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day. What do you think about the water?

[00:16:07] Maybe for me it's superstition because I know when I'm drinking eight glasses of water a day and if I count that on my little log I lose weight. It's almost like one of those little checkmarks that I need in order to say I'm on track. I count coffee, as water. I don't drink sodas so I'll have my flavored water.

[00:16:32] I'll put some flavoring in water and that's it. But for me my goal is eight glasses eight-ounce glasses.

[00:16:44] That's a lot--Sixty four ounces. I'm always thinking about well how many trips I have to make to the restroom!

[00:16:52] Yes, but I think your body gets used to it. I think I have because in the beginning when I started, I had to go to the restroom all the time and I don't as much now.

[00:17:02] And also water is touted as being great for your skin.

[00:17:08] Of course it fills us up if we have it before our meal. But I do think,though I hate to quote Dr. Oz [laughs]. I remember him saying that it's a little bit of a myth that we have to have 64 ounces of water because we are getting water from other drinks like you said, tea or the flavored water, or fruits and vegetables-- you know all the foods really have water.

[00:17:31] I think the thing that's important is amongst all the things that we're trying to do, if we don't get the 64 ounces, we just shouldn't be beating ourselves up.

[00:17:43] But of course it's good for us if we can do it. Right. So we're trying to be positive about our weight maintenance but… Do you ever think I just can't do this anymore? Do you worry about rebelling, derailing, regaining?

[00:18:02] Oh I do. I do worry about regaining. I used to, I would say I can't do it now. But it's only for a second I would think that. No, I wake up and say give it a bigger push, try harder, do better.

[00:18:16] It's worth it. Right. Yes. Yes. Sometimes we think oh it's so hard. We're always thinking about what we're eating or if we're tracking it. Sometimes we can build it up in our mind, it's is a pain, but it's a much bigger pain to be overweight. What's the alternative and the alternative is not giving up. Yeah exactly. I agree.

[00:18:37] Well let's tackle some questions from the club members because we've had some great questions. The first one is from Jean at Jaguar 2005 who lives in Pennsylvania. She says she's frustrated with the gimmicks marketers play. They make healthy claims but then when you examine the label the food it's not actually healthy. So she cites using soy milk and then she found out it was loaded with chemicals and sugar.

[00:19:04] I have definitely noticed this. One of my examples is organic peanut butter at Whole Foods. They have the 365 brand and if you look at the organic and you read the label they add sugar they add some kind of oil. Now it's organic but their regular peanut butter has: peanuts and salt. So that's what I buy. And I've discovered the same thing with the canned tomatoes. You would think there's just tomatoes. But we're back to reading the labels. The oil sprays, I don't know if you've noticed but they'll have propellant. [I haven't read my label on my oil spray.] I'm sure you're probably already just naturally getting the good kind. But I looked at mine and it had propellant, and I'm thinking why am I spraying whatever propellant is on my food. Even though you know it's supposed to be the healthy oil. So now I look for the ones that don't--they just have a spray mechanism and I even have bought dispensers that spray and put my own oil in it. Grated cheese, it has Cellulose Fiber added to it. So now I just buy a block of cheese. There's always something. You actually introduced me to the nutrition action newsletter that comes out of D.C. It's a group that's receives no support from any food lobbyists. And I think that's a really great source and I appreciate you telling me about nutrition action. All right. Well next question comes from Hanna in Arizona. And I love her recipes and cooking posts on connect.

[00:20:40] She asks for insights on plateaus.

[00:20:42] Have you ever experienced a plateau? Speaker: I'm experiencing a plateau right now.

[00:20:49] Oh dear. So what are you doing to break the plateau.

[00:20:53] I resolve every morning to to do better and I do. …But obviously not doing well enough because I'm plateauing. That means but I'm not going to give up. We just talked about that diligent tracking and then probably it would be smart to look back and see what am I eating that is maybe keeping me there. Maybe I'm having a few more carbs than I should have or something like that. But sometimes we can do everything well and we'll still plateau but then if you hang in there long enough the plateau breaks!

[00:21:29] I think our bodies just try to protect us.

[00:21:36] That's not a scientific answer but I do know that after I started WW very diligently, after only one month, I hit a five week plateau. I remember I read somewhere on connect, "quitting doesn't speed up weight loss." And it was just a good thing I read that because I just kept going and sure enough after five weeks I just started normally losing again and everything was fine. But in the old days I would have quit. All right. So purple pilgrim asks for tips on forestalling cravings. Any thoughts on that. [Speaker: I think you do very well.] I just try to find a substitute and so for me I have a cup of tea or three and then I wait it out because a craving doesn't last forever. Maybe that doesn't sound like the most enlightening amazing tip. But wait it out because it isn't going to last. But if it's a habit, If every night two hours after dinner you find yourself going to have something in the cupboard you bought for somebody else in the household and you weren't supposed to eat their cookies. But you're doing it every day. Then that's a habit. And then the habit has to be broken and you have to figure out something you can substitute that will give you the same reward as the cookies. And so for me that's when I started the tea, the tea habit. So that was really helpful.

[00:23:03] Yeah. That time after dinner before bedtime that is the bewitching hour.

[00:23:10] Carrie, another friend on connect, she started teatime, and I think it is a smart technique for everybody and there's so many different kinds of teas. Surely there's one that everybody will like. One last question from the club, Cindy from Texas. And she asked a question. But anytime I mention Cindy I have to mention Jeannette from Iowa because that's her BFF who always supports her. So for Cindy AND Jeannette, they ask about punishing ourselves with food. She says we'll forbid ourselves to eat full fat foods that are tasty because we think they're "bad" for us. And then instead we'll have fat-free or sugar free or fake foods. What are your thoughts on diet foods.

[00:23:58] I enjoy my food. I love my food and I love fat free yogurt so. So I'm not punishing myself when I have that. I use it as a substitute for sour cream if I make a shrimp taco. I use the Greek yogurt for that, but for my full fat, I love avocado so I'm actually rewarding myself and enjoying avocado probably every single day. But that's my fat of choice. Some people love nuts and I usually stay away from nuts because I don't think I could stop eating a cup of nuts.

[00:24:33] And also there are other full fats--you just pick them and then choose the other fat free options if you like them.

[00:24:43] I'm on board with that. I think it's all about personal choice. What we like and keeping our equilibrium. So for me, I can't stand fat for yogurt. You like it, and that is OK, because we each have to find out what is worth it for us. Eat the worth it Foods that you Love, and then for the other ones, use the substitute. So when I have my tea, Hey sorry everybody, I do put Splenda in it. It mixes better than sugar. I don't mind it, but I don't go around having a lot of other fake, artificial sugars. I just don't. That's just me. But if somebody likes those and they feel satisfied, that's great, we all make a choice that works for us long term.

[00:25:26] And don't you also prefer to use olive oil instead of using an artificial light dressing?

[00:25:34] Yes I do because it works for me. There's just something satisfying about fat. Fat is satisfying. So especially in the case of the fat or fat-free, I don't think we should label anything as a bad food. That's the bottom line. I think if there's something that's satisfying and you really love it and it's healthful, then work it in. That's the main thing.

[00:25:56] Well we had a lot of other great questions from club members like Sandra, Carolyn, Babs, Carrie, Michele, Jill in Virginia, Arlene in Tennessee, and Mary52 to name a few, but we don't have time to answer everybody's questions today. So to sum it all up, what do you think is the most important takeaway we can leave with everyone?

[00:26:22] Well we've been on this weight loss journey for a long time, and we're not going to give up. so let's continue to stay on course. Learn new strategies and make good choices. And with that I'd like to share something I read on Joshua Becker's blog. He said, "We choose our life every day. Every morning we get to choose the direction and the habits that lead us to live our best life possible."

[00:26:48] Great advice, Anna. And my final takeaway is we have to believe. Believe we can change our habits regardless of our track record or our age. And I look forward to doing a podcast specifically on habit change. Changing our habits is the key.

[00:27:08] That sounds great and you've been such an inspiration to me and I know that you are to so many others.

[00:27:16] Thanks Anna! Thank you so much for your insights today and thanks for joining me on my very first podcast.

[00:27:22] Thank you.

[00:27:25] Thanks for listening today. I hope you found it useful. You might also like the episode show notes and a transcript of today's podcast available to club members at EdenRoselife.com. This show was sponsored by Eden Rose club members. You can become a member just by pledging a monthly donation in any amount, like what you might spend on a couple coffees a month, or more, if you're feeling generous! By being an EdenRose patron you help pay for the hosting, transcription, the editing of this podcast, my time in creating the Web site, the content, and this show, so thank you for your support.

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