If you plan for it, it will work.

What's it?  For me, it's Weight Watchers.  I was a bit concerned this week on how I would do with my weight loss.  I find that the times when I lose control is when I go out to eat.  For me, it's hard to stay on track in the face of temptation.  I also lost 5.2 pounds last week so I wasn't sure how my body would perform this week.

I lost two pounds and that makes me so happy.  I had weighed myself in the middle of the week and I was down 2.4 pounds.  But that was before the 3 holiday get togethers I had.   I knew that I couldn't just let myself eat whatever I wanted so I did a couple of things to ensure I would succeed this week:

1. Plan ahead.  Two of the get togethers were at a restaurant.  For both, I checked and calculated the points before hand.  I made sure I stuck to my food choices.  
2. I didn't deprive myself.   I love the wheat bread at the Cheesecake Factory.  I allowed myself to have two pieces and I was satisfied with that.  Also, at the restaurant I went to on Friday, I decided to get dessert & shared it with the table.  I had allowed for enough points so that if I wanted dessert at the end of the night I could have it without feeling guilty. 
3. Work out.  I worked out 5 times this week.  I made that a priority. 
4. For the brunch potluck I went to on Sunday, I prepared a WW friendly meal - skinny country potatoes.   Since it was a potluck, I didn't have control over the food being served.  When I started filling up my plate, I filled half of it with fruit, a serving of the country potatoes and then small servings of the two quiches prepared.  I filled up with fruit first and even went back for seconds... of the fruit salad.  
5. Alcohol - oh how I love a good cocktail.  I used to be the one that would get a couple of drinks plus a full meal.  This time, I had ONE cocktail at each get together.  Again, I didn't deprive myself and I enjoyed my time with family and friends.  

Since I knew that I would be eating out, I made sure that the days that I didn't I ate more sensibly.  It's great to be able to enjoy life and not worry about losing control over food.  All it took was a bit of planning to be able to stay on track.  It sounds simple but this week was a lot harder for me mentally since I really had to be conscious of my choices.  

My workouts for week 6 are:

• Monday - rest day 
• Tuesday - 40 minutes walking 
• Wednesday - 25 minutes walking 
• Thursday - 40 minutes walking 
• Friday - rest day 
• Saturday - 30 minutes walking 
• Sunday - 4 miles 

As I've done for the past 5 weeks, I will continue to do at least 5k on non mile days.  My goal for Sunday is to beat my previous 4 mile time of 1:12.