One of my favorite parts of Weight Watchers 360 is the routines that we focus on each month. The one for May is particularly relevant for me – “Eat all your meals distraction free.”

This is something I majorly struggle with. I tend to eat my breakfast and lunch at my desk at work, and I’m almost always doing a million things in addition to eating, mostly checking or reading email. It’s been known to happen where I’ll make something for breakfast and while I’m focusing on anything but actually eating, I’ll go to reach for another bite and look down and my breakfast is GONE. I have to do a self check to remember that I did actually eat it, but just wasn’t paying any attention so can barely recall.

This is problematic for a number of reasons, but I think the biggest thing for me is that it takes so much away from the satisfaction I should be getting. Besides just filling my stomach and keeping away low blood sugar (and the inevitable crankiness that follows…) I also really do enjoy eating and try to fill my menu with things I actually like. So, if I am so distracted while I’m eating that I can barely remember that I actually ate, obviously I’m not enjoying what I’m eating or getting the satisfaction that comes from that.

I am a lot better about eating dinner distraction free (most of the time) because I’m eating at home and usually put a little more time or thought into preparing the food, so I tend to force myself to enjoy it a little more. So for me, I really want to focus on meals that I’m eating at my desk at work.

Eating any meal distraction free can be a real challenge if you work a busy job (or have kids at home, or fill in the blank…) so I think it’s really important to set realistic expectations. There is no way I can sit down at the table to eat those meals with no TV, computer, or phone, but what I can do is make a diligent effort to pay more attention when I am eating. I think the solution for me is to implement little ways that I can slow down my eating since I am a speed eater by nature, so even if I am slightly distracted while I’m eating, I’m doing it slow enough that hopefully at some point I’ll actually be in tune with what I’m doing.

Some ideas that I’ve come up with are:

• Cut food up into smaller bites
• Use smaller utensils (like condiment spoons or cocktail forks)
• Make a habit of sipping water between each bite
• Pick something to do while I’m eating that is less distracting than looking at my computer (any ideas?)
• Bring in a placemat from home to use during meals, so the visual cue brings me back

In addition to the new routines with WW 360, there’s also an activity each week to pick one small thing you can focus on to change. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to the routine, but I love breaking big changes down into little ones because it feels so much more doable. So my little change for this week is that I am going to work on cutting my food up into smaller bites for breakfast. I’ve been having an english muffin with peanut butter and a banana most mornings lately (because it’s easy and quick!), so instead of just having the halves of the english muffin, I’m going to cut them each up into quarters and see how that helps me be more in tune with the meal. We’ll see how it goes!

How are you with eating your meals distraction free? Which ones do you struggle with the most? Do you have any tips for minimizing distractions or slowing down while eating?

Hi guys! I’m in the process of updating my blog design and theme, so it might be a little funky for a bit as I get everything to where I want it. Thanks in advance for bearing with me and see you soon!

1.) I was in Orlando this week… for one night for work. I got VIP treatment all the way.

It was amazing weather

and I stayed at a beautiful resort

But I am so ready to stop traveling for a bit!

2.) Speaking of not traveling, I am going to Peru on June 21! When I first booked the trip, it felt SO far away, but now it’s just over a month away! Within the last few weeks, Stacy (my travel buddy) and I have booked everything we need to – including our internal flights in Peru, a 6 night/7 day Amazon Jungle Tour (!!!), and all our accommodations outside of the tour (hostels in Lima and Cusco and an apartment in Cusco for 5 days after the jungle tour). It feels so good to have all those details taken care of!

3.) I had my third (and final!) consult with a plastic surgeon last Thursday, and I cannot believe what a hard decision it is to pick a surgeon! I’ve been going so back and forth between the first and third, but think I am getting very close to making a decision. It feels so adult – I almost wish I could call my mom and make her choose for me. That said, hopefully I will finalize everything in the next week or so and set a surgery date. I’ll be posting about my consults and background research into tummy tucks in the next week, so stay tuned!

4.) I haven’t been counting WW Points for a few weeks now. I’ve actually been maintaining my weight and losing a little (still am a daily weigher), which makes me feel like I am getting closer to being able to eat intuitively. I do still want to lose a few more pounds before said surgery, so I know I need to get back to counting sooner rather than later, but for right now I’m enjoying the break.

5.) This is the first weekend in I can’t remember how long where I have no set in stone plans, and I could not be more excited.

Yesterday Beth’s Journey DietBet: Take 3 started, and it’s not too late to sign up if you’re still interested!

Recently I came across this quote that really struck a cord with me.

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

I am a champion at coming up with excuses. I’ve been traveling to different states weekly for the last several weeks; work has been crazy recently; and I’ve just had a lot going on outside of work too. I know we can all fill our own blanks in with what’s going in our lives and why we can’t make time to prioritize healthy eating and exercising.

Sunday night I got home late from Woodstock with my fam, so I basically melted into the couch upon my return and didn’t do much else. Enter Monday, and I looked at all my suitcases, bags, and the cooler from the weekend (you would have thought I was gone for weeks) on my way out the door to work, but grabbed my gym bag anyway just in case.

After work, all I could think about was needing to come home, unpack, do laundry, go grocery shopping, figure out what to eat this week, and plan my Weight Watchers meeting for this morning. It would have been easy to just head home and start tackling that to-do list, but instead I made myself get on the treadmill and run, and I ended up busting out 4.14 miles in 40 minutes (very good for me lately!) and feeling SO great during the run.

I came home, unpacked, and decided to make do with what was in my kitchen for food for the next day or so and hold off on laundry until tonight. After a quick (very random) dinner, I sat down to plan my WW meeting and write this post, and realized how proud I was of myself for prioritizing exercise today over the many other things I could have let myself get into post work.

I even managed to come up with a decent meal plan, though most of that is because I ordered a Blue Apron box that comes on Wednesday so takes care of the latter half of the week…

What I need to get from the grocery store (tonight!):

• Eggs
• English Muffins
• Bananas
• Fruit (whatever is on sale)
• Skim Milk

That’s it! It feels so good to have a plan in place and be done with making excuses, for now at least.

Thank you SO MUCH for your supportive comments on yesterday’s post announcing my decision to move forward with plastic surgery on my abdomen. It was a little terrifying to write, but also oddly freeing to put it all out there. You guys are the best.

Personal accounts of the process were one of the main things that helped me make this decision, and unfortunately it’s a very under discussed topic, so I am happy to be able to contribute another first hand account of it all for people contemplating the procedure. I plan to document much of the process of going through the entire procedure from start to finish. This will include everything from the consultations, to the preparation, to the procedure itself, to the recovery. And really, please feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions. Nothing is off limits.

And in other news – I am really trying hard to get myself back to my goal weight prior to moving forward with surgery for the best results. Because of that (and many requests from you guys!), I’m hosting another DietBet for May which will start Monday, May 6, and will run through June 2!

For a description of how it works, you can read this post, but basically, everyone pays $25 to play and has the same goal of losing 4% of their starting weight during the 4 weeks that the game runs. Everyone who hits that goal splits the total pot, so in theory you will make back your money if you hit the 4% goal, and likely more than $25 because not everyone will hit it (like yours truly in Round 2). For Round 1, everyone who hit 4% got paid $43.25 and results are still being calculated for Round 2 so I don’t have the exact figures yet.

Hope to see you over at Beth’s Journey DietBet: Take 3!

For as long as I remember, I’ve been unhappy with my body. As an adolescent, I considered myself too chubby to look cute in the clothes my friends wore, too out of shape keep up with the other kids in gym class, and too unattractive for boys to be interested in me. As I got older, being overweight transitioned into being obese. My already low self esteem got even worse and caused my weight and health to spiral out of control. I could never shop at the same stores as my friends, took what I could get as far as romantic interests were concerned and always sold myself short because I was scared of putting myself out there.

Fast forward to the present, and I’ve completely transformed my life. Besides having lost almost 90 pounds, I’ve found confidence and learned to recognize that I have no reason to underestimate myself and what I can accomplish. I’ve made bold career moves, learned the importance of putting myself first and being an active player in my own life, and have made great strides toward finding balance in my life.

I am extremely proud of myself for how far I’ve come and how much I’ve changed myself, both inside and out. However, there’s still one big thing that is holding me back which is strictly physical, but affects me very much mentally — the extra skin and fat around my abdomen from losing almost 90 pounds.

With clothes on, I look like an average-sized person who is healthy and normal. Without them, you would have a very different impression of my lifestyle. I feel like I’ve worked way too hard to get where I am and still be so uncomfortable in my own skin.

I am self-conscious to the point that thinking about changing in a room full of my girlfriends literally makes me cringe. I am constantly pulling my shirt down for fear of someone getting a glimpse of my stomach. I wear a larger pant size than I’d like to and I shy far away from anything that clings to my body. And, I’m still wearing the same size underwear that I always did, even at 250 pounds.

These issues are things that I’ve been thinking about for a LONG time – pretty much since I hit my goal weight almost 2 years ago. I’ve stayed within the same 10-15 pounds of my goal for the whole time and even when at my goal, my stomach is still very unsightly and a source of extreme anxiety for me.

After hundreds of hours of research and poring over YouTube videos, online forums, blog posts, before and after pictures, and plastic surgeon websites, I’ve decided to move forward with getting plastic surgery on my abdomen to remove the excess skin and fat.

While still in the beginning stages, I’ve had two consultations with plastic surgeons, and have a third set up for next week. The first doctor I saw I loved, but the second one I hated. We’ll see how it goes with the third. This is a major surgery so it will involve a large investment of time, money, and courage. But, in the end, I am confident it will all be worth it.

Hello long lost friends! What a whirlwind life has been lately. Here’s some random highlights to get you up to speed with my life lately.

Two weekends ago, I went to San Diego for a work conference. The view from my hotel room looked like a postcard!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside, so I laid out for 45 minutes before exploring the town and going out for dinner.

My body totally forgot how to process sun, and I woke up in a lot of pain the next day. Whoops.

I ended up coming back a day early because I got finished with everything for work I had to get done, and it was cheaper to change my flight than to stay an extra night in the hotel. It was a fun and productive trip, but weird staying just one night in a hotel on the other side of the country!

Then I got back to DC and left again a few days later for New Orleans for one of my best friend’s bachelorette’s. It was AMAZING. Here’s the bachelorette, Lianne, and me:

9 girls, and somehow NO DRAMA.

We ate, drank, danced, and made Lianne do a lot of embarrassing things. It was so much fun, but I am definitely not 21 anymore. By the last day, we were all ready to come back home, and not eat or drink again.

And then this past weekend, we had a baby shower for one of our best friend’s from college, Rachel. She’ll be 37 weeks this Friday, and it is so crazy to think that my friends are now having babies and that no one is concerned because we’re old enough that it’s perfectly acceptable.

She looks SO cute and you can’t even tell she’s pregnant from the back or the front. I can only dream that I’ll look anything like that at almost full term! Lianne and Jess came with, and it was so fun to see a lot of the women in Rachel’s life that we hadn’t seen since the wedding.

The set-up was really cute, with baby-themed décor everywhere.

We played a bunch of games, ate food and delicious oreo-filled cake, and watched Rachel open a ton of gifts to get ready for Ethan’s arrival. Such a fun afternoon.

Other random updates:

• The Beth’s Journey DietBet ends today!
• I am traveling to Woodstock, NY to see my sister and the kiddos this coming weekend for the first time since Christmas!
• I leave for Peru in less than 2 months
• I have a big (for my life) weightloss journey related announcement coming tomorrow

See you soon!

Would you guys be interested in me hosting another DietBet for May? I was thinking of having another one start Monday, May 6, but only if you guys want me to!

I was planning to come and update you all on what’s been going on in my life lately, but in light of the horrific tragedy that took place in Boston this afternoon, it seems inappropriate to discuss anything else.

It’s not only devastating that so many innocent people were deeply affected during a day that would surely be the highlight of many of their lives otherwise, but it’s also tragic how the spirit of the day and the race was changed so drastically. Races are a time when runners come together, supported on the sidelines by runners and non-runners alike, and the amount of energy, comradery, and excitement that surrounds the race is unlike anything else. It’s so sad that someone intentionally robbed that uplifting spirit from those involved, and instilled fear in so many beyond those in Boston today.

Here is a list of some concrete ways that we can all come together to help in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy:

• Reach out with tips by calling 800-494-TIPS.
• Donate blood in the future. The Red Cross has said the shelves are stocked to capacity at the moment, but to schedule a time to donate to make sure there is enough going forward.
• Offer housing to those displaced from the tragedy if you are local to Boston.
• The Salvation Army is offering food, beverages and crisis counseling to survivors and first responders. Find out how you can get involved here.

My heart goes out to everyone and their families who were affected today.

Here is a link to an article from the Washington Post that’s worth a read.

And another one from the New Yorker.

Round 1 of the Beth’s Journey DietBet ended this past Sunday, and the results are in!

The numbers are as follows:

• 405 players
• $25 buy in, so $10,125 total pot
• 2,554 total pounds lost
• 6.2 pounds per person on average
• 199 players hit the 4% goal
• $43.25 was paid to each of those who made the goal

I am so excited with these results! It’s insane to think that over 2,500 pounds were lost in just those 4 weeks. I think the money aspect keeps people a little more dedicated than they would be otherwise, and I absolutely LOVED how supportive the conversation in the game was. People would share their meals, photos, struggles and frustrations, and get tons of support from everyone else in the group. I also think it’s very telling that 6.2 pounds was the average loss per person – that is a HUGE number for 4 weeks! So even people who didn’t hit the 4% still made a lot of progress, which is really exciting. It added a new level of community to weight loss, and I loved organizing and participating in the game.

Today marks the start of Round 2 of the Beth’s Journey DietBet. Head over to http://www.dietbet.com/bethsjourney to sign up to participate if you’re interested! It runs through April 30 (4 weeks from today) and everyone who signs up will aim to lose 4% of their starting weight. Starting and ending are verified by DietBet staff, though you can weigh in unofficially as often as you’d like during those 4 weeks. The buy-in is $25, and so far there are 186 participants and the pot is at $4,650!

Hope to see you there!

Below is a guest post from my dear friend Amber about the process of organizing a race for a cause you’re passionate about and some of the logistical hurdles that come up along the way. You can read her first guest post here, which talks about everything that went into planning her first race! The race will take place next Saturday, April 13, at 8am. Details below!

This year marks the second annual Run for Parkinson’s. Over a decade ago, my mom was diagnosed with Parkinson ’s disease, an extremely debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. After going through the difficult journey that comes with such a scary diagnosis, my mom and I felt channeling our experience into something productive for the cause would be the best way to focus our energy.

The story really begins with a run Beth and I did a few years back on the Capital Crescent Trail Towpath. After the run, while we were engaging in all that post-run good stuff (photos and free bananas!) I struck up a conversation with the run’s organizer, John Brathwaite. John has a non-profit called DC Running Club which partners with organizations looking to host active events and helps them plan and execute their event from start to finish (pun intended).

His business model is to take half of the registration fee to cover the cost of the race and his personnel who handle all of the logistics. The other half is donated to the partner organization’s cause. It seemed like fate as I had been dying to plan a run but had absolutely no clue where to start.

We met a few months later to start planning the first Run for Parkinson’s, which was held last April on Hains Point. John took the reins organizing the event while I followed him around trying to absorb all of the details that go into the planning process. The first step was filing for the permit with National Park Service and learning how much police detail is required per number of runners anticipated at the event. We had to carefully choose the start and end times based on the distance of the run and requirements of NPS. Then we had to figure out all of the other nitty-gritty details – such as accessibility via public transportation and parking, placement of trash receptacles, and how many volunteers we’d need to set up on time and hand out bibs.

Marketing the event was up next. John has an account with Active.com, which is very helpful for registration. We had a really tiny budget for marketing, so we had to get creative! Many of last year’s participants were from our various networks, and I have to say it was a very powerful feeling to have that kind of support from so many people. Friends, family and colleagues were quick to sign up and get involved. So out went the mass email blasts, Facebook invites, blog articles, and any other free advertising opportunities we could get our hands on, such as a digital ad donated by Bisnow.com (thanks, guys!).

This is always the most stressful aspect for me because so much goes in to the organization of the event, to the point sometimes you forget you actually have to get people there! Our first event came and went with great success. We attracted close to 500 runners and raised almost $10,000!!

I anticipated the second time around would be easier after the know-how I had gained from the first event. However, it has proven to be full of new challenges on top of the same marketing dilemmas and logistical mishaps. Just when we thought we had things under control, we got a call from National Park Service last week saying that our location was double-booked with another run and we would have to change the location, even though our permit was filed almost a year ago.

Alas, having the backing of DC Running Club has saved us again. John scrambled to work his connections with the Capital Crescent Trail Towpath and we were confirmed two days later at the new location. Now the run is just a couple weeks away and we’re working hard to get everything ready for the big day. We hope that with some help from the race Gods all will go smoothly, and of course we would love to see you there! April 13th at 8am at the Capital Crescent Trail Towpath.

Register at RunForParkinsons.com.