Wine & Watching Weight

While Norm is still the same VERY skinny size he was in high school, I continue a life long battle against the bulge.  I believe Norm’s secrets are: he smokes, he is a coffee addict, he is indifferent toward food, he does not drink alcohol, he does hard physical labor all day and he never stops moving.  He is up working in the vineyard or somewhere on the property at daybreak and I have to nag him to stop at dark for dinner. 

on the other hand, I am in charge of the books, taxes, writing, marketing, communications, advertising, networking and such which are all sedentary jobs.  Additionally I LOVE food and wine, especially learning how to properly pair one with the other.  I love to cook and entertain and all the yummy things that go along with that.  Even as a child I was never skinny, and as I age Weight Watchers and I have become good friends.  Also, I’m shorter than him.  If I was 6’1″ instead of 5’4″ I wouldn’t be overweight.
But things are looking up!  Since October 2008 I have very gradually lost 13 pounds (with about 20 more to go).  I credit that weight loss to two things.  One is increased outdoor activity, since I spend two hours nearly every morning and an hour or two each evening in the vineyard working.  The other is counting Weight Watchers points, and staying within my allotted points range.  For those who may be waging the same war, I’ll give some hints.

Do NOT take up smoking.  I build my daily meal plan and points total from back to front, that is from the evening to the morning.  Weight Watchers says a serving of wine is 4 ounces – not!  We oenophiles (read wine-o’s) would never settle for less than 6 ounces in our balloon glass.  Additionally, I’ll have to confess, one of those servings is never enough, I always have two.  Weight Watchers calculates the 12 ounces at 4.5 points.  Now, we can start to talk about what food we’ll eat the rest of the day!

Cheers!
Elaine