I’m a firm believer in recognizing the little victories just as much as the big victories.  Sometimes we lose focus or become discouraged along the path to a larger goal when we don’t time to step back, reflect, and appreciate the headway we’ve made.

For some people, like myself, this week’s little victory could come in the form of successfully taking vitamins and supplements each day. Who knew that vitamins are much easier to remember when they are kept in sight. Therefore, I’ve moved my vitamin bottle to the same drawer as my computer. Each morning when I open my drawer to get my computer the bottle of vitamins is staring me in the face screaming “EAT ME..with food.’”

Or, it could be enjoying a preview screening of Captain America with your office and not being tempted by the pile of snacks being offered, free of charge. It isn’t easy being responsible for distributing 10 packs of gummies and candy before the movie and not savoring one sweet piece.

By the way, while Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan aren’t bad to look at for two hours, I’d save your money for rental charges versus movie theatre prices.

For me, this week’s biggest victory, was stepping back through the doors of Weight Watchers and committing myself to weekly weigh-ins during marathon training. Luckily, the new Midtown New York City Weight Watchers just opened this week and is gorgeous!  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t as if I’d suddenly gone of track. Instead, it was very much the opposite. I have been making small changes over the past two months but hadn’t stepped on a scale to see whether anything was paying off. In addition, my body is changing in ways I’ve never seen due to my personal training sessions. While the new definition is great, some of it also comes with disadvantages which had me questioning my headway. Therefore, instead of avoiding the scale any longer, I embraced it and have decided to make it part of my Friday rest days. Taking my rest day on Friday means I get to sleep in an hour later, have a relaxed shower, weigh-in, and then grab an iced tea or coffee all before 9am.

Similar to Monica, I’ve focused the past few weeks on improving my intuitive eating skills. While I always eat my breakfast as soon as I sit down at work, around 8:30am, I’ve stopped scheduling my lunch time. Instead, I listen to my stomach and enjoy a breath of fresh air for an afternoon lunch trip across the street whenever the growls begin.

Since making this change my lunch time has gone from 12pm to almost 1:30. This in turn has also helped me deal with the afternoon cravings I was getting for as long as I can remember. Around 3pm I’d be hungry and around 4pm the sugar cravings would start.

In keeping with the intuitive eating, I allow myself an afternoon snack. But, instead of going for the leftover cookie tray that haunts me on a daily basis, I bring a fresh “sugary” snack of home.

My trainer, Lauren, recommended including some healthy sugar in my afternoon snack instead of just trying to cure the craving with something very low calorie such as carrots and hummus or an apple. This trick clearly wasn’t working for me since I’d often have that snack and then, within two hours, resort to the cookie tray. I had become that girl who would grab a cookie, imagining no one would see me, and eat it before co-workers could notice. Not good, not good.

For the past 3 weeks, enjoying an afternoon snack of greek yogurt which includes some sugar from fruit, such as my current favorite, Chobani 0% lemon or peach, along with a 1/3 portion of Kashi ceral has left me satiated and fueled for late afternoon productivity.

Today, my victory was finally regaining my 25 pound weight loss award. A few years ago, I lost over 50 pounds with Weight Watchers and then, due to health needs I was forced to regain some of it. Well, that some of it eventually turned into a lot of it over the course of two years which included a new job, moving in with Bo, a marriage, and marathon training.

Since March, I’ve made a concerted effort to take the weight back off slowly, healthier than before, and without totally changing my lifestyle. The first time around I went cold turkey on lots of my favorite foods, sacrificed many nights of beers and laughing with friends, and was afraid of having olive oil and balsamic on my salad. I thought that a touch of fat would kill me.

Losing ten pounds over the past few months hasn’t been easy. But, knowing that I’ve done this while also developing amazing strength and muscle through personal training, eating more natural and whole foods, and enjoying plenty of amazing trips and travels along the way makes me smile a hell of a lot.

Life is good around here.

Question: What was your victory this week?