Finally, The Shoes - and Reader Question About Drinks With Friends

Hurray! Friday is nearly here. I know you've been waiting for me to wear my new Fluevogs...

 ...and here you go! Keeping the outfit neutral - ha, yes, a crazy zig-zag dress is neutral in my wardrobe! - to show them off.

• Dress - Talbots, thrifted; last worn here in May with pops of orange
• Shoes - Effortless Bebe, Fluevog; purchased here for $179.99
• Capelet (below) - Floating Gold Iceberg, thrifted; last worn here as a scarf in April's outerwear

 A pretty basic outfit. Dress + shoes = outfit. The weather's turned lovely and warm, nay, verging into HOT! It's very exciting to have hot weather. Anyway, that formula gives a good outfit nearly every time.

 I am wearing nylons (yes!) due to recent toe-rubbing issues. My feet get sweaty, then my knobby toes rub on my shoes. Blisters ensue, but it's not the shoes' fault. Nylons help prevent this.

I was good and wore my hat.

 Added the capelet for sun coverage.

The stuff:

 First wear and they were good! Very comfy heel height - no foot pain at all. And don't you just love that shiny pink metallic? Me too!

Silver bling:

Double Wonder Woman cuffs!

• Cage cuff - Bauxo
• Hinged cuff - thrifted
• Earrings - Lazy Susan's

* * *

So. Reader question! I love questions, by the way - if you ever want to ask me something or address something on my blog, I'd be happy to. Keep it clean, though - my Mom reads my posts! (Hi, Mom! "Hi, She!" says Mom back).

This is not a fashion-related question, which is fine - this blog is a bit about everything in my life - but about Weight Watchers. Full disclosure: I work as a leader for WW. However, these opinions and thoughts are my own, and do not represent WW.

SL wrote: Always enjoy your fashion, but my question is WW related. You often mention drinks with friends, etc. What do you drink that's WW-friendly (and I'm guessing alcoholic)? :) I'm newly returned to the WW fold and struggling with the social ...

WW uses "points" aka numeric values assigned to food, based on how healthy food is. You have a daily budget of points to "spend" on whatever you want to eat. No food is off-limits, but you have to make choices. Pick your battles. I enjoy drinks with friends (and with L at home!), so that's a battle I face every week.

When I go out with friends, I know I'm going to have drinks. So I have to think about this event and formulate a long-range plan for my weekend, which is when most people are apt to go off the rails and eat more (and drink more). This past weekend was a holiday, so I had to decide earlier in the week: What am I going to do? How am I going to handle this?

For me, it's not as much about "What's a safe/WW-friendly drink?" as it is "How can I set myself up for success, so that I can have what I really want [which is drinks] and not go overboard for my whole week, and still feel good about myself and my choices?"

But since SL asked, I usually I drink wine at home, sometimes hard cider when I'm out (high WW points, though). I'm allergic to beer, and I don't usually drink highballs. If I'm wanting to drink over a long period of time (like hanging out with friends for a long time), I'll often order a soda water with a splash of cranberry (sometimes you get free refills) and the cheapest, sweetest white wine, and I'll gradually add the wine to the cran & soda. Keeps me hydrated, and slows down the drinking. Other times, I'll decide ahead of time how much I want to drink (say, half a litre) and order that up-front - when it's gone, I'm done. Depends on the event.

What I normally do is I view my whole week in advance, usually on Sunday when I typically grocery shop. I plan for healthy snacks (fruit, baked salty-crunchy or popcorn) to help offset the cravings once I have wine. So most weekend nights, when I'm going to be having wine, I have "safe" things in the house that won't lead me to temptation and overeating. I'm good at home because I can control the environment - you can't eat what you don't have!

This past Sunday, specifically, we'd planned to go to the pub and meet up with our friends. I slept in, made L and I a good high-protein, filling breakfast (scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, grapefruit, grapes, single slice of toast). So I wasn't hungry when we got to the pub. I drank cider because it was hot and that's what I felt like having. I'd been good with my snacks on Fri/Sat night, and had played Ulti for a couple of hours on Saturday, so I felt happy about my exercise (and when you feel good, you make better choices). I always have water on the table, even if I don't always drink as much of it as I should. I usually alternate one big glass of water with every drink (and no one says you have to sip the water - gulp it down and move onto the next drink! Ha!).

The biggest challenge I faced this past Sunday was that one of our crew ordered a plate of nachos and I ate some. Danger! Because booze lowers your resistance, and food in pubs is not usually healthy. This is shocking news, I know. I ate about a dozen nacho chips with cheese, but I made that choice consciously. I could have moved to another seat, to remove temptation, but I didn't. I'm okay with that. When I did eat, I ordered a veggie stirfry, easy on the sauce - a good healthy choice.

So, SL, I think that probably doesn't really answer your question, sorry. Everyone is different, and everyone is going to have different battles to fight. I struggle more with the food aspect than the booze side. Make conscious decisions by deciding ahead of time what your limits are or what you're going to order when you're out. Maybe eat before you go, so you're not tempted once you see others' food. Decide how much you plan to drink - what fits in your daily budget - and stick to it. Find out what works for you (and what doesn't), and tweak your plan of attack as you learn. There isn't any magic answer here, unfortunately, and I do still struggle with my weight. Above all, though, be kind to yourself. Good luck, my dear.