Twas The Night Before Weigh-In

Yessiree!  Tomorrow is a BIG DAY in Loserville…our first weigh-in!.

I personally have had a pretty crappy last two weeks and when I checked this morning (tsk tsk..I KNOW!)  I am up from Monday, which was up from last Monday.  Not good!

But I am really excited to see how great my fellow Losers are doing and looking forward to seeing the results.

Yesterday was overall a pretty good day point-wise, until we got to the potluck scout Court of Honor.   I had a plan…but you know what happens when you plan don’t you!

My good intentions were to take a piece of chicken (they always have chicken) and then load up my plate with a ginormous pile of salad.  They always have a great selection of salad.  Well guess what….NO SALAD AT ALL…and a paltry selection of veggies at that!

So I took a piece of chicken (ummm….a fried thigh) and a small taste of Shepherd’s pie.  And I took a nice helping of fruit, green beans (with nuts), and some carrot soufflé that I thought was sweet potato, but was still really good.  Although I am sure it was not as healthy as regular old carrots.  And that was going to be it.   I wasn’t going to have dessert.  No, not me!  But of course I caved…BIG TIME!  My daughter brought me back a dessert plate and I ate it all.  I had a brownie (a little one), and a cookie, and (gulp) a piece of carrot cake.  So much for good intentions.

Now today was a different story.  Today I ate really really well…and still came in with half a point leftover.  That was even after half of a Take Five bar I decided to taste since I had all  those extra points.

Today I decided to try and  forgo most meat and really load up on some nutrient  dense foods, especially veggies.   I kicked off the day by lugging out the juicer and making a glass of fresh juice before breakfast  while I was still getting kids ready to go (carrot/granny smith apple/a slice of beet/a slice of ginger).  That was so incredibly refreshing and energizing.  A great way to start the day…and I halved the amount from yesterday so I could enjoy it and not compromise my points.

When I came back from the school run I had a cup of Kashi  U with currents and walnuts (YUM!) with some almond milk.  About an hour later I had an Amazing Grass Green Monster.  I hadn’t had one with spinach for a while and I have been craving this.

Lunch was meatless and fabulous.   (It was pretty too but I was in a hurry and forgot to take a pic!) I put a bunch of spinach leaves in a bowl, cut up some red pepper, threw in some  grape tomatoes, 1 ounce of crumbled feta cheese, 1 tablespoon of walnuts, 1/2 cup of chickpeas, and 1 ounce of hot pasta.   I tossed this with a simple dressing of balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil.  This was so filling and so good and other than the fact it was a few more points than I had bargained for…it was really healthy so I felt good after eating it.

And then I decided for dinner to try to go meatless totally and cut up a half of an eggplant, sautéed that with some red pepper and Adobo seasoning, and my three corn tortillas that I love so much.  I made chicken Caesar salad wraps for  the rest of the family…and then I caved and stole 1 ounce of chicken tenderloin to add to my eggplant mix. 

After that I still had 3 points left and debated some almond butter…but went with the half of the Take Five.  It was just okay…I am glad I used the points on that so I know I don’t want one anymore.  There are plenty of other things I would much rather have.

So that is my day, part of yesterday, and look ahead to tomorrow.  Still failing in the photo journal  department.  I do have pictures of the juice but I will add those maybe tomorrow as it is almost midnight now and I am tired…and the computer is running kind of slow.  One day I hope to manage that much better.

Struggling

As usual, I am fine when I am eating at home, but eating outside of the house is a real struggle for me.

And this week  has been a whirlwind of a week.  Starting with last Saturday, we had a Rosh Hashanah dinner out, which also served as a birthday dinner for my dad and husband (each with their own cake of course!).

Wednesday night came another birthday dinner out for Husband.

Friday night we were out at a field trip with the school and ate at Golden Corral.  Yes…I am still a sucker for their fried chicken and I had one piece, a thigh, with skin.

Saturday out at a Girl Scout event all day….only hot dogs and  chips available…and I ate one of each (not one chip…one bag though!).

Saturday night, on to the Boy Scouts with a local campout for our troop that lasted through Sunday.  I ate the chili and rice that was dinner.   And a taste of the two Dutch Oven cakes that were dessert.

Sunday morning  breakfast I loaded up my omelet with veggies.   But still.

Sunday night, dinner at our daughter’s house….with homemade pasta Alfredo and garlic bread and homemade cookies.  With no lunch I was hungry but I still took about a cup and a half of  pasta with some sauce on it.  And while everyone else had two and three slices of garlic bread I limited myself to one, but I still had one and felt  guilty for that.  And depressed that I feel guilty for wanting to have a piece of garlic bread along with every one else.   And the cookies were large…so I cut one into fourths and a quarter of a cookie. 

I never take seconds…and I take reasonable helpings.  But still…after all of that, the scale is still UP a pound from last week.  It  takes me two to three weeks to knock one pound off…and one week to easily put it right back on!

And today…not because of the weight, I don’t know what though…I am emotionally down and frustrated.  I have to go to the grocery store for the week today, and even meal planning is proving to be challenging for me at the moment.  I don’t know what to do for dinner…I am tired of the same old stuff..and I don’t want anything too complicated.  But I am feeling overwhelmed by choosing right now.

And finally, we are coming up on a month for the BL  weigh in and I really thought I would have more than 3 lbs off in a month…which is where I stand as of this morning!

I really need to get back on my wagon. 

Eating Out

Tomorrow marks two months since I started Weight Watchers.   Counting back, I realize that since I started, I have eaten out exactly twice.  One night we were in a pinch for time and going to a meeting so we grabbed Little Caesar's pizza.  The other was for the Teenager’s birthday at the Thai restaurant.  But all well within my point limits for the week. 

While I love going out to eat, it wasn’t something we did several times a week anyway…it was  usually a treat, maybe three or four times a month just because of $$.

But while counting points over the last eight weeks, I have noticed several things have happened.

I don’t seem to want to eat anywhere but home anymore!

In thinking about this, I think it comes down to three main reasons with the first one being the biggest reason, but the others playing a role as well.

First reason is the desire for CONTROL over my food intake.  When I eat at home, I am much more in CONTROL of what I am eating.   I can eat well, be very satisfied, and still stay within my point range.

When I eat out or even at someone’s house, I have a lot more temptation dangling in front of me and I usually end up eating  more points than I should be having, and more points than I would be eating at home.  Basically I am losing control.

Second is my desire to eat HEALTHIER.  I have noticed that, while I have always had a bent towards alternative foods and health remedies, more recently, starting with the Amazing Grass shake, I have started to incorporate more and more organic and healthy living changes into my and my family’s diet.   Many healthy organic foods are high in fat so I still need to watch what I am switching to, but I can definitely see an evolution in my way of eating….and this is much harder to incorporate when eating out. 

I can’t say I have no desire for junk at all…I can easily see going out to a breakfast buffet and still getting myself in trouble!!!  But it is easier to lessen this desire when I am in my own environment, buying and cooking my own foods.

Also, I love knowing exactly what is going into what we are eating, as well as the environment in which it is prepared.  I don’t know why…lately I have a growing aversion to restaurant kitchens…their cleanliness, their prep methods. 

Finally, I am enjoying saving $$.  More and more when we were going out I would feel irritated, for example that I would pay $7 for a glass of Merlot when I could buy the same bottle for $11.99.  Or  $40.00 for breakfast at Denny’s for the five of us, that we can prepare at home for around $10.  

Maybe the flip side of the control issue is the fear of not being able to control my intake….is that something I need to address?  I don’t know.  I have never been a binge eater so I am not worried about losing control in that respect, it is more the fact that I usually prefer the unhealthy fatty choices over the leaner healthier choices (give me Alfredo over Marinara any day!)

How does everybody else handle the eating out while trying to lose weight dilemma?

The Good News and The Bad News

BLECH! Durn weigh-in results!!!

The Good News is that I didn't gain weight. (that is if you don't count my little cheat hop on the scale on Friday morning where I had been down from Monday by 2 pounds and if you did, would have made me have gained 2 pounds!...but nope, it is not official and I am not counting it!)

But The Bad News is that I didn't lose weight.

That's right....as of today I am EXACTLY THE SAME AS LAST MONDAY'S WEIGH-IN. UGH!!!!

I was active, I was down in LBs, I was mostly good....how could a little bit of dump cake make me go up? AARRGGGHH!

Anyway...despite all appearances attitude is still good. Physically I am feeling great and I think that is what is driving me. I am back in full force today.

I have noticed a trend in my weight loss though. It seems that I stay the same for two weigh-ins in a row, gain a pound of discouragement (and weight) the next week, and then BAM, drop 2-3 pounds in the next weigh-in for about an overall, long-term average of one-pound per week (not exact math here).

And this isn't a precise pattern....but it is always pretty similar. A few weeks of plateau, an up...and then a big drop. Don't know why. But I sure am expecting that drop next week!

Hello Scale...you better watch out!

I Survived The Weekend

and with only a small "negative point" value too! Not that I am happy about that...but it could have been worse.

First of all...I have no idea how many extra activity points I might have earned while camping. I don't think it was a large number because it wasn't a high activity campout...but it had to be something. I did make a point of getting up and doing every little walking activity we did as well as helping to cook and clean up rather than sit in my chair most of the weekend. I only gave myself 1 activity point for each day for a total of 2 (for the week!) but I know it could have very well been a little more.

Since we did the grocery shopping for our patrol, (all adults, this was a leader training weekend for beginning campers) I did take some liberties..such as buying the R/F cheese and R/F sour cream. I also was vigilant about taking only ONE HELPING! Yay Me!

Some of the things were hard to count...but when we got home today I forced myself to review the weekend and log everything in. It was hard to get an exact count...such as with the exercise and the dump cake I made for dessert in the Dutch Oven. I looked up a similar recipe on Allrecipes.com and gave it my best guestimate...(don't look if you don't want temptation!). I always guestimate conservatively too...on the lower side for exercise and on the higher side for points. I don't think I had a complete serving of the dump cake but I did have some, still, I put down the whole amount because I really have no clue how much I had!

Overall I went over all of my allowed points for the week, including weeklies and bonuses, by 8.5 points. Not too bad, and the first time I have gone over as I finish my 7th or 8th week of WW.

Tomorrow is weigh-in though and I am a little nervous. I know I did a cheat WI Friday morning ( I felt down in pounds and I just had to know) and I was down...but after this weekend I am not sure that number will still be down!

Crossing my fingers for tomorrow morning!!!!!

So What Happens When You Run Out Of Week?

It was bound to happen…I have been on WW now for 7 or 8 weeks (I can’t remember exactly!) and I have never run out of points yet. Two or three times I have had 1 or 2 leftover at then end of the day…but that is all. And once or twice I have had a couple of my WPA left at the end of the week…but again very rarely. I try to make sure I use up all my dailies and weeklies. I have even dipped into my activity points on a couple of occasions…although I am content to not use all of those.

BUT THIS WEEK…OY!

Starting off with Labor Day on Monday, we had a neighborhood block party and I used a bunch there.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday I stayed on track.

And I planned on staying on track today….saving what I had left for the weekend (because we have plans this weekend…stay tuned further down).

But today at the last minute we decided to stop at one of our favorite pizza places and everyone else wanted the family special, which is one XL pizza (pepperoni for everyone), one dozen of the most delicious garlic rolls on the planet..soaking in garlic and oil and UMMMMM, and a pitcher of Coke. I was really irritated I had left my camera at home to share this fantastic looking pizza with you too!

So…I had ONE garlic roll and ONE slice of gigantic pizza and ONE glass of Coke. It was hard to estimate points…but I think pizza was 7 and garlic roll was 5 and I put down 3 for the Coke…and ended up finishing my points for the day and dipping into my diminished bank of weeklies I was hoarding for the weekend!

Then later on as we packed for our campout this weekend (yes…we are camping..Girl Scout training…not that we need to be trained we are old pros at this…but we have to take it anyway as leaders)….hubby poured us our weekend vino. Another 6.5 points.

So off I go on this campout with only 7 points in my point savings account…to make it through to Sunday!

I have never gone over before!!!! I don’t want to. But realistically I know I will. I will watch myself and track…but I will not starve and totally deprive myself either.

Breakfast tomorrow is at home…and while I know hubby will be cooking eggs and bacon for all…I will stick with a Green Monster shake. It is filling and should keep me until at least 10 a.m.

I brought an Odwalla energy bar for when I get hungry before lunch.

Lunch will be homemade pizza in the Dutch Oven and fresh fruit (the pizza sounds so good when our group planned it last week…not so much after my pizza today!)

Dinner will be hubby’s World’s Best Grilled Chicken (not too bad…but we did get thighs), caesar salad ( bought light dressing), baked potatoes on the fire with reduced fat cheese and reduced fat sour cream, and dump cake in the Dutch Oven for dessert.

Breakfast on Sunday will be Rocky Mountain Eggs in the DO again…I pulled for bacon instead of sausage as it is far less in points, English Muffins (hubby’s homemade…NOT Thomas’s), OJ, and coffee.

At least I was in charge of buying the groceries for our group so I could sneak in a few lower fat items.

I will also bring my almond milk and some Green Superfood with me in case i get hungry between lunch and dinner and can’t wait. I also think there is a good chance some of the fruit from lunch will be left over and I can snack on that.

BUT…I still think I will not make it through Sunday night in points. Oh well….It was bound to happen but I am not happy about it….and at least I will be somewhat active at camp this weekend.

Until Sunday then…have a great weekend all!!!

Having Go-To Foods

As I get into week 8...(or is it week 9...I am not sure) of Weight Watchers I realize that my saving grace has been my Go-To foods....low point, quick to prepare meals that I LOVE and am happy to have almost any night.

At this moment I have yet to be tired of them...and I do have them several times a week. I have an underlying fear, however that I will get tired of them at some point. Hopefully some more will materialize.

Right now my two faves are my grilled chicken/eggplant mix stuffed into a tortilla (currently with that delish Green Goddess dressing slathered on it!), a mere 6 point filling, satisfying, flavorful dinner that comes together in less than 15 minutes. The chicken tenderloins (which I always keep on hand) are done in 8 minutes on the old George Foreman, which is ever present on my counter 'cuz we are using it daily. The rest is done stovetop in a pan.

Now while I usually will not cook two meals, one for family and one for me, I will use this often when we are running short on time and I have something quick and very "pointy" for the family that I don't want to eat. Can you tell I just loooove this meal?????

Actually right now I am addicted to those corn tortillas...and I am loving them with lots of things, including the EggBeater breakfast burrito.

My quick to prepare lunch is my grilled eggplant/goat cheese sandwich, only 3.5 points for lunch. The eggplant is 5 minutes in George as well.

With both of these meals being my faves...sometimes I am actually finding I need to add food and snacks to make sure I am getting all of my points!

Rounding Out Yesterday

Just to finish up yesterday, as I can’t seem to get on at night anymore, I couldn’t make to dinner without a snack…so I decided to have another wheat  grass shake (sans  spinach  but still green!) and a  Larabar I had bought since I have heard so many great things about them.  

No pix of the shake (how many green drinks can I put on here!!!) but I used one cup almond milk, 1/3 frozen banana,  and a scoop of Amazing Grass.  Simple but good!

 

 

 

 

The Larabar was yummy…but not 5 points yummy.  I could have easily eaten the whole thing…but somehow I was able to cut it in half and eat only half of it and save the other half for today.  I do like these…but unless I am fitting in a lot  of exercising, I probably won’t make them a regular part of my snacking because of their points!

On to dinner which was one of my favorites.  I don’t know why I love it so much…but I am glad I do because it is filling, delicious, and low in points!

First I made the Green Goddess dressing, again from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.  This was such an incredible treat and easy to make.   I was excited to find another recipe to use that tube of anchovy paste I bought  for the Drunken Shrimp…I was clueless on how to use it  for anything else and  thought it would go to waste!

This was heavenly…and only .75 points for 2 TBS!  Now I will have to have salad every night just so I can eat this dressing!

Yes..this is dressing…not a green shake…although they kind of look the same  don’t they!

As the blender whirred all of those delicious ingredients together and they became green, I start to  wonder why all of my food lately seems to be this color!

Sorry about the pictures…still getting the hang of putting them in and I can’t seem to move them!

So dinner included my green salad with my green goddess dressing! (which all followed my two green shakes during the  day) Thankfully nothing else for the night was green.

I had my sauteed eggplant with grilled chicken breast tucked into the corn tortillas that I used to hate but now seemed to have developed an addiction for!  I slathered all of the extra Green Goddess  left on the measuring spoon all over those tortillas before putting the chicken and eggplant on and that  was YUM there too.  No pix of these though.

After dinner I was pretty full but I had 1.5 points left…and I have been leaving about 1 point over regularly and  wanted to make sure I used it up this time…so  I had a Weight Watchers toffee ice cream bar, 2 points, and made my first dip of the week into the weekly point allowance.  I am hoarding those this week because we are celebrating the teenager’s 18th birthday on Sunday and he wants Thai food…and I know I want my favorite Crispy Duck in curry sauce…and that is probably most of my WPA!

 

Keep On Keepin’ On

 

Weight Thoughts

Today is a really weird, up and down kind of day. 

I have some frustrations that it seems the weight is not coming off,  and I have bounced back and forth between FEELING fat and then oddly enough, feeling like my tummy is a little down.  I don’t know!!!  AARRGGH!

I am avoiding stepping in the scale until Monday since I weighed in for WW this past Monday and then again for BL2009 yesterday.

I do know I have been working hard…this is Week 7 of Weight Watchers and for the life of me I can’t figure out why, with staying on program for all of these weeks now and even adding walking to the routine, I was UP this week or why my clothes don’t seem to feel any looser, or why it is going so sloooowwww!

What I Am Eating

As far as my meals today, I have gone a little “pointier” than usual.  I like to keep my breakfasts during the week around 3, no more than 4 points.  But today I opted for a bowl of cereal which included one cup of Kashi GoLean Crunch, one cup of mixed berries, one cup of Almond Milk, and one espresso for a total of 5.5 points.

I didn’t have the Green Monster for breakfast today and I noticed by 11:00 I was fighting a nap.  I had a ton of work to finish, today is run around and pick up kids day…and all I wanted to do was go to sleep! 

So for snack I made myself a GM, along with 3 fresh figs that were just calling my name.   This came to a total of 4 more points and I haven’t even had lunch yet.  I know I can’t make it to dinner without eating something either so I will need to have a low-point lunch along the way now, or dip into my weekly allowance points later on. 

But now I already feel less tired and have more energy…so this concoction seems to be working well.  I  have committed myself to having one a day for 30 days to see if I have noticeable benefits…and so far so good.

BL Blogs

Finally, over the next couple of days I would like to spend some time going around to the BL2009 blogs and getting to know some of the other BL ladies.  So far I am thrilled that I have figured out how to add them to my blog list…heck….I even figured out how to make a blog list!  But all of that takes time and somewhere in there I am expected to actually get some JOB work done!  Imagine. 

YUM and EWWW

So as not to gross you out and lest you think I don’t eat real food (how do you think I got into this situation to begin with!) I will first show this absolutely delicious, definitely repeat recipe I made for dinner last night.

Aside from having to buy a few ingredients I have never bought before (a tube of anchovy paste and a bottle of clam juice…which I hid from Hubby as he would never have eaten it had he seen those!) it was incredibly easy to make and was such a treat.

Plus big bonus points for being low in points! I love those!!!

This is Drunken Shrimp from Gina’s Weight Watcher recipes. If you haven’t been there, this is a goldmine of delicious recipes that everyone in the family can eat too. Just because I am on Weight Watchers doesn’t mean I am going to cook to separate meals…everyone else can eat healthy too. But I do like to find yummy recipes they will enjoy.

This was perfect with a piece of Hubby’s homemade “Just Like Macaroni Grill But Better” bread to sop up that garlicky wine sauce. Definitely a keeper.

BREAKFAST

Now on to this morning. First was a cup of espresso with a tsp of sugar. Next was getting the kids off to school. Once that was done I was home and ravenous so I grabbed a few fresh figs.

I couldn’t decide between a bowl of cereal with the blueberries I bought on Sunday or the Green Monster…but since I am loving the energy I am getting from these Amazing Grass products I decided I really really wanted a shake. This time I did take pix…but they really do look gross. Believe me....it tastes much much better than it looks!

I used 1 TBS of flaxseed meal, one packet of Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion, half of a frozen banana (not in photo, already in blender), 1 cup of Almond Milk (I like the sweetened, only 1 point), and a few big handfuls of baby spinach.

Yea…that looks just gross.

But it is amazing how filling it is and how well it keeps me going. I am on Day 2 of not feeling sluggish and draggy and having to fight going back to bed. That makes it completely worth it!

Finished blend…..

And I am sipping now as I blog. Today’s is a little “spinachy” but not overpowering.

Biggest Loser 2009, Day One

I have signed up, sent in my $$, sent in my scale picture and today is Day One for the BL challenge.

Since I have been following Weight Watchers now since July 20 I don’t feel like it is a Day One sort of thing…like I did my first day on WW. But I am excited for extra motivation to push to lose some weight. This has really been going slow for me….especially with the two 1-pound “up” weigh-ins.

Now the scale picture…that was hard. Not even Hubby knows how much I weigh! I have never shared that with anybody…except the doctor…and then only ‘cuz I have to! Besides…he still has to read the chart to know.

Funny thing about that scale…when I am sneaking onto it for my weekly weigh-ins, that digital number seems to take forever to disappear once I get off…and I am always sure Hubby is going to walk in and see. But today..when I was trying to get my scale picture…with the pen and without my feet….that number would disappear as soon as I hit the camera button. I tried repeatedly…until I finally gave in and took while still standing on it….feet and all!

Sorry…that picture will NOT be posted here!

Finally, I am loving this Windows LiveWriter except for including pix on the blog…that has been a real ordeal. I am trying to figuring out the uploading….Help! Is there an easier way???? Anyone?????!