Merry Christmas!

Hoping for 50 by next Friday's weigh in! I'll really have to work at it though. Hopefully the WiiFit+ and Yoga DVD Santa brought will help with this. I didn't weigh this week, for fear that I'd start Christmas off disappointed. I've enjoyed Christmas eats! Here's my number from last week:

45!

I finally made it to 45! It took FOREVER! I should have been at this milestone in October, but that eating binge I had in St. Lou really took it's toll!

I can't wait to post the pics of me when I hit 50! I can't wait to see the difference between my starting pic, the -25 one, and the 50! Here's hoping we'll get there by New Years! If I keep hitting the wiifit like I have been, should be no problem. Although, hubby & I are both participating in cookie exchanges at work this week...

Thanksgiving Week

I lost 1.4 this week--this week that included THANKSGIVING! I was so excited I was running around the house! I didn't figure I'd lose much, if anything! But, I did the WiiFit 3 or 4 times during the week, which I think made all the difference! Woo hoo!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good: Today I resisted cinnabon muffins, got cupcakes at Coldstone for my husband's birthday (knowing it would help with portion control over getting a whole cake), resisted getting something to eat while running errands on my lunch break (had lunch waiting at work in the fridge), and resisted getting some yummy butterscotch pudding ice cream while getting his cupcakes!

The bad: I had nachos after my unsatisfying lunch. I held out for nearly 2 hours of tempation, but in the end, I lost. Though they were good.

The ugly: We got Mexican for my husband's birthday dinner, and I ate the chips and queso even though I wasn't planning on it. And then I ate a Coldstone cupcake. And then I ate my son's unfinished one.

I have been struggling so much lately! I am still getting a lot of compliments, but weigh the same that I did 6 weeks ago, before I had that crazy vacation binge. I'm resolving to do better. I'm resolving to using my Wii Fit. I think I'll go do that now. It may just be for 10 minutes, but it's a start. Here I go!

Writing it down...

Are you like me? For days you try and remember to do something or to tell someone something, and you keep forgetting, but as soon as you actually write it down, you remember that when you can do it, and without looking at the note? For some reason, writing it sometimes seals it in my memory.

When I last wrote two weeks ago I wrote about my greediness on vacation. I can't remember if I wrote that after weigh day or not, but I gained about 3 pounds from it. Yikes--but better than the last time I did that on vacation. I worked really hard to stay within my daily points and not use all my weekly points the following week, and did really well. I lost about 2 pounds that week.

Then, my husband and I took an overnighter, courtesy of Sheraton Hotel's one night giveaway, and while I didn't do terrible there, I did use all of my weekly points up by the end of Saturday (and maybe more than my weekly). So, I still had Sunday-Thursday to go without using anything but my daily points. It's been a struggle. I think it's because of the abundance of candy all around my office and house, having a bad cold which just makes me want to eat that candy to feel better, lack of willpower, and unsatiable hunger. I've been hungry hungry, but probably not really. It probably just seemed like it. So, I'm not too excited for tomorrow's weigh in, but I am really excited to flip the switch into a new week and do better. It's like once I've blown it for the week, I keep blowing it for the week. If I start out good, I stay good.

On a side note, I made cheeseburger chowder for dinner tonight, and will share the recipe here, though I can't guarantee the point content for two reasons--to be explained afterward...

Cheeseburger Chowder

1 lb. 96% lean ground beef (12 pt.)
1 small onion, chopped (0 pt.)
2 cloves garlic, minced (0 pt.)
1 package potato soup starter/mix (I used Bear Creek) (24 pt.)
8 oz. 2% velveeta cheese, cubed (8 pt.)
diced pickles, onions, and tomato (optional) (0 pt.)

Brown the ground beef with onion and garlic, and drain if needed (I needed). While the meat is browning, prepare potato soup according to package directions. Add ground beef and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Add cubed cheese and let melt, while stirring frequently. Serve topped with cheeseburger toppings, like pickles, onions, and tomato. Good with toast dipped in it, for that "bun" flavor.

So, I can't guarantee the pointage per serving, because the stinking soup should have made 11-1 cup servings. The soup mix was supposed to make 8 cups, which made sense, because I added 8 c. of water. And then I added 3 cups of cooked ground beef. And then I added about a cup of velveeta (which I didn't count in the cup calculations). So, 11 cups right--so 4 pt. per serving. Well, I dished myself out a 4 pt. serving and my husband too, and then we went back for seconds. Then I noticed there was in no way still 7 cups of soup left, like there should have been. I measured it out and there was about 4 cups left. HOW IRRITATING! So, I probably consumed more points than I really thought I was. GRR! Yesterday I made mac and cheese that was supposed to make 2 cups, and it really only made 1 1/2 cups. What is with the shrinkage, especially when the package says it will make 8 cups, prepared, or 2 cups, prepared! I guess I'm going to have to start measuring AFTER cooking and then figure the points per serving.

Well, remember how I had some things I wanted to write down for myself to remember? Now I can't remember what they were. Dang it. Well, I think those motivating thoughts later and share them then. :)

And the winner is...the Greedy side!

One of my favorite bloggers, Josie over at Yum Yucky, introduced me to the concept of my Greedy side. And, boy oh boy, did my greedy side win on our recent mini vacation to St. Louis. I knew I wasn't counting points or caring, and we'll see what the scale has to say about that. You may remember I did this when I vacationed in April, and gained 4 pounds, only to lose 5 the next week. I've been home for about 20 hours, and my legs still hurt from all the walking I did, so I'm hoping to have similar success this time round.

I weighed in early on Thursday, since I'd be gone Friday, and lost .2, which was weak, but expected, due to Mother Nature's quarterly gift of an immense chocolate craving (Seasonale=Quarterly, yippee!). That made me at a square 44 pounds lost.

But, dun dun dun. Then the greedy side decided to emerge. Warning, not for the weak...

Thursday
Breakfast: Hardee's Sausage Frisco Breakfast Sandwich, minus eggs, Potatoes, and Coke Zero.
Lunch: Work potluck, including a piece of glorious KFC and a Lofthouse sugar cookie, Water to drink
Dinner: Sonic's Chili Cheese Wrap and Popcorn Chicken, with a Diet Cherry Limeade
Exercise: Zilch-o, unless you count the driving. :)

Friday
Breakfast/Brunch: Crepe from "Crepes in the City" in downtown St. Lou--it had chorizo, cheese, red peppers, and maybe more, and was SOOOOO good! Diet Coke to drink
Dinner: California Pizza Kitchen--shared spin/choke dip with hubby, their new asparagus soup
(yum!) and 4 of 6 pieces (mini sized) of the wild mushroom pizza; Peach Lemonade to drink
Shameful Dessert: Large butterfinger shake from Steak and Shake...my belly hated me by the time I was done with it!!
Exercise: TONS of walking...first at City Museum, then TONS and TONS at the Galleria mall.

Saturday
Breakfast/Brunch: 1/2 brat and 1/2 bbq beef sandwich (shared other 1/2s with hubby) at Day Out with Thomas, as we didn't find breakfast along the way; Diet Coke to drink
Lunch: Max & Erma's: Shared Pretzel Breadsticks & Cheese w/hubby, had a "garbage burger" and fries (with mayo for dipping---total greediness); drank something fizzy and watermelony, but can't remember what it was called
Dinner: Old Spaghetti Factory: OMG total yummy greediness. It started with a salad, that I had full fat dressing on, a pesto-y ranch-y creation of goodness, then I had Chicken Marsala with the attachment of Spaghetti with Brown Butter & Cheese. I skipped the offered Spumoni for dessert, but my drink this evening was an Italian Cherry Cream Soda (real cream), and water
Exercise: TONS of walking...first at Day out With Thomas (which may have burned more calories than walking due to the slurching through mud that took place), had to park and walk for lunch, and then had TONS of walking at the zoo, though we did ride the train from place to place, there was lots of walking in between, and TONS of walking that evening while shopping, oh and we had to park and walk to the Spaghetti Factory

Sunday
Breakfast: Pirate Booty in the hotel room :)
Lunch: Turkey Club Sandwich, some good yummy vinagretty salad, fruit, and potatoes from First Watch, something we don't have around here, but I could eat at every day! Drink: Diet Coke
Late Afternoon Snack: 1/2 blondie with M & M's and a Raspberry Italian Cream Soda from Starbucks, and a Chicken Pita Snacker from Jack in the Box
Late Late Dinner (like 9 pm): Black & Bleu Salad from Quiznos
Exercise: Minimal walking throughout the day, though I did go grocery shopping after arriving home so that I could just stay home most of today (except I do have class tonight...boo).

Oh, and I should't forget to mention that I had lots of candy, unhealthy type chips and chex like snacks throughout the trip. And a coke icee somewhere in there too. Looking back, it's no wonder my stomach hurt most of the time. But, it was yummy, I'm done with it now, and am SO ready to be back on the bandwagon!!

About that shopping, did a pretty good job getting my size 20/2X fall wardrobe lined up. It was fun, but I hate spending money like that! Just need another pair or two of work pants and I'm gold!

Here's my pretty 44 picture, though I'm sure it no longer applies!

43.4 Pounds Gone!

I lost 1.4 pounds this week. I felt like I did really good eating, though I didn't do any exercising. I accounted for every piece of candy, etc. I had, and had very little dining out, so only used about 15 of my weekly points. And, then came today. I started out well, but then after lunch and a couple of candy binges during the day, I was left with just 6 points left. So, I had a 6 point dinner (normally have 10-13). Then an ice cream sandwich (skinny cow), so only used 2 of my weekly points, which is pretty good for a Friday. Here's hoping I have another good week! :) I got a lot of comments today on how "skinny" I was looking. What's funny about that is that I am far from it, but I know what they mean--I'm shrinking before their very eyes. And, the outfit I had on today must have looked slimming. Today I even took a look at some wedding sets. I'm married, and have been for 9 years, but my rings were bought very inexpensively (and it shows), and I'd love to upgrade. Since my fingers are shrinking too, I figure I'll wait till I can't wear these anymore for fear of them falling off, and then reward myself! Sound good? Here's my picture for the week:

Update & Glazed Green Beans

I lost 1.5 pounds this week! I was pretty surprised, as I used every last one of my flex points (again) and did a lot of "estimating" my points with certain foods. But, we also went for family bike rides a couple of times, in which I pull an extra 50 pounds (my son and the trailer he rides in). I guess that helped! I was in a munching mode this week and feel like I ate a ton of candy from passing by the bowl at work. A praise though--for the first time in many many weeks, I didn't dip into my flex points on a Friday--yesterday! I came in exact, and feel like I ate a ton of food. I made a new impromptu recipe at dinner last night, shared below, and ate them all! Good thing they weren't too bad for me! Now we're getting ready to make some of the cookies I shared a recipe for awhile back. Yum!

My total weight loss to date:

Glazed Green Beans
1 tsp. EVOO
1 pkg. fresh steamable green beans
4 pieces bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. balsalmic vinegar
2 T. brown sugar blend

First, cook the green beans according to package directions. In the meantime, sautee the garlic and bacon. Add the green beans and drizzle with the vinegar (I used dressing) and brown sugar. Continue sauteeing until the vinegar starts to get a little syrupy. I estimated 4 points for this and it was so yummy that I ate it ALL! It was a combo of a few recipes I found online. YUM YUM!

You know you're on WW when...

I am a member of a WW group on Facebook, and saw this post..."You know you are a WW member when..." and was cracking up at some of the responses. I had to share some of them. I've either done these, or they made me laugh out loud. :)

You know you are a weight watchers member when:

you shave your body the night before you weigh in.

you stand in the aisles of the grocery store calculating the point value of foods you want to buy.

Your child says there are too many POINTS in something s/he doesn't want to eat!

When you see someone eating a wendys baconator and you yell "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY POINTS THAT IS?!!!"

When you have a cold and need cough drops, you buy the sugar free cough drops.

When you try to deconstruct and re-invent every fattening recipe you know of by replacing fat and increasing fiber!

When people start asking you "How many points is this?" and they aren't on WW.

When you calculate points to the fraction of an ounce - like cutting up the 6oz block of reduced fat cheese into EIGHT pieces so that each piece is one Point instead of two.

When you actually HEAR your stomach growl.

When your roommate opens the fridge and/or freezer and says "Ahhh!! It's Weight Watcher Land!!!"

When you go for a glucose test at the doc's and ask how many calories are in the overly sugary drink, so you can count the points for it.

When you go to a restaurant and they ask you what kind of salad dressing and you say "none" and then pull some out of your purse.

You see a pair of jeans on sale for $7 in your new size and really think over whether you should get them, because you might not be in that size for long!

***

I hope you got a kick out of those. Share yours in the comments! :) My stats--I lost 2 pounds this week, which put me into the fabulous forties!! It felt great to be over that hump! And, just this morning I got more size 2X and size 20 clothes, which felt great. And, the $7 jeans comment above...that was me today!

I must admit I felt skinny minny at work yesterday wearing my new smaller clothes, just felt like I was taking up less space. And, not having such baggy clothes on really brought on the comments! I know I have a long way to go before I am skinny, but this is feeling GOOD!

I even went to a buffet last night and didn't overdo it too much. Used about 10-15 of my flex points, but that's what they are there for, and I ate a lot less than I would have pre-WW, and was still stuffed!

I LOVE VEGGIES!

I took these pictures with my phone so the res isn't great, but I just wanted to say I LOVE VEGGIES! And, I'm so glad I love veggies, since they're usually 0 points!

I was going high on points today due to a lunch out and poor snacking choices in the afternoon. I was making pigs in a blanket for dinner with ff hot dogs and 1 pt. biscuits, along with some garlic noodles. I had gotten some zucchini today so decided to saute one of those and threw in some red onion and cherry tomatoes. This made up the bulk of my meal, so I only had a 6 point dinner!

I'm going to a family event tomorrow and needed to bring something. I wanted to ensure I'd have something I could graze on without blowing my points, so I made this fab corn and black bean relish (recipe below).

Corn/Black Bean Goodness:
3 cans canned corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 tiny can diced green chilis (don't drain)
Chopped cucumber (I used 1/2 of a large one)
Chopped green pepper (I used 1/2 of one)
Diced tomato (I used 2 smaller ones)
Red onion (I used 1/2 of a small one)
Cilantro (I probably used 1 T. dried)
Cumin (Again, probably used 1 T. dried)
Salt & Pepper (1/2 tsp. each maybe?)
Seasoned Salt (1 tsp. probably)
Dried Minced Garlic (1 1/2 tsp likely)

Combine and stir, let sit for a few hours and enjoy!!!


Oh, by the way, I maintained this week. Weighed in at the exact weight as last week. That's a first, but I was pleased with it since I had used all my weekly flex points + some. Here's hoping I can make that up this week! OH, and I hit our local thrift stores today and got three different things in size 20. I didn't think they'd fit yet, but maybe soon, so got them for later. I tried them on when I got home to see how far I had to go...and they all fit PERFECTLY! Not even tight. I was so excited!!! I started as a 24, so I'm down two sizes. I'm sure people at work won't know what to think this week when we have jeans day and I'm actually wearing some that fit!

Yes!!!!

I did it! I stayed in my points today for the first time since last Wednesday!!! Thursday I used up my flex points for that week. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I used my flex points for this week, and today I stayed on target--even with having pizza for dinner!

Yay Me!

Felt the need to celebrate! :)

Uh oh.

I said I wouldn't overdo it at the fest last night. I did a little. I had a Po Dog, Ribbon Fries (w/cheese), and Apple Slices with Carmel. I didn't think I was overdoing it so much, especially when I saw all the other delicious things I could have had. But, when I started doing some research to find out how many points I ate, I came up with 33. That's more than my daily limit! YIKES!

We went out for brunch this morning before tackling the other half of the festival, and I was going to have banana crepes, for about 10 points. Instead I was surprised by the brunch buffet and ate way too much for way too many points. I don't have any idea how many I ate, but it may tie with last night (though for a lot more food). The good news is that was one meal for two meals, and then we walked and walked and walked after that.

I'll try to squeeze in some Wii Fit or a bike ride this evening after a nap. I have one more splurge tomorrow night, we're having pizza for dinner. But, I may get mine sans cheese. I've found I actually like it that way. :) Tonight's dinner will probably be soup and salad (it's like 60 degrees here today--feels like fall), so we can keep the points low to make up for breakfast.

I'm sure I'll have no problem staying on track most of Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday, but we do have a work potluck Thursday. Hopefully with proper planning and being mindful of Friday's weigh in I can minimize the damage of this weekend. :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

AMAZING 1 point Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Ingredients:
4 T. margarine or spread, softened
4 tsp. veg oil
1 c. brown sugar blend
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter, oil, and brown sugar together. Add vanilla, salt, and egg white. Mix thoroughly. Mix flour and baking soda together and then add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly. I used the medium pampered chef scoop and made 21 cookies. The whole recipe is 24 points, according to the recipes I found online. They baked for about 10 points. These were SO GOOD! I highly recommend them.

Now, on to other things! I lost .6 last week (yesterday was weigh day). I was kind of suprised that I didn't lose more, since I did good compared to how I had been doing, and kept track of points all the time. I did use EVERY LAST one of my weekly points though, which is probably the reason. But, I was still very satisfied with the loss. I have now lost 38.5 pounds. I got on my Wii Fit this morning, and it said I hadn't in 201 days. That's just after I started WW. It was neat to have it say that I had lost 37.1 pounds since my last visit. But, they still considered me at the top of the "obese" range. I enjoyed my time on it, and hope that it won't be even 10% of the time it had been before I jump on it again.

We're headed to a festival tonight. I've only had 8 points today in prep for this. :) I'm not sure yet what I'm eating, but I'll be sensible (as much as you can be at a fest!). I had an eggless breakfast burrito for breakfast (because I'm not that huge on scrambled eggs), with sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, a little lunchmeat, and a little bit of fat free cheese in a healthy tortilla with ff sour cream and salsa. It was a yummy and filling 3 points. For lunch I had one of my standby low point meals...a big salad! Isn't it great to be able to eat so much for next to no points?! Some 100 calorie lorna doons were my study partner when I was doing homework and the boys (husband and son) were napping.

It was as good as it looks! Until next time!

Weigh Day!

I lost 3.2 pounds this week!!! Normal good weeks are about 2 pounds at most. So, this was uber exciting. I did really good keeping track of points, and had 10 left of my weekly flex points. I've lost 37.8 total, which is more than my child weighs! Hip hip hooray!

Three words.

Fried Dill Pickles.

Still have about 17 weekly points left too.

Took a sneak peak at the scale this morning, and it seems being good has paid off, looking forward to the "official" results on Friday morning.

Mind vs. Stomach -- Round 2

I am excited that my Friday and Saturday have been better than the last couple and hope that I can keep it up and see the results on the scale this week! I was nervous about going over my points at dinner tonight. I still have 25 flex points, but wasn't wanting to use them up so quickly, even though that's what I've been doing, and then some, likely! But, I ate dinner AND still have 3 points left. The biggest factor in this--I stopped when I was satisfied. That may honestly be the first time I've done that intentionally! WOO HOO! An impromptu battle of mind vs. stomach, and the mind wins!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my eats today:

Breakfast (after 10 hours of nyquil induced sleep/coma): 100 calorie pack of Lorna Doons=2 pt. and 1 string cheese=1 pt.; not the breakfast of champions but I bought the cookies two weeks ago and hadn't had any yet, was DEFINITELY not cooking (stupid summer cold), and it was almost 9 in the morning, so I knew lunch wasn't too far off. It sufficed, suprisingly. I went grocery shopping (another success--$75 under budget), and had no snack in there even!

Lunch: Burger King Tendergrill, with no mayo and onions added (put my own mayo on at home)=7 pt.; 1/2 of large fries (shared with hubby): 7 pt. Whoa! But, worth it. At least I didn't get burger. :)

After nap snack (Don't even get me started on this nap. The 5 year old did not cooperate, and sleep is what makes my colds go away, so it was a battle of wills! I napped, he didn't.): Sugar Cone with Turkey Hill Peanut Butter Mania Ice Cream (the absolute BEST ice cream EVER)=4 pt.

Dinner: I made homemade pizzas using Wheat premade crusts from Meijer. They're square and that's the only place I've seen them. It's 12 pt. for the whole crust. One pizza I made with bbq sauce, canned chicken, and fat free cheddar and mozzarella. I mixed 1 T. of the bbq with the chicken, spread 6 T. on the crust, topped the crust with the chicken, some dried cilantro, and onion on my half. I topped it with 1/4 c. ff mozzarella shreds and 1/4 c. ff cheddar shreds. It was 26 points for the whole pizza. I had two squares=4 points. The other pizza I just cut up two garden tomatoes, sprinkled that with EVOO, 2 cloves fresh garlic, salt, pepper, basil, and mixed it up and slathered it on. I topped it with 3/4 c. ff mozzarella cheese. I had two pieces=2 points!

So, if my math is correct, I have 3 points left still! Whoa! Cool! Maybe I'll use them for some skim milk. We definitely don't drink our milk in this house. When I got home with a 1/2 gallon each of 2% and skim, I threw away a whole 1/2 gal of skim that was expired and 3/4 of a gallon of 2% that was expired. Geesh! I just can't STAND drinking my points. Before WW, we could do a gallon a week. So, since I did good and got my healthy oil in today (the EVOO), maybe I'll do extra good and get my milk in too. Although, it will have sugar free chocolate syrup in it. :)

Word to the wise...

Doing WW just four days a week does not work. I've tried it for two weeks now, and have gained 1.2 lb. Since switching my weigh day to Friday, I have pretty much eaten how I wanted Fri, Sat, and Sun (see previous post on mind vs. stomach), and tried to get back on track M-Th. Like I said, this doesn't work. I don't recommend it.

Today I did better. I woke up with a full blown cold, so my appetite today varied from ravenous to none at all. I used 10 of my flex points, which seems like a lot to me, but I bet compared to the last two weeks it wasn't. I have Chinese food to thank for that. I forgot to substitute white rice for the fried (but ate it anyway), and always eat my eggroll, it's the best part. But, at least I didn't get General Tso's, which was calling my name for it's sinus clearing abilities, but I believe comes in at 10 pts. per cup! I did good last night at the State Fair too, and didn't eat any fair food. But I did have a chili cheese wrap and tots from Sonic before I went. :)

Let's hope I can stay on track tomorrow and Sunday! I am already way ahead of the last two Fridays, as I actually kept track of points today!

Mind vs. Stomach -- Round 1

My biggest struggle in doing WW is eating out. I eat out a lot less than I used to, but when I do, I still have a hard time making wise choices and going for the healthier options on the menu. It's something I realize, which is a step in the right direction, but am still having a hard time making the connection work between my brain and my stomach. Points are usually pretty easy to manage when I'm eating at work and home like normal. Take yesterday for example:

Breakfast: Turkey Slices on WW bagel with FF Mayo: 3 points
Baked Doritos (indiv. bag): 2 points

Snack: 94% Fat Free popcorn (ate almost the whole bag--not so great with portion control either, that's why I like individual packs so much better, but for this snack it's okay!): 1 point

Lunch: Green Beans with a Turkey Smoked Sausage (leftover): 3 points
Watermelon: 1 point

So, I headed home from work with 20 points left for the day! AMAZING! I normally have between 11-14 left at that point. This would have been a great day to have dinner out or order in, but I knew I'd be doing that for dinner tonight and tomorrow night.

I still managed to eat all of my remaining points though...
Dinner: 2 Quesadilla Burgers (3 pt. turkey burger with taco seasoning; pico de gallo; lettuce; onion; avocado in a flat out wrap with FF sour cream and RF cheese): 10 points total
Baked Tostitos, Salsa, and the remaining avocodo: 6 points

Bedtime Snack: 1/2 Fat Carmel Ice Cream

I totally could have survived and been satisfied with only having 1 burger. I really wasn't hungry for the ice cream either. I think both overindulgences were because I could. I had the points. Like I said, making that connection between the brain and the stomach is hard!

Anyway, then take today for instance:
Breakfast: Fiber One Shredded Wheat: 3 points

Snack: Sugar Snap Peas: 0 Points
Fiber Bar: 2 Points

Lunch: Leftover Turkey Burger & Chips: 6 points
Watermelon: 1 Point

So, just about on par with yesterday. 18 points left, which is still pretty good, but I like to save 20 if I'm going out to eat. My son picked Arby's. I went for their 5 for $5.95 deal. Cheesesticks for kid (his reason for wanting to go there), plus chicken nuggets and applesauce for him. I ordered the Arby's melt (one of the best options there), the value fry (kid sized), a value diet coke (again, kid sized), but what now...I still had one thing left to buy. I added the ham and swiss melt, thinking I'd toss it in the fridge for hubby's lunch tomorrow.

Wrong. I actually ate some of it. And one of R's cheesesticks. And two of his nuggets. RIDICULOUS! Mind vs. stomach totally. I wanted to eat the food food food, but my mind was saying just don't do it. I felt ridiculous battling with myself, but ate it anyway (some of it).

Afterwards I went to the Arby's site and added up my points, and went 2 over. I was suprised that I didn't do worse, but if I would have stuck to my original meal I would have had several points left for the day. So, it was a start of my attack on mind vs. stomach--I didn't order the first thing that would have jumped out at me on the menu as delicious, didn't go for huge fries, didn't get any onion petals or potato cakes either. But, I did dip into that extra sandwich and R's meal. Lame-o. One thing I've seen for sure on other's blogs is we all struggle with this.

The winner of this round of mind vs. stomach--I call it a tie. I didn't eat the other 1/2 of R's ice cream sandwich, and I didn't eat any of the nuggets he had left. We're getting there!

What's to come...

Well, hello! I previously had a blog with a friend who was doing WW too, but she had many life changes that put that on hold. In the couple of months since that occurred, I have often thought, "I should blog that," when I had a random thought or a particularly good recipe, or needed to share my struggles. But, I didn't feel right being the only one posting on a partner blog. So, voila! I won't be posting anything good here tonight, so just take some time catch up on the old posts (copied from the partner blog) while you're here. Look for my stats, more recipes, more tips, and the ups and downs of my weight loss journey coming soon. I am currently at 35 pounds lost, so am over 1/3 of the way to my goal! See ya soon!

The 25 Milestone--Gone!

Originally from 6/3 on DMT

Remember this picture? It's of me with my men a few months before I started WW.

Do you know who this is? It's me, yesterday!

I don't know if you see a big difference or not, but I sure did, and was pretty suprised! I planned to take an actual picture of me at my 25 milestones, but skipped 25, so had to do a 26 pic!

Jack Bauer

5/26 from DMT

I love the show 24, so even though I was hoping to reach 25 lb. lost this week, I was excited to be able to update my facebook picture with a 24 theme. :) I'm at 24.8, so almost 25 lb! How exciting! Here's something to stare at:

Pizza Pizza!

Originally posted on 5/12 on DMT

So, quick update, I gained a pound. Not so great. But, I saw it coming. Today I still have 7 left, even with eating out for lunch (work provided, but I ate smart) but think I'll only eat 2 of them. I know that I "should" eat my points, but I'm going to a conference and therefore eating out for dinner Thursday, and all three meals on Friday. So, even though you don't stockpile points on WW, I'm going to try! That's the bonus of doing it "off the record." I can make my own rules, and still lose weight. Errr...something like that. *lol*

So, a recipe for you, inspired by the dinner I fixed for my family tonight. The bonus is it doesn't make a lot of dishes!

Pita Pizzas
-Find your favorite kind of Pita bread. My Walmart deli section has some amazing "flax" ones that are "0" points for 1 pita, so I count them as "1" each since I ate 3.
-Top with pizza sauce, bbq sauce, ketchup/mustard, whatever floats your boat for sauce.
-Top with whatever meat or veggies you would like.
-Top with low fat cheese, whichever flavor you like.
-Bake until done, or be cool like me and use your Presto Pizza Pizzazz (I really could NOT live without mine). It took 8 minutes on that.

Here's how I actually made mine:
Pizza #1--Cheeseburger
1 Pita bread, topped with a big squirt of ketchup and a little squirt of mustard, then swirled around like pizza sauce. I then put 1/4 of a leftover hamburger from grilling on Sunday on it (broken up), thinly sliced dill pickles, and onion. I topped it with 1/4 c. ff cheddar cheese. It was 4 points of amazingness for the whole thing.

Pizza #2--Faux Margherita
1 Pita bread, topped with pizza sauce from a jar, swirled over the bread. I then topped it with spinach leaves (instead of basil--thus the "faux"), chopped tomato, and garlic salt. I then cut up one round of Baybel cheese and scattered it on top. This was another 3 points of amazingness...true amazingness, for the whole thing.

Pizza #3--BBQ "Chicken" Pizza
1 Pita bread, topped with BBQ sauce, swirled over the bread. I then topped it with about 1/2 oz. turkey breast (what I had on hand--obviously not chicken), onion, tomato, and 1/4 c. ff cheddar. This was again, true amazingness, for 3 pt.

So, I had 3 personal sized pizzas for 10 points. Can you belive that? The average pizza slice is at least 4 points, so I think I made a WW deal! And, as I said, not too many dishes!

Try your own variation and let me know what it was!

How to not lose weight...

Originally posted on DMT 5/10/09

So, if you want to make sure you don't lose weight, I have a couple of tips for you.

1) Eat out. A lot.
2) Have holidays.

I don't know the effects, if any, of my last few days yet (weigh in is Tuesday), but I can say I'm not really looking forward to weigh in. I hope I have lost something, though I doubt it will be as good as the last couple of weeks (3 lb. and 1.9 lb.). The reason, I ate out for dinner on Wednesday (pizza), lunch (Grilled KFC) and dinner (Arby's) on Thursday, had a Krispy Kreme at breakfast at work (normally I resist), ate out for lunch (Chinese) and dinner (La Gondola) on Friday, and for dinner (Don Panchito) yesterday. I didn't exactly evaluate what I ate for WW points either. And then, today is a holiday (Mother's Day), so I had wonderful french toast cooked for me for breakfast, and we're cooking out meat, meat, and more meat for dinner. I hope to stick with a small steak and shrimp though, so as not to totally blow it! :)

Tune in Tuesday to see what this has cost me. Yikes! Thankfully my life isn't usually this luxurious (aka: busy), so I usually do more home cooking and control the points accordingly!

Crazy Good Pasta Dish Recipe

Orig. posted on DMT 4/29

I didn't post a recipe yesterday, but noted that I may do one soon. Well, today is the day! I made up a dish for dinner, and it was so fabulous that I wanted to share it! It doesn't have a name...leave a comment with what you think we could call it! Here it is:

Unnamed Pasta Dish

4 flavored Chicken Sausages, Cooked and Sliced (I used spinach/asiago from Sam's)
1 Jar Roasted Red Peppers, Drained and Sliced
1/2 bag fresh spinach leaves
1 tsp. dried minced garlic (or 2-3 fresh cloves minced)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. dried basil
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. Fat Free Balsamic Vinegar salad dressing
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 box Penne Pasta (Ronzoni Smart Taste)

Cook pasta until al dente. In the meantime, saute sausage, red peppers, spinach leaves, garlic, tomato, salt, pepper, and basil together until spinach is wilted. When the pasta is done cooking, drain it, put back in pan, and then toss it with the balsamic dressing. Add the sauteed mixture and stir. Top with Parmesan cheese. This made 10 cups @ 3 points per cup.

My husband and I both ate 3 cups. If you like artichokes they would be really good in this, but my husband doesn't, so I didn't. Adjust points accordingly if you add them, of course. We grilled out on Sunday, so I had Bill grill the sausages then and just reheated them in the saute tonight. They don't have to be grilled. That's the reason that I said use 4, when they come in 5 packs--we split one the night we grilled. :)

Let me know if you try it out or find a great tweak for it!

Vacation and a Birthday!

Originally posted 4/28 on DMT

Well hello! I was planning for a much different post today...but my weigh in this morning was minus three pounds! I was so surprised, since it was my birthday this week, and I did indulge a little.

Since I last wrote I went on vacation. My goal for the vacation was just to not gain weight. A day or two into that, I realized that may not happen. It was harder than I thought, for many reasons like the fact that I have to have caffeine in the morning, which I currently fulfill with iced tea. But, I didn't have that on vacation, so soda it was. In addition, I didn't have spray butter, or ff sour cream and mayo, etc. So much eating out was bound to be trouble...and it was! I weighed before leaving for vacation and when I returned...4 pounds gained! But, thankfully it must have been a lot of water weight, because by my real weigh in, I was down a pound from the previous weigh in two weeks prior.

So, now I am at 20.8 lb. lost since I started 2/11. I'm headed to the doctor this morning, and am anxious to see the difference on their scale, since my last visit was prior to WW, but I gave up soda before joining WW. I just wonder what I'll see!

I would like to share some tips or a recipe, but have to go get in the shower! Perhaps a little later! :)

Update!

Originally posted 4/8 on DMT

On Tuesday's weigh in I lost 1 pound even, so I'm now at 16.8! My hubby is at 20.2! Woo Hoo! We're headed to visit my mom in Tennessee Friday-Thursday, so my goal for that time period is TO NOT GAIN! I'm going to weigh in on Friday and Friday (but not count that in my stats) just to see what the week does to me. I may enjoy a treat or two, but overall am going to try to be sensible and use my tools that I've learned. Oh, and did I mention it will be my first "girly" time on WW? We'll see how that goes too! Sorry if that was TMI!

I've been thinking more about blogging daily a list of what I've eaten. Does that interest you?

See you when I get back from Tennessee! Oh, here's a pic from today...do I look 16.8 lb. lighter (ignore my windswept hairdo)? :)

Stuff I love & Donut Hole Recipe

Originally posted 3/29/09 on DMT

First, let me think about some things I've had none to very little of since I started WW on February 17th.

Real hamburger or beef products. I've been eating mostly 97% fat free turkey which is amazingly close to beefy tasting once it absorbs the flavors you're cooking with. I've also been tapping back to my vegetarian roots (was for 6 years) and eating veggie burgers. I was really craving a real burger yesterday and had a double quarter pounder without cheese from McDonalds. I saved my points for it, and put fat free cheese on it at home. It was so good! Next I want a diner burger, but think we'll just make those with turkey burger at home.

Real butter or margarine, full fat sour cream, mayo, and cream cheese. I am in LOVE with Parkay's butter spray, and am tolerating the ff mayo and sour cream. I used it to make taco dip last weekend and it was yummy! However, I am totally put off by the sweet flavor of ff mayo. Any ideas?

Full fat cheese. I am suprisingly pleased with the reduced fat and fat free version of cheese, as long as I'm not trying to eat it all by itself.

94% fat free popcorn. This is a staple. It is 1 point for the whole bag! And, the bonus is that it doesn't have the greasy finger problem like typical popcorn so it's fine to eat at work while you're typing and working with paperwork. Sometimes at home I make it extra special and spray the above mentioned butter spray on it and then put extra salt on it--yum! But, without the spray don't try to put extra salt or seasonings on it, it won't stick!

Real chips. I've been almost exclusively baked, and that's going better than I had hoped.

Sugar. Splenda for me! Lovin it! You can even order Unsweetened tea at McD and ask for Splenda Packets.

And another product I love is Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta. It has tons of fiber and is white, even though it is made of wheat. I'm not a big fan of wheat pasta, but this isn't wheaty and tastes exactly the same. 3 pt. for 1 c. Which is a lot when it's spread out on your plate. YUM!

Ranch Dressing. I detest reduced fat or fat free ranch because of that weird taste that is in all reduced dressings. Any good picks here? I've been eating it, but would honestly eat more salads if I found one I loved.

I'm eating tons more veggies and fruit than before too. Oh, and oatmeal and yogurt which I've grown to love and just was okay with before.

There are more, but these are the main things sticking out in my mind. These are all pleasing alternatives. Before I went WW I ate at McD for breakfast just about every day! Youch!

What are your awesome products you couldn't live without in your weight loss journey?


Okay, now for the recipe. I stumbled across this the other day on recipezaar.com (thank them for the picture) tweaked it just a bit and made it for breakfast today. They were YUMMY! More muffin looking than hole looking, but yum yum still. With the baking mix I used (I just had pancake mix on hand), it was .5 pt. each. Be sure to calculate it with your mix if you make them.

Healthy Donut Holes

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 T Bisquick reduced-fat baking mix or pancake mix
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg (or equivalent in egg substitute--which is what I used)
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons (sugar substitute) for shaking
  
• 1/2 teaspoon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 12 hole mini muffin pan with butter flavored cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, combine baking mix, 1/4 cup Splenda and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
4. Add egg, skim milk and vanilla extract.
5. Mix well to combine (my batter was runny).
6. Drop by spoonfuls into prepared muffin pan.
7. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes.
8. Remove balls from pan (I had to use a spoon to dig them out)
   
9. In a ziploc plastic bag, combine sugar coating ingredients and place warm donut balls in 2 or 3 at a time and shake to coat.

I doubled the recipe and it made 36 holes. I ate 12. Yipes! But, since I just had salad for lunch it worked. I look forward to having some leftovers with yogurt in the morning for breakfast on my way to work. Let me know if you try to make them!

Tips!

Originally posted 3/26/09 (recipe edited out, as I've found something better) on DMT

If you've read my facebook, you'll have already seen these. But, for others, I wanted to share them too, and cheat on having to think today. :)

--I was making 2 pt. packs of the bags of baked chips we had opened, and kept snacking, so had to end up giving myself 2 points. I had read somewhere to chew gum while cooking so you weren't tempted to do this. That would've been smart.

--For dinner recently we had spinach and asiago stuffed chicken sausages. We found these at Sam's Club. They're big sausages for only 3 points each, and really yummy! I don't remember exactly how much we paid for them, but there were three packages of 5. Sometimes I don't like a lot of spinach, but these really aren't too spinachy.

--Hostess 100 Calorie Cupcakes are only 1 point per pack! Holey Moley! I read this somewhere and had to check it out myself at Walmart. Yup! I've been craving a cupcake so this will be great--they have 4 flavors.

Meet Lacey!

Originally posted on Double Muffin Tops (old blog) on 3/25/09

I am in my sixth week of unofficially doing WW. I say unofficially because I'm not actually a member, but I sure am giving them a lot of press while doing it! In the five weigh-ins I've had I've lost a total of 13 pounds: 7 the first week, 4 the second, 1 the third, then 1/2 on the fourth, and .8 on the fifth. So, I'm calling it lucky 13, even though it doesn't add up neatly that way. At first I didn't keep track of the point whatever.

WW has been a lot easier than I had thought it would be, though I have had my weak days and strong days.


This is me and my family. My husband is on this journey too. I'll say this is my "before" picture.