New Blog???

So now that I am back blogging here, I realize that 2008 is almost over and I don't feel like I reached my goal of "Looking Great in 2008". Being Pregnant 9 of the past 11 months hampered my progress. I think I need to change my name. I am giving it some thought and will probably transfer to a new name come the new year. I will keep you posted.

Lost in Translation

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been staying with us since mid-October. They came to stay to help with the baby. It has been awesome to have them around to help out with the house and the kids. They are from South America and don't speak English and I don't speak Spanish so communicating is hard and I am pretty dependent on my husband translating.

Well, in starting to count points, I bought a few low point options for myself while buying regular for the rest of the family. This includes light bread and carb balance tortillas. These are quite a bit more expensive and with feeding two extra adults, I felt justified in this. One of the reasons that these items are lower in points is that they have more fiber than their original counterparts.

The morning after I bought them, I noticed that everyone was using it for toast when I came down in the morning and the already shrunken loaf was half gone. I was frustrated but also knew that I never explained the difference so had no right to be mad. I asked my husband to kindly explain to his mother that it was my bread and she was welcome to the other loaf at a later time so she didn't think that I was mad at her. He told me to write my name on it, but I don't think I should have to do that because I am no longer in college and I am in my own home. He didn't know how to bring it up until the opportunity presented itself yesterday afternoon.

For Sunday dinner I made black bean enchiladas. These are delicious and one of my favorites. I will have to post the recipe here. They are made with flour tortillas and so I made a small loaf pan for me with the carb balance tortillas and made a large pyrex full for the rest of the family. Of course everyone wanted to empty the small pan first so that we could clear the dish and I had to tell my husband to explain that they were made with different tortillas and that those were mine. I explained that the tortillas had more fiber and I was trying to add fiber to my diet. Also, to stay away from my bread. (I haven't mentioned WW to them. They are both under 100 lbs so weight is not really something we have in common.) My husband translated to them. They looked and me an started giggling. I asked him what he said. He said something to the effect that I needed to eat those ones because they had extra fiber and that I was trying to get extra fiber because I was constipated.

NICE HONEY!!!

Not really the reason that I am looking for high fiber items. More along the lines that they are more filling and lower the points on standard things.

OH WELL!!!

Well, now they know to not eat my stuff and maybe I can hide out in the bathroom to read a book or something and they won't suspect I am just ditching out. They will think the fiber is working its magic.

Resolute

So I'm back at it again. I tried to jump back into WW a week after my son was born only to return to my meeting and find that my leader had left WW. So disappointing. The new lady was not very good and less than motivating so I haven't gone back. I tried counting points that first week but only last 3 days and that turned into a 6 week mess from Halloween to Thanksgiving.

All I can say now is OH WELL! and move on. Last week I read a post that Roni of Roni's Weigh had about how Dec. 1st was a great time to make new resolutions and you don't have to wait until Jan. 1st. Well, it got me thinking and I decided Dec. 1st was a perfect time to recommit. It was a Monday, beginning of the week and month and 6 weeks out from delivery, so it seemed like a good place to start.

It was. This past week has been great! It had been easy to refocus and get back on track. I stayed on plan and wasn't hungry at all. I lost 5.6 pounds. YEAH! (I know that a lot of it is water that I was holding onto, but I am still happy with the number.) I am weighing in at home for now. I have checked out the meeting schedule and I am having a hard time finding one that works. I am still pretty disappointed that Linda left WW.

Here's to another week and a fresh start. I need to keep my focus this week because my husband is having surgery and will be laid up for a week or so. When he is around during the day I tend to eat a lot worse. Why is that? That needs to change this week.

Coming Clean

Well, I know that I have been MIA for a long time now. A lot has happened!

I am 6 months pregnant!

It took me a long time to wrap my mind around. I felt like I was so on-track with WW and this change derailed me. I was really good with my eating for a while but didn't do a great job tracking on doing anything on the computer being so tired.

In June and July, our family went on a huge road trip. We visited my family for a few weeks and then made a stop to visit friends in Vegas and then finished up in Southern California at the beach. While it was a fabulous trip (which is all documented on my private blog), I threw everything I had learned and had been doing for the past few months in exchange for temporary enjoyment. I came back 15 lbs heavier and learned my lesson. (In 6 weeks!) YIKES! This is all I wanted to put on the wntire pregnancy.

This past week, I have gotten back on track. Making mostly core choices, drinking lots of water, eating lots of fruits and veggies along with ample protein and dairy. I am pretty proud of myself. At this point, there isn't too much that I can do to undo my trip damage because of baby but at long as I make good choices I have decided that I am going to be OK with the number on the scale.

I have also gotten back on track with exercising and doing better than I have done since I started WW. I am following the Body for Life suggestions loosely. I am walking 3 days a week for 30 minutes and keeping my heart under 70% of target. I also have been light weight lifting 3 days a week. I am keeping it really light but it feels great just to be moving and it is about 15 activity points a week.

Even though I am not really paying attention to points, I am back to tracking on the online tracker. I loved using this before and I want to have the habit because I plan on returning to my WW Meetings as soon as I can after baby, before Thanksgiving. I know that I am going to need the support during the holidays, especially since my MIL will be here cooking for us for the 2 1/2 months after baby is born.

So there it is! My purge! It is off my chest.

I feel like I am back. I have some new discoveries lately that I have been itching to post about. I also need an outlet to go to besides my husband because while he listens, he doesn't really want to hear about it.

Oatmeal Waffles

Oatmeal Waffles

2 c. evaporated skim milk

2 tbsp. vinegar

2 c. whole grain oats

2 eggs, separated

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

6 tbsp. canola oil

1/3 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix milk, vinegar and rolled oats. Soak overnight in cold place.

Add egg yolks. Beat. Add oil. Stir in flour sifted with soda, baking powder, and salt.

Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Pour batter into a waffle iron.

Makes about 16 waffles.

I know that the whole wheat flour is not Core but if your recipe makes 16 waffles, you can eat up to 4 waffles and still be at 0 points. 5 will put you over the edge to 1 whole point. I find that a serving of 2 waffles is perfect. They freeze well. Just microwave for 45 sec and pop in the toaster if you like them crisp.

Soaking the oatmeal overnight really breaks it down so that they have a texture close to a regular waffle. You can probably substitute applesauce for at least some of the oil, if not all of it, but I haven't tried it yet. It is a good way to get in your healthy oil. Each waffle would have about 1 t of oil in it if made with the recipe above.

Both my toddler and my husband love these. They are a tough crowd to please, especially my husband. Hope you like them too!

Update

So here's the quick update.

The first 2 weeks of core I lost a combined total of 5.5 pounds. All together, I am at a total loss of 31.6 ponds. It feels great to pass the 30 lb mark. I don't think that I posted but last week I hit my 10%. Yeah! That feels awesome!

I am still liking Core and loving not counting as much.

I saw a picutre of my posted on a friends' blog and was not repulsed. This is a big step forward. I usually cringe upon seeing pictures of myself. I can see the difference in my face.

I also found an awesome waffle recipe made out of oatmeal that I will post soon. My husband even liked it which says a lot. He is funny about new recipes.

Baked Oatmeal

Since starting Core, I have had to search for new recipes to fit the plan. I was craving waffles so I went off in search of a recipe that used oatmeal instead of flour. I found one but it has to soak overnight and so that wasn't an option for breakfast this morning.

This Baked Oatmeal recipe was one that I found at halfmysize.com. I immediately whipped up a batch and threw it in the oven. It turned out exactly as I imagined it. I mix between a muffin and a cookie. I entered it in the recipe builder and it is 3 pts a serving for flex but all ingredients are Core. Yeah!!! Each serving is huge, 1/6 pan. I ate it hot. It would be delicious with baked apples or other warm fruit on top and maybe 2 T. of Cool Whip Free on top. I am letting the pan cool and I am going to bag up the rest for snacks or breakfast on the go.

Also, my daughter loved it. She ate 1/2 piece all by herself. It is nice when your kids will eat what you are eating. Now if I could get my husband to do the same.

I'm done!

That is...............I'm done counting.

I switched to CORE and so far I am pleasantly surprise how much I love it.

Not what I expected.

I was really nervous that I would over-eat.

I was so hungry on flex and kept going over my daily and weekly points.

I have still been tracking online and just added up the points for the past two days and I am still in my point allowance.

But I am not so hungry.

I guess better quality food helps. I don't think that I noticed how much junk I was still eating.

I am also learning to listen to my hunger/full signals better. This is something that I have been really bad about in the past. I have noticed that I have been eating past full just because I had the points.

I was also getting really bad at tracking. Now I just pick something on the list.

My husband is trying to be supportive but not as supportive as he was on flex. He doesn't trust my full meter. I also think that he is a little frustrated that my number is going down while his is the same. We both gained weight with the baby. My number is still much higher than his. I know that when he puts his mind to it, it will come off fast. He is fortunate that way. Hopefully, he gets back to being supportive.

By the way (If there is anyone still reading after a month of blog boycotting.) I hit the 25 lb mark and was only 0.6 away from my 10%. I didn't have a good week last week, hence the change to CORE to refocus me, so I didn't weigh-in. Couldn't stomach a gain written on my card. Used a no-weigh pass and just attended the meeting. Glad I did! The meeting was great and remotivated me. Linda, my leader is great!

Peeked at the scale and it is moving in the right direction. I think I was retaining some water because of poor eating.

Lost a Big One!

Well, it has been too long. I am sure that some of you are thinking that I fell off the wagon. Happy to say that I am still going strong. I also realized that I haven't posted my weight-loss for the past two weeks. Last week I lost 2.6 lbs! Yeah! I was pleasantly surprise. Wasn't really expecting a big loss because I haad been so hungry all week and so I stormed through my WPA with no shame. I lost 1.4 this week. Not a big loss but I am definately happy about it. It was a party-full week. Friday we had a going-away BBQ for friends, Sat was my daughter birthday party, Sun was the leftovers from the birthday party, and Thurs was Valentines. I went over my WPA before Sun was over but exercise self-control for the rest of the week.

All said and done, I have lost 20.4 lbs since Dec. 28th. I am pretty happy about that and I am approaching two milestone, 10% and 25 lb star which could potentially happen the same week. It feels good to pass the 20 lb mark. I am pretty proud of myself. still have some baby weight left but I am 20 lbs closer than I was a month and a half ago. The fish above is 20lbs. Can you believe it? It is huge! My friend Em said that her WW leader told them to carry around a 10 lb bag of potatoes at the grocery store and you will have a true appreciation for every 10 lbs you lose. I can't imagine carrying around one in each hand, but yet, that is what I was essentially doing all of the time. YIKES!

I have some catching up to do on blogging so hopefully when you check back this week I will blog about the cookies and ravioli I made for Valentines Day and the circuit training I did last week. It kicked my butt.

By the way, if you want to see what you "fish weight" just type in __ lbs in http://www.images.google.com/. I think you will be surprised. TB, I put in 80 just for you and here it is. Wow, you should be very proud. Can't wait to see your "big one"!!!

It doesn't taste like a grape...

Tonight I have been ravenous. So hungry and out of daily points. I had two bowls of soup for dinner and I think that I overestimated the number of points in a bowl. I wanted to be on the safe side. Regardless I was left not satisfied after dinner. I sucked on a couple of Sugar Free Jolly Ranchers. That did work. I really wanted to dive into the M&Ms hidden in the back of the cupboard but I used my better judgement and went for a grapefuit instead. I peeled it like an orange and sectioned it out and peeled the membrane off each peice as I ate it. I put a lot of work into it and it definately made it last a long time. All said and done, my mind was still on the M&Ms and rather than try and distract myeself further, I gave in and measured out 2 Tbsp of those little peices of chocolate deliciousness. I ate them slow and handed the rest of the bag to my husband. He finished the bag and now they are done with and out of the house. The grapefruit was delicious and I am glad that I turned to it first even if I gave into temptation in the end. A month ago, I most likely would have polished off the bag by myself. Here's to improvement.

My Pet Fat

Who has heard of or seen these?

Not I, until this week.

As you know, I only lost 0.6 last week and was initially disappointed. That was until I was looking at blogs one day and came across this posting. It totally changed my attitude. Heather, who runs http://www.thewwchick.com/, helped me to see that losing anything was something.

I was telling a friend about the post and the gross little visual that was pictured there and she said that her WW leader had one too. "My Pet Fat" So I looked them up. A not so little mountain of fat. 1 lb. Who knew 1 lb could be so big. Then I started imagining these little jiggly mountains taped all over me. YUCK! I am suddenly very satisfied with just 1 lb a week. 1 less attached to my hips or my stomach.

Well this week I lost 1.2. While a few weeks ago that would have seemed like nothing, this week I am pleased with myself and I am excited for another loss next week. Even if it is just a pound.

How many did I eat?

I made these yesterday. Every other week we meet with a few other families from church for Family Night. I was in charge of the treat yesterday. I have had a package of M&Ms for a while now and thought that it would be fun to put them in the cookies instead of chocolate chips. Last time I made these cookies I ate two. The first fast without tasting it and the second one I savored with a glass of milk. I realized that while I like the cookie, my favorite part is the M&Ms. Yesterday I mixed up the batter and reserved 10 M&Ms for myself on the side. I ate those 10 M&Ms while I was baking the cookies. Counted the points for them too. After eating the M&Ms I was over the temptation of the cookies. I brought a plate of them for Family night, I sent another dozen to work with my husband this morning and I have a dozen that I am going to drop by the new neighbor's house this morning.

So I am proud to announce that as far as cookies go............I ate ZERO!

Getting Over Disappointment...

-0.6

That's all!

To be honest I am a littl frustrated and the only thing keeping me going is that this morning I was able to wear a pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in quite some time. I guess that I am losing inches which is good.

TOM was this past week and even though I stuck to my points, I wasn't very good at meeting my healthy guidelines. Guess I learned from it and I am going to try to stick to it this week.

One good thing is that even though it was a small loss it was enough to put me over the 15 lb mark so I was able to get another star. That is 3 now. Yeah!

Food Find - Morning Star Farm's Spicy Black Bean Burger

A few weeks ago, we went to Chili's for dinner. I ordered the black bean burger and LOVED it. However, I am not one to pay $9 for a burger and some steamed veggies when I can do it at home for much less. (To be honest, I didn't even eat the steamed veggies. That is something that I don't like very much at restaurants. They are always cold by the time I get around to them.) I picked up a package of these Morning Star ones at the store along with Nature's Own Whole Wheat Sugar Free Hamburger Buns. The Bun is 2 pts and the patty is 2 point. Four points for a burger is so good, especially when they are as delicious as these are. If you are apprehensive about a veggie burger, try them anyway. They are so worth it.

Contest

So Roni at Weight Watchen is doing another contest and I decided to enter. This scale looks awesome and I know I could put it to good use if I magically win. Here's to hoping anyway!

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutrition Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

Did anyone else enter?

Weigh-ins and Star Stickers

So my meeting was SO MUCH BETTER today! I was running a little late this morning. (I like to be there early so I don't have to wait in line long.) I was in about 5 minutes before the meeting started and had to wait in line. When it was my turn to weigh-in the woman who I thought was so rude last week was the receptionist available. "GREAT!"

She must have been having a better day because she was a definately more positive. I stepped on the scale and her eyes got wide and she said "You had a great week!" and almost recited I said "Well good, I sure worked hard this week." Then she said "You know, you probably won't keep losing this much weight everytime but you are doing great so far." It was in the sweetest and most sincere tone and I was greatful that I would be able to leave without letting her words get to me this week.

Well, I peeked at the weight and it was over the .2 I needed to get my gold star which was so important to me. I don't think I looked at it carefully until I was in the car on the way home.

4.8 lbs

Yes, 4.8 lbs!

All the way home I was repeating..."4.8 pounds, I can't believe I love 4.8 pounds, Yes! 4.8 lbs"

I am sure that passing motorists thought that I was a little crazy but I was so excited.

So back to the star. I knew that I was most likely going to get a star this week because I was only .2 away from it the week before and spent the week wishing that I wore something light weight last week so I could have gotten a star. This was actually a great focus for me this week and because of this I was so looking forward to the meeting, not so much the public recognition but the little sticker to prove that I had lost at least 10 lbs on WW. Our leader announces at the end of the meeting. I spent the whole meeting dreaming of the star. She handed out a couple of star and a few other awards and then announced the group total and sent the group on its way. It went by like a blur. I was stunned no star. What? I had lost way over 10 and they somehow missed it.

I thought about walking out of the room and not worrying about it, cause after all it is an itty bitty sticker and then I thought "No, I worked so hard for this star. It is MY motivator. I earned it fair and square and I WANT IT!" I timidly approached Linda, my leader.

"Linda, I am pretty sure that I earned a star this week and I didn't get one." She turned a little red and grabbled a star from the roll and handed it to me. I felt like I had to prove to her that I deserved that little sticker. I pulled out my card in my defense. Of course she didn't check it but instead checked her sheet and was visibly embarassed. She apologized and said that for some reason I wasn't on the list. Apology accepted as I proudly pulled off the backing and fastened it on my bookmark.

I am sure that the receptionists got an earfull after.

So, not my total loss is at 14.6 lbs. Just short of the 15 but now I know that I can earn one next week if I stay OP. I think that .4 lbs is very doable. I would love to lose 3 next week and 3 the week after. When, not if, I do that, I will have lost 20 lbs my first month on WW.

Today's Menu

So this is what is on my menu today. I have always been a planner. As a child I remember my mom planning out our weekly menus before going to the grocery store and today I find myself doing the same things. Every once in a while I slip out of the habit but it is easy to get back into.

Thursdays are my planning days. First, I consult our calendar and then make dinner plans for every night so that I can plan my shopping accordingly. This helps with the grocery budget because I am really thinking about what we need and not buying a lot of unnecessary things. It can also help my waistline because I can plan healthy meals and carefully consider the allocation of my points depending on our weekly schedule.

This process has helped me so much in doing WW. Like I said, I plan Thursdays and then shop Fridays right after my WW meeting. Also, knowing what we are having for dinner at the beginning of the day helps me plan the rest of the day around dinner. We frequently have people over for dinner and go out so these are both things that I usually need more points for dinner on those nights. On the flipside, I like to eat light the night before I weigh-in or maybe have planned to meet a friend for lunch and on those nights I plan a low point dinner.

I have been using the recipes on the WW tracker. I really like them. I have probably tried 15 different ones and they have almost all been delicious. The only one that we didn't like was the chicken paella. This didn't really apeal to me in the first place but my husband always orders it at restaurants and I thought that I would give it a shot. It was terrible and after forcing a couple of bites, I decided it wasn't worth spending the points on and we decided to throw it away and eat something else for dinner. My favorite so far was the Chicken with Honey-Balsamic Glaze.

Well after reading this, you are all probably thinking that I am a bit of a control freak. Well, I am. My eating was one of the things that I had a hard time controlling in the past. I fell like I have control of what goes in my mouth. The Flex Plan gives me tangible limits and I like that, but with enough flexiblity that I don't feel like I am depriving myself.

GOAL!!!

I am so excited that I exceeded my goal for Activity Points this week. On Monday I was a little worried that I had slacked too much to reach my goal of 14 APs for this week. I cracked down and went to work earning APs the rest of this week and this morning my total is 15. YEAH! This is the first week that I have been exercising somewhat consistantly on WW. It feels good to be working out again. The goal for next week is 18!

A Happy Anniversary!

Today was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary. It is incredible how fast time flies. We kept things low key, but did get some friends to babysit while we went for a quiet, kid-free dinner. It is so nice to get out, just the two of us.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's Palace on our first date. We both lived and met in Vegas. After we walked around the Forum Shops after. We decided to revisit the Cheesecake Factory, of course here in San Antonio instead. It was so fun and the food was super yummy.

I have been trying to limit using my flexies especially the last half of the week so I planned accordingly today. I am really proud of my planning and follow-through for the day. I went online and investigated on the menu and had it narrowed down to two things, depending on my mood. They were both fairly low point, especially for a restaurant like the Cheesecake Factory. (You have to admit that this is not a restaurant that is associated with low point foods. The name says it all!)

I ate sensible all day long,not a lot but enough that I wasn't famished and felt like I had control. . We went in the restaurant and turned right to the section I would order from. (They have a "weight management" section.) I decided on the Asian Chicken Salad. I also saw that they had Fresca and added that to my order along with water. I drank a full glass of water before I let myself dig into the bread. The brown bread there is my favorite! I had two small slices with no butter. Before I would have easiely eaten at least half of the bread basket. Once I ate my predetermined amount I pushed it to the other side of the table so I wouldn't sneak another slice. Our food came pretty fast. My salad was huge and delicious and 14.5 points. My husband ordered the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp, my favorite dish there. I think he was being nice, just in case I wanted a little bite. It is quite spicy and that is not his thing. I had 3 small pieces of chicken and 1 piece of shrimp. We skipped dessert there and settled for Stawberry Shortcake Skinny Cow at home.

I am extremely proud of myself. I stayed within my daily points allowance and had a great night out. It makes me feel like I can still eat wherever I want, I just need to balance those choices out all day. It helped that I set aside points early in the day for my meal. I also set aside 6 extra points for things like breads and bites off my husband's plate and dessert (at home, of course).

Well, number 3 down and looking forward to a great year and a happy number 4. It was a nice day. I have such a sweet husband and I love him so much. He is trying so hard to be supportive of my WW and is trying to understand my food issues. He is a great listener and puts up with a lot. I am sure blessed.

Taking Advantage of Good Fortune

So I started this post yesterday and all but published it. So here it is!

Over the past few years, we have collected a lot of fitness equitment. In fact, we have a bedroom upstairs that is set-up as a home gym. It has these select-tech weights, a tower with a folding bench, full-size bar and preacher bar along with the weights, the leg attachment and arm attachment, a TV, mat, ball, and bands along with tons of DVDs. Up until this point I have probably make it in there once a week for 30-45 minutes. It is so awesome in there and great to have everything at home but I am just not taking advantage of it.


We have a treadmill that we bought about 6 months ago. I am much better at using this. It is in our bedroom because there is more room. It probably would have fit in the gym, however, I was worried about hitting my head on the ceiling fan. The treadmill is awesome! We splurged and got one with a TV and a fan along with other user friendly features. We almost bought a different one but after talking to a friend that has one, she said that she wished she would have gotten one with a TV and thought that she would use it more if she did. We took that into consideration and like I said, splurged. It makes all the difference. If I get up before the baby in the morning or when she is down for a nap, I like to watch the Today Show or Food Network or even CNN. I figure, if I can sit on the couch and watch these, I might as well walk.


Since starting WW, I haven't started a structured exercise routine. I occassionally record activity points. This week at I bought a pedometer. I love it! I counts your step and tell you how my points you earn when active. It also tracks my steps for the day. I am aiming for 10,000. Last week my husband was asking if I ever used it. Mind you, I do, but never around him. Most of the time, he sleeps in on the weekends and I feel walking in the bedroom while he is trying to sleep so I go downstairs and watch TV on the couch. He told me not to worry about waking him and use it if I want to. This morning I hopped on and walked 45 minutes before the baby woke up. It wasn't a fast pace but I walked over 2 miles and was able to watch some TV. It was 3 points. Yeah for activity points!

So the goal for the week is use at least one peice of this fantastic equiptment each day. I know that I can do it. After all, I want to get our money out of it and it will do nothing but good for me! Also, this week, my goal is to earn at least 2 activity points a day. (So far, do good!) I can't wait to have 14 (or more) recorded by Friday!

No Use Crying Over Spilt.....

..........COFFEE!


Well first, I was down 4.6 lbs this week and I wasn't nearly as nervous for my weigh-in. I was confident that I lost. I didn't know how much. To be honest, while I am happy with this number, I would have LOVED another .2 lbs. Why aiming for 4.8 lbs? Well because it would have taken my total loss to 10 lbs and thus another star. Those little stars are so motivating for me. On the flip side. I am pretty sure, actually positive, that I will get one next week.

However, when I weighed in I felt discounted by the lady weighing me in. I knew how hard I worked this week, no flexies, eating lost of fresh food and fiber and staying on plan. I was very proud of myself. As she recorded my weight she didn't say "good job" or "way to go" or "you had a good week". Instead as she showed me my number, she said "you know, you aren't going to keep losing this much every week" in a very negative and sassy tone. OK, this is something that I know, something that I know from talking to my leader, something that I know from previous diets (I know that is a 4 letter word here). SO I KNOW! I go to WW for encouragement and felt like that was such a downer. I am going to weigh-in with the other woman at the table from now on.

While I was pleased with the weigh-in, I was not so happy with the meeting. I have been getting there early the past two weeks knowing that there would be a lot of people because of the new year. This way I don't have to wait in line very long and I can get a seat near the front even though most of the early birds camp out in the middle or back. A man that I have seen at the last two meetings sat on the row with me a chair apart. He had a terrible scowl on his face and was sending out bad vibes. Thought that I would say "hi" to lighten his mood but no response. I decided that I was not going to let his bad mood me problem and moved on.

There were a couple of new faces hanging out around the room and I cam to the conclusion that they were WW staff. I think that my leader was being observed. She seemed a little flustered and trying extra hard. The line in the back was huge as the meeting started and people were talking and she had a hard time getting everyone's attention. The late-comers started filling in the empty seats on the front row. A lady sat in front of me. About 5 minutes into the meeting there was a huge crash. The lady in front of me had dropped her coffee and it spilled all over. The leader had it all up her legs and the women on both sides of the dropped had gotten hit too. The woman behind me said "Well, there goes the meeting!" At that point, I felt the same way too. A bunch of ladies rushed up to the front to help, people went to get paper towels from the bathroom and the next 10 minutes was spent cleaning it up while the leader tried to keep some kind of order and tried with no luck to keep the conversation going.

The meeting was totally chaotic and the ironic thing was that the topic for the day was on how productive and necessary meetings are. I was relieved when it was over. I know that life is totally unpredictable. I know it was just a fluke and next week it will be back to normal. I am going next week, the week after, and every week after that. I need people to be accountable to and I think that meetings are the way to go for me. Just thought I would share this crazy experience.

What I Ate for Breakfast

So healthy, right?

Well it was delicious.

I love pumpkin pie and pumpkin muffins, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin everything!

Hot cocoa is such a treat, especially for breakfast.

So how did I justify eating this?

This is how.

Pumpkin Pie:

I was reading on Hungry Girl some new ideas for spicing up oatmeal. She had some great ideas for add-ins. One of them was canned pumpkin along with some pumpkin pie spice. I have been dying to try it. This morning I gave it a try. So delicious. Like warm pumpkin pie. So much better than plain old oatmeal. I gave my daughter a taste and she loved it too so I made her a bowl too. It is only 40 calories and 4 g of fiber in 1/2 c. I used about half that much.

Hot Cocoa:

I am not a big milk drinker so I am always looking for good ideas for meeting my daily milk guideline. I have tried the diet cocoa and have not been that happy with them. Very watery. Las night I had planned to have 1 c of milk for a snack and just didn't find it appealing. I decided to heat up the milk and stir in a packet of the diet cocoa mix. Just 25 additional calories and it doesn't up the points, still only 2. So creamy and delicious and felt like it was so much more than it actually was. Try it! You will be in love.

The Biggest Loser?

Warning: Spoiler

So I am sure that all of you who watched The Biggest Loser tonight are picking your chins up off the floor and still wrapping your mind around it all. I know I am!

Temptation:
Paul was stupid for sharing that bit about his calories and deserved to lose the challenge for that. The black team seems unstoppable. I don't know what Mallory was thinking eating on the temptation but I don't think that it made a huge difference in the outcome.

Weigh-in:
Again, the black team seems unstoppable, both in weight loss and in strategy. I think they will go far but will be eliminated as soon as they fall below the yellow line because others will see them as a threat.

The shock was the low low numbers compared to what Biggest Loser history would suggest should happen on week 2. Zero, 1, 2, & 3 lb losses seem so low. The trainers looked shocked and I am sure took a lot of responsibility for it because it wasn't just one or two people but the majority. In everyday life these would be good weeks for weight loss. I have a feeling though that if I was in the same situation I would be very frustrated putting in all that work and being away from family and friends for smaller numbers or no numbers at all. Bob said that maybe Jillian and him don't have the same magic when put together and maybe he is right. Who knows. I am already looking forward to next week to see if those numbers go back up. We will see, right?

I was also shocked that the brown team was sent home. I really liked them and I thought that they really had their hearts in the game. The only encouraging part is seeing how great they looked in the follow-ups. Good for them! I am sure that they will look amazing at the finale.

I Got Mail!

Thanks to my dear (and thoughtful) friend Em, I had a great surprise today.

I was sitting on the couch having my afternoon snack and looking out the window. The mailman drove by. My husband usually picks up the mail on the way in when he gets home from work, but the baby was asleep and the weather was nice so I thought that I would go get it while I let the dog play in the front yard for a bit. When I openned the box it was very full. There were two magazines falling out the front. I wondered why the mailman didn't push it all in further. As I started fishing out the contents of the box, I pulled out a small package. I was so excited. I tore it open and inside was a pair of super cute chocolate brown yoga pants and a WW digital points calculator. YES! Both things were so thoughtful and perfect. Thanks Em!

Emelie is one of my best friends. It was heartbreaking to have to leave her in Vegas when we moved to Nevada. She is as close as a sister. Neither of us have a sister and so we joke that we are in everyway except biological. She started WW a few months ago and through her example, I decided to join. Thanks Em for everything! You are a great support and I love ya!

Lasagna

A few weeks ago, I bought the ingredients for lasagna. I was planning on making some sort of casserole dish for a friend who had a death in the family and I bought enough to make it for us too. I splurged on the ingredients because I was making it for someone else. For example, 4% cottage cheese, regular spaghetti sauce and a big bag of cheese. I had taken one of her pyrex dishes while she was away to the funeral with the intention of returning it full. Well with the holidays and getting back into my old schedule, I thought that it was a good time to return it. I also had another friend that was recently in a bad car accident and could do with someone else taking care of dinner for the night. With that, I decided that I should make a double batch of lasagne and split it between the three families. One large, and two smaller. based on the family sizes.

We delivered the two other pans, one piping hot with all the fixings and rocky road brownies (Mmmm, so glad they were made in a pan to give away so I couldn't sneak one) and the other ready to freeze. We can home and threw ours in the oven. An hour later, it was hot and ready to eat. I served it with french bread brushed with olive oil and spinked with garlic and parsley and a green salad with Italian dressing. The dinner was so delicious and satisfying. My husband loved the lasagne and said that it was the best I ever made. Our dish had 4 servings in it and he ate 2 1/2 of those. I had one and the baby had the other half. It is unusual for him to eat that much. Also, in the past we both would have eaten half of the casserole dish. It felt wonderful to enjoy the dinner and not be so stuffed that I felt sick. It was the perfect amount.

In reading WW materials, I came across something that said that lasagna is one of those high point favorites that should be eaten sparingly. Luckily, I planned my day around it and so the points weren't a problem. It calculated out to 8 in the recipe builder. The dinner was only 11 all together. I could bring that down to 6 for the lasagna with a few adjustments such as lowfat cottage cheese, fat-free pasta sauce, and ground turkey breast instead of regular turkey breast. I am not willing to put in fat free cheese. There is something so wrong with it for me. I think that it squeeks like rubber when melted and chewed. Yuck! That serving size is 1/9 of a 9 x 13 pan which is a generous serving.

It was nice to have an old favorite. I don't feel like I am missing out on anything.

Speaking of not missing out, I am off to have my ice cream bar. Mmmm, Cookies & Cream.

Food Find - Jolly Rancher Sugar Free

My Weight Watchers leader encourages us to find at least one new thing at the grocery store every week. Right now that is easy because a lot of things are new from the points perspective. Here is just one.

I love Jolly Ranchers. So much that I took a bag with me to the hospital to suck on when I was in labor. Didn't use them during labor because my daughter waisted no time in getting here but crunched through the entire bag the hour after because I was so hungry and it was late and the cafeteria had closed.

I had tried these sugar-free ones a while back but forgot how good they were. I picked up the bag last week and they are a lifesaver (well actually a Jolly Rancher but you know what I mean). They are 35 cal for 4.

Here is the breakdown on points:
1 = 0 pts
2-3 = 0.5 pt
4-7 = 1 pt
8-9 = 1.5 pts
10-12 = 2 pts

This is a great thing. 1 kills a craving. 4 feels like a treat and 10-12 would get me through a movie. I am a sucker for sneaking in a treat. I don't feel like I am settling and they taste just like the real thing. Best of all, the bag looks like it is going to last the entire week or longer. Hooray for learning self control and budgeting my points wisely.

How to Look Good Naked

Has anyone else seen this show?

If so, what do you think?

Last night I was perusing the WW boards and saw a post about a new Lifetime show called "How to Look Good Naked." Several of the posts were about how much other people had loved the show and how you could watch it online if you missed it. I logged onto Lifetime and watched. I loved it. I was laughing so hard and completely relating with the woman and what she was thinking and feeling. I am hooked. I set the DVR to catch it weekly. While I never see myself naked in front of the camera it is sure great to live vicariously through these other women and maybe learn to love my body along the way.

How many points are there in Tums?

Thursday night I started feeling a little sick right before bed. I broke out the Tums and munched a few. I couldn't seem to kick the queesy stomach. I turned in for the night hoping that it would go away. I kept waking up every hour or so. I still had a sick stomach and kept having to go to the bathroom. I am usually a very heavy sleeper and don't wake up for much so I am not accustommed to seeing the early hours of the morning. I think that I saw 2:00, 3:15, and 4:30 and also 5:30. Finally I gave up at 6:10 and decided to get up and get ready for the day. I still felt a little queezy and was hoping that I would make it through my meeting without puking.

All the way in I felt so sick to my stomach.

I parked made my way into the building and upstairs.

Weighed in.

Down 5.2 lbs.

Yeah!

Sat down.

Before I knew it I felt so much better. Must have been nervousness. I have never felt that way before. This weigh-in really stressed me out.Now I have my first star. I am so excited. Motivates me to get another.

Daunting

This is how I feel.....

the night before my first weigh-in.

Can't get it off my mind.

Hope I sleep.

Points & Numbers

Getting used to counting, managining, distributing and recording points is tough. I have been good about recording everything both on paper and WW Online. I keeps me honest. The problem that I am running into is distributing my points throughout the day.

I am always worried that I am going to run out of points before dinner but so far it has been the opposite. I use a couple of points for breakfast and around 8 or so for lunch and then have a snack or 2 that are a few points each. Both for lunch and dinner I usually plan larger meals to use my daily points but end up not eating them because I am not hungry. The same thing happens with planned snacks. I am just not in the mood or not hungry. I would have never thought that I would be frustrated about eating more but that is what is happening.

Some of you are probably wondering how this is happening. Well I have a lot to lose and so because of that I have a large point allowance. Some days, well most days, it seems like too many.

HELP! What do I do? I need some advice.

The Last Straw

So this story was on a friend's blog:

"After the (WW) meeting there was a new-member Intro, in which the director-in-training who had lost a total of 102 lbs herself (in just 2.5 years) gave each of the new members a little red straw. She told us that it represented the "last straw" for us. She wanted us to try and narrow down or even pinpoint the last straw in our lives. What had finally pushed us over the edge and to the decision to do something about it (and then find weight watchers)."

This go me to thinking, what was my last straw.....

I have blogged about my crazy binge and my all out loss of control but was that the last straw?

I don't think so.

I was watching a comercial for the upcomming Biggest Loser season that is starting tonight. They are doing a couples challenge. One of the ladies was shown saying that she wanted to lose the wight before her kids knew that she was fat.

I felt a pit in my stomach and my eyes started welling up.

THAT'S ME!!!

I don't want my daughter to ever see me as fat!

She is a baby right now and show unconditional love and doesn't care about what I look like but I dread this current path that I am on. I am embarassed of myself and so I am sure at some point she would be embarassed too. That is almost guaranteed. I want to be an active participant in her live and have her excited about that. And sure most kids are mildly embarassed by their parents but I don't want it to be because of my weight.

So that is the last straw. It broke the camel's back. I am committed.

And tonight is the first episode of The Biggest Loser. I think that I am going to tune in for some extra inspiration.

Here's to Looking Great in 2008!

Lurking in my Kitchen

What's lurking in your kitchen?

These are all lurking in mine. All delicious and tempting.

I saw this post and decided to out my cupboards. Like I have talked about before, the day before I joined WW was a mess. That morning I went shopping and picked up two bags on M&M's. Mind you, I knew that I didn't need them but bought them anyways justifying that they would come in handy in February for Valentaine's Day because they were pink. In actually, they would probably be gone long before that. They were on sale and I justified it out. I am still regretting it. That night we went to target to look at their after Christmas sale. My husband grabbed these two bags of kisses, mint truffle and cherry cordial.

Luckily, all the bags are sealed and that keeps me from digging in. I have hidden them in the back of the cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind. There has been a few times that I have tried to justify out the points but at the same time I know myself all too well and know when those bags are openned it's all over.

UPDATE:

Late night I busted open the two bags of kisses. It was again after 8 and I still had 9 points. Being concious of what I am eating and writing things down I think twice before I put something in my mouth. I counted out 9 kisses, one serving, 5 points. 3 Cherry and 6 Mint. I ate a cherry one first and I didn't really like it, well as much as you cannot like chocolate and definately not enough to eat another one. I picked out the remaining two cherry kisses and offered them to my husband and ate all 6 of the mint. They were good but not like a truffle as I felt the package had promised. It satisfied my sweet tooth and helped me use some points and I remained in total control.

Happy Fondue Eve!

Tonight, some of good friends hosted a New Years party Fondue style. I know it was coming and so I made sure that I had a lot of points available for tonight. The food was so good and so much fun to eat. The eating was slow and so we all sat around the table all night and a lot was consumed. The meats were fried in oil, the bread was drenched in cheese and the strawberries, marshmallows, brownies, pound cake and bananas were absolutely devine in the chocolate walnut fondue. I ate myself sick!

The night was an awesome night and was a great kick-off to 2008. I came home and entered everything that I could remember eating on the WW Tracker. 46 for dinner and 60 for the day. CRAZY! Just a few days ago I would could have easiely eaten that many or more points in a day without even realizing it. Luckily, I had some activity points from today and a lot of flex points along with most of my daily allowance left. Yeah for planning and yeah for the flexibility of WW.

Here's to 2008 and looking great!