Our dinner tonight was thanks to my good friend Sara, who sent me the following email about a week ago:
I just found this core recipe on the WW msg board and thought of you. Sounds really good so I think I'll try it too!
Spray muffin pan with pam
For each muffin cup, put in 1/4 c. SW eggbeaters or plain ones or 1 egg
Add a pinch of FF cheddar cheese
Add diced ham or veggies or any combination you like
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes and voila.
These are core and are 2 for 3 points.
They're good to make ahead, keep in a baggie in the fridge for up to a week, or to freeze for up to 3 months.
I decided that this would be a good opportunity to use some of the leftover pot roast from last week... mainly because diced ham was mentioned and I don't eat ham.
I diced some of the leftover potatoes from the roast, shredded some of the meat, and started building in the muffin tins. I added sliced mushrooms (canned, because I don't have the time or money to buy whole mushrooms and clean and slice them), some of my frozen veggie mix, and a little pinch of cheddar cheese. I scrambled up some eggs (I ended up using 5), and spooned/poured egg on top of the veggie pile in each cup. I filled each cup to the very top, and baked them for about 30 minutes... I didn't think they looked done at 25 minutes.
I told the kids that they were omelette cups and the Prince had seconds! Sorry that I don't have pictures, but they were hungry hungry and I didn't have a chance! I ate two of these and thought it was enough food for me.
Todays food journal:
latte- CORE
FiberOne bar- 2 pts (2/35 WPA used)
Diet Coke- 0 pts
1/4 Laughing Cow wedge- 0 pts
carrots- CORE
2 omelette cups- CORE +1 for cheese (3/35 WPA used)
I know, that isn't enough food. But I haven't been terribly hungry, and I'm living with sick people- not appetite-inspiring.
Tomorrow night we're supposed to go to an Italian dinner with drinks. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I know I'll use several of my 32 remaining WPAs. Hubby is still feeling pretty yucky, though, so I'm not sure if we'll end up going.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Counting points
I just came back from WI- I lost exactly 1 pound this week!
I'm thinking that I need to work on my menus for a shorter timeframe than I'd tried to do, maybe do them a week at a time. I am going to revise our menu for the rest of this week and next week today, and probably will go to the store tonight again. Having a sick family has not been good for our following CORE, as I haven't felt the need to cook for a family of sickos. Our supply of leftovers has diminished to nearly nothing, so I'm needing to address this asap.
I've said before that I make myself a latte every morning. I have a great little stovetop espresso maker, I microwave my milk, and I use SF/FF DaVinci syrups for flavoring... I buy these at Sam's for less than $5/bottle. My latte is Core or 2 pts on Flex. I've gotten into the habit of eating a FiberOne bar with my coffee for breakfast, which is also 2 points (not Core). I'm not really a breakfast person and have trouble eating much in the morning, coffee seems to fill me up enough. The bar is a move in the right direction, though I'm also a big fan of Thomas LF/high fiber English muffins with reduced-sugar Smuckers (0 pts if you don't use much). I'm out of the muffins right now, but I think I'll add them to my Sam's list.
I'd like to stay on Core, but I'm going to keep better track of the points that I consume. I know that I would be losing more if I were staying closer to the 35 WPA... that's really hard to do! I'm trying to look at this as a lifestyle change- not a diet- and approach Core realistically. Honestly, I don't think that 35 points over and above any Core foods is terribly realistic for me; maybe 50 is more likely to happen... I'm a mom on the move, for goodness sakes! When I was losing a lot on Flex, I found that I lost more in the weeks that I didn't use my 35 WPA, or used very few of them; I know that the same approach should work on Core.
I'm thinking that I need to work on my menus for a shorter timeframe than I'd tried to do, maybe do them a week at a time. I am going to revise our menu for the rest of this week and next week today, and probably will go to the store tonight again. Having a sick family has not been good for our following CORE, as I haven't felt the need to cook for a family of sickos. Our supply of leftovers has diminished to nearly nothing, so I'm needing to address this asap.
I've said before that I make myself a latte every morning. I have a great little stovetop espresso maker, I microwave my milk, and I use SF/FF DaVinci syrups for flavoring... I buy these at Sam's for less than $5/bottle. My latte is Core or 2 pts on Flex. I've gotten into the habit of eating a FiberOne bar with my coffee for breakfast, which is also 2 points (not Core). I'm not really a breakfast person and have trouble eating much in the morning, coffee seems to fill me up enough. The bar is a move in the right direction, though I'm also a big fan of Thomas LF/high fiber English muffins with reduced-sugar Smuckers (0 pts if you don't use much). I'm out of the muffins right now, but I think I'll add them to my Sam's list.
I'd like to stay on Core, but I'm going to keep better track of the points that I consume. I know that I would be losing more if I were staying closer to the 35 WPA... that's really hard to do! I'm trying to look at this as a lifestyle change- not a diet- and approach Core realistically. Honestly, I don't think that 35 points over and above any Core foods is terribly realistic for me; maybe 50 is more likely to happen... I'm a mom on the move, for goodness sakes! When I was losing a lot on Flex, I found that I lost more in the weeks that I didn't use my 35 WPA, or used very few of them; I know that the same approach should work on Core.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Snacks for Dinner
Tea for breakfast: 1 pt? (It had lemonade powder to soothe my sore throat)
Lunch was on the run:
Starbucks Skinny Latte: CORE
Starbucks Cinnamon Chip Scone: WAY NOT CORE... 19!!!!! points... totally not worth it (I should have stopped for a burger instead!)
afternoon treat w/ the kids: 1 scoop LF yogurt @ Baskin Robbins: 4 pts
and snacks for dinner. Potato wedges (CORE!) and HG's Onion Rings (CORE or pretty damned close)
The wedges I just sliced up a couple of potatoes, sprinkled them with seasoned salt and Mrs. Dash, and tossed them on a PAM-sprayed pan... they cooked for 15 or 20 minutes at 350. I just used one onion tonight, and sliced it rather thin... used 2 full eggs for dipping. I also used quite a bit of Fiber One. I've done these before and have really liked them. Tonight they were good, but I didn't think they were over-the-top good. Maybe that's because I've been craving real onion rings.
In other news, this is a short and to-the-point post tonight because of the situation at my house for the last couple of days:
2 sicko kids, 1 sicko Hubby, and my lymph nodes are way swollen. I don't have a full-blown version of what they've got, but I've got their sore throat. And I'm dealing with all of their whining. Oh, joy.
I am supposed to go to WI in the morning, but I'm not sure if I'll get that done- we'll see how the rest of the fam is.
Lunch was on the run:
Starbucks Skinny Latte: CORE
Starbucks Cinnamon Chip Scone: WAY NOT CORE... 19!!!!! points... totally not worth it (I should have stopped for a burger instead!)
afternoon treat w/ the kids: 1 scoop LF yogurt @ Baskin Robbins: 4 pts
and snacks for dinner. Potato wedges (CORE!) and HG's Onion Rings (CORE or pretty damned close)
The wedges I just sliced up a couple of potatoes, sprinkled them with seasoned salt and Mrs. Dash, and tossed them on a PAM-sprayed pan... they cooked for 15 or 20 minutes at 350. I just used one onion tonight, and sliced it rather thin... used 2 full eggs for dipping. I also used quite a bit of Fiber One. I've done these before and have really liked them. Tonight they were good, but I didn't think they were over-the-top good. Maybe that's because I've been craving real onion rings.
In other news, this is a short and to-the-point post tonight because of the situation at my house for the last couple of days:
2 sicko kids, 1 sicko Hubby, and my lymph nodes are way swollen. I don't have a full-blown version of what they've got, but I've got their sore throat. And I'm dealing with all of their whining. Oh, joy.
I am supposed to go to WI in the morning, but I'm not sure if I'll get that done- we'll see how the rest of the fam is.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Guilt-Free Alfredo!!!
OMG.
Seriously, wow. For dinner tonight, I combined a couple of things that I've learned about online:spaghetti squash and Hungry Girl's "girlfredo". And I'd like to repeat, WOW.
I used the Lite Garlic and Herb cheese wedges instead of the regular flavor, and I think that really added to the flavor. I served the kids the squash topped with leftover spaghetti/meat sauce from my cooking day last week. Their meal was entirely CORE, mine was not... but the couple of points were definitely worth it. HG says that one serving equals 1 pt, I know that I had more than one serving.
Hungry Girl's "Girlfredo"
1/2 Wedge The Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 teaspoon Fat Free Sour Cream
2 teaspoons Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
Salt & Pepper (if desired)
Combine cheeses and sour cream, Mix thoroughly. Microwave to help melt cheese, and mix some more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy. Serves 1.
I made this with 6 wedges and roughly 12 times the FF sour cream. I did not have 12 times the parmesan, so I dumped in what I had (maybe 8 or 12 teaspoons?). I loved it, so did Hubby!!!
For the squash, I pre-cooked and prepared it a few days ago; it's been sitting in the fridge, waiting for tonight. I'm glad that I did the prep work ahead, just because while it wasn't really time-consuming, it still took time. Hubby and I enjoyed the squash instead of "real" noodles, and he said that it really filled him up. Please note that this is a vegetable, and it does not taste like pasta!!! It is a bit on the sweet side, kinda smells like pumpkin (especially before you cook it!), and is definitely a veggie... that said, I will for sure make this again.
Seriously, wow. For dinner tonight, I combined a couple of things that I've learned about online:spaghetti squash and Hungry Girl's "girlfredo". And I'd like to repeat, WOW.
I used the Lite Garlic and Herb cheese wedges instead of the regular flavor, and I think that really added to the flavor. I served the kids the squash topped with leftover spaghetti/meat sauce from my cooking day last week. Their meal was entirely CORE, mine was not... but the couple of points were definitely worth it. HG says that one serving equals 1 pt, I know that I had more than one serving.
Hungry Girl's "Girlfredo"
1/2 Wedge The Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 teaspoon Fat Free Sour Cream
2 teaspoons Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
Salt & Pepper (if desired)
Combine cheeses and sour cream, Mix thoroughly. Microwave to help melt cheese, and mix some more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy. Serves 1.
I made this with 6 wedges and roughly 12 times the FF sour cream. I did not have 12 times the parmesan, so I dumped in what I had (maybe 8 or 12 teaspoons?). I loved it, so did Hubby!!!
For the squash, I pre-cooked and prepared it a few days ago; it's been sitting in the fridge, waiting for tonight. I'm glad that I did the prep work ahead, just because while it wasn't really time-consuming, it still took time. Hubby and I enjoyed the squash instead of "real" noodles, and he said that it really filled him up. Please note that this is a vegetable, and it does not taste like pasta!!! It is a bit on the sweet side, kinda smells like pumpkin (especially before you cook it!), and is definitely a veggie... that said, I will for sure make this again.
CrockPots, anyone?
I've decided that I need a new crockpot. The one I have works great, but it's getting a bit small. No, it isn't shrinking, but my family is growing (as is the amount of food that I cook!). The one I have was a wedding gift (8 yrs ago!), and I thought it was 2 quarts... but a bit of research on the company's website makes me think maybe it holds 3 qts... either way, I think I want a bigger one.
Do you have a bigger crockpot that you would recommend? I'm thinking probably 5-6 qts. I don't buy a darned thing without researching a little (to find out if what I'm buying will turn out to be crap), and I haven't found too many opinions on crockpots. I don't want to spend big money, but I don't want to buy something that I won't be happy with, either.
I'm also thinking about getting one of these neat units. My grocery store has a coupon for them this week- $10 off- that's 1/2 price! What a deal! Although I have no immediate use for this, I wanted something like it around the holidays, and I'm sure it would be a handy thing to have around. Anyone else have one?
Thank you so much for your comments! I appreciate any advice you can offer!
To increase my chances at getting responses to this post, I'm cross-posting it on both of my blogs... thanks for understanding!
Do you have a bigger crockpot that you would recommend? I'm thinking probably 5-6 qts. I don't buy a darned thing without researching a little (to find out if what I'm buying will turn out to be crap), and I haven't found too many opinions on crockpots. I don't want to spend big money, but I don't want to buy something that I won't be happy with, either.
I'm also thinking about getting one of these neat units. My grocery store has a coupon for them this week- $10 off- that's 1/2 price! What a deal! Although I have no immediate use for this, I wanted something like it around the holidays, and I'm sure it would be a handy thing to have around. Anyone else have one?
Thank you so much for your comments! I appreciate any advice you can offer!
To increase my chances at getting responses to this post, I'm cross-posting it on both of my blogs... thanks for understanding!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I suck. But I'll do better...
I really feel bad that I haven't done a darn thing that I said I was going to. I said I was going to do the Calendar Girls challenge, and I've done terribly at that... mainly because I haven't stayed within 5 pts/day over Core.
I haven't been blogging here every day, and I really haven't been posting my daily food journal.
I haven't been back here since Friday to post that soup recipe that I promised.
I haven't cleaned up and added links to make this blog easier to navigate (and find older recipes).
And... I haven't been on plan. At all. I've been ignoring this diet all weekend and I have a feeling I'll pay for it at WI. Thank goodness I have a few days to make up for what I've done (or haven't done).
So yes, I think I suck... but I know I'll do better.
I haven't been blogging here every day, and I really haven't been posting my daily food journal.
I haven't been back here since Friday to post that soup recipe that I promised.
I haven't cleaned up and added links to make this blog easier to navigate (and find older recipes).
And... I haven't been on plan. At all. I've been ignoring this diet all weekend and I have a feeling I'll pay for it at WI. Thank goodness I have a few days to make up for what I've done (or haven't done).
So yes, I think I suck... but I know I'll do better.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Facelift, Week's worth of updates
So what do you think? Do you like the new look?
Honestly, I was trying to make some bigger changes, but it turned out that I'd bit off more than I could chew- this was enough of a facelift for now; but I AM still going to be typing out recipes.
I have been really busy and really wiped out all week- haven't had any desire at all to sit down at night and write about my day. I'm very sorry, because I've not been doing anything towards my goal of blogging my daily food journal... let's see...
Sunday night we went out for dinner with my family, after a stressful afternoon at the assisted living center with my grandma. I did not stick to Core, but I did limit my portion size and split a lettuce/chicken wrap with my mom. (I did eat the onion rings that came with it, and drank a hard English cider- totally not OP!)
Monday night I made a recipe that hubby had copied down at a WW mtg- pasta with broccoli, cauliflower, and lemon. It's Core if you sub FF cheese for the regular cheese... but I've never seen FF parmesan in the store, have you?!? So it was almost Core. Hubby liked it, but I was really not impressed... I'm not even going to give out that recipe. :(
Tuesday the kids and I went grocery shopping, hoping to get back in time to make dinner early enough that hubby could join us before he had to leave for a meeting. He'd asked that we pick something up for him to eat if we didn't think we'd be home in time... so I got Hy-Vee Chinese (really great Chinese food, right there and made fresh in the store!) and caved, buying Chinese for all of us (instead of the low-point-but-not-Core soup I'd planned).
Later that evening, I realized that the Prince had a nasty case of pinkeye, and I freaked out about it. I know that this is very contagious and I went a bit nuts, washing my hands after even touching him- trying NOT to get it myself. The pinkeye really grossed me out and I knew that I didn't want it to spread through our whole house... can you imagine giving putting eye drops into the eyes of a 21-month-old?!? We went to the Dr. Wednesday morning and got him on the prescription, but that meant no school for him.
I decided that since I'd be at home all day Wednesday, not having to worry about taking 3 kids to and from preschool (and waking 2 of them from their naps to do it), I'd do some prep work and some cooking. I made about 12 quarts of marinara sauce, added browned ground turkey (and beef bullion cubes to make it "beefier"), and pre-made 3 baked spaghettis and 2 lasagnas- all Core except for the cheese on top. My busy season is fast approaching, and it will be nice to be able to pull these out of the freezer without having to put in the time of putting them together.
For dinner last night (still Wednesday), I made the soup that I'd planned on for the night before (until I caved for Chinese!). I will edit this post (hopefully 1/25) with that recipe... The recipe is not mine, but came from a friend of my mom- she says that it is 1 point per cup, but I've never done the math. I've made it as written, but I think it's too time consuming, so I usually tweak it a bit. I use all frozen vegetables, the whole pound of cheese, and about 4 ounces of extra chicken broth. I usually skip the potatoes, but yesterday I remembered that I had about a half of a bag of hashbrown potatoes in the freezer- I dumped in about half of that. I also usually skip the Butter Buds, but I'd recently bought a shaker, so instead of an envelope of BBs, I gave it a few shakes. Really, anything to follow the "gist" of this recipe, but to make it easier. Still tastes great, and is fine to freeze and reheat! Unfortunately, neither of the kids liked this soup (just means more for me!)
Tonight I made a pot roast with a top round cut, cooked it all day in the crockpot with carrots, chopped potatoes, onions, and green beans. My dad and brother joined us for dinner, and the adults all gave this two thumbs up. The kids did not.
I did not do well on my 35 WPAs for the upcoming week... today I went overboard on them... an ice cream cone at home (I'm counting it as 8 pts), a medium-sized chocolate shake and roughly a medium order of fries from McDonald's (the fries were in the bottom of the bag, they'd all dumped out... I DID buy them for the three kiddos that NEEDED snacks while we were out running today... and the shake just sounded SOOO good...) I really don't want to know how many points I consumed in the car today, because of that little McD's stop. Thank goodness it was on the starting end of my week and I can work to compensate for that the rest of the week!
Now, to wrap up this ridiculously long post, I weighed in today: down 1.2 from Saturday! (only 5 days between WI instead of the usual week!) That puts me 12.6 over my WW goal, and 10.6 over where I won't have to keep paying!!! Five weeks left in my personal challenge period (through the end of February) and I am on track to surpass my goal of losing 2 lbs per week, which would bring me to 3.8 over my WW goal. IF I can continue this good run, 2.5 lbs/week would get me all the way down to goal- this is exciting stuff!
I WILL get back here and post the soup recipe, as well as some of the others I've mentioned. And pictures from my day in the kitchen yesterday. Dinner tomorrow is lasagna, ready and waiting to go into the oven... this one has a twist, and I'll show that off tomorrow, too.
Honestly, I was trying to make some bigger changes, but it turned out that I'd bit off more than I could chew- this was enough of a facelift for now; but I AM still going to be typing out recipes.
I have been really busy and really wiped out all week- haven't had any desire at all to sit down at night and write about my day. I'm very sorry, because I've not been doing anything towards my goal of blogging my daily food journal... let's see...
Sunday night we went out for dinner with my family, after a stressful afternoon at the assisted living center with my grandma. I did not stick to Core, but I did limit my portion size and split a lettuce/chicken wrap with my mom. (I did eat the onion rings that came with it, and drank a hard English cider- totally not OP!)
Monday night I made a recipe that hubby had copied down at a WW mtg- pasta with broccoli, cauliflower, and lemon. It's Core if you sub FF cheese for the regular cheese... but I've never seen FF parmesan in the store, have you?!? So it was almost Core. Hubby liked it, but I was really not impressed... I'm not even going to give out that recipe. :(
Tuesday the kids and I went grocery shopping, hoping to get back in time to make dinner early enough that hubby could join us before he had to leave for a meeting. He'd asked that we pick something up for him to eat if we didn't think we'd be home in time... so I got Hy-Vee Chinese (really great Chinese food, right there and made fresh in the store!) and caved, buying Chinese for all of us (instead of the low-point-but-not-Core soup I'd planned).
Later that evening, I realized that the Prince had a nasty case of pinkeye, and I freaked out about it. I know that this is very contagious and I went a bit nuts, washing my hands after even touching him- trying NOT to get it myself. The pinkeye really grossed me out and I knew that I didn't want it to spread through our whole house... can you imagine giving putting eye drops into the eyes of a 21-month-old?!? We went to the Dr. Wednesday morning and got him on the prescription, but that meant no school for him.
I decided that since I'd be at home all day Wednesday, not having to worry about taking 3 kids to and from preschool (and waking 2 of them from their naps to do it), I'd do some prep work and some cooking. I made about 12 quarts of marinara sauce, added browned ground turkey (and beef bullion cubes to make it "beefier"), and pre-made 3 baked spaghettis and 2 lasagnas- all Core except for the cheese on top. My busy season is fast approaching, and it will be nice to be able to pull these out of the freezer without having to put in the time of putting them together.
For dinner last night (still Wednesday), I made the soup that I'd planned on for the night before (until I caved for Chinese!). I will edit this post (hopefully 1/25) with that recipe... The recipe is not mine, but came from a friend of my mom- she says that it is 1 point per cup, but I've never done the math. I've made it as written, but I think it's too time consuming, so I usually tweak it a bit. I use all frozen vegetables, the whole pound of cheese, and about 4 ounces of extra chicken broth. I usually skip the potatoes, but yesterday I remembered that I had about a half of a bag of hashbrown potatoes in the freezer- I dumped in about half of that. I also usually skip the Butter Buds, but I'd recently bought a shaker, so instead of an envelope of BBs, I gave it a few shakes. Really, anything to follow the "gist" of this recipe, but to make it easier. Still tastes great, and is fine to freeze and reheat! Unfortunately, neither of the kids liked this soup (just means more for me!)
Tonight I made a pot roast with a top round cut, cooked it all day in the crockpot with carrots, chopped potatoes, onions, and green beans. My dad and brother joined us for dinner, and the adults all gave this two thumbs up. The kids did not.
I did not do well on my 35 WPAs for the upcoming week... today I went overboard on them... an ice cream cone at home (I'm counting it as 8 pts), a medium-sized chocolate shake and roughly a medium order of fries from McDonald's (the fries were in the bottom of the bag, they'd all dumped out... I DID buy them for the three kiddos that NEEDED snacks while we were out running today... and the shake just sounded SOOO good...) I really don't want to know how many points I consumed in the car today, because of that little McD's stop. Thank goodness it was on the starting end of my week and I can work to compensate for that the rest of the week!
Now, to wrap up this ridiculously long post, I weighed in today: down 1.2 from Saturday! (only 5 days between WI instead of the usual week!) That puts me 12.6 over my WW goal, and 10.6 over where I won't have to keep paying!!! Five weeks left in my personal challenge period (through the end of February) and I am on track to surpass my goal of losing 2 lbs per week, which would bring me to 3.8 over my WW goal. IF I can continue this good run, 2.5 lbs/week would get me all the way down to goal- this is exciting stuff!
I WILL get back here and post the soup recipe, as well as some of the others I've mentioned. And pictures from my day in the kitchen yesterday. Dinner tomorrow is lasagna, ready and waiting to go into the oven... this one has a twist, and I'll show that off tomorrow, too.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Updating Blog Setup...
I'm still here, just going to take some time and organize a bit.
I'd like to type out all the recipes I've mentioned so far, mainly because Heather's site isn't up right now. I'm also planning on tagging my old posts and adding a link list so that things are easier to find.
I've been looking at blog templates, too, mainly because I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the current one... so this blog might look a bit different the next time you check in (or it might not!).
I mentioned to Sara the other day that I need to start being better at actually COUNTING my points, and posting those along with my food journals here. I know that will help me to be successful, and that is where the accountability comes in... so I might figure out how to build a table so my food list and counting looks cleaner when I post.
I have been sticking to Core, and I've worked out a planned menu of dinners for the next few weeks. Now I need to hit the grocery store again! Tonight's dinner is NOT Core, but is a variation on one of my mom's WW recipes... very low pts.
I'd like to type out all the recipes I've mentioned so far, mainly because Heather's site isn't up right now. I'm also planning on tagging my old posts and adding a link list so that things are easier to find.
I've been looking at blog templates, too, mainly because I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the current one... so this blog might look a bit different the next time you check in (or it might not!).
I mentioned to Sara the other day that I need to start being better at actually COUNTING my points, and posting those along with my food journals here. I know that will help me to be successful, and that is where the accountability comes in... so I might figure out how to build a table so my food list and counting looks cleaner when I post.
I have been sticking to Core, and I've worked out a planned menu of dinners for the next few weeks. Now I need to hit the grocery store again! Tonight's dinner is NOT Core, but is a variation on one of my mom's WW recipes... very low pts.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Salmon tonight, and an explanation...
Tonight I made salmon, veggies, and bulgar for dinner... all Core! No pictures, as my family was starving. I made chicken nuggets for the kids instead of the salmon, but only because I only found 2 salmon fillets in the freezer- if I'd had more, they would have had it too. This was my first experience with bulgar, and although I know it is usually served IN something, I chose to serve it as a side... it is supposed to be a good substitute for brown rice, so I figured why not? Hubby was not impressed (neither was I, but it wasn't too bad), but both kids ate it. Princess wouldn't touch it, but ate her entire serving when Hubby spoon-fed it to her; the Prince said it was "his favorite". (Goofy kids!)
I mentioned I had bad news... when I went onto Heather's Recipe Site the other day, this email is posted on her front page:
Sorry, folks - Weight Watchers says game over.
From: WeightWatchers.com
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:04 PM
Re: Warning #3
Dear Heather,
Your posts on WeightWatchers.com’s message boards have again come to our attention. Despite multiple warnings, we found that your posts were again in violation of the WeightWatchers.com Terms and Conditions. This is your third and final warning.
2 TBS all-purpose flour (1 WPA over six servings = 0 WPAs)
By registering with our site you agreed to abide by our Terms and Conditions, which outline our community standards. We encourage you to review these terms. If we find that after this warning your posts still do not comply with the Terms and Conditions, we may be forced to take further action. This may include, but is not limited to, revoking your privilege to use all or parts of our website as well as banning your user name from our message boards. If we feel your violation is egregious or if you continue to disregard our warnings, we will notify your ISP of your actions on our site and work with them to find a solution.
We hope you will give this serious consideration.
Sincerely,
Brandon
Customer Service Associate
www.weightwatchers.com
There were no links and all of the links that I have bookmarked (and included in previous posts) were broken. I ended up going to the WW message boards to search for the recipe I'd planned on for dinner that night, and posted this on those boards as well. Tonight when I went to her site, the email was gone (glad I posted it elsewhere, or I couldn't have shown you!), and this was there:
Make your voice heard!
Complaints (ahem), comments, and suggestions can be directed to:
Sharon A. Fordham, CEO
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
11 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10010
The site appears to be in the process of being re-built... but all of the links are password-protected. I don't know if they will stay that way or not, but I'm going to try to contact Heather and ask. I'm also going to complain to Sharon about this!!!
If you've been using Heather's site, please voice your complaints as directed above. I LOVED her site and will be very disappointed if I can no longer use it and share those recipes and pictures with you!
I mentioned I had bad news... when I went onto Heather's Recipe Site the other day, this email is posted on her front page:
Sorry, folks - Weight Watchers says game over.
From: WeightWatchers.com
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:04 PM
Re: Warning #3
Dear Heather,
Your posts on WeightWatchers.com’s message boards have again come to our attention. Despite multiple warnings, we found that your posts were again in violation of the WeightWatchers.com Terms and Conditions. This is your third and final warning.
2 TBS all-purpose flour (1 WPA over six servings = 0 WPAs)
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There were no links and all of the links that I have bookmarked (and included in previous posts) were broken. I ended up going to the WW message boards to search for the recipe I'd planned on for dinner that night, and posted this on those boards as well. Tonight when I went to her site, the email was gone (glad I posted it elsewhere, or I couldn't have shown you!), and this was there:
Make your voice heard!
Complaints (ahem), comments, and suggestions can be directed to:
Sharon A. Fordham, CEO
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
11 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10010
The site appears to be in the process of being re-built... but all of the links are password-protected. I don't know if they will stay that way or not, but I'm going to try to contact Heather and ask. I'm also going to complain to Sharon about this!!!
If you've been using Heather's site, please voice your complaints as directed above. I LOVED her site and will be very disappointed if I can no longer use it and share those recipes and pictures with you!
Down 4.0!
We've had a busy few days- the last thing I've had time to do was post, let alone go and weigh in... my WI day is Thursday, and I just was able to go this morning (Saturday). Sure, I could have left the service guys at my house and taken both kids and weighed on Thursday, but I have issues with leaving strange men in my home alone.
If you want details on what's been happening around my house the last few days, please check my other blog. This one is about food and my weight loss journey. That one is about anything else I decide to ramble on about. (Big cheesy grin...)
So I think I like this Core stuff... no counting (except the 35 weeklies)... just eating healthy UNTIL SATISFIED. That does not mean eat until just past full, then when putting away the leftovers an hour later, eat another serving or two because it was just SO GOOD. Yeah, we've all been there. You know what I mean.
Let's see... Tuesday I made the awesome Baked Spaghetti that took entirely too frickin' long to prepare. I haven't offered the leftovers to anyone else in my house because I am hoping no one remembers them, and am eating them myself. Wednesday was church night... no control over what is served... this was a good week- they served sloppy joes and baked beans, ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I ate my 'joe' without the bun, and finished my kids' dinners too- I NEVER make baked beans and they were yummy. I think beans are lower in pts if they don't have pork in them... these did not appear to be "porky". Oh, and yes, I DID have dessert. 6 points, I believe.
Thursday I made Taco Soup, which I was very excited about (until I found out that my mom says it's an old WW recipe that she's had for years). After it had been cooking for a couple hours, I stirred and wanted to taste... and ended up having 2 little bowls of it! I loved it at dinner, too, and while the family didn't rave they did eat it all... hubby said it would be really good with cheese. I think it is more of a chicken chili than a taco soup... either way it's yum. Too bad I won't be making it again. Hubby asked me last night if I would please never make it again, and I think he was right... our family has been really "musical" lately from all of that "musical fruit". (I know, TMI!) Last night and today my tummy has been all tied up in knots, which really isn't fun.
Taco soup leftovers- I forgot to take a picture earlier
We were boring last night and just did leftovers, but this is good because I'm working on making sure that they get eaten (instead of taking up space in the fridge and eventually tossed).
lots of leftovers!
I've not been good at keeping track of my 35 pts this week, but I have been careful at what goes into my mouth. I've been craving something chocolatey and sweet, but instead of baking I've been hitting my stash. I've tried a pk of Hostess 100-calorie cupcakes (which kinda helped), and FiberOne bars (which helped a lot, surprisingly). I'm making a point to exclude bread from my diet, partly because I know that it is high in points, and partly because I don't like it plain- only with stuff like butter and cinnamon-sugar, or peanut butter... not what I need to be eating.
I did well on WW when I was on Flex, too, but I had a much higher daily pts allotment... I think it would be really hard for me to stick to 21 pts (which will probably be 20 next week!) and not be starving. I know that there are ways to do it- my mom eats a lot of plain tomato soup and veggies- but I'm running a household with young kids and don't have time to cook for them and something else for me. I want real food, and I don't want to feel like the rabbit that I would resemble if I was trying to stick to 20 pts/day. I was breastfeeding the whole time I was on Flex, so I had between 32 and 29 pts/day- that's more like it! I'm guessing that I eat 25-30 pts/day on Core, and I'm eating food that I like- I really don't understand HOW I'm losing, honestly! Flex gave me the mindset that pasta is a no-no, along with fish and red meat. I'm eating those things, so why am I losing? It's because I'm following the Core plan, and eating healthier versions of these foods... and eating reasonable portions. It's hard to stop when I'm satisfied sometimes, but nice knowing that I'll just have more tomorrow for lunch. I'm learning, but it seems to be working.
Now to my current progress on last week's goal declaration: lose 2 lbs/week for 7 weeks- the final WI of my personal challenge being 2/28/08. If I were to accomplish this goal, I would be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW goal, making it very attainable.
I am now 13.8 lbs above goal. (7 lbs down in 2 weeks! Yippee!) I have 6 weeks left in this personal challenge. If I lose an average of 2.3 lbs/week between now and then, I will have beaten my challenge and will be at goal. At my current rate of progress, this seems reasonable. At the very least, one would assume that I would be able to be very close to that goal weight, right?
I'm not so sure. I remember how hard it was to lose those last few pounds... I really hope that I'll do ok this time around.
If you want details on what's been happening around my house the last few days, please check my other blog. This one is about food and my weight loss journey. That one is about anything else I decide to ramble on about. (Big cheesy grin...)
So I think I like this Core stuff... no counting (except the 35 weeklies)... just eating healthy UNTIL SATISFIED. That does not mean eat until just past full, then when putting away the leftovers an hour later, eat another serving or two because it was just SO GOOD. Yeah, we've all been there. You know what I mean.
Let's see... Tuesday I made the awesome Baked Spaghetti that took entirely too frickin' long to prepare. I haven't offered the leftovers to anyone else in my house because I am hoping no one remembers them, and am eating them myself. Wednesday was church night... no control over what is served... this was a good week- they served sloppy joes and baked beans, ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I ate my 'joe' without the bun, and finished my kids' dinners too- I NEVER make baked beans and they were yummy. I think beans are lower in pts if they don't have pork in them... these did not appear to be "porky". Oh, and yes, I DID have dessert. 6 points, I believe.
Thursday I made Taco Soup, which I was very excited about (until I found out that my mom says it's an old WW recipe that she's had for years). After it had been cooking for a couple hours, I stirred and wanted to taste... and ended up having 2 little bowls of it! I loved it at dinner, too, and while the family didn't rave they did eat it all... hubby said it would be really good with cheese. I think it is more of a chicken chili than a taco soup... either way it's yum. Too bad I won't be making it again. Hubby asked me last night if I would please never make it again, and I think he was right... our family has been really "musical" lately from all of that "musical fruit". (I know, TMI!) Last night and today my tummy has been all tied up in knots, which really isn't fun.
Taco soup leftovers- I forgot to take a picture earlier
We were boring last night and just did leftovers, but this is good because I'm working on making sure that they get eaten (instead of taking up space in the fridge and eventually tossed).
lots of leftovers!
I've not been good at keeping track of my 35 pts this week, but I have been careful at what goes into my mouth. I've been craving something chocolatey and sweet, but instead of baking I've been hitting my stash. I've tried a pk of Hostess 100-calorie cupcakes (which kinda helped), and FiberOne bars (which helped a lot, surprisingly). I'm making a point to exclude bread from my diet, partly because I know that it is high in points, and partly because I don't like it plain- only with stuff like butter and cinnamon-sugar, or peanut butter... not what I need to be eating.
I did well on WW when I was on Flex, too, but I had a much higher daily pts allotment... I think it would be really hard for me to stick to 21 pts (which will probably be 20 next week!) and not be starving. I know that there are ways to do it- my mom eats a lot of plain tomato soup and veggies- but I'm running a household with young kids and don't have time to cook for them and something else for me. I want real food, and I don't want to feel like the rabbit that I would resemble if I was trying to stick to 20 pts/day. I was breastfeeding the whole time I was on Flex, so I had between 32 and 29 pts/day- that's more like it! I'm guessing that I eat 25-30 pts/day on Core, and I'm eating food that I like- I really don't understand HOW I'm losing, honestly! Flex gave me the mindset that pasta is a no-no, along with fish and red meat. I'm eating those things, so why am I losing? It's because I'm following the Core plan, and eating healthier versions of these foods... and eating reasonable portions. It's hard to stop when I'm satisfied sometimes, but nice knowing that I'll just have more tomorrow for lunch. I'm learning, but it seems to be working.
Now to my current progress on last week's goal declaration: lose 2 lbs/week for 7 weeks- the final WI of my personal challenge being 2/28/08. If I were to accomplish this goal, I would be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW goal, making it very attainable.
I am now 13.8 lbs above goal. (7 lbs down in 2 weeks! Yippee!) I have 6 weeks left in this personal challenge. If I lose an average of 2.3 lbs/week between now and then, I will have beaten my challenge and will be at goal. At my current rate of progress, this seems reasonable. At the very least, one would assume that I would be able to be very close to that goal weight, right?
I'm not so sure. I remember how hard it was to lose those last few pounds... I really hope that I'll do ok this time around.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Lots to say...
but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have a fabulous new recipe to share, plus some big-bad-bummer news...
(but don't worry, I'm not going anywhere- I'll be back in a few hours to fill you in!)
(but don't worry, I'm not going anywhere- I'll be back in a few hours to fill you in!)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Baked Spaghetti
Tonight we had Baked Spaghetti on the menu, I'd estimated that this would take about 2 hours to prepare, but it appeared that it would be a "hands-off" two hours: a little prep work, let it sit and cook, a bit more prep, cook some more, prep one more time, cook and serve.
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
I missed a couple of days...
So my behavior goal was to post daily- I missed Saturday and Sunday. Kinda intentionally, actually. Why, you ask?
That's why.
The Calendar Girls' Club means putting a sticker on the calendar every day that you're on-plan, and I decided that I would consider myself to be on-plan so long as I only used 5 of the 35 weekly points on a given day. I started this challenge on Thursday, January 10. That also happens to be the ONLY day that I've earned my sticker. Dude, I suck at this! (I really am a Flex girl at heart... this Core plan is tough!)
Saturday started off great, we hit Sam's and Costco in the morning- I probably had 3-4 pts in samples at the most. Home for Core leftovers for lunch. Hubby wanted to clean out the storage room in the basement after lunch, it needed to be done but I really didn't want to do it... we worked all afternoon. By the time we were done, we were exhausted and hungry... I wanted to go out for dinner- anything to avoid cooking or eating more leftovers. I really wanted pizza or Mexican, and knew that I'd go way overboard with pizza, so we went for Mexican. I "needed" a margarita (hey, the cleaning was stressful!), we had cheese dip for the chips, and I decided on an order of 3 tacos. The tacos were relatively safe, mainly just the cheese and the taco shell that aren't Core. The cheese dip is relatively low in pts... it's the margarita that killed me. This one was small, and tasted really watery... but I know that it's super easy to drink a full day's worth of points without realizing it.
Sunday.... latte (Core) in the morning, no lunch (too many pts the night before, I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat!), Oven-Fried Fish and a side of veggies for dinner. Yum, and Core.
Then I began a project which made me the Coolest Mom in the World (or at least, at preschool), but in terms of staying on-plan, was a disaster. If you want more info, read the posts at those links. If not, just understand that I cannot control myself around sweets. And they were good. I finished off the frosting yesterday. And had a cupcake with my latte this morning. Thank goodness that they are all gone now- about 53 flex points later.
I think I'll figure out how many pts were in the cupcake this morning, I might be able to still earn myself a sticker for today...
That's why.
The Calendar Girls' Club means putting a sticker on the calendar every day that you're on-plan, and I decided that I would consider myself to be on-plan so long as I only used 5 of the 35 weekly points on a given day. I started this challenge on Thursday, January 10. That also happens to be the ONLY day that I've earned my sticker. Dude, I suck at this! (I really am a Flex girl at heart... this Core plan is tough!)
Saturday started off great, we hit Sam's and Costco in the morning- I probably had 3-4 pts in samples at the most. Home for Core leftovers for lunch. Hubby wanted to clean out the storage room in the basement after lunch, it needed to be done but I really didn't want to do it... we worked all afternoon. By the time we were done, we were exhausted and hungry... I wanted to go out for dinner- anything to avoid cooking or eating more leftovers. I really wanted pizza or Mexican, and knew that I'd go way overboard with pizza, so we went for Mexican. I "needed" a margarita (hey, the cleaning was stressful!), we had cheese dip for the chips, and I decided on an order of 3 tacos. The tacos were relatively safe, mainly just the cheese and the taco shell that aren't Core. The cheese dip is relatively low in pts... it's the margarita that killed me. This one was small, and tasted really watery... but I know that it's super easy to drink a full day's worth of points without realizing it.
Sunday.... latte (Core) in the morning, no lunch (too many pts the night before, I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat!), Oven-Fried Fish and a side of veggies for dinner. Yum, and Core.
Then I began a project which made me the Coolest Mom in the World (or at least, at preschool), but in terms of staying on-plan, was a disaster. If you want more info, read the posts at those links. If not, just understand that I cannot control myself around sweets. And they were good. I finished off the frosting yesterday. And had a cupcake with my latte this morning. Thank goodness that they are all gone now- about 53 flex points later.
I think I'll figure out how many pts were in the cupcake this morning, I might be able to still earn myself a sticker for today...
Crab Cakes!
Dinner last night was crab cakes.
Zoomed-out version of the photo I posted last night
This recipe needs to be mixed together 2-12 hours prior to cooking, then refrigerated to marinate until ready to cook.
My fridge is usually pretty organized, (still is, actually) but I didn't have much room for this big bowl... anyone else have this problem?
I was out running errands with SIL and MIL- hubby was home with our two and SIL's two kids (4 kids between 20 months and 5 years)... we'd been gone an hour when he sent me a text message: Bring food and booze NOW! The kids were driving him a little nuts. All of our errands were near the house, so we stopped by for a few minutes between stores; I shaped the crab cakes into patties and put them into the oven- setting the timer so he wouldn't forget to check on them. ***The kids had already eaten- chicken nuggets and fruit- I'd planned grownup food for us, and hadn't planned that the errands would take as long as they did.*** When I got home another hour later, he'd left four of them for me (I made 9). I tried one before I remembered to take a picture:
They really weren't too bad. I made a couple of changes to the recipe that I'm sure had a big effect on the turnout. First, hubby had a "moment" when he heard that I had crab meat on my shopping list and insisted that I buy imitation instead (because crab meat is expensive, you know!). So I KNOW that that changed the taste. Also, I couldn't for the life of me find my cayenne pepper or chili powder, so I didn't add that... and I refused to pay $2 each for a red bell pepper and skipped that as well. (Seriously?!? TWO DOLLARS for ONE PEPPER?!? The green ones were $.75 each!!!) BUT, I used to work at a seafood place... then a high-class/first-class/hoity-toity place... and I also lived on the Penn/Maryland border (Maryland is known for their crab cakes!)... and I'm a bit of a seafood snob. First to admit it. (If you're ever in Gettysburg- yes, THE Gettysburg- get the Homemade Crab Dip at O'Rourke's. It's an appetizer, but get it as a meal. Trust me on this.)
One of the regulars at the fancy-schmancy restaurant where I most recently worked is a cookbook author, and has a recipe for crabcakes- she worked on this recipe for over a month, and although I've never tried it, she was working to make it both easy and authentic. I think I'll try to adapt her recipe to the Core plan and see what I can come up with. Or, I'll play with several online recipes for Maryland Crab Cakes and come up with my own- and share it with you!
Either way, I'll use real crab meat.
Zoomed-out version of the photo I posted last night
This recipe needs to be mixed together 2-12 hours prior to cooking, then refrigerated to marinate until ready to cook.
My fridge is usually pretty organized, (still is, actually) but I didn't have much room for this big bowl... anyone else have this problem?
I was out running errands with SIL and MIL- hubby was home with our two and SIL's two kids (4 kids between 20 months and 5 years)... we'd been gone an hour when he sent me a text message: Bring food and booze NOW! The kids were driving him a little nuts. All of our errands were near the house, so we stopped by for a few minutes between stores; I shaped the crab cakes into patties and put them into the oven- setting the timer so he wouldn't forget to check on them. ***The kids had already eaten- chicken nuggets and fruit- I'd planned grownup food for us, and hadn't planned that the errands would take as long as they did.*** When I got home another hour later, he'd left four of them for me (I made 9). I tried one before I remembered to take a picture:
They really weren't too bad. I made a couple of changes to the recipe that I'm sure had a big effect on the turnout. First, hubby had a "moment" when he heard that I had crab meat on my shopping list and insisted that I buy imitation instead (because crab meat is expensive, you know!). So I KNOW that that changed the taste. Also, I couldn't for the life of me find my cayenne pepper or chili powder, so I didn't add that... and I refused to pay $2 each for a red bell pepper and skipped that as well. (Seriously?!? TWO DOLLARS for ONE PEPPER?!? The green ones were $.75 each!!!) BUT, I used to work at a seafood place... then a high-class/first-class/hoity-toity place... and I also lived on the Penn/Maryland border (Maryland is known for their crab cakes!)... and I'm a bit of a seafood snob. First to admit it. (If you're ever in Gettysburg- yes, THE Gettysburg- get the Homemade Crab Dip at O'Rourke's. It's an appetizer, but get it as a meal. Trust me on this.)
One of the regulars at the fancy-schmancy restaurant where I most recently worked is a cookbook author, and has a recipe for crabcakes- she worked on this recipe for over a month, and although I've never tried it, she was working to make it both easy and authentic. I think I'll try to adapt her recipe to the Core plan and see what I can come up with. Or, I'll play with several online recipes for Maryland Crab Cakes and come up with my own- and share it with you!
Either way, I'll use real crab meat.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Change of plans
Today Taco Soup was on our dinner menu, but a glance at the contents of my refrigerator made me decide to just do leftovers... then SIL invited us over so the kids could play, and we'd all have pizza. I asked if they liked onion soup (they do not) and said that I'd take my soup and everyone else could have pizza, because I need to work hard and achieve my goal.
Yeah. Ignore pizza and have soup instead. What would you have done?
When it arrived, I caved and decided to just have one piece, which I think was really ok because the pizza was cut into squares instead of slices... my piece was 1/16th or 1/25th of a large. I strayed a bit this morning (cookies with my coffee), and hubby put a piece of chocolate into my mouth after dinner, so I'm calling today an off-plan day and don't get to put a sticker on my calendar.
Today's food log:
latte- Core
2 sm. cookies- 3 pts
leftovers for lunch- Core
1/16th of a large cheese pizza- 2 pts
1 chocolate truffle- 3 pts
12 of 35 WPA used, 8 today (I would have been ok today were it not for that chocolate!!!)
Yeah. Ignore pizza and have soup instead. What would you have done?
When it arrived, I caved and decided to just have one piece, which I think was really ok because the pizza was cut into squares instead of slices... my piece was 1/16th or 1/25th of a large. I strayed a bit this morning (cookies with my coffee), and hubby put a piece of chocolate into my mouth after dinner, so I'm calling today an off-plan day and don't get to put a sticker on my calendar.
Today's food log:
latte- Core
2 sm. cookies- 3 pts
leftovers for lunch- Core
1/16th of a large cheese pizza- 2 pts
1 chocolate truffle- 3 pts
12 of 35 WPA used, 8 today (I would have been ok today were it not for that chocolate!!!)
My Story, with Pictures!
I figured I'd better have something here that tells the beginning of this story, so here goes.
I've never considered myself to be skinny, just active (and big-boned). Looking back at pictures from high school, I wish I still had that body! I certainly wasn't the skinniest in school, but wasn't chubby by any means. I was on the swim team and was very active, so even though I ate like crap I kept a decent figure.
In college I gained (like everyone else) a bit, and the spring of my senior year, mom suggested we do WW together, in preparation for my wedding (about 6 weeks after graduation). She did awesome, became toothpick-ish, and made lifetime. I was living in a sorority house, working 30+ hours/week at a restaurant, and on the campus meal plan... needless to say, I DID NOT DO WELL. Even if Core had been around then, I would not have done well. I had 18-20 pts/day, and wasn't terribly motivated- after all, I was ok with how I looked/it wasn't my idea/I wasn't paying for WW.
After we got married, we moved halfway across the country so I could attend the grad school of my choice. (Hubby decided that while we were there, he'd go to school too!) We weren't concerned about our weight, and enjoyed some of the fabulous local eateries. We 'updated' our wardrobes as needed, and really weren't bothered if our pants went up a size (or were just tighter than they had been).
We moved back home after 2 years and back to the restaurant I went, but this time I was management, which meant that I got to eat for FREE. Then we found out that I was pregnant, so I ate even more- discovered that I LOVED melted butter on my crab legs (I'd never eaten them with butter before!)... and I was drowning them in butter. By the time DS was born, I'd gained over 50 lbs and topped the scale at 203. Ouch. It was while I was pregnant that I decided that I hated being fat and would never allow myself to become this big again. It sucked and I hated how out of shape, awkward, and yucky I felt.
I lost most of the weight over the next year, staying home with DS and paying more attention to what I was eating. I tried for a while to count points on my own (doing WW but not paying for it), but that didn't last too long. When DS was about 16 months old, I went back to work at another restaurant... again as management, again eating for free. This restaurant had a big focus on the bar, and on wine, and encouraged me to have a glass of wine with my meal. Over time, I was drinking quite a bit (and still coming nowhere close to what my bosses were drinking!!!)- still at no cost to me. Drinking calories- excellent, right?
When DS was two, I realized I just couldn't handle this job (terrible hours, excruciating ownership) and I quit to once again be a SAHM. I realized that I'd gained weight working there, and had again tried to do WW on my own while I was there, but it just wasn't happening for me. A few months after I left there, I was pregnant again. I didn't gain as much this time, I think mainly for two reasons: I had a toddler to chase at home and I wasn't eating high-fat, high-calorie restaurant food for 2 meals/day. I don't remember how high my weight got with pregnancy #2, but I only gained 30-35 lbs. (Only?!?)
When DD was 4 months old, I realized that I'd had it and I had to lose some weight. Now. The very next day I went to the nearest WW location and signed up on 9/12/06. I weighed in at 173. I really did pretty great, journaling constantly and eating tons of veggies. Hubby was out of town a lot for the first month or so, which really helped- I didn't have to worry about making "real" meals for dinner... often I'd have a bowl of sauteed veggies and call it good. I hit my 10% on 11/3/06, hit my WW goal on 1/9/07, and made Lifetime on 2/20/07. My last good WI was on 3/13/07, I weighed in at 134- a total of 39 lbs lost. 2 weeks later, (3/27/07) I was 137.4, and my next WI was on 4/30/07- 140 lbs. Actually, it was 140.4, but she felt bad for me and recorded it as 140 so I wouldn't have to pay for being more than 2 lbs over goal.
And that was that. I didn't return to WI, and I didn't count points. I got on a kick over the summer, got my blog active again on Roni's site (re-doing it after her crash!), and was pretty good for a while- even exercising almost every day. I wasn't going back to WW to WI until I was closer to my goal weight, because I didn't want to pay. Needless to say, I never went back... until now. I signed up for a monthly pass again, and went back on 1/3/08- weighed in at 158.8. According to the weight tracker on WW's website, I haven't weighed that much since 10/17/06. Ouch.
I weighed in yesterday (1/10/08) at 155.8, so I lost 3 lbs my first week back! My current goal is to lose 2 lbs per week until the end of February- that'll get me down 14 lbs, bringing me within 4 lbs of my WW goal- I think it's doable, I'll just have to be very careful about what goes into my mouth. I'm going to do the Calendar Girl's Club to help motivate me... putting a sticker on my calendar every day that I stay on plan. Because I'm doing Core, and because I know that even on Flex I didn't always eat well (even if I was within my points range), I'm going to consider myself as "on plan" if I use 5 or fewer of my 35 weekly points.
And now, as promised, the pictures:
2 wks before DS was born... yes, it's a pregnancy picture, but look at the chub I'd built up!
January 2005- DS was 18 months, I was working again and had gained quite a bit- no idea what I weighed (l think my face looks every bit as big as that pregnancy picture!)
May 2005- still working, still pretty chunky for me- but I was trying to watch my diet by this time
July 2006, 2 months after DD was born- check out the muffin top!
September 2006, 4 days after starting WW
April 2007, just over goal
May 2007- I was comfy in public in the swimsuit!!!
I LOVE this picture- I think this shows how much I lost! (I almost look like a teenager again!)
September 2007: Here you can tell that I'm getting bigger again- this picture actually grossed me out, knowing how much I'd gained back!
Whew! I think that's way more pictures than I'd planned on sharing, but I think they do a good job showing the fat-to-skinny-to chunky transformation that I'm working off again.
I've never considered myself to be skinny, just active (and big-boned). Looking back at pictures from high school, I wish I still had that body! I certainly wasn't the skinniest in school, but wasn't chubby by any means. I was on the swim team and was very active, so even though I ate like crap I kept a decent figure.
In college I gained (like everyone else) a bit, and the spring of my senior year, mom suggested we do WW together, in preparation for my wedding (about 6 weeks after graduation). She did awesome, became toothpick-ish, and made lifetime. I was living in a sorority house, working 30+ hours/week at a restaurant, and on the campus meal plan... needless to say, I DID NOT DO WELL. Even if Core had been around then, I would not have done well. I had 18-20 pts/day, and wasn't terribly motivated- after all, I was ok with how I looked/it wasn't my idea/I wasn't paying for WW.
After we got married, we moved halfway across the country so I could attend the grad school of my choice. (Hubby decided that while we were there, he'd go to school too!) We weren't concerned about our weight, and enjoyed some of the fabulous local eateries. We 'updated' our wardrobes as needed, and really weren't bothered if our pants went up a size (or were just tighter than they had been).
We moved back home after 2 years and back to the restaurant I went, but this time I was management, which meant that I got to eat for FREE. Then we found out that I was pregnant, so I ate even more- discovered that I LOVED melted butter on my crab legs (I'd never eaten them with butter before!)... and I was drowning them in butter. By the time DS was born, I'd gained over 50 lbs and topped the scale at 203. Ouch. It was while I was pregnant that I decided that I hated being fat and would never allow myself to become this big again. It sucked and I hated how out of shape, awkward, and yucky I felt.
I lost most of the weight over the next year, staying home with DS and paying more attention to what I was eating. I tried for a while to count points on my own (doing WW but not paying for it), but that didn't last too long. When DS was about 16 months old, I went back to work at another restaurant... again as management, again eating for free. This restaurant had a big focus on the bar, and on wine, and encouraged me to have a glass of wine with my meal. Over time, I was drinking quite a bit (and still coming nowhere close to what my bosses were drinking!!!)- still at no cost to me. Drinking calories- excellent, right?
When DS was two, I realized I just couldn't handle this job (terrible hours, excruciating ownership) and I quit to once again be a SAHM. I realized that I'd gained weight working there, and had again tried to do WW on my own while I was there, but it just wasn't happening for me. A few months after I left there, I was pregnant again. I didn't gain as much this time, I think mainly for two reasons: I had a toddler to chase at home and I wasn't eating high-fat, high-calorie restaurant food for 2 meals/day. I don't remember how high my weight got with pregnancy #2, but I only gained 30-35 lbs. (Only?!?)
When DD was 4 months old, I realized that I'd had it and I had to lose some weight. Now. The very next day I went to the nearest WW location and signed up on 9/12/06. I weighed in at 173. I really did pretty great, journaling constantly and eating tons of veggies. Hubby was out of town a lot for the first month or so, which really helped- I didn't have to worry about making "real" meals for dinner... often I'd have a bowl of sauteed veggies and call it good. I hit my 10% on 11/3/06, hit my WW goal on 1/9/07, and made Lifetime on 2/20/07. My last good WI was on 3/13/07, I weighed in at 134- a total of 39 lbs lost. 2 weeks later, (3/27/07) I was 137.4, and my next WI was on 4/30/07- 140 lbs. Actually, it was 140.4, but she felt bad for me and recorded it as 140 so I wouldn't have to pay for being more than 2 lbs over goal.
And that was that. I didn't return to WI, and I didn't count points. I got on a kick over the summer, got my blog active again on Roni's site (re-doing it after her crash!), and was pretty good for a while- even exercising almost every day. I wasn't going back to WW to WI until I was closer to my goal weight, because I didn't want to pay. Needless to say, I never went back... until now. I signed up for a monthly pass again, and went back on 1/3/08- weighed in at 158.8. According to the weight tracker on WW's website, I haven't weighed that much since 10/17/06. Ouch.
I weighed in yesterday (1/10/08) at 155.8, so I lost 3 lbs my first week back! My current goal is to lose 2 lbs per week until the end of February- that'll get me down 14 lbs, bringing me within 4 lbs of my WW goal- I think it's doable, I'll just have to be very careful about what goes into my mouth. I'm going to do the Calendar Girl's Club to help motivate me... putting a sticker on my calendar every day that I stay on plan. Because I'm doing Core, and because I know that even on Flex I didn't always eat well (even if I was within my points range), I'm going to consider myself as "on plan" if I use 5 or fewer of my 35 weekly points.
And now, as promised, the pictures:
2 wks before DS was born... yes, it's a pregnancy picture, but look at the chub I'd built up!
January 2005- DS was 18 months, I was working again and had gained quite a bit- no idea what I weighed (l think my face looks every bit as big as that pregnancy picture!)
May 2005- still working, still pretty chunky for me- but I was trying to watch my diet by this time
July 2006, 2 months after DD was born- check out the muffin top!
September 2006, 4 days after starting WW
April 2007, just over goal
May 2007- I was comfy in public in the swimsuit!!!
I LOVE this picture- I think this shows how much I lost! (I almost look like a teenager again!)
September 2007: Here you can tell that I'm getting bigger again- this picture actually grossed me out, knowing how much I'd gained back!
Whew! I think that's way more pictures than I'd planned on sharing, but I think they do a good job showing the fat-to-skinny-to chunky transformation that I'm working off again.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Lettuce Wraps- beyond yummy!!!
Holy smokes, was dinner good!
Today's food log:
latte and WW PB mini-bar (Core+1pt)
tamale casserole leftovers (Core +2pts)
Inside-Out Egg Roll Lettuce Wraps
WW Smores mini-bar (1pt)
4 of 35 Flex pts used for the week
I played with the recipe a bit (did you even have to ask?). This is what I did:
about 1-1.5 cups diced frozen chicken breast
about .5 cups frozen cocktail shrimp
1 Morningstar mushroom burger
tossed in pan together with some Pam, ginger, allspice, chicken broth, celery seed, and minced onion- it looked like this:
I let this cook for a while, until the meats were thawed. I took them back out of the pan and diced the shrimp, then I used my fingers and shredded the chicken and the burger and returned them all to the pan. Then I diced the water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, added them, and took another picture:
I added soy sauce, the garlic and ginger, mixed everything really well, and moved to a back burner to cook slowly while I worked on the cabbage. It was obvious that my pan wasn't big enough for everything (I doubled the recipe), so I pulled out my wok and dumped in the cole slaw mix and canola oil. I didn't think this was cooking down fast enough (and it seemed pretty dry) so I added a bit more oil and some soy sauce. It took about 10 minutes to really cook down, then I added the meat mixture, stirred well, and dinner was ready. (And it was SO freakin' good!) Here it is just before serving:
I had a head of lettuce set aside for this, we ate it as lettuce wraps and everyone was very happy- it's been awhile since everyone raved about a dinner as much as they did tonight. The best part? Plenty left over for later!
Today's food log:
latte and WW PB mini-bar (Core+1pt)
tamale casserole leftovers (Core +2pts)
Inside-Out Egg Roll Lettuce Wraps
WW Smores mini-bar (1pt)
4 of 35 Flex pts used for the week
I played with the recipe a bit (did you even have to ask?). This is what I did:
about 1-1.5 cups diced frozen chicken breast
about .5 cups frozen cocktail shrimp
1 Morningstar mushroom burger
tossed in pan together with some Pam, ginger, allspice, chicken broth, celery seed, and minced onion- it looked like this:
I let this cook for a while, until the meats were thawed. I took them back out of the pan and diced the shrimp, then I used my fingers and shredded the chicken and the burger and returned them all to the pan. Then I diced the water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, added them, and took another picture:
I added soy sauce, the garlic and ginger, mixed everything really well, and moved to a back burner to cook slowly while I worked on the cabbage. It was obvious that my pan wasn't big enough for everything (I doubled the recipe), so I pulled out my wok and dumped in the cole slaw mix and canola oil. I didn't think this was cooking down fast enough (and it seemed pretty dry) so I added a bit more oil and some soy sauce. It took about 10 minutes to really cook down, then I added the meat mixture, stirred well, and dinner was ready. (And it was SO freakin' good!) Here it is just before serving:
I had a head of lettuce set aside for this, we ate it as lettuce wraps and everyone was very happy- it's been awhile since everyone raved about a dinner as much as they did tonight. The best part? Plenty left over for later!
Jan/Feb '08 Personal Challenge- Updated Weekly
I'm starting this personal challenge today, Thursday, January 10, 2008. I am doing this really for my budget more than anything else, because I want to be able to cancel my Monthly Pass.
This challenge is to lose 2 lbs/week (14 lbs) for the next 7 weeks- ending February 28. If I can accomplish that, I will be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW Lifetime goal weight. My thinking is that if I can reach this goal, I could skip the next week's weigh-in and go back 2 weeks later (March 13) back within 2 lbs of goal... which is the magic number for LT members (if you're no more than 2 lbs over goal, you don't have to pay!!!). I am 17.8 lbs over goal today.
UPDATE: Saturday, January 19- WI 1 of challenge- down 4 lbs from 1/10!!! I doubled my personal goal for this week's loss, and am now 13.8 lbs over goal.
UPDATE: Thursday, January 24- WI 2 of challenge- down 1.2 from 1/19! Roughly half of my week's goal for losing, but still on track to lose 14 lbs between 1/10 and 2/28.
UPDATE: Thursday, January 31- WI 3 of challenge- down 1.0 from 1/24! Exactly half of my week's goal for losing, but still on track to lose 14 lbs between 1/10 and 2/28. If I can lose an average of 1.95 lbs/week between now and 2/28, I will have achieved this goal! I would really like to lose a little more than that, but I know that isn't necessarily realistic. If I were doing better at counting my points, it might be more likely to happen...
UPDATE: Thursday, February 7- WI 4 of challenge- down 2.8 from 1/31! Almost 1.5 times of my week's goal for losing, this is good! I am now exactly 5 lbs away from the goal that I set for myself (which also means that I've lost exactly 9 lbs since 1/10)- this is exciting. To meet my goal, I need to lose a total of 5 lbs in the next 3 weeks... should be possible. I would be much happier, though, to lose 7 lbs in that timeframe... then I would be back within 2 lbs of goal (and FREE!).
UPDATE: Thursday, February 14- WI 5 of challenge- UP 0.6 from 2/7! Ouch. I haven't been OP and I haven't been working on losing this week, so I guess I deserve it. I'll be working hard all week to reverse this gain and see a loss next week!
This challenge is to lose 2 lbs/week (14 lbs) for the next 7 weeks- ending February 28. If I can accomplish that, I will be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW Lifetime goal weight. My thinking is that if I can reach this goal, I could skip the next week's weigh-in and go back 2 weeks later (March 13) back within 2 lbs of goal... which is the magic number for LT members (if you're no more than 2 lbs over goal, you don't have to pay!!!). I am 17.8 lbs over goal today.
UPDATE: Saturday, January 19- WI 1 of challenge- down 4 lbs from 1/10!!! I doubled my personal goal for this week's loss, and am now 13.8 lbs over goal.
UPDATE: Thursday, January 24- WI 2 of challenge- down 1.2 from 1/19! Roughly half of my week's goal for losing, but still on track to lose 14 lbs between 1/10 and 2/28.
UPDATE: Thursday, January 31- WI 3 of challenge- down 1.0 from 1/24! Exactly half of my week's goal for losing, but still on track to lose 14 lbs between 1/10 and 2/28. If I can lose an average of 1.95 lbs/week between now and 2/28, I will have achieved this goal! I would really like to lose a little more than that, but I know that isn't necessarily realistic. If I were doing better at counting my points, it might be more likely to happen...
UPDATE: Thursday, February 7- WI 4 of challenge- down 2.8 from 1/31! Almost 1.5 times of my week's goal for losing, this is good! I am now exactly 5 lbs away from the goal that I set for myself (which also means that I've lost exactly 9 lbs since 1/10)- this is exciting. To meet my goal, I need to lose a total of 5 lbs in the next 3 weeks... should be possible. I would be much happier, though, to lose 7 lbs in that timeframe... then I would be back within 2 lbs of goal (and FREE!).
UPDATE: Thursday, February 14- WI 5 of challenge- UP 0.6 from 2/7! Ouch. I haven't been OP and I haven't been working on losing this week, so I guess I deserve it. I'll be working hard all week to reverse this gain and see a loss next week!
First CORE WI
I weighed in this morning, one week after my first WI back- and after a "week" on Core. I say it like that because I really didn't follow the Core plan for the first few days... or really much at all... because we had company and we had yummy treats (they left us with a cookie jar full of goodies, too!). I've said before that if there are sweets in the house, that I'll eat them- this week was no different. I've now pretty much emptied the house of sweet stuff (at least the kind that I'm interested in) and have no choice but to eat Core foods. The refrigerator is full of Core leftovers from the meals that I've been making every night, which means that I'm prepared for totally-Core eating.
So, are you ready for the first WI reading? DOWN 3.0!!! While I'm excited, I told hubby that it wasn't entirely accurate, because when I went last week for the starter weight, I wore my watch and a sweatshirt- neither of which I would normally wear for a WI. I'm glad that I wore them, though, because I don't feel so bad about my week. Hubby was only down 0.2, and he was not happy about that (but I see that he's been eating out at lunchtime, and his interpretation of Core foods isn't terribly strict or accurate, if you ask me). I'm looking forward to a strict week on plan, and next week's WI.
Being down 3 means that I'm 17 lbs over my goal weight. My question is, for Lifetime, you have to pay if you are more than 2 lbs above your goal... will I stop having to pay once lose another 15 lbs, or do I have to get back to goal (17 lbs) before that 2 lb rule goes into effect for me? I hate the fact that I've gained so much back, and am planning to work extra-hard to ensure that I lose it again. I'm really hoping to get back to goal in the next 6-8 weeks. I know that's possible, but will take some work... and I'm going to do it. In fact, let's set a goal right now. (checks calendar, counts weeks) My goal for the next 7 weeks (that'll be February 28) is to lose 14 lbs- a very doable 2 lbs/week.
So, are you ready for the first WI reading? DOWN 3.0!!! While I'm excited, I told hubby that it wasn't entirely accurate, because when I went last week for the starter weight, I wore my watch and a sweatshirt- neither of which I would normally wear for a WI. I'm glad that I wore them, though, because I don't feel so bad about my week. Hubby was only down 0.2, and he was not happy about that (but I see that he's been eating out at lunchtime, and his interpretation of Core foods isn't terribly strict or accurate, if you ask me). I'm looking forward to a strict week on plan, and next week's WI.
Being down 3 means that I'm 17 lbs over my goal weight. My question is, for Lifetime, you have to pay if you are more than 2 lbs above your goal... will I stop having to pay once lose another 15 lbs, or do I have to get back to goal (17 lbs) before that 2 lb rule goes into effect for me? I hate the fact that I've gained so much back, and am planning to work extra-hard to ensure that I lose it again. I'm really hoping to get back to goal in the next 6-8 weeks. I know that's possible, but will take some work... and I'm going to do it. In fact, let's set a goal right now. (checks calendar, counts weeks) My goal for the next 7 weeks (that'll be February 28) is to lose 14 lbs- a very doable 2 lbs/week.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Yep, dinner at church.
Wednesday nights we have dinner at church and I am at their mercy for my menu. Tonight was one of the healthier meals, Parmesean Chicken, roasted veggies, and cheesy veggies. Dessert was brownies with strawberries/strawberry sauce. I tried to eat the chicken and not the breading, but I'm sure that there were lots of points in the rest of the dinner... definitely NOT Core.
I think the trick is going to be to avoid salt on Wednesdays, knowing that the dinner will be off-plan and WI is the next morning. Yes, I know I could have skipped the cheesy veggies and the dessert, but really? Would you have had that kind of willpower? Tomorrow starts a new day, and a new set of 35 flex points. (thank goodness!) :)
I think the trick is going to be to avoid salt on Wednesdays, knowing that the dinner will be off-plan and WI is the next morning. Yes, I know I could have skipped the cheesy veggies and the dessert, but really? Would you have had that kind of willpower? Tomorrow starts a new day, and a new set of 35 flex points. (thank goodness!) :)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Eggs and Leftovers
Hubby has his weekly Masons meeting on Tuesday nights, and they eat there once/month. Tonight he was supposed to cook for the group, so he made his King's Onion Soup- which is 100% Core! There were leftovers, so I'll be eating this for at least a week.
The kids wanted breakfast foods for dinner, so I started them off with scrambled eggs (I make them totally Core). They were going to have toast, too, but the eggs seemed to fill them up. I wasn't too hungry, so after a few bites of leftover eggs I was done.
Sorry this is short, but I'm tired tonight- at least I posted a bit about my food today!
The kids wanted breakfast foods for dinner, so I started them off with scrambled eggs (I make them totally Core). They were going to have toast, too, but the eggs seemed to fill them up. I wasn't too hungry, so after a few bites of leftover eggs I was done.
Sorry this is short, but I'm tired tonight- at least I posted a bit about my food today!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Crockpot Paella (100% Core)
I tried this recipe from Heather's site today, but would make some changes next time- primarily, it says to cook on low for 5 hours and I think maybe it should be high for 5 hours or low for the whole day. I ended up microwaving it to speed the cooking process, and also cooked it on high for quite a while... it still ended up being extremely moist, especially for paella. The recipe calls for 2 cups of chicken broth/stock, next time I will just use one 14.5oz can (about 1.5 cups). I used the whole 2 cups because I figured the rice probably needed it, but now it seems to be overkill.
Overall, the taste is very good and I will definitely make it again. Paella is one of hubby's favorites, but I don't make it too often because it is time-consuming and labor-intensive... this is much easier. The chopping/slicing/dicing of veggies took quite a while, but maybe next time I will use chopped, frozen veggies from my freezer and not worry so much about the measuring.
Overall, the taste is very good and I will definitely make it again. Paella is one of hubby's favorites, but I don't make it too often because it is time-consuming and labor-intensive... this is much easier. The chopping/slicing/dicing of veggies took quite a while, but maybe next time I will use chopped, frozen veggies from my freezer and not worry so much about the measuring.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Tamale Casserole
Let's just not talk about this morning or afternoon. Company was still here and we didn't eat well... (wait, yes we did! Just not very healthy.)
Dinnertime was approaching and I knew that I needed to stick to my plan, so I made the Tamale Casserole- it was pretty good! I was a bit unsure about it until I tasted it, mainly because I hadn't yet Googled to find out what the heck hominy is. (Found out about 30 seconds ago that hubby was almost right on!) It was rather bland, and I think next time I would add more chilies or serve with a side of salsa, but I would definitely make this again.
I'm so looking forward to tomorrow- no more excuses to eat junk!
Today:
carmel rolls (yes, two of them thankyouverymuch)
latte (CORE!)
2 slices Godfather's sausage pizza (which is fewer points than taco pizza, the other option that my mom brought!)
tamale casserole with 2% cheese (couldn't find the FF kind, so it wasn't QUITE Core, but pretty darn close)
Dinnertime was approaching and I knew that I needed to stick to my plan, so I made the Tamale Casserole- it was pretty good! I was a bit unsure about it until I tasted it, mainly because I hadn't yet Googled to find out what the heck hominy is. (Found out about 30 seconds ago that hubby was almost right on!) It was rather bland, and I think next time I would add more chilies or serve with a side of salsa, but I would definitely make this again.
I'm so looking forward to tomorrow- no more excuses to eat junk!
Today:
carmel rolls (yes, two of them thankyouverymuch)
latte (CORE!)
2 slices Godfather's sausage pizza (which is fewer points than taco pizza, the other option that my mom brought!)
tamale casserole with 2% cheese (couldn't find the FF kind, so it wasn't QUITE Core, but pretty darn close)
Saturday, January 5, 2008
can't. stop. eating. treats.
Bugger. We've got overnight guests (a late Christmas celebration) and they brought more flippin' treats. Yummy treats, like HOMEMADE CARAMELS. And my mom brought over "additions" to our dinner: bread and cake. Bite me, mom.
So my food journal for today:
CARAMELS. LOTS OF THEM.
1/2 Turnberry sandwich from Palmer's
Palmer's brownie
lettuce salad with Wishbone spritz (Core)
King's onion soup (Core)
slice of Italian bread
slice of Boston Cream Cake
I DID NOT give into the temptation of eating the rest of the cake (in fact, I told my mom how much I would appreciate it if she would just take it out to the car while we were cleaning up, because otherwise I would have no choice but to finish it off!)
My leader told a story the other day about how she feels compelled to eat sweets if they are in the house... no matter how insane it sounds (she got mad at her hubby for first buying, then for not taking a 1/2 gallon of Rocky Road ice cream with him to work- because she would eat the entire thing while he was at work!) THAT'S ME, FOLKS. I've finished off a tray/box/container of sweets before even if I didn't particularly like them, JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE, CALLING MY NAME. Moral of the story? I can't have sweets in the house. Period.
I think I'm going to have to add up my points this week to hope that I've stayed somewhat within daily points (if I'd been doing Flex) and hope for the best... this Core thing is not off to a great start. Hubby, lemme tell you, is NOT helping. He bought cheese made with skim milk and assumed it was Fat Free- no frickin' way. Nutritional info wasn't listed, so it "must be zero points". I could go on and on, but if this continues I'm gonna be pretty stressed.
It's been a great day, just not a great CORE day. I think I'll have more time on Monday to spend some time and figure points, it's been a super busy few days. Have a great Sunday!
So my food journal for today:
CARAMELS. LOTS OF THEM.
1/2 Turnberry sandwich from Palmer's
Palmer's brownie
lettuce salad with Wishbone spritz (Core)
King's onion soup (Core)
slice of Italian bread
slice of Boston Cream Cake
I DID NOT give into the temptation of eating the rest of the cake (in fact, I told my mom how much I would appreciate it if she would just take it out to the car while we were cleaning up, because otherwise I would have no choice but to finish it off!)
My leader told a story the other day about how she feels compelled to eat sweets if they are in the house... no matter how insane it sounds (she got mad at her hubby for first buying, then for not taking a 1/2 gallon of Rocky Road ice cream with him to work- because she would eat the entire thing while he was at work!) THAT'S ME, FOLKS. I've finished off a tray/box/container of sweets before even if I didn't particularly like them, JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE, CALLING MY NAME. Moral of the story? I can't have sweets in the house. Period.
I think I'm going to have to add up my points this week to hope that I've stayed somewhat within daily points (if I'd been doing Flex) and hope for the best... this Core thing is not off to a great start. Hubby, lemme tell you, is NOT helping. He bought cheese made with skim milk and assumed it was Fat Free- no frickin' way. Nutritional info wasn't listed, so it "must be zero points". I could go on and on, but if this continues I'm gonna be pretty stressed.
It's been a great day, just not a great CORE day. I think I'll have more time on Monday to spend some time and figure points, it's been a super busy few days. Have a great Sunday!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Planning meals in advance
I realized that if we're going to do Core, and do it well, I'll need to plan out at least a week's worth of meals in advance and shop for their ingredient lists. So I've spent several hours working on a menu of dinners and getting a shopping list prepared... trying to avoid repeated items... working hard to list items in order of their appearance in the aisles of my local Hy-Vee.
I did a bit better staying on Core today, but didn't get to the grocery store in time to prepare for dinner. Luckily, my parents invited us to join them for dinner, so hubby and I split the shrimp and veggie fajitas. I know I'll have to count WPAs for them, but I don't mind using the WPAs a bit this week, as I've been preparing my future menus.
I have dinner planned, tomorrow through January 21... and intend to make enough to have leftovers to eat for lunches. I found these recipes primarily on the WW message boards and on Heather's site (which is FANTASTIC!), though a few of them came from my recipe box! If you're counting, I'm missing 2 days between now and the 21st- we go to church on Wednesday evenings and dinner is served there, so I will have to plan for using WPAs on Wednesday nights. (Which reminds me how nice it was to weigh in on Tuesdays and not have Wednesdays at church impact my WI!)
My dinner plans, starting tomorrow night (Jan 5):
King's Onion Soup
Tamale Casserole
Crockpot Paella
Baked Spaghetti Squash with tomatoes and mozzarella
Inside-Out Egg Rolls served with Bulgar
Taco Soup
Beef and Bulgar Casserole
Crockpot London Broil served with Saturday Night Vidalia Onions
Crab Cakes, side of veggies
Baked Spaghetti
King's Onion Soup (will make with London Broil and Vidalia Onion leftovers)
Oven Fried Fish, side of veggies
crockpot chili
Chicken and Tomatoes
Pasta with Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Lemon
Are you drooling yet? (I am!) Everything on that list is CORE! Yee-haw! :)
Today's food log:
water and diet coke (Core)
1/4 cup spanish rice (1.5 WPA)
3 shrimp/veggie fajitas
chips
Um, I honestly forgot about lunch (usually don't have breakfast). Will work on that tomorrow!
I did a bit better staying on Core today, but didn't get to the grocery store in time to prepare for dinner. Luckily, my parents invited us to join them for dinner, so hubby and I split the shrimp and veggie fajitas. I know I'll have to count WPAs for them, but I don't mind using the WPAs a bit this week, as I've been preparing my future menus.
I have dinner planned, tomorrow through January 21... and intend to make enough to have leftovers to eat for lunches. I found these recipes primarily on the WW message boards and on Heather's site (which is FANTASTIC!), though a few of them came from my recipe box! If you're counting, I'm missing 2 days between now and the 21st- we go to church on Wednesday evenings and dinner is served there, so I will have to plan for using WPAs on Wednesday nights. (Which reminds me how nice it was to weigh in on Tuesdays and not have Wednesdays at church impact my WI!)
My dinner plans, starting tomorrow night (Jan 5):
King's Onion Soup
Tamale Casserole
Crockpot Paella
Baked Spaghetti Squash with tomatoes and mozzarella
Inside-Out Egg Rolls served with Bulgar
Taco Soup
Beef and Bulgar Casserole
Crockpot London Broil served with Saturday Night Vidalia Onions
Crab Cakes, side of veggies
Baked Spaghetti
King's Onion Soup (will make with London Broil and Vidalia Onion leftovers)
Oven Fried Fish, side of veggies
crockpot chili
Chicken and Tomatoes
Pasta with Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Lemon
Are you drooling yet? (I am!) Everything on that list is CORE! Yee-haw! :)
Today's food log:
water and diet coke (Core)
1/4 cup spanish rice (1.5 WPA)
3 shrimp/veggie fajitas
chips
Um, I honestly forgot about lunch (usually don't have breakfast). Will work on that tomorrow!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Gonna try Core
Hubby wants to do whichever plan I do, but he'd prefer Core. I've always done Flex, but the idea of not counting is pretty exciting... also I like that I would have less of an opportunity to eat a poor diet so long as I stayed within my points range, and that I would be teaching my kids good habits- surely better habits than if I was on Flex again. So we're going to try Core.
I did not do well today on this plan. I began my day as I always do, with a 2 point (but Core!) latte. I opted for the Vitamuffin (1 pt), thinking that I'd be counting again. (The Core decision was made late afternoon.) I also snacked tonight at a candidate's post-caucus reception. ***Yes, I am an Iowan and lean towards politically active! And my guy won tonight- yay!***
I really don't know how to calculate what I ate, but I'll try to figure it out tomorrow... for now, I'll just list it.
Latte (Core)
Vitamuffin (1 pt)
Open-faced sloppy Joe (Core plus 2 pts)
2 mini-teeny-tiny cheesecakes
3 mini corndogs
3 fried ravioli
4? cream-cheese wontons
3 chocolates
Yep, I'm a sucker for fried stuff and sweets. I'll figure how many of my 35 WPA I've used, and move on. Also I need to get to the grocery store and stock up on Core foods. I've been working on a list of staples, and I think I'm going to start planning a weekly menu- will add those ingredients to the shopping list, too. I think a planned menu will help us stick to Core, as it is more strict in the food options (but less strict when it comes to portions! yay!)
This has been day 1 in my goal to blog here daily through Valentine's Day- so far, so good. :)
I did not do well today on this plan. I began my day as I always do, with a 2 point (but Core!) latte. I opted for the Vitamuffin (1 pt), thinking that I'd be counting again. (The Core decision was made late afternoon.) I also snacked tonight at a candidate's post-caucus reception. ***Yes, I am an Iowan and lean towards politically active! And my guy won tonight- yay!***
I really don't know how to calculate what I ate, but I'll try to figure it out tomorrow... for now, I'll just list it.
Latte (Core)
Vitamuffin (1 pt)
Open-faced sloppy Joe (Core plus 2 pts)
2 mini-teeny-tiny cheesecakes
3 mini corndogs
3 fried ravioli
4? cream-cheese wontons
3 chocolates
Yep, I'm a sucker for fried stuff and sweets. I'll figure how many of my 35 WPA I've used, and move on. Also I need to get to the grocery store and stock up on Core foods. I've been working on a list of staples, and I think I'm going to start planning a weekly menu- will add those ingredients to the shopping list, too. I think a planned menu will help us stick to Core, as it is more strict in the food options (but less strict when it comes to portions! yay!)
This has been day 1 in my goal to blog here daily through Valentine's Day- so far, so good. :)
First Meeting Back
Hubby and I went to our first meeting today... I hadn't weighed in since 3/31/07. I've gained 18 pounds since my last WI, and am a full 20 pounds over my goal weight (holy crap!). I wanted to go last night, thinking we'd be able to get a sitter, but hubby wanted to go today- so the kids came with us... I don't recommend that!
Since I started WW, I've been a Tuesdays at 10AM gal. Today being Thursday, the meeting was with a different leader: Ann. Ann is very good and also very popular, her meetings are pretty full. I've never been a fan of her meetings because they are LONG- today was no different and she was still talking when I took the kids and left after an hour. (I had hubby stay for the whole thing because he's new to the program.) Ann encouraged us all to set a behavior goal for now through Valentine's Day (which is 6 weeks from today), I decided that my goal would be to blog here every day- at the very least with a food journal.
I have 21 points- please help me stay on track and writing this blog so I'll stick with those 21 each day!
Since I started WW, I've been a Tuesdays at 10AM gal. Today being Thursday, the meeting was with a different leader: Ann. Ann is very good and also very popular, her meetings are pretty full. I've never been a fan of her meetings because they are LONG- today was no different and she was still talking when I took the kids and left after an hour. (I had hubby stay for the whole thing because he's new to the program.) Ann encouraged us all to set a behavior goal for now through Valentine's Day (which is 6 weeks from today), I decided that my goal would be to blog here every day- at the very least with a food journal.
I have 21 points- please help me stay on track and writing this blog so I'll stick with those 21 each day!
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