Monday, November 29, 2010

The Countdown Begins

I just deleted all my drafts of posts that I had, its official- 11 posts until my 500th!

What will I do on this specialest of occasions? Will I sing? Will I dance? Will I weigh in? Will I recite the Odyssey? Maybe I will read my favorite childhood book? Maybe I will crochet an entire coral reef, or maybe we will go grocery shopping together. I want to do something incredibly special for 500 posts. Maybe I will read all my old blogs to you! (That's not narcissistic *at all*) Maybe I will make a scrap book. I don't know. I have 12 posts to figure it out.

I am leaning toward either posting a video of one of my recipes or doing one of me trying something new. A recipe would be great because I love cooking and I already know what I am doing. Trying something new however will give me spontaneity, which of course, would result in either awesome success or epic failure. I won't combine the two though, I want something fun.

New Weight Watchers Plan, 500th Post, and More

Let's start off with this:

I am sick. Sick as a dog. Thankfully I haven't yet regurgitated, but I have been expelling things at a rapid rate today. I have a sore throat, swollen glands, puffy eyes, stuffed up and running nose, as well as a massive sinus headache from all of the congestion. Not pretty. I have been guzzling decongestant cough syrup and I am on the mend. I hope this doesn't last long.

The new WW plan, PointsPlus looks a little intimidating at first. I have to say, I wasn't really keen on the idea of changing a plan but you know what? You can't expect things to change if you aren't willing to. So I am spending a few days reacquainting myself with the program, checking out the new things, and deleting all of my added foods.

Since the new plan started during my current week, its extra confusing. Now the week I tracked is gone- I went from 28 points a day to 36! I also get 49 weekly. But here's the rub: I had already used all of my weekly points for thanksgiving! I also deleted all of my added foods because I no longer have the nutritional information to make them accurate. Starting Wednesday, I start fresh. If you read any other bloggers who are on WW you likely know this: The new plan counts calories, protein, carbs, fat, and fiber. A much more complete nutritional package. This makes points values higher, thus the higher daily/weekly allowances. Not only that, but they got rid of "Filling Foods" and now have "Power Foods" Fruits are now 0 points as well, which is great, even though I am not a fan of fruit. I am wondering though, how will the vegans use all their points? Especially if they are strictly vegan? They can probably eat a lot. Jealous! .

I haven't taken time to look at the bulk of the website yet, but I am sure that I will be able to get some time looking at it tonight. All in all, I am very excited to be able to try out this program. Let's hope it does good things.

Next on my list: My 500th post is coming up. Soon! Like, in 4 posts or so. Depends on how many drafts I have saved, but I am sure its right around 4 or 5 until then. I am thinking of doing something special for my 500th Celebratory Post. I am going to do a vlog. On what? I am not entirely sure. Maybe Dance Central. Or maybe any other topics you guys have in mind. Anything you want me to answer? Want my opinion on anything? Do a live weigh in? Have a drill sergeant come in and yell at me? (That's easy... my dad was a sergeant!)

 Work Related: Day 3 of training at work, we are getting into the good stuff now. The first section was pretty easy. I am on my lunch break now. I say "lunch break" but I actually ate while I was going over the material. I saved my break so I can blog, how crazy is that?? Work is surprisingly fun, even the training. There are a few people in my class who are a little clueless, but overall its a room full of peers who are all on the same level as me. Our instructor is very nice too, while he's not "tough" or anything, he can certainly keep us on task. Which is surprisingly easy. I guess when you do what you love for a living, its easy to stay on track.

And More: Every year around the holidays I donate some money to the salvation army, a dollar here or there when I can afford it. This year however, I am thinking I am going to donate $1 for every 1 pound lost. So far, I am looking at a total donation of $15 (and hopefully growing). I don't have a lot to give, but I think that now, especially during this time of year in this economy, its important. What do you guys think? I am hoping to at least put in $20 this year. I will do a special blog on it. When should my deadline be? Christmas Eve? I will do a special Christmas Eve post with a vlog. I'll make it extra cheesy- don't worry.

And....More: I went out to the store and I bought tupperware. 2 cup capacity, 5 for $2. I bought 2 sets (ten containers) I made a huge pot of chili. You should know by now that chili is one of my go-to meals. I made this one fiber-riffic. I soaked 2.25 lbs of beans; kidney, pinto, and black. I made a huge, huge pot. We are talking over 20 cups of chili when it was all said and done. I could have fed a small army.
What I did though, was write down all my ingredients and their weights, and I input that into Weight Watchers recipe builder. Then I made the chili. I dished out our bowls for dinner and then put the rest in tupperware in 1.5 cup portions. I froze half, and kept the other half in the fridge for quick eating. I used all 10 of my tupperware and 2 bowls for that night, so 12 servings. It came out being 5 points on the old plan, and 6 on the new one. I plan on doing this again with spaghetti, chicken and noodle soup, as well as my lasagna, my enchiladas, and all of my other awesome meals. I love having the conveinence of prepackaged meals but I hate paying so much money for them. At least I can reuse tupperware and still get to cook, which in my books is a win-win. I also need to make more breakfast sandwiches as well. Brian and I loved them so much, we were eating them all day long!

Well that's my break over, so I have to get back to my awesome job.

Tell me guys: What should I do for my 500th post vlog and what are you looking forward to for this holiday season? Did everyone have a good thanksgiving?

Sunday, November 28, 2010

What? Is that right??

How did you all do on Thanksgiving? Who gained weight? Who maintained? Who *lost* weight?

ME! I lost weight! I lost nearly 3 lbs since Wednesday! I am sitting pretty at 215.2 lbs, down from 218. Its great to see that number again. If you will remember, I was at 215 before but then gained back nearly 3 lbs over the last two weeks. I guess I just wasn't ready to see that number on the scale, or maybe I was losing too quickly and my body had to adjust. Who knows, but the important thing was, I never gave up and I will not give up. I am happy with the pace I am going and I am enjoying getting to know more about myself along the way.

Things I have learned this week:

-Sometimes, change is good. Other times, its fantastic. I recently dyed my hair a dark brown with a blonde streak. I decided that I look much better as a brunette (who would have guessed, since I am naturally a brunette anyway!)
-Don't sweat it. Sometimes we worry too much about what we are or aren't doing "right". Heck, I planned Thursday's thanksgiving meal but totally winged Friday's. Both felt good.
-Sleep is important. Not getting enough sleep definitely impacts how I will eat that day.
-Yogurt is my favorite. I eat yogurt but then stop because I would get yeast infections (caused by the live bacteria) This makes me sad. I've decided that if I keep eating it long enough, my body will balance out. After all, yogurt is the bomb (dot com) and I don't want to give up this delicious dietary staple. I bought 6-6oz cups this week.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving, Day 2

Well I do have to say that I ate a lot more today than I did yesterday, more likely because the food appealed to me more.

I had chocolate covered peanut butter balls (3), a slice of chocolate cake, cheese ball with crackers, ham, mashed potatoes, potatoes o'brien (I think?) and chicken alfredo lasagna. My cousin is basically allergic to tomatoes, so they have chicken alfredo lasagna for her. It's pretty good. There were also dinner rolls, green bean casserole, etc.

I had no idea how much I ate. I just took all my daily points (28) and all my weekly (27.5) and said that I used them all. I am sure I didn't but you never know.

Better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

I stepped on the scale this morning and I was down again, by a lot, 1.2 lbs. I have been making sure the last few days that I get my DRA of fiber. I've been munching on my fiber tablets (orange creme flavoured) during training for my job and I eat an english muffin every morning with 6-8g depending on the type. I made ham and bean soup with pinto beans and the beans have 14g per serving. Things are moving along like they should be.

I am so tired, partly because of the food baby I am carrying now and partly because I havent slept well the last couple days, we've been super busy.

Things coming up this week:

-Tomorrow I am dying my hair. Again. I'm going to go for something really cute and sort of exciting. I've been thinking about it for 48 hrs now, and have made up my mind.
-I'm also going to upload some videos of me doing Dance Central. I have some pre-recorded ones I will throw up on YouTube, and I am also planning on doing a vlog. Not sure about what though, that's still in the works.
-I am going to take advantage of my long weekend and buy some tupperware, get some groceries, and cook up a bunch of meals, portion them, freeze/refrigerate them.


Things I could have improved on over Turkey Day(s)

-I said I was going to exercise in the morning. I was a big fat liar.
-I didn't eat before going. I drank coffee instead,
-I passed up fried turkey but I ate 3 peanut butter globs and a slice of chocolate cake. I should have had the turkey instead lol

-

Thanksgiving Day Wrap Up

Thanksgiving day is over and here is how I did.

-Running on very little sleep, I promptly made a cup of coffee with fat free creamer and real sugar, 1 pt.
-We then went straight to family eating time. I had 3 oz of turkey, 1 cup of mashed potatoes, a bite of stuffing, a bite of sweet potato casserole, and a bite of green bean casserole. I estimated this all to be about 13 points.
-Had more coffee, 1 point.
-Drank lots of water, like 6-8 oz glasses while we were there.
-Went home, made ham and bean soup set it to "cook all day"
-I made a chicken wrap with 2 oz chicken, 1 slice fat free cheese and flour tortilla, for 6 points.
-We went out to a bowling alley (?!) to hang out with people we had just seen (?!) and by this time, I am hungry. I haven't eaten my daily points yet. We look at the menu and decide to split a 7-piece chicken fingers and fries basket. But brothers will be brothers, and we actually split this 4 ways instead of 2. We ordered another basket. I had 3 chicken breast strips and what I guessed at 3 oz of steak fries. I guesstimated that this would be about 12.5 points.

total for the day 33.5

Thats actually less than I eat most days haha

Preparing for thanksgiving day 2 today. My family is doing a deep fried turkey, so I will be staying away from that. My mom is also not making her awesome super chocolate caramel pie. Thank god, I can resist most sweets, but not that. Thanks, mom. You are the best.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Just a Quickie-Weigh In

Geezus! I only have a few minutes to post (On my lunch break, and I still have to eat heh)

I weighed in at 218.0 this morning. That is up .8 from last week, but I did eat a giant burrito from taco bell last night for 15 points, as well as nachos for 8. I ended up consuming 43.5 points yesterday. I am thinking this is partially food-baby, and partially fat-ass moment. Not liking the numbers but not undeserving of them either.

I ended up plowing through all of my weekly and into my activity this week. UGH I really need to get back in control. And that is all I am going to say on the subject. I promised I wouldn't bitch. I knew this was going to happen and I am keeping myself accountable. I didn't even want to weigh in today.

I earned 6 APs this week, which was 1 less than I wanted. The recommended is 28 a week by WW so I am going to strive for 10 this week, especially since it is Thanksgiving weekend and I now have 2 days of eating festivities.

My plan for tomorrow, since dinner is early is this: Wake up at 8, work out for 30 minutes doing strength training with my new weights. Take a quick shower, start my hair in curlers, and do some last minute cleaning. Then I will get dressed, hair makeup the works, and then I will eat breakfast. I am shooting for 8g of fiber first thing.

I will be taking along my fiber supplement with me to dinner and popping a few before we eat at 12:30. Then I will proceed with my plan: Eat one new thing, stay away from stuffing, and guzzle water.

Then we will be headed back home with brothers in tow, and we will then play the Kinect. I plan on being very actively participating. I want at least 30 minutes of play there, too.

Then I will kick everyone out about 8. I work tonight until 5 am and I am getting up at 8. So bitches better leave. I'm just saying.

I am going to have to get more focus on eating every few hours and eating lightly, as well as not eating out at all. Curse you, dirty dishes!

Somehow tonight I have to Go to the Store, get all the cleaning done, make a dessert, work AND get a nap in. I work until 10 tonight and only have a few hours to get all this done before I work again. Caffeine will definitely be needed tomorrow. Cranking up the coffee pot.


See you later, have a safe, wonderful holiday and I will hopefully have good news to report next week. I am not giving up this time. 8 weeks in, and I am not perfect. I have still lost 12 lbs. I am still proud of me.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Just a Quickie-Post

I've got some down time right now in between training stuff. I got all of my stuff done for the next day, so in an effort not to get too far ahead in class, I decided to take a small break. I love it- things are going smoothly. I have some interesting news.

Before today, I was under the impression I had training on Black Friday. Which meant, no Turkey day with my family, only Brian's. That was disappointing. Turns out- as long as we dont have any technical issues setting up our stuff- Friday is free.

So I called Brian and asked if he had to work still, and it turns out that he also got the day off! Excitement!

Now we will be going to my family's Turkey Day as well. What does this mean? I have TWO days of eating. Bah. I will have to make sure to pretrack both days now and try my hardest not to go over in points. I may not even eat Turkey with my family, since my uncle is deep frying it.

Yeah...deep fried. Sigh.

Maybe I'll eat some 3-point chili or ham and bean soup before I go, and just partake in dessert. Hey, they should just be happy we are coming, since we already told them we weren't going to be able to make it. What's more important, family or food...?

Food Family.

Special shout out to Leah! Thanks for contacting Brian, he was ecstatic.

Remember, if you want my husband to design your just shoot him an email or me one as well. You can contact him at befarrar85 (at) gmail (dot) com or leave me a comment, and I will pass the info along. 

Have a happy and safe Turkey day and be careful if you're going to go out and shop on Black Friday, don't need to get trampled over a Kinect for goodness sakes.

Thanksgiving Plans

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

We are going to Brian's aunt and uncle's as I mentioned before. I just asked what sort of foods they make and he answered "lots of casseroles"

EFF.

Well here is my game plan:

-Go to WW.com and find all the traditional recipes for Thanksgiving. I will add in small portions, using my portion cheat sheet, and I will try one new dish that has veggies or fruit in it. You never know if I will like it or not.

-Call relatives and ask if I can bring a dish. If I can, I am going to make my "green stuff" which is made of jello (sugar free) cream cheese, fat free cool whip, and pineapple. I am going to get neufatel or however it is spelled, cheese instead of regular kind. I am also going to try and find pineapple not soaked in syrup, and if it is, I am going to rinse it very thoroughly. That way, at least I will know how many points that dish is. Leave yourself an out.

-I will not eat any sort of pie/cake/etc dessert. Fruit only.

-I will drink water before and during the meal

-I will have a small cup of soup/English muffin and an apple before going, to help fill up.

-I will allow myself to dip into my weekly or even use all of them, but it will not be an excuse for a binge.

-I will brag about my weight loss and my new job. I will focus on people instead of food.

-I will do my best to be my best and not be down if none of this goes according to plan

-I will invite my brothers in law over and play Kinect with them

-I will not drink

-If possible, sit on the other side of the room where there isn't a lot of stuffing. I love stuffing.

Sounds like a good plan

12 hours until my new job! Training, day 1. Orientation and setting up hardware weeeee I can't wait. I think my instructor will be pretty cool.

Monday, November 22, 2010

24 Hours

In 24 hours I am starting training for my new job! Squeal!

I am very excited and a little nervous. My tummy is up in knots. But you know what I couldn't be happier.

Because of my new job, we will be bringing in about $1000 extra a month (and that's not including overtime....and there is a LOT of overtime..like I mean, a lot!)

If we could be good then you know we could have everything paid off in just a few short months. We owe $5600 in credit card debt. In 5.6 months we could pay it all off. That is the reason for the new job. Well, part of it anyway. The other part is to build up a savings and then eventually, move back to Mayberry. (That's what I call my home town)

I'm adamant about a few things of our move. I want to rent or own a house. And it has to be in the nice parts of town. (Even though its a small town there are still "nice" parts). I don't want to move into another apartment because I am sick of my neighbors. I want a fence, dammit. And a barbecue pit. And a porch swing. Hell I want a porch. And dont forget, I want a dog. So that will take a bit of time, finding the right house for me us.

I already have illusions allusions of grandeur.

Wednesday is weigh in. I've been doing really well this week with pretracking. I have also been dancing a lot, but I still havent seen much movement on the scale. I finally got over my constipation as well. I have been eating a lot of fiber in the form of Thomas English muffins. Each muffin has 6g-8g of fiber per serving and are 1 pt each. I bought two different varieties.

Thursday, as you likely know, is Turkey Day! We are headed to Brian's aunt and uncles (one of them, I think he has like 12,000 aunts and uncles) for dinner early in the day. Which is great! Then we have to go to my family for a "sorry we can't make it tomorrow, how about dessert" thing.

We both work on Black Friday. He will probably be bored all day sitting around drawing and I will be stuck in a virtual classroom learning about hardware and whatnot. Super bummer that we can't go.

I have some sort of exciting news: Soon I will be doing Dance Central on video! And uploading it! I absolutely, 100% hate being captured on film so this will be excruciating  exciting for me! I figured you all should see what its like. And instead of watching talented people dance, you should watch me. I have no coordination. It will be fun!

Okay now I have 23 hours and 42 minutes. What will I do? I am wanting to take a shower but I am afraid to, I might miss my package. I guess I will clean. Blah

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Clown Hair

I was chatting with one of my friends online and she was telling me how her daughter wears foam curlers to bed! Me too! I excitedly exclaimed and she went on to say how she will make fun of her if her hair ends up a little...really....curly. She calls it "clown hair" and I was wondering what she meant.

Turns out I experienced it first hand today! I had put the rollers in my hair before bed and slept on them all night long. When I got up in the morning I took them out. I looked cute... like Shirley Temple cute...

It's a cute hairstyle... if you're 7
So I thought I would just run my fingers through and break up the curls a bit. Sort of like I do with my curling iron. Except I ended up looking like this

Less dirty. Still as sad though.
I ended up wetting my hair brush and running it through my hair, until my hair was straight again.

What happened? I guess I slept in the curlers too long. I am going to have to look up foam curler  etiquette I guess.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Stockpiling

Well its official. I successfully ate more than one meal today, tracked it, and stayed under my points. I will show you now:

Yay me!
Pay no attention to the fact that Wednesday looks like I ate 38 points the the morning. While I track everything I eat, I rarely put it in the right time of day that I eat it. Usually it looks like I eat everything first thing in the morning.

I am trying hard to correct that and make my tracker look like a normal person's journal, where there are distinct meals. You can see I had a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner.

Hubby and I also went to the store tonight. I loaded up on things like various whole wheat pastas, dried beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tortillas, etc basically anything that would help me make quick, easy meals. I also bought more stuff for English muffins... I am just a tad obsessed


I got more chicken and beef. I can't remember what else I got because I fell asleep halfway through blogging this and then decided to finish it now. I have had 8 points so far this morning. An English muffin naturally, and a mini cheeseburger. mmm

Thursday, November 18, 2010

I'm Bluffin' with My Muffin

No this isn't Lady Gaga lyrics-fest. I actually made my own English Muffins today. I went to the store and picked up the ingredients:

-Thomas English muffins 100 cal/1g fat/8g fiber per muffin
-Meijer brand Canadian bacon 60 cal/1.5g fat/0 fiber per 3 slices (I only used one per sandwich)
-Meijer brand fat free American cheese slices 30 cal/0 fat/0 fiber per slice
-Meijer brand egg beaters 30 cal/0 fat/ 0 fiber per 1/4 cup.

*An interesting side note: Neither English Muffins or Canadian bacon originated in those respective countries. They are both entirely made in the USA. Thanks, Food Network Channel!




I cooked up 1.5 cups of egg whites in a skillet while I split open the 6 muffins, topping each with 1 slice of Canadian bacon and 1 slice of cheese. Then I topped with 1/4 cup each of the scrambled egg whites. Wrapped up and stuffed in the freezer. Each sandwich is 220 calories/2.5 g fat/ 8 g of fiber which makes it 4 points, just like the WW sandwiches.

The total cost of the ingredients for muffin meal was $10.54. The cheese was $3.59 for a package of 16 slices, which makes it .23 per slice. The egg beaters were $2.39 for 7 servings and that was .34 per serving. The bacon was $2.59 for 7 slices, and was  .37 per slice. The muffins were $2 for 6 for .33 per serving. It was $1.27 per sandwich, or $7.62 for 6 of them. WW were $2.74 for 2 muffins or $1.37 per sandwich. By buying and making it myself I saved .10 a sandwich, or .60 a week.

That doesn't really sound like much, does it? I didn't use coupons and nothing was on sale, so that will be the most it will cost me. I will also probably eat this every day for many years (I actually ate the same flavor of Pop-Tarts every single day for 6 years. I still love them) so the savings down the road will be good.

I also had a WW anytime meal- mini cheeseburger for 4 points as well. So far that brings me up to 8 points spent, 20 left. I have to figure out how many points dinner will be.

I also bought some wool yarn for a Christmas gift, and some paraffin wax as well. I need to go pine cone hunting which was on my to-do list today but I sort of got side tracked with blogging. Whoops. That will be what I will do tomorrow, first thing. The wool yarn feels so good. I really need to stop rubbing it against my face and finish my crochet projects. There's only 5 weeks and 2 days until Christmas

I am freezing cold. I can't seem to get warm. I have on a sweatshirt and my robe (I know, classy!) My ankle is killing me today as well. Stupid weather.

Damn You, Papa John!

Last night the conversation went like this

Him Im hungry
Me I'm hungry too
Him whats for dinner
Me no clue what do you want
Him I dont know
Me how about pizza?
Him homemade?
Me sure i'll have to wash some pots and stuff...
Him *long pause* how about.... ordering it?
Me *small pause*
Me ...ok
Me Cheese please for me


I ate the entire half of my pizza. Not in one sitting. In two. But still. That was 18.5 points. It was very good and I didn't miss the meat at all, which was surprising in and of itself. I logged my points and then I moved on.

We didn't get breadsticks (thank goodness) for some reason I cannot put down balls of dough. Especially if they have garlic or cheese anywhere near them. Which makes pizza kind of a dumb move.

We've been eating entirely too much pizza lately.

I couldn't find just "plain cheese" under the Papa John's section in the restaurant guide, so I think I will have to double check their website and see how many calories, fat, and fiber they have and see if my points were accurate or not.  I logged it under "Tuscan 6 cheese" which I got one time and made me violently ill. I am hoping to never repeat that experience

Woah! WTH wow... no way... okay... so I double checked the points... and it was way more than I thought it was... holy crap.... instead of being 18.5 points, like Weight Watchers said, it was actually 25.5 points. Had I known that prior, I wouldn't have eaten that at all. Oooh my god. Well there goes 15 of my weekly points right out the gate.

*Breathe* Okay don't worry. It's yesterday. Can't blame yesterday for today. Ignorance isn't an excuse, but it is dealt with. And yes, I did modify my points so it said I had 25.5 instead of 18.5.

I haven't had any coffee today. Which I think is good. I had a WW English muffin for breakfast (4 points) about to go mangle my honeycrisp apple for 2 points and chase it with a glass of water. I will also have to get ready and go to the bank. I have to pay them money so I can keep driving for another month. (Or more realistically, let my car sit there for 29/30 days) I also have to mail out a letter. Wee! Errands! And since I will be so close to the store, I figured I would pick up some English muffins, Canadian bacon, low fat cheese and egg whites so I can make my own english muffin breakfasts. For 4 points or less.

I'm still freaking out over that pizza. It was just cheese! Imagine if I ate meat on it like I secretly wanted! Holy shitaki mushrooms.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Week 7 Weigh In

Is it week 7? Holy crap. 7 weeks.

Well I have some ... interesting... news. I actually gained.

I gained 2.2 lbs. Last week, I had lost 2.4. So over the last 2 weeks, I lost .2 lbs

Yeah, not thrilled about it, but I promised that I wouldn't be "that" girl. I will not complain about gains, minor losses, or no losses.

It's part of life. Ups and downs.

Am I allowed to theorize on my weight gain? Sure. Will I? Mmm no. You know why? Because the simple fact is, I ate the wrong foods. I ate things I hadn't had in a while and it messed with me. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it.

I am not bitterly disappointed. I step on the scale every day and it has gone down from what it was. I am not going to freak out. I am sad though, don't get me wrong. I am just not going to dwell on it. "The past is history, tomorrow's a mystery, today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

A lot of exciting things happened this week

I got a new job
I got faster internet (for said job, but still, in my off hours I will be enjoying it)
I got to mail out some packages, fax some paperwork several thousand times, and fiddle around with file types
I made homemade dishwasher detergent (come on, that's exciting!)
I scrubbed my floor on my hands and knees (less exciting, but still an experience)
I earned 7 activity points last week for dancing. I wish I had danced more, but I was really busy during the day and Brian and I play Borderlands when he gets home.
I had my coffee maker literally explode on Brian, burning his thumb (Thank goodness it was only his thumb)
I bought a new coffee maker
I drink a "shot" of Pomegranate juice with my tea now. - I love this stuff!

Clearly I was a very busy woman.

Brian has been busy too. People are commissioning him for artwork left and right! Obligatory whore-out message: If you would like any artwork, you may do so by contacting him here or feel free to contact me. I will even give you a special discount!*

*Note: Brian can do all sorts of artwork styles- from comic book to realism and everything in between. If you need a logo design, new template, header, or if you just want some awesome artwork for your kids, give us a shout. We will be glad to help you out. Tell him his wife sent you :)


So back to my regularly scheduled blog.

Coffee is my new crack. Considering it has lots of caffeine, I am addicted. I put 1 Tbl of real sugar (1 pt) and 1 Tbl of fat free creamer (0 pts) into my coffee. I have decided that I am only allowed 1 cup per day. Given the choice, I would gladly drink all of my points away and probably die from a heart attack. It sounds thrilling!!

I have also noticed that I have not gone poo since Friday. Friday was the day I ate all the fast food and take out. (I had a grilled chicken sandwich from Dairy Queen for 9 points, a chicken quesadilla from Taco Bell for 12 points, and 4 small slices of cheese pizza for 15 points, as well as 4 breadsticks for 12 points) I am also drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea) and not enough water. I will be chasing all my drinks with water for this week, and see if that will correct the problem.

I used to be so bitterly disappointed whenever I gained weight. I would think "not again, failure!" and be so discouraged it was hard to continue to do my best. I am not going to fall into that pit trap again. So what, I gained 2.2 lbs.

 I have learned that:

I cannot eat fast food. Once I start eating it, it is all I crave.
I absolutely must must must measure everything
I absolutely must pretrack. If I don't, then I don't have a "holy shitballs, why am I eating this?" moment
I must not eat half of my points for the day once it hits midnight!

My schedule is to blame for that last one. I wake up at noon. Then I visit with my husband before he leaves for work at 12:45. Then I go back to bed til 2 or later (sometimes 4) Then I get up and work a bit. Then I start getting dinner around at 8 so it will be ready by 9:30 when he comes home. We then play games together until 3 am, and I work some more. We go to bed about 5 am.

I will eat nothing from 12-9:30 until we have dinner. Then I will eat from 9:30 to 5 am. Clearly I need to work on this "small meals, several times a day" concept and learn to eat like a normal person, even if I don't have a normal schedule. Yesterday all I had during the day was a cup of coffee (1 point) and a large honey crisp apple (2 points) until dinner, which was turkey-bacon wrapped stuffed chicken roll-ups (6 points) with mac and cheese (11 pts for 2 servings) At 3 am when I was hungry, I had left over spaghetti (6 pts) and a slice of whole wheat toast (1 point) Then I was hungry again at 5 am so I had an ounce and a half of cheese (4.5 points)

I'm going to have to get in the habit of making a breakfast, making a snack, making a lunch, making a snack, and then having dinner. And maybe a snack.

Maybe I will make some muffins for breakfast. I just bought raspberries. I think raspberry-lemon muffins would be fantastic! That would certainly do for snacks breakfast.
Ooh, maybe scrambled egg whites, turkey bacon, and a muffin. Depends on how many points the muffin is.
I just figured it out. If I can have two 2-pt snacks between meals, I can have three 8-pt meals. Which really would be awesome. Okay I can feel the coffee kicking in now. I'm starting to ramble. Also my laptop battery is low and the cord is in the other room.

The plan for the week is this:

-Pre-track everything.
-Dance central, at least 10 minutes a day (thats 1 activity point) ideally, 30.
-1 C of coffee per day. (this will be the saddest part of my day)
-Chase drinks and meals with water. Just call me Aqua-Lass!
-Eat 3 meals, 2 snacks like a regular human being. Instead of my weirdo insomniac thing.

The holidays are coming up. The day before Thanksgiving is my next weigh in. Lets see if I can't lose some more weight. I bet I can.

I am going to google the crap out of lemon-raspberry muffins and see if I can't find a good recipe to make them 3 points each

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tasty Tuesday: Christie's Awesome-Sauce Spaghetti

Sometimes I crack myself up. "Awesome sauce" is internet lingo for "really cool" fyi. But in this case, it's quite literal. It was AWESOME sauce.

And I made it! From scratch!

Before I get into how awesome I am, I have a confession. I am a terrible housewife. So much so, that my husband has all but given up on the idea of a clean house. Hey at least he gets a hot meal every night when he comes home for dinner... Gotta take what you can get.

Not to mention my kitchen is incredibly tiny. Like.... closet sized. Linen closet. The walk in closet in the master bedroom is actually bigger than my kitchen. I really wish I was joking.

I told hubby Sunday night that I was going to clean the kitchen "all day, even if it kills me" because I was so sick of having a dirty kitchen.

He texted me at 8 pm yesterday and the conversation went like this:

Him: Did you get the kitchen clean like you wanted?
Me: I'm working on it. There's a lot of dishes. *as I surf the web*
Me: I'm totally lying I havent even started yet.
Me: I'll get to it now.
Him:: Oh okay.

And that led me to take these pics. Not only to prove to you how horrible I am in cleaning but also how very tiny my kitchen is. Which makes it impossible to keep clean.

See? Filthy.

But an hour later, I got half of it done. I used vinegar and baking soda paste and lots of elbow grease to get the stubborn baked on stains off the stove top. I put all my spices/baking goods away and I tackled a good chunk of the dishes. I hand washed the linoleum. As in, on my hands and knees washed it with a washcloth and a vinegar/water solution. I don't own a mop. This is my entire kitchen. See how tiny it is?? It's still not 100% clean its like 80% with probably two more loads of dishes to go.  Let's get back to awesome sauce now.

Here's my ingredients

V8, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, onion, oregano, black pepper.

96/4 lean ground sirloin. Frozen, naturally. 

Brown that baby up! Also, add frozen, diced onion

The sauce is 2 C juice and 1T of all the spices.

It was a little runny. Secret thickening agent? Instant mashed potatoes. Seriously.

Sprinkle

Mix

Perfect! No one will ever know... wait... I just told. D'oh!

Needed more O- oregano!

Whole grain! I love whole grain! Pay no attention to my mess I just made :(

Secret ingredient #2: For flavor, add in ice-cubed chicken broth. 1 works.
My mom swears by butter. I swear by broth. So help me Broth!!

Yay! Thats all there is to it. You would think I worked hard at this meal. But no. I'm lazy. It was really easy to do.

Someone appreciates all my hard work. And thats what counts <3
We gobbled it up. There was enough for him to take to work and for me to have early this morning at 4 am when I got hungry hehe :) It must be all that coffee that I am drinking.

Gamma- come clean my kitchen and I'll feed you. We can do Dance Central as well :) lol I'm kidding. Mostly. I can make cheeseburgers


Tonight for dinner? Chicken rollups stuffed with light cream-cheese and spinach with macaroni and cheese. Excitement.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Stress and the effects on the body and mind

Or as I like to call it, my weekend.

My poor gramma is going to freak when she reads this....

As you know I got hired into a super awesome job this weekend. I am so excited about this job, I know that I will do really well in it (if you blow your interviewer out of the water, thats a good sign) I want to be prepared.

Being prepared. It sounds so confident and awesome, doesn't it? Well the reality is I have been flailing around like a drunken idiot who also happens to have a sudden case of amnesia. I can't remember anything. Anything. At all.

Some examples include:

1. leaving the stove burner on low heat for 5 hours
2. forgetting where I put the controller/remote/phone/pen/glass/etc the moment I set it down
3. telling Brian the same thing multiple times in a row, and not realizing I had told him already
4. forgetting basic English, grammar, and sentence structure. Seriously. I could not remember what "chicken nuggets" and "french fries" were called. I asked Brian if he wanted me to make him "uhm ...those thingies you dip into ranch and that other thing you dip in whats it called ketchup"

Not to mention the technical trouble I was having with the printer! Thankfully, it's all sorted now. I got all my paperwork done as well and faxed it over from my fax machine in my office.

Add that into one bad eating day where I ate a bunch of fast food and you are looking at a 2.5 lb gain!
UGH. I am calling shenanigans though. I know I didn't eat 2.5 lbs worth of food that day, and I am pretty sure it's just stress and water retention. I have since been eating only at home and only what I have logged into Weight Watchers. (Thankfully, I've gone down .8 lbs since yesterday)

I thought it was going to be 9 am-5 pm, as that is what I was told before but it turns out that it is actually going to be 2-10 pm. Which works out great for me. I don't have to alter my sleeping habits at all for this job. This rocks! My hours will be 1-9:30 pm when I get out of training. Know what is special about these hours? These hours are the *exact* same that my husband works! Yay!

I have everything done that I can do now. I am just so anxious to start. I think I will go and get some sleep now. I am so tired. I didn't sleep well at all last night because I was so worried if I would get all my paperwork done in time. I had to notarize it as well.

But I will leave you with something exciting (?... at least I think its exciting)

This week I have tried several new things:

1- applying for a job that I didn't think I was qualified for (and got hired!)
2- drank regular sweet tea with raspberry added (delish)
3- bought and juiced 3 pomegranates (awesome)
4- tried two new recipes
5- drank regular coffee with a dash of creamer and 2 packets of splenda. (also good)

There. That makes this a positive post :) See Gramma, I'm not stressed out at all! I'm doing good :) Now that everything is taken care of until the 23rd, there is no reason to worry. Right? Right.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Orange Chicken

I don't know about you, but I love me some Chinese food. When I found the virtual cheat sheet on WW.com about how many points are in chinese foods, I flipped. It was so darn expensive points wise. It almost (but not quite) ruined my love for Chinese.

One of my favorite dishes is orange chicken from Panda Express. Here's the nutritional breakdown:

Serving size 5.4 oz
Calories: 400
Fat g: 20
Fiber: 0

If you were just counting calories, you would say, hey, thats not too bad. 400 calories for almost 5.5 ounces is great....

If you are on weight watchers, you are going to do what I did, and freak the eff out... Ready? It's 10 points. Okay that doesn't look so bad right... 10 points.... *except* that's not including anything else. No rice, no chow mein, no drinks... thats JUST the chicken.
Curse you delicious golden chicken!

If you add in the rice (fried, natch) it turns into 22 points
*rice is 570 cal., 18g fat, and 8g fiber = 12 points

I am sobbing inside right now. I love PE and I love orange chicken. I only get 28 points a day. I am not spending 79% of my dailies on that! This week, I am lucky enough to have the following items in my inventory:

-Orange juice
-Lemon extract
-Chicken
-Brown rice

Liiiight bulb! I will make my OWN orange chicken. I looked up a recipe for a orange chicken glaze and then I built it into WW.com and found out my orange chicken (sauteed chicken chunks with orange glaze) is 4 points a serving! Yay! It's also 3 oz :)
Brown rice .5 cup per person is 2 points.

Take that, you stupid Panda. If your species weren't endangered I'd tell you right where to shove that wok!!
But since you are endangered, dear sweet panda bear, I will just cry and say no thanks whenever I am invited out.

I've done this now a few times. Take a recipe for something I really love and then find a lower-points version of it. That way I can still enjoy what I love without having to drastically alter anything. Yay WW! You rock.

Also, pomegranates? Freaking rock! I bought 3 of them and used one for a marinade for a pork loin (delish) and then juiced the other two so I could add them to my tea and have pom-tea. Delish. I also love eating the seeds, which is weird because most fruits I hate the seeds. But if you look at a pomegranate you will realize it is not most fruits. It's a weird little alien fruit that happens to be a nutritional powerhouse. I would buy cratefuls of pomegranates if I could afford to and also have room to store them.


EAT THIS its good for you...no srsly

Mild Panic

My printer wont work.
I rebooted, recalibrated the cartridges, uninstalled and reinstalled the software.
Nothing. Nada. No thanks.

So I panic! I have 19 hours to print off this paperwork and get it signed and notarized, as well as faxed over, or I don't get the job I was perfect for. PERFECT FOR

I call the Geek Squad aka Brian. He comes in and does the same thing. SAME THING

It works. YAY

I printed off everything. YAY

Now I can fill it out and get the job I was destined to have. DESTINED

Oh did I mention that this job is for technical support?

hahaha

Faster Net PLSKTHNX

I have DSL or as I like to call it "the new dial-up"

So slow. And I have the fastest speed I can get too. Curses!

But for my new job, that I got offered, you have to have cable or fiber optics. DSL isn't reliable enough. But my phone line is through the same company as my DSL and really, if my cable goes out...well... I'll have DSL.

I'm chatting LIVE to a customer rep right now! Give me my cable!

I keep asking her questions like "how expensive are trouble calls?" and "what time zone are you in?" lol a lot of waiting for things to go through.

But I will have faster interwebs on the 17th. Yeehaw!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Setting the Bar

I had an interview today

I didn't think I was entirely qualified

Turns out I was not only qualified

I was the fastest interviewer and the most qualified

Phrases "setting the bar high" and "blew me out of the water" were used by the interviewer.

Phrases "you're making me blush" and "really?" were used by me.


I rocked it.

Every Action Has An Equal and Opposite Reaction

No this isn't a physics lesson. I suck at physics. But you know what? It's still a lesson, so listen up.

Let's use today as a scenario:

I went to my parent's today. My grandma bought me a grilled chicken sandwich from Dairy Queen (she bought everyone else a fried one, so she's helping lol) for 9 points.

Then I was hungry later. So I had a 1/3 of a pizza sub (19 pts for the whole thing so 6 for a third)

Then I was hungry on the way home. So I stopped at Taco Bell.... seeing a pattern here? Chicken quesadilla= 12 points.

Brian had to work late and no groceries in the house so I ordered pizza. Thin crust, half cheese, half pepperoni. Order of garlic parmasan breadsticks (who invented these? sadistic bastard). I had 4 breadsticks for 11.5 points and 4 slices of cheese pizza 15 slices.

Total damage: 53.5 points for the day.
Yeah.

But I pretracked so it was a conscious decision. I regret only that I didn't hit up the store on the way home for something a little more filling lol

But I tried something new today: Raspberry Iced Tea. That shit is heaven on wheels. I'm not sure what that means.

Good news: I did dance central for an hour with my mom (4 points earned) and then another half an hour when I got home (2 points earned) so that helped some of my damage. I will just have to go to the store tomorrow, stock up on goodies I can make from home and stay far the fuck away from fast food.

BAD CHRISTIE. *slaps wrist*

My first major screw up. And I have already moved on. I felt the need to blog about it because its very telling. I was doing fine without fast food. Perfectly well. But one screw up and I went almost on a fast food binge today. My stomach has been most unkind to me. Probably because I have been most unkind to it.

Bummer.

I'm really tired. But I have an interview tomorrow so I am too excited to sleep. Weee! It's a phone interview, so lets hope my charming personality can woo someone over voice. :) Wish me luck, internet friends!

I Lied

I told my mom that Brian "couldn't watch the Guild because he would want to start playing World of Warcraft [again]"


But to tell you the truth... I want to play.

Dammit.

LIAR

Stop making things look glamourous!

(I don't do mmo's)

(I'm also aware that no one who reads this blog is a gamer. Just ignore this then.)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Guilt Trips Don't Work On Me

Went to finally cancel my curves membership today. And the lady totally tried to guilt trip me. I told her I wasn't motivated to work out in a "gym-like setting" and she told me "You should be." so I responded with "But I'm not" and she said that I should be. 

Yeah I know what I should be doing. And its not curves. 

She then tried to get me to change my mind again. Sorry. I'm not interested. "You should be" 
So I finally told her to "just take my money please"

I am finally free. :) 


Ouch! Neck!

Dear Neck,

I am not sure what I did to you, but I truly regret it. Please forgive me.

My sincerest apologies,

Christie


---

I am not sure what I did to my neck but man oh man does it hurt. It hurts really bad. I think I pulled a neck muscle or something. Its insanely stiff and hurts to turn my head, look down or up, or just lay there sobbing on my pillow. I've been icing it down to help with the pain. Can't really elevate it...


In other news, I got a very interesting email today. A man named Rob sent me an email to let me know he took his wife's last name too. Hi Rob! Thanks for the email! It was so great connecting with someone else in our situation. Amazing how that happens.

I'm totally overwhelmed by the number of positive responses I have been getting lately. Thank you all so much for commenting. You guys are the best.

I had a total "What the heck just happened moment" not too long ago. I sent Brian off to the store ("fetch me drinks!") and I told him he could buy a video game but I wanted a snack. I almost put "buy me a Reeses" as I have 7 points left today. But instead I put "buy me a WW peanut butter cup sundae" and then I reflected. Why did I choose that over a Reeses? And the immediate answer was "because a Reeses didn't sound good" WTH happened there!?

Interesting. Let's hope this trend continues.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

6 Weeks Measurements

I did my measurements today and I was surprised by the numbers.

In 6 weeks I have lost

*4 inches off of my waist
*2.5 inches off of my stubborn hips
*1 inch in my bust
*half an inch in both my arms and thighs
*two dress sizes. (20 to a size 16)

I knew my tummy was smaller!

My abdomen is a lot smaller too. When I joined Curves in January it was 49" (my hips were 50) and now I am at 41" so I have lost 8 there as well. I didn't include that as the waist measurement because it's actually lower than my natural waistline (which is back again, hello waist!)

Overall I am pleased as punch!

I need to dance now. I will see you all later. Keep on keepin' on. I'm gonna be poppin' and lockin'

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Heavy Lifting

Tonight we are setting up a home office in our spare bedroom. We had that room originally as an office but then my brother in law moved in with us, so we moved the desk to our bedroom. Well I got lonely out in the living room all by myself so we moved it out there. And now, since we don't have anything going on in the spare bedroom, we are moving it back.

Tonight.

Exciting.

Except not.

This desk is huge! Its solid wood and an L-shape meaning its really really REALLY heavy. It comes apart into two sections, thankfully, so I will be able to help move. Wee! I have to clean out the desk too because its stuffed full of art books, computer books, computer related odds and ends and a ton of Brian's drawings. All said and done it would probably be about 150 lbs of stuff crammed into this desk. I couldn't be happier today.



I hope that I can lift my load tonight. I will have to. Now where am I going to put that futon and those bikes??? The bikes can go in our bedroom and I guess the futon can go in the living room where the desk currently is. Unless Brian wants to re-arrange the living room for more Kinect-related playspace. In which case the futon will stay in the office.


I like rearranging furniture its nice not to get stuck in a rut.

Does heavy lifting count as exercise?? No? Ah well, Dance Central it is.

Tonights dinner is chicken stir fry with brown rice, carrots and onion with soy sauce and ginger. I may put a few scrambled eggs in there as well. So far I've had 2 oz of sharp cheddar cheese (6 points) and 1 cup of my 3 point chili. I think I have enough points.

I am definitely noticing the difference in points. When I started I got 30 points a day. Now I get 28. I am definitely missing that extra 14 points a week but slowly starting to get used to it. I need to get going again, I have to make a list of things I have to do this weekend and make sure it's all done. I can't forget my head. It's vital

Weight Watchers Weigh In Week 6

It's 6 weeks! Yay me!

I've been diligently following a program for 6 weeks that is a celebration in itself, I will tell you!

But onto more important things:


My weigh in!

I lost a total of 2.4 lbs this week bringing my total weight loss up to 15 lbs

Yay me!!

I have to say I can definitely tell. Not only are all my clothes falling off of me, but clothes that didn't fit are starting to, and my underwear is so big it falls off. I need to go and buy more panties!

I can't find my measuring tape or I would take my measurements for you all. I know I am definitely smaller in the stomach area. In fact, last night, Brian asked if I was wearing my tummy-shaper panties (read: girdle) and I said no, pulled up my shirt and danced around saying "It's all me baby!"

I ate 20 weekly points.
I earned 10 activity points from Dance Central.

I have hip bones again. I can feel them. I've been molesting them since they have made a reappearance. They seem to like it as they haven't run away yet.

So to recap this week: My skeletal structure does, in fact, exist. My stomach is shrinking, making my boobies and hips by comparison look HUGE, I lost 2.5 lbs this week and I am only 8 lbs away from 10% hit.

I have lost 22 lbs since my wedding day.

I think I can whip out this extra 8 lbs by the end of the month. I don't want to jinx myself so if it doesn't happen that is okay.

Anyway I just got some really good news so I will have to cut this short. Take care all!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Instant Gratification

I bought a Kinect today. I was supposed to wait until Christmas. But fuck it! I wanted to play Dance Central again!


So I got the last one in my city! Weeeee! I bought DC and I hooked it up and shoved everything out of my living room just so I could play. I love it! I did an hour worth and it is totally a work out.

It also has a work out mode too that tracks calories but I am not sure how accurate it is. I really enjoy it. I did some really hard songs without practicing and it was TOUGH but so much fun!!

I earned 4 AP just dancing around in my living room. :)


Sorry Mom that I ruined your XMAS gift but I will take Microsoft Points or just cold hard cash for xmas instead. Zumba comes out on the 18th. I am going to rock it.

Some Changes

I've noticed some changes in my body. Some non-scale victories, if you will. I've had plenty of scale victories, so I will share a few more.

-Underneath my enormous bosom, there was a layer of fat on top of my ribcage. I couldn't feel my ribs at all. Now I can and that layer of fat is slowly melting away. There is a little divot in the skin where my breastbone is. Exciting! I noticed but didn't say anything until one night when Brian mentioned it first. It's really neat when your partner tells you something they noticed.

-My stomach is obviously smaller. This is where I store all my fat (besides my naturally ample arse) so my boobs/hips are looking a lot bigger because I actually have a waist now. It is noticeable!

-Along the same lines as my stomach shrinking- when I suck my stomach in, it actually moves! Which means there is less fat in between the muscle and skin and therefore I can suck in now! Pretty sad when you can't tell when a person is sucking in :(

-My clothes are really getting too big now. I have to stop and constantly yank up my pants. I need to find my belts and see if they fit so I can keep my pants on! It's hard to look sexy dancing when you stop and pull up your pants Urkel style.

-I feel a lot sexier. I can't stop touching my curves, my legs, looking into the mirror for long periods of time. I've always been a little narcassistic but now it's just getting ridiculous. I can't wait until I am even thinner.

-I'll let you in on a little secret: I can't eat as much as I used to either! We went out to a pizza joint and got an x-large pizza, two salads (mine was huge) and an order of breadsticks. The reason we ordered so much food was we had to spend $35 to use this $25 gift certificate. I ate a third of my salad (grilled chicken, green onion, mushroom, cheddar cheese with low-fat ranch over iceberg lettuce - 6 pts) two breadsticks (4 pts each) and 1 piece of pizza and I was stuffed! (pizza- thin crust, pepperoni, mushroom, easy cheese, onion and green pepper- 6 pts)

I didn't eat anything else all night!

I did have a diet Pepsi and it tasted like heaven on earth. How am I going to go back to my tea/lemonade mix??

So there you go some NSVs to tide you over until tomorrows weigh in (which is awesome, I assure you)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Dance Central

My Mom got a Kinect and it's pretty darn cool. I didn't think it would be all that great, because there was the Wii already. It blows the Wii out of the water. It's so much awesome-r. Take the idea of motion control and then the idea of holographic interfaces and the Kinect is definitely the "Kinect"-tion between the two.


She bought Dance Central which has popular songs and you learn the dance moves and then perform it. The songs are rated from very easy (0 stars) to very hard (5 stars) then there is a difficulty setting as well (easy, medium, hard) and let me tell you it is HARD and fun! I was sweating up a storm. It takes pictures of you as well while you are dancing and puts them all together.

I did it for half an hour and earned 5 activity points. I did 6 songs, 2 times each once on easy and once on medium. It was pretty awesome. I totally didn't feel like I was working out even though, it was definitely a work out. I am sore today.

I totally want to go out and get a Kinect. :)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Eat Less, Fatass

I am really annoyed with how the media is portraying weight loss. It's so simple, they cry, just exercise more!


I call shenanigans.

It isn't about moving more. It's about eating less. Sorry. You can kill yourself exercising an hour a day and not lose a damn pound. I know that because I did it. I was doing strength training and cardio an hour a day 4 days a week and at least 30 minutes a day for a while and wasn't seeing the scale move in any positive direction.

I thought I was eating less. I had no idea what a true portion was. I will have to take some comparison pics for you all and show you just how crazy out of control my portions were. I  wasn't eating "bad" food. I was eating chicken, cottage cheese, and whole grain pastas. I was stuffing veggies into everything and I wasn't losing a damn pound no matter how much I sweated, no matter how much I cried and no matter what I did.

It was food that was holding me back.

Even on the Biggest Loser they dont show how the contestants are handling the transition to their new diet. You know, the one where they cut back all of their food??? Yeah. Some of those contestants are eating upwards of 4000 calories a day and are getting cut back to 1200. Tell me that you would handle that well. No, I didn't think so. And then they kill themselves in a gym for hours a day. When you look at it like this their weight loss doesn't seem that impressive. If a 300 lb woman was eating 4700 calories a day and they cut her back to 1200 she would lose a lb a day through cutting calories alone. Then she works out for 3 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Her weight loss for the week is 10 lbs. Which means she lost 3 lbs for 21 hours of gym time

So not worth it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't exercise. I am just saying it shouldn't be a priority. Because while it will help with weight loss it doesn't cause dramatic changes in your weight. It will definitely add muscle and slim you down inches wise but the scale won't move as rapidly.

What honestly matters is portion control. I am a living testament to that. I was eating what I thought was a healthy amount of food- a chicken breast, a cup of low fat cottage cheese, tomato soup and a slice of whole wheat toast and it turns out that I was eating 3-4 times the portions that I should have been.

I am still going to exercise. I still enjoy it. I love the high that comes from it. (I also love sleeping so some days, sleeping wins. Ok most days.)

But I have done much more better in the realm of losing weight now that I have tracked my portions aggressively. I say aggressively because you really have to commit to tracking and controlling your portions. I have to weigh and measure every thing I put into my mouth. I have to use my points calculator. I have to track serving sizes. Like Jolly Time popcorn? 1 WW pt per serving. Well there are 2.5 servings per bag so a whole bag is 3.5 points, not 1. See? Tricksy.  A chicken breast? Yeah thats actually 3-4 servings of chicken per breast. A serving is 3 ounces. A breast is between 9-12 ounces.

It's like everyone is afraid to say it. Oh they all say "eat less, move more" or "eat whole, real foods" but no one comes out and says it. No one says the honest truth anymore.

Eat less, fatass. I am fat because I eat too much. I actually need to weigh I portions and not "eyeball" it. Eyeballing is what got me fat in the first place. I eyeballed that box of donuts and then ate all of them. Good job.

It's my new mantra. Is it yours? It would be if you lost 15 lbs in 6 weeks.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

New Design

Check out my new header. It's me! I'm blonde and my hips are a little smaller. Oh and Brian's got a red shirt instead of a blue one. Amazing! And I wasn't digging the black background behind my gadgets and such, so I changed the layout. Temporary, until I can coerce I mean convince Brian to make me something really cool.

Maybe something to do with Weight Watchers. Or cooking. Or both.

Christmas Gifts

It's only 7 short weeks until Christmas. I know what the heck happened?? I mean I know that it's the end of the year, I just didn't realize it was the end of the year! 2010 is almost gone!

I made a list and checked it more than twice. I have a lot of homemade gift ideas this year. Four lucky people get crocheted items, 2 lucky people get homemade soaps, and then I have a bunch of other cool ideas. I don't want to divulge too much because some of those people read this blog (Hi Gramma!) so here is what I can say:

My dad: My parents have a wood burning stove in their house and they run it every winter. As my dad likes fire, I decided home made firestarters would be a great gift. These are pinecones dipped in paraffin wax and they burn wonderfully, so I'm told.  I was cautioned to do it correctly so I don't blow the house up. Merry Christmas! lol

Brian's dad: He works construction and is often out in the cold. So what better than a few jars of homemade hot cocoa mix? I will be making regular, snowflake (white chocolate) and Mayan flavors. How cool will that be? or rather, how toasty?

Brian's mom: I'm thinking homemade handsoap scented with her favorite fragrance. I just need to find that out.

Granny: A long time ago, my granny made these crocheted angel ornaments out of doilies and gave them to my parents. They were always my favorites and I thought it would be great to make her one. Plus, last year, I made her an angel ornament so I am pretty sure it will be a theme. A different one every year.

My uncle: He bought some handmade soap from a friend of his many years ago and it was dragon's blood fragranced. He was always telling me how much he liked it. So I'm making him a few bars. Hurray!

How exciting! Do you have your gifts planned out?? Only 7 weeks til Christmas and 8 until the New Year make sure you make each day count, they will be gone before you know it!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Omg, I was right. Go figure.

I hopped on the scale today to see where I was in relation to last week. Last week I didn't step on the scale at all until my weigh in on Wednesday and I had only lost half a pound (which is still great!) I knew it was because instead of pretracking, I was post-tracking. I was eating before thinking, and that lead me to use all of my daily and all of my weekly. I am quite sure had I earned activity points I would have used them too.

This week, however, I have been aggressively pretracking. I spent an hour last night debating on what sort of treat I wanted to give myself since I was feeling blue. I looked up different restaurant desserts, donuts, cakes, brownies, everything. Finally, I settled on heading out to the store to pick up a SmartOnes peanut butter cup sundae. I ate both of them (like I knew I would) and that put me 7 points over my daily. But there wasn't any guilt or regret. It was simply "I wanted a treat or two and I wasn't going to deny myself that. I will accept that it will put me over and enjoy every morsel." Which I did.

Anyway, I'm on the scale. I see the number.... 216.4! I have already lost another pound! Since Wednesday! I really think that I need to get on the scale every day to stay motivated to keep aggressively tracking my food. It really is such a confidence booster knowing EXACTLY what I need to do to continue up this weight loss. If I keep heading in this direction, I will be looking at 20 lbs lost by Thanksgiving.

Wow. Just wow! I am 1.5 lbs away from having lost 15 lbs. WOW. Think about that for a moment. Mind boggling.

It's not that I *can* do this anymore. It's that I *am* doing this.

Wow! I am still in awe. The lowest I got down to after I got married was 214. I am rapidly approaching that number again. I hope to just wave as I sail on past!

To anyone considering WeightWatchers (I have had a few friends ask recently) I highly recommend it. If you can just put yourself first and say "I need some help" and get over the fear of joining, you will see results. If you put the effort into accurately measuring your food, you will see results. If you don't like the idea of sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers each week and having someone else look at your number on the scale, join online. No one else there sees your numbers (unless you put them up) you dont have to talk to anyone. You can just troll the forums. You have access to a great database of recipes with the option of adding in your own, so you can see how many points there are in your favorite meals.

Look at me. It's been 5 weeks and I lost 12.5 lbs. That's 2.5 lbs a week. In one short month you could be 10 lbs lighter. It's not like Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem or Medifast. You don't *have* to eat prepackaged foods. It suits all lifestyles. They even have cheese fry recipes. Nachoes. Chocolate. Booze. Nothing is off limits. It's not low carb, its not Atkins or Southbeach, its not a crazy restricted amount. It is whatever you want it to be.

And that is why it works.

PS join online so we can be friends :)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

How I Spent $50 on a $35 oil change

Or as I like to call it, poor planning!

I took hubby's car to go get an oil change. I was so busy getting ready that I forgot to eat before I left. I took it to Wal-Mart and they have a Subway inside. I had looked up Subway on my WW app and was debating whether or not I will eat there. I decided, no, I'd eat first. Except I didn't. Dammit.

Then I left my phone in the car. Which sucked. It meant that I couldn't text or call anyone. It also meant that I couldn't compare prices because I didn't have a calculator. It also meant that I was royally  effed and had to eat Subway anyway, and decide how many points that was.

I spent nearly $8 at subway. Apparently its not a meal if you just get a sandwich and apple slices. Bastards. I got a 6" turkey on 9-grain wheat with provolone and-- what else?-- spinach! and green pepper and mustard as well. I have to say that is the most satisfying sandwich I've had in a long time. I think it was because I was so darn hungry. I also got a bottle of water instead of diet coke. I am pretty proud of me. I also wandered around the store, naturally. I went up and down the produce section like 10 times looking at all the different fruits and veggies. I seriously considered getting some pomegranates but they are hard to eat while you are waiting on your car. I was going to get an apple... but they werent cold. I was going to just get a deli sandwich and save myself $3.50 but they didn't have any nutritional information on them. They had the list of ingredients but not how many calories and shit is in it.

No way.

After my $8 meal I went and looked at the books and magazines. I planned on getting a new book but I couldn't find any that I wanted. Its all teen angsty. I am so glad Im not a teenager anymore lol

I got a SELF magazine for $4.

I sat down to read it in the designated waiting area, but it turns out my car was already done. I didn't hear them call my name because Subway is loud....


I started looking at all of the fat people clothes. I am still fat, I know this. I also know that they have some really cute clothes too. And I was tempted to spend money. But Christmas is coming and I will be thinner by then anyway.


I kept wanting to reach for my phone to call someone or to open the calculator or to browse Weight Watchers or do something. Anything. Anything other than eat and spend money. But I failed.

Oh well. Next time I will remember to eat before I go.

I pretracked all of my meals yesterday and it went really well. Today I am making Zero Point soup and I got some sugar free jello which is 0 points per serving. I think that will help me stay full and not go crazy on my points.

I think I am going to go work out now. Or go back to bed. I haven't decided. I am usually not up this early. This early being 3 lol :)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Weigh in, Week 5

Today is Weight Watchers weigh in, week 5. Now we already discussed that I haven't been pre-tracking and I can tell this had a definite impact on my weight loss this week.

But I have vowed never to be "That Person"

That Person who is upset they only lost x amount in y time
That Person who is not celebrating their achievements


Any time the scale does not move is a victory.
Any time the scale moves only a little downward is a victory.


That being said: I was victorious! I lost .6 lbs this week, bringing my total to 12.6 lost in 5 weeks.
I know my weight loss will slow down a little, because I lost so much the first month. I know I can continue to pull the big numbers too.

I have started pre-tracking every little bite again. I am going to master this art. I will become the Artist Formerly Known As Stuffs Her Face

I bought a set of 3 lb hand weights because I am going to start exercising again and doing my videos. My 2 lbs-ers are too light now and the 5 lbs-ers are too heavy to do repetitions with (I tested them at the store! heh) They are also purple, which is nifty.

Goals for the week:

Exercise at least once with my new weights
Pretrack everything.
Drink more water.

Yay me! down another .6 lbs! I just keep getting smaller and smaller!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Tracking

Well, I admit, I've slacked in tracking. not that I am not logging every bite I eat, I am. But the difference is, I would spend at least a few minutes thinking about what I was going to eat, find out the points values for it, and then log it, all before eating. Then I wouldn't worry about what I was eating, because I had already come to terms with it. I like to think pre-tracking was a reason last month was so successful for me. It's easy to feel guilty after you've eaten a big meal and then have to see how many points it cost you. With pre-tracking its about making mindful choices. You have already acknowledged that those points were okay to spend.

What I have been doing is waiting until I was really hungry, and then feeling famished, stuffing food down my gullet, and then tracking, sometimes hours later. But I generally overestimated everything I ate, and have so far remained inside of my daily and weekly allowances.

Starting tomorrow- which is the beginning of my new week and weigh in- I am going back to pretracking. I am going to try and eat a little every few hours- a piece of cheese here, some mashed potatoes there- to keep myself from ever becoming truly ravenous.

This is what I need to work on. I need to follow my hunger signals and pretrack. I wasn't very hungry when I was pre-tracking. I am starving now- or so I think- and I have already used all of my points for the day. I will have to get this back under control. I am doing so good. I would hate to ruin all of my hard work with laziness.