Week 2 done

I am alive. Haven't thrown in the towel, got side tracked with program or anything like that. Just have been fighting another cold so haven't felt like doing a recent blog update. Program is going well. I'm still getting in that water, making CONSCIOUS food choices as opposed to unconscious ones. No mindless nibbles. I'm following my plan and am happy with the progress I am making. I don't mean the weightloss, although that is great too, but am very happy with how I am making decisions to do things and am sticking with those choices. Reminds me of the quote they used in the closing of Tuesday night's meeting,

"There are only two options: Make progress or make excuses. " Ellen Mikesell

As a result of the pre-planning and hard work, happy to report another 3 pound loss this past Tuesday bringing my total to 7 down, earning me my first 5 pound star.

Week 1 done

So my first week back at Weight Watchers is now done. It's been a great week all week. Gotten in loads of water, tracked ALL week, including the weekend which has always been where I have fallen off in the past, managed to not go over my points so didn't have to dip into the "allowance" and LOST 4 POUNDS! Wooohooo me! The 4 pounds is great, but even more important to me is the nonscale victory I had on the weekend.

Even after my meals were all counted, after supper on Sunday night I still had quite a few points left that I am "supposed" to eat. Hubby asked if I wanted to go to Dairy Queen and get a blizzard to use them up. Normally, I woulda been in the van, raring to go, before he even had his shoes on, but I got up from the kitchen table and came into the computer and checked out the DQ nutritional info on-line for my favorite blizzard treat HOLY SMOKES!!!! Even the small was something like 22 points! I checked out the others, trying to find something I felt more comfortable with (even though I could have had that 22 point sucker, just would have meant dipping into my allowance). Even though there were some that were less points, they just were not what I would have wanted enough to warrant giving up that many points on, so I opted for something I would have been satisfied with ( and was delish) later when we sat down and watched AFV together. So very proud of myself!

Dear Weight Watchers

While I do realize you have only recently changed your program and the way food points are now calculated, I don't think it is to much to ask to make sure YOUR frozen food products available in grocery stores are showing the CORRECT points values!! At the very least send out a little sticky thing the retailers can affix to the freezer doors telling newbies NOT to trust the number on the packet!

Now that I got THAT out of the way........

Had another good day yesterday. Journalled, got in my water and stayed within my allowable points. I did have an A-HA moment too. I'm not much of a breakfast person. I DESPISE eggs, not even sure I have ever tried oatmeal, the look of the texture gives me the heebie jeebies but am going to give it a try (just have to psych myself up), and cereal isn't my thing, so figuring out what to have other than a yummy smoothie for that meal is going to be a challenge. Yesterday I decided to try half of one of my daughter's "Works" bagels. Topped that sucker with some lite herb cream cheese, threw in a couple of clementine's (mmmmmmm) and I was good to go. For lunch I thought I would have myself a ham sandwich with the Costco Kirkland Black Forest Ham (OMG that stuff is good) and was great. Until about 2:00/2:30. It was like someone had suddenly laced my 2L bottle of water I was drinking with a sedative. I'm calling it my Carb Crash! Felt like I could have pulled a Rip Van Winkle and slept for 20 years. Man it was baddddd. Won't be trying that one again.

An Awakening

So yesterday was my first day back on program and I am VERY pleased with how well it went and how easy it was! It was like the tastebuds in my mouth had been awakened after years in a coma. Just call them Rip Van Winkle. I'd forgotten how GOOD some of the things I used to eat tasted. I haven't made myself a raspberry/banana smoothie or had a clementine in I don't know how long and right now, I want to reach back and kick myself in the ass for denying myself their yumminess all this time. Thankfully, I'm not flexible enough to do that yet so will just have to make due with asking myself "what were you thinking?" This, I imagine, is depressing for the kids, who are home today due to a snowday, as I am sure the entertainment value of watching their mom try and kick her own butt, losing her balance and falling over (kind of like that skateboard incident a few years back) would be absolutely priceless!

To plug another awakening of my the tastebuds, see the recipe below this post for the new recipe I tried last night for our supper. Don't forget, that if you make it and change anything , to adjust your nutritional information.

So after yesterday's blog about me rejoining Weight Watchers and my concern about the points they now give you and now having gotten over the hump of the first day, I have to say, I now understand why they gave us all extra points. Because of the way points are calculated now, the foods you once may have enjoyed on WW for a certain points value quite possibly are NOT the same. (Sneaky buggars!) Yesterday's lunchtime crackers that I spread my laughing cow lite cheese on USED to be 4 points for the two servings of crackers, now they are 6 eek!! Something I didn't discover until late last night when I logged into their etools which you get access to FOR FREE when you buy a monthly pass. Oreo thinsations also jumped up one too (if I remember right what they used to be). Not really a big deal, but makes you have to go back and recheck everything you once knew.

Overall a great day! And I HAD to have earned activity points for all the back and forth trips to the bathroom after drinking 2 liters of water!

BBQ Roasted Chicken with Parmesan Potatoes

From kraftcanada.com


http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/bbq-roasted-chicken-parmesan-115138.aspx




This was a new recipe I made last night for supper for us. We all really liked it. Even Mr. Picky Pants, my son! Of course he didn't like that the skins were still on the potatoes, but other than that, we all enjoyed the flavor.

Ingredients:
1 pound (450 grams) Small Red Potatoes (about 8) quartered
1/4 Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Aged Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing
1 1/2 tsp Chili Powder, divided
4 small boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 pound/450 grams)
1/4 C Kraft Original BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp Kraft 100% Parmesan Light Grated Cheese

Make It:
--Heat oven to 400F

--Toss potatoes with dressing in 13X9 nonstick pan; sprinkle with 1/2 tsp chili powder. Bake 25 min.

--Stir potatoes; push to sides of pan. Place chicken in single layer in center of pan; sprinkle with remaining chili powder. Drizzle with BBQ sauce.

--Bake 20 min. or until chicken is done (170F) and potatoes are tender. Transfer chicken to platter. Stir potatoes to evenly coat with pan drippings. Spoon around chicken on platter; top potatoes with parmesan.

Nutritional Information:
See the above link

**** I tweaked this abit for our family. Using 2 pounds of regular potatoes (seriously - 1 pound of potatoes for four people? Did you see how little that was in the above picture?), I cut them up smaller then the recipe called for based on some of the recipe reviews on the kraft site. I then microwaved them on a plate for about 7 or 8 minutes. I let them cool a bit then put them in a large ziploc bag with the dressing and chili powder and let them marinate for a couple hours. I used the regular calorie-wise Balsamic Vinagrette too. I also let them cook probably about 30-35 minutes. When it came time for the chicken, I subbed Bull's Eye Old West Hickory BBQ sauce on my not-so-small chicken breasts for the BBQ sauce the recipe called for. And of course, I remembered about three hours after we ate that I forgot to add the Parmesan to the potatoes when it was all done. Oh the smell's in my kitchen!!! MMMMMMM! A definite "do again" for my family!

Yeehaw! Giddy Up!

Well, I'm back in the saddle again. The weight-loss saddle. I've been throwing the idea around inside the far recesses of my mind for a little bit now about bucking up and going back to Weight Watchers. Finally grabbed hold of the reins and rode that pony back to my first meeting last night in I don't remember how many years. I forgot how scary it can be to make that first step through the doors on your own. In the past I have always had someone to go with, that first time, but this time, I was the Lone Ranger! Turns out though that I have a Tonto and a Silver there as I have an aunt and cousin who go to that same meeting (you guys have to fight it out amongst yourselves which of you is the horse!)

They've recently revamped their program and while I haven't really had a chance to read all my material yet to get a better understanding of the changes, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned with the amount of points they now give you to eat within your day PLUS the added "extra" or "bonus" points you are allowed to use if needed for special occasions. I used to get around 25 points for the day then you had your "extra" 35 you could eat (or not, your choice) called Flex Points and if I remember correctly, the lowest (ie. those skinny wenches) got 20 base points. Now it seems to be that everyone across the board gets almost 10 points higher then add in the big jump in the "extra" ones you can use, if needed, and it seems quite scary from where I am sitting. Bonus though!! Fruit is now a 0 point item!

Motivational Quotes

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it. ~~William Arthur Ward


The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. ~~ Frank Lloyd Wright


Happiness if where we find it, but rarely where we seek it. ~~J. Petit Senn


It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "Always do what you are afraid to do. " ~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson



The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. ~~Arthur C. Clarke


One joy scatters a hundred griefs. ~~Chinese Proverb



There is only one person who could ever make you happy, and that person is you. ~~David Burns



It is better to fall short of a high mark than to reach a low one. ~~ H.C. Payne



Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. ~~ Dougals Jerrold


The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live to purpose. ~~ Michel de Montaigne


Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. ~~ David Ogilvy


When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. ~~ Helen Keller