Monday August 30, 2010...

So, I have been seriously overwhelmed with the busy-ness of my life recently. I had a few things happen last week...things like forgetting appointments with customers, finding myself in tears because I can't keep up with everything that's on my plate right now, missing deadlines...

So, the realization that, right now, I have too much on my plate and some things have to change, is very real to me. One of those things is going to have to be the amount of time I spend on the internet...so...for now...I really am going to take a break from blogging.

I am NOT taking a break from Weight Watchers, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle....just from the internet for a bit.

Friday August 27, 2010...

Just a quickie post this morning to say ...

I am down .6 this morning, bringing my total loss to 32 pounds..

My crazy week is over....whew!...now I should have some time for my blog soon!

Wednesday August 25, 2010...

Good morning blogworld!!!

I am taking a break from blogging....but not a clean break! I just don't have time for long posts with photos and details.

I never imagined our lives would be so busy as they are these days! Vern and I are involved in a lot of activities, many of them involve our church. Once in a while the things we're involved in all fall in the same week and we end up have something going on every night. This is one of those weeks.

I am on plan with a couple of slip-ups this week....nothing major...a bite of this a piece of that...but definitely not the way to make it to goal!

Tonight is the last BBQ of the summer with our church. We gather at Mission Bay Park. The church provides the meat, (fish, burgers or hotdogs,) and everyone brings a dish to share. We will go by Costco on our way there and pick up a vegetable tray so there will for sure be some healthy choices for me to go along with the fish. The fish isn't very good but it's low in calories...LOL. We are going to take our bikes and park in the far lot and ride in. It should be fun.

Tuesday August 24, 2010....

...I'm taking a bit of a "break" from my blog for the next day or two. I am having one of those insanely crazy...have to be someplace every night...have to work every day....kind of weeks....I'm not dead in a ditch someplace....just thought I'd better let everyone know...I'll be back at the end of the week....sooner if I can.

Saturday August 22, 2010...

I met with a trainer on Saturday morning. It was a good meeting. He was very helpful in giving me suggestions to make my treadmill walk more effective. He also showed me around the circuit training room and suggested that I try the circuit a few days a week in addition to my treadmill walk. After our meeting I did my walk and tried the things he suggested. One was to increase the incline of the "rolling hills" setting. With this setting the treadmill automatically inclines and declines every few minutes. I simply pushed the button each time to make it incline just a little bit more. The other thing he suggested was to increase the speed for short intervals. I normally walk at 3.5 mph. This time I walked at 3.5 or 5 minutes and 3.7-4.0 for five minutes throughout the walk. I was sweating like crazy at the end of the time!







I had a light breakfast an hour or so before I went to the gym. I had a peach and a half cup of Fage 0% Greek yogurt.
2 points




Lunch was sort of a brunch that I threw together in a hurry after coming home from the gym and before heading out for my "Knit Together" group. (I meet with some ladies from my church and we knit or, in my case, crochet. I make "chemo caps" for donation to cancer patients)

Omelet with veggies and fat free cheese and a mango chicken sausage. I ate a piece of reduced fat string cheese while I was cooking as well.
6 points



Dinner was pizza. I found this "Western bagel Alternative Pita" bread at the store and decided to give it a try. Each pita is 1 point. I split it into 2 pieces and then used the same toppings that I normally use on one large tortilla. I simply put half on each piece of pita. This was good but the tortilla holds the toppings better without getting soggy in the middle. I was hungry so while this was in the oven I nuked some broccoli and munched on it while waiting for my dinner to cook. It was so funny...I was texting back and forth with my son while I was doing all of this and, at one point I said to him, "OMG, I have lost my mind! I am munching on steamed . salted broccoli and it tastes like the BEST THING EVER!"...lol
7.5 points



After dinner I snacked on popcorn. I also had some frozen yogurt but forget to take a photo.
7 points



Daily Points used 22.5
Target 24

Friday August 20, 2010...

Because yesterday was my weigh in day and because I FINALLY crossed that 30 pounds lost threshold, I took a quick progress picture. The first two were taken in April after I had been on Weight Watchers for 1 week. The bottom one was taken yesterday. I love being abe to look back and see the difference!









I had the sweetest thing happen yesterday. I went by my parents' house after work. When I got there my mom could hardley wait to show me an ad in a magazine she had been flipping through that featured a Weight Watchers recipe. It was so cute! She was excited to share it with me. I love that she is so on board with what I'm doing. She is pulling for me, excited about my progress and proud of the changes I am making. She calls me on Friday morning to see how my weigh in has gone. I absolutely love that she is so engaged in my journey!


OK...so breakfast yesterday was an omelet with broccoli & FF cheese (It's tiny because I didn't realize I was almost out of egg beaters so that's all I had), sliced tomatoes, half an apple, and a banana nut Vitatop.
4 points





Lunch was a Boca Burger on a sandwich thin, FF cheese slice, lettuce, tomato, snap peas on the side and a couple of mandarin oranges.
5 points



Dinner was 3 oz of roasted chicken breast topped with a couple of tbs of spaghetti sauce from a jar, steamed broccoli, corn on the cobb (x2) and 1/2 cup brown rice/quinoa mixture.
8 points



I wanted desert so I diced an apple and nuked it in the microwave (in an omelet maker...lol) until it was tender and cooked through. I added a tbs of Brummel & Brown butter spread, 2 tbs PB2 powder and some Walden farms maple syrup (0 calorie). I mixed that all together and put it in a cute little polka dot bowl...have I mentioned that I love my polka dot dishes?....I topped it with a scoop of vanilla Golden Spoon yogurt....Oh.My.Goodness!!! This was crazy good!
7.5 points.


Total daily points used 24.5
Target 24
Weekly points allowance used .5


This morning I am meeting with a trainer at the gym to talk about my goals and have him/her help me to design a workout. I am not going to be working out with this trainer on a regular bass. The gym I use doesn't sell personal training plans. They simply have trainers on staff to help you get started and to answer questions, etc. I love that it's this way! I hate, hate, hate going to a gym that's ALL ABOUT selling training sessions and supplements....can we say 24 Hour Fitness?....I despise that place!

The gym I am using now is a new local place called "Chuze Fitness" (at least I think it's only local) it's $10.00 a month to join, no contracts, simply a month to month agreement. It's big and clean and I love it there!

Friday Morning Weigh In...

I lost 2.6 pounds this week which brings me to a total of 31.4 pounds lost!

Thursday August 19, 2010...

Breakfast was a huge bowl of cereal. Seriously, if you choose the right cereals you can have a BIG bowl full! This was 1 cup puffed corn, 1 cup of Kix, 1/2 cup of Fiber One, 1 cup blueberries (frozen but thawed in the microwave), and 1 cup of almond milk. I also had a cup of coffee with non-dairy creamer. I mostly drink my coffee without cream these days but once in a while I treat myself to a cup with creamer.
5 points




Lunch was spaghetti that I made a couple of weeks ago and froze. I froze the sauce and the noodles in separate zip lock bags. The sauce was 4 points and the noodles were 3 points.
7 points



Snack after lunch was this yummy peach
1 point



Dinner was tacos again. SURPRISE....after I said yesterday that Vern won't eat any of the healthy things I cook, he asked me if I would make him some tacos like I had eaten the other night. Shhh...nobody tell him it was lean ground turkey instead of ground beef! He doesn't read my blog so he wasn't prompted to ask because of what I said...so maybe he really is ready to try some of the things I'm cooking these days! He even ate the "refried" beans which were a combination of pinto and black beans. He has steadfastly refused to try black beans before now!
Those corn tortillas are Mission extra thin corn tortillas. Three of them are only 2 points and they are quite good.
8 points



After dinner snack was a peach and a cup of frozen grapes.
2 points



Daily total 22 points
Target 24 points.

I went to the gym after work and walked for an hour on the treadmill.

Wednesday August 18, 2010....

Yesterday was another really long day at work. In my efforts to get caught up, we worked until 7ish or so. I can get so much more done when we're closed and I can let the phone go to the machine and lock the front door!

I'm still working on getting used to the way money flows from an owner's perspective rather than from the perspective of an employee. We're crazy busy right now but the money for these jobs is not in yet. Sales tax is due on Tuesday, American Express is due in a few days after that....the bills to be paid are piling up and the receivables are still "out there" somewhere. I tell myself not to worry and for the most part I feel like I'm not.....but I kept waking up last night doing math in my head and paying bills in my dreams...or maybe it was just living with three nocturnal cats...lol.

So anyway....

I get a lot of comments about my food and how good it looks. It's funny because if I was asked to describe myself, being a good cook is not something I would ascribe to myself. But, I am a good organizer and that has affected my meal planning. I am also the QUEEN of the microwave...LOL.

Here's what I do...

First of all, I love to flip through cookbooks and recipes. I rarely ever make a recipe from a book but I get ideas on foods that go well together by flipping through recipe books.




Second, I subscribe to daily emails from Hungry Girl and I have 3 of her cookbooks. There is a wealth of information on "eat this, not that", and easy low calorie recipes in her e-mails, on her website, and in her cookbooks.

Lastly, I spend a little bit of time every couple of weeks or so cooking bulk batches of things like taco filling meat from lean ground turkey, poached and/or roasted chicken breast meat, spaghetti sauce with lean ground turkey, etc. I allow it to cool and then portion it out in single servings in zip lock bags, label it with weight and point value and freeze it. That way I always have something on hand to create a meal from in a hurry.

I also keep, Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Hot Dogs, Mango Chicken Sausages, and Carmelized Onion Chicken Patties, Boca Vegetarian Burger Patties, and Black Bean Chipotle Burgers,(all from Costco) on hand in the freezer.

I keep low fat lunch meat, fat free cheese slices, and Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges in the fridge.

I keep Bagel Thins and Sandwich Thins in the freezer. I go once a week or so and stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. I buy most everything from Costco because it's packaged in such a way that it's already trimmed, and for the most part cleaned, so that I can grab it, rinse it and nuke it.

I keep several different kinds of canned beans in the pantry so that I can quickly throw them togther with other things to create a meal. I buy pinto beans by the case at Costco and I smoosh them up in a skillet to make "refried" beans. Black beans are also a favorite of mine. I buy popcorn kernels in bulk and pop it in a microwave popcorn bowl. I keep an olive oil sprayer on the counter and I have one with balsamic vinegar in it as well.

I also have a basket with measuring cups and spoons it out on the counter next to my Weight Watchers Food Scale.

So, because I have everything on hand and organized, I can come home from work and throw a meal together in about 10 minutes. I rarely spend more than a few minutes putting my meals together.

I do have a bit of an advantage because Vern is the junk food KING. He pretty much refuses to eat anything that isn't pure crap...(ok, I do sneak some real food in him occasionally)...for the most part he gets a huge crap meal at lunch time from whatever fast food place strikes his fancy that day and then just snacks on chips, candy, cheetos...whatever....at night. So, I don't have to fix a meal for both of us. But, if the day ever comes that he wants to eat what I eat it will be easy enough to nuke two portions and make a meal for us both.

OK...so that's probably way more information than anyone wants but there you go!


Finally...
My menu for yesterday...

Breakfast was 1/2 cup egg substitute cooked in a microwave "egg patty" maker, topped with a large apple, diced and cooked in the microwave with cinnamin then mixed with Walden Farms Pancake Syrup. I put a tablesppon of Brummel and Brown Spread. This was delicious, much like french toast topped with apples. I also had 3 cups of black coffee. Who knew that coffee registers as points if you drink 3 cups!?
4.5 points




Lunch was a sandwich made on a Sandwich Thin. Turkey breast lunch meat, fat free cheese slice, lettuce and tomato. I had some sugar snap peas, that I nuked for a minute or so, and a peach.
5 points



Dinner was a pizza made on LaTortilla Factory 100 calorie, multigrain tortilla. I used 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce from a jar, some mushrooms, onions, turkey pepperoni, and reduced fat mozzarella. I also had an ear of corn.
7 points



After Dinner Snack was a Deep Chocolate Vitatop, topped with Fage Total 0 Greek Yogurt mixed with PB2 and sweetened with stevia. This is such a satisfying desert!
4 points




On Monday the most beautiful girl in the world started kindergarten. This child is my HEART!!! and she is growing up way too fast for this Grandma Honey...

Tuesday August 17, 2010....

Tuesday was one of those nonstop, crazy busy days! Work seriously feels out of control lately. I am grateful that we're busy but feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all right now! Whew!!!

So anyway, once again I got to work and the day was off and running before I could even catch my breath after my impromptu treadmill walk.

Once again, I kept thinking I would grab a bite for breakfast "in just a minute" and before I knew it, it was noon. So breakfast was a cup of Chai Latte that I made with almond milk and a sugar free chai mix. This is so good!
1 point
I am seriously going to take Shane's advice and maybe stock some sort of fiber bar at work...oh wait! I have a bunch of Vitatops in the freezer! That would be a great, quick breakfast. So now if I can remember this the next time the morning is a crazy whirlwind of activity there will be no more skipping breakfast!



Lunch was easy because I had thrown some leftover taco stuff in a baggie and taken it to work with me on Monday. On Mondays I try and haul a bunch of food to work for meals throughout the week. So anyway, I had left over tacos for a quick lunch.
4.5 points



Dinner was this bean dish I threw together when I got home from the dentist. It was 2 mango chicken sausages (Costco), a half cup of canned small white beans, a laughing cow cheese wedge, and a tablespoon of BBQ sauce. I had a piece of corn with it. Another great, satisfying meal!
8 points




Snacks were:
Popcorn 7.5 points



Peach, Plum, and Fage Total 0 yogurt
3 points



Total daily points 24
Target points 24
Activity points earned 2

Update from this morning...

So rather than sitting around bemoaning the fact that I didn't work out last night, I got up and went and walked on the treadmill before work. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked but at least I did something. I'm working on losing that mentality that tells me if I can't do it all perfectly then why bother. So even though I couldn't walk for the full hour I did it anyway. I walked for 40 minutes with the treadmill set at "rolling hills" with an average speed of 3.3 MPH. I actually had it set for 3.7 for most of the walk but it factors in the warm up and cool down portions in the totals.

I also made an appointment to meet with a trainer on Saturday to begin to help me plan a workout.

I had to dash into work and do something with my hair and make-up on the fly but I don't have to spend the day WISHING I had gone and walked.

I have a dental appointment after work so it was this morning or nothing.

Monday August 16, 2010......

Ok...here we go.
The third Monday of each month is usually a day that we're off from work. It's a schedule we started a few years back when I was an employee of the business we now own. We love 3 day weekends and this was a way to get at least one each month. Yesterday we decided to work in spite of it being the third Monday. We are simply too busy to take off. I really missed having my Monday off but we got a lot of work done.

Breakfast was a peach, a plum, 1/2 cup of Fiber One cereal, and 6oz of Fage Total 0 Greek Yogurt sweetened with stevia and flavored with cinnamin.
4 points



Lunch was lettuce wraps made with 2 slices of turkey lunchmeat, 2 fat free cheese slices, both cut in half on 4 lettuce leaves, with tomato, salt and pepper. I also had a half an apple and a mandarin orange
3 points



At 5pm when I was quite ready to go home, but Vern was on a roll with some hats we were doing and wasn't ready to leave yet, I had a Vitatop Corn Muffin Top with Brummel and Brown Butter Spread on it.
2points



Dinner was a bunch of stuff I pulled out of the fridge, microwaved, and piled on a plate...
3 oz baked Chicken topped with a tiny bit of BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup of reduced fat mozzarella, some cooked baby carrots, some green beans, 1/2 cup of Texas Caviar (costco), and 2 pieces of corn on the cobb. (There's only one in this photo but I had a second one)
9.5 points



After dinner I had another peach topped with some Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt
3 points



After dinner I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up and rather than stumbling upstairs to bed like I should have, I stumbled into the kitchen and ate this....I ate it standing at the kitchen sink, half asleep, not even enjoying it! How stupid is THAT!? I didn't even take a photo of it...I didn't track it...I just ate it.

This morning I woke up and went back and added it in my tracker. And because I committed to posting a photo of everything I eat, I re-created the scene of the crime, took a photo and then threw the dastardly stuff in the trash!!
5 points
(I have the weekly points to cover this so I'm good there. It's just that I wasn't even hungry or awake enough to enjoy it!)



I didn't make it back to the gym again last night because it was so late when we got home. In reality it really wasn't that late. I could have gone. But it was late enough that I didn't want to go. One more not so healthy choice I made yesterday

Menu for Sunday August 15, 2010....

Today got started a little late. Last night I had just crawled into bed and laid my head on the pillow when my phone rang. It's never a good thing when my phone rings after 9pm because all my friends and family know that I am not a night person so no one calls me just to chat at night. It's always because something is wrong. Last night was no different. I picked up the phone and my oldest son, Chris, was on the other end of the line saying, "Mom, I think Courtney's (my middle son) hurt. He broke his ankle or something."

You know, can I just tell you...it makes very little difference if your child is two or thirty two...those words hit your heart the same way! Your child is hurt and your heart kicks in to "I need to get to him" mode!

Chris explained to me that Courtney had somehow hurt himself at the bowling alley and his friend Mike had taken him to ER. But Mike couldn't stay because he had his little boy with him and Chris couldn't go because he had Autumn...of course, at the words, "Mom, Courtney's hurt" I was already putting my clothes back on and getting ready to make my way to the hospital!

So, to make a long story short, I spent a few hours in the ER with my son. It turns out his ankle wasn't fractured, just badly bruised. He smacked himself in the ankle with his bowling ball while he was bowling...OUCH!!! When I got to the ER he was in so much pain he was shaking. But a good dose of narcotic pain reliever injected into the muscle of his upper arm, some x-rays, and a very pretty young nurse had him on the road to recovery in a few hours.

I slept in a little bit this morning...I made us almost late to church...

So....I skipped breakfast. Not the healthiest way to start the day but it happens. I was making us late and Vern was playing on the worship team so I had to just go...So breakfast was coffee....and more coffee when we arrived at church. Thank goodness our church serves coffee!

After church we had to go to Costco to garb some fresh fruits and vegetables for the week. My cat Fred LOVES tomatoes and he won't leave them alone when they're on the kitchen counter...and putting them in the frige makes them yucky. So I had the brainstorm idea to store them in the plastic container that the apples come in! I felt pretty clever for coming up with this solution!



Lunch was a wrap made with a LaTortilla Factory Multigrain Smart Wrap, a wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese, a couple of slices of turkey breast lunch meat, lettuce, & tomato. I had some snap peas, carrots and apple slices on the side. This was a very filling lunch and I didn't finish all the snap peas or carrrots.



While I was at Costco, these caught my attention and I picked up a bag. I munched on a handful...actually I munched on an exact, weighed out portion...while I fixed my lunch. These are pretty good and have a nice crunch.





After lunch I went over to vicit my Mom and my older sister. We sat and drank Iced coffee and chatted for a couple of hours. Honestly i forgot to take a photo of my iced skinny vanilla latte so I found one on line...mine looked just like this one and set me back 4 points....and it was worth every single point!



After I came home I made up a big pot of lean ground turkey taco filling meat and of course made tacos for Vern and I for dinner. I found some extra thin corn tortillas at the grocery store that are 80 calories and 1 gram of fat for two tortillas! SCORE!! The "refried" beans are just some canned pinto beans that I dumped in a pan and smooshed up. These were really good and Vern didn't even know that I fed him lean ground turkey! I was left with lots of taco meat to portion out into individual portions and freeze for meals on the go. That is one of the things that helps me to stay on track....making up meal componants and freezing them in individual servings sizes with the points marked on the outside of the freezer bags.



Lastly, for an after dinner snack I had a peach and a plum cut up in a bowl and topped with greek yogurt.




These last two photos are simply here because I think I have the most adorable cats in the world! These are two of the three cats we share our home with, Fred & Ethyl.

Earlier today I walked into the living room and found Ethyl snuggled down into a shoebox watching televison very intently. I thought it was completely adorable so I captured the moment to share here!




Here are the two of them watching the world go by outside our window. See...I told you they are the cutest cats ever!