Weight Watchers Update, weeks 12 & 13

As you know, last week I didn’t go to Weight Watchers- my mom was out of town (my WW buddy)- and I had something going on, of course now I don’t remember what, that conflicted with the normal Thursday morning meeting time.

Of course I promised that I would go Saturday, which I didn’t do.  Nice, right?  Over the past two weeks I haven’t journaled at all- I’ve been completely slacking!  But apparently the constant “weight watchers” whisper in the back of my head kept me on track, because when I weighed in this morning I was 2.2 pounds down!

I’m almost embarassed- I feel like I haven’t been “on” at all.  Granted, I haven’t been eating cream puffs either, but still!  I am going to renew my focus this week and TRACK AND JOURNAL.  It’s such an important part of changing habits (let alone weight loss), so I feel like I really do need to recommit to it.

I have so many other topics I want to write about- crazy Maddie stories, Easter anticipation, etc… so I will leave the WW post here and get on to other topics!

 

very delayed weight watchers update…

I can’t believe I totally forgot my weekly weight watchers update!  Last Thursday’s weigh-in was week 11 for a whopping weight loss of .2!  OK, so yeah, it’s not great.  BUT it’s still a loss.

I haven’t been so great with tracking lately.  Sure, I’m making good choices, but I haven’t been writing everything down.

This seems to be a pattern; I do really well, lose 10 pounds and then get cocky.  People start complimenting me and the stringency goes right out the window.  I take an extra bite here and there, another serving of potatoes, etc. etc.  Has anyone else ever had this?  If so, what do you do to get through this.

I will keep going to meetings, keep facing the weekly scale, and keep treating each meal like a “fresh start”… I got on the treadmill this morning, even only for 20 minutes, I was able to walk a mile.  Heck, it’s better than nothing.

Hopefully the extra exercise will mitigate any major damage I might have done over the weekend.  Yowzer.

 

weight watchers update, week 10

Boy am I shocked- I lost 1.4 pounds this week!!!! After this past Saturday’s Mexican food fest in Philly I was shocked I lost anything.  (Although, I”m sure that the food wasn’t as bad as the bottle of wine I put back). 

I have been pretty good with tracking this week too (although not as hard core as I should be).  My main problem is I am really great at tracking breakfast and lunch- but by the time dinner rolls around, I don’t track.  I do, however, cook my own food and measure the portions out- so I guess it isn’t TOO horrible.

Last night I had SUCH a craving for baked potatoes.  My favorite way to make them is to wash them, “fork” them, and then roll them in kosher salt.  I baked them in a 425 degree oven for an hour.  When done, I eat them with dijon mustard.  Sounds gross, but I SWEAR- it tastes JUST like a knish!  The best part- no burning points on butter or sour cream because mustard is free!

Oh this 1.4 pound loss brought me past my first 5% target- how cool is that?

 

Weight Watcher Update, Week 9

This week I got right back on the horse with , tracking.  Yes, I did have a small .4 loss last week without tracking, but I know the big numbers come off when I track, and when I’m really aware of what I’m eating.  The only way I’m every truly aware of what I’m doing in a day, is if I track, plain & simple.

Thanks to my renewed tracking effort, I am now down 1.4 pounds!! I’m super excited and am nearly to my first goal of 5% lost!  I feel great and already notice a change in how my clothing fits! 

This week I walked on the treadmill twice (how I absolutely LOATHE the treadmill- it’s just sooo boring).  I normally prefer to walk outside, but the 12 inches of snow and the fact that it was 12 degrees out had me heading to the treadmill in defeat.  But, at least I did it!

Another small change I made was measuring the cooking oil I use when preparing my food.  I’m so used to just swirling the olive oil right into the pan.  This week I decided to keep out my teaspoon and tablespoon measurements and work that way.  I didn’t notice a taste in the prepared food at all- and was happy to keep the extra points and fat out of my diet.  I’m sure this small change contributed to this week’s weight loss.

I do have a couple of recipes I tried this week to blog about- I’ve just been too lazy to transfer the photos over from my camera.  I promise I’ll do them this weekend!

 

Weight Watcher update- week 6

This morning I attended the 8:30 AM meeting.  I prefer morning meetings.  It’s great to get the meeting “out of the way” so you can go on with your day.  Also- there’s the whole weigh-in factor- I know I weigh less in the AM than the PM and it just makes me FEEL better to see the AM number versus the PM number (psycho, I know).  But heck, it keeps me motivated and attending meetings.

As I previously blogged, last week I went to the Wednesday night meeting.  I didn’t have a huge weight loss- and I was completely prepared for that.  So this week, when I bounced back to AM meetings, I knew I’d probably see some of the weightloss from last week on the scale in addition to what I did for this week… and I was RIGHT!

ANOTHER 2 POUNDS DOWN!!!! This brings my total weight loss to 7 pounds total.  I’m on a super duper roll here.  I had a few bumps in the road this week, and I’m proud that I was able to handle them and not just throw in the towel like I would have in the past.

John and I went out to dinner Friday night (it’s a family ritual- something we do every Friday)- and went to a local Cajun place, Big Daddy’s in Massapequa.  Cajun/Creole isn’t exactly known for it’s figure friendly cooking, but I figured I’d get some blackened catfish and I’d be OK.  Thanks to Weight Watchers new “set points” I was able to eat a rather large serving of the catfish, and call it just 5 points.  It worked well- but here was the big behavior change: I only ate half of what was on my plate.

For me, this is HUGE!  I’m a big, big plate finisher.  I am preprogramed to finish every morsel of food on my plate, no matter how bit or small.  But at Big Daddy’s I ate HALF- and make no mistake, this took a lot of self control AND water drinking to preoccupy myself.  But I think, now that I’ve done it once, I can totally do it again, right?  And it feels good to make these behavior changes.

I also had a kid’s birthday party on valentine’s day; my good friend Samantha’s daughter Sabrina.  Even though I wasn’t perfect on Saturday, I did really keep mindful of what I was doing, and not just snap right back into “mindless eating zone”.  This is so super easy to do at a party- and easier to do when you’re drinking alcohol- so I abstained from the hooch and stuck to water.  Not as fun, but heck, it was a kid party- how sloshed did I have to get?

I’m proud.  I feel good.  I feel like I can DO this!

 

Awesome 1 pt bread- Arnold’s Sandwich thins!!!!

Arnold’s Sandwich thins have been passed along in Weight Watcher’s meetings as if they are the “holy grail” of bread.  Almost revered… the secret passes via whisper at the back of meetings (have you tried Arnold’s sandwich thins?).  I normally don’t take heed of many WW suggestions- after all, to me, being successful with WW means changing your habits.  For me, those habits are eating too much!  I don’t necessarily eat bad foods- I just eat too much of them!  So when I hear of 1 pt foods, I throw up my own red flags- because the lower the point value of a food, the more of them you can eat, leading to your “inner self” knowing that you can, “just have one more of them.”

Well- that’s how I got INTO this mess- “just one more”, right?  Of course… Shopping this weekend I walked past a tower of sandwich thins, and I figured, “why not?”

So…. after all the hype?  They’re delicious.  I got the multi-grain version- and they are nutty and delicious and darn-it, only 1 point..  so go give ‘em a try!!!!

 

weight watchers update!

I can’t believe I totally forgot to post about Weight Watchers last week!  Since we went to Elmo on Thursday, I went to the Wednesday night meeting.  I was a little nervous to to weigh-in at night versus my typical AM slot.  When I weigh in on Thursdays, I don’t let even an ounce of water pass my lips until AFTER I weigh-in.  I wondered what the difference would be, weighing in at night versus the morning.  Once I got to the meeting, the meeting leader said a morning weigh-in versus a night weigh-in could be as much as 2 or 3 pounds.  I was a little nervous.

But… I went down .2! So even though, overall, that isn’t a HUGE loss- it’s great ’cause it’s a loss!  I’m sure if I would’ve weighed in Thursday morning, the loss would’ve been even more!

So, what did I do that week?  Tracking and measuring my food.  I just STILL cannot be trusted to eye-ball measurements with my food.  What I think is 1 cup of cereal is really 2… and doing this a few times during the day really adds up!  I have also made sure that I stocked my kitchen with healthy snacks (tools for living)!!!

Top low-point snacks these days?  Fiber-one brand granola bars (2 pts), Fiber-one brand muffin mix (3 pt breakfast muffins), grapes, wasa crackers (1 pt for 2), laughing cow cheese (1 pt), 100 calorie popcorn (1 pt), weight watcher ice cream bars (usually 2 pts each).  Being successful with weight watchers really demands attention in terms of having foods available.

 

Weekend update…weight watchers style

I always find it the hardest to stay within my points when I’m entertaining.  I’m inevitably cooking a meal that is more fussy than normal, and this involves lots of BLTs (bites, licks, and tastes in WW language).  I know when on WW you’re supposed to avoid BLTs, but what cook can check seasonings without tasting?  Impossible!

Aside from the BLTs.. there’s the issue of wine.  Yes, you can allow some points for wine (what is it, 3 points per glass?)- but when I’m entertaining, I tend to imbibe more than normal.  This, of course, starts a sort-of cyclical over-eating: the more you drink, the more you eat, the more you drink.. and the points add up.

Even though I did go a little points crazy on Saturday, I did cook a WW points-friendly meal- Lidia’s chicken cacciatore (make with skinless chicken thighs and legs) along with a baked polenta.  The cacciatore was delicious- the legs and thighs don’t dry out like chicken breasts, and the slightly more gamey flavor matches perfectly with the sweet of cooked tomatoes and the earthly flavor of the mushrooms.

I added about a 1/2 cup more mushrooms than the recipe called for.  Please PLEASE use San Marzano tomatoes for the recipe- it really does make a difference.  At $4.50 for a 28-ounce can, it’s something I splurge on for company, or if the tomatoes are an integral component of the dish.. and they are, so go for it!

Lidia calls for two whole broiler chickens- which would be fine… but there was a sale on a thigh/leg multipack, about $6.50 for almost 3 pounds- I had to jump on it!  In addition to being a low-point meal, chicken cacciatore is amazingly economical to entertain with (and this recipe is WAY better than anything you’d find out in an Italian restaurant – well other than Lidia’s restaurant).

I used the baked polenta I found on epicurious.com, a polenta you start on the stove and then transfer to the oven.  An easy recipe, it’s garlicky-rosemary-cheesy goodness jives perfectly with the rustic cacciatore.  I used skim milk and chintzed on the cheese for WW purposes, but it was still super good.

I only used about half of my extra 35 points for the week- so I’m still in good shape.  I will have to change my weigh-in day this week.  Thursday morning we’re taking maddie to Elmo Live- so I will be on the good ole LIRR while Thursday morning meeting is taking place.  I’m a little nervous to weight in at night- but I do need to go to the meeting- I have good momentum now, and I don’t want it to stop!

 

Low-Point, Super filling Vegetable Soup

I’ll be the first to admit that some of the Weight Watchers program suggestions are down right dork-o-la.  There’s a whole group of them called “Tools For Living”; different tools and ideas customize the weight loss plan to your own requirements.  The past two weeks, my mother started calling her low point vegetable soup a “Tool For Living” as a sort of dig on the whole dork factor of Weight Watchers.  This is also coupled with a discussion of the sheer, mind-numbing boredom of listening to another Weight Watcher recount everything s/he ate for the week, or hearing them say something absolutely ridiculous like my favorite gem, “I just don’t like water, I mean- what’s the point?”

As wacky and ridiculous as the program may be, it works a gazillion times better than me going it alone.  There’s something to that weekly weigh-in that holds you *slightly* accountable during the week.

I thought I’d share a recipe for my own personal super filling, low-point vegetable soup.  I usually eat a cup during lunch; not only does it fill me up, it’s jammed back with all sorts of vegetables- so it makes me feel that I’m keeping my vitamin/nutrient levels up.

The recipe that follows is a loose one- add whatever vegetables you like, that you have on hand, or that are in season.  You don’t need to use all fresh either- frozen works equally well, and I actually used a mix of fresh and frozen.  If you want to add something starchy- try throwing in a little brown rice. I added about 2/3’s of a cup of leftover brown rice to mine.  It doesn’t break the point bank at all, but it isn’t a necessity.  If there’s a specific spice you like, it can easily be added.  I only use garlic in mine, but I imagine some curry powder would jazz up the soup nicely.  This soup is made for experimentation.

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 2 32 ounce containers of low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into 1″ pieces
• 2/3rd cup frozen peas
• 2/3rd cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 1 small can chick peas

 

DIRECTIONS:

In stock pot or dutch oven, saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add carrots and saute 2 minutes.  Add all other ingredients and the 2 containers of chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer.  Simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 25-30 minutes.

 

weight watchers update!

How psyched was I when got on the scale this morning and was told I lost 3.6 pounds?  VERY!!!!! (Although, I know that I probably lost more as I didn’t yet have my morning BM).

I’m super motivated!  I think I did an excellent job this week writing down what I ate AND watching my portions.  I started using the Weight Watchers scale my mom bought me and broke out the measuring cups so I didn’t overdo it on starchy sides (that’s where I always get tripped up).

Oh- and I also walked twice this week too!  I’m certain that was a contributor to the weight loss. 

Here’s a list of what I did this week that was different that week prior:

1. tracked everything I ate and wrote it down
2. managed portions by weighing/measuring
3. incorporated a little exercise
4. made healthy, low-point vegetable soup
5. made high-fiber, low-point starch side-dishes
6. watched my white-carb, white-sugar (all simple carb) intake
7. replaced sugar with Stevia sweetener in morning coffee (no points- although STILL not used to the taste)
8. upped my water intake by about double

I know many people will say- writing down what you eat, weighing, and measuring is a pain in the ass.  It is!  But the more I thought about it- the more I realized that I love myself enough to DO THIS for myself.  If it were my daughter- I know I’d weight/measure and make the effort for her. Well, I have to do it for me too!