Surviving the Holidays

Well, I made it through Thanksgiving without gaining major weight, but the fact that I'm up 8 pounds from last April is discouraging enough.

So on Monday, November 28th, Weight Watchers introduced their new PointsPlus program. Yeah, yeah, I thought. Just another way for WW to make money. Everybody is raving about "free fruit" -- no points for fresh fruit on the new program. Okay, I can go with it. I thought I'd get motivated. Nah, same old, same old for the week.

Then last Monday I saw an old friend at my WW meeting. Talk about a positive motivator, she's got me excited again (especially since it's Monday and I get to see her at tonight's meeting) and I tracked all week. Yes, I did!

So my friend says, with her big ol' grin and sparkly eyes, "We can do this! We'll be at goal and WW leaders before you know it!" So I have a new goal. Happy Monday!

Stuck in the House with Food

We've been home for three days due to a winter snowstorm. I did my grocery order on Friday before the bad weather hit and made healthy choices with the idea that we'd probably not go out for a few days and might lose power. I bought oranges, bananas, grapes, pears, and strawberries. I got rice cakes and rice chips.

We did snack on the rice cakes and the chips, but I have had no desire for the fruit which would have been a better choice, I'm sure.

And then last night I wanted something sweet. Chocolate bread pudding. Yes, that's what I ended up fixing. I calculated the recipe and figured out that I could have an eighth of the dish for eight points, exactly what I had left for my week of WW points. Mmmmmm! It was tasty!

But today the rest of that chocolate bread pudding is calling my name in the refrigerator. I know that I can have more -- at eight points a serving -- but I don't want to use my points that way. I just want that bread pudding to be "free"!

Ain't gonna happen!

Still Hungry

I'm not really sure what's going on this evening, but I just can't seem to get satisfied. I'm still hungry.

I ate what I thought would be a very satisfying dinner -- spinach salad with London broil, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, a few artichoke bites on the side, and my glass of milk. But I found myself still wanting more. So I ate the one piece of fish that was left from my husband and daughter's meal. (Yes, I counted it, my WW friends!) I still wanted more.

So I had a WW giant latte bar - 1 point. But I could eat a house right about now. I suppose that I should drink some water to see if I'm just thirsty, not really hungry. But it is getting late. Maybe if I just go to bed, my hunger pains will disappear.

I'm sure that I'll wake up starving!

Food Finds

Since I'm making healthier choices, I'm on the lookout for some different, low points, food finds. This afternoon at the Target, I found Archer Farms Simply Balanced pomegranate raspberry fruit bars with yogurt coating. Break out the handy dandy points finder and discovered that they are 1 point! So my snack tomorrow at work will be one of these, hopefully fabulous, bars.

I've also rediscovered rice cakes. I know; I know. Some people can't stand them. But I actually like the cheesy rice cakes. If I can just keep them out of my daughter's reach, I may have plenty to snack on this week!

I divvied out my Chex chocolate turtle mix and the peanut butter M&Ms into baggies. 1/2 cup of mix is 3 points, and a 1/2 cup of M&Ms is 10 points. (I had 11 points left on Sunday night from my weekly points and I happily indulged in a bag of those sweet chocolates!)

So now I just need to find more yummy ice creams to put in my freezer for snack time.

Ice Cream of the Day: Weight Watchers Giant Latte Bars (1 bar = 90 calories and 1 gram of fat and only 1 point)

Eating on Vacation

Well, I'm not really on vacation, but I am out of town for a professional conference. And that means eating out EVERY single meal. So I'm trying to make the best choices so that I can still stay within my points and enjoy a few regional favorites while I'm here.

Yesterday, I managed to use all my points and just a few of the weekly points AND I tried the Boston creme pie at the restaurant we ate at for dinner. My dinner companion and I halved the pie (I gave her the bigger half!) and it was plenty to get a taste of the delicious dessert. My dinner was on the healthy side -- grilled shrimp, Brussels sprouts, and spinach -- although I wasn't quite sure how to count the possible oils used to saute the spinach and sprouts. I did count them, though, and possibly on the high side.

We're trying right now to decide what to do for dinner, but I'm close to no daily points left -- I enjoyed some clam chowder with my salad at lunch today -- so I'm concerned about what I'll be able to choose for dinner.

I've got my handy-dandy WW points guide and I'm tracking, so I'm feeling good about my food choices while on vacation.

The Road to Success

When I actually joined Weight Watchers last week, I weighed more than I thought I did. It really shouldn't have been too much of a shocker, since I had practically gorged myself for the the month of December on anything sweet that I could get my hands on.

Starting weight: 267.4

But I seem to have gotten off to a super, tremendous, great start, and it's definitely due to the change in commitment. It's about time to lose some weight, dag-gone-it!

The first WW meeting topic was tracking. The key really is tracking, keeping up with the food you are or have eaten. It's basically keeping a food journal, whether you're doing the WW style and including points, or you're just being more accountable to yourself and your body because it's written right there in front of you. You own it.

So I did a fabulous job of eating my daily points and weekly points and writing everything down, either planning meals ahead of time and sticking with them or including a few snacks here and there.

This week's weight: 257

Yes, people, you read that right! I lost 10.4 pounds this past week! Boo-ya! Now that's motivation to stick with the program.

Ice Cream of the Day: Starbucks Hot Chocolate ice cream (1/2 cup = 240 calories and 13 grams of fat OR 6 points on WW)