Day 18 - That Damn Scale!

On the bright side, I woke up early on Monday morning to dance to 6 songs from Just Dance 2 on the Wii and to do 15 minutes on Wii Fit. The picture is of "me" doing the "free step" for 10 minutes with a goal/pace of 800 steps at the end of 10 minutes.  Allie clapped for me when I made it to 900 steps by 10 minutes. LOL. Just Dance 2 was fun too - I am doing their workout Dance and I have a goal to earn 7000 sweat points for the week. .although note to self:  Just I am rolling out of bed to work out in my own home, A SPORTS BRA , or any bra, is required equipment.

I stayed on program and within my points and made an awesome discovery - Trader Joe's has Shrimp Fried Rice and Chicken Fried Rice that takes like 4 minutes to make on the stove (that is the top thing with the burners, right?) and 5 points per cup!!  I had 1.5 cups and a big salad for a delicious dinner last night.

But that friggen scale... know how many times I have weighed myself in the last 36 hours? Yeah, I am not telling you because you would be appalled to know the truth.  Anyways, bottom line - no matter how many clothes I am wearing or not wearing, wet or dry from the shower and regardless of the time of day, I AM NOT LOWER THAN LAST WEEK. 

I am still fat enough that water weight should be coming off- don't you think?  I mean I know I had some high point meals, but I am still well within my Weekly Points Allowance of those extra 49 points. . .shouldn't that scale be less???

Well, at this point I think I might blame exercise. . .I know its not my weigh in day until tomorrow, but just saying that I am not looking forward to it.

No, I don't feel like giving up.  I don't feel like gorging on junk food.  Just momentarily frustrated. ..

Day 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 - Thanksgiving, Zumba, Restaurants. . .bad and good choices

Its been a few days since my last post. . .holidays and life has gotten in the way of my blogging, but I have some interesting high (and low) points to share. . .

• Lost 1.6 at my weigh in last Wednesday. . .brings my total to almost 5 pounds!  Yay me. . .but what happened to those days of losing sooooooooooooo much those first few weeks of WW?
• Best piece of advice I got at my WW meeting was that I need to look at my food issues as a way of life. .not just something that is a moment in time until I get to my goal weight.  The context of this was when I was discussing going out to dinner and how I feel "unsatisfied" when I go out and get something "boring" I can make at home - i want to get something more exciting. . . and sometimes those more exciting items are not the best point choices, even when I think they are.  I come home and look up my points and realize that the points were super high on something i thought was reasonable.  Someone in the meeting told me that I would be better off accepting that this is just a way of life for me and in order to be within my points and on plan I need to plan and think ahead about food to the best of my ability.
• I applied this advice teh rest of the week when going out and it worked. . .I planned ahead as to my meals and had meals that i was happy with and stayed on program.
• I tried Zumba on Saturday morning at 8am. . .I don't think I have exercised in years. . .really, not an exaggeration.  I moaned & groaned about it being so early, but in truth. ..don't tell anyone. . .more than even enjoying Zumba, I loved how exercising made me feel.  I felt empowered to make great choices for the rest of the day. I even enjoyed the feeling of working out so much that I did my Wii Fit today for about 30 minutes.
• We went out to dinner tonight at an Italian Restaurant. . normally I love the bread with the pesto olive oil and I always choose some type of creamy pasta sauce.  Or I go for a the veal Parmesan that comes with a side of pasta and sauce and I have no problem eating the entire dinner.  But tonight, I looked at the menu before going and figured out all my point options.  I chose whole wheat penne pasta with garlic shrimp scampi for a total of 10 points. .and it was delicious!!!  I stayed away from the bread - without much mental back & forths over having it or not.
• On Wednesday night I went out to a Chinese restaurant and thought I made pretty good choices, only to come home and find out how bad my choices were.  For about 10 minutes  when I got home I was tempted to ransack the kitchen and gorge on junk food on the premise that I messed up and let's just start over tomorrow.  But I didn't.  I didn't because when I realized that even though my points were high and I managed to eat 25 points in that one meal (total consumed was 50 points for that day - 21 went into the Weekly Points Allowance), I was still within my Weekly Points Allowance and on program.  I made a bad choice at dinner out of being clueless and not thinking through my choices before I went. . .had I binged on food later that would have been an intentional bad choice out of stupidity.  I didn't want to lose all the good I had done so far and I was happy when I realized that I was still within my weekly points.  No way did I want to beat myself up by trying to make myself eel better by eating junk food.  I am majorly patting myself on the back for realizing this and getting this - perhaps for the first time ever.  
• I went to a movie on Saturday night and brought my own air-popped popcorn. . .yay me!!  Saved money and healthier choice. . .
• Discovered my new fave breakfast that is 5 points and very filling - Morningstar Vegetarian Sausage Patty with Maple Flavor (2 points) on a Thomas English Muffin (3 points) - so delish and satisfying!!
• Picked up some frozen Mango slices at Trader Joes - so yummy! Zero points and like a mango Popsicle!

 Now, I will share that I am a little, no a lot, hesitant about Weigh in on Wednesday.  While I have not gone over my Weekly Points Allowance and I don't plan on it before then, I just feel because I ate more of my weekly points allowance this week than the previous 2 weeks that I will pay for it.. .time will tell.

Day 12 - Restauranting is Hard

Yesterday I was taken to a wonderful, wonderful local restaurant for lunch - Chelsea's Kitchen, in the Camelback Corridor.  The ambiance was heavenly and food Divine. . .

But truthfully, I looked at the menu with fear and while out loud I said nothing, inside I said "WTF?  How many points is any of this???". 

Sure, WW has come a really really long way over the years with all the restaurants they have included on their website - most, or quite a bit, of the fast food/chain restaurants can be found on their website.  And even lots of restaurants have posted their NI on their own websites as well.

But often, there are local restaurants, or even big chain restaurants where no information is to be found.  So, the next best thing is to find a like-kind restaurant and guesstimate.

I don't want to GUESStimate.  I want TO KNOW. 

I don't want to not eat enough points in my day because I am giving food too many points when I am guessing and I don't want to eat too many points in my day by guessing too little.  If I guess too much incorrectly on a regular basis, it will effect my weight loss.

I am also really really bad at estimating the serving portion.  .I have no clue if its a cup, 1/2 cup, more , less. . .if you ask me how many people were at the party, I can't tell you if there were 10, 20 or 40 without counting. . .so that is my other challenge when I eat at restaurants that are not listed in the WW book.

I am trying to pay more attention at home as to what a cup of rice looks like, or what 3 ounces of beef/chicken look like - but really, I just am challenged there.

I suppose the scale later today will reflect how well my guessing did on this birthday week. . .

And despite my fabulously tasty lunch (fresh guac, freshly made corn tortillas, black beans & rice, shrimp, crab, fillet Mignon) which I counted as 15 points, I opted for a smaller point dinner (7) of chicken & quinua with fruits and veggies. .which was just fine as I wasn't overly hungry from my lunch and I ended the day within my 29 points. 

So long as I guessed right, I suppose. . .


 

Day 11 - My Birthday!

I had a fabulous day with friends and family and even managed to stay on program and within my points. ..well, not my DAILY points, but due to the Weekly Points Allowance of 49 points, I stayed within my weekly points.


While I left my breakfast sitting in my fridge at home, I was able to put something together at the office.  I had yogurt for 2 points, and 2 wheat rice cakes and 2 slivers of swiss cheese on it for 3 points and a banana. 

I met some girlfriends for a fabulous sushi lunch that I loved and it cost me about 10 points. .. more than a typical lunch, but I think pretty good for a birthday lunch.  Although I didn't touch the edamame that was ordered. .why?  Because they are so high in points. . .then later I just chuckled to myself - I mean, I don't think I got fat over eating too many edamame. . .

I enjoyed a decadent pedicure with a girlfriend and then I decided I really did want Starbucks for a little birthday treat...I kept obsessing about it all day - how crazy was that!!  So I did enjoy a grande Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte for 3 points. . .sooooooooooooooooo good!!!  But worth 3 points??? On my birthday yes, not sure about other days. . .

So, I was heading into dinner with 11 points left for the day and 45 Weekly Points Allowance left.  I loved every.single.bite of my dinner (fillet Mignon & scallops, fried rice, shrimp, soup, salad w/ ginger dressing) as well as the whole ambiance of the evening, but when I got home later I realized I had NO FRIGGEN CLUE how many points dinner was.  As much as I googled, I could not find the nutritional information for Bennihana's, so I went on to the Japanese restaurants on the WW site and put together my points for dinner as best as I could and rounded up when I wasn't sure.  I also added 4 points extra for all the butter/oil that is slathered on the veggies to make them soooooooooo delish!  So in total, I estimate that my birthday dinner cost me.. .wait for it. ..26 points.  Yep - almost a WHOLE DAY'S worth of points for one decadent delicious dinner. But the beauty of WW, is that with tomorrow being my last day of the week, not only did I not go over my WPA, but I still have 30 left and I have 2 more days left to eat this week!

Dessert you ask?  What did I do for my birthday dessert?  Guess what, I was sooooooooo full and content from dinner, I didn't have a bite!!  They brought me a beautiful ice cream, they sang Happy Birthday and I gave my ice cream to my friend Sue who enjoyed every morsel of it!  I did snag a bit of Allie's sherbet that she got. .it was beyond delish!!

So is this how skinny people do it?  Do they plan all week to splurge for their birthday dinner (nah, really skinny minnys probably don't even splurge!)?  Because I have to say, I felt proud of myself that I ate generously and decadently and stayed on program. . .no guilt to beat myself up with afterwards and truly, that was a fabulous birthday present in and of itself. . .

Days 9 and 10. . .the Weekend!

The weekend started out with some delicious 2 point yogurt at my fave yogurt place - Yogurt Builderz!  Friday night we went to one of our fave sushi restaurants where I had a fabulous dinner of miso soup and sushi and stayed within my points.

Even though Allie's soccer game wasn't until 11am, somehow we were rushing to get out of the house and I did not eat breakfast before I left.  But I did pack it - a banana and 1 cup of Kashi Good Friends cereal.  It was actually rather tasty and filled me up.  When the kids had donuts for snack after the game, I can't tell you I didn't mentally drool over the donuts, but in truth I was full so didn't totally obsess about the donut I didn't have.

It worked out well that I ate lunch late because we had my daughter's school carnival from 3-7 and I knew I didn't not want to pass up the Kettle Corn.  .I googled and googled and tried to determine how many points each serving had, but was not overly successful.  Therefore I decided that each cup had 3 points. . . in any event, I went to the Carnival with 21 points still available to me. 

My plan was to take some sliced apples and snap peas with me and get some Kettle Corn - like 3 cups worth and then I would still have 12 points left for dinner.  By the time we got the Kettle Corn, it was about 5:30 and I did snack on it a tiny bit - probably about a cup. . .then by 6pm I was STARVING.  .fruit, veggies and popcorn were not going to satisfy this hunger.  My choices were a chicken burrito (fortunately I was able to find the points online - 16.5 points) or pizza. . .

Pizza just was not going to cut it for me, so I decided to go for the Chicken Burrito.  I had 21 points going to the Carnvial and I ate about 3 points of Kettle Corn - so I had 18 points left over.  After my rather tasty chicken burrito, I had 1.5 points left over and I was satisfied and not hungry anymore. 

I was even able to pass up Movie Popcorn at a movie we saw later that night.  .the smell got to me and I wanted it, but with my birthday coming up on Monday it wasn't worth it to go over points and I had sliced apples & snow peas with me too.  I mean who can pass those up at a movie??? :-)    I also remembered that I had a box of WW chewy/gummy strawberry candy that is 1 point for the WHOLE BOX. . ..those candies are a great little substitute for those times you want that gummy type candy. . .

When we got home later at night, I did have a 2 point ice cream bar and finished the day with eating all my points and .5 of the Weekly Point Allowance of 49 points.

I was proud of myself on Sunday.  After religious school we were meeting some friends at a local pizza place and when I walked in, there was delicious looking pizza and wings on the table.  I went straight to the salad bar and added some diced ham and shredded cheese to my salad to ensure I had enough protein.  While I did manage to not dive into the pizza & wings. . . .I can't deny salivating over the smell that permeated the air where we were sitting from the wings and pizza. But I wasn't tempted to grab one and was fine with my choice.  Again, the points for even 1 wing was just not worth it for me right now. 

A wonderful afternoon with friends was had. . .and I was amazed at how okay everyone was with munching on snap peas and apples. . .or at least everyone pretended to be in order to be supportive to me.

Dinner was chicken breast, quinoa (enhanced with cilantro, tomatoes & onions), strawberries, raspberries & blackberries.  Truthfully, there was asparagus on the table as well, I just forgot it was there and forgot to eat it. I ended the day with eating all my points and not going into my Weekly Points Allowance and going into my birthday and 2 days left in my week, I still have 45 Weekly Allowance Points left.  .

Well, I survived the weekend with the carnival, social gathering and a movie. . .let's hope we are as sucessful for my birthday!!

Day 8 - Low Point Dinner at Outbacks!!

First off, I am soooooooooooo glad I have publicly shared that I am on WW.  So many fabulous people are supportive and encouraging and I truly believe it helps me stay on program.  I have had some friends that have said to me that they can't believe how open I am about my food struggles/issues and that I am okay calling myself Fat Mommy.. .well, HELLO, is it a secret that I am Fat?  I think not.. unless I hide it much better than I think I do!  Unfortunately being overweight is not like other addictions - can't really hide it.  You see me, you see the fat.  Just is what it is.  I truly try not to attach meaning to it - just a statement - like someone is tall or short. . .for the moment, I am fat.. .and I'm kinda sorta sick of it.  And I really really want to wear a tank top next summer.  Yes, I know, anyone can wear a tank top if they choose - but I do not want to wear a tank top if I look like one of the people I talk about behind their backs saying "that person should never wear a tank top". . .and if you don't say that to yourselves, then you are a better person than I.  Again, not passing judgment - just who really wants to see all that roly poly fat exposed? Come on. .you know, its like seeing people wearing certain bathing suits that they should just not be wearing...personally if I could go swimming in a sweat suit, I would, but I can't and I always feel bad if I might be the cause of scaring kids half to death at pool parties. ..

Ok, moving on...yesterday I discovered 2 neat things.  1) Orville Redenbocker has the most delicious, yet small, 2 point bags of Kettle Korn popcorn.  Its the 94% Smart Pop.  Sooooooooooooooooo yummy.  And while it is small - it truly was a good snack size.  And while I could eat much more air popped popcorn for 2 points, this hit the spot yesterday.  2) I had a 9.5 point dinner at Outbacks and it was soooooo yummy & soooo filing.  Their Outback Special Steak is 5.5 points for their 6 ounce and 8.5 for their 9 ounce. They actually don't have a 9 ounce on their menu, they have an 8 ounce - so I said it was 7.5 points.  You have to remember to ask for it without butter - the butter hads a few points.  And then I had a dinner salad with like 2 teaspoons of blue cheese dressing (2 points) and balsamic vinegar and a side of steamed veggies. 

Ok - truthfully, I think next time I might get the smaller steak and get a baked potato and eat 1/2 of it.  .the no starch thing left me a little dis-satisifed. But that is okay.  .globally I love discovering restaurants that I can make good choices at and not feel like I am giving up a lot.

And for now, ending the evening with either the WW Fudge Bar or Caffe Late Bar is completely satisfying to me. . .

Day 7 - Crunchy Quinoa. . .not too bad. . .LOL. . .

I woke up on Wed morning. . .my weigh in day. . .a prisoner to the scale. . .I started by stepping on my own scale which I have not done in months (not from a healthy "I won't live by my weight" attitude, but rather sheer denial. . .if I don't really look, maybe the 125 weight on my driver's license is true after all!) and the weight was 1/2 pound lower than what my weight was when I weighed in at WW for my first time last Wednesday.  Instead of being rational and realizing that i didn't weight myself at home last Wednesday and see if the scale numbers between my home scale and WW scale were the same, I decided to be frustrated that I potentially only lost 1/2 pound on my first week.

Then when I realized there is really nothing I can do about it, I pondered for over an hour whether I should eat breakfast before weighing in.  Now, weighin isn't until 11am and I was STARVING, because with my new found healthy eating, I am actually hungry when I wake up in the morning.  But I didn't want anything to make the scale go up, so I was really contemplating not eating until after the meeting.

By 9:15am I just could not wait any longer and I succumbed to a delicious 6 point WW English Egg Muffin with Canadian Bacon.  Then I debated on drinking anything because I didn't want to possibly put on any water weight if I drank and didn't pee before weigh in.  Well, by 10am, I was parched and had to drink.

So at 10:50am I left my office with grave concern that I only lost  1/2 pound and my food and ice tea of the morning could add that weight back on, plus more.  I was soooooooooooooo excited when I lost 3.2 pounds!!

Instead of celebrating my loss with "cheating", I headed back to the office and had a 7 point lunch  - WW Chicken Parm with spaghetti.  It was okay. .nothing wonderful.  But I had some delicious raspberries & blackberries and snap peas to go along with it.

My afternoon snacks consisted of a 2 point chocolate pudding and 2 points worth of air-popped popcorn.

For dinner I decided I was going to make this Quinoa that I am hearing everyone rave about. . .now, I love couscous, but everyone was telling me how much better this was, so I was willing to give it a try.  I followed the directions on the bag  - 1 cup of quinoa (they told me to wash it, but really, do people do that?  that seems insane to me considering it goes into boiling water) poured into 1 1/4 cup of bowling water and cover for 12 minutes.  Well, I followed the directions EXACTLY and opened the lid of the pan at about 8 minutes and there was not one ounce of liquid left, so I took it off the burner for fear i would burn.  Never having Quinoa before, i had no clue what to expect. . .I kinda liked the nutty, albeit crunchy taste.  Little did I know there should be no crunch. . .

In addition to my crunchy quinoa, I had a WW hamburger for 5 points. . along with asparagus, grapes, and mixed berries. The size of this WW burger is worth the picture:

You have to visualize, the plate is a small salad plate and that is 1/2 cup of Quinoa, which is much larger than my WW burger.

But you know what was shocking, despite the extreme minuteness of my hamburger, it was quite a filling dinner and rather tasty. . .even with the crunchy quinoa.  I guess I was kind of at an advantage not knowing what it tasted like, so I had nothing to compare it to.

Somehow I was low on points again when dinner was over - 5 points. Going into dinner I had 12 points left and the quinoa was 1.5 points and the WW burger was 5 points.  So, I had 5 points left over. . .but I splurged and had 2 frozen WW Bars for a total of 5 points. . .


Ok, so I suppose I did celebrate my weight loss after all. . .being decadent with 2 WW desserts worth 5 points. . .and still ending my day .5 points short.  I can live with a celebration like that. . .