so, yeah

Um, it’s been a rough few weeks. Apparently that .4 gain has completely screwed with my mind. Not good. I don’t remember the last day that I was actually on the plan.

Sometimes having an “all-or-nothing” type personality can be a good thing. Well, if it’s both “all” and something productive. However, it’s not good when you let one rough day {or week} get you completely off track from whatever you’re trying to accomplish.

I didn’t weigh in last week. Heck, I didn’t even go to the meeting. The topic was something I probably really needed to hear, too: Staying on plan on the weekends.

Knowing how bad I’ve been these past couple of weeks is really making me not want to go this week either. Oy vey.

I feel it necessary to “confess” a few of my indiscretions:

* I’ve been drinking soda like crazy. I really just shouldn’t buy it. Especially Coke. Seriously. My name is Misti, and I’m a Coke addict.

* I bought chips & cheese dip at the store the other day. Another major weakness. I thought about calling or texting one of my friends to talk me down {ha!}, but didn’t {obviously, or I wouldn’t be writing about it}.

* I have been to Dunkin Donuts {twice} this week. Sob.

I’m sure there are {a lot} more, but I’ll leave you with that little snapshot.

This week I HAVE to go to the meeting. And, as much as I REALLY don’t want to, I need to weigh in. I need to see the number, deal with it and move on.

Week 6: Recap

I weighed in yesterday, expecting a good number. I was only 1.4 away from hitting my first WW goal of 5% lost. Well, I gained .4. I don’t really know what the deal was. Maybe I was just retaining water {I did feel a little bloated. Sorry, TMI}, or it could have been my body playing catch-up from not being good a couple of weeks before. Who knows.

I will admit that I’ve been a bit discouraged and, in all honesty, have had trouble staying on plan this weekend. It’s pretty normal for me to use Saturday as my “free” day, but today hasn’t been too great either.

Tomorrow is a new day. I will wake up in the morning, and start the day on the right foot.

Moving on up…

As I said in my last post, I started training for Walk-It Day on June 6th. So far I’ve done two 10 minute walks & one 12 minute walk. I’ve been enjoying it so far. My {brand new} shoes seem to be giving me some problems, but when I go to the store tomorrow I’m going to check into getting some inserts. Hopefully that will help. My friend Mae essentially bought these shoes for me {she let me use her store credit at Lady Foot Locker} and they weren’t cheap. I don’t know if it’s my feet that are the problem, or maybe the way I walk. Who knows. But I need to get it figured out soon.

I’ve put together a playlist to listen to as I walk. Right now I just put it on shuffle & let it go. Eventually I may get all organized & try to put it in order of length of song or something so I can use that to time my walk. Here’s what I have so far:

For Your Entertainment – Adam Lambert
Whataya Want From Me – Adam Lambert
Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
Cowboy Cassanova – Carrie Underwood
Before He Cheats – Carrie Underwood
The Way You Make Me Feel – Michael Jackson
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Glee Soundtrack
Somebody to Love – Glee Soundtrack
My Life Would Suck Without You – Kelly Clarkson
I Do Not Hook Up – Kelly Clarkson
Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
Miss Independent – Kelly Clarkson
Footloose – Kenny Loggins
Live Like We’re Dying – Kris Allen
Paparazzi – Lady Gaga
Lovegame – Lady Gaga
Just Dance – Lady Gaga
Poker Face – Lady Gaga
Vogue – Madonna
Kiss – Prince
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Tom Sawyer – Rush
Fifteen – Taylor Swift
Love Story – Taylor Swift
White Horse – Taylor Swift
You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
That’s Not My Name – The Ting Tings
Decode – Paramore
I Caught Myself – Paramore
Supermassive Black Hole – Muse

Wow, that’s a lot of music! I’m still on the lookout for more, so keep the suggestions coming.

Week 5: Recap

Well, staying on plan works. Duh. ;D I lost 1.6 pounds this week, bringing my total lost to 11.2!

I’m only 1.4 pounds away from my first “official” WW goal of 5% of my weight lost. Hopefully I can reach that goal in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday was a scrapbooking day with the girls. I had intended to go to the 8:30 meeting & just be a little late to Jenni’s house. Apparently I should’ve checked the schedule before I left the house… the meeting started at 8:00! Oops. Unfortunately I missed the meeting & therefore didn’t get to celebrate hitting my 10 pounds lost. I’ll have to pay more attention next time.

This week WW kicked off their Walk-It Challenge. In an effort to get people moving, they’ll be holding a 5K walk on June 6. From what I gathered talking to Trudie (my WW leader) each meeting location will walk together. We received a booklet with a training schedule that will help us get ready for a 5K in 6 weeks. Thankfully it’s geared toward those of us who don’t exercise on a regular basis. As an example, here’s the week one schedule:

Day 1: 10 minutes
Day 2: 10 minutes
Day 3: rest
Day 4: 12 minutes
Day 5: 12 minutes
Day 6: rest
Day 7: 15 minutes

I’m going to do it! I started today with my first 10 minute walk. I brought our kitchen timer, set it for 5 minutes and started walking. When it beeped, I turned around & went back. I have to admit it was pretty easy, but I think I’ll stick with their schedule.

One thing I’d like to do is put together a good playlist for when I’m walking. I know a few songs I’ll put on it:

Footloose – Kenny Loggins
You Can’t Stop the Beat – Hairspray Soundtrack
Don’t Stop Believing – Journey (and Glee Soundtrack)
Eye of the Tiger – I can’t remember who sings it

Do you have any suggestions of songs that will get {and keep} me going?

This is turning out to be quite long, but I want to share a new dessert I found this week; individual serving sizes of Skinny Cow Ice Cream.
 
I had the first one this evening and Yum-O! This flavor is only 3 points for the container.

Until next time…

some yumminess

This week has been good so far. Hopefully I can counteract my “misdeeds” of last week. ;o)

One of my favorite tools on the Weight Watchers site is the Recipe Builder. You can input any recipe, and it will calculate the points for you. It has been such a help!

I wanted to share a couple of recipes I’ve prepared this week.

Meatloaf Muffins

Photo courtesy of Kraft Recipes

1lb extra lean ground beef (I used 96/4)

1 pkg (6oz) STOVE TOP stuffing mix (I used Savory Herb)

1 c. water 1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 c. BBQ Sauce (their recipe calls for 3/4 c.)

1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese (their recipe calls for 3/4 c.)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix ground beef, stuffing mix, water & garlic powder. Press into muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray. Spread BBQ sauce over tops.

Bake for 30 minutes. Top with cheese & bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Makes 12 muffins. 2 muffins per serving. 5 points per serving.

Mexican Chicken

Photo courtesy of Kelly’s Korner Recipes

3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel
56g shredded cheddar cheese (recipe calls for 2-3 cups)
5 flour tortillas (recipe calls for corn tortilllas, but Chris doesn’t like them)

Tear the tortillas into small pieces and line the bottom of a pan. Mix together the soups, rotel and chicken and pour on top. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

If separated into 6 servings, 6 points per serving.

Cake for One

No picture because.... well, I ate it before I could take a picture. ;o)

This one is ridiculously easy & ridiculously yummy!

Yummy Cake for One

• One box Angel Food cake mix
• One box any other cake mix

Mix these two boxes of cake mix together and store in a container in your cupboard. When you need a quick snack, take a coffee mug and mix together 1/4 Cup mix with 2 TB water. Microwave on high for one minute = 2 points

Or if using 1/3 cup mix and 3 tbsp water = 3 points.

I used Devil’s Food as my “other cake mix” and let me tell you… DELICIOUS! If only I’d had some low point ice cream to go with it.

Do you have any yummy recipes to share?

Week 4: Recap

So… it’s been a rough week. I suppose I could blame it on a certain “friend” who came to visit yesterday. The week before her visit is always a little rough in the food department; I go back and forth between sweet & salty and don’t have much by way of willpower.

I haven’t weighed in this week; and don’t plan to. I’m still going to attend the meeting, in fact, I need to be getting ready right about now. Between my “friend” and how I’ve eaten this week, I just don’t want to face the number on the scale. I still need to go and participate in the meeting though.

I will absolutely do better this week. It would be pretty hard not to!

Week 3: Recap

It seems that being more aware & measuring accurately pays off. I lost 4.2 pounds this week! I’m only .4 away from 10 pounds lost. Next week for sure.

As for the things I wanted to work on last week:

* I did a better job drinking my water. I’m not sure that I reached my “recommended” amount each day, but I wasn’t too far off.

* Moving more: yeah, not so much. I just keep telling myself that I’m working on getting my eating right, then I’ll start exercising. Likely excuse, right? I’ve thought about joining a gym, there are a few in the area that aren't too expensive, but I’ve been known to join in the past then not go. I know think I’d be a lot more likely to go if I had a partner, but it’s hard to find someone who’s on the same schedule, etc. Yes, excuses again.

* I was definitely more accurate in my measuring last week. Obviously it made a big difference.

Next week I want to continue improving in these areas and work on the following:

* Multivitamin – I’ll do the shopping on Tuesday and will make sure to put these on the list. Remembering to take them will take a little more effort, but first things first.

* Spread my points out a little better throughout the day. One day last week I had six points left over after dinner. Six! I hate when I get to the end of the day and am left rummaging in the kitchen for things to make it up. On this particular day I wound up eating a WW ice cream bar & 4 Reese’s eggs. Not the best option.

* Don’t use Saturday as a “free day”. It’s a little late for this week. Jboy & I went to a birthday party yesterday and I just ate & drank soda to my hearts content. For dinner we picked up a pizza & breadsticks and, well, let’s just say I didn’t really practice any restraint. There’s nothing wrong with picking a day & “splurging” a little, but I still need to be conscious of what I’m eating and count the points. That’s what the 35 points weekly allowance is for.

Hopefully I can make some progress in these areas and have good results next week too.