we're all crazy

I hate to admit I watch things like The Bachelor/Bachelorette and America's Next Top Model. But alas, I've been suckered into it.

However, I have noticed something. Maybe not quite an epiphany - but lets call it an awakening.

It doesn't matter how drop dead gorgeous you are. How flawless your skin, how golden your hair, how perfect your smile, how long your legs, how slim your ankle, how tiny your waist..... us chicks, we're all a little crazy.

We all root out our most heinous imperfection, and dwell on it - nurse it like a prized rose, These girls, I would take one look at them and cower in a corner, feeling like an ugly troll. Who'd have thought those girls have those same insecurities?

BTW - on a totally unrelated topic, tonight marks a full calendar week I have gone without stuffing my face in front of the tv when I get home from work!
Conquering chips today... tomorrow the WORLD!!!!

Even though Monday was my official start date for Weight Watchers, I picked Friday as my weigh in day for strategic reasons (meaning, bad things typically happen on the weekend and I need as much recovery time as possible). So all that being said, I had my first official weigh in today and.....
*drumroll please*

I'm down 2.8lbs!

YAAAAAAAY!

So while I'm really happy about my loss, there are actually something I'm happier about (if you can imagine that).

On Wed and Thurs, I walked after work... as in purposeful exercise.

But even THAT is not why I'm feeling so good!

The after work munchies are my downfall. I seem to have no control whatsoever. Somehow or another, be the Grace of God or my own developing willpower (I'm placing my bets on the former) I'm doing SO MUCH better with my afternoon binges.

Wed and Thurs I ate a banana when i got home from my walk - and that's ALL I had till dinner. Tonight I had a banana and a yogurt (I was really hungry). Even though I'm still hungry, I'm actually waiting till dinner (which should be very shortly) instead of mindlessly and uncontrollably eating, then having essentially a 2nd dinner.

I have struggled with this for sooooooooo long. I know I'm not out of the woods yet... it's so easy to fall back into those destructive patterns, but now I think I know I can get past it. It's so motivating, so encouraging to be in control of this!


Other than those victories, I know I've got a lot of potential for disaster this weekend.... a "Breakfast with the Pastor" on Sunday..... who knows what kind of options will be available there. Then there's the general going out to eat/business of life that happens on the weekends. And my husband and I aren't real great at telling each other "No", so if I tell him I'm dying for ice cream - we'll be at Cold Stone within the hour.

Feeling pretty good so far - glad I decided to jump back on the WW bandwagon instead of trying to go it alone!

Have a great night and a fabulous weekend!

I've made it through a whopping 4 days being On Point. So far it's been fairly easy - but isn't it always in the beginning?

Lately, my breakfast has been either an ww english muffin or a bagel thin w/ a Tbsp of peanut butter or some LC cheese (I love that stuff!), and a banana.

Lunch has been turkey on a ww sandwich thin w/ hummus instead of mayo, and a soup at hand. Today I had a leftover cheeseburger from dinner last night (95% lean ground beef, sandwich thin, LF american cheese) and a side salad.

Dinner is kind of all over the place - the cheeseburgers and baked fries last night, dijon chicken breasts w/ mashed potatoes and green beans before that, and chicken breasts marinated in some mexican spices w/ rice and broccoli the night before that. Tonight my husband is supposed to pick up dinner... so not sure what I'll have. But I saved a bunch of points so I wouldn't be so limited..... and

................and...................................
I've got out walking for 30 minutes for 2 nights in a row! I know! Me! Who'd a thunk it?!

Tomorrow is my weigh in day, I'm kind of nervous/excited about what the scale will show. Hopefully good things!

I've also been pretty good w/ drinking my water. Which leads me to some observations.

#1 always pee before you go anywhere. in fact, if you stand up for whatever reason, just go ahead and head to the bathroom. You may not have to go right then, but you will by the time you get there.
     1a) If you are going to be leaving to go anywhere not accessible to a bathroom, then go make double sure you go beforehand. Then wait 5 minutes and go again.

#2  Be mindful of your fiber intake. Any type of fiber one/fiber plus bars should be consumed in the latter part of the day. This is a public service announcement, and failure to do so may cause irreparable damage to your career, your psyche, and the psyche of those around you.

So, uh.... hey there. I know it's been a while............

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Well... maybe I kinda sorta did. The diet/weight loss earth anyway. I can list all the reasons... but really, they aren't reasons. They're excuses.

I realized I can't do this by myself. I can't just make this blanket "I'm going to eat healthy and lose weight" statement and *wham* I'm losing weight. I need portion control. I need to really pay attention to what I'm doing. I need someone or something saying when I've had enough. Otherwise, I'm just spinning my wheels.

So I broke down and (re)joined Weight Watchers. It's a good program, it's recommended by Dr's, and it worked for me in the past. I let my desire for instant results get the best of me, I became apathetic and stopped counting and tracking, and that's when it stopped working.

Yep, I'm counting points again. Not my favorite thing, but it is effective. Monday was my first official day, and I will weigh in on Friday. I'm just doing it online for now, I'd like to do meetings, but the meetings/e-tools combo is just too expensive for me, and if I have to pick one,  I'd rather have instant access to all the points values and trackers.

This time around, the program is a little different. Points values are calculated based on Fat, Protein, Carbs, and Fiber. Generally, points values on foods are a bit higher - but the majority of fruits and veggies are "0" so you're free to eat those ad nauseum. To compensate, they've done some other advanced calculations involving the position of the Moon when in the house of Aries and so forth, and you have more Daily Points and more Weekly Points to spend.... so it all balances out. I'm still trying to get used to it, and trying to figure out what my "go-to" foods/meals are going to be.

Still haven't gotten around much to that dreaded "E" Word. I told myself I was going to take a walk after work today, but then ended up running by the grocery store, and then it was about dark by the time I got home, and then my sofa started calling my name...... all excuses, I know.

For now I'm going to focus on tracking and staying "On Point", The rest will come, and sooner rather than later.

On a side note, tried the new Fiber Plus flavor "Coconut Carmel Fudge". Let me just say - Y U M! It tastes kind of like a Samoa GS cookie! I mean, no it's not as good - few things this side of the Pearly Gates are, but it's pretty freakin tasty!

BTW, part of the reason I stopped blogging so much is they changed the Internet access at work, so I can't get on to a lot of my favorite blogs and sites. Bastards! How dare you make me work at work!

When I get home, I tend to not want to look at the computer as much - but I'm going to try and be better about updating.

Carla - thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to check up on me! You have no idea how much it means to me that you thought of me! 

Feel like I did pretty well on eating yesterday...

did I mention these sweet potatoes were really good?

portioned out my 14 baked tortilla chips, was wanting more, so ate some celery w/ the hummus

roasted chicken (from the grocery store. I just had the breast and took the skin off. The potatoes are called "Crash" potatoes - basically you boil a potato till you can stick a fork in it. Then you spray a cooking sheet w/ Pam, put the potato on the sheet and use the bottom of a glass to crush it. Then you drizzle a little olive oil on it, spring S+P, and bake it at 450 for like 20 min. It was ok - I used red potatoes, and the skin was nice and crispy, but overall it was kind of bland.

the broccoli is just regular Steamfresh Broccoli w/ lowfat cheese sauce from the freezer section. It was a quick easy meal - but just ok.

After dinner I was craving something sweet, so I had a handful of marshmellows. 

Did I mention I'm up .4 this week? 284.8.... Yeah, bummer. Kind of expected given the food fest this weekend, but it still sucks.

This is a new week, and today is a new day. And today I'm going to have a healthy portion controlled snack after work, followed up by a healthy portion controlled dinner tonight.

Also going to try and get some of that "E" word in tonight. Not exactly sure what form it will take... but yeah.

Today's Grub:

 Do yourself a favor and be careful w/ the Fiber One..... not only for your health, but for the health and well being of those around you. :/

Left over cheeseburger from last night...

The Monterey Jack and Sundried Tomato Sunchips are pretty tasty!

This yogurt is pretty good - not really chocolately, or even remotely like a Black Forest Cake, but still pretty good.

***Update***

I actually did have a nice portion controlled snack after work! I ate the allotted 18 pretzel sticks + the LC cheese.

I also tried this Vanilla Honey Camomille Tea. I've never been much of a hot tea kinda girl.... but it always sounds so warm and cozy and relaxing. Hot liquids are also supposed to curb your appetite (right? or did I make that up in my head?) So it was pretty good... I don't know if it necessarily curbed my appetite so much as kept my hands/mouth busy. Whatever works, right?

Anyway, on to dinner. Garlic Peppercorn Pork Loin, Cajun Sweet Potatoes, and Steamed Green Beans w/ RF butter and garlic.

I LOVE these sweet potatoes! lovelovelovelovelove! They were spicy, but still sweet. I could eat them by themselves as a snack. What an awesome healthy dinner!

So I feel pretty good about today. On to tomorrow!

Consider........ the Sweet Potato

Did you know Yams and Sweet Potatoes are two different things? I thought they were the same, but according to about.com, the Sweet Potato is the orange critter we all know and love for pies and as a vessel for melted marshmallows. The Yam is actually popular in Latin American and Caribbean cuisine, is generally sweeter, and can grow up to 7 feet in length!

There, now don't you feel enlightened?


Anyway, one of my (many) goals this year is to step out of my culinary comfort zone and make some new and interesting recipes with some new and interesting (and healthy) foods. I've done pretty well so far I think  - the chicken tortilla soup being the stand out star so far.




Tonight, I will attack the Sweet Potato.



Now I've made sweet potato souffle, and candied sweet potatoes, and all sorts of variations of the two. The problem is they're always more of a Thanksgiving/Christmas type side dish (that could easily do double duty as a dessert), and any health benefits are essentially negated by the copious amounts of sugar, marshmallows, jams, juice, and more sugar added to the mix.

I could do the standard baked sweet potato - but what do you add to that? brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter?

So my challenge to myself is to make a healthy savory sweet potato side dish for dinner tonight - and for my husband to eat it.

And that, my friends, is the true challenge here.

I love my husband, I truly do. He's my best friend, my confidant, my lover and my accomplice. But he's not the most adventurous eater. He tends to like his meat and potatoes (and by potatoes I mean white), his burgers and fries, his hamburger helper and... well, need I say more?  The tortilla soup was a stretch for him. He didn't like all that "stuff" floating around together in there so he had to close his eyes and take a bite on a leap of faith. (BTW, he really liked it!)

He's never eaten a sweet potato outside of a holiday dinner. Not even a baked one w/ all the sugar and stuff.

I am about to change that.

Tonight we're having roasted pork loin, steamed green beans, and...............................

CAJUN BAKED SWEET POTATOES. 

Are you excited? My husband doesn't know it yet.... He'll see them when they hit the plate. They have really good reviews at allrecipes.com, so I've got high hopes!

A little sweet, a little more spicy.... I'm hoping this can be a regular into the rotation! I'll let you know how it turns out!