Day 24: A new topping for pancakes and Points-Friendly Appetizers?!?!

I decided to have pancakes for breakfast this morning,  I made them from Bisquick Heart Smart mix, and added cinnamon to them.  I cooked them with a half teaspoon of butter.  I have found that using a small amount of butter is just as good to me as using a lot.  So, what I've done, is take a stick of butter, and cut it into tablespoons.  Then cut each tablespoon into thirds (teaspoons), then cut those in half.  So, for each tablespoon of butter I end up with six little 'chunks' of butter.  I find it a lot easier to know how much I'm cooking with that way, without having to cut it up each time.

I tried something new this morning to put onto my pancakes.  I put some frozen strawberries into a pan, along with a sliced up banana, a teaspoon of sugar and a little bit of water.  Put the burner on low and covered them.

I checked on them in a little while and they were looking mighty good!  The liquid seemed pretty thin in the pan, so I drained a little of it out and mixed it with a little bit of cornstarch.  I then mixed the cornstarch 'slurry' into the pan and let it come back to a boil in order to thicken it up.

 I stacked my pancakes on the plate with the strawberry banana mix I made.  As you can see, they were quite delicious!!!  The pancakes were 7 points, my luscious fruit mix was 0 points, and the two cups of milk I had were 4 points.  That brings breakfast to a total of 11 points.



Like most, I didn't believe there was such a thing as Points-Friendly Appetizers....until I started looking for ideas.  See, I was invited to a New Year's Eve party on Friday, and was told that it's basically going to be appetizers all day and pizza for dinner.  So, I went on a mission to find points-friendly appetizers that I could bring, and something to bring for dinner, rather than the pizza.  I love pizza, but it's high in points, and lately I get horrible heartburn/reflux when I eat pizza (but not pasta sauce - go figure).  I did some searching online and ended up finding this post about Southwestern Egg Rolls, and this one about baking egg rolls in the oven (rather than frying them), and let my brain mull it over for a while.

What I came up with were baked taco bites.  Seemed simple enough to me...I basically used the recipe for the Southwestern Egg Rolls but used ground beef instead of the chicken.  Then, instead of frying the wonton's, I baked them in the oven.

I took a pound of 85% lean ground beef and cooked it up in a frying pan with two teaspoons of taco seasoning and some onion powder.  Once that was done, I drained it in a colander to get some of the fat out of it and let it cool off.

Then I cooked a cup of frozen corn with a half cup of black beans (drained and rinsed) and two teaspoons of taco seasoning also.  I added a little bit of water to the pan, and cooked them for about 5 minutes or so.  Then I drained them and let them cool off.







Once both the meat and the vegetables were cooled off, I mixed them together in a bowl and added 8oz of finely shredded mexican blend cheese.

 

I then opened the package of wonton wrappers.

Placed one on the counter, and put a generous teaspoon of the filling in the center.

Painted the edges of the wrapper with water.

Folded it up like a triangle.






 

I then wet two of the points and folded them together.








There was A LOT of filling!  I ended up having to use two packages of the wonton wrappers.  I never thought I was going to get through all the filling.   Here's the bowl at about the halfway point!

Here is a quarter of them on the pan waiting to go into the oven:

I finished with the first package of wrappers, and noticed there were recipes in the package.  Imagine my surprise when I saw "Tex Mex Won Tons"!  I, however, think mine sounded better, lol!

You have to keep wonton wrappers covered and not let them dry out.  If you do happen to take the dog outside and forget you have a wonton half finished on the counter, this is about how it ends up looking!






I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, and it came out to 1 point per taco bite.  I am also bringing salsa and sour cream for those that wish to have it.



Besides the taco-bites, I also plan to bring a fruit tray.  I looked online for a fruit dip that might be point-friendly.  I found one, then modified it as I saw fit.

I used one 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Low Fat French Vanilla yogurt, a quarter cup of Polaner All-Fruit, about a quarter cup of canned crushed pineapple, and some cinnamon.

I mixed it all together and it tasted pretty good.  It looked a little thin, so I added two tablespoons of regular sour cream, and am going to add a 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Whole Milk Vanilla yogurt.






When I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, the entire bowl of dip is 12 points.  Now, I'm not planning to eat the entire bowl, but can judge how much I eat and how many points it is.


Once I was done cooking I was famished!  I had a chicken thigh (2pts), half cup of mushroom rice (3pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 9 points.  I then treated myself to a quarter cup of Breyer's mint choc chip ice cream for 2 points.

I was not hungry later at night, so did not have anything else to eat.  I ended up eating only 31 points today, leaving 5 of my daily points uneaten.  That still leaves me with all of my 49 weekly points for the week. 

Day 23; Good Health Guidelines

I suck at filling them out!  I never remember to fill them out.  I am going to try to get better at it, but I just don't know if I will.  I know I meet the milk requirements, and I'm pretty sure I make the fruit/vegetable and water one.  The oil.......that might be a little bit tough to get those in.

Today started out with scrambled eggs (4pts), two breakfast sausages (3pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 11 points for breakfast.

After breakfast, I got ready and headed out to visit with some friends for the day.

We had spaghetti, sauce and meatballs for dinner.  Oh - and garlic bread.  I think I had about one serving of spaghetti (5pts), two meatballs (4pts) and a small slice of garlic bread (6pts).  I also had a snack of some lean ham this afternoon (3pts).  That all came to 18 points for dinner.

I came home, and was hungry a little bit later, so I made myself a packet of oatmeal (3pts) with some fresh frozen fruit, and two cups of milk (4pts).  Snack totaled 7 points.


So, I ended the day having eaten all 36 of my points, and using none of my weekly points.  I still have 49 points remaining for the week.

On Friday, New Year's Eve, I am heading out to a friend's house.  I have found out that we are mostly having appetizers to eat, and pizza.  I have found something lately when I eat pizza.  I get the worst heartburn/aid reflux after eating it.  It's awful!!!  I may have to bring myself some food to eat for dinner at her house, since it doesn't seem like eating pizza is going to be a good idea. 

I am making a few of the appetizers, which is nice, because I'll know what the points are already!

I am also heading to another friend's house on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with her family.  I know what we're having for dinner there, so that will make it a little easier to plan :)

Week 3: Weigh-In Day

Before I left for my meeting I made myself two packets of oatmeal (6pts) and added some frozen fruit to it, so that I could have something to eat during the meeting.  I also brought two cups of milk (4pts).  Breakfast was 10 points, and was very satisfying.

After the meeting, I headed out to hit the craft stores for After-Christmas deals.  Busted out at them, but found a ton at Walmart!  Afterwards I headed to the grocery store to pick up some food.  While there I bought some steaks, frozen veg and rice mix for dinner.  I had five ounces of eye of the round (6pts), a half cup serving of Knorr Mushroom Rice Sides (3pts), a cup of Green Giant broccoli and cheese (2pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 15 points.

Later, I had some microwave popcorn for a snack (3pts).  Dinner was some leftover spaghetti (2pts) and five ounces of lean ham (4pts) for a total of 6 points.  I also had a quarter cup of ice cream after dinner (2pts).

I ended up eating exactly 36 points today, so didn't use any of my weekly points.




Oh.............and I LOST 3.4 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was absolutely floored when the receptionist told me!!!!   Wooooo - GOOOO MEEEE!!!!!   That's a total of 11.2 pounds in 3 weeks!

Day 21: The "B" Word

What "B" word?  Blizzard.  A good one.  The first we've had up here in New England this season.  Dropped about 18 inches between Sunday morning and Monday night.  Most of it was late Sunday and into Monday morning.

The only benefit to snow is that I earned activity points for shoveling it.  Wet, heavy snow is no fun to shovel!

I started out the day with a cut up apple in a bowl of Multi-Grain Cheerios (two servings, 5pts), and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total breakfast of 9 points.

Then I went out to shovel the snow.  Spent just over an hour out there, but got it all done.

Had a serving of the leftover barbecue beef noodles (8pts) from the other day, two cups of milk (4pts) and one of the cake truffles that I made (1pt), for a total of 13 points for lunch.

Went to my brother's for dinner.  We had a lot of fun making pizzas.  I had two slices (9pts) and some home made french fries (5pts) for a total of 14 points.  He does not have skim milk, so I had water to drink with dinner.

I was hungry later at night, so I made up two packets of oatmeal (6pts), put some frozen fruit in them, and had two cups of milk (4pts).  My snack was 10 points.

So, I ended up eating 46 points today, using 10 of my weekly points, and still had 8 weekly points leftover.

Day 20: A taste sometimes really is enough!

So, yesterday was a lazy kind of day.  Couldn't go out and hit the after-Christmas sales cause we were snowed in with a blizzard outside.  Amazingly enough, I didn't eat the entire house out of boredom.  This is partly due to me staying out of the kitchen unless it was time for a meal.

I started the day with a breakfast of two eggs (Eggland's Best, 3 pts), two breakfast sausages (3pts), a teaspoon of butter (1pt) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 14 points for breakfast.  It was a very satisfying and filling breakfast.

My next meal is probably dinner.  Breakfast was at 11:30, and this meal was at 4:30.  I tried cooking up something I made about a week or so ago.  I took a pound and a half of hamburg and cooked it up in the frying pan, added some chopped onion, pre-shredded carrots, barbecue sauce (a mix of a few different ones) and finally some frozen corn.  I used the Recipe Builder on the eTools website, and put in the number of servings as 34, since that's how many ounces I ended up with once it was all cooked.  For dinner I had a 5.5 ounce serving (8pts), a half serving of egg noodles (3pts), two cups of milk (4pts) and a slice of Arnold Oat Nut Bread (3pts) for a total of 14 points for dinner.

I decided I wanted a little dessert after dinner, so took out my Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. I put my dish on the scale, and scooped out what looked like a quarter cup of ice cream.  Put it in the dish and it was more, so I decided I would have a half cup of ice cream, and scooped out enough to make a half cup (4pts).  Once I was done eating it, I realized that I really only enjoyed the first half of it....and that a quarter cup would have been plenty to satisfy me.  In the future, I'm going to try to stick to a quarter cup of ice cream.

I got hunger later on, so I had a snack of oatmeal (3pts) with frozen blueberries and raspberries in it, and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 7pts.

So, I ended the day having eaten 39 points, using 3 more of my weekly points.  This leaves me with 18 weekly points for Monday.

~Chelle

Day 19: Christmas Day

So, the big day has arrived....Christmas Day!   Complete with all the goodies that go with it.  I have been trying to save my weekly points for this weekend.  I know there are a lot of high-point value foods around at Christmastime, and I love them, so planned ahead so that I could enjoy them without overdoing it on them. 

I decided it was a good idea to start with having breakfast, so that I wouldn't be starving and tempted to eat all the appetizer-type food that is usually out when we arrive where we are going.  I decided to indulge a little bit on Christmas.  I had a portuguese muffin (5pts) grilled in a pan on the stove (in one tsp butter, 1pt), two cups of milk (4pts) and a banana....a total of 9 points.

After breakfast, we headed off to my brother's house to exchange gifts with him, then head over to some friends of the family for dinner.  We arrived, and of course, there were all kinds of appetizers: taco dip, tortilla chips, cranberry bread, and a few others I don't remember.  Normally I would have dug right in, but wanted to save my appetite and points for dinner.  Instead of hanging around the kitchen to help with dinner, a bunch of us decided to go play a new game one of the kids got: Scene-It Nickelodeon version.  Each adult paired up with a kid, so it kind of made it fair, lol.  By the time we were done playing, dinner was on the table!

So what did the dinner consist of?  LOTS of food!  I had some salad (0pts) and about three tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (6pts).  I absolutely LOVE Hidden Valley Ranch, but don't eat it a lot because it's high in calories, etc..., but decided it was Christmas and I was going to have some foods I don't eat all the time.  I also had approximately three ounces of prime rib (all visible fat trimmed, 5 pts), about a cup of mashed potatoes (6pts), some green beans, and about two ounce of ham (2pts).  So, dinner wasn't so bad at 19 points.

Dessert, on the other hand....there were tons of dessert!!!  Blueberry pie, cherry pie, squash pie, pumpkin pie, coconut custard pie, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, and lemon squares.  I did not eat some of everything, lol.  I had some of what I really liked, and that I don't get to eat very often.  I had made the cupcakes, so I knew how many points those were (16 each!!!).  I used melted white chocolate in them, and the frosting, so that contributed to the high points, lol.  I split a cupcake with someone (8pts) because I couldn't stomach the thought of eating 16 points for one dessert!  The eight points were well worth it though, that cupcake was heaven!  I also had one serving of blueberry pie (one eighth of the pie, 5pts), a small brownie (2pts) and a peanut butter kiss cookie (3pts).  So, desserts totaled 18 points....and at least they were less points that the real food I ate!  lol.    Dessert was a few hours after dinner, so the food from dinner had a chance to settle and start digesting.

Got home, and later last night I was hungry for real food.  I thought about what would I like that would fill me up and keep me from being hungry later.  Oatmeal!!  I love oatmeal, so decided to have two packets of oatmeal (6pts) with some frozen fruit in it, and two cups of milk to drink (4pts), for a total of 10 points.  I love putting the frozen fruit (unthawed in the microwave first) in the oatmeal, it gives it such a nice taste! 

So, how did I do?  Not bad as far as I'm concerned.  Going into Christmas Day, I realized it's more important to be conscious of what I'm eating, than to get the exact number of points correct.  I did do my best as estimating portions and such, and feel I did pretty good.

I ended up eating a total of 56 points (yes, 56!), using 20 of my weekly points.  That leaves me with 21 weekly points for Sunday through Monday.  I do not expect to use them all, but we'll see what happens.

I was supposed to go to a friend's house today to exchange gifts, etc.... but a snowstorm has put a damper on that.  We may get together tomorrow if the snowstorm is a flop though.

Day 18: Christmas Eve

Things have been a little crazy around here with Christmas and everything, so I didn't get a chance to blog the last few days.  I did, however, track everything I ate :)

Christmas Eve was a busy day around here.  I had lots of Christmas baskets to put together to give out, and wasn't nearly finished with packaging up the goodies that were going in them.

I had one egg (2pts), two sausage links (3pts) and two cups of milk (2pts) for a breakfast of 9 points, then got busy with the baskets.

For lunch I had some left over tortellini and sauce (9pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 13 points for lunch.

Surprisingly, I got all my baskets packed up and everything done by 6:30!  That's unheard of for me.  It's usually midnight or later.  I also made two different kinds of cupcakes, icing for both, and frosted both.  For dinner I had two Van De Kamp's Crispy Fish Fillets (one serving, 7pts), a baked potato (2pts), green beans with slivered almonds (2pts for the almonds) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 15 points for dinner.

I ate 37 points on Christmas Eve, using 1 of my weekly points, leaving me with 41 of my weekly points left going into Christmas Day.  I have been trying not to use many weekly points each day, and saving them for Christmas Day and the day afterwards.  I am supposed to be getting together with friends on Sunday also.

Day 17: Eating out Challenges

Today I started putting together all my Christmas baskets to be given out in the next few days.  Breakfast consisted of two servings of Multi-Grain Cheerios (5pts), a banana (0pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 9 points.

I got busy putting the different components of the baskets together and lost track of time.  By the time I realized it, it was 2:30 and I had to be out of the house by 3!  So, I rushed and got dressed and was starving by the time I came downstairs to leave.  Since I didn't have time to sit and eat, I made two packets of oatmeal (6pts) with some frozen fruit in it (0pts), and put it in my new soup thermos to take with me and eat at my friend's house while waiting for her kids to get home.  I was taking them out to do some shopping for their parents for Christmas.  I also brought two cups of milk with me to drink while I ate the oatmeal (4pts).  Lunch ended up 10 points.

While we were out shopping, Muffin called and asked if we could pick up pizza for dinner.  I groaned inside but said 'sure'.  Here is one of the big challenges in making this plan work in the real world.  You get surprises thrown at you, things don't always go according to plan, etc.....  So, finding myself without my books or internet access, I used my best judgement and had two slices of pizza, and had water to drink.  When I got home, I looked up the pizza and it turns out it was only 7 points per slice.  Had two cups of milk when I first got home (4pts) also.  So dinner ended up 18points.

When I finally returned home I was hungry.  Looking around for a lower point, but filling snack, I spotted some leftover ham.  So I had 5oz of the ham and that was only 4 points.  I drank water with it. 

So the day ended up with 41 points being eaten, using only 5 of the weekly allowance points.  Leaving me with 42 points for the week.



So I ate

Day 16: A new food!

Today I made a slightly different breakfast than I've been having.  I purchased some portuguese muffins a little while ago, and calculated them out to be 5 points.  That seemed kind of high for a snack or such, but decided to have one with breakfast today.  I first cooked up a package of breakfast sausages I purchased the other day.  I then grilled up one of the muffins (5pts) with a teaspoon of butter (1pt).  I fried one egg (2pts) with a half teaspoon of butter (0pts) and had that with two of the sausage links (3pts), and two cups of milk (4pts).  Breakfast ended up 15 points, but it was quite a filling breakfast!

For lunch I made the same chicken salad that I had last week.  This time I chose to eat all that I made (6pts), with no bread or anything, just two cups of milk (4pts).  It was pretty low points for lunch, but was quite satisfying! 

 Here are a few photos, one before I added the Miracle Whip and one afterward.







Dinner consisted of five ounces leftover ham (4pts), a half cup corn (2pts), a half cup baked beans (3pts) and two cup of milk (4pts), for a total of 13 points.

I ate 38 points today, using 2 of my weekly points, leaving me with 47 of my weekly points.

Week 2: Weigh-In Day

Yesterday was a pretty busy day, so I didn't get a chance to blog last night - sorry!

Since it was weigh-in day, I did not have breakfast before I left home.  I know....it's a bad idea, I totally agree!  I, however, can't wrap my head around eating before getting weighed...I just can't do it.  I get weighed with sneakers on, but can't seem to eat first, lol. 

I did, however, bring something to eat after getting weighed.  I neglected to do this last week and was plagued with a wicked headache the rest of the day!  Yet another reason why waiting to eat is a bed idea!  I brought one of the breakfast muffins (5pts) that I made with me, along with two cups of milk (4pts), for a total breakfast (at noon!) of 9 points.  I realized while eating the muffin, that although it is good and somewhat filling, oatmeal would be a much better choice, and taste a lot better.  I was heading out shopping after the meeting, and added a soup thermos to my list so that I could bring hot oatmeal with me next week (more on this later!).

After the meeting, I headed out to go shopping.  By the time I got to the stores (about an hour later) I was hungry again (this would not have happened with oatmeal), so I went to Subway and had a Veggie Delite 6" sub on Honey Oat bread (7pts) and had water to drink. 

So, I started my search for a soup thermos while in Target.  They had travel mugs for coffee and such, but nothing suitable for oatmeal or soup.  I got a little frustrated while in the store trying to find a soup thermos...probably because I was tired.  I ended up at Stop & Shop and they had a few varieties to choose from.

First was a snack container from Thermos.  It looked cute, but when I opened it, it looked REALLY small inside!  I read the tag and it claimed it held 8oz.  Definitely not big enough for two packets of oatmeal with fruit mixed in.

 

 

Second was another offering from Thermos brand.  It looked like a typical thermos like I had in elementary school, but it claimed to have a wide mouth.  So I opened it, and it, too, looked small in capacity.  Label claimed 10oz.  At double the price of the 8oz, I'd just as soon get two 8oz containers!

After searching for a while, I found this container from StayFit.  It holds just under three cups. Perfect for oatmeal!!  And was only $7! Much better than $6 or $12 for the Thermos brands.

 We'll see how long it keeps the oatmeal hot.  It only needs to keep it for an hour or so, so I'm hoping it does that.  If not, I have the receipt and it's going back.  

So, for dinner last night, I was in the mood for soup and grilled cheese.  I had purchased some Cambell's Healthy Request Tomato Soup, foolishly thinking it would be healthier than the regular Campbell's Tomato Soup (silly me!).  I got home, and compared it to the can of regular tomato soup I had (should have done that in the store), and found it it's not really that much healthier!  It has 70mg less sodium (410mg vs 480mg) and 4.5g more of fat!!  The original had NONE!  I was peeved!  Teach me to look at labels in the store before buying something!

Anyway, the can is 2.5 servings, which I calculated the points on the can having two servings, because I don't need a half serving hanging around.  I made it with skim milk, and then a teaspoon of butter melted into my bowl before eating it (5pts).  I made a half grilled cheese sandwich to go with it: one slice of Arnold oatnut bread (3pts), two slices of Kraft Singles (4pts) and cooked it in a teaspoon of butter (1pt).  I had two cups of milk to drink with it (4pts) and enjoyed a quarter cup of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream afterwards (2pts).  Dinner ended up 20 points.  

On the upside, I was not hungry later, so there was no snack had.  I ended the day having eaten all of my 36 points and using none of my weekly points.

Day 14: A taste is as good as a whole carton

Today started out with a cinnamon roll for breakfast (4pts) with two cups of milk (4pts).  I wanted the second cinnamon roll, but in all honesty, it wasn't worth the extra four points, so I stopped at one.  Breakfast totaled 8 points.

Lunch was leftover ham from dinner last night (4pts), a couple slices of cheese (2pts), a serving of Snyder's pretzel bites (4pts) and two cups of milk (4pts).  That adds up to 14 points for lunch.

You've probably noticed I don't eat a lot of bread.  That's by choice, I've never been a big bread eater.  Unlike other people, bread does not keep me full/hold me at all.  I have noticed in the past couple weeks that protein keeps me satisfied longer than other foods do.  So, though I will still eat bread on occasion, I tend to eat more foods that are higher in protein.

For dinner I had cheese tortellini (9pts) with a little bit of sauce (1pt) and two cups of milk (4pts).  I felt like a little dessert, so had a quarter cup of ice cream (2pts).  Dinner, plus my dessert, was 16 points.

I was hungry later, so I had a packet of oatmeal (3pts).  This ended up with me eating 41 points for the day, using 5 of my weekly points, leaving me with 11 points left over for the week.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day, so we'll see how it goes!

Day 13: A Revelation of Sorts

This morning I got up and packed up my stuff from my friend's house in CT and drove to NH to visit another friend who just had a baby a couple months ago.  I looked online last night at the website for Panera Bread and took a look at their nutritional information for some of their breakfast sandwiches.  I noticed they had one called Breakfast Power Sandwich.  This sounded like something that would give me a lot of 'bang for my buck' so to speak.  I calculated it out, and it would be 9 points for the sandwich.  I decided I'd give it a try and see how it was.

So, I went to Panera, got the sandwich (9pts) and two cups of skim milk.  Now, I didn't think to specify two 8oz cups of skim milk...and I think I ended up with two 12oz cups of skim milk (6pts).  It was more than 8oz, but it was not 16oz, so I estimated.  I, of course, drank the milk because I love milk and wasn't going to throw it out.  So my breakfast ended up 15 points.  I ate it around 10am, on my way to NH.  I will say that I was not hungry again until about 3 or 4 when we had lunch, so it seemed to work out pretty good.  Here is a picture of it:

 

It tasted ok.  I don't think I like the aged white cheddar that's in it, so if I get it again, I will ask for it with different cheese.  It could definitely have used ketchup, but that's kind of messy in the car.  I moved the bread so you could see inside of it :)

My friend had cooked some vegetable lasagna for lunch, along with garlic bread.  Assuming that the lasagna would be high in points, and pretty much knowing the garlic bread would be, I had half of a slice of garlic bread (3pts), and one serving of the lasagna (8pts).  It was a frozen one, and the box said eight servings, and we cut it into eight pieces, so that was kind of easy, lol.  While we were getting lunch together, she pulled out thin mint cookies and Snyder's pretzel bites.  I LOVE both of these soooo much!  I could probably sit down and eat the entire package of both, lol.  But, knowing I would be counting the points later, I had one thin mint (1pt) and three of the pretzel bites (1pt).  I told her I was saving my appetite for lunch.  

Yes, sometimes I lie to people when I'm on WW, and tell them I'm not hungry when I am, etc....  It just makes it easier.  I have found it's sometimes easier when people don't know you're on WW.  Plus, WW is for living, and in the real world, you eat at people's houses that don't necessarily accommodate WW, so you have to figure out how to deal with it, so I'm trying to do that as I go along.  I also realized that I don't need to eat the entire package of cookies.  Sometimes just one is all I need.  Just a taste of it, and I'm good.  I did this last time I joined WW.  If I was really craving say, a candy bar, and someone I knew had one, I would ask for a small piece (bite size) of it, and it would satisfy me, I didn't really need the entire candy bar to be happy.

After lunch she pulled out mint chocolate chip ice cream for desert.  If you've never had Breyer's brand, you HAVE to buy it!  It is THE best I've ever tasted!!  Knowing it was full fat ice cream, I had approx a half cup (4pts).  It may have been a little less or a little more, but I figure the important thing is that I'm counting SOMETHING for it, and I'm not grossly underestimating how much ice cream there was.

So lunch, and it's preparations ended up being 17 points.  Not too bad considering what we had.

For dinner we bought a spiral ham at the grocery store.  I estimated that I ate about six ounces of ham (5pts), about a third cup of corn (1pt), a serving of sweet potato fries (4pts) and two cups of skim milk (4pts).  I have been eating enough leftover spiral ham the past few weeks (and weighing it) that I am pretty comfortable estimating the weight of the ham.  Again, I might be off a little bit, but I'm making a reasonable attempt to count it.  Dinner ended up being 14 points.  No dessert after dinner, so that helped some.

She mentioned she bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow, so at least I am forwarned and can plan my day around that.  I looked it up and one roll is only 4 points, two is 8 points.  So I'm glad to know beforehand how much it will be.  Then I can decide if the second roll is really worth the 4 extra points.

So I ended up having 46 points today, going over my daily points by 10, therefore leaving me with 16 weekly points for tomorrow.  I am hoping to not eat them all tomorrow, but we will see.  Since ham can be quite salty, I am trying to drink lots of water tonight and tomorrow to hopefully flush the sodium out of my system before getting weighed on Tuesday. 

Day 12: A Caroling We Will Go...........

So today was the carol sing party at my friend's house.  I planned ahead a little bit, and I'm pretty happy with how I did today.

I started off the day with a good breakfast of a pancake (4pts) with frozen fruit and mashed banana on it, some ham (2pts) and two cups of milk (4pts).  My breakfast was 10 points.

After breakfast I got packed up to head to Connecticut (and the New Hampshire on Sunday morning for a few days).  I decided on my way to Connecticut that I really should have some real food to eat before the carol sing.  There is always 'munchies' available, but when I'm hungry I need real food.  So I stopped at Panera and got a bowl of their broccoli cheddar soup (7pts) to go, and stopped and purchased milk and a string cheese on the way to my friend's house.  So I had two cups of milk with the soup (4pts) and the string cheese (2pts).  This all came up to 13 points.

I did have some snacky foods at the party.  I had five Nabisco Veggie Thins (1pt), two of the cake truffles I brought (3pts total), a small slice of the cake that I brought (6pts) and about 3 ounces of cheese (8pts) for a total of 18 points - not too shabby for the party!

Once I got back to my friend's house I was hungry for real food.  Luckily, I had brought some snacks with me that I knew the points of.  I had one of the breakfast muffins that I made (5pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 9 points.

I ended up eating 50 points today, using 14 of my weekly points, leaving me with 26 weekly points for Sunday and Monday.

Day 11: New creations!

Today was spent baking and decorating a cake and cupcakes for some festivities this weekend.

For breakfast I attempted to make an omelette.  I love eggs, but am not very imaginative when it comes to cooking them.  I diced up some onion and ham (1pt) and cooked them in a teaspoon of butter (1pt).  I then took them out of the pan and poured in two eggs that I had whipped with a fork (4pts) and added salt and pepper to.  I let them cook, undisturbed until the bottom was set and the top was slightly wet, then poured in the onion and ham mixture.  I let it cook a little longer then attempted to flip it, using a plate.  Miraculously none ended up on the stove, and all ended up in the pan, lol.  It came out pretty good.  I'd love to learn how to make a light fluffy omelette however.  I also had two cups of milk with my breakfast (4pts).  Breakfast ended up being 9 points.

I made some chicken salad for lunch from the leftover chicken thighs.  I took one thigh (4pts), scraped off the mushy cornbread breading and chopped it up.  I then added chopped onion, a handful of craisins (20g, 2pts), some chopped up apple, a few tablespoons of Miracle Whip Free (1pt) and various seasonings (salt, pepper, dill, celery salt, probably some others, lol).  Mixed it all up and it was absolutely divine!  It was so good, in fact, that I ate it before thinking about taking a picture, lol.  I made a sandwich with half of it (3pts) and a slice of Arnold Oat Nut bread (3pts).  I had also weighed out one serving of pretzels and eaten two of them when I realized they were the same points as the other half of the chicken salad, and that I'd rather eat the chicken salad.  So I put the rest of the pretzels back and ate the remainder of the chicken salad with a fork (3pts).  I washed it all down with two cups of milk (4pts).  It was quite a good and satisfying lunch for 13 points!

For dinner I made my own little concoction.  I took some chopped onion and pre-shredded carrots and cooked them in a teaspoon of butter (1pt).  When the onions and carrot were soft, I took them out of the pan and put in a semi-frozen Jennie-O turkey burger (4pts).  I broke up the burger into ground turkey as it cooked in the pan.  Once it was nearly cooked, I put the onion/carrot mixture back in and added a half cup of corn (2pts).  I then added a small amount of steak marinade, and two different barbecue sauces I had (figured a total of two tablespoons, 0pts).  I mixed it all together in the pan, turned it to low and put the cover on to simmer while I baked a potato in the microwave (3pts).  Once the potato was done I took it out and cut it up on my plate, sort of mashing it with my fork.  Then poured the meat mixture on my plate with the potatoes.  It looked like A LOT of food!  I wasn't sure I was going to eat it all, lol.  I also had two cups of milk with dinner (4pts).  My entire dinner was only 14 points! 

I had already eaten 1/3 of it when I remember to take a picture!

I ended the day having eaten 36 points, and didn't end up using any of my weekly points!  I still have 40 weekly points left.  I have a party tomorrow night and then going to visit with a friend for a few days.  I'm planning to stick to plan, so we'll see how I do!

Day 10: Leftover Day

Getting ready for Christmas can be exhausting!  I, again, fell asleep before posting last night.

I spent all of yesterday getting things finished up and packaged up.  Started at about 11am and ended at Midnight, taking breaks only to eat.

For breakfast I had some of the leftover Whole Wheat Cinnamon Waffles (6pts), a banana that I sliced and heated in the microwave to spread on the waffles (0pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 10 points for breakfast.

Lunch consisted of a leftover chicken thigh (5pts), half cup of corn (2pts), a potato baked in the microwave (2pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 13 points.

For dinner, I heated up some leftover haddock from the other day (2pts) and made a sandwich of it with one slice of Arnold Oat Nut Bread (3pts), a slice of Kraft Singles (2pts), and some fat free Miracle Whip (1pt).  I heated up some leftover baked beans (3pts) to have with it, along with two cups of milk (4pts).  I have been making a lot of Christmas treats and decided to have one of the cake truffles last night after dinner (1pt).  That all came to 16 points.

I ate 39 points yesterday, using 3 of my weekly points, leaving me with 40 points for the week.

Day 9: Getting ready for Christmas

Today was spent working on my Christmas treats again.  I tried a new recipe for waffles for breakfast.  I found the recipe here online.  I didn't have the buttermilk that the recipe called for, so looking online and found that you can mix 2 tablespoons lemon juice with 2 cups milk to get buttermilk!  I also used cornmeal, because I had that in the cupboard.  The batter seemed really watery after I mixed it up, so I let it sit for about 10 minutes before putting it into the waffle iron.  It cooked up beautifully!  The recipe made 3 full waffles on my waffle iron (4 squares to a waffle).  It ended up that two of the smaller squares were only 5 points.  I asked the other day on the WW forums about different toppings for pancakes, etc.... and it was suggested to thaw and heat up frozen fruit and put that on.  So, I bought a back of frozen mixed berries at the store the other day, and pulled them out today.  They were good with the waffles, but next time I will pick up the fruit with my fork and then pick up the waffle bite, rather than putting the fruit over the waffle.  The waffles started to get a little soggy, and I hate soggy food.

So, my breakfast consisted of two waffles (5pts), two cups of milk (4pts) and the frozen fruit (0pts) for a total of 9 points for breakfast.

For lunch, I baked some chicken thighs (I hate white meat!) and used a breading recipe that I saw on the back of the cornmeal bag.  It was basically equal parts cornmeal and flour, and some spices thrown in.  I'm not usually a big 'breading' person, but I decided to give it a shot.  You dip the chicken into milk, then dredge it in the breading mixture.  In hindsight, it would have been better to leave the thigh folded up like it came and dip it and bread it that way.  I unfolded the thigh, dipped it and breaded it, then folded it back up and put it in the pan.  This resulted in there being mush inside the chicken.....not my idea of good food.  The actual breading on the chicken was very thin, which I prefer.  I must have forgotten something though ,because the breading didin't brown up in the oven.

My lunch consisted of one breaded chicken thigh (5pts), a baked potato with a little FF Ranch dressing mixed in (2pts), a half cup of corn (2pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 13 points for lunch.

Dinner was pretty simple, leftover spaghetti from the other night.  One serving spaghetti (5pts), a quarter cup sauce (1pt), two cups milk (4pts), half a banana chocolate chip cookie (1pt) and half a white chocolate supreme cookie (1pt), all for a total of 12 points.

That gives me 37 points for the entire day, using 1 point from my weekly allowance.  This leaves me with 43 of my weekly allowance points left.

Week 1: Weigh-In Day

Today was weigh-in day.  Time to find out if tracking and counting points has been worth it all week, along with planning what to eat, etc....   I decided when I joined last week, that I was less concerned with what the scale showed, than with knowing that I was eating healthier, and in proper amounts.  I've done this one time before, I know the scale fluctuates, and sometimes when you think you're down you're not, and exactly the opposite. 

I was extremely surprised when I got on the scale.  I lost 6.4lbs!  I almost fell over when the receptionist said it!  Since this is my first week, I think it really shows how much extra food I was eating before.  I certainly don't expect that every week.  When asked in the meeting what I hoped for over the holidays, I told them 'I would like to lose, but will be happy if I stay the same.' and then said that I was less concerned with the scale and more concerning knowing I am eating healthier, etc...    As a result of the loss, my daily points went down from 37 to 36.

So, how did I use my points today?

I brought two of the breakfast muffins with me that I baked last night.  I ate one before the meeting started (5pts) along with two cups of milk (4pts).  On the way home, I ate the other muffin (6pts) and had some water to drink.  So my morning was a total of 15 points.  I think in the future I will only bring one of the muffins with me, since I really could have waited until I got home for the second one.  If you're wondering why the second muffin is a point higher than the first, it's because when I put in two servings of it, it comes up to 11 points.

For lunch I had four ounces of lean ham (4pts), two cups of milk (4pts) and green beans that were cooked with onion and bacon (1pt for the bacon), for a total of 9 points for lunch.

I did a lot of cookie baking today, and finished all that I had wanted to get done.  I have been saving one of each of the cookies that I have made (six varieties), so that I can taste test them when I feel I want to use the points for it. 

For dinner I had a serving of spaghetti (5pts), three meatballs (3pts), a quarter cup of sauce (1pt) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 13 points.  After dinner I felt like two of the cookies.  I have entered the cookie recipes into the Recipe Builder on the WW eTools site, and entered in the amount I ended up with, in order to figure out the points for the cookies.  I had one Cherry Bomb cookie (1pt) and half a Boggle cookie (1pt), along with another cup of milk (2pts) for a total of 4 points.

So I ate a total of 41 points today, using 5 of my weekly allowance points.  That leaves me with 44 remaining for the week.

I have another party coming up on Saturday that I am going to try and save points for like I did last week. 

Day 7: How do you define Success?

Today was quite a productive day for me.  I got a ton of my holiday baking done, so I am very excited about that!   I even entered my cookie recipes into the Recipe Builder on eTools and put in how many cookies I ended up with.  Most of the cookies are being given away as gifts, but some will be kept, and I wanted to know how many points per cookie they all were.  Surprisingly (at least to me), they are all pretty much the same.  One cookie is 3 points, and two cookies are 5 points.  I may not eat a lot of them, but it's nice to know how many points they are, should I choose to eat some. 

Miraculously, I didn't feel like eggs for breakfast today!  Instead, I had Kashi Blueberry cereal (6pts) with an apple cut up in it, and 2 cups of milk (4pts) for a breakfast of 10 points. 

I then got into making cookie dough and baking and before I realized it, it was 3pm and I was starving.  So, I cooked up some spaghetti, meatballs (frozen) and canned sauce.  I had one serving of spaghetti (5pts), four meatballs (1pt ea), a quarter cup of sauce (1pt) and three cups of milk (6pts) for a lunch of 16 points.  Yes, a quarter cup of sauce is right....I do not like a lot of sauce on my pasta. 

I have found that if I don't have milk with a meal, I am left feeling hungry pretty soon afterwards.  So, today I have decided to have milk with all meals for a few days and see if I notice a difference.

For dinner I had two packets of oatmeal (6pts) with an apple cut up in it.  I also had two cups of milk to drink also (4pts).  That's a total of 10 points for dinner.

You probably noticed that dinner was quite a bit lighter than lunch.  I found that I am hungrier at lunch than dinner, so am trying to switch to eating a slightly bigger meal for lunch rather than dinner.  I have found, after only a few days, that I am less hungry during the day.

I felt like snacking a little bit later, so I had a mini-bag of popcorn for 3 points. 

So today, I used all of my 37 daily points, and dipped into my weekly allowance for 2 points.  That leaves me with 9 points leftover for the week.

I also made some breakfast muffins for those mornings where I don't have time for breakfast.  Tomorrow is one of them, so I'll be sure to let you know how they were, and whether they are worth the 5 points each.


All in all, I have to say it was a pretty good week.  I don't feel I deprived myself of anything I really wanted to eat.  Sure, I would have eaten more food if I hadn't joined WW, but I didn't miss the extra food either.  I am not going to speculate on how I think I did pound-wise because the actual number is irrelevant to me.  I am eating better, healthier foods, in reasonable quantities, and am not starving.  In my mind, that makes it a successful week, regardless of what the scale says. 

Day 6: Recipes

I was too tired last night to blog, so I just went to bed.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful as it related to WW.  Like a lot of people, I bake for Christmas.  Last week and this coming week will be consumed by that.  I bake treats not only for people, but also for pets for Christmas.  Yesterday was a full baking day.

I woke up and decided to have eggs for breakfast.  I so love eggs.  I don't know why, can't explain it, but I do.  I'm always looking for new ideas on how to prepare them.  Yesterday I decided to do scrambled eggs and put the leftover broccoli & cheese in them (6pts).  They were good, but a little soft.  I think I just don't have enough patience to let them cook long enough in the pan.  I like my eggs cooked a bit more than most people do.  I looked up fritatta's online, but it seems they are all broiled in the oven, and my broiler doesn't work.  I had hoped to find a recipe with them cooked entirely on the stove, but alas, did not.  I also had 2 cups of milk with breakfast (4pts) for a total of 10 points for breakfast.

In the middle of baking some very yummy dog treats (at least that's the impression I got...my dog kept wanting more, lol),  I took a break for lunch.  I decided to have some ham.  We have leftover ham that was frozen after Thanksgiving.  I LOVE ham, it's actually a tie between eggs and ham.  If it had not been in the freezer, it would have been gone by now.  I had 5.75oz of ham with visible skin and fat removed (5pts), half cup of leftover mashed potatoes (3pts) and a cup of frozen corn (4pts) for a total of 12 points for lunch.  I had water to drink with lunch, although I may consider having milk with lunch rather than dinner.  I seem to stay satisfied longer when I have milk to drink with a meal.  I also tend to have dinner later, and if I drink milk to close to bedtime, I am awoken in the middle of the night with a nasty burning sensation in my throat from the milk.  Though it did not happen last night, thankfully.

Dinner looked a lot like lunch did yesterday.  As I said, I love ham, and if it's there I want to eat it.  I had 5oz of ham (4pts), half cup of canned baked beans (3pts), half cup of frozen corn (2pts) and 2 cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 13 points.  I actually ended up with 2 points leftover yesterday.  I wasn't hungry to eat them, so I didn't.  I still have 11 of my weekly allowance points left, and I don't see me eating them all tomorrow, so I'll have some left that won't get used this week.

I've been looking for some good recipes for breakfast items that can be eaten on the run.  I found a breakfast muffin recipe that sounds real good.  Going to make those tonight and see how they turn out.  I also found a recipe for whole wheat cinnamon waffles.  They sound absolutely delicious, so I can't wait to make those either.

A friend sent me a recipe for oven baked french toast that sounds very yummy!  Looking forward to trying that too.  As you can see, I love breakfast.  Hot breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  Growing up we frequently had breakfast for dinner and I absolutely loved it!

~Chelle

Day 5: Party, Party, Party!!

So, you're probably wondering how I did at the party. I didn't do too badly, in fact, I did better than I expected!

I started by having two packets of oatmeal mixed with chopped apple and heated up cranberries, a teaspoon of sugar, and 2 cups of skim milk to drink.  This all came up to 10 points.  I figured by having a filling meal before going to the party, I would be less likely to munch on all the unhealthy treats.  I did have some of them, but way less than I would have if I hadn't eaten beforehand.

Here's what I had at the party:
2 steamed potstickers - 2 pts                            3 mini pigs in blankets - 7pts
5 triscuit crackers - 3pts                                   1/2 oz ruffles - 2pts
2 meatballs - 5pts                                             3 ritz crackers - 1pt
4 wheat thin crackers - 1pt                               2oz of cheese - 6pts
1 deviled egg - 2pts                                          4 frozen taquitos - 5pts
piece of cake - 11pts                                       15 m&m's - 4pts

That all adds up to 49 points.  I was really surprised it wasn't more points.  I made sure to put the food on a plate before eating it, rather than snacking from the buffet table.  I took what looked like a reasonable serving of everything I wanted to have, and feel really good about how I did!

I was hungry when I got home quite a few hours later, so had some lean ham as a snack.  I had 6oz, and it was only 5pts.  I also had 2 cups of skim milk for another 4 points.  Yes.....I do love my milk!!!

All told, I ate 68 points today, and used 31 of my weekly allowance points.  So that leaves me with 11 weekly points for Sunday and Monday.  I know it's not recommended to use that many allowance points in one day, but it was a special occasion and I planned ahead for it, so I'm pretty happy with today. :)

Day 4: It pays to read

Well.....I baked the french toast this morning.  It ended up pretty much burnt.  I failed to read the recipe closely enough....it used sliced french bread, not regular bread.  Might also be why there didn't seem to be enough egg mixture last night.  Good thing I didn't get my heart set on french toast, lol, since there was now no more bread left.

I ended up making scrambled eggs.  I searched the fridge for something to add to the eggs, and found an onion and some grape tomatoes.  There were shredded carrots (pre-shredded from the store), but didn't think those would cook right.  So I took out the onion and chopped a little bit of it, and sliced some of the grape tomatoes.  Heated up the pan, put in 1 tsp of butter (1pt), and cooked the onions until they were translucent, then tossed the sliced tomatoes in for a min or so.  I fork whipped 2 Eggland's Best eggs (4pts) with 1/4 cup of skim milk (1pt) and some salt and pepper.  Then poured the eggs into the pan.  I had the heat on low, and when the edges started to set on the eggs, I stirred the cooked portion into the pan with a wooden spoon.  I kept doing this until the eggs were cooked to my liking.  They seemed a little watery, but I think that might have been the tomatoes.  I had 2 cups of skim milk (4pts) to drink with my eggs for a total of 10 points for breakfast.  The eggs were really good!!  I usually always put ketchup on scrambled eggs, and after taking a few bites of these eggs, I put the ketchup back in the fridge!

I decided to try a different approach to lunch and dinner today.  I cooked a meal for lunch, and heated up some leftovers for dinner.  I find that when dinner time comes around, I don't feel like cooking, but around lunchtime I didn't feel that way.  So, for lunch I cooked up some haddock fillets on a bed of leeks, tomatoes and carrots and baked it in the oven.  It is not my own recipe, I found it here.  I used about half the fish called for in the recipe, but still used all the vegetable mixture because I didn't think the fish would cook right in the pan if it had less.  I now have half the veg mixture left, lol.  One haddock fillet (approx 1/2 lb, pre-cooking weight) and 1/4 of the veg mixture was 6 points per the Recipe Builder on the WW ETools.  I also had a half cup mashed potatoes (3pts), and 1/2 cup Green Giant broccoli and cheese, bringing my points to 10 for lunch.  I had water to drink and a clementine afterwards.  It all tasted awesome!  I saved the leftover broccoli and cheese to add to some scrambled eggs :)

Here is a picture of what my plate looked like:

clockwise from top left: mashed potatoes, leek/tomato/carrot,

haddock, broccoli & cheese

For dinner I decided to head up some pancakes that were leftover in the fridge.  I figured out the points using the food look up on the online WW Tracker.  It was going to be 8 points for 2 pancakes, and another 6 points for 1/4 cup of syrup.  This would have left me with very little (or no) points for milk to have with the pancakes, or a snack later on.  So I started thinking and came to the conclusion that maybe it was too much food if it was going to leave me no points (and possibly exceed my daily target).  As I've mentioned, I get hungry at night and have chosen to save some points for a snack.

In light of the point situation, I decided to have one pancake (4pts), 2 tablespoons of blackberry jam that I melted in the microwave (3pts) and 2 cups of skim milk (4pts).  I figured, if I was still hungry afterwards, I could have the other pancake and count it.  I didn't have the second one, so my dinner ended up being 11 points.

 As you can see, the pancake and jelly was delicious!

I felt like snacking/munching later on, so I popped a bag of microwave popcorn.  It is one of the Orville Redenbacher's mini-bags, so it was only 3 points.  I also counted 2 points for small bites of the cake truffles I was making today (for quality control reasons). 

All this adds up to 36 points for today.  My target is 37 points per day.  This leaves me with 1 point for the day, which I'm fine with not eating, since I may have mis-estimated the amount of cake bites.

I have to say that I've noticed that I think a lot more about the food I'm going to eat than I did the last time I joined WW.  My thoughts seem to be directed at choices I can make now that will help me in the long run.  Like 'quality over quantity' from yesterday, for example.

Tomorrow is the party at my cousin's, which is what I've been saving my weekly allowance points for, since I don't know what is being served.  I plan to make educated decisions based on the knowledge I can get about the foods served.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow night to see how I do!

~Chelle

Day 3: Quality? Quantity? Which is better?

So, today was a pretty good day.  After yesterday's less-than-spectacular breakfast on the go, I decided to find something I could make for such mornings.  I found a recipe for breakfast muffins in a book I was reading (the Hannah Swenson books by Joanne Fluke).  I took 'Aunt Grace's Breakfast Muffins' recipe from the Sugar Cookie Murder book, and modified it slightly.  I will hopefully be making them tomorrow (need to go get a few ingredients first), and will post the recipe if they turn out good. 

The first time I followed Weight Watchers, I kind of took on the philosophy of 'quantity over quality.'  I found the lowest point foods of what I like, so that I could eat the most.  It's taken a while, but I've realized it should be 'quality over quantity.'  The better the quality of the food, the more nutrition and satisfaction you will get from it.  I really noticed it tonight when I was thinking about making french toast for breakfast tomorrow, and started figuring out how many points it would be for what I usually make.  I usually whip up 1 egg, a splash of milk and 4 slices of Arnold Oatnut Bread.  I have issues with soggy food, so I don't usually soak the bread in the egg mixture for very long.  It was close to half my daily points for that breakfast, so I started thinking if there were ways to lower the points and still be satisfied. 

So, I mixed up a mixture of 1 egg, 1/4 cup of milk, sprinkle of sugar, little bit of syrup, and 4 slices of bread - but for 2 servings.  I put the bread slices in a 9x13 pan, poured the mixture over it, and am chilling it overnight, then will bake it in the oven tomorrow morning.  It will be 4 points a slice this way, and I feel that 2 slices will be quite satisfying.  There wasn't quite as much mixture to pour over the bread as I thought there would be, so next time I will increase the milk to 1/2 cup, which will bring it to 4.5 points per slice (9pts for 2 slices).  Couple that with 2 glasses of milk (I love my milk!) and it should be a good breakfast.

This morning I had a bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted cheerio-like cereal.  I had 2 servings with a cup of milk, for a total of 8 points.  After breakfast I did some dishes and attempted to get ready to spend the day baking.  Turns out I had some other stuff to attend to first, and didn't get finished until almost 2pm.  By then I was hungry for lunch, so I had the rest of the shrimp ring  from the other day (6pts), a half cup of leftover Pasta Roni (4pts) and a cup of greenbeans that were cooked with bacon and onions (2pts) for a total of 12 points for lunch.

I had to go pick my car up tonight, and ended up eating out at Panera Bread.  I looked up on their website for nutrition information so that I could plan what I was going to have to eat.  I ended up choosing a bowl of their broccoli & cheddar soup (7pts) and a piece of their whole grain baguette (4pts), and water to drink for a total of 11 points for dinner.

Once I got home, I still had a few cakes to bake for the weekend, so went ahead and mixed them up and baked them.  By the time they were done and cooling, I was hungry again.  I had a packet of Quaker Weight Control oatmeal (3pts), a packet of the pre-sliced apples that I chopped up and put in the oatmeal (0pts) and 2 cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 7 points for my snack.  I also counted 2 points for small tastes that I took of the cakes for quality control reasons. 

So, today I ate 40 points of food, using my daily 37 points and 3 of my weekly allowance.  This leaves me with 42 points for the rest of my week.

~Chelle

Day 2: Planning doesn't always work out

Today I got up about an hour before I had to leave for an appointment.  So, just enough time to shower, get dressed and grab some food for the road.  I had purchased a box of Carnation instant breakfast packets yesterday (I used to love it when I was in high school) to mix with the milk I usually drink as breakfast when I have to be somewhere.  Two cups of skim milk and two packets of mix were 7 points.  I also grabbed a banana and a few clementine's, and ate the banana while drinking the milk.

I had some errands to run afterwards, and expected to be home in time for lunch.  My car, however, had other plans and didn't inform me beforehand, lol.  While running errands, the battery light on my instrument panel came on.  Great....so I turned around and headed to the dealer to have it looked at.  There goes plans to have lunch at home.  So, I pulled out my Dining Out Guide (I think I might just leave it in the car!) to see what McDonald's might have that was acceptable to me for lunch.  There is a McD's near the dealership, so that's where I was going to get some lunch.  McD's Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken was only 8 points and the dressing for it was only 3.  Not too bad for an unplanned lunch out.  I ate one of the clementine's while waiting at the dealership. 

Was at the dealership for a few hours before they knew what was wrong with the car.  Turns out I need a new alternator, rear brakes and a brake fluid flush.  I have 183k miles on it, so it's bound to need stuff sooner or later, and the brakes wouldn't pass the inspection anyway.  It was going to be a while, so I called and got a ride home.  I still had grocery shopping to finish up today, so got a ride to the store, and went to Subway for dinner beforehand.  I had a 6" veggie delite on honey oat bread with cheese and ff honey mustard sauce, all for 7 points!  Got a back of Sunchips montery jack and sundried tomato chips, ate about 2/3 of the bag, for 4 points.  I have the rest saved for a snack sometime :)

Got home and was relaxing later and started feeling hungry.  I have learned through past experience, that if I wait until I'm actually starving or very hungry to eat, that nothing makes me not hungry.  So, when I start feeling hungry, I eat.  It took me a long time to figure out what was actually hunger and what wasn't - it was not easy!  At first, I would actually wait for my stomach to growl before I would eat.  I have now learned to recognize actual hunger, and act accordingly.  Therefore, I tend to eat 4 smaller meals throughout the day, rather than 3.  I cooked up 2 scrambled eggs in the microwave (they are surprisingly good!), tossed on a slice of Kraft Singles, and washed it down with 2 cups of milk, all for 10 points.  I had a clementine somewhere in there too, lol.

So, today I ate 39 points worth of food.  So, that leaves me with 45 weekly allowance points for the rest of the week (which ends on Monday).  I am going to a celebration party for my cousin's wife on Saturday, so I am trying to save most of my weekly points for then, since I don't know what kind of food will be present.

Time for bed....will post again tomorrow!  I am going to try and remember to take photos of the foods I'm eating, I just forgot today and yesterday.


~Chelle

Day 1: Joining

I thought about re-joining WW for quite a while before I actually did.  I searched online for a meeting that was at at a convenient time for me, was run by the Leader I had last time (that I absolutely love!!), and was not toooooo far away.  It's a little bit of a drive, but it's close to where my best friend is during the day, and she has promised me she's going to join after the first of the Year!  YAY!!!!!


The meeting is on Tuesday afternoons at 12:30.  Since I knew I had to register and everything, I got there a little early.  Apparently, my information was still in the computer from last time, so I was spared having to fill out all the paperwork again.  Then, it was time to step on the scale, for my starting weight.  Unlike most members, I actually left my shoes on (gasp!) since it's really a pita to take them off every week to get weighed.  This way, I can keep them on, and it also takes less time this way.  The actual # isn't as important to me and the amount I lose, so I figure as long as I'm happy with it, what does it matter. :)  Funny enough...my starting weight this time was a half pound less than the first time, lol.

I'm not ready to reveal my starting weight just yet, but will be reporting my ups and downs along the journey.  I will say, for anyone familiar with the new Points Plus program (P+), I get 37 points a day.  I also get an extra 49 points a week to use as I wish, or not at all.  I have a bit of learning to do regarding the Plan, since it's not the same one I was used to following before.  You are given more points per day and week, but some foods have more points than they used too.  How can this happen you ask?  Simple....they changed the nutrition information used to calculate the points on food.

So.........How did I do on Day 1?

I chose not to eat breakfast before getting weighed, and didn't plan ahead and bring something to eat after getting weighed....so it ended up being almost 2pm before I ate (I got up at 10am).  I had the worst headache I've had in a long time!!  I will be planning ahead and bringing a portable breakfast with me in the future.

I had a lot of grocery shopping to do for Christmas treats and stuff, and knew I had to eat before stepping foot into a grocery store.  I had purchased the Deluxe Kit when I joined, so I took out the Dining Out Guide and consulted different fast food restaurants.  I don't really like fast food, and can't stomach most of it.  I do, however, like Wendy's.  So I looked there first to see what the P+ were for some of the foods I like there. 

The Ultimate Chicken Grill sandwich was 9 points, and the side salad, with dressing, was 1 point.  The chicken sandwich was good, I've had it before and like it.  The side salad, on the other hand, was a pretty sad excuse for a salad!  Will have to look into other side options for the next time I find myself at Wendy's.  I love soda, but cannot drink diet soda, so I had water to drink with my meal.

The first grocery store I went into sold a box of 8 individual packages of pre-cut apples.  Now...I like apples, I just don't like biting into them if they are soft.  My definition of soft is quite different from most peoples I believe.  For me, the apple has to be hard or I won't eat it.  Yes, I'm strange....I have a lot of weird food issues, which I'm sure will eventually come out in some form on this blog.  I felt like snacking a little while later, so opened a package of the apples.  They were pretty good, I'd eat them again.  

A few hours later I was in a grocery store, still a few hours away from being home and making dinner, and was starving.  I took a look at the "power bar" aisle, and used to love Kashi bars.  So, I looked at those, and found that the Kashi Roll Bar is 5 points, and has lots of protein.  I learned last time, that I need more protein or I just keep getting hungry quite quickly.  So, I bought the bar and ate it in the car. 

While out shopping, I ended up picking up a 60ct shrimp ring.  No real reason...it just looked good and I figured I could do something with it for dinner.  I ended up having 2 servings of the shrimp (5 points) with an ounce of leftover pasta with sauce (3 points) and meatballs (2 points).  I love milk......I can actually drink a gallon of milk in a little over a day if I drank all I really wanted.  I had two 8oz glasses of milk with dinner for another 4 points., then had a clementine for desert.

I stay up late, probably too late, and as a result, I get hungry a few hours after dinner.  I first had a small bag of microwave popcorn because I felt like munching (3 points) and another clementine.  Then I actually was hungry, so had a bowl of oatmeal (3 points) with a banana mixed in.  It's very nice that fruits are zero points now, as are most vegetables!  Fruit juice, however is not free, lol, but I had a glass of cranberry juice because I love it, for 2 points.

I ended the day having eaten 39 points.  Since I get 37 a day, I went over by 2, and those are subtracted from my weekly allowance of 49.  I also drank 8 glasses of liquid over the day, three servings of dairy, 4 servings of fruits/veg and took my multivitamin.

So, going into Day 2, I have 47 of my weekly 49 points left.


~Chelle

Why?

After thinking for a little bit on a title for this post, 'Why?' seemed to fit.  It's a huge open ended question at best.  Let's see how much I succeed in answering it :)

Why did I decide to blog about my WW journey?  That's tough to answer.  I've been thinking the last few days about this one.  I have a few other blogs and really enjoy sharing my life and myself with others.  I'm hoping that by sharing my WW journey, maybe I can help someone else that is going through it, etc....

Why did I join WW?  Well, this is actually my second time joining.  I joined the first time about 7 years ago, and was met with great success.  However, like a lot of people, I kind of fell off the wagon.  Had some stuff happen in my personal life, that ultimately caused me to lose interest and motivation in following the plan.  Though I thought I had changed my eating habits after being on Plan for 3 or 4 years, it was frightening how quickly old habits came racing back.  Surprising, 3 years later, I have actually retained some of the good habits!

Why the title "Eating for Life"?   Well.....WW is really a way of life.  As they say, it's not a die-it, it's a live-it.  A diet cannot be maintained for the long term, because there are usually too many restrictions placed on the 'dieter.'  WW tries to teach you how to change your eating habits so you develop good eating habits that can be maintained for the long haul.  It truly is a way of living, not dieting.
 
I've finally decided it was time to do this again, and commit myself to doing it for the long haul.  I feel that, in addition to being accountable each week and weigh-in, that I need to be accountable to someone/something else.  Hopefully this blog will accomplish that!

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey with me!

~Chelle