Inspired?

Wow, somehow the last few weeks flew by and I apparently forgot to update my blog!  The good news is that the last few weeks have been really good, and I'm feeling great. In the last few weeks I've had a lot of good times with friends, enjoyed some great meals, made some lasting memories, and most recently, tonight I went to a fantastic concert at Tupelo Music Hall with Kristi and her best friend Erin.

Tupelo Music Hall is a small and intimate music venue in Londonderry, NH that always has fantastic performances scheduled.  Our favorite repeat show is Chad Perrone.  Kristi has been a fan of his for over a decade and as soon as she introduced me to his music, I was hooked.  Skip forward a year and 3 months or so... Kristi proposed to me at Tupelo Music Hall during a Chad Perrone show in October 2010.  She asked him to play our song, and when he did, she proposed. It was amazing. It was perfect. I couldn't have asked for more.

Anyway, I'm not writing this blog to take you back in time, but instead forward into the future.  Sometimes, though, it's important to remember how you got to today, don't you think?  Anyway, tonight at Chad's show, he was joined by the fabulously talented Lisa Piccirillo.  It just so happens that a few months back I messaged Lisa on Facebook in hopes of her telling me if she was playing with Chad again like she did a couple of years ago at his Tupelo show.  Turns out that at the time she wasn't, but after my asking, she contacted Chad...and well, the rest is history.  Tonight's show was, I think, the best yet.  It was moving, beautiful, inspired, and full of singer-songwriter genius.

The real reason I brought up the concert, and performers, though was for 2 pretty cool reasons.

1. A few months ago Kristi, my amazing fiancee, got a tattoo that was inspired by one of Chad's songs.  He wasn't aware of this tattoo, until tonight.  Kristi showed him after the show when we were all chatting.  He was shocked and pretty moved by the fact that someone got themselves inked due to inspiration from his song writing. He took a picture of the tattoo and gave Kristi a giant hug.  Pretty awesome.

2. Both after her set, and after the show, we spend some time chatting with Lisa.  Lisa and I are Facebook friends and have been since the first time we saw her perform, a couple years ago. Since I started Weight Watchers, she has continually shown me support and cheered me on.  That in itself is pretty cool since she's an uber talented musician and, we barely know each other.  Anyway, it gets better.   Tonight Lisa told me I inspired her with my weight loss, and Weight Watchers, journey.  That's amazing. Simply amazing.  I've never been told I inspired anyone for anything. Ever. Until tonight. Wow.  I cannot imagine truly inspiring someone, but if I have, then well...you're welcome, and I thank you for telling me that I do.

So yah, tonight was pretty amazing all around.  I promised myself that I would update my blog tonight, because we're going away for 7 nights starting tomorrow and I won't have internet access for the majority of the week unless we go use the wireless in the one building where it is available, but I probably won't do that.  We're going to The Berkshires where we have a 2 bedroom condo for the week.  Cannot wait for tomorrow, and since it's 1:30am, I think it's time for bed.  But first, a quick re-cap of the last few weeks regarding my weight loss...

The last few weeks I've had really solid weight loss, after a very slight gain the week I did the 5 mile Walk MS walk with a group of friends. (BTW - I still get tired just thinking about it...but then I remember that I did it!)  Last week I went to a different meeting because I had plans to help Heidi with her Field Day at the farm she works at, which was extremely fun.  I didn't stay for the meeting, but when I weighed in, I lost a really good amount of weight, and was only 0.4lbs away from my 5% goal.  I went into the meeting today unsure if I would hit it but actually hoping for 2.4 so I would reach 20 lbs.  Well, I did it. And more!  Today I lost 3.4lbs I reached my 5% goal of 18lbs. I also reached losing 20lbs.  I've lost 21 lbs in 9 weeks. That's pretty awesome I think.  This week of vacation may be a little tough, but I'm looking forward to my weigh-in on Saturday at a meeting location that I found close to our resort. My goal for vacation is extremely realistic.  My goal is to maintain what I've lost.  Really, I'd love to lose at least 2 lbs, but I know I'll be on a different schedule, a different meal plan, and with many more temptations, so I think if I maintain, I'll be satisfied.

Twenty-one pounds lost in 9 weeks.  Feeling great! Next goal is 25 pounds, since that's an actual WW goal.  After that, it's my 10% goal which is 36lbs.  I have 4lbs to go to reach 25lbs, and 15lbs to go to reach 10%.  I can do this. I will do this.

Thank you for your support.  I promise to update when I get home from vacation. Have a great week everyone!!

Not Exactly What I Wanted to Happen...

So, yesterday's weigh-in didn't quite go as planned. I was hoping for a pretty good weight-loss because I really had a great week in terms of food choices, and I did a lot of walking through the week, for a total of just over 10 miles.  Ten miles may not be much to some, but it's 10 more miles than I've walked in a long time.  I know that sometimes boosting exercise can affect weight-loss but I didn't think it would do anything since I wasn't lifting weights or anything.  Also, it was pointed out to me that I actually may be drinking too much water.  We're supposed to drink 6-8 8oz glasses of non-alcoholic liquid a day.  I typically drink minimally 12 glasses. So I'm going to try to lower my water intake a bit.  It's hard because some people say you should drink 6-8 glasses, some say you're supposed to drink as much as possible, some say 1/2 your body weight in ounces.  I'm going to stick to about 8 glasses and see how that goes.

So, anyway, as you can see from the ticker at the top of the blog, I actually gained last week.  I was hoping for a 2lb loss, and instead I gained 0.6 pounds. I'm aware that in the long run 0.6lbs is not a lot of weight, but it is frustrating and disappointing, but I am not going to let it discourage me, and instead I'm going to focus even more, and work even harder. I will beat that scale.  Whether it's this coming week, or a few weeks down the road, I can see my 5% in the near future.  While my 5% is now 5.6lbs away, instead of 5, it's not that far away!

Here's to a new week, a fresh start, scale victories. non-scale victories, and focus on health! This week I will walk minimally 3 times, planned walks on M/W/F, and hopefully 2 additional days too, depending on weather.

Have a great week, and enjoy the rain we're getting here in the north of Boston and Southern, NH area...we need it!

Here are a few pictures I found online to keep us all motivated and determined, no matter what our level of ability is, what our weight is, what our goals are...we can all do this!

Inspiration can come from all places...Thank you Walk MS.

Inspiration can come from all places, but no matter where it comes from, it's always so amazing.  This weekend was the Walk MS 5 mile walk in Manchester, NH.  A very good friend of mine, Casie, requested that all her friends and family do this walk with her for her 30th birthday, which was the same day as the walk.  She doesn't have MS, but someone close to her does, much like many others.  Kristi and I signed up to do the walk, along with a good group of our friends.  We did a little fundraising (thank you to those who donated!), and we did a (VERY) little bit of walking to prepare. Sunday was the day of the walk and it was a hot (80 degrees) and very sunny day.  The walk started at noon, and we started our 5 mile walk around Manchester.  The route was mostly scenic, but quite hilly.  The walk started downhill, which unfortunately meant the end was up (quite a big) hill.  We walked a bit along the canals, which gave off a very nice breeze, and then headed up to downtown, walking by all the delicious restaurants and awesome bars...what a tease!!  The walk then wound up through neighborhoods and up a nice big hill just before the finish.

At the beginning of the walk, I was worried about finishing, but as we continued walking, we saw people of all ages, from babies to grandparents, with varying disabilities.  If they could do this 5 mile walk, so could I.  I sometimes think that being so overweight is a disability in itself at times, but even if it is, at least I have the option to make a change.  I don't have to be this overweight. I don't have to worry about fitting in an airplane seat, or worry about weight restrictions for different activities.  There is no reason that I should be limited to where I buy clothes, or how I look in them. The people with MS have no choice, they cannot change their diagnosis, much like people with other disabilities and illnesses.  Why should I live with a "disability" that I created for myself?   Time to make a change.  Thank you Walk MS for continued inspiration to continue on my path to a healthier and better life.

So, yes, I finished the walk.  I completed 5 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Yes, 8 minutes longer than it took the winner of the Boston Marathon to complete 26.2 miles today.  But you know what? That's okay, because every mile I walk is a step closer to getting my health, weight, and life under control.

Yesterday's Walk MS event was very inspirational, and I'd like to thank my friend Casie for putting her team together as her birthday wish.  What a great idea. Thank you Casie. :)

I did it!

"Join The Movement" as it says on my bracelet.

Yesterday after the walk we came home, had some lunch, rested for a bit and then decided to go out to dinner in Nashua with some friends.  I picked Shorty's in Nashua, NH because Kristi really wanted a burrito.  Unfortunately our meals were less than great, but it was still a fun dinner with some friends that were able to meet us there! I love when we randomly want to be social and are able to make it happen within an hour. Thanks for joining us friends! :)

Today was very hot and humid and we stayed inside for most of it.  I woke up very sore from the walk yesterday, but by early evening I was feeling good and so I decided to go for a little walk around the neighborhood.  Kristi and our pup, Samson, came too.  A nice family walk. We went about 1.4 miles, in about 30 minutes.  And it was crazy hot.  Then I made dinner on the BBQ grill that Heidi has on the back porch, and it was delicious!

14 Points for dinner, using low fat hot dogs, light buns, fat-free feta, and fat-free dressing to save points!

Saturday night was our friend Jess' birthday party. and we went candlepin bowling and then to the bar at the bowling alley, where some of the party people entered a karaoke contest.  It was a good time, aside from not getting to sleep until about 2am, which was not the amount of sleep I wanted to get before walking 5 miles. Oh well!  Overall, it was a very successful and enjoyable long weekend with lots of activity, friends, and successes.  

This is a picture of me and Kristi, my wonderful fiancee, before our bowling birthday party outing on Saturday! :) 

Have a great week everyone, and don't let anything hold you back from doing what you want to do! 

Weigh-In Results....

Two more pounds gone!!! :) I've lost 13 pounds in 5 weeks, and it feels great.  I'm 5lbs away from my first 5% goal, which also means I'm 5lbs away from getting a pedicure as a reward. :)

Feeling very good about my results so far.  Tonight is going to be a blast celebrating a friend's birthday with candlepin bowling, and other fun shenanigans that I'm sure we'll get up to.  Have to get a good night's sleep tonight because tomorrow we're walking 5 miles for Walk MS, which is going to be a fun day of sun, exercise, and friends! :) I hope that the day goes well, and that I'm able to complete the walk. I am pretty sure I will be able to, and I'll post tomorrow to let you all know how it goes!

That's all. :)

~ Me

What a week...where did it go?? Oh yes....

Hey friends, family, strangers, and anyone else reading this. Sorry I haven't posted all week. No idea where the week went, I feel like it flew by!  It's been a great week, full of successes, fun planning, healthy choices and other positive things! :)

Saturday was Passover at my BFF's parents' house, and it was a blast.  I took a bunch of photos, but they're all on my camera and unfortunately that hasn't been hooked up to my computer yet.  Kristi went to Boston PAX EAST before Passover and came home with a "Mustache Monocle" which was pretty awesome. If you click on that link, it's at the top of the page and she got the solo one on the top right in the picture.  It has become a little game to "photo bomb" people while wearing the mustache. Good times.  We even got an innocent bystander at CVS on our way home from Easter on Sunday. Speaking of Easter, we went to Newburyport, MA to visit some of my family and had a good time all around. Good to see everyone, and once again, Kristi's mustache was a big hit.  Every year there is an awesome bunny cake, and this year was no exception.  Please see below for the original bunny, and then the bunny with a 'stache.

Like I said, good times.  The food was also delicious! We had fruit salad, the salad I bought, 2 types of quiche, spiral ham, mini home fries and a make your own bloody mary station, which I did not take part in.  See below for most of the food...so good.  Tough to gauge points since I couldn't measure, and I didn't know the ingredients, but once I got past Passover and Easter, I just decided to not use my weekly points anymore this week, just in case I was off in calculation.  I did enjoy about 1/2 of the bunny's left ear as a treat, but stayed away from Easter chocolate all weekend, and week!

Once the weekend passed and Monday hit, I decided to go get my 10lb loss reward...a manicure! I met up with my friend Julie Ann and we got fancy shiny manicures to celebrate.  Check out those fancy hot pink nails, and my awesome watch, and engagement ring from my fiancee. Polished nails make my ring even more sparkly! Love it! (Sorry, I'm such a girl sometimes!)

So Tuesday-Thursday sort of flew by in a daze, not really sure where the days went!  I did make great meal choices all week, and want to show one of them off.  I made bell pepper, fresh pineapple, and chicken kabobs, with a mandarin orange vinaigrette glaze.  So good!!  Add a salad, and you have a very summery, fresh, healthy meal.  I made 10 kabobs, using a total of 12oz of chicken, at 1pt per oz, and the glaze was a total of 6 points.  Very healthy, and low in points indeed!

As I said, I'm not sure really what I did Tuesday-Thursday, other than housework like laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc. Actually, Thursday was a good day.  We decided to sign up for The Color Run 5k. Heidi signed up first, creating team "Spell It With Your Peas" (from Easy A...watch it...it's comedic genius, just like the entire movie).  Kristi and I also signed up, along with Heidi's boyfriend Frank.  We're super excited and if you're reading this and think it looks fun (click the link above), you should sign up too.  It's not too expensive, especially if you join a team, and it's going to be a blast!!  There's a little party after, and we're thinking of ending the day at the beach, likely Salisbury since it is so close.   I've written out a training program to help me be able to do the 5k, as I would really like to be able to jog some, if not most, of it.  I am realistic though, so I changed up the C25K program a bit, and lengthened it, so that it suits my needs better.  I hope it works, and if not, I'll make changes as needed.  

Nothing super special happened today but it was a great day! We got tickets in the mail for the Chad Perrone show on 5/12/12, with Lisa opening, who is also awesome.  If you like supporting local music, check out Chad Perrone and if you like what you hear, buy tickets to his Tupelo Music Hall show in Londonderry, NH! We also started booking our week-long trip to The Berkshires for next month, which we're psyched about.  A 7 night already paid for getaway in a 2 bedroom condo and we can bring the dog!  It'll be so fun!  Did I mention we can have guests, and we have a spare room? :) Other fun thing today that happened? Heidi bought tickets to Summerland Tour 2012, which includes Sugar Ray, Smashmouth, Eve 6, Lit, Gin Blossoms, and Everclear.  How could we pass that up? She got pretty awesome floor seats for Mohegan Sun casino, on July 29th. Heidi, Frank, Kristi, and I will be going. It's the day after The Color Run, which basically means that's going to be one helluva great weekend!!  

My NSV (non-scale victory) of today was 2 fold.  I ate some things I don't normally like, because I'm trying incorporate new things into my diet.  Breakfast today was 1/2 cup of egg beaters (1pt) that I made into scrambled eggs, which typically I don't like.  I added some turkey sausage crumbles and a little Mexican cheese.  I have one word for you: Delicious! 

The picture doesn't really make it look great, but I assure you, it was!

My other NSV was completing a 2.2 mile brisk walk in about 45min around the neighborhood with Samson (our dog).  It was perfect weather, the sun was shining, there was a cool breeze coming in off the lake and harbor, and Samson was a very polite walking companion.  I plotted my route ahead of time so I knew the distance and the mile marker to turn around to come home.  I loaded up a new iPod playlist, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I was back home.  From the 1/2 mile mark to the mile mark, my legs got tired and sore.  It's like the all of a sudden realized that I was exercising and not just walking out to get the mail.  Once I got through that though I felt great and didn't get worn out again until I got home and sat down for a minute before making a great after-workout meal.  I thawed some already cooked wild and brown rice, added a few ounces of chicken, and some steamed/seasoned asparagus. Great walk, great meal after.  Go me!  

This is a good NSV because last time I walked, about a week ago, I only went one mile and felt terrible during almost the whole thing!  I am doing a 5 mile walk for "Walk MS" this Sunday in Manchester, NH and am excited to do it per the request of a great friend for her birthday, but I'm also really nervous because well, it's not like I walk that far...ever.  I'm hoping with the support of a lot of friends who are doing it, along with the fun I'm sure it'll be, I'll get through it. If you read this, and want to support the cause, please feel free to donate.  It's a great cause, and every penny helps!  Please click here to donate if you can.  

Whew..what a week.  So many things to smile about, look forward to, and look fondly back on.  Tonight Heidi and I spent awhile in the hot tub just chatting about our weight loss journey(s)...we've each been on several individual weight gain, and loss, journeys to get to this point, and we're trying to think of how to keep ourselves motivated once we get close, or meet our goal weight.  For me, this is so far off that I'm not really thinking about it, but once in awhile it does occur to me how long this process could take, and that it's going to stay hard to stay on track the whole time.  But I know I CAN DO IT.  And if I can do it, so can she, and so can you.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you have a great day with plenty of things to make YOU smile.  Tomorrow is my weigh-in, and I am pretty confident that I will have a good result.  Here's hoping!

First 10 Pound Goal?? ACHIEVED!

I DID IT!!

11 Pounds lost since 3/10/12

I "only" lost 1.4 this week, which isn't exactly a lot, however I passed my first 10 pounds and I'm only 7 pounds away from my first 5% goal!  I'm torn between being a little sad I didn't lose more this week to feeling very good about what I've done in the last 4 weeks.  Mostly I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for about a month already and for the fact that I'm cooking great meals, eating all of my fruits and vegetables, and losing weight consistently. I'm also down another point for my daily points, so I am at 54 now, instead of the 56 I started at.  I got another 5lb sticker at the meeting this morning too! 

So, up next is my 5% goal, which is 18 pounds, or another 7 pounds.  I would like to do this within the month of April, but as long as I'm losing consistently I'm happy.  I did say that I'd reward myself with a manicure when I lost 10lbs, so sometime this week I'm going to do that for myself, and if anyone would like to join me, let me know! :) It's important to reward our accomplishments! I updated the ticker at the top of my blog to show my current weight loss.

Special shout-out today to my fiancee, Kristi, who had a fantastic weight-loss this week and I'm so proud of her!! I love you!  

Very proud of my wedding party too, they're all doing so well with Weight Watchers and other aspects of being healthy.  Without their support and friendship, I know this would be much more difficult, as it would without everyone else's support, friendship, and love too!!   So I guess I should shout-out to everyone today...thank you for helping me reach my first 10 pounds...here's to the next 7 so I can hit my 5% goal!! :) 

Headed to Anita's parent's house tonight for Passover with her family, and some friends.  I haven't been in a few years, but I know it'll be a fun night.  Tomorrow I'm off to Newburyport with Kristi to pick up my Grandmother and then head to my Dad's house for Easter Brunch.  I asked to bring a salad, so I know there is something very healthy on the menu. I'm making a delicious brunch-like salad with a variety of lettuce, fresh cut up strawberries, mandarin oranges, pecans, and a few different dressing choices.  It'll be light, healthy and delicious! 

Before I go, I wanted to share some meals I made yesterday and today, I like taking pictures, and I like cooking...so combining them and sharing is fun!  I'm not going to post points etc today, I'm just more interested in sharing pictures! 

For lunch yesterday I made leftover turkey taco salad, with refried beans and blue corn baked tortilla chips.  So good. 

For a snack yesterday evening, since dinner wasn't until 10:30pm, I had crackers with light cheese spread (only 1 pt for all of that!), dried edamame beans (so high in fiber and protein), and the other serving of the Kale and Bacon and Cannellini recipe. Very high protein and fiber snack!

For dinner last night I wanted to do something light, since I had the weigh-in this morning.  I made a very bright summery salad with marinated shrimp, fat-free feta salad, about a 1/3 serving of sliced almonds and lots of veggies.  I used lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red and orange peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and I tried radishes (I don't like them but Kristi does so she's going to be eating them all). Very good salad! 

 After the meeting this morning I was very hungry so I made a nice filling meal, since I probably won't eat until Passover tonight at 6pm.  I had some fresh fruit, a slice of bacon that was left over from cooking the other day, fat free cottage cheese with mixed fruit, and a bagel with garlic & herb cheese spread with 2 oz of sliced roast beef.  Filling and delicious!!

Well, that's all I've got going on for now...hope you enjoyed reading!! Have a great weekend. 

Good Meals and a Good Week

It's been a great week so far.  Nothing really special or remarkable, but any week that I do well with staying on track and eating right, according to the Weight Watchers guidelines, I feel great.  It's Friday which means it's the last day of my week, before my 10am weigh-in tomorrow. I've made a lot of good, healthy, balanced meals this week and I wanted to share some more with you!  I know it's tough to think of healthy things to eat sometimes, especially if you get bored of eating the same thing over and over again. I know a lot of people eat the same meals all week so they know they're staying on track etc, but I just can't do that. I do like leftovers, for a day. But I can't seem to get excited about something after the 2nd time, sometimes I can do 3 meals if it's really good.

This morning I made a brunch like meal for a late breakfast, pictured below.

Brunch (Weight Watchers Points Plus Values in brackets): 9pts


Orange wedges - (0)
Grapes - (0)
100 Calorie English Muffin - (3)
Thin n' Trim Oven Roasted Turkey 2oz - (1)
Weight Watchers spreadable garlic & herb cheese (1 wedge, on english muffin) - (1)
Nonfat store brand mixed berry yogurt - (2)
Fiber One Cereal, 1/2 cup or 30g - (2)

Breakfast/Brunch was filling, balanced, and delicious.  As I said in a previous post, fiber was the focus of last week's meeting, so I tried to think about that while meal planning this week.  The 1/2 cup of Fiber One cereal as 14g of fiber, which is a really great amount to start the day! I had some extra orange wedges, not pictured, as well.

Hamburgers were on last night's menu.  Kristi said she was craving a McDonald's hamburger, so rather than give into the craving, I told her I'd made hamburgers one night this week.  I decided to make them on the grill outside, and I put corn on the cob on the grill too! I had to ask Heidi for some grill instruction since I've never owned a grill and therefore have never had to start a grill up. It was pretty easy, but thanks Heidi for the help! :) 

Dinner  (Weight Watchers Points Plus Values in brackets): 21 pts

Fresh cut veggies (cucumber, celery, red pepper, carrots, dill pickles) - (0)

Red pepper hummus (1.5oz) - (3)

Corn on the cob, made on the grill with some seasonings in tin foil - (2)

Sweet Potato Fries (homemade, cut up sweet potato, a little oil and seasonings) - (4)

Hamburger, 1/3 pound patty - (5)

Wheat hamburger bun - (3)

Lettuce, tomato, ketchup (1tsp) - (0)

American cheese - (2)

2 small slices of center-cut bacon - (2)

So, that was dinner. Dinner was amazing. The corn was possibly the best corn I've ever had.  I used about 1/4 teaspoon olive oil, over 2 ears of corn, then added small amounts of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and vegetable seasoning then wrapped them individually in tin foil about 2 hours before cooking.  They were seasoned perfectly.  They were on the grill for about 15 minutes and that was a perfect amount of time.  The burgers were preformed store-bought 90% lean ground beef, and I added some pepper, Montreal burger seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce, also about 2 hours before cooking. They were perfect.  I was very pleased with the meal.  The sweet potato fries were a little crisp on the outside, and warm and soft on the inside.  I'd like them to be a bit more fry like, but these were pretty darn good!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to try a Weight Watchers recipe that was suggested in the Weight Watchers weekly for this week. Kale and Bacon and Cannellini beans. This proved a little more difficult than I expected, with a few changes and set backs.  The recipe is below the pictures, so you can see where I subbed thins from the original list.  I ended up using dried minced garlic instead of fresh.  While the taste was just as good, I forgot that it wouldn't need to simmer as long since it isn't fresh.  I let it simmer in the bacon grease, as directed, for under a minute, but when I turned around, it was very dark , which ended up meaning it was burnt to a crisp.  Unfortunately I didn't really realize it was burnt until I added the fresh onions, so then I had to throw out everything through that step.  I ended up cooking another 3 slices of bacon, so that I still had bacon grease to cook in, per the recipe.  I used some of the extra bacon for dinner, on my burger, so that worked out.  I didn't want to chop another onion, so I ended up using onion powder.  The taste, again, is pretty much the same, but it creates less food for the recipe.  The rest of the meal I proceeded as per the recipe, but I realized I didn't have 1lb of kale, instead I probably only had 1/2 that.  Oh well.  The dish turned out pretty well, and I think I'll try again, but this time use everything fresh and follow the recipe exactly.  I think it'd be better that way.  With no onions, and not enough kale, it only came out to about 2 servings, and the recipe says each serving is 5pts, but I know each of these is more since the ingredients are only split between 2 dishes.  I don't think each one is 10 though, so I called it 7 points per serving.  I could be off, but since I haven't used my weekly points, that's fine. I've only used 8 out of 49 and today is the last day of the week, so a few extra points from varying recipes is fine to not be sure about.  I also have activity points I gained this week so I know there is no way I'm over my points.

Pictures are below of the ingredients, and then the finished dish.  It was very flavorful, maybe a little too salty, but I think using fresh onion would make that better, as the salt and balsamic vinegar would have more to mix into.

Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans: 7pts per serving, served 2, recipe at the bottom of blog

 

I ate this yesterday for lunch, along with a 6in Subway sandwich that Kristi brought home for me.  Heidi had some BOGO coupons that expired yesterday so Kristi got us each a 6in sub for lunch on her way home from her class at UML.  I forgot how much I loved Subway! I worked there for awhile, when I was 19, at Plymouth State College. It was a fun, and easy, job, and the perk of free subs was pretty decent!

So, a few great meals. A pretty great week.  A weigh-in tomorrow that I'm feeling good about, and not stressing like I normally do, so that's good.  I need to run to the grocery store to stock up on some fruits and veggies for the weekend, and for my salad that I'm having for dinner tonight.  I try to always eat a light meal, low on salt and heavy meats, the night before a weigh-in, so that I'm not "weighed down" when I get on the scale.  Tonight's salad will likely be with either tuna or shrimp on top. I haven't decided yet.

I hope all of you reading this have a fantastic day, and if you're doing Weight Watchers, or any other "diet", I hope your results this week are where you wanted them to be.  I'm hoping for minimally 0.4lbs lost, so I hit that 10lb goal I wanted to meet last week, but I really want it to be more than that of course. I usually feel good as long as I'm losing 2lbs per week, but we all know that just doesn't happen every week.

Happy Friday friends, family, and supporters. Have a great day, and a fun-filled holiday weekend, whatever you may be celebrating! :)  I'll be sure to post tomorrow about my weigh-in results!

Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans Prep time:  10 min Cook time:  32 min Serves: 4, Points Plus Value: 5 3 slice(s) uncooked reduced-fat bacon    3 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced    1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes    1 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked onion(s), diced    1 pound(s) uncooked kale, stemmed, roughly chopped    1 cup(s) canned chicken broth, or beef broth    15 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained    1 tsp kosher salt    1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar    1 tsp sugar, in the raw    Instructions ·         Set a large, heavy pot or skillet over medium heat; add bacon and cook to desired crispness. Remove bacon from pot and set aside; leave bacon drippings in pot.  ·         Add garlic and red pepper flakes to bacon drippings; cook, stirring, until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add kale; cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to wilt, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add broth; cover and simmer over low heat until kale is just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add beans; simmer, uncovered, until liquid is almost evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in salt, vinegar and sugar; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and serve immediately. Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.

Success!

Today was a very good day.  I woke up on the right side of the bed I guess! I had 2 successes today. I made 3 delicious balanced meals...and I got out for some exercise!  I took pictures of breakfast and lunch, but I forgot to snap one of dinner before I got most of the way through it. Oh well!

Since my first 2 meals were so good, I wanted to share, and I'll include points after each food item.

Breakfast (English muffin, yogurt, fresh fruit, sausages, and coffee):


Banana - 0
Grapes - 0
Nonfat mixed berry yogurt - 2
English Muffin with apple butter - 3*
Chipotle and Peach Thin n' Trim Sausage (2) - 3
Coffee with Truvia and a splash of skim milk - 1

* Apple butter is less than a point per serving, and only a splash of skim milk was in the coffee so I counted that for a point, to even out the apple butter.

Total Points for the below meal: 9

Lunch (Roast Beef open faced sandwiches, veggies with hummus, pistachios, and rice cakes):

Carrots - 0

Celery - 0

Red Pepper Hummus (1.5 servings) - 3

Light wheat bread, 2 slices - 2

3oz Roast Beef - 3

Thin sliced cheese, 2 slices - 2

1/2 cup Pistachios - 5

Ranch Rice Cakes* - 2

* I ended up eating the rice cakes about 90min later as a snack instead of with lunch.

Total points for the below meal: 17 (Sorry for the sideways picture, I couldn't get it to turn!)

Today was sort of a lazy day, aside from cooking. I decided that we should go for a walk so my fiancee and I took our dog, Samson, for a 1.1 mile walk around the neighborhood. A little back story on this...a few weeks ago I decided to go for a walk and I got about 1/4 mile up the hill down the street and had to turn around and come home.  I went alone the first time, which doesn't help my motivation, and I guess I didn't realize how out of shape I was.  This time around I brought support, in my fiancee and our dog.  I was determined to go past where I did last time.  We walked out of our street and decided to take a left at the next street, which ended up being a dead-end, so we walked it and then walked back, then started The Hill.  This time I got to the top of the hill, and continued even further! Last time my walk was just under 1/2 mile. This time we were just over 1.1 miles.  It's not a long distance, but considering the hill, and how out of shape I am, I feel like I had a good "NSV", or non-scale victory today.  I forgot how energized it makes you feel when you exercise, I had all this energy while making dinner, and was in a great mood.

So, dinner...

Dinner was a taco salad, with all the delicious fixings. I used ground turkey instead of beef, and I used fat free sour cream, salsa, and Mexican cheese as toppers.  The salad included lettuce, red pepper, cherry tomatoes and cucumber.  This was all fantastically mixed together on top of some tortilla chips.    The meal totaled 22 points for my plate.  As a reminder, I have 55 points per day so my meals are going to be higher point values than most of yours, if you're on Weight Watchers.  I used extra chips and cheese to bulk up the meal, since I had 28 points left for the day as of dinner time, which is a lot.

No picture because I was too excited to eat it and forgot to set it up for a picture! Oh well, I think everyone knows what a taco salad looks like! :)

So, all in all I had a great day.  And I wanted to share that with you; my support system.

Thanks for reading, and I hope y'all had a great day too! Now we're watching A Fish Called Wanda, and then we're going to check out Betty White's new show, Off Their Rockers. Good night all!

Wrestlemania Food and Blogs - I Almost Forgot!

So I told you all last week that we would be watching Wrestlemania this past weekend.  Well, it was quite entertaining and certainly a good time with good friends!  There were a lot of great matches and great drama on the TV, and lots of great food being made here!

I meant to post this on Monday, after Wrestlemania, but I forgot. Heidi has her own blog, called Chubby Bunny Shrinks her Tail, and she wrote a blog about all of the awesome food we had during our "Wrestlemania Party". You can check out Heidi's Blog here and the specific blog post for Wrestlemania is here.  She detailed our three course snacking in great detail, with good pictures of each dish, and it was all delicious!  I told her I was going to share it on my blog so that we weren't duplicating efforts! :) 

Something else I'd love to share with all of you is Kristi's website, and blog, that is about a variety of topics, from comics, to movies, to TV, and now most recently to wrestling.  Kristi's website, Pop Culture Sushi, is a great venue for all you need to know about geeky, and sometimes not-so-geeky culture.  After Wrestlemania, Kristi expanded her blog to include wrestling and wrote a pretty amusing blog about it! 

Kristi's best friend, Erin, is a die hard wrestling fan, and was actually at Wrestlemania this year with her brother! She has a great blog all about wrestling, called Ring Ramblings, and I'm sure she will be writing all about her Wrestlemania experience once she is home. Check it out for some actual wrestling knowledge and opinions written by a great girl! 

Ok, I think that's enough promoting my friends' blogs for now, but seriously, they're all awesome and you should check them out!

Hungry Girl!

So a couple of weeks ago my roommate, Heidi, and I were watching Dr. Oz and his guest that day was Hungry Girl.  She made several dishes on his show but the one that stood out to me was a healthy version of chicken parm.  I knew I should try it since one of my fiancee's favorite meals is chicken parm, but it can be so awful for you, especially when you order it at a restaurant. I decided to try this recipe tonight and it came out deliciously.

I cooked it with a mix of whole grain and Smart Taste penne pasta, as I'm not 100% on board with fully whole grain pasta yet.  Each serving of pasta was 6pts (about 2.5oz dry pasta).  The only change I think I'll make to the below recipe is forgoing the tomato sauce part and just do my own sauce, because the one I make is better than using just a can of sauce.  Oh well, it was worth a try.  The actual chicken cutlet was fantastic though and the cereal I used was Fiber One Bran Cereal which is actually pretty good by itself, and very high in fiber (which was this week's focus in our Weight Watchers meeting - so this recipe was perfect...as a reminder - 25g of fiber for women, and 38g of fiber for men, is the advised daily intake).

To go with the pasta and chicken parm I decided to cut up 2 fresh zucchinis and let them marinate for about an hour in a little oil drizzle with some vegetable seasoning I like to use. I then steamed the zucchini for 2 minutes in a tupperware steamer that my roommate has for the microwave, and then I put them in the oven to bake for about 10 minutes.  They came out the perfect texture and taste.  See below for a picture of our final meal!  The point total for the whole meal is 13, which is 6 for pasta, 6 for chicken, and 1 for the small amount of oil on the zucchini.

After dinner I had some Newtons Chocolate Fruit Thin Cookies which are absolutely delicious, and you can have 3 for 4pts, or 6 for 7pts. I had 13 points left for the day so I had 6 of them, along with one of the small 2pt banana pudding chocolate cupcakes from last week, and then split both an apple and a pear with Kristi. Lots of variety and a delicious, semi-healthy dessert.

To go back in time a bit, I wanted to share my delicious 14 point lunch that I had today too.  Today was a good food day, 3 good meals, 1 snack, and dessert. I ended the day with 3 points left over but I just wasn't hungry and with 55 points a day, sometimes I just can't fill them.  I also had 10 glasses of water today (80oz) so I feel really good about how I did today.  Anyway, for lunch I made a huge salad, with about 4 cups of salad (lettuce, carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumber, red pepper), 2oz of fat free feta cheese, 4oz of grilled chicken, and a delicious basil parmesean light dressing.  I topped the salad with about 10grams of sliced almonds, for a little extra crunch.  The entire salad was 10 points, so to bulk it up a bit I added 1oz (30g or 15 crackers) Sundried Tomato and Basil Wheat Thins, which are 4pts per serving.  So I had the below lunch, which was filling, nutritious, and delicious, for 14 points!

Overall, I think today was a very successful food day, and I'm feeling good about this week so far.  Tomorrow I am determined to go for a walk in the mid-afternoon.  I hope I can convince Kristi to go too but she is getting up for work at 5:30am, working all morning then she has class in the afternoon, so by the time she gets home she may be exhausted.  Either way, I will be going for a walk tomorrow at some point, at least with Samson, our 9yr old yellow lab and shar pei mix.  It's supposed to be 59-60 tomorrow which is plenty warm, and perfectly cool, for a nice walk!  I am doing a 5 mile "Walk MS" walk on 4/15 for one of my Bridesmaid's birthdays, so I need to get myself moving if I'm going to make it through that!

I hope everyone reading this had a great day and if you're interested, you can follow the recipe below, or tweak it however you want!  I made it with the egg substitute, and not the regular egg, just FYI. I've added some comments where I made changes to try make it easier.

Hungry Girl's Pan Fried Chicken Parm

Ingredients

Makes 2 servings

1/2 cup bran cereal (Fiber One Bran)

1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, or more to taste

1/8 tsp salt, or more to taste

1/2 tsp garlic powder, or more to taste

1/2 tsp onion powder, or more to taste

1/4 cup canned tomato sauce with Italian seasonings

1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute or 1 large egg 

2 (4 oz) raw boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Optional seasoning: black pepper

Directions 

In a blender or food processor, grind cereal into crumbs. Transfer to a wide bowl and mix in Italian seasoning, salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon onion powder.  (I put the cereal in a sandwich bag and just pounded it until it was ground down into fine crumbs, and then I put the seasonings into that to save a dish.)

In a small bowl, mix tomato sauce with remaining 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and remaining 1/4 teaspoon onion powder. 

Place egg substitute in another wide bowl (or beat egg in the bowl). One at a time, using tongs, coat chicken cutlets with egg, shake to remove excess, and coat with crumbs. (I used another sandwich bag for this, put each cutlet into the bag, made sure each one was coated and then put them into the crumb/seasoning bag to coat with crumbs, no need to use bowls.)

Bring an extra-large skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat. Lay coated cutlets in the skillet and cook for about 4 minutes per side, until chicken is cooked through.

Evenly spread sauce over chicken cutlets, still in the skillet. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Reduce heat to low and cover skillet. Cook until cheese has melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information

Per serving:

1 cutlet (made with egg substitute) - 6 Weight Watchers Points Plus

258 calories, 6g fat, 684mg sodium, 16.5g carbs, 7g fiber, 1g sugars, 38.5g protein

1 cutlet (made with egg)

279 calories, 8.5g fat, 663mg sodium, 16g carbs, 7g fiber, 1g sugars, 38.5g protein

Sunday Mornings Are My Favorite

Sunday mornings may be my favorite time of the week. They typically involve sleeping in, snuggling with my fiancee and our critters (we have a cat, Juliet, and a dog, Samson, both of which I'm sure I'll talk about and post pictures about in the near future), a delicious brunch, and then meal planning and grocery shopping later.  This morning we slept in until about 10:45am and then Kristi had to call work to see if she was needed for her "on-call" shift, but since she wasn't, we stayed in bed for awhile.  I eventually got up to make brunch (only calling it that because it was noon by the time I was cooking).

Today's brunch consisted of using an awesome product that Heidi bought a few months ago.  I have linked it below because I think you should try it, if you like peanut butter, and you're watching what you eat.  PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter has a great consistency when mixed right (not hard to do at all), tastes just like peanut butter, and is only 45 calories a serving (2TBSP of powder and 1TBSP of water is a serving).  This means only 1 point for a serving, unlike regular peanut butter which can be very high in points!

PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter

Brunch Menu (per person), 8 Weight Watchers Points


Fiber One english muffin toasted with a serving of the above PB2 (4pts total)
A whole banana sliced into pieces and put on top of the PB2
Half of an apple
Half of a plum
Nonfat strawberry banana yogurt (2pts)
One Garden Vegetable Chicken Sausage (Thin n' Trim) (2pts, but if you have 2 it's only 3pts)
Coffee with 2 Truvia packets (0pts)

So, a nice hearty meal for brunch, that was very low in points. I have 55 points a day, so really by this time I should have had more points, but Wrestlemania is tonight and with that comes snacking! Heidi will be getting the PPV of Wrestlemania tonight and we will all sit around cheering on guys in spandex costumes as they beat each other up...it's a good time! :) A few friends of ours are coming over for their yearly watching tradition with Heidi, which works because it's all people we're friends with too!

We're very lucky that Heidi, and her boyfriend, like to cook...the menu tonight looks fantastic, and it's all healthy versions of awesome food! I'm going to be making a turkey sausage dip that I stole from my good friend, and Bridesmaid, Casie when she made it for our "Ladies Night" potluck a few months ago.  It's very easy to make, only has a few ingredients, and is pretty healthy!

I'm off to go plan meals for the week, do a little grocery shopping, and then it's time for Wrestlemania!

Have a great day everyone!!

Dedicated to Heidi, for being awesome!

I wanted to share with all of you what I was surprised with this morning on my way out the door to the Weight Watchers meeting.  Kristi, my fiancee, and I live with our friend Heidi in her house. Heidi is also one of my bridesmaids. As I said in a previous post, Heidi is also doing Weight Watchers, and is very supportive and a great inspiration for me, especially with her fancy cooking ideas sometimes! This morning she surprised me by leaving a great big inspirational message on a wall of her kitchen that she made into a chalk board.  This psyched me up for the meeting and certainly started my day off well.  She knew my goal today was to hit 10 pounds and while I didn't do it, seeing this really made my day! I wanted to share with everyone, and to say THANK YOU HEIDI for your friendship and your support! I should mention that she also put a piece of Press n' Seal on the glass slider door to the porch that said "Good Luck Sarah". So awesome. :) Below is a picture of the chalkboard surprise from this morning, sorry for the "inside jokes" but you get the idea! Pretty awesome huh?

I couldn't help but share it with you all! :) So as you saw in my last post, I had sort of a rough morning, which could easily start my downward spiral for the week. Instead of allowing that, I took a little nap to reset myself, and spent some nice quiet time with Kristi.  Once we were hungry, I went and made us a delicious healthy lunch.  Very simple: A sandwich (turkey deli meat, cheese, light mayo and lettuce), fresh fruit (apple and pear) and veggies (cucumber and carrots), light ranch dip, and a sweet ending with a 2pt chocolate cupcake (made with club soda) that had sugar free banana pudding in the center, made by Heidi.  See below for a picture of our yummy lunch!

Not sure what the rest of the day will hold, but I'm feel much better than I was earlier. A loss is a loss and 1.6lbs is nothing to be ashamed of!

Not Quite...

Well, my goal of at least 2lbs didn't quite work out this week. I lost 1.6 pounds, which I know is still a pretty good loss after 2 weeks of big numbers, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little upset.  I know I can do this and I know that I'll likely reach my first 10lb mark next week, but I really wanted to hit it today.  Oh well, the manicure I was going to treat myself to will have to wait a week. That's something else exciting - I've gone since 2/20/12 without biting my nails - something else I've struggled with my whole life! On my BFF's birthday we went to get manicures (2/20) and it's sort of embarrassing paying someone to manicure nails that are bitten so far down they cannot even file them. So, I decided to stop biting them. And I did. Yay me! Next week they'll get pampered as long as I lose at least 0.4lbs which I cannot imagine not doing.

So, after the meeting, my MOH (Maid of Honor) and I went to grab something to eat at Denny's because it's right down the street from our meeting location.  I wasn't really in the mood for breakfast, and since it was after 11am, I thought it was late enough to have lunch.  I decided on the Hickory Grilled Chicken Sandwich.  I thought this was a decent choice as it was grilled chicken, tomato, lettuce, a slice of american cheese, and a sweet hickory spread. Boy was I wrong. I got home and went to update my tracker...I looked up Denny's nutrition information and was shocked to see this sandwich is 24 points!!!!!! I thought it was going to be about 15 or so.  It's only 2 less points than a bacon cheeseburger! Ugh. Sometimes I guess you just don't know.  Oh well. Fortunately I'd only used 3 points on a granola bar for breakfast, and I can do a big salad with dinner to make up some calories and points.  I have 55 daily points so 24 isn't too bad, but I just didn't expect it. Ouch. Fortunately for me, and my love of bad Denny's food, our meeting location is changing next week to South Nashua, and there are different options to eat there...

Now I'm home relaxing for the day with Kristi, and trying to convince myself that a 1.6 pound loss is still a solid step in the right direction. I know it is, but I think setting myself up for hitting 10lbs was a bad idea because now I feel like I failed.  Oh well, this next week will be a good one. Less eating out, more meal planning, more fresh veggies, less salty snacks, and more weight loss. :)