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!

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.