What a Week

So, I don't really even know where to get started. I guess I will start with that I lost NO weight this week...I also did not gain any weight this week and I am proud of that. We ate out at least once a day and weren't home hardly at all for the past week. Here is a recap of my week.

Tuesday:
My mom flew in that night and we barbecued lean pork chops and corn. My mom took Hudson shopping to buy some new cars! He was so excited. He got some new ones to add to his collection and a new pair of Lightning McQueen jammies!

Wednesday:
My mom, Hudson, Reese and I all met up with my grandparents and enjoyed a day on the lake. I packed all of us a healthy lunch and snacks (tuna sandwiches, nectarines, crackers/hummus). My cousins were all flying in that night and we met this at Puelo's Grill for dinner. I had the salmon with double order of steamed veggies (dry with no sauce)

Thursday:
The entire family spent the entire day at Dollywood. I am really wishing I would of wore a pedometer because I can guarantee I walked at least 3 miles that day. For lunch I had a half of a chicken sandwich, pickle and nectarine. That night we came home exhausted but I had pulled out a batch of my homeade spaghetti sauce out of the freezer and quickly made up some rigatoni and we had some yummy noodles.

Friday:
Another day out on the lake. All of the family met around 10:30 and we had 4 boats out on the lake for majority of the day. We went to the golf course for lunch and I had a Hawaiian salad. That day we did lots of swimming. I went for two long swims and challenged all of my very in-shape cousins to a water treading workout. You should try it. You start by treading water for 10 seconds, then you put your palms out of the water for the next 10 seconds and then you put your hands on your forehead for the last 10 seconds. They all practically drowned. haha! That is one workout I am really great at!

Saturday:
Trav and I headed up to Pigeon Forge again to see the family. We stopped by taco bell and I had a bean burrito. For the record..Taco Bell is my favorite fast food and I hadn't ate it once in 12 weeks). We did a little shopping at the outlet mall then we met up with my family in their beautiful cabin. My uncle Russ bought everything for a barbecue. Chicken Breast, Potato Salad, Corn, Green salad, chips, etc. Travis grilled up all the chicken. It was so yummy. I had a half of a chicken breast that night and one ear of corn. I did have one small piece of strawberry shortcake that night. We did fireworks and enjoyed an evening playing games and talking.

Sunday:
We headed to Pigeon Forge one last time to meet up with family before they left. We met them at the Nascar Speedpark and took Hudson on some little rides. It was so hot that day. Then we went to the 3:30 show of the Dixie Stampede. They serve a lot of food but I was so busy with the baby and Hudson that I barely ate. I had a biscuit and some creamy vegetable soup and took the rest home. We went back to the cabin. I had made home-made raspberry icecream the night before but it wasn't quite frozen enough, so we all went back and had a bowl..said our goodbyes and went home. I didn't feel very good that night so skipped dinner.

Monday:
We just stayed home and Hudson played in the sprinklers and on the slip and slide. I haven't been feeling well so I haven't had much of an appetite. I kind of carb loaded though and had a couple bowls of cereal through out the day and a bowl of popcorn last night.

That was pretty much my week. I tried to make really good choices but still just all the time away from home makes it hard. Didn't make it on the treadmill but did do lots and lots of walking and swimming. Not sure why I didn't lose; I honestly thought I would lose 1 pound. I stayed exactly the same to the decimal point! I tried to take on my friend's challenge of logging everything but it was so hard because a lot of the food that we ate was out.

Weight Watcher results: Week 11

No gain, no loss. See my post "What a Week" for the synopsis. I'm still hanging in there! It was motivating to spend some time with my cousins. They are all in such good shape. People always tell me that my cousin Brooke and I look so much a like. I kept telling her that she was a blonde, skinny version of me. I also told her that the next time she saw me that we were going to look even more alike! I told the family about my blog and they were all supportive. I didn't give them the actually address but told them what I was doing. I head back to work on Wednesday the 7th, looking forward to getting into a new routine of eating, working and spending time with the treadmill.

Water boarding

I was having some friends over last night and I made a big batch of Taco Soup and thought I better make some dessert since there were 5 ladies coming over. I make these really yummy raspberry bars. They are super easy and quick. You get a jiffy raspberry muffin mix (33 cents) and add 1/4 C Oats, 1/4 C nuts, and 5 TBSP of melted butter. Press it into a greased 8" pan, reserving 1/4 C of mixture. Pour over 1/2 C raspberry preserves and then add the rest of the crumbled topping to the top. Bake at 350 for about 23-28 minutes. I really like these and could eat a whole pan. I made this dessert on purpose because I knew it was small and would get mostly eaten. However, one of my girlfriends also brought dessert (I didn't know) so only about half the pan of my raspberry bars got eaten. I am a sneaker. I like to go back to the pan and have bite after bite. Just a little bite here, a little bite there. A small bite every half hour and by the end of the night the pan is gone. Last night when I woke up in the middle of the night to feed Sissy, I saw the pan staring at me, tempting me. Someone had once told me after you've had enough to immediately put the rest in the sink with water making them inedible. So I wanted to take a bite so bad but I threw the pan in the sink and instantly water boarded the raspberry bars. After dousing them with water they looked more like vomit in a pan. I was no longer tempted. I made it through the entire day with just one raspberry bar! Kind of feel bad that I wasted half a pan, probably should of cut the squares and gave them to a neighbor but feeling pretty proud of myself that the pan didn't get ate.

This is what the bars looked like after they were ruined with water!

Weight Watcher results: Week 10

Wow! It has been 10 weeks. This is by far the longest I have stuck with something in recent years. Even though I know I still have a long way to go (at least 28 more weeks) I know that they will go fast. I can't believe how fast the past 10 weeks has gone. Last week I felt good. I went to "moms night out" and saw some people I hadn't seen in about 10 weeks. They definitely noticed and said "You look great". While I don't think I look great, I still look at pictures and want to barf...it still felt good to hear it. I ran into another friend a who I hadn't seen in about a month and she called me "skinny minnie", funny since I am still 200+ but it is comments like that which really keep me going. So since starting weight watchers 10 weeks ago I have lost 25.4 pounds. With weight watchers, if you go to the meetings you get stickers when you lose 5 or 10 pound increments, online you just get little starts on your chart. Today when I plugged in my weight I got a big star that said 25! That was pretty exciting. I am pretty happy with that; means I have averaged 2.5 pounds per week. I could of done better this week. I didn't exercise at all on the treadmill. Not sure why not...I did do lots of yard work and swimming but I need to get back in the grove. I was really missing Biggest Loser and while BL Australia was alright, it wasn't the same as having Bob and Jillian to motivate me. I realized I hadn't seen season 4 of BL, so Travis downloaded it for me and now I can start afresh. Tuesday my family comes into town so I am sure there will be temptation. A friend of mine challenged me to write everything down while they are here. I am going to take her up on the challenge as I know that is a major factor to my success. I'll keep ya posted! By the way, did you notice I changed my toe nail polish? haha :)

Fun in the Sun

Well the last 3 days we have been swimming and it has been so fun. I love to swim! The bad news is that I haven't been on the treadmill. I have a feeling this might be an interesting week for my weigh in. I have been doing pretty good in regard to points and staying on track with the eating. I have figured out what my problem is though. I love to snack. Now I am much more conscious about what I put in my mouth. A handful of doritos, a packet of fruit snacks, the crust from Hudson's sandwich, etc...I used to eat these things all the time with out even thinking. Today I was talking with a friend about pre-dinner eating. You get home from work, you are starved and then it takes 30 minutes to make dinner. So you snack as you make it and then still eat a full dinner. It is all those little choices that have been sabotaging me for years. When I think of myself, I don't see a glutton, someone that goes to Chuck-O-Rama on Saturday night for multiple trips to the smorgasbord. I rarely eat fried foods and I even get disgusted when I see people cover their food in butter, gravy, etc. I always look at them and think "you deserve to be fat..I dont". But we all have our vices and while mine seem small to me, looks like they add up. This week, I have noticed that I am snacking more. While I am staying within my points I could be making better choices that would me much better for me nutritionally. This week is my goal to plan out some healthy snacks, portion them out and stay on task. My mom gets here Tues, so I am working on my menu and going grocery shopping. I think as long as we eat most meals at home, we will be okay.

So tonight is "Moms night out"...it is where about 20 ladies from my church and the community go out to eat. We are going to the Olive Garden. This works out good for me. Since, I worked there about a decade ago, I am still pretty familiar with their menu. I already have it all planned as to what I am going to eat. One serving of salad, no bread sticks, and the lunch portion Linguini ala Marinara. It is 310 calories, 4 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber. It is 6 points and since I really want to have salad (a whopping 9 points), that is about my only choice. I also love the Capellini Pomodoro it is 480 calories, 11 grams of fat and 11 grams of fiber. However, it is 10 points but a good alternative if you would like the minestrone soup in place of the salad. I plan to just drink water; maybe I'll take my slim and sassy oil to add to it!

Can't believe that I have to go back to work in just over a week. I am planning to enjoy this last week in the sunshine, boating, a trip to Dollywood and lots more swimming. The good news is that with me only working 3 days a week, I'll be able to still enjoy our nice, long summer here in East TN.

Arrgghh

Well, while I have been doing better on my diet and eating within my point allowance, I have not been on the treadmill in several days. Excuses, excuses...but it has been so hard. We have been super busy and it isn't getting any easier. Monday night we went to Knoxville to run errands and didn't get home until 9PM, last night my grandparents came over for dinner to celebrate Father's Day late and we played cards until 9:30PM. Tonight I am teaching CPR, tomorrow night I am meeting up with a friend in Knoxville that is going to have a baby any day, and Friday night I am supposed to be going to "Moms night out". I will just have to try and fit it in during nap times. The problem is that my kids don't seem to nap at the same time. Today I am taking the kids swimming and hoping to get in a few laps myself. I love to swim. It is my passion! I would swim everyday if it was easily accessible. I can tread water very well too and it is a good workout. When Travis's family was in town we all went to the lake and I decided to give my niece a workout, I had her tread water for several minutes with her hands on her forehead. It is pretty rough and I almost drowned her..haha. However, it is a great leg workout, so I will have to try and do it again today. Like I said, I am doing good with my eating. I remembered that my zucchini bread recipe makes two loaves. That means that those pieces from my last post were only 5 points instead of 10. Still a lot but now I am not feeling quite so quilty.

Well, a bunch of my family is coming to town next week. My mom, uncle, 4 cousins, cousin in laws and all their kiddos. Should be fun but I will have to seriously keep everything in check!

Zucchini Bread almost tastes as good as Skinny

A friend of mine brought over zucchini from her garden and I decided to make zucchini bread and put it in the freezer for special occasions and when we have guests. The problem is that I froze all of them except one loaf. I indulged in two yummy pieces today. It tasted SO good! I had substituted applesauce for some of the oil in order to make it a little healthier. Well, I should of made it the same way because it was still loaded with points. I plugged in my recipe into the weight watcher website and one piece is 9 points!!! AAAHHH. No dinner for me! Today I feel depressed..like I totally cheated. Sucks, because the rest of the day I did just fine but then I went and ate 3/4 of my daily points in two little pieces of zucchini bread. Doesn't seem possible. I am going to have to hit the treadmill tonight and try to burn off at least one piece. However, it is a catch 22 because the more depressed/upset you are the less likely you are to want to work out. I have no motivation now!

I will overcome it! But DAMN IT...I am mad at myself. I must say though...I would challenge anyone to a zucchini bread cook off (even my sister in law Kimberly who is the world's best baker) because I am pretty sure that my recipe will kick anyone's butt!