I love this woman!

http://youtu.be/BefRC2CPocY

http://youtu.be/iTjjZDwxae4

It's been a while...

Here are the links I have been talking about in my You Tube videos:

http://shrinkingonabudgetmealplan.com/MealPlanOpener/MealPlanPortal2.html

http://www.vitalicious.com/

http://www.theprettyyouproject.blogspot.com/

http://www.realfoodkosher.com/kale-chips-recipe-and-tips/

Week 31 Day 6 or I have been SO good!

Well it is Thursday and I have been very good this week.  I am really proud of myself and it really doesn't matter what the scale will say on Saturday.  Yes I want it to say I have lost pounds but I know I have eaten and journaled and even drank my 48oz of water every day except on Saturday.  Life is good, even though the weather hasn't been very nice.  Today it was supposed to get into the 40's and it will continue to warm which is great.  I am ready to walk outside.

There are 2 food purchases I wanted to share.

 

I have been looking for this flat bread forever.  I found it by the specialty cheeses in HyVee.  There are 6 flat bread pieces, each piece is a mere 2 points!  I can't wait to try a pizza on one of these puppies.  The price was $3.28!  

 

 

These are so yummy and a great snack or you could cube them up, they are about 5 inches long and put them in a salad too.  Each stick has 2 points!  Score!!!  The price was $4.47.

 

So that is about it for now.  I will check back in on Saturday.  Until we eat again!

Week 31 Day 2 or Fabulous Food Finds

Yesterday after my meeting I was browsing the cookbooks and I purchased this one.  I found a few that sounded good, such as Pumpkin Buttermilk Pancakes, Beef and Sweet Potato Stew, Honey Citrus Baked Chicken, Crisp Cornflake Chicken, Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings and Asian Sesame Noodle Salad.  There are many more in here.

Fat: 0.5 g Carbs: 3 g Fiber: 2 g Protein: 1 gm  Serving Size: 4oz

Price: $2.69

Points:  0

Notes: I got these to make a recipe on the Hungry Girl web site.  

 

Fat: 10 g Carbs: 15 g Fiber: 0 g Protein:0 gm  Serving Size: 5 pieces Price: $5.99

Points: 2

Notes: I saw these in the Weight Watcher magazine and wanted to try them.  They are a little pricey for 5.5 servings.

Fat: 4 g Carbs: 1 g Fiber: 0 g Protein: 2 g  Serving Size: 1 wedge
Price: $3.99

Points: 1 

Notes: I had been looking for these for a while and found them in the specialty cheese department at HyVee.  Each round has 8 wedges and each flavor has different nutritional numbers, but I believe all are 1 point each.  I gave the nutritional numbers on the Creamy Swiss.

Fat: 10 g Carbs: 15 g Fiber: 3 g Protein: 2 g  Serving Size: 4 cups
Price: $3.88

Points: 2 

Notes: This stuff is good!  I half a serving and take it to work as an afternoon snack.  It isn't real salty but it does have a good flavor and I don't miss the salt.

Fat: 0 g Carbs: 5 g Fiber: 2 g Protein: 0 g  Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon  Price: $2.99
Points: 0

Notes: This jam is seedless and sugarless and is to die for on top of my bagel and cream cheese!  It doesn't get much better then heaven for ZERO points!

 

Fat: 7 g Carbs: 21 g Fiber: 2 g Protein: 1 g  Serving Size: 3oz(about 13 pieces)
Price: $2.99

Points: 4

Notes: I have heard great things about sweet potato fries so I wanted to try them. 

Fat: 1.5 g Carbs: 26 g Fiber: 9 g Protein: 4 gm  Serving Size: 1 muffin Price: $4.99

Points: 3

Notes: I had looked all over for these at HyVee and even Wal-Mart.  Then I saw an ad in the Weight Watcher magazine to look for them in the freezer breakfast food section.  That is where I found them in the health food section.  They are sort of expensive but they are awesome.  I love the Deep Chocolate one.  The Apple Crumb is okay but not as awesome.  They come 4 muffin tops individually wrapped.  Now that I know where they are I am going to look in Wal-Mart for the Wild Blueberry one. 

Fat: 5 g Carbs: 4 g Fiber: 1 g Protein: 1 gm  Serving Size: 2 Tbsp

Price: $2.78

Points: 2 

Notes: This stuff is so good.  I love it on my bagels with the sugar free Smuckers jam!

Fat: 1 g Carbs: 24 g Fiber: 5 g Protein: 6 gm  Serving Size: 1 bagel  Price: $3.19

Points: 3 

Notes: These are wonderful.  They have the thick middle cut out of them. Love it with cream cheese and Smucker's sugar free jam.

 

So that is about it from the folds of a thinning Lilac Thicket.  Until we eat again!

 

Week 31 Day 1 or Finding passion for losing it!

I suppose I have been feeling defeated.  My head just hasn't been in the game.  I missed my meeting last Saturday due to ice.  So it had been 2 weeks since my last weigh in.  I was dreading the truth, I knew I had gained.  I know I have to really get serious.  I was praying on my way to the meeting.  I told God I needed his strength and help with this long term project.  I stepped on the scale and had lost 2.6 pounds for a total of 36.6 pounds.  I feel like a pretender though, I don't see that I did anything to deserve the loss.  Okay, I don't eat the way I used to and I seem to be enjoying foods I hadn't before like grapes and Greek yogurt and veggie wraps.  That IS progress.

After the meeting I went to Hobby Lobby to look at the Simplicity patterns which were on sale for 99¢.  I think I am finding a passion for weight loss through sewing.  I looked at the spring catalog and not in the plus size section.  I saw such cute things that I wouldn't have bought in the past because they don't make them in the "Big" sizes.  Here are the 10 I bought, I would have purchased more but they limited me to 10.

I did buy the next sizes down and I am so excited about losing more so I can make these damn cute styles for myself! 

Now on the above picture you will see the top 2 patterns are retro styles, vintage styles from the 40's.  I love 40's fashion.

 

Then I went to the thrift shop and found these:

These have not been worn at all!  they are my size and so delicious.  Now I can't wear them yet.  They are Nine West!  The heels are way too high for all this 262.4 pounds to rest on the ball of my foot.  But sometime in the not too distant future I will wear these!  Oh, they were $2.00!

So I am thinking if I start to fill my closets with great buys that I can wear in a year or so, that will help keep me moving down the scale!

I have a lot of new grocery finds that I will share tomorrow.  I took some chicken out of the freezer and I will bake that with some sweet potato fries for our dinner this evening. 

Breakfast was good, 3 scrambled eggs (6 points), one toasted English muffin (3 points) with 2 Tablespoons of Weight Watchers cream cheese (2 points) and Smucker's sugar free seedless strawberry jam (ZERO points).

So with renewed hope and spirit I will bid you all the blessings one can handle.  Until we eat again!


Week 29 Day 1 or Looking ahead

Last week this girlish girl did not post to her blog.  She was feeling deflated and confused.  Week 26 I lost 5 pounds and then when I stepped on the scale last Saturday, Week 27, I had gained 3.6 pounds.  I had been sick for so long I wasn't sure what was going on.  I didn't feel like I had lost 5 pounds the previous week and I sure didn't feel like I had gained 3.6 pounds the week before. 

I called my dear Mother and we talked about it and I think that what she had said made sense.  She said that my body was probably dehydrated from all the illness and that the gain was me rehydrating my body.  That made lots of sense because I just wasn't feeling my clothing was fitting any different.

Today I weighed in and on week 28 I lost 0.6 pounds. At our meeting today Casey talked about looking at the overall results from the past 4 weeks rather then week to week.  Your body swings around when you are changing your diet and life style and every four weeks is a better measure.  So I figured it out.  Over the last 4 weeks I have gained 4.7 pounds and I have lost 5.6 pounds.  So when you figure it out, over the course of the last 4 weeks I have lost 0.9 pounds, close to 1 pound.  I do feel better about it now.

So here is my goal for myself.  Today I am going to plan my meals for the week.  There will be some challenges, I have a birthday on Monday and I want to eat at the Fig Tree for breakfast.  My Caribbean Prince wants to eat out for lunch at a chicken wing place.  That is doable, chicken is definitely something I can eat.  Friday evening my best girlfriends are coming over for an evening of stitching and chili.  That is doable too.  Chili is a great dish with good for you ingredients.  Yes this week will be a piece of cake, Weight Watcher Caramel Apple dump cake!  3 points! 

My long term goal is to lose all this weight by the time I turn 60, in 3 years!  That is doable too!  Until we eat again!

Week 29 Day 1 or New food purchases

Fat: 2g Carbs: 9gm Fiber: 0g Protein: 19g  Serving Size: 5.7 oz  Price: $1.19
Points: 3
Notes:  I heard about this at my Weight Watcher meeting.  I found it at HyVee in the dairy case.  I have not tried it. 

Fat: 7g Carbs: 1g  Fiber: 0g Protein: 1g   Serving Size: 2 Tbsp  Cost: $2.18
Points: 2
Notes:  I love the whipped cream cheese.  It spreads nice and easy.  I was in heaven when I had some of this on top of a toasted English muffin.  It would have been even better with some zero calorie strawberry preserves.

Fat:1.5gm  Carbs: 39gm Fiber: 5gm Protein: 9gm Serving Size: ¾ cup  Price: $1.38
Points: 5
Notes:  I thought since these were whole wheat that they would have been a little lower in the points department.  I didn't have my points calculator when I purchased these.

Fat: 3g Carbs: 19g Fiber: 13g Protein: 5gm  Serving Size: 1 tortilla  Price: $4.49

Points: 2 

Notes: I got these tortillas because they were the ones with the lowest calories.  These are so fabulous fixed in different ways, like a pizza.

Fat: 1g Carbs: 26g Fiber: 8g Protein: 5gm  Serving Size: 1 muffin  Cost $3.19
Points: 3
Notes:  I really enjoyed a muffin split in half and toasted.  I put whipped cream cheese on it and it was so wonderful.

Fat: 2.5gm Carbs: 14g Fiber: 2g Protein: 3g   Serving Size: 1 bar   Price: $7.50
Points: 2
Notes:  They gave out a sample of these at our Weight Watcher meeting a few weeks ago.  They are so good.  They are pricey but they are a great indulgent.  Keep one in your bag when you are out running errands to feed a hunger rather then the drive thru.  Take one with you when you eat out for a nice dessert instead of ordering dessert.

Fat: 0g Carbs: 0g Fiber: 0g Protein: 0gm  Serving Size: 2 Tbsp  Price: $3.77
Points: 0
Notes: I was so excited when I saw these in the Health Food area at HyVee.  I was strapped for cash at the time so I didn't purchase them.  Got them Thursday and bought some strawberries.  I opened up the chocolate one last night.  I was not really impressed.  It is the texture of pudding and somewhat grainy rather then smooth and glossy.  The taste was okay but I don't think I purchase this again.  I will try the caramel flavored one but expect the same results.

Fat: 2g Carbs: 12g Fiber: 7gm Protein: 5gm Serving size: 1 wrap  Price: $3.77
Points: 2
Notes:  My receipt from HyVee says Health Food but I found these with the tortillas in the dairy area.  I was so excited to find these.  Weight Watcher Girl had a new video about this wrap she made with turkey slices, spouts, onions, tomatoes and lettuce.  They are easy to make and look delicious.  I thought a splash of low calories zesty Italian dressing would zest them up.