Week 25 Day 2 or On the brink of my future!

 

I was really sick last week and have been getting better each and every day.  Nothing could have kept me away from my Weight Watcher meeting last week (12/21/13).  I stayed the same weight which was good.  The room was virtually empty but for about 8 or so steadfast believers!  Snow and ice didn't keep us away.

 

Yesterday was a much nicer morning weather wise and there were some new faces at the meeting in anticipation of the New Year and their new futures.  I jumped on the scale not quite knowing what to expect since I really didn't eat for the first really sick 3 days of the week, last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Christmas day involved a bit of cheese ball, a big piece of fudge and a slice of turkey and a baked potato.  I lost 2.7 pounds.  I was excited and squealed and jumped around.  At 265.9 pounds I have lost a total of 33.1pounds!  Imagine that!!!!  My daily points have dropped one and I can use 34 plus points.

 

2014 is going to be a great year.  I have decided my focus will be on me, my weight loss journey, my sewing and my cross stitch.  I intend on getting moving with my girl friends when the weather is warmer, walking that is!  I have started a new little cross stitch project to ring in the new year.  I threw away all my past failures that were holding me back from my future successes at yesterday's meeting and I am so excited about the rest of my life.

Oh yes, Santa gave my Prince and I a new Canon Camera! Plus I got a cool tripod so I will be able to bore you with plenty of pictures too! 

 

I do need to go as I need to be somewhere in a half hour.  Until we eat again my pretties!



Week 23 Day 1 or Good Bye 270's, Hello 260's!

I hit it folks!  I am so happy with myself.  Today I weighed in at 268.6 pounds, that is a total loss of 30.4 pounds and I lost 1.6 pounds last week!  I received my Weight Watcher key chain at the meeting for losing 10% of my enrollment weight.  I am so excited and pleased. 

I know I can do this! 

I KNOW I CAN DO THIS! 

I KNOW I CAN DO THIS!

 

We had the rain and cold yesterday after work but the Prince and I went to the grocery stores.  We have grapes and clementines and bananas.  We have chicken and ground beef.  We have cauliflower and tomatoes and cukes and broccoli.  We have yogurt and rice and cottage cheese.  I am ready for a great week.

 

I found some sugar free apple pie filling and a Pillsbury Apple and Caramel cake mix.  I plan on making a dump cake tomorrow. 

 

I am ready to take on the week before Christmas and do it well.  Until we eat again!

 



Week 22 Day 2 or great chocolate fix!

 

I wanted some chocolate.  I had a brownie mix in the cupboard.  I did a little figuring and made me brownies.

Brownie mix
½ cup of unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup of water
cinnamon

I mixed those 4 ingredients up.  Sprayed my Pyrex square glass pan with cooking spray and spread the mixture in the pan.  Sprinkled some cookie decorative stuff on the top and baked at 350° for about 40 minutes.  I cooled and then cut into 16 squares.

Three points each and they are good cake-like brownies.  Love them and will make them again!

I am going to wrap them up individually and pop them in the freezer.  They will be great to throw into my lunch bag for work!

Until we eat again!

Week 22 Day 1 or Dang close

Well I got knocked down last week with a gain of 1.6 pounds.  At weigh in today I lost 2.8 pounds which was amazing!  So I lost the 1.6 I gained and added 1.2 more pounds to boot!  So I am now down to 270.2 pounds and about ready to say hello to the 260's.  I am 1.2 pounds away from a 30 pound loss.  I have lost a total of 28.8 pounds!  I am proud of me.

I did not write down 100% of my bites.  I petered out on Thursday at dinner.  One day this week I hit 103% of my daily activity goal, it is the first and only time I have done that.  It is so blasted cold right now.  I have taken to taking the long way to the bathroom at work when I am at work.  I walk all the way around the perimeter of the call center to and from the bathroom.  That helps get me closer to my activity goals.

We have had some fruit in the house and that has helped this week.  One day, Tuesday I got off of work starving because I didn't take lunch with me and I stopped at Wendy's on the way home.  I got a cheeseburger deluxe at 9 points and a small chocolate frostie at 15 points!  Yikes!  But I didn't eat when I got home and actually came in that day using all my daily points and none of my weekly allowance.

At a meeting months ago I briefly heard mention of meal planning sites.  I went looking and found "Shrinking on A Budget" last Sunday.  Some enterprising woman puts together weekly meal plan using foods and ingredients that you would normally have in any kitchen.  Each week you get the meal plan for Weight Watcher meals and snacks with the recipes for those meals and the shopping list!  It costs $10 for a year!  I absolutely love it.  The meals are reasonable, have you ever seen recipes in magazines and cookbooks with these wild ingredients?  This is not like that, it is real world.  I joined and love this!  I print off the weekly meal plan and then put them in a 3 ring binder.  LOVE IT!!

It has been a great week, really, and I will sign off for now.  Until we eat again!

Week 21 Day 2 or Bumming about my Activity

 

See there is that little Active Link scutter plugged into my computer to spit out my wonderful attempt at walking yesterday.  Well it spit alright, right in my eye!  Damn thing!

I only got 65% of my activity goal yesterday.  That big long bar is me walking at noon and the rest is me sitting on my donkey/mule/ass all day long!  Crap on toast!

This is a good day of journaling my bites.  As you can see I had 9 points left at the end of the day!  Good girl.  The highlight of my day was my cauliflower on toast.  This is one of my favorite childhood meals my dear Mum used to make for us.  I think I was the only one of her four kids that liked it.

 

Green Giant has Steamer bags that are 3 points total, or 3 servings of 1 point.  Cauliflower and cheese, broccoli and cheese and I forgot the other.  LOVE IT!

 

I am so excited about this recipe I found at Weight Watcher girl.  It is a soft pretzel with cinnamon and icing and it is 5 points.  Easy to make, quick to make and decadent. http://www.theprettyyouproject.blogspot.com/2013/11/cinnamon-glazed-soft-pretzels-quick.html The neat thing is I had soft pretzels in the freezer and now I can make myself a great treat.  Life is good!

 

So today I have had one bottle of water with my medicine and I am going to search some more for good recipes.  I want to hit the grocery and take some books over to the dear Mum.  My Prince has Christmas Carols blasting on our home theater system, ugh!

 

Well happy eatings from your Pink Cricket!

 



Week 21 Day 1 or New Beginnings

I realized last week I was just playing at this Weight Watchers venture.  I knew I wasn't investing 100% of my efforts.  The past 2 weigh in's I lost weight and I was surprised because I hadn't journaled my food or really seriously done much to deserve the loss.  I knew a gain was coming.  This past week I ate pretty much what I wanted and wrote down nothing.  I had a couple of candy bars, some donuts and big cookies and Thanksgiving was small portions of everything.  So today I had a 1.6 pound gain at the scale.  I wasn't surprised and amazingly enough relieved.

The meeting had a mere handful of people there.  I guess many were not able to face the consequences of their Thanksgiving week for whatever the reason.  I am certainly NOT  judging them, far be it for me to do that. 

It was a good meeting and I think everyone shared at some point.  We wrote down reasons we want to lose weight.  Some of my reasons, of which there are lots more, are written down for the inspiration, the need to kick myself into gear and fully engage in this venture to a new life.

I am going to sit down and plan some meals for this week and write a grocery list.  It is supposed to be warmer today and I intend on taking my Active Link and going for a walk.  Water, drink some water and just revel in the delightful life I have been blessed with.

So until we eat again I will remain Blessed!  Season's Eating's!

Week19 Day 1 or The Winds of Change are Howlin'

Let's just say I am astonished and amazed by the wonders of God.  I did not blog last Saturday.  My beautiful Prince and I were and are going thru a stressful time.  We will overcome as we have the grace of God as our armor.  He has our tomorrows already prepared for us and fearfulness is not something in our vocabulary.

That being said I really did not expect much when I stepped on the scale.  I had not journaled my food last week.  I didn't really over eat or eat bad things but just had no desire to weigh and measure and jot.  Last Saturday's weigh in I gained 0.4 pounds, today I lost 1.8 pounds.  I am down to 272.2 pounds.  I don't feel like I deserve it but I will take it. 



The topic of our meeting was about Friends and Family without Food.  Having fun with our loved ones doesn't mean it has to be about the food.  We talked about creating new traditions for holidays and celebrations where the centerpiece of the gathering is to be around the people, the activities and not so much the food.  Last Thanksgiving was a wonderful one because it was the second Thanksgiving with my Prince.  I enjoyed being with him and my family and listening to the conversation and the jokes and the joy and love and being a part of it.  I plan on finding a great new recipe to make to take to our family get together Thanksgiving, which will be over at Brother 2's home.

Case in point, last Sunday was my Mother's 77th birthday.  We all went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  I so enjoyed the banter and the atmosphere more then the food.  I ate half of what I was served and I was happy and satisfied.

I love my family and that is the joy and celebration, not the hash brown casserole and the pancakes.

I had been contemplating a new gadget/investment in my journey to a better life style, so in true girlish style, I bought it.  It is a Active link personal activity device.  The device is 39.95 with a 5.00 per month fee.  It tracks my activity, creates a activity plan for me and it will motivate me to reach a personal goal.  I downloaded the software to my computer and then activated the device.  I attached it to my person and it tracks all the movements.  At the end of the day I plug it into the USB port on my computer and it tells me how many activity points I earned thru out the day.  I can add those points to my daily food allowance or not. 

For these first 7 days it will be gathering information on me.  Next Saturday, I will sit down at my computer and I will then begin to plan my activity goals.  I am excited about it.  It is just a gadget but I need to do something to help motivate me as far as activity.  I think I have invested a lot of money so far and a little more to help me achieve my goal is worth it.

 

The above to items are new food products I have "discovered".  The first is coconut oil and it can be used as a fat substitute in recipes.  The second is PB2 which is powder peanut butter.  Far less fat and calories and I can add a bit of water and make a paste for a sandwich.  I want to go and find some recipes for both.  I will let you know.

 

I went to the cross stitch shop to find me some new designs to help keep my hands and mind busy while I watch TV.  I love Sue Hillis's new design "Reindeer Games".

I saw the old fashion sled and the sweet little designs and thought what a darling gift for my Mom.  She would love it for her Christmas tree.

I bought some GAST threads for a Not Forgotten free design.  I want to stitch this over one for a ornament for my Mom.  She loves snowmen.  I am going to use reddish colors for the leaves and the blue for the body of the snow man.  He is SO cute.

 

So my fine loved ones I look forward to a new week filled with tons of love and tons of joy.  God Bless and until we eat again!