Thursday, January 13, 2011

Cookies...uh oh

So everyone was talking about making fires for the east coast blizzard a couple of days ago and someone else said they'd bake, so i got it into my head that i'd bake.

So i took a favorite recipe and cut it in four and used extra WW points i had that day for a handful of cookies as my splurge. Alex and i shared of course.

Day 2 extra points again, made 1/4 of a WW pnut butter cookie recipe.

Today, had a bad day, and ate the remaining cookies. Then baked another 1/4 batch of a non-WW recipe.

I kind of went with the cookie option too because it involves the whole rigamarole of baking and doing the baking dishes in order to reap the reward. I figured i wouldnt want to do that on a regular basis (unlike the option of getting something bad at the store or fast food).

I'm still "on points" miraculously by using part or most of my weekly bonus point allotment.

Part of why i like WW is that it's all about portion control. Which with the exception of the cookies, I've had tons of. Also that you can eat "real" food on it, live a real life, and still have it work.

However, even though i can get away with this, the whole point is to eat healthier. Which in every other way i have been. Tons more fresh foods, fruit and veg etc.

And of course, the whole overall lesson is not to binge and not to turn to food when i'm bummed out.

But i think today was the true screw up day, even if by WW standards i didn't technically. So i learn my lesson today and move fwd tomorrow. Eating so much sugar isn't a good thing, that's for sure.


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Short term goals

I've decided that short-term weight loss goals really are the thing that keep me ticking.

So, to that end, I'm going to add a new short term goal tracker. Right now, it was a 18 pound loss i was looking for. 6 of those down! So i'm going to try and add a ticker to the top of the page to distinguish from the one on the side.


My goal is to look like my after picture again



I had a commenter on a recent article note that I must be doing well because she'd taken a look at my after pics on the right nav.

The problem is, as I've mentioned, that I gained a lot of that weight back.

I had Alex take a recent current photo of me but decided it might not be a fair one to use in my before and after shots since i'm wearing foundation garments that make me look skinnier on the bottom than i am! I've added one of the pics here for you guys though! Growing out my bangs is making weird things happen with my hair too!

The good news is, I weighed myself today, granted on a non-weigh in day, and I'm down another 3 pounds since this past weekend.

Can that be right?

It's not official until the same number shows up this coming weekend. But it is encouraging! My goal had been to be down 10 pounds before all my presentations next week at our sales mtg. So far I'm down 6 with 6 days to go! Yay!

Very motivating!


Monday, January 10, 2011

Mmm...Can't wait to make these

I've stumbled upon a few great looking vegetarian recipes yesterday and today. Can't wait to make these healthy-style. Small portions, of course!





I'd have to cut down the amount of butter and flour on this last one by halving or quartering the recipe, and cut the parm on top.

Speaking of "Hungry Girl"

And i don't mean myself, though i have been really craving something in the cake realm. I might give in since I've been craving it for a few days and I have the "points." A small portion of something just to move past it already.

However, when I say speaking of "Hungry Girl" (from my last post), I thought I'd share that she and her brand just got a new TV show on the Cooking Channel. Can't say I'm familiar with the cooking channel, but I'm down for shows talking about healthier ways to eat!


Sunday, January 9, 2011

"Hungry Girl" Brunch

Alex and I are both finding this new Weight Watchers Points Plus to be so much easier with a band! It's just putting the daily food guidelines we needed into place. And I love that he's doing this with me now.

This morning, I made this really healthy brunch but problem is I chose three foods I get stuck on! Just because they are my traditional notion of brunch. I made Hungry Girl's mini banana pancakes with soy bacon and scrambled egg whites. I just got a bunch of healthy cookbooks from the library, and those banana pancakes really appealed.

The pancakes were decent but could only get down half of them. My only problem with the Hungry Girl recipes is all the fake foods used as ingredients and all the fake sugar.

Also just got Rocco Dispirito's cookbook Now Eat This! from the library. I'm not a big fan of his (which is completely reinforced by his photos in the book) but the cookbook itself is good. It seems as though the book's name was shortened from the catch phrase used inside a lot "Now You Can Eat This!" which really fits better. Basically, he took his favorite comfort foods and made them healthy. All 350 calories or less, or something like that. I see a few recipes I want to try, but there are tons of good meat ones for Alex that he's into. I'll post when we end up making some of those recipes.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Woot! Lost 3 pounds this week!

Very happy to report that I lost 3 pounds this week. Oh happy day!

And oh happy day because it's the weekend, and i can just forget about all my work week stressors for a couple of days.

Alex and I are off to walk the lake and take the dogs to the dog park where they are surprisingly good off-leash in this particular protected area. Tons of dogs there. Cali gets a bit nervous but JJ just LOVES it!

And i'm in my new workout wear, so I feel good about that. More on my new workout wear shopping excursion later...

Friday, January 7, 2011

My Bitchy Twin

I've had this running joke with a few friends about our bitchy twins. That cranky side of me that comes out ever so often. and than even more often other times.

I had someone nickname me Heather Locklear once - just a play on my name - and that nickname transformed into Heather Lochnessmonster. Just one of those play on word things, not an insult. But i've kind of come to own Heather Lochnessmonster and find it highly amusing. It's quite apropos for my bitchy evil twin.

Lots of stressful changes have been happening at work that I'm very unhappy about it I'm honest, and so I was thinking today that it would be a nice vent to just write *&**!x* as my Facebook update. Of course, I can't say ANY of my friends would appreciate that and certainly not coworkers. Maybe I should just create a special Heather Lochnessmonster twitter account just to be bitchy freely when i want.

Of course, i'm joking, but obviously, based on the state of the internet these days. I guess a lot of people out there actually do this!

P.S. The before pic in my right column is what my bitchy twin looks like! ha!

Double P.S. Despite blahs and bitchies and lochnessmonsters, I'm still totally on track food wise and even exercised this week. Shocking i know.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Super Funk

Maybe I'm just having a bad today, but I'm really hating working from home today. I feel bored and depressed and blah and ready for a major change.

It could be other factors, like that it's overcast and post-Christmas, and I have a new boss and am not working on my favorite project anymore. The deal with that project change is that most of my travel was tied to that project. And that travel is what made my job interesting. Got me out of the house, let me work more with customers etc. So without that, I'm just stuck at home. I'll still go to NYC for work, but some of the other trips will be greatly reduced. At least until next year. Then another project would be picking up travel wise.

I was so into working from home when Alex was home with me. I didn't really get at the time that that was why I liked it so much. I took it for granted.

And today, I'm blah, which is bad for healthy eating. But so far, i'm holding out. Not doing too bad. I did have the thought though "why am i doing this again"? As in Weight Watchers. Why do i need to lose weight? But i also had a decent answer for myself.


Monday, January 3, 2011

Thank goodness for the band

So i'm on day 2 of Weight Watchers and was surprised after just a single serving of thai lime rice and thai coconut soup (1/2 can) for lunch that I was still hungry. i really thought i wouldnt be with the band this tight and all. I had the other half of the can and the rest of the rice and I'm good now. And while it's more points than i'd prefer, i'm still totally on track. Hence the title of this blog post. Not sure I'd be okay with this day so far without the band. Usually on WW, I'm STARVING the first few days until I get used to it.

Though i'm quite susceptible to suggestion today. For example, after looking at a picture of a cupcake, I want a cupcake now. Surprise surprise!

However, after looking at a Whole Foods blog post on grains, I don't actually want grains now. Funny how that works!

Unlike my usual self, I wont just indulge in whatever comes to mind though.

I just heard a McDonald's commercial talking about their fancy chocolate coffees. And it was playing on that idea of subliminal suggestion. Ooh don't you want it, do you want CHOCOLAAATEEE the male announcer kept cutting in. Then they say it's on sale. For whatever reason, I didn't actually want one, but I thought how *mean* for all those people trying to be good on their diets. I guess McDonald's has a very serious vested interest in getting people to break those diets right away, huh?

I wasn't tempted by the chocolate though and I've been good today. Instead of my fancy coffee this morning, i got a small plain decaf coffee and added a mini "snack"-sized glucerna protein shake too it for my breakfast.

This cold I've been fighting is really hanging in there. I'm super loopy today. What I really want is a nap, but since I had a dr's appt this morning, i didn't want to call in sick this afternoon, so i need to hold out for 2 more hours. I'm reporting to a different boss as of today so I need to be on the ball!

As for that morning dr's appt, I went to see the OBGyn about getting pregnant and since we've been trying for 9-12 months with no luck they are going to run a bunch of tests. Looks like the tests might be drawn out over the next 2 months though as they have to be performed on certain days of my cycle, and I'll be out of town for a week. Fingers crossed!




Wow, WW has changed!

So before joining WW yesterday, I didn't think I'd had that bad of a day foodwise. I did have a bad breakfast but it was small -- I also had a few fritos in my veg chili and some tootsie rolls.

So I knew I wasn't perfect, but i thought it wasn't thaaaat bad.

Well, I was wrong!

Especially with Weight Watcher's new points plus program. You get more points to start with, but what shocked me is that they dont at all consider calories anymore! HUH!?!

It's a more complex calculation of fat, protein (yay, that's new), carbs and fiber. Very very interesting.

So my can of Whole Foods veggie chili that i thought was GREAT, especially with fresh spinach and onions in it, isn't really. (Not even including the few fritos i threw in). That can was just a bit less than half of what I can eat for the whole day! Of course, that's also a portion size issue. I should be eating half a can. Then it's about appropriate. I do get stuffed on a full can and that's with chili being a bit of a slider food, so half is fine i'm sure. It's just a matter of not letting myself sit down with a full bowl.

And that breakfast I thought wasn't so bad...really was. Those two things for the day and i was just about done points wise. So yesterday's exercise in food tracking made things clear -- they are making major efforts to push low fat and healthier food choices. Not just getting by with not-as-good-for-you low-calorie choices.

I'm excited about this, and it's been a while since I felt that way!


Sunday, January 2, 2011

Weight Watchers (Post 2 today)


As one of my methods for losing the weight i want to, I just joined Weight Watchers. I googled "promo code" for Weight Watchers Monthly Pass and found 25% off. Pretty good deal as you get a reduced weekly payment, no sign up fee, free online tools and then $10 off.

Anyone else out there a bandster and a weight watchers member?

Needless to say I'm sure I was influenced by the number of times I've seen the Jennifer Hudson WW commercials. But what can I say, she looks good! And some glossy weight watchers mailing even found me at my new address. They're stalking me!

I've done Weight Watchers lots of times, and it definitely works (as does the band) but as is the case with both, you have to work the program!

So here I am once again a WW member. I'm thinking WW will be much easier with the band however. I definitely get fuller faster these days.

And I'm curious to hear the changes to their new program. I know that all fruit and almost all veg are 0 points now. I remember asking a weight loss leader once about the points for veg in my salad, and he was like, really, eat what you want for salad. No one ever got fat on vegetables. Now dressing is another story...

Wish me luck!




Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's to everyone out there in blogland. Despite not having posted tons lately, I do still read all of the band blogs for inspiration and to keep up with what everyone is up to.

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has weight loss as a new year's resolution. Though I don't really like to think of it that way -- as temporary as a resolution can sometimes be. I've been thinking for a while now of a fresh approach to healthy eating as Alex and I have been trying to get pregnant. No luck yet but a lower weight will help I'm sure. I also have an appt with an OB on Monday.

I also think it'll be easier to eat healthy during pregnancy if it's not a new thing, so I'm wanting to start now.

My short-term goal is to lose a few before my next trip to New York for work. I'll be presenting and I've gained a few pounds since I was last in New York so that's a good goal. Plus I need my clothes to fit!

I'll be sure and update on how my efforts go. I have 2 weeks until I go to New York...

Then perhaps I should make dressing up for Valentines my next weight loss goal. Alex has promised to take me out to a super fancy restaurant here for a fun Valentine's date.

Post wedding I started putting less emphasis on weight loss goals (short term ones), and I definitely need to get back to that!