Checking in …

So it has been a couple of months since I posted anything…. right before summer break started in fact! Well, this summer is not going the way I planned or imagined it … my husband came home from working overseas (YEAH!!!) but he had to temporarily work in Tampa (sort of YEAH!!!) … so the kiddos and I joined him in Tampa on June 25th…. and looks like we will be here for about a month.

I can’t complain too much, because it has been a lot of fun! We had never been to Tampa so we have been able to explore down here. Plus, we are one hour from Disney World, so we have gone there several times.

The bad part is that I have been STRUGGLING with my Weight Watchers! We are staying in a suite type hotel room, but have a tiny fridge. For cooking I have a toaster oven and microwave, so eating healthy has been a challenge. Not to mention yummy breakfast every morning and a manager’s reception with snacks and drinks every night. Throw in eating out a few times and all the food/treats at Disney, and well, I have gained 4 pounds these last three weeks.

I am trying my hardest but it is a mental struggle for sure, and I am losing. I am looking forward to getting back home and getting back into a routine! But for now, I just go meal by meal and try the best I can.

Foodie Friday

Today’s blog is a yummy dinner I made the other night! It is all simply filling and was delicious!

-fresh corn on the cob (boiled on stove and added spray butter and salt)

-pan sautéed yellow squash, zucchini squash and mushrooms (used 2 tsp EVOO to cook it in)

-chicken burgers (ground chicken breast mixed with minced mushrooms and italian seasoning) added a slice of fat-free cheese, a tomato slice and red onion slices. It is on a light hamburger bun.

It was delicious and both kiddos gobbled it up too!

 

Checking in

I know that I post my weight each week up above on the ‘Weight’  tab but not sure if anyone looks there. It really is more for me, having a place to be accountable and to go look at when I need to remember where I started this journey. This Friday will be my 18th weigh in! Crazy! As of last week, my 17th weigh in, I have lost 20.2 pounds. That is an average loss of 1.2 pounds a week.

This is the longest I have stuck with actually following Weight Watchers in a long time! I think the last time I lost this much was back in 2010! The hardest part for me is mentally staying in the game… I have the tools (Weight Watchers meetings, gym, access to healthy foods, the knowledge, friends/family support)… the reason I usually fail is “ME”.

I do a lot of self talking now … if you could only hear what is going on inside my head, you’d think I was crazy. LOL I try really hard not to talk down to myself when I don’t make a great choice. I also try really hard to praise myself when I do! It is a day-to-day (ok honestly, an hour to hour) struggle for me. But the key difference for me has been not giving up after a bad hour/day/week…. case it point, my 5.2 gain a couple of weeks ago! In the past, that would have spiraled down into a month-long binge…. not this time though. I faced the scale, accepted it and learned from it.

Anyway, it had been a while since I posted just some rambling thoughts … my brain needed to purge a bit! I have a couple of things I want to really focus on the next few weeks, so I thought I’d list them here:

1) Really commit to Simply Filling! Whole, filling, power foods mostly! Fruits/veggies, lean proteins….

2) Amp up my activity … even if it is not specifically gym time, I want to make sure I am moving more day-to-day. I wear my activity monitor daily and want to hit my goals it has set!

Summer vacation starts in 1 1/2 weeks for my kiddos, so we will have lots of time to get moving and have an awesome summer!!!!

Foodie Friday!

Today’s post is all about LUNCH! This was super yummy, super easy and perfect on a hot day! I made tuna salad using a can of tuna, a hard-boiled egg, some light Hellman’s Mayo and some light Miracle Whip. Added garlic also.

Sliced a super yummy tomato into thick slices and put the tuna on top of them.

Then made a salad with my go to items… mixed greens, roasted red peppers, fat-free shredded cheese, zesty italian dressing and 2 teaspoons EVOO.

Also had two slices of WhiteWheat bread on the side.

Delicious, fast and easy!!!! All Simply Filling on the Weight Watchers plan too  (except for the mayo and Miracle Whip… 2 PPV for that unless you use fat free stuff) 🙂

Foodie Friday!

Today’s Foodie Friday is a yummy dinner I made! I started following the Weight Watchers Simply Filling plan last Friday and I absolutely love it! I was hesitant for a long time to try it because I was pretty much unsure I could decide when I was full… after all, isn’t that what got me where I was?! But after having a bad week the week before, I decided to give it a go and see if it would get me back in the groove… it did! I felt free not having to measure everything! And since I pretty much eat mostly Power Foods anyway, it was not that hard to transition.

Anyway, I searched on Pinterest for Simply Filling recipes and found this one!

I just used the potatoes I had on hand (gold potatoes) and used my own herbs (parsley, basil and oregano) but did everything else the same…. and oh my goodness they were SO GOOD! I make oven potatoes a lot (never make frozen french fries… blech!) and this gave us something a little different! Definitely making them again!

To go along with it, I had a pound of 93% lean ground beef to use … I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do with it, but then I decided to make my own cabbage rolls casserole! I had seen recipes for it floating around, but I just did my own thing.

I browned the beef until cooked and then added:

– 1/2 bag green cabbage shreds

– 1 can tomato sauce

– 1/2 onion, diced (next time I will food process this smaller since Sammie did not like the pieces of it)

– leftover brown rice (approximately 1 1/2 cups)

– 1/2 cup chopped up roasted red peppers

– salt

I mixed it altogether, placed it in a 13×9 baking dish and baked about 15 minutes at 450 (only because that is what my oven was on for the potatoes— you could adjust this if you wanted to).

It was DELICIOUS!!! Alex gobbled it up… Sammie complained about the onion pieces but at some of it.

PS This is a small serving plate… not dinner sized! It truly does make me feel like I am eating a lot 🙂 Such a great tip I got from a fellow WWer!!!

Foodie Friday!

For lunches I eat a lot of wraps… they are yummy, healthy and can be stuffed with pretty much anything! Here are a couple of examples of wraps I make…

This is a Flat Out Light original wrap, Hormel Natural Choice turkey, spinach, already cooked bacon and Laughing Cow light swiss cheese spread. Spread the cheese on the wrap, layer everything else, roll up and cut in half! I had it with a sliced apple, broccoli, carrots and roasted red pepper hummus. Delicious!!!

This wrap was an egg salad wrap! 1 hard-boiled egg, 3 hard-boiled egg whites, light Hellmans (1 tbsp), light Miracle Whip (2 tbsp) and mustard. Had tomatoes and leaf lettuce as well as a wrap with a Flat Out light original.

 

 

 

Weight Watchers Active Link

So if you read my blog, you know I am on a healthy lifestyle journey and I do this by following the Weight Watchers program! It works for me and is successful (when I follow it of course!). Well, they have their own activity monitor that calculates your activity points for you based on your day’s activity. I decided to get one and use it because I felt like I was really overestimating my daily activity (not just gym time, but movement throughout the day).

So when you first get this monitor, you do a 7 day assessment. Your daily base line of activity is calculated by age/height/weight/gender and the assessment takes a look at what you typically do during a week. After the assessment it creates a 12 week challenge for you. It also gives you a ‘title’ for what you are, based on your assessment.

It was pretty spot on for me! My results are below…

This is me to a “T”! I am good about going to the gym but my day-to-day life is not very active … so I get to work on this for the next 12 weeks and aim to meet my base line and then slowly build up to earning 4 activity points a day by the end of the challenge! This is exactly what I need and will be a good motivator for me for the summer months!!!

Active Link is available to Weight Watchers members only and you need to be an e-tools or Online member to use it. There is a $5 per month charge also. For more information, go here.

Foodie Friday!

Today is all about oatmeal! I am trying to get away from eating the prepackaged oatmeals and to start eating plain quick oats with my own (healthier) add ins!

This week I had it twice! I do 1/2 cup plain quick oats, 1 cup skim milk and microwave it for about 2 minutes. Using milk makes is super creamy to start with!

Then I added in strawberries and a banana one day and 2 servings PB2 and a banana the other day. Both were delicious and filling! Here are photos!

Leave me a comment with new ideas of what to mix in my oatmeal!!!

Bountiful Basket!

I had a friend tell me about this wonderful co-op called Bountiful Baskets! It is AMAZING! Every two weeks you can sign up for a contribution and then you go pick up on Saturday and come home with some WONDERFUL produce! I have done it twice now and it is awesome 🙂

Here is this week’s basket and the photo below it was the basket I got the first time (about a month ago). Everything was amazing too! Fresh, yummy and we gobbled it all up!

Here is their website… they are all over the country, so even if you are not local to me, check and see if there is one near you!

And here is a link to information for first time participants!

Foodie Friday!

So this week, I am featuring what I eat for dinner every Monday night! In our house, Monday is ‘taco night’… well, I don’t want or need the tortillas, so I simplified mine into a taco salad! It is yummy and filling and I always look forward to it! My kiddos eat their tacos and are happy, too, so it is a win-win situation.

On my taco salad is lots of yummy stuff!

-A base of shredded lettuce.
-2 teaspoons EVOO
-Fat Free refried beans (usually 4-5 ounces)
-taco meat (usually 3-4 ounces… I make it with 97% lean beef)
-one serving Reduced Fat shredded cheddar cheese
-mild salsa
-light sour cream
-fresh mashed avocado

It typically ranges around 15 PPV, which is normal for dinner for me (I get 47 PPV a day right now… as I lose weight/lose points, I will still eat the same things, just adjust how much of it I eat)