McD's Iced Coffee

We went to a harvest party at my grandpa's retirement center yesterday and it got over after 5 pm.  The kids needed to eat and the last thing I wanted to do when we got home was think about what to cook for dinner.  So, we went through the drive-thru at McDonald's for the old chicken nugget and french fry stand by.  There is not anything on the McD's menu that I want to waste points on, so I decided to wait until we got home and eat a Lean Cuisine.  But then I saw it, a Sugar Free Vanilla flavor for the Iced Coffee.  I immediately started craving coffee and while I still knew it would be a lot of points, that was something worth spending them on.  Lisa, my WW leader always says "don't drink your points because it will not satisfy you like eating them", but when you're a busy mom with three little kids, sometimes drinking them is all there is time for.  So, I decided on a medium size iced coffee.  I figured it would do less damage than a large.  It was so yummy and so creamy that I knew I was in big trouble.  Once we got home and I got the kids set up at the table eating, I looked up the nutrition facts for McDonald's.  YAY!!!  A medium sized sugar free vanilla iced coffee is only 2 points.  And a large, only 3 points.  I was in McDonald's heaven (if there is such a place).  I really lucked out this time, but I better be careful because next time, I might not be so lucky.

Red Lobster for Dinner Tonight... YUMMY!

My in-laws invited us to Red Lobster tonight for dinner.  My husband loves "All You Can Eat Shrimp" and it's going on right now.  I've been to Red Lobster many times while on WW, but I've had a hard time remembering what I usually get (pregnancy has warped my memory).  So, I was able to find the restaurant's LightHouse Menu on the internet and I now know exactly what I will be eating and how many points it will cost me.  

• Garlic-Grilled Jumbo Shrimp 3 points
• Wild Rice Pilaf 4 points
• Side Salad w/ red wine vinaigrette 2 points
• Seasoned Broccoli 0 points

The cheddar bay biscuits are a whopping 4 points a piece, so I will not be enjoying any of those.  I can abstain, I've done it before. 

So, my meal will be 9 points, which is exactly how many I have left for the day.  And when I get home, after putting the kids to bed, I will do my 20 minute Windsor Pilates routine.  That will give me one activity point which is just enough for a 100 calorie bag of kettle corn to snack on while watching Private Practice.  It feels so good to plan in advance.

Visions of a Bacon Cheeseburger

I don't know what the deal is, but today I've been really craving a big juicy bacon cheeseburger and french fries.  So, just to wet my taste buds even more, I decided to torture myself and google some pictures.  I'm glad I did because the first picture I came across looked quite delicious, but all the other pictures looked disgusting.  

This is the first picture I saw...  YUMMY!

But all the rest...  YUCKY!

I am happy to say...

I AM NO LONGER CRAVING A BACON CHEESEBURGER!!!

Week #4 / 221.2 lbs

Another Saturday, another early morning meeting.  I lost 4.6 lbs this week.  Yay me!  I realized something as I was sitting in the meeting this morning.  Weight Watchers meetings are kinda like Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.  No, I've never been to an AA meeting, but from what I hear from other people or see on tv (not that you can really take tv for real life), it's a lot like the meetings I go to.

Today we talked about what triggers overeating or mindless snacking.  Other than boredom,  it was mostly emotional reasons (stress, anxiety, depression, guilt, sadness, hurt, loneliness, etc.).  I don't know if I can actually say that at one time I was an alcoholic, but I sure can remember drinking to cope with all of those feelings.  And today, I realize that I eat to cope with those same feelings.  At one point during the meeting, everyone got a chance to say what makes them want to eat and if they give in, or if they have ways of distracting themselves.  After each persons turn, everyone clapped...  much like an AA meeting.  And at the end, everyone went around and said how much weight they'd lost to date (-18 for me), and again, everyone clapped.

  

The topic of addictions comes up pretty often in my everyday life.  After much consideration (and other's may disagree), I've come to the conclusion that an addiction is an addiction, weather it be alcohol, cigarettes, food, gambling, shopping or drugs, to list a few.  And all addictions most likely stem from the same emotional reasons.  There are some people at my meeting who have been going to meetings for over 5 years.  They reached their goals years ago, but they recognize their addiction and know that if they don't want to gain weight (fall off the wagon), they need to stay accountable to someone and the meetings provide that outlet (again, much like AA).  

All addictions are harmful to ones self and if you really think about it, all addictions are also harmful to others.  

• Smoking around other people = other people getting sick from second hand smoke
  
• Drinking alcohol = altered state of mind, causing irrationalism, impaired reflexes, and emotional numbness / all harm other's in one way or another (irrational fighting, drunk driving, spending money that's not there to get your fix, etc.)
• Drugs = pretty much the same as alcohol
• Shopping = spending money that you don't really have (hurts the whole family)
• Gambling = again, spending money (hurts the whole family)
• Eating = spending money on food, getting fat so people are embarrassed to be around you (shallow, but ultimately true)

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if I expect alcoholics, drug addicts and compulsive gamblers to go to meetings for the rest of their lives to stay clean, then I have to be willing to do the same.  How is it fair that I can cheat when I feel like it, but that an alcoholic or drug addict can't cheat whenever they feel like it?  It's not fair.  

I commit to not cheating.  By not cheating, I will feel better about myself weight wise, health wise and just by knowing that I can follow through with something.  

Butternut Squash Soup

I made some butternut squash soup the other day with some of the squash I loaded up on at the pumpkin patch.  It was so good I wanted to eat the whole pot.  Here's the recipe.   

Ingredients :

• medium size (25 to 30 oz) butternut squash, cubed
• 1/2 medium size onion, chopped
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 3 cans fat free vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1+ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg

Add all ingredients to crock pot (slow cooker) and cook on low 8 to 10 hours or on high 3 to 5 hours.  When squash is soft, put all in blender and puree.  

1 cup is just 1 point or 1/2 cup is zero points.  

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I am addicted to Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte...  or really anything pumpkin right now.  I can't afford to get an expensive latte every day, so I looked online and found recipes I can make at home.  Now the espresso machine the kids gave me for Christmas will get some use.

Pumpkin Spice Latte :

Ingredients ~

• 3 tbsp canned pumpkin
• 2 tbsp sugar free vanilla syrup
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 c nonfat milk
• 2 shots espresso or 3 oz super strong coffee

Pumpkin Pie Latte :

Ingredients ~

• 2 tbsp sugar free pumpkin pie syrup
• 1 tbsp sugar free vanilla syrup
• 1 c nonfat milk
• 2 shots espresso or 3 oz super strong coffee
• sprinkle of nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice

***If you don't have an espresso maker or frothing wand, the milk, pumpkin, vanilla syrup and spice can be heated on the stove in a small saucepan until foam appears.***

I've tried both of them and I like the second one the best.  They are both only 2 points.  For some stupid reason that I really can't explain, they taste better out of a cardboard cup with a lid too.  I know, all in my head.

Winning Outcomes

Yesterday at my WW meeting, Lisa (my leader) handed out a sheet for us to fill out.  There are 11 weeks until the new year.  We had to make our own personal goal to accomplish by then.  This is mine.

Week #3 / 225.8

I got up early again yesterday morning to go weigh in at 6:15.  I didn't want to go that early because Bo and Ty had kept me up much of the night, but I had the "Biggest Loser" trophy that I had to return.  Anyway, I was only down 2.6 lbs, but at least it's a loss and not a gain.  I don't know why I was expecting more...  my scale at home said the same thing.  I guess after my big 10.8 lb loss the week before, I was hoping for another fantastic week.  

It turns out, it was a good thing that I got up so early because I was able to go grocery shopping right after the meeting and still get home before anyone was up.  We had plans to spend the day pumpkin patch hopping, so I'm glad I got everything taken care of in the morning.  Spending the day away from home made it hard to follow plan.  I did pack healthy snacks and water bottles and brought along my tracker and eating out guide though.  So, for the most part, i was able to stick to it.  

Dinner time was a little harder though.  We went to Chang's Mongolian Grill (a stir-fry wok bar) and I indulged a little.  I was tired and hungry and for the life of me couldn't think of anything healthy I could eat there, so I just thought 'forget it' and ate my normal plate.  Chicken, shrimp, onions, noodles and lots of ginger sauce and sesame oil.  It wasn't until I was almost done with my plate that I realized I could have just had a big plate of stir-fried veggies with no oil and it would have satisfied and filled me up.  Going out to eat and trying to make decisions while overcome with tiredness and hunger is not a good idea.  

I still had 18 points left for dinner and my extra weekly 35.  I didn't bother to add up all the points for what I ate, but now that I'm thinking about it, I think I will right now so I can be aware of how many points I actually ate.  

Soba Noodles (2-3 cups) : 6

Chicken (1 cup) : 8

Shrimp (2 cups) : 4

Sesame Oil (3 tbsp) : 12

Ginger Sauce (3 tbsp) : 3

Onion (1 cup) : 0

Hot & Sour Soup (1 cup) : 2

Total points for dinner : 35

So, it's pretty bad, but it didn't use all my extra points for the week.  I still have 17 left.  Honestly though, I usually never even touch my extra 35.  But I guess that's what they're here for.  Oh, but I did have 1 cup of Baskin & Robbins peppermint ice-cream at 14 points a cup, so I only have 4 extra points left for the week.  

I think that having an extra 35 points a week is crap.  It just makes you want to overeat knowing that they are there.  

NO MORE EXTRA 35 POINTS!  THEY DO NOT EXIST!

Vitatops

I was going to mention this in my last post but I forgot.  I ordered a box of Vitatops and received them in the mail yesterday.  My combination box consisted of Triple Chocolate Chunk, Golden Corn & Appleberry.  I haven't tried the Golden Corn yet, but the chocolate and berry are sooooo delicious.  They are filling and only 2 points a piece.  HungryGirl (a newsletter I get delivered to my email daily) has always raved about them, so I finally broke down and bought some.  I'm glad I did.  My family loves corn bread muffins so I make them all the time (pretty much every night for dinner). I never get to eat any though because for one little muffin it's 6 points.  I am very excited to have my own corn bread muffin tops to eat now.  Also, the chocolate muffin tops are way better than the diet coke brownies and are bigger too, so more worth the 2 points.  

Diet Coke Brownies

I keep seeing recipes for Diet Coke Brownies in random places, so last night I thought I'd try them.  I guess the whole point is to make the brownies low points and WW worthy. 

The recipe:

• 1 box of brownie mix
• 1 can of diet coke

Then follow the cooking directions on the brownie box.

Results:   

I probably should have used a little less diet coke.  They were very wet even after being cooked.  I kept putting them in the oven longer thinking they would dry out, but then the edges burned, so that was a bad idea.  I also should have put them in the fridge and let them get completely cold before I tried to cut them because even luke warm, they crumbled.  Also, I can totally taste the coke in them.  I cut them into 20 brownies which made the points value 2.  I am eating one right now and they are filling and do satisfy that chocolate craving I have all too often.  

I did a google search and read a bunch of message boards about the diet soda brownies and cakes.  Other people said that their family members didn't even notice.  Jeff took one bite and said "yuck", so I find that hard to believe.  That's fine though.  All the more for me.  I put each one in a snack size baggy and put them in the freezer so when I do have a chocolate craving, I'll be ready.  

I think next time I will try things a little differently though.  I will probably use Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper.  And I will use maybe 10 oz instead of the whole can.  I may add a couple egg whites as well to help it cook better (wont change the points value).  

Back Down!

Yay, that salty Chinese food must not have made me retain too much water because I'm back down today.  Honestly, I felt much better and slept much better last night after eating on plan yesterday.  I even went to Baskin & Robbin for Jeff last night and resisted temptation.  My addiction right now though, 100 calorie packs of chocolate covered pretzels.  I had 6 points leftover by the end of the day and ate 3 packs.  Jeff said that I really have an eating disorder.  He said that even though I'm eating foods on plan, I'm still eating and thinking about food all the time.  He's right.  And things I hear from other people at the WW meetings makes me think I'm not the only one that dwells on it.  Does that ever go away, or will I forever be a prisoner to food?

Chinese Food?

My family wants Chinese food for dinner tonight.  Rather than eat something completely different (which is what I usually do), I'm going to join them and attempt to eat only things on plan.  The plan is to eat only the following:

• Broccoli Chicken, 1 cup for 2 points
• Shrimp Foo Young, 1 patty for 4 points (or only 2 points for 1/2 a patty)
• Egg Flower Soup, 1 cup for 1 point

This is the plan.  This is my 7 point dinner.  This sounds very yummy and I better leave to go pick it up.  I'll write again after dinner and we'll see if I was able to stick to the plan.  (fingers crossed)

After Dinner

This is what I actually had for dinner:

• 2 1/2 cups of Broccoli Chicken - 5 points
• 1/2 patty of Shrimp Foo Young - 2 points
• 1 cup egg flower soup - 1 point
• 1 cup nonfat milk - 2 points

Total points for dinner:  10*

*Food was way too good.  I have a hard time believing the points are right.  I got the point values from the WW Dining Out Companion.  I don't feel overly stuffed though like I usually do after Chinese food.  I feel satisfied.  Food was very salty though which can't be a good thing.

I'm In Trouble

Today is not a weigh in day, but there are some things I need to talk about.  

First of all, it's not going to work out having a free day.  While I didn't gain any weight after that free day (Saturday), I didn't feel good Sunday.  I felt like I wasted a whole day eating and not losing.  If I had followed my WW plan on Saturday, I could have dropped a pound or two instead of staying the same.  

NO MORE FREE DAYS!

Secondly, I think having that free day and not gaining anything, put the idea in my head that any other day I didn't feel like following plan, I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain anything. 

 BIG MISTAKE!

Yesterday I was really stressed out.  I forgot to eat most of the day, so when dinnertime rolled around, I was starving.  I decided that pizza was the only thing that would make me happy and since I ate whatever I wanted on Saturday and didn't gain anything, I could have pizza tonight and start again tomorrow.  So I ordered two large pizza's (buy one get one free) and proceeded to eat half a pizza.  

This morning, the scale didn't like me.  It didn't bother reminding me that I had lost 2 lbs over Sunday and Monday.  It only showed me that I failed.  I weighed 230 lbs this morning.  So, not only did I gain back the 2 lbs I had just lost, but I weighed more than I did at my meeting on Saturday.  Now I'm going to have to be extra careful about what goes in my mouth today, tomorrow and Friday, so that I can show a loss on Saturday.  

My husband Jeff came home from work last night pretty late, after the pizza eating was over.  He was sitting on the couch holding Baby Bo, looked down at him and said, "I guess Mommy doesn't want to keep that trophy for another week".  That hit hard.  He was right.  Here I was sabotaging my whole week because I wanted pizza.  Lesson learned!  I may not bring that trophy home again this Saturday, but it will be here again.  

Week #2 / 228.4

Made it to the 6:15 am meeting again.  This week I lost 10.8 lbs.   I am also proud to say that I was the biggest loser this week and I got to bring home the trophy.  It is really a silly looking trophy (I'll take a picture of it before I take it back next week).  I'm sure it's all baby weight though since it usually takes a while to lose all the extra weight one puts on during pregnancy.  But, it's all weight the same, so I'm glad it's gone.  I'm thinking about having a free day though.  There are so many things I've been craving this week (like peanut butter) that I need to indulge in.  So, since I weigh in every Saturday morning, I think I'll try it out today and see how it goes, before making it a permanent occasion.  

Starting Weight / 239.2

Today was my first WW meeting.  I got up early enough to feed the baby, get us both dressed and make it to the 6:15 am meeting.  I chose this meeting because it is the least crowded so if for some reason my baby is a distraction, there aren't too many people to distract.  My starting weight is 239.2 lbs.  I did just have a baby a week ago though, so cut me some slack.  However, embarrassing enough as it is to say, I weighed more than this when I was 23 at my brother's wedding.  Yikes!  I am excited to get started.  In fact, starting this morning, I switched to a grande non-fat no whip pumpkin spice latte which only has a point value of 5 as opposed to a point value of 9.  And it's got two servings of milk which I need since I'm nursing.  I don't know how much longer I'll be able to afford them though with this financial crisis the country is in.  We'll see.