Yummy Dinner!!!

I'm not usually super excited about dinner, but last night I did all the prep work for tonight's meal.  All I have to do when I get home is roast the asparagus!  The entire meal is only going to cost me 12 points AND I get to use butter and real sour cream!  YUMMY!

All points are calculated in the old WW Points System, NOT Points Plus.

Crockpot Flank Steak
Large Cut Flank Steak
1 packet Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Dip Mix
1 can College Inn 99% Fat Free Beef Broth

Place steak in Crockpot.  Pour broth around meat.  Spread dip mix on top of meat.  Cover and cook on Low for 6 - 10 hours. 
SERVING SIZE: 4 OZ. 
POINTS: 4
 
Baked Potato
1 medium potato (2.25" - 3.25" diameter)
Garlic Salt
Foil
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Scrub potato under cool water to remove dirt.  Sprinkle garlic salt onto foil.  Place potato on foil.  Sprinkle garlic salt on potato.  Roll potato inside foil and poke 3 holes in top.  Put in oven and bake up to 1 hour.  Unwrap and top with butter and sour cream. 
SERVING SIZE: 1 POTATO 
POINTS: W/O BUTTER/SOUR CREAM: 2
               W BUTTER/SOUR CREAM: 4

Pan-Roasted Asparagus
10 asparagus spears
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Heat EVOO and garlic in pan over medium-high heat.  Add asparagus.  Cook 10 - 15 minutes until bright green and fork tender.  Remove from pan and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 
SERVING SIZE: 10 SPEARS 

POINTS: 1

Week 2 - Official Weigh In

Today marks the start of Week 2 of my journey.  Knowing it was a weigh-in day made me wake up miserable.  I barely survived this weekend, hitting a huge stumbling block when we went out to lunch on Saturday afternoon.

We decided to go to Applebee’s because they have the Under 550 Calories meals.  Once we got there, however, we were tempted by (and gave in to) what is so horrifically known as the...

Appetizer Devil

Grrr.  I hate him. 

We ended up getting boneless wings and spinach and artichoke dip from their Ultimate Trios menu.  Appetizers alone cost me 27 of my 34 daily points!  Then, to humor ourselves, we ordered steaks from the 550 Calories menu, which was another 10 points.  Goodbye, my beautiful little points...

I do have to say, however, that although I may have stumbled at lunch on Saturday, I made healthy choices for the rest of the weekend.  Yay, me!!  I ate all my points and while I was tempted to snack I managed to stay away from unhealthy foods.  Score!

Yesterday was Rob’s birthday.  We had L&M cupcakes in celebration, because everybody deserves cake on their birthday.  Fortunately we still managed to have a healthy dinner.  I made Crockpot Salsa Chicken (recipe below) and served it on 1 point tortillas. I was pressed for time, so I used a Smart Ones Santa Fe Rice and Beans as a side dish.

Thankfully my hard work paid off.  This morning when I stepped on the scale I weighed 274 pounds.  That’s a total loss this week of 8 pounds!!  I exceeded my weight loss goal by 3 pounds!!  WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

This week's weight loss goal: 5 lbs.

:o)
Becca

Crockpot Salsa Chicken
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar salsa (any brand)
1 large green pepper, sliced
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
8 oz. cream cheese (any brand)
salt & pepper
chili powder (optional)

Pour half the salsa into the Crockpot.  Lay all onions and peppers on salsa.  Sprinkle with S&P and chili powder.  Lay chicken breasts on top of peppers and onions.  Sprinkle with S&P and chili powder.  Pour remaining salsa over chicken.  Cover and cook on Low as long as you need (I cook this while I'm at work all day).  Prior to serving, pull chicken apart with 2 forks.  Add 8 oz. of cream cheese, turn Crockpot on High and cover for 5 minutes.  Stir the melted cream cheese into the rest of the ingredients and serve on tortillas or over rice.  Yummy!

Hey, you! Yes, you! Give me your recipes!

Today has me feeling a wee bit apprehensive as we travel into the first weekend of this journey. I don’t usually struggle to stay on track during the week because I am at work and I only eat what I bring from home. Even before getting back on track it was very rare that I bought a snack from one of the vending machines. However, when I’m at home and I’m bored I tend to snack. A lot. No, I mean A LOT. I could definitely eat a half bag of tortilla chips and an entire jar of salsa myself... and then eat ice cream... and then eat Oreos... Mmm, Oreos... ANYWAY... Rob and I just went to the grocery store and bought tons of healthy foods, including snacks and fruits and veggies. For some reason, though, I just keep picturing myself having a breakdown and eating an entire box of 100-calorie packs.

My goal for this weekend is to keep myself busy. The weather is supposed to be beautiful and with the cold that we’ve been having I’m looking forward to getting out of the house for a while.  We have lots of other things to do around the house, so I won’t be bored. It may just be a matter of finding the motivation to do it all. I am most excited about my shopping date with my good friend on Sunday! Hello, new jeans!

I want to try cooking some meals on Sunday for the week. Does anybody else do that? I’ve heard lots of people talk about it, but I’ve never done it. Are you supposed to freeze the food or just store it until you eat it? My meals will be for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only, so I can probably just keep them in the fridge, right? I usually get my recipes online. This website gives you nutritional information for each recipe! Does anybody have any good recipes for me? Share below in the comments!

:o)
Becca

Day 2 - Official Weigh In

I consider my weigh-ins tiny battles in a waging war with myself.  Last night I won the first battle.  I stepped begrudgingly onto my scale *hiss* and was actually happy with what I saw!  282 lbs.  Some of you may be wondering why I am so thrilled with this number – I mean, it is a far way off from my goal of 195 pounds.

I have always struggled with maintaining any weight.  I may lose 10 lbs. on a whim, but I have never been able to keep them off.  However, I have been able to maintain a weight of 282 since June of 2009!!!!  That’s an amazing victory to me!!!!  *mini-wave in celebration of me*  (You’ll have to be a Friends fan to get that one.)  Now, it’s not been without fluctuation – trust me.  On Day One of this journey I weighed 296 pounds.  In the time between then and now I have gotten to my lowest weight – 275 – and I’ve hit my highest weight – 304 (although I was 9 months pregnant, so does that actually count?).  However, I have conquered the excuse that I just can't keep the weight off and maintained a 14 lb. loss.  Woot!

Moving on... I have had a cold for a few days and can’t taste any of my food.  Yesterday I figured it was stupid to eat unless I was hungry, because I can’t enjoy any of it.  I only ended up eating 19 of my 34 points.  Oops!  If you have ever followed Weight Watchers, one of the cardinal sins is not eating all your points.  Now I understand why.  I woke up this morning STARVING.

It was almost like I had one of those cartoon thought bubbles over my head and it was filled with bacon... Mmm...

Needless to say, my goal for the day is to eat every single point I've been allotted and not to chew my own arm off before lunch.

 

This Weeks Weight Loss Goal: 5 lbs.

:o)

Becca

Day 1 - Starting Over Stinks

I've decided it's time to start this journey all over again.  My hubby used his Christmas bonus to join a new gym in our area.  He has lost about 15 pounds, and has gained lots of muscle.  Can someone say "YUMMY LEGS!"??  Anyway, his success is making me feel like a total failure.

We are both feeling motivated to get in shape for our daughter, Abbey.  We want to be around to see her graduate high school, get married, and have children of her own (AND IT BETTER BE IN THAT ORDER, ABBEY!!!).  We've both come to realize when you have a child you stop living for yourself, and you live 100% for them.  For instance - my house has been a mess for the last three months - but guess what?  I DON'T CARE!  I'm not going to waste the most important time in my daughter's life cleaning!  The mess will still be there tomorrow!

But I digress.  I've decided it will be best for me to go back to using Weight Watchers OLD Points system.  I found the formula online to calculate points!!  This site helps you calculate how many points you may eat per day.  I get 34 Points daily (for now).  For some reason, I can't find the website where I got the one to calculate food points, but I wrote the formula down in 20 places.  (Calories/50) - (Fiber x 0.2) + (Fat x 0.08) = Points Value.  Remember - this is the OLD Points system for WW. 

I will be weighing in first thing tomorrow (because I'm a slacker and forgot to do it this morning - DUH!).  Weigh-ins and blog updates will be posted at least weekly. 

Last thing - I just want to thank all my friends and family who have supported me through my weight struggles.  I love you guys.


:o)
Becca

Calorie Counter

Today Rob and I are registering with a Calorie Counting program. I just started using this today and am excited that it does all the math for me - YAY! We're getting excited!!!!!

:o)
Becca

Day One - 289.6

Last night I asked my sister when we were going to start walking again, figuring she'd give me a few days of slacking before I got back into exercising. To my surprise she said "How about tonight?" Of course my brain immediately screamed, "NOOO!!!!!!" I reluctantly agreed and she met me with the boys at 5:30. We got going and walked our 2.5 miles in about 45 minutes. This was no easy feat considering we were dragging and pushing 30, 50, and 70 lbs of kids! I felt great,
<--- although my head looked like it was going to explode.

When we got back I made myself a half a cheese quesadilla with salsa. About an hour later I started to feel the urge to snack, so I decided to clean. I must be nuts, right? I lugged laundry around the house, vacuumed, dusted and scrubbed the bathroom.

When I got on the scale this morning (which was my "old" weigh-in time) I was shocked to see I am under 290. My "old" starting weight was 296, so I kept off 6.4 of the lbs I lose before. WOO HOO!!!! That made me feel awesome.

Tonight Mom E. is coming for dinner. I threw a whole chicken in the crockpot with lots of spices. I'm making mashed potatoes w/gravy, green beans, and rolls. I ate light today and I'm going to try to load up on green beans so I don't gorge myself on gravy and rolls. Oh how I love rolls. Too bad bread rolls = more fat rolls!

:o)
Becca