Gimme a pound!

Another -.04 for this weigh in. I'll take it. Anytime I lose while Tom is in town is a great one for me. I had two birthday dinners this week and went to the gym 3 times instead of my usual 5. Next week will be a very very good weigh in. I am 2 lbs away from getting out of this "decade" and I'm going to do it. I was kind of hoping that yesterdays' meeting would have been free to make up for the lack of a leader last Saturday. They gave us vacation vouchers, which is nice enough. Apparently now you only get two vacation coupons when you first sign up and that's it. If I'm not mistaken, you used to get one every eight weeks.

I made some delicious 2 point muffins. I took a box of lemon cake mix, 1 can of diet sprite, and a cup of blueberries. Mixed all together, baked in the oven, and voila- deliciousness. I had quite the productive Sunday. I went to the gym in the morning, cleaned up my place, did 3 loads of laundry and ran errands with friends. On our way around town, we all came to the conclusion that we were starving. The driver opts for Burger King. After reading the menus and the caloric information, my friend and I shared a combo. I forget what they're called, but they're these mini-burgers. One combo gives you four, a fry, and a drink. We split it and it was plenty. I might have had all of 6 fries and my two two-bite burgers so all in all could not have been more than six points.

It has probably been over a year since the last time I ate Burger King, and will most likely be another until the next visit. Wasn't all that delicious as I remembered, and I could think of many,many other things I'd like to have in the place of BK.

Off to catch up on my blog reading!

I decked the halls with turkey and latkes

After a major blog hiatus, I'm happy to be back. I was out of town for a wedding, and spent all of last week at my parents home. Internet access was somewhat limited. Seeing as my fathers Internet skills are not quite advanced, deleting browsing history would be terrible and he would no longer be able to find the sites he frequents. Since I want to keep this blog private, (private from my friends & family that is) I didn't get to go anywhere near it.

The wedding that I've been talking about for over a year has come and gone. My dress fit perfectly, and I was a very happy camper. I'll post pictures soon. That bridesmaids dress was one of the motivators to get my weight loss started to begin with. I am very proud of what I have accomplished.

I still went to weigh in on Saturday, and I'm happy with a 1.8 lb gain. I was actually expecting quite more so I was just thrilled. After a week end away at a wedding, bottomless plates at my parents (Chrismukkah is lethal I tell you)two birthdays, three family get togethers and dinners out with friends, I feel as though I deserved at least a 10 lb gain. Christmas day was just ridiculous. There were plates of nuts, cheeses & pates with assorted crackers and breads, chips, hors d'oeuvres, pecan tarts, nanaimo squares, fudge and the list goes on all over the house. I actually had to take a nap before the turkey dinner because I was so exhausted from eating and was stuffed beyond belief. I can't eat anywhere near the amount of food that I used to and I was watching my portions.

Prior to all of this, I would have easily polished off the entire bowl of cashews. Instead I had a hand full and didn't go back to the dish. Last year, I would have eaten several hors d'oeuvres and then made more to cover my tracks. This year, I was conscious about what I was putting in my mouth and enjoyed every bite. I'm happy that I ate what I wanted and couldn't eat more if I wanted to. The 1.8 gain really leaves me feeling like I cheated on a test and got away with it. It's a really strange feeling.

I'm back on track today. It felt great to bust out the tracker and write out what I ate. I'm not quite sure I'm following the momentum plan, I'm just doing what I always did by tracking and following the healthy guidelines. I actually don't see too much of a change from Flex to Momentum aside from the nifty new booklets.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the Momentum plan?

Off to catch up on my blog reading!

Still alive, barely

Yay, I've been nominated! I'll post the link and picky my ladies/gents later on today. I'm really honored to have been thought of. I'm touched.

I was up at 4:00 a.m. this morning and I'm not sure why! I've been complaining to myself all week that I haven't been getting enough sleep. I've been running around shopping, working late, going to parties-it's been non-stop action around here! Saturday's W.I had me up 1.6. Thanks to the parties, and a lot,a lot a lot of booze on Friday. I was not on track to say the least. I did exercise but it definitely wasn't enough to offset the damage. The office party on Friday was kick-ass! I had chicken parmigiana with about a half a bottle of wine and a rum & coke. We ended up later at an Irish pub where I had the most delicious Black Velvet (Guiness & Cider combo) and about 3-4 Smirnoff Ice. We then continued the party on to another bar where I had 2 more smirnoff ice & a vodka cran. Had a lot of fun and ended up at home at 4:00 a.m.

Believe it or not, I made it to my W.I for 9:00 a.m. I was up at 8 and still drunk. Unfortunately Saturday was the meeting where we went over the new Momentum plan and as you can imagine I was willing the time to pass by. People were loud, I was in another world, and my mouth felt like sand paper. I could not drink enough water!
I'm not usually such a lush and I got to pay for it all day Saturday! I spent the rest of the day entertaining a friend from out of town and stayed in Saturday night to try to recover. Yesterday was another busy day of shopping and entertaining my friend so I have still not fully recovered from Friday's night of insanity.

Met a nice guy on Friday. Too bad I was feeling a little too good to remember a lot of what he told me. I know we laughed a lot, he walked me home and was very gentlemanly with a simple kiss on the cheek good night. Thumbs Up.

I did hear back from dude from a month ago. Funny how they take so long to call. I'm not impressed. Told him that it was nice of him to call but I'm no longer interested. You snooze, you lose.

I'm off to the dentist now. Broke two fillings on tostitos yesterday and I'm not a happy camper. Broke one on each side. That'll teach me to eat chips!

Attention all Costco shoppers!

This is a must buy: Sweet Mesquite Rub from Costco.

It's only $5.00 and the container size is ginormous. I cannot get enough of this spice. I want to put it on everything! I'm not generally a huge mesquite fan to begin with but this, my friends, is something special

Do yourselves a favour and run to Costco. This is not to be missed.
This is my dinner last night. All I did was cut a chicken breast in two, rub the meat in the spice, shove on a rack in a pot (with a lid) and throw it in the oven. 30 mins later, I feasted on this:
Brown & long grain rice, mixed veggies, asparagus and my yummy chicken

I think I'm going to be creative tonight and make a soup with it. I'm thinking of a butternut squash base with a bit of carrot. The smokiness of the mesquite should go really well with the squash.

Any suggestions?

WW products

I've noticed that the Weight Watchers bread has been rather hit & miss lately. Sometimes the bread seems to be a little more dense than usual and really fresh. Then there are times like today, that I end up with a loaf with a huge hole in the middle of each slice. The slices are small enough as it is. I could really do without the missing piece!

Does anyone know of any other breads that count for 1 pt for two slices? WW bread seems to be the only kind that I could find that boasts the low amount of points for two slices. Now granted, two slices equates to 1 regular slice of bread, but psychologically it just seems more because it's two.

I also must announce that I am completely and officially obsessed with Almond Breeze. How I have only tried it now is beyond me. It is simply divine. I bought the sweetened vanilla & chocolate. Talk about something yummy to drink straight from the carton. Don't worry, I live alone. I'm not spreading cooties!

Anyone have any yummy/low point suggestions for my big grocery order this week end?

I'm going out for dinner tonight to my favorite Mexican restaurant. I can't wait. I can wait for the W.I tomorrow however, I've been biting my nails....

Happy Turkey!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got back from my W.I and I'm down 2.2- YAY! 187 lbs doesn't feel too shabby! I worked for it this week though. It was my TOM, and I usually gain regardless of what I do (or so it seemed). I was determined to fight it. ran every night this week and made sure to keep myself busy. I'd usually gain 2.2 during my TOM, but NOT THIS TIME. I didn't want to be pushed back into the other "decade".

This week was all about the squash. I ate about 3 medium-sized butternut squash this week. I just couldn't get enough. When I read up on the nutritional information, I decided that this has to be the best thing out there. 1 cup of butternut squash has something like 300% of the Vitamin A you need in a day. It has anti-inflamatory agents, fights & prevents cancer, is full of fiber- the list goes on! I also made a spaghetti squash caserole and it was simply to die for.

I have two Thanksgiving dinners to go to this week end. Scary I know! Tonights won't be so bad as it's at another WW members' house and she's got everything under control. I'm more worried about dinner at my moms tomorrow. The WW meeting today was all about Thanksgiving and being prepared for it. We created a mock menu and even then the total point amount was astounding. Our menu was even all about being careful and it was still insanely high in points. We just have to remind ourselves that we didn't get to our high weights by eating pumpkin pie once per year and to enjoy ourselves. I'm already drooling thinking about the potatoe casserole that my aunt is bringing tomorrow. I think there's about 10 different cheeses in it and it is what I would describe as Heaven On Earth.

Time for the treadmill.

Happy Thanksgiving my fellow Canadians!!!

Yummy yummy yummy

I have a new obsession: Walden Farms Apple Butter. HOLY YUM! O Calories, 0 Fat, 0 everything! It is sweetened with splenda, and is oohhh so yum. My favorite 1 pt snack of the week: 2 slices of WW bread (toasted of course), and this apple butter. I swear it tastes like apple pie. Ok, so the texture is not quite the same (it's a real jelly) but it's the BOMB on the flavour scale.

I've tried a few of the dressings as well, and they're pretty good! I wasn't really that impressed with the French dressing as it had a bit of a chemical taste, but the Thousand Island & the Asian were really really good! The maple syrup tastes like the real thing just a bit more liquidish. The caramel spread is yummers too.

I want to try the peanut butter, the marshmallow spread, and the BBQ Sauce. Has anyone tried any of these and if so, how were they? Before shelling out $5.00 on a bottle just to find out that it's gross, I'd like to know other people's opinions. Are there any other flavours that you've tried from Walden Farms that I should?

Looking forward to some feedback =)