Tummy trouble and grilled veggie sammitches

My stomach is really hurting tonight.  I have no idea why.  I didn't eat anything funky at all.  Everything I put in my mouth today has gone in there before without incident, so I don't know what's up.  I was super hungry after school because I didn't take an afternoon snack in my lunch bag, so I had some of those chocolate animal crackers I bought the other night.  It's 3 points for a serving, but I don't mind because they taste good and take the edge off my chocolate cravings.  After I picked Punkin up, we stopped at Albertson's because I wanted veggies, and between the two of us we almost completely cleaned out a bowl of fresh pineapple chunks - SO good!  I hope my mom's pineapple plants haven't died in all the freezes we've had this year, because there is nothing like fresh pineapple! 

Anyway, on the way home I stopped at TB and got Punkin a taco because she had been asking for it and I don't mind letting her have one every now and then.  I made myself grilled veggie sandwiches for dinner - toasted hoagie roll (4 pts) brushed with Italian dressing (2 pts) and topped with grilled zucchini, carrots, onions, and mushrooms (0 pts).  It was really good, but after eating the second one my stomach was killing me and it still is more than an hour later.  I don't know why, but I do know that they tasted yummy.  And they're fairly low points for a dinner, especially a filling one that is so healthy!  I didn't use any oil at all to cook the veggies, just sprayed my grill pan with Pam before I tossed everything on.  It would be so nice to live in a house one day where I can have a real grill and cook outside.  I LOVE grilled food, but it certainly doesn't taste the same when you grill on a grill pan on your stove.

I'm pretty proud of myself for how well I've done on WW.  Today is the 18th, so I've been OP 15 days and haven't cheated once, and I've tracked every day.  Normally at this point I'd be thinking about my "cheat day" but I don't even want one.  I want to stay on this plan, to eat healthy, and to lose the weight.  I think I might allow myself a cheat day once I hit 270 pounds - and the "cheat" will be going to Sweet Tomatoes, lol.  I don't know why, but 270 seems to be some sort of magic number for me. I think because last time I did WW, I quit before I got to that point.  I think I quit somewhere around 278 because I started to get cold feet about losing too much weight (WTF is THAT all about?!?).  But I want to see 270 on that scale... so bad I can taste it.  And even more so, I want to see 250.  I know it will be a while before I get there, though, so I'm not gonna freak out if I don't see it before February.  Actually, if I lose an average of 2 pounds per week (some weeks more, some weeks less, as long as I'm OP) I could theoretically be down to 250 by my birthday!  And what a 30th birthday present that would be to myself!

Ooh, now I'm even more excited!  Time to go pack my lunchbox for tomorrow!  Then off to lay down and hopefully cure this stomachache.

Super Fattening Taco Salad In A Deep Fried Bowl...

... has no place in my house.  :-)

I've never been big on the traditional taco salad that you generally find in Mexican restaurants and Taco Bell, but the other night I was trying to figure out what I wanted to have for dinner and the only thing that kept popping into my head was taco salad.  I have no idea why, but that's what it was - a big, fat, honking taco salad.  I knew there was no way to have it the traditional way, so I set about figuring out how to WW-ify it.  I ended up using ground turkey breast instead of beef (YUM-O!  I love how it's not greasy!) and the traditional seasoning, but instead of putting it in the deep-fried bowl, I literally spilled half a bag of lettuce on a plate and tossed 1/4 of the pan of ground turkey on top.  I also diced half an onion and tossed that on, a pinch of RF cheese and some light sour cream and the whole thing wound up being 6 points!  I was thrilled, because I really didn't notice anything different with the taste (except for less grease from the meat).  I had two servings for a tidy little dinner of 12 points and I was totally satisifed.

I had another totally yummy dinner tonight!  Tim and Jacob came up to Altamonte and Punkin and I met them at Chili's.  I probably spent an hour today going over all the NI from the Chili's website so I would know what I could get.  I figured out the points for everything I felt I could have (under 20 pts) and highlighted it, so I would know my choices.  I was pretty convinced I was going to get the Guiltless Grill sirloin, but I saw it only came with a small side of veggies and I really wanted something more hearty.  So I got the Margarita Chicken (with beans and rice) for 15 points, and a house salad for 4 (I skipped the cheese and had low-fat ranch).  I was stuffed before I was done, but I made it a point to finish my chicken because, gosh-darn-it, I was gonna eat every single point of that yummy food.  I finally had to stop with about two mouthfuls of beans left.

But you know the greatest victory about the evening?  Tim and Jacob ordered chips and salsa and the two of them ate two baskets.  But I didn't touch a single one.  Go on, pat me on the back. :-)

Oh, and to end on a super positive note, I weighed-in today.  And guess what?

I'm down 2 more pounds.  :-)

On the road again...

I'm back on the diet bandwagon.  I've been hesitant to mention it to too many people because every time I've mentioned it in the past, I've always cursed myself and jumped off just a few weeks after I started.  Although this time, I'm not calling it a diet - I'm calling it a lifestyle change.  Because to be honest, that's what it is.  I know I'm always going to have days where I'm going to eat whatever I want either due to convenience or sheer desire, but my goal now is to drop all the extra weight (slowly, but permanently) and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  For now it's only diet, but I really want to get back into going to the gym.  I miss it a lot more than I thought I would.  It's been super hard to get there lately because now that I work part time at B.RU (which I love, BTW - can you say BABY FIX?!), I usually work on Monday and Wednesday nights, and those are the nights of my two favorite classes, Body Flow and Zumba.  And the nights that I don't have to work I'm usually too exhausted to do anything.  I spoke to my manager (we'll call her Boss Lady) and told her I needed less hours - because I do.  I work all week at school, then I'm working an extra 25-30 hours each week at B.RU - far too many.  I feel like I never see Julianne, and she's become very clingy.  Boss Lady seemed to understand that I need to spend less time with other people's babies and more time at home with MY baby, so she said she'd take care of it.  Some things I really like about her. :-)

WW has changed their plan around a lot - they now use what they call Poin.tsPl.us.  Most foods are more points than they used to be (except veggies, which are free, and now, hallelujah - all fruit is free too!), and you no longer use calories, fat and fiber to figure points - you use fat, fiber, protein and carbs.  I think the premise behind not using the calories anymore is that not all calories are created equal: some are from fat, some are from protein, some are from carbs, etc.  They also don't have a slider anymore (I think I read somewhere that it was just too complicated to make an effective one) so now you have to either buy the WW calculator that figures it all out, or be smart like me and download an app on your phone that does the same thing (for free). 

The whole plan change thing freaked me out at first until I found out I got to have more daily points too - now I get 49.  Even though I get more dailies I was worried I'd be hungry because all of my favorite foods went up in Poin.tsPl.us, but the whole free fruit thing is really saving me.  I can have my banana/strawberry/blueberry smoothie in the morning and all it costs me is the Poin.tsPl.us for the milk.  Plus, if I wanted to, I could eat ten apples, a bowl of watermelon and whole pineapple for a snack.  Not that I think WW recommends doing that, but it's nice to know the option exists. :-)

In an effort to really get excited about it, I decided to buy my first grown-up lunchbox.  I spent HOURS on Ama.zon looking for the perfect lunchbox for me and narrowed it down to these:

Of COURSE I picked a frog lunchbox.  :-)  It turns out neither one made the cut - my friend J talked me into going to Ross to look at what they had and I found a big pink one with bungee straps on the outside for bottles of water (or in my case, smoothies) and it was only $5, so I got that one instead.  In the 4 days I've owned it, I've only taken it to school twice because I forgot it the other two.  Typical.

Anyway, that's where I'm at for the moment.  I feel good, things feel food, the plan is working for me so far.  So I'm gonna keep on groovin' along.

Peace!

I love that first week loss...

I went to the gym yesterday for my regular Monday afternoon body flow class and since it was Monday, exactly one week from the day I started Weight Watchers, it was time to weigh in.  I hoped on the scale, held my breath, sucked my stomach in (because you know, that takes off a couple ounces) and let the scale do its magic.

The verdict?

DOWN 7 POUNDS IN THE FIRST WEEK!  I am so excited!

I know that the first week loss is always the biggest so I certainly don't expect to lose 7 again next week.  I'm hoping for 1-2 pounds next week but I'll be thrilled with an ounce.  I'm leaving this afternoon for a PLC conference in Jacksonville with some ladies from school and I know it's going to be a struggle to stay on points when I'm away from home and I have to eat out three times a day.  I'm taking my laptop so I can look up nutrition information before we go out to dinner in the evenings, so hopefully that will help me stay on track.

But 7 pounds... MAN, am I motivated!

Chick-Fil-A can BITE ME.

After the gym this morning I stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and got one of their wraps, thinking it would be maybe 5-6 points if I got the low-cal Italian dressing instead of the ceasar that comes with it.  I wanted to order the chargrilled wrap but I asked the guy if we could take the tomatoes off and he said they were pre-made that way.  Well, I can't STAND tomatoes, so I opted for the ceasar wrap instead. Almost as an afterthought, I asked for the nutrition information. Turns out that stupid wrap I bought was 10 points!  At first I was thinking maybe that was without the dressing, but when I got home I used the meal calculator here and saw that it was without.

So for the first time in my life, I only ate half of the wrap and brought the other half home to stick in the fridge. I guess technically I could afford the other half, but I haven't decided on dinner yet and don't want to restrict myself because I indulged in the wrap from hell.  Turns out I could have had their breaded, fried chicken sandwich for less calories! Oh well... at least bringing that half wrap home was really empowering!  I'm actually really hungry so I think maybe I'll eat the other half of the wrap and make a grilled veggie sandwich for dinner.  I'll have to make sure I buy a roll that I can check the NI for because I really think the points list I check for generic foods is way off.  The good thing is that with a grilled veggie sandwich the only thing that matters is the bread and whatever I brush on the veggies!

Downward Facing Dog

I don't think I've ever told anyone before, but I've always wanted to try yoga because I liked the way the name sounded - like yogurt.  I actually hate the taste of yogurt but I wish I liked it - smooth, cool, creamy, nutritious.  So the word yoga has always kind of made me feel good - smooth and happy.  When I found out my gym does yoga, I was really excited because I wanted to try it.  This afternoon J had Punkin so I decided to stop at the gym and do my regular workout - 10 on the Arc Trainer, 10 on the elliptical, 10 on the bike (if my thighs could handle it), my strength training and then 10 on the treadmill to finish it all up.  I usually burn about 400 calories during the cardio (not including all the weight training) so I come out of there feeling totally wiped out but really good about all the calories I burned.  I was on my way to the gym when I noticed the class schedule sitting on the front seat of my car.  I checked it out and saw that they had a BodyFlow class at 4:30, which was just about the right time for me.  I wasn't sure about taking it because Megan (my trainer) had suggested I take BodyJam or Zumba first, but I really wanted to get into a class (ANY class) and that one sounded interesting.

So I get to the gym and the first thing that excited me was that I realized we got to take our shoes off!  Anyone who knows me knows I hate wearing shoes and I avoid it whenever I can.  So finding out I got to do the class in my bare toesies was awesome.  There weren't a lot of women there, which was just as well since I wasn't really sure what to do and with less women there for the class, there would be less women to stare at me.

I enjoyed the class...it was a cross between Tai Chi, Pilates and Yoga.  Parts of it were really relaxing (child's pose):

and other parts were rough (variations of the plank):

and by the time I was done, I was really feeling it.  But I'm very glad I went and I want to go back.  I think right now I'm in this mode where I want to try most every class at least once to see what it's like, then pick the ones I like the best and make those my regulars.

Namaste.  :-)

BEYOND exhausted

The last time I felt this physically drained was the day I moved into this apartment.  We spent three hours going up and down three flights of stairs carrying boxes and heavy furniture, then drove across town and spent three hours going up and down a flight of stairs carrying boxes and heavy furniture in the pouring rain.  When I went to bed that night, my muscles hurt so bad it took me hours to fall asleep. Then once I actually dropped off into the land of noddy-blinky, I slept so hard I woke up with a massive headache.

Before then, I can't remember when I last felt so drained.

I really wanted to try a class at the gym this morning, but they weren't doing anything I felt physically prepared to do.  So I decided to just go and try some of the cardio machines like Megan told me to.  I actually got there around 10 this morning, which in itself is odd since I'm not a morning person.  But I really wanted to get there and get it done so I could enjoy the rest of the day.  I wanted to go to the Humane Society and look at dogs and I wanted to take Julianne swimming, and I figured swimming would feel great after I was done working out.

Once I got there and got Julianne settled in the kid's area, I did the elliptical first.  I had decided I would do each machine for 10 minutes and then move on to weight training, but evidently my body had other plans.  I started on the elliptical and did the ten minutes, plus about 3 minutes of cool-down, and burned 178 calories.  I was pretty pleased with that!

Then I decided to move on to that other machine... I don't know the name.... the one that looks like the elliptical?  Anyway... that thing SUCKS.  Do you hear me?  It SUCKS.  It was killing my legs and I couldn't seem to control the speed... I don't know if it was just the way my body works or if I picked the wrong setting, but I only burned 68 calories on that one before I had to get off.  I moved to the bike, but it was working the same muscles as the previous machine and it kept upping the resistance and by the time I hit 40 calories I was dying.  I pushed through to 50, but at that point I was ready to lay on the floor right there in the gym and die.

I needed a break from the cardio machines, so I decided to head to the weight training.  I did biceps, triceps, deltoids, traps, chest press, shoulder press, ab press... my muscles were KILLING me.  They hurt so bad and I was starting to get nauseated, so I decided to finish up on the treadmill, then go home and die in the privacy of my own bedroom.  I burned 124 calories on the treadmill (damn that last stubborn calorie!) and then I was done.  Altogether I burned 419 calories (not including the weight training) and I'll tell you that right now I'm ready to drop.  I'm taking tomorrow off because it's Mother's Day, but Monday afternoon I have my next training session with Megan.  I'm anxious to see how that goes!