New Year-New Me! (8)

Hey! Another day of following the WW points plus system....still having terrible urges to snack, so I actually let myself snack a little today-I had a few M&M's peanut! I guess it's ok because I used them in my extra points for the week bank-
I really don't feel that bad about it...
I have a landmark birthday to go to this Sunday-so I am in charge of getting the cake! I have a favorite bakery that I use for special occasions like our wedding, anniversaries, and the like. I just love their cake-so I am trying to do good with points this week so I can have a piece. My mother is turning 75, and my sister, 50! 2 landmarks at one time!
We are also going to a favorite Italian restaurant of ours, so I am going to have a really challenging day! Maybe if I just relax on the food, I can have the cake! LOL
We'll see- as  you know, you'll hear all about it on Monday when I am recovering from the party! :)

I bought A Wii game called Biggest Loser Challenge today. My son and I went into Gamestop, and I found it used for $16.00- maybe this will help me to be more active at home while hubby is bowling! That's the plan anyway- I thought if I don't get into a crochet project, I could put it in the Wii and check it out!

I have several quizzes to check by Friday, but I'm going to be lazy and check them tomorrow. I am very lazy right now after making turkey burgers with soup for dinner. WW had a great recipe for the burgers, and the kids loved them too! It has 1 pound of ground turkey, 1 garlic clove minced, 1/2 t. pepper, 1 T. of soy sauce, and 1 T. of ketchup. Mix and then add 1/3 cup monterey jack shredded cheese and fry in a pan using Pam or any other kind of cooking spray, and 2 slices of turkey bacon for grease and taste purposes. Cook about 4 min. on each side-or longer, depending on your taste.
It was very tastey! Just ask my family!!

Good luck today! Hope you stayed away from the M&M's!!!!

E-

New Year-New Me! (7)

Having a hard time wanting snacks today- it's just one of those days! I'm doing good though- stuck to my points...
Not doing much good on the movement part of this endeavor- but I will try to incorporate that when hockey gets less intense! We had a tournament and district playoffs all weekend including yesterday and tonight! Yes, son #2 played at the Joe yesterday and won! How nice-
Crochet-wise, made hubby a cute "prince charming" Frog-I used to tell him he is the frog I kissed, and he turned out to be my prince!! He's actually quite a handsome frog, if I do say so myself! LOL
Well, I guess this will be a short blog today- not much going on- just wanted to let you all know that we all struggle with this issue, and it's ok-we get through it and move on- snacks or no snacks! :)
Keep smiling and have a great week!

Have some tea on me-
E-

New Year-New Me! (6)

Today was a crazy day! I made a great lunch for myslef to bring to work, and I left it on the kitchen counter! Not so good- so I had a grilled chicken bacon ranch salad form McDonald's. It was good! I only used half of the Newman's dressing though...so I felt good about my decision to get that.

I had my 2 fruits, and I will have a vegetable with dinner. Today I am making cube steak, but with only a bit of flour, and olive oil to cook it in. No more vegetable oil- we sledom used it anyway.

Yesterday we made baked cod with an herb crust, and I boiled sweet potatoes and steamed brussels sprouts. Boy was that good! What a healthy meal!

Baking was quite an event yesterday. I made a WW recipe for scones (one of my favorite things to eat!) and they literally turned out like hockey pucks! They were terrible! I threw them away without letting my husband take a taste-they were that bad! I found another scone recipe in another WW cookbook- so maybe I will try that one-

Well, hopefully you had a good day today- trying to stick to my points!!
Off to the kitchen to make dinner then to the ice rink for son #2's hockey game! Lucky me!! :)

With that in mind-
Wish I had time for tea-
E-

New Year-New Me! (5)

Well today was my "official" weigh in after 1 week of eating healthier using the WW points plus system. I have lost 2 pounds! I feel good about this because this was the worst week of the month for me- all of you ladies out there who are peri-menopausal know what I'm talking about...I struggled a few times with wanting baked goods, or a piece of candy, or chips, but I held my own and snacked in a healthy manner. I had some WW 1 point cookies that I made (metioned in an earlier blog), and I had Skinny Pop popcorn that I had heard about at a WW meeting last summer-it's good! Low points! I also made myself eat 2 fruits a day. We bought some clementines, apples and bananas, so we were well stocked.

Speaking of well stocked-I really think that's the key to eating better-if it's there, you'll eat it. We had to get rid of a lot of extra candy and such from the holidays, so it was a little easier-plus, the WW or Eating Healthy recipes I've found in various cookbooks has helped, like Cook Yourself Thin, and WW cookbooks, and Eating Well magazine, and WW magazine! They all help with snack ideas and recipes.

Tonight we are making baked cod with baked sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts- notice all the "baked" items- rule #1- NO fried foods! LOL -Even though now and then a small amount won't hurt you- it's good to stay away from it if you can. I hope this week is as successful as last week was for you and me! I need to get more movement in this week- I guess that will be my goal for this week.
Leslie Sansone-watch out! LOL

With that in mind-
I think I'll fill my belly with Tea!
E-
(Have a great week!)

New Year-New Me! (4)

Well, well...it's Thursday and I am still doing just fine with my 29 points limit. I had a good day at a Literacy Leader workshop today, and they served a great lunch with salad, soup and chicken sandwhich wraps. I had a cup of soup and a wrap-and it wasn't a large one, it was small. (But good!)
I came home and was a little hungry, so I made myself some tea, and made myself busy with my crocheting. It's a good hobby to have to distract me from bingeing! LOL
Seriously- I think that a hobby is a good way to keep busy, and stay away from snacking-
If I keep with that train of thought, I'll have a ton of crocheted items made by summer! :)
I have my son's hockey game to go to tonight, so I'm trying to think of what I could possibly do after I'm done blogging for some kind of exercise...any ideas?? I don't have much time- my husband suggested the stairs! Maybe that could work-as long as I don't kill myself doing it in the process!
He gets to bowl tonight, so he's all set with his activity points...lucky!

I recommend the Cook Yourself Thin recipe for Turkey Chili-I made it last week and it was awesome! It is very low calorie, but packs a good taste! If you break up a few tortilla chips in it-it's even better!
Well, short blog today- but that's how it is when you're on the run!
Have a great day-
Tea is a great distraction to food as well!
Time for Tea!
E-

New Year-New Me! (3)

Today was another successful day- we didn't walk outside because despite the mild temperature, it began to rain. I guess I will make today a skip day for exercise-not so good an idea, but I've kind of busied myself in the kitchen too much tonight.

I made a great dinner from my new cookbook Cook Yourself Thin. It was a wonderful Chicken Tetrezzini!  I just got done baking 1 point cookies from WW. They are oatmeal cherry ( I substituted raisins for cherries). One batch made 40 cookies.

I kept to my 29 points today, so I feel pretty good about that-this perimenopausal stuff can play havoc with cravings- so I think I am doing enough self talk to get through this week without going over my points values.

Hope your day was just as good-
With that in mind-
Time for Tea-
E-

New Year-New Me! (2)

A couple of days ago, I decided to blog about my weight loss efforts until I lose the 10 pounds that needs to be shed off of my body! I am using the WW points plus program, which gives me 29 points per day. I can also use "points plus allowance", but I am choosing not to at this time.

My husband and I walked over 3 miles on both Sunday and Monday. It's been such a mild winter here in Michigan, that we were able to take in some beautiful scenery on the island we live on. The full moon shone so evenly over the river last night, it was amazing! It looked like a photo-

Sunday I was able to keep to my 29 points, Monday I kept to them as well. Today, I am still at 11.5 points available to me, and it is almost 6 p.m. I am drinking a lot of water during the day at work, and snacking on fruits and veggies, since I need to have up to 5 servings a day. The only "downfall" I had today was that I was craving mixed nuts when I got home from work!! I felt guilty when I ate them, but hten realized I had points to spare today- so not to worry too much...

Hubby is bowling tonight, so I am on my own to get in some exercise. I think today is either a spot training day, or a Leslie Sansone walk from On-Demand cable. Not sure what I will feel up to.

I have a student who is requesting that I crochet him a blue scarf for the winter to match his denim coat and blue eyes. LOL- so I may have to get going on that too!

I feel pretty confident that I can get through this first week of WW- I keep reminding myself of how much better I feel when I am 10 pounds lighter! :)

If you are reading this blog- please share your weight loss joys and woes- I'd like to revel in them with you!

With that in mind-

Time for Tea!

E-



New Year-New Me! (?)

This year I have decided to dedicate my blogging to weight loss. I have to lose 10 pounds or more to feel the way I like to feel. I will be blogging my progress, my woes and my joys as I venture into this wonderful time of weight loss.
I am a confident person when it comes to losing weight. I have done it in the past and I can do it again. I have come to the acceptance and conclusion, though, that getting older certainly does have an impact on how quickly or how slowly the weight comes off.

So, the good news is that I didn't gain as much weight as I thought after going on a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon, getting through the last few weeks of classes with 180- 7th graders before the holiday, plus the actual weight gain expectations of Christmas and New Years! I think that 10 pounds is very do-able and realistic. If I get to that point and I feel I need to lose more, I will rearrange my thinking.


If anyone would like to join me in this effort-feel free to comment or follow me. I am 5 feet 2 and 1/2 inches tall, and need to lose 10 pounds as I mentioned earlier. I am 47 years old, and work full time as a teacher. I have one son in college and one in high school.

I am at hockey games and practices a lot, and also love to crochet and read. I also like to walk-but here in Michigan, it can be hard to do in the winter-but it is a goal of mine to try it a couple times a week.

I will probably walk indoors with my Leslie Sansone videos for 2 and 3 mile walks after work, and maybe do some area exercises for my upper arms and thighs.
Well, here we go! I will try to post a blog every day, and talk about my goals and my successes. I will also whine about the hard part of losing weight-not eating as many baked goods as I'd like to! Although- I do have some great recipes that are low fat that I will share!

With that in mind-
Time for Tea-
E-
(Tea is good for you!)

New Year- 2012

Well, we made it. Christmas is over, New Years Eve is over...now what? It's a new year- is everyone ready?

Personally, I thought I was, but now I might have to question that. Now that it is here, there isn't really much I can do about it, is there? LOL

I think that by now, I should know that the years come and go more quickly, and we are never really ready for new ones. I guess it's just "forge ahead", "be brave and move onward", or "suck it up" or something-LOL

I guess I have some expectations that I would like met, but I'm not quite sure if they will be this year. I'd like some changes to take place in my (our) lives, and I just hope I have the ability to make them happen.

I'm not going into detail as to what they are- they are "do-able", not at all fantastical or over the top...

it's just that I don't know if it is the right time for changes, or would waiting be beneficial.

Lots of thoughts to ponder this new year-
make the best of the time we have!


With that in mind-

Time for Tea-

E-