Week 5 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -2.0
Pounds Lost to Date:  -13.0

Woo hoo!!  2 more down.   I had a couple super hungry days this past week, which was not fun at all.  I ate so much fruit that I was starting to get sick of it!!  Another exciting milestone is that I’m down a pants size.  Yay!!  I had ordered a pair of skinny jeans online and of course just picked my regular size that I’ve been.  When they arrived and I tried them on I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were big.  So I went back to the store and the next size down fit great!  I know I shouldn’t exactly be shopping while I’m dieting but I needed a pair of jeans to go with my new boots :)  Once I’m at my goal size then I’ll hit the stores more.  Oh and the pants I’m wearing today are a pair that I haven’t worn in probably a year!  Yeah baby!!

I’m excited to try out some of the recipes I chose for this week’s menu.  My husband has been eating more of what I’ve been cooking (I’ve been picking a lot of carb conscious ones for him too).  They all sound delish so I can’t wait to try them out!!  Over the last 5 weeks I’ve found quite a few recipes that are going to be going into permanent rotation they came out so good!

Here’s this week’s dinner menu:

Sunday 2/10:  Beef Barley Soup

Monday 2/11:  leftovers (volleyball night)

Tuesday 2/12:  Chicken & Mushrooms in garlic white wine sauce with garlic sautéed brussel sprouts

Wednesday 2/13:  General Tso’s Chicken with brown rice

Thursday 2/14:  Asian Glazed Drumsticks with zucchini tots

Friday 2/15:  Thai Fried Rice

Saturday 2/16:  Chicken rollitini stuffed with zucchini &mozzarella

Good Dog

Last week I had the dreaded flu. It was sort of weird yet kind of amazing to see just how fast my body reacted and went down.  I felt perfectly fine leaving work Monday evening and by 8:30 pm I was in bed unable to move.  I didn’t emerge from my quarantined bedroom until Friday morning (with the exception of a trip to the doctor for some meds on Tuesday afternoon).  Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who helped to take care of our son and the house so that I could get the rest that I needed. 

On Thursday afternoon I kept hearing our 8 year old labrador retriever mix crying.  Figuring that she needed to go out, I got myself up and managed to take her outside for a quick walk so that she didn’t have an accident in the house.  A couple minutes after I got myself back into bed I heard her crying again.  I tried to ignore her since I had just taken her out, but after a few more minutes of listening to her I couldn’t take it anymore and got myself up out of bed again.  As I turned the corner out of my bedroom I was shocked at what I saw next...

 Our dog hasn’t climbed these stairs in over 5 years since we put in the hard wood floors.  Like many dogs, she became very afraid of the slippery floors. Although there is a runner on the stairs, she never felt comfortable coming all the way up because the landing at the top is straight wood.  We actually prefer that she doesn't come upstairs so it worked out better.  She has her bed & domain downstairs and we have ours upstairs.

On this particular day, I believe our dog had sensed I was sick and simply wanted to be with me.  But since I was upstairs she had no choice but to climb the stairs she was so scared of.

Dogs have extraordinary senses as we all know and there have been studies done about whether or not dogs can even sense illness.  Whether or not that was the case here, I can't say for certain.  But what I do know is that my sweet dog faced one of her biggest fears to come and bring a smile to my face when I was feeling pretty crappy last week.  What a good great dog!!

How I Felt Yesterday

Week 4 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -2.0
Pounds Lost to Date:  -11.0

Wohooo!!!  I made it past my first hurdle - 10 pounds!  While I know that I may not lose this much every month, I’m pretty excited to get into double digits.  I don’t have an exact weight number goal in mind (even though WW makes you input something). You also may have noticed I’m not counting down my “pounds to go”.  I’m not thinking that way this time around.  I’m doing this diet to FEEL BETTER about myself and to fit better in my clothes.  Ultimately I’d like to make this a lifestyle change so that I don’t let the pounds creep back on like I did last year….    

Another exciting moment was that a coworker of mine mentioned something to me this morning about my loss.  While I can see some change, I wasn’t in a million years expecting someone else to see it, so it took me by surprise.  It’s only gives me extra incentive to work even harder this week.   

Most of my meal plan last week (along with my appetite) went out the window when I came down with the flu Monday evening.  So I’m repeating some of what I had in my plan for last week since I didn’t get to make anything from Tuesday forward.

Here’s this week’s menu:

Sunday 2/3 – Turkey Chili and Asian Chicken Wings (see this post for recipes)

Monday 2/4 – Thai Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry with brown rice 

Tuesday 2/5 – leftovers (volleyball night)

Wednesday 2/6 – Shirataki Noodles marinara with meatballs

Thursday 2/7 – Chicken & apple sausage (store bought) with sautéed garlic brussel sprouts

Friday 2/8 – Cilantro lime shrimp with fiesta lime rice

Saturday 2/9 – Dijon Pork Chops with sautéed squash

Super Bowl – WW Style

Just because the big game is on, there’s no reason I need to completely blow my diet. While it can be VERY tempting to pig out, I whipped up a couple of my own weight watchers friendly recipes for hubby and me to munch on during the game – Turkey Chili and Chicken Wings with an Asian flair. To make the chicken wings healthier I tried taking the skin off of the chicken wings. If you’ve never done this before, it’s not easy near impossible. I cut off as much as I could and called it a day. Pretzels and chips are banned from our house, so there was no temptation for those. I even treated myself to a rum and diet coke, my first drink in over a week. The only thing that could make the game better would be winning some money in the office pool :)

Turkey Chili (my own creation)

Makes: 12 cups

Serving size: 1 cup
WW Points = 4

1 package (20 oz) ground turkey
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small/medium Spanish onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
1-2 chili peppers, chopped with seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chili powder
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Spray large skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over low-medium heat. Add ground turkey, garlic, onions & celery. Sautee until lightly browned (8-10 minutes).

 

In large stockpot add diced & crushed tomatoes, beans, chili peppers, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, parsley, salt & pepper & cooked turkey mixture. 

 

Cover & continue cooking on low heat for 30-45 minutes.

 

Note: if you’re not big on spicy chili, leave out the chili peppers and halve the cayenne & chili powder seasoning.

Game Day Wings (adapted from Guy Fieri’s Asian Wings recipe)

Serving size: 6 wings
WW Points = 12

4 lbs (approx 24) chicken wingettes

Salt & freshly cracked black pepper

Sauce:

2 tbs low sodium soy sauce ¼ cup honey
2 tsp lime zest
3 tbs fresh lime juice

¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
1 tsp chili garlic paste
½ tsp sesame oil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp granulated garlic

Preparation:

Remove as much of the skin from the wings as possible. Season with salt & pepper and arrange on baking sheets. Put in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for 45 minutes.

As the wings cook mix together ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

Once wings are done cooking, remove from oven and toss with sauce to combine. Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees. Put sauce covered wings back into oven for 10 minutes or so (turning often) to crisp up.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, Boys & their Toys

Week 3 Results

Pounds Lost this Week:  -0.8
Pounds Lost to Date:  -9.0

A loss is a loss, so I’m happy.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was slightly disappointed.  But I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I was pissed off at 6 am this morning and now I’m over it and looking ahead to next week.  I just keep quietly chanting to myself.....a loss is a loss is A LOSS!!

I joined Weight Watchers online so I don’t physically attend meetings nor have anyone weigh me – it’s all up to me and the honor system.  So to try and keep the motivation and momentum up, myself and some girlfriends who are also doing the program decided to put together our own support group on Facebook and Pinterest to share recipes, tips and keep each others’ spirits up.  So far it's been a great tool and I'm grateful to have these wonderful ladies for support.

One of my biggest challenges so far has been dinner time.  It's become a very time consuming process the past couple weeks.  My husband is on a different diet and my son won't eat a lot of these recipes so I find myself on most nights making 3 different meals.  I try to prep a lot the night before but I still find myself feeling like I’m always in the kitchen.  I typically get home at 6:30 pm (on a good night) so by the time we’re done and cleaned up it’s usually close to 8 pm.  When meal planning I have to be careful to pick recipes that can be scaled down in quantities since I’m only WW cooking for myself (a few things my husband has eaten).  A lot of the casserole recipes sound delicious but what am I going to do with the leftovers?  I've already frozen some of the extras I made in previous weeks and my freezer can only hold so much....  Maybe I’ll try one once I make room in the freezer.

Here’s this week’s menu:

Sunday 1/27 – Shredded Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps

Monday 1/28 – small steak with garlic roasted asparagus 

Tuesday 1/29 – leftovers (volleyball night)

Wednesday 1/30 – Shirataki Noodles marinara with meatballs

Thursday 1/31 – Taco Thursday! (using ground turkey & whole grain shells / whole wheat tortillas) with fat free spicy refried beans

Friday 2/1 – Cilantro lime shrimp with fiesta lime rice

Saturday 2/2 – Dijon Pork Cutlets with baked crispy sweet potato fries