Who Likes Veggies?

As I spend my morning surfing the net looking for recipes to try this week I realize that I really need to find a way to get excited (or at least agree to eat) veggies.  I just really don't like them.  My mother tells me that I used to like them and that we used to fight over them at the kitchen table, but somehow I just don't believe it! 

I can handle corn (not the best choice), I can handle cucumbers... onions are good and lettuce...  as long as it's not iceburg.  I am learning to like Spinach, but really... other than those, I'd prefer to go without.  I know that's kind of sad and it certainly doesn't help with a healthy diet.

What I DID find tho' was another blogspot user whose blog is named the Veggie Venture!  There are many ideas for veggies of all sorts and I must say that some of them looked really good!  I won't post specific recipes until I try them and approve... :) but feel free to check out Veggie Venture yourself!  It seems like it was a more active site aroun '05-'08, but a good recipe is always good, no matter when it was posted.

Day Twelve

Special K cereal and milk
coffee and creamer and banana
Steak Fresco Burrito and spanish rice and taco bell...
bow tie noodles and alfredo sauce
smart pop kettle corn
banana
butterscotch pudding

Is eating slowly important?

One of the things that I have been really focusing on in the last week is eating more slowly.  Putting down the fork between bites.  Chew the food consciously rather than just to get it down my throat.  It's amazing how good this stuff actually tastes!  You should try it sometime.  Pay attention to how fast you are eating...

Interesting article about rate of eating being as important as the meal's content... <click here>

still???

Well... I still don't know the problem... back is stil spasming!  I woulda thought that 4 aleve would have helped, but I guess not.  No more of those.... :(  Suppose it could have been swimming last night, but I'll tell ya what!  I don't care.... my body can get as pissed as it wants.  I'm still swimming.  I know it's a lot of weight to move around, but that's changing so sooner or later it won't hurt anymore...

Holy Lower Back Pain Batman!

I don't know what's going on this morning, but holy moly does my lower back hurt...  Not the normal kind of pain where something's pinched but the fun spasming kind of pain that's consistent and nagging.  Talk about TGIF!!!  I can't wait for the day to be over so I can go home and chill on a heating pad.  Anyone got good suggestions for this?

Day Eleven

Nothing super exiting to post tonight, not that's weight/health related anyway.  Got a new phone?  That's kinda cool... :)  Awful tired right now and there's nothing witty coming to mind.  I hope that everyone has a great night and I will see you's all in da mornin'.
Special K 3/4 cup with 1/2 cup non-fat milk and a banana
Coffee with Creamer
1/2 clementine 1 cup Roasted Chicken soup with Italian Herbs/Crackers
Turkey, cheese, lettuce sandwich and veggie chips

Day Ten

Special K cereal 1/2 cup non-fat milk
Coffee with vanilla creamer and splenda
Apple
Lean Cuisine Roasted Honey Chicken
Banana
Steak Fresco Burrito and spanish rice and taco bell...
1/2 clementine
sugar free oreo pudding

Off to class...

Leaving to try to go to class again... hopefully this time it doesn't get cancelled.  I have some fruit with me and a couple of munchy snacks, but the big decision is what to eat on the way....  won't have time for something at home.  Thank goodness for this Eating Out guide from Weight Watchers... saves me a LOT of time in looking and deciding.

losing steam today

Well... I got up early today.  At least it's early for me.  If I compare my work schedule to Chris' I get to sleep in regularly, but as I say... it was early for me.  Now I am dragging a bit.  It's weird how only an hour difference can mess with the routine.  Plus I am tired *yawn*... see?

This day of the week is harder because, as many of you know, I have class on Wednesday nights.  4 hours (or supposed to be)... every Wednesday.  It's a good thing the class is great to be with and the instructors are mostly cool too.  Today's just different cuz of getting up early.

I only drink the decaffeinated coffee so that won't help and I want to stay away from soda entirely if I can.  Sounds like there will be a need to find other ways to make it through the Wednesdays.  All the way until 930 tonight PLUS the ride home from class.  Any suggestions?

Day Nine

Finished up today with a nice long swim in the pool... I can tell I am going to be sore tomorrow again, but that's OK.  A full hour... hope I sleep good.

Banana Breakfast
6 inch Wheat sub from Subway with bacon, pepperjack, and sweet onion sauce plus veggies
leftover casserole from Sunday
banana
fat free oreo jello

Results!!

Well... with the battery dying on the stupid scale and being out of office for a couple of days I'm super late weighing in for the week.  I was able to take a moment and get on the scale before lunch.  What's wrong with me right?  Excited to get on a scale???  Crazy lady!

Well... looks like 4 pounds gone.  Not a bad start.  I am used to my low carb diets where I loose like 8-10 pounds the first week, but I am happy with 4.  The way I have been eating this week is certainly something I could sustain long term which is my main goal.... LONG TERM.

So congrats to me for sticking with it for the first week!  Reward is -4 lbs!  Yay me.

Stupid Scale

Since I forgot to weigh in yesterday morning at a week, I did this morning... just to find out that my scale's batteries have been dying, which means that the last few weigh ins may or may not have been accurate... kind of a bummer.  I think the scale was off by a couple of pounds (or at least I hope).  I think what I will do is look to the scale at work.  They've GOT to be more accurate, right?  I mean... it's a healthcare facility!

Day Eight

Special K cereal and non-fat milk
banana
Sesame Chicken Lean Cuisine and sweet Tea (Splenda)
clementine
Chimichangas with sourcream/cheese

A version of a Chimichanga

This didn't turn out too bad either... I only made half the recipe and will prolly bake the rest later in the week.  I butchered this one way too much to paste the link here...  They are kind of high points, but you could really cut back with some healthier tortillas and no rice...

1 lb ground beef 90% or better
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili seasoning
1/2 cup Chunky Salsa
1 pkg (about 2 1/2 cups) spanish rice
10 8 inch flour tortillas

preheat oven to 475 degrees... spray 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray
prepare rice according to package or favorit recipe
brown beef with onion.  drain. mix in garlic, chili seasoning,rprepared rice and salsa. Simmer 3 minutes, stirring frequently. 
spoon 1/2 cup mixture into each tortilla and place in pan.  Cover and bake for 15 minutes.
Serve with non-fat sour cream and low-fat cheese to taste.

filling - 3 points
tortilla - 3 points
1 Tbsp sour cream - 1 point
1/4 cup shredded cheese - 1 point

Oh... and by the way.. this one's making it to the recipe box too!

Hunger Pains

Don't you hate it when your stomach's growling, but you just ate?  I am finding it interesting this time around as I am trying to re-train my brain to recognize actual hunger vs. habit or cravings.  It's always been that I would eat dinner and no matter how full I was I would want a dessert right away... something sweet.  This also happens to me in the middle of the night.  I wake up and can't fall asleep unless I have something to eat.

Even tho' I am working on this by 1) eating slowly (try putting the fork down inbetween every bite) and
2) keeping low point snacks available around the house.  So far I've been trying things like:

• sugar free jello and pudding
• special K cereal
• Individual size Popcorn
• granola bars
• Twizzlers
• veggie chips
• yogurt

Hope these things keep working... variety is the key... and it will be a challenge to keep coming up with new things.

I forgot my first week weigh in!!!

Well... I was supposed to 'weigh in' this morning before getting dressed, but forgot!  Kyle's turn to feel sick this week and I had already eaten breakfast by the time I thought of it....  so I will just have to wait until tomorrow.  I hope it's a positive result because I am still feeling positive about the week and no weight loss at all would really get to me...

*yawn*

Night all... going to bed feeling satisfied and happy that I made it through a weekend without pigging out everynight.

Day Seven

1cup Special K berries with 1 cup fat free milk
Clementine and banana
banana
Beef, Broccoli, and Spinach Casserole with 2 slices french bread
Macadamia Nuts (1/4 cup)
Willie Wonka Gummie Bugs
no fat oreo pudding (middle of the night snack)

Trying Something New

In an effort to better prepare for dinner time I stepped outside my comfort zone today and went recipe searching.  I have a couple pounds of ground beef in the freezer so that was the protein focus of my searching.  I found a nice site with WW focused recipes.  One recipe had fresh mushroom in it and since there were some growing old in the bottom drawer of the fridge that one was the lucky winner.  So I made a shopping list... Kery helped me clean out a couple cupboards in search of specific ingredients and away we went.

Now... I have to tell you that I am NOT known for cooking and certainly not making things from scratch so this is a bigger deal for me than you might think.  There have been times that I've made dinners that no one would touch.  Chris is so good and just throwing things together with no recipe that I normally don't attempt to make new dishes.  I always stick to the tried and true meals that at least 3 of us like... :) (odd man out get peanut butter sandwich or ramen or whatever they can make themselves).

The website I borrowed the recipe from called it Beef Casserole Supreme, but on my recipe card I called it something else.  Oh.... did I say recipe card?  Why yes, I did.  This means that at least 3 of us liked the finished product.  Kyle said he didn't like it, but I didn't have to yell at him to get him to take additional bites.  This means it wasn't completely gross.  I did a couple of things differently than suggested... like instead of topping the casserole WITH the cheese, I mixed it in... I love gooey cheese!  The soup I used wasn't low-fat or light... I couldn't find that at the local store, but when I re-calculated the points it didn't seem to make that much of a difference (if any)  I also doubled the rice and added a quarter cup of milk.

The website says... serves 8, but I must say it could serve up to 10 with a side salad and bread.  There's no need for a veg on the side... This one's chocked full of them.  Oh... and I also used a larger package of broccoli... 16 oz I think.  Why not!  They are free on the WW plan.

serve 8 - 7 pts
serve 9 - 6 pts
serve 10 - 5.5 pts

End of the first week coming up!

Well... here I come up on the close of my first week 'counting'.  Most of the days haven't been as hard as I expected.  My only stumbling block was yesterday late... but I guess that's why the Weight Watchers plan has the handful of points that you can use at anytime during the week.

Reflections:  I need to do a little more planning for dinners.  Gotta have more variety and have things that we can all eat.  I don't want to be making meals for me  and separate ones for the rest of the family. 

Looking ahead:  I need to put more effort into being active.  GOTTA get up off the couch more, even tho' it's harder to do in these freezing temperatures.