If only. . . .

We eat (and drink) with our eyes! If only my Skinny Caramel Macchiato that I had today actually looked like this!!

 And I wish my oatmeal looked like this!

I had both today when I went out for coffee with my friend Cindy.  Don’t get me wrong, they were both still very good, a really nice treat, but the coffee was served in the usual white paper cup, and I skipped the caramel drizzle because the guy said it wasn’t sugar free! Total for my drink was 4pp (even though WW online said it is 5pp!) I used the Nut. Information from Starbucks website to calculate the pts and I’m sticking with 4 (plus I didn’t drink the whole cup anyway).  The oatmeal was 3pp and the brown sugar on top 1pp.

You know I said I wasn’t an oatmeal kinda girl, but I have to tell you this was the best oatmeal I’ve ever had!. I think the brown sugar had a lot to do with it (because it was pretty bland tasting before I sprinkled it on). And it was only an instant packet too! I’m wondering if that’s all I need to do to make my oatmeal yummy? Make some plain oatmeal and add sugar? I will have to try it.

Well I started this post yesterday but didn’t get it finished so I’ll do it now. Today is Friday and that means WI day! I got on the scale this morning and  . . . . . . . . .  gained .6lb :-(

I’m really not surprised. I didn’t track very well at all last weekend and I think I’d gained about a pound by Monday. I did well the rest of the week and exercised too but it’s just not enough to get that pound back off AND some!  So, this weekend I MUST TRACK and even if I use my ‘weekly points’ which I often think I don’t but I obviously  do (I just don’t track them!) I should at least try to stay within those 49 pts.  So, all is not lost, I don’t feel down about it, quite the opposite, it just motivates me to keep going in this direction which I know is the right one. How can eating fruit and veg and exercising be wrong? ;-)

I’m ready for Spring!

I can’t bring myself to say I’m ready for Summer! I’m never ready for Summer. The past few summer’s here in TX have been brutal. I’ve been here for over 6 years and I honestly don’t think they were as bad those first 2 or 3 years (or was that cos I had a house with a pool in it? yeah,  that might have been why!). We moved 4 years ago and this house does not have a pool in it – it does have a neighborhood pool just around the corner, but …. and that’s a BIG BUT!

Anyway, Spring I like – Spring I can take any day :-)  I just wish it was today. Our winters here in Central TX are very mild but it can still get cold, (we had snow last week!) and it can get VERY windy, like it is tonight. I’m always cold in the house and walk around wrapped up in my long grey cardigan. I would just like it to get warm enough where I can take my cardi off and ‘feel slimmer’! Yes, wearing layers makes me feel fat – doesn’t it you?  I just want to shed some layers, get back in to a thin t-shirt and some capris, wear flip flops! Oh I know it will all come soon enough, but, I’m just wishing out loud.

Breakfast this morning was quick and simple, 1 cup of Cheerios, 1 cup of ff milk, 1 banana and 1/2 cup blueberries. Total 5pp

  I just discovered this Lactose Free milk a couple of weeks ago when I sampled it in the grocery store. To be honest I’m not much into milk. If I don’t have cereal in the morning I never get any! Most days I don't’ get my dairy in  as per the GHG’s! Bad I know, but a fact. I often find milk a bit too ??? how shall I put it?  ‘slimey’!!!!

This one is Lactose free AND it has more protein and more calcium than regular milk! I tried the 2% at the store and really liked it.  I don’t think I’m lactose intolerant, I mean I like cheese and yogurts and can drink milk when I have a freshly baked cookie in my hand no problem, but I thought I’d give this a try (it’s the protein in it that I like – anything to fill me up more) ;-) So I had a full cup today which means I got my dairy in. I think I’ll try to have cereal more this week.

Lunch was a big salad with 2 oz poached chicken. And dinner tonight was Mediterranean Couscous with veggies and tomatoes (I just cooked some frozen veg and added a can of tomatoes) and another 2oz of chicken.  It looks pretty bland but the couscous had a nice curry flavor to it.  1c couscous 5pp, 20z chicken 2pp (I’m not counting 1cup of veg and toms).

I must admit I’m getting a bit stuck on what to eat each night for dinner.  I wish WW had a cooking show on Foodnetwork. I love watching the cooking shows but wouldn’t it be great if they showed you the yummy recipes AND gave you the pts+ values!

Missed a few . . .

. . . days posting that is!  Can’t believe I haven’t posted since Thursday AND I haven’t taken any photos to share since then either!

But it’s Monday, a good day to get back on track (not that my eating was off track, just my blogging) ;-)  I weighed myself on Friday morning, and had a .6 loss. Better than a gain but I’d really like to see 1lb every week if I could.  I am determined to be more committed this week with eating AND exercising.

I finally opened this. . . .

 This is the dvd I got when I bought WW books and calculator last year . I used all the books and loved the calculator (have since bought their new one, but didn’t bother with new books) but never opened the dvd!!! I have been using my ‘Walk Away The Pound's’ dvd’s and the Reebok bench training dvd. Well I was happily surprised at this one, it has 5 different 20 minute workouts, from pilates/yoga to cardio dance. I could do a different one each day from Mon to Fri then take the weekend off!  I actually started it yesterday and did the 20 minute pilates one. It was really good. Only problem is it isn’t in the WW activity tracker online so I’m just having to put in 20 mins of pilates, and it says I get 1 activity point.

So, no pictures of food today. Except this one. . .

I’m having a little giveaway over at my daily blog. This is what you can win. The pack includes a coupon for a free bag of frozen smoothie from yoplait , a cute pink water bottle, diet and fitness journal and a little backpack. You can leave a comment on THIS POST for  a chance to win.

Thursday already?!

Wow, this week is flying by. Just wanted to make a quick post (incase my sis is dropping by to peek in) ;-)

It’s really cold here right now, we may even get snow tomorrow (very rare for Central Texas!). I’ve been doing well with eating this week and I’ve worked out on Monday and Wednesday and today. But if I’m honest I don’t feel any ‘lighter’ so I’ll be lucky if I’ve lost half a pound this week! Weigh In day is tomorrow.

I finally found some PopChips at Target this week. I’ve heard these are really good and only 3pp for about 22 of them!

I wasn’t disappointed! These were super yummy. Chips are my downfall, I could eat bags and bags of them. I haven’t had any of the ‘real’ ones in weeks, so these really helped satisfy my craving.

Lunch yesterday was one cup of progresso soup, tuna wrap and pop chips, total 5pp :-)

 

One of my fav afternoon snacks.. low fat cottage cheese and fruit, only 2pp.

I will post more tomorrow with an update on my weigh in. I really need to take some measurements too, I haven’t done that since I started back at the beginning of the year!

It’s Monday!

I didn’t mention last Friday that I had changed my weigh in day! It was actually Friday AND I’m happy to say I lost 2lb! :-)  Super happy about that. I think Monday is a bad day to weigh for me because often times the weekend is when I splurge and use up extra points, have a few glasses of wine, nibble chips etc… and when I weigh on Monday morning I see no difference on the scale because any weight I lost from Monday to Friday just seems to go straight back on again over the weekend.

I felt really good last week for eating right and tracking daily and working out for 4 consecutive days, that by Friday I decided to get on the scale and see if there was any difference from Monday, and yes, the difference was a whole 2lbs.

I did have a martini over the weekend, and nibbled some chips on Saturday night, but no damage done and I’m back to good eating today.

I made the Cabernet Meat Sauce over the weekend and had some with my spaghetti squash. It was really nice, the red wine gives the flavor a lot of depth! I’ll be having some for dinner again tonight, while hubs and dd have the ‘real deal… spaghetti pasta and meatballs w/garlic bread. No bread for me, I’ll probably do some brocolli on the side for dd and me (it’s her fav vegetable, actually only one she’ll eat).

Here’s a few other things I ate over the weekend. . .

Sunday morning breakfast with hubby. . . Jenni-o turkey sausage, fried egg, tomatoes and a slice of toast, 5pp.

Smart Ones oriental chicken (5 or 6 pp, can’t remember) and a salad with 1 tblsp of light sesame dressing.

      I totally splurged yesterday and ate a whole SNICKER bar!!! 8pp.

I only had 4 pp left for dinner so I had a big salad with cottage cheese and a 1/4 cup of imitation crab. This stuff is so dry over here, much nicer back in England, as is a lot of things. My sister can get some really yummy WW products over there!

Anyway, that’s a recap of the weekend. I’ll try to stick with taking pics of my food and post daily. Did a 20min toning work-out today :-)

It’s Friday!

I missed posting yesterday, so I’ll catch up a little today before I jump off here and catch up with laundry and housework! Yesterday I went to a friend’s for coffee at 9.30am. We used to meet regularly but over the past year we kinda got out of the habit and went months without getting together. Not that I didn’t see my friend at all, we are in the same book club so we’d sometimes catch up at the monthly meetings. But it was nice to finely make an effort to set a date and have a cuppa and a chat.

Before I went out I still wanted to have breakfast after dropping Kristen off at school. I thought I would try pumpkin oatmeal! I don’t know why but I just kept wa nting to try it. I checked recipes online and it seems you can just add pumpkin to your oatmeal and voila! Hmm, well, this is not a keeper that’s for sure. To be honest I’m not really an oatmeal kinda gal. I’ve never really liked it, I just try to eat it cos it’s good for me. What I usually eat is instant packet stuff, the healthy kind that isn’t full of sugar. I would still eat those packets now and then, but THIS! homemade oatmeal with pumpkin – not so much!  I didn’t like the texture at all and didn’t even eat half of this bowl (which would have been about 4pp)!

Not to worry, my sweet friend knew I was following weightwatchers and offered me a Vitamuffin Top with my coffee :-)  I’ve never had one before, mainly because I never see them in my local grocery store (she got her supply from Costco). I had the dark chocolate one and really liked it. Cindy (my friend) gave me another to bring home with me and a Banana Nut one to try too . . . guess what was for breakfast this morning ;-)

Vitatop Banana Nut muffin, 3pp – 1 egg +eggwhite, 2pp and fruit.

Lunch yesterday was something else new . . Healthy Choice Honey Balsamic Chicken. I took my ww calculator along to the grocery store so I could check the points of other healthy microwave meals (to be honest some of those SmartOnes are just not that appetizing!) I have to say, this meal was one of the best frozen ones I’ve had in a long time. That balsamic dressing was really tasty, tangy and sweet! I liked that there were a lot of potato pieces in it too.

I had it with a little 0pp side salad (just a few spritz of ranch dressing) and a small navel orange.

Now, I must confess, I was a little naughty last night (no I didn’t eat something I shouldn’t) I actually didn’t eat something I should have! DINNER! I had no dinner! Not a healthy thing to do but I just wasn’t hungry and couldn’t decide on what to eat.

Hubby had left of Mexican food from his fav restaurant (he brought it home with him from work), I gave dd the split pea soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I was going to have this myself but I just didn’t feel hungry for it and didn’t want to waste my points! Ended up not using my points at all :-/   The spaghetti squash above was also a possibility for dinner but I hadn’t made  any tomato sauce to go with it. I’ll be doing that today. Found this recipe for Cabernet Meat Sauce that was linked up at Danica’s blog. It sounds delicious and I have to make it today :) I’ll let you know what it turns out like – how could it not be good with a cup of red wine in it?!!

So, it’s Friday – it’s the weekend! Wish me luck that I don’t ‘cave’ and eat (or drink) all the wrong things!  I’ll be back on Monday.

Sunny but cold…

I wish the weather would warm up, or at least I wish I COULD warm up! It’s not really that cold outside this week. This morning was very frosty but it was forecast to get up to 61 today and it’s very sunny out.  I just can’t seem to warm up! It doesn’t help that I’m indoors most days not being very active (except when I do my dvd workouts, then I’m hot for about 15 minutes!). I’m looking forward to Spring so I can go outside without shivering, work in the yard a little and plant spring flowers – but we’re not quite there yet.  Still, most of the country is still under snow so I should count myself lucky. I love the snow but would only want it around Christmas time. Now that the holidays are over I would much prefer to feel the sun on my face and see the daffodils flowering!

Breakfast today was 1 nutrigrain waffle, 1 egg + 1eggwhite, and some fruit –total 4pp. Plus my coffee of course!

I decided to make some of Gina’s Split Pea Soup today. I often make my own but usually use the ham bone after Thanksgiving or Easter (but I find that the soup has a lot of fat in when I do that, not very ww friendly I don’t think)… so I used Gina’s recipe HERE. I had one cup at lunch time with a romaine salad – forgot to take pics cos my camera was upstairs. The above picture is the ham and pea soup I’ve made in the past. Gina’s was just as good and not greasy at all.  Total for soup and salad, 5pp.

AND because I couldn’t warm up this afternoon, I took Richella’s idea of making your own hot cocoa and got my two servings of dairy in at the same time.

1 cup fat free milk, 2pp 3 tsp cocoa, 0pp and a little splenda, then a tblsp free cool whip on top! It’s a great way to get my dairy, unfortunately I don’t always feel like drinking hot chocolate – but today I did!

A hearty taco salad for dinner tonight – total 8pp.