Ahhh...I totally suck at posting lately!    I'm staying on track and logging everything in to WW Online, but I am not always making it over here to post my daily plan.   I've been in a weird mood with my eating this week.   I've wanted hot beverages more than food for some reason.  It has been hot outside, so I'm not sure why that's going on.   I have been saving a few points to have a hot chocolate most nights.  YUM!

I found this list today and wanted to share it on here so I could come back to it.    I really want to cut out as much of HFCS as possible from my diet and it is great to have a list!   Companies tend to change up ingredients without any warning, so always double-check!  

1/25/10

New Week:  29 daily points, 35 weekly points

Breakfast:
1/2 c. Fiber One Honey Clusters 1
w/ 1/2 small banana, 1/3 c. blueberries, 1 c. fat free milk 3

Lunch:
Chick-fil-A chicken noodle soup 3
Chick-fil-A sandwich on wheat w/ lettuce, tomato, no butter or pickles (YUCK) 8

Dinner:
2 slices homemade pizza  12
salad  2

Snack:
Hot Chocolate 2

Weekly Menu Plan

Here's the dinner plan for the week:

Monday: homemade pizza, salad

Tuesday:  open-faced roast beef sandwiches, steamed veggies

Wednesday:  Deep-dish Pizza Casserole, fruit salad

Thursday:  Chili

Friday:  leftovers

Saturday:  homemade burger, fries

Sunday:  Chicken Meatball Soup and sandwiches

Choices for breakfast:  oatmeal w/ fruit, turkey sausage/egg on English muffin, cereal w/ fruit
Choices for lunch:  PB&J or ham sandwiches, canned soup, grilled chicken pitas, salad

Weigh In

Okay...I'm back.  The campaign and voting are over and we managed to stay in 6th and win $100,000 for SMA research.  Well worth the effort last week.

I still managed to lose .4 lbs week, so it wasn't a total loss.  I thought I'd lose a bit more than that, but we had a bit of a high sodium dinner last night and then popcorn for a snack.

That puts me at 4.6 for the month I think?   Not too bad.  Hopefully I can make my 5 pound goal and earn my prize!

Monday 1/18/10

29 Daily Points, 35 WPAs

Breakfast:

1 c. Multigrain Cheerios 2

small banana 1.5

1/2 c. milk 1

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer .5

Lunch:

2 fajitas 10

beans 3

chips/salsa 4

(estimated)

Snack:

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer .5

Dinner:

4 oz. salmon 4

Crashed Red Potatoes (made with less oil than recipe)

steamed broccoli 0

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. We have a HUGE voting campaign going on over on Facebook. One of our SMA foundations has a chance to win some money from the Chase Community Giving campaign so I've been messaging and urging friends to vote through blogs, emails, and Facebook messages. It is taking up a lot of my time.

On a good note, I lost 1.6 pounds last week! Woo Hoo!

1/16/10

29 daily points

Breakfast:

English muffin w/ 1 egg and 1 turkey sausage patty 4

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

Chicken Sandwich 5.5

1 serving oven fries 3

Snack:

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Hostess 100-calorie lemon cakes 1

Dinner:

tilapia (w/ breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese) 2.5

1/2 c. mashed potatoes 2

green beans (w/ 1 tsp. butter) .5

Snack:

100-calorie bag of popcorn w/ 20 g. cranberries, 1 tbsp chocolate chips 4

raspberry tea 1

1/15/10

Okay...the last two days were off for me. I just didn't have the mental ability to think or track points. I think the fog has lifted a bit and I'm back today. I don't think I went over too much, but I'm going to say I've used all my extra points for the week and stick with my daily points for the next 3 days.

Daily Points 29

Breakfast:

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

English Muffin w/ 2 slices of bacon and 1 egg 4

2 c. fat-free milk 3.5

Snack:

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

Pizza Sub 4

Baked Ruffles 2

Dinner:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich 4

1 c. minestrone soup 1

Snack:

1 small slice taco braid 3

2 T. 7-layer dip 3

1 oz. tortilla chips 3

(all these are estimated; I had them at a party I went to!)

1 piece of chocolate

1/12/10

Sorry I missed posting yesterday! It was a busy day!

Daily Points 29, 35 WPAs

Breakfast:

1 c. Multi-grain Cheerios 2

1 c. fat-free milk 2

small banana 1.5

Snack:

Grande Skinny Latte from Starbucks 3

Lunch:

Olive Garden salad w/ 1 T. dressing 3

minestrone soup 2.5

1 bread stick 3

Andes Mint 1

Dinner:

Club Sandwich (ham, turkey, swiss cheese, avocado, lettuce tomato) 10.5

homemade fries 4.5

raspberry tea 1

Snack:

banana 1.5

banana oat muffin 3

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

It was a high point day, but the food was great and I had a nice time with Jason. I do okay staying on track most days so I figured I could splurge and use up some of my WPAs and still be fine for the week. I keep ending my week with too many of them left and I don't want to lose weight on too FEW calories or else I'll mess myself up when I try to eat normally later on.

1/11/10

New Week! Daily Points 29 WPAs 35

Breakfast:

1 c. multi-grain cheerios 3

1 c. fat-free milk 2

1 small banana 1.5

coffee 1/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

Lean Cuisine Pizza Bread 7

1/2 oz. Bake Cheetos 1.5

Raspberry Tea 1

Snack:

100-calorie Hostess Lemon Cakes 1

Dinner:

2 oz whole grain pasta w/ 1/2 c. pasta sauce 4

4 oz. chicken w/ bread crumbs 3.5

1/2 piece lite garlic bread 1.5

Snack:

apple 1

Yo Plus Vanilla Yogurt 2

Dove chocolate 1

Plans for dinner had to change for today. The avocado for our club sandwiches is not ripe yet so we had to figure out something else. I hope it is ready tomorrow and I'll just mark hot dogs off the meal plan for this week. I haven't bought the buns yet so that would save us some money.

I worked on cleaning out the pantry some today. I threw away a ton of old candy and half empty boxes. I just wish I could get the freezer cleaned out because it is a MESS!

Weigh in today: -2.6 pounds

Yay me! I can almost smell my new Philosophy body wash. :)

Meal Plan for the Week

Meal Plan for this week:

On hand for breakfast: oatmeal, turkey sausage, eggs, English muffins, cereal, fruit

On hand for lunches: lunch meat, peanut butter, soup, Morningstar products, Lean Pockets

Monday: Club Sandwiches (whole grain buns, turkey, ham, avocado, low-fat cheese) with sweet potato fries

Tuesday: Hot dogs (Ballpark Turkey Franks, Whitewheat buns, turkey chili) with oven fries

Wednesday: turkey, roasted sweet potatoes, corn, and stuffing

Thursday: turkey noodle soup with sandwich?; making a turkey casserole for Jason's lunch

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: BBQ Chicken pizza, spinach salad

Sunday: spaghetti w/ homemade meat sauce

This is a bit of an easy week. This week is the anniversary week of Eli's death so I didn't want to make anything too complicated. The turkey will be a bit of work, but it needs to be cooked and we should get several meals from it. I am determined to get my outside freezer cleaned out so I can defrost it and start over!

I am hoping to do a fish or shrimp recipe that includes pineapple salsa next week as I've had that in my head forever.

1/10/10

29 daily points, 25 WPAs, 2 APs

Breakfast:

Amy's Steel-cut oatmeal bowl 5

-1 tsp brown sugar, 20 grams Craisins

coffee 2/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

2 slices pizza 12

spinach salad 1

-1 T. raspberry vinaigrette, 10 grams Craisins

Snack:

decaf coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Hostess 100-calorie lemon cakes 1

Dinner:

Hamburger (4oz 93/7 ground beef, Nature's Own Whitewheat bun 5

Oven Fries (2 servings) 5

Snack:

Hot Chocolate (made w/ 1 c. milk) 3

Quaker Peanut Butter Dipps bar 3

Snack 2:

1 c. milk 2

banana 1.5

1/9/10

29 daily points, 27.5 WPAs, 2 APs

Breakfast:

1 c. Multigrain Cheerios 2

1/2 c. fat-free milk 1

Lunch:

3/4 Chick-fil-A grilled chicken sandwich 3.5

Chick-fil-A chicken noodle soup 3

Snack:

popcorn 2

20 grams Craisins 1

Dinner:

2 slices homemade pizza 12

Snack:

Hot chocolate made w/ 1 c. skim milk 5

piece of chocolate 1

Confession time: I went through the drive-thru today to grab something that wasn't totally healthy. I usually have one "cheat" meal a week where I eat something that I don't consider healthy. I still stay within my points, but just have a bit of a splurge to keep the binges away. While I was sitting in the drive-thru, I saw a very morbidly obese man come out of the restaurant. He was walking with a cane and was obviously on oxygen to help him breathe. It was a HUGE wake up call for me and I ordered something healthy instead of the chicken strips and fries I was planning on getting. We are having pizza for dinner tonight so I'll consider that my splurge for the week. :)

Here is an interesting article I found today. I admit I used to eat too many frozen meals back when I was working. It was easier to grab one of those than try to plan out something. I actually don't like them very much now, maybe because of all the sodium, but they did serve a purpose at one point in my life. I just seem to be sensitive to salt and find most things have too much sodium for my taste buds now. I have to say, 20% is HUGE to those of us trying to lose weight and eat better!

************************

Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine Meals Have More Calories Than Advertised

By Meg Marco on January 8, 2010 11:42 AM

If you're a fan of using frozen Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and South Beach Living meals to control your caloric intake -- you might be interested to know that a news study says the dinners have eight per cent more calories than the labels said.

From the AP:

“

The researchers and other experts aren't accusing restaurants and food companies of trying to deceive customers. They said most of the discrepancies can be explained by variations in ingredients, portion sizes and testing methods

”

In addition to the frozen foods, the study showed that restaurant meals had calorie counts that were much more inaccurate -- an average of 18% higher than advertised.

Domino's thin-crust pizza actually had 1/3 fewer calories, while the restaurant chain Denny's is objecting to the study's claim that their grits have 3 times as many calories as advertised.

The FDA allows a 20% margin of error. Is >20% either way a big deal to you?

Why I like Weight Watchers...

(yes, I was in love with my new toy!)

...I know it works!

What doesn't work is thinking it is a diet. I am promising myself that I will not go back this time. Life was cruel to me last year, but that doesn't mean I must punish myself with food. Being fat sucks and nobody can honestly say they are happy being that overweight. I can't wait to get back in my jeans that didn't come from the damn plus-sized department. It was so amazing to try them on and buy them....why did I left myself forget how good that felt?

1/8/10

29 daily points, 28.5 WPAs, 2 APs

Breakfast:

egg 2

Jimmy Dean turkey sausage patty 1

Nature's Own Double Fiber bread 0

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

Chicken fajita 4

-low carb tortilla, avocado slices, onions, 2oz chicken

1/2 c. black beans 1

Snack:

2 cups fat-free milk 3.5

Oikos Blueberry Greek Yogurt (fat free) 2

Dinner:

Pulled Pork Sandwich 4

Sweet Potato Fries 3

Snack:

decaf coffee w/ 1 T. Coffeemate creamer 1

Nutragrain bar 3

Snack 2:

Sugar-free Jello pudding cup 1

1 oz. Baked Cheetos 3

I know, I know... how many more times can I eat fajitas and black beans? They just taste so good to me right now. I'm just glad it is not cookies or brownies I'm stuck on!

I will NEVER buy Nutragrain bars again. I think I got them on sale ages ago when I wasn't really paying attention to labels. The first ingredient listed is HFCS! Ugh. I hate that stuff.

To Try: Tomato and Basil Topped Bruschetta

I have been wanting to make this forever! Jason doesn't like tomatoes so I'll have to wait until we have company over.

Tomato and Basil-Topped Garlic Bruschetta

Ingredients:

6 (1-oz) slices Italian bread or peasant bread

1 garlic clove, halved and divided

4 tsp. olive oil

3 c. finely chopped seeded tomato

1/4 c. finely chopped red onion

1 T. balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. capers

3 T. thinly sliced fresh basil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425. Arrange bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 8 minutes, turning after 4 minutes. Rub one side of toast with cute side of 1 garlic clove half; set toast aside. Mince remaining garlic clove half. Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic to plan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add tomato and onion to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat. Stir in vinegar and capers. Cool completely. Stir in basil, salt, and pepper. Spoon 1/3 cup tomato mixture onto each toast slice. Serve immediately.

6 servings: 128 calories, 4.2 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber

To Try: Three-Cheese Baked Penne

I'm always looking for some good comfort food recipes and this definitely looks like one to me!

Three Cheese Baked Penne

*Quick and Easy*

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. uncooked whole wheat penne

2 4-oz links sweet turkey Italian sausage

1 c. finely chopped green bell pepper

1 1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/8 tsp. black pepper

dash of salt

10 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 garlic clove, minced

1 (8-oz) can garlic-and-herb tomato sauce

3/4 c. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. crumbled goat cheese

1/4 c. grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm. Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Remove casings from sausage. Add to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring to crumble. Add bell pepper and next 6 ingredients to plan; saute 6 minutes or until bell pepper is tender. Stir in tomato sauce. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta to pan, tossing gently to coat. Spoon pasta mixture tin an 8-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Stir in mozzarella and goat cheese; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes or until bubbly and top is browned.

Makes 6 1 1/4 cup servings. 326 calories, 10.9 grams of fat, 4.9 grams of fiber.

From Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2009

No wonder we are all fat...

We all know that there are tons of new diet fads that come out each year. This time of year is filled with advertisements for new exercise products, weight loss supplements, and great new diets that promise great abs with barely any exercise. The newest ad I've noticed is for the Drive-Thru Diet that Taco Bell is currently promoting. It reminds me of the KFC ads that were trying to promote their fried chicken as something healthy and the Subway Jared campaign that has been running for years now. I can appreciate and thank restaurants for having low-fat, semi-healthy options for those times when you really can't make dinner at home. It is always good to see more options out there, but to promote them as a diet plan is going a bit far. I hope people who do eat out for lunch every day can switch to some of the healthier choices and maybe that will make a bit of a difference for them. Most people have no idea how many calories or how much fat and sodium is even in fast food. It is scary folks!

The hard part of weight loss for me is keeping it off. Diets don't work. Lifestyle changes work. You have to change your eating in way that you can live with for the rest of your life. If not, you will gain it back. I did. We stopped putting in the effort to plan meals and cook at home and here I am, fat and miserable yet again. Our circumstances were a bit out of the norm, but we stopped doing what worked and now we have to start over. I am going to forgive myself because losing Eli was hell and I don't think meal planning and cooking were even possible when living under the extreme burden of grief. We are still grieving, but at some point, I have to say enough. Enough eating out, enough drowning my sorrows in junk, ENOUGH. So here I am, trying. If I don't, I'm going to continue down the path of early death and a miserable lifestyle.

That's my bit of a soapbox speech for the day. :)

1/7/10

Daily Points 29, 30.5 WPAs, 2 APs

Breakfast:

Quaker Oatmeal 3

-1/2 cup blueberries, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups fat-free milk 3

coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Lunch:

Ham Sandwich 2.5

1/2 oz Baked Cheetos 1.5

Snack:

1/2 oz Baked Cheetos 1.5

Raspberry Tea 1

1/3 c. Craisins

Snack #2:

decaf coffee w/ 1 T. half-and-half .5

Nature Valley Crunchy PB Granola Bars 4

Dinner:

2 Fajitas (chicken, avocado, onions, low carb tortilla) 6

1/2 c. black beans 1

Snack #3:

Multigrain Cheerios w/ 1/2 c. skim milk 3

-1/2 c. blueberries .5

I had old-fashioned oatmeal this morning. It is amazing how much more you get when you compare it to the oatmeal packets! I could barely finish it all. I have been bored and restless today, so that leads to snacking. :( I've done okay with keeping it within my points, but it did take some effort. I am going to have one more snack later but make it cereal w/ fruit and milk.

1/6/10

29 daily points, 30.5 WPAs, 2 activity points

Breakfast:

1 cup Smart Start Cereal 3

1 cup fat-free milk 2

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer 1

Lunch:

Ham and tomato sandwich 2.5

1/2 ounce Baked Cheetos 1.5

Snack:

1 cup fat-free milk 2

Jello Vanilla sugar-free pudding 1

Dinner:

Chicken Fajitas (2) 8.5

- carb balance tortillas, grilled chicken, peppers, onions, sliced avocado

1/2 cup black beans 1

(can I just say...double YUM on this dinner!)

Snack:

Dove Miniature Peppermint Bark 1

100-calorie Popcorn w/ 1/3 c. Craisins 3

I am guessing the cereal must have been more filling than usual. I didn't find myself hungry for lunch until almost 2 today. For a positive change, I decided to try to replace my coffee creamer with half-and-half. I'll start it as soon as I use up the last bit of creamer and hope I like it! The creamer has some ingredients that I'm not a big fan of so I hope I can make the switch! My veggies/fruit are a bit low today. We were out of bananas and had no berries for my cereal. I got both today at the store so tomorrow should be better.

1/5/10

29 daily points, 34.5 WPAs, 2 activity points

Breakfast:

Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage patty 1

Egg 2

Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat toast 1

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer 1

Lunch:

PB & J sandwich 5

1/2 ounce Baked Doritos 1

2 cups milk 3.5

Snack:

Cascadian Farms Vanilla Chip granola bar 3

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer and 1 tsp. sugar (to help my headache)

Dinner:

3.5 ounces sockeye salmon 4

1/2 cup wild rice 3

steamed broccoli 0

Snack:

1 cup tropical fruit 3

I found myself still hungry tonight, so I decided to use some of my WPAs and have another snack before bed. I've been having trouble sleeping and I knew going to bed hungry would just add to my issues. I had some oatmeal for 3 points!

I got all my water in today! I have made 1,000,000 trips to the bathroom, but I drank it!

*****************

We went to the movies today and did great. We took our own bottled water and had granola bars as our snack. I don't even like the popcorn at the movies, so it is never too big of a challenge for me. I would totally recommend going to see Avatar!

1/4/10

Here's my daily tracking:

29 points for today, 35 WPAs for week

Breakfast:

1 cup Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal 3

1 cup fat-free milk 2*

1 small banana 1*

coffee w/ 1 T. creamer 1

Lunch:

2 oz ham on 2 slices whole wheat bread w/ baby spinach 2.5

1 cup Minestrone soup 1*

apple 1*

WATER

Snack:

Blueberry Non-Fat Greek Yogurt 2

Dinner:

5 ounce t-bone steak, cooked & trimmed 9

1 tsp olive oil on steak 1*

steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots 0*

Betty Crocker 3 Cheese Potatoes 1/3 cup 1

Snack:

decaf coffee w/ 1 T. creamer 1

Quaker Dipps Chocolate Chip Bar 3

100-calorie bag popcorn 1

Activity:

15 minutes Wii Fit

15 minutes treadmill

Just as a refresher....

Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines

1. FIVE servings of fruit and vegetables each day. Each 1/2 cup is a serving, except leafy greens which require 1 cup. A single piece of fruit is also one serving.

2. Choose whole grains when possible. Replace that white bread and pasta with some better for you brown stuff! (Check the labels; enriched flour is a no-no)

3. TWO dairy servings a day. Each serving should contain at least 30% of the RDA of calcium. 1 cup of milk is a serving, as is 1 ounce of cheese.

4. DRINK 6 to 8 glasses (1 glass = 8 ounces) of water each day.

5. Two servings of healthy oil each day. (1 teaspoon = 1 serving) What counts as a healthy oil? Olive, canola, safflower, sunflower, or flaxseed.

6. Two servings of lean protein each day. Lean meat, fish, skinless poultry, and eggs all count towards this requirement.

7. Limit sugar and alcohol. (GROAN, right?) If you must have a drink, stop at one and try to make it a low calorie one at least.

8. Vitamin! This is the easy one. Take your multivitamin each day and you can check this one off.

I'm going to attempt to follow these again; I do lose better and FEEL better when I follow the plan correctly.

I'm back with my head hanging low in shame....

Well....the holidays are behind me and that's all I'm going to say about that. Back to the behaving better. Being an emotional eater does not work well with weight loss efforts, especially when you are spending your first holiday without your beautiful baby boy. The first anniversary of his death is coming up in 10 days so we'll see if I can stay on track....the rest of the month is going to be a big challenge for me. If I can lose at least 5 pounds this month, I will reward myself with new bottle of Philosophy body wash!

Most important thing to stay on track....PLAN!

Here's my dinner plan for the week. Breakfast is easy, usually cereal/fruit/skim milk or oatmeal/toast/milk. Lunch is sandwich with either chips/fruit/soup.

Dinner Plans:

Monday - steak, steamed broccoli, potato of some sort

Tuesday - salmon, steamed mixed veggies, rice

Wednesday - chicken fajitas, black or refried beans

Thursday - pizza on pita bread, sweet potato fries

Friday - pulled pork sandwiches, baked fries

Saturday - homemade pizza on whole wheat crust, salad

Let's see how well I can stick to it. I need to make my shopping list now so I can be ready for each day!

Happy New Year.