WW Struggles and Cooking tips

I know that I have been really struggling these past few weeks, and others of you have, too. I just HATE doing without my treats on the weekends and it has been really hard. I could really identify with Alicia as she struggled to avoid getting a blizzard at McDonald's (actually, they're called McFlurry -- apparently blizzards are at dairy queen!). I LOVE those things too, and with the warmer weather, they just sounded SOOOO good! I managed to avoid getting one, too, but on Friday, I couldn't resist going by McDonald's on the way to work on Friday morning and getting some of their cinnamon minis for breakfast. I went to the McDonald's website for nutrition information and OMG they are 10 points!!!! But they were SOOO good! I had a diet coke with them (now there's an irony, eh?!?) and so by mid-morning I had a raging headache from the sugar and the caffeine, which I had managed to wean myself off of in the mornings (still have to have it at noon). And now I've woken up the craving for real sugar again, so I sort of feel like I'm back to square one again. Oh well, today is another day...

Oh, and by the way? A 12-oz. Oreo McFlurry is 13 points -- OUCH!! The good news is, that you could have one every once in awhile using your FlexPoints! I love it that you can go online and get nutrition information for a lot of the chain restaurants. Papa Murphy's has a brochure with their nutrition information on it in their stores.

Speaking of treats, one of the hardest things for me to give up has been my Dutch Bros. Freeze. I LOVE those things!!! I called the corporate offices and figured the POINTS value for a small freeze, and it is six points. That's A LOT but at least I can have a small one for breakfast once in awhile. YUMMMM!!!

I don't know how many of you have access to the WW website, but I got these tips off the site and thought I'd post them here. Perhaps one or two (or all 11) tips will be helpful to us in our weight loss journey. Hope you find them helpful!

1. Sauté your vegetables in a little chicken or vegetable broth instead of butter or oil. That's a POINTS value of zero for the broth versus a POINTS value of 1 (per teaspoon) for butter or oil.

2. Thicken soups with prepared instant mashed potatoes instead of heavy cream. The instant spuds have just a POINTS value of 3 for 1/2 cup, versus a POINTS value of 12 per 1/2 cup of cream.

3. Opt for a strong-flavored cheese. You'll get much more flavor from crumbled blue cheese, for instance, than from shredded cheddar, so you can maximize taste with a lesser amount.

4. Chop and toast nuts to cut back on the total amount of nuts needed in a recipe. Toasting maximizes their flavor, and chopping them allows you to cover more "ground." Also, experiment with using toasted rolled oats in lieu of nuts in some baked goods.

5. Make your own whole milk substitute. Swap it for fat-free milk and add a little fat-free yogurt, pureed tofu or powdered skim milk to thicken it up.

6. Swap applesauce for 1/3 of the total butter or oil in a cookie or cake recipe (light-colored batters) — or substitute pureed prunes for that same amount if you're making a chocolaty dessert. You'll add moisture while subtracting calories.

7. Many people know that you can use fat-free egg substitute in place of whole eggs. But did you know that you can substitute 2 egg whites for 1 whole egg in most recipes? Then, to make egg-based dishes like frittatas and casseroles look more authentic, try adding a little turmeric to the whites for a more natural appearance.

8. Use pureed silken or soft tofu in place of cream in dressings and pasta dishes.

9. Replace the mayonnaise in tuna, egg, pasta and chicken salads with pureed, seasoned silken tofu or plain low-fat yogurt, dressed up with your favorite diced vegetables and seasonings.

10. Make your own taco shells by hanging soft fat-free tortillas directly over an oven rack and baking at 400°F until crisp.

11. Chop, grate, shred. You can top a casserole with much less shredded cheese than cheese cubes or slices. The same goes for shaved chocolate, shredded coconut, chopped nuts and other foods with high POINTS values.

a slacker....

okay, so I am a slacker....I have to report that I didn't attend the last two weeks! The first week I was going to go, but then had an unexpected visitor...and this week, I had a hair appt....I haven't attempted to step on our scale at home, I hadn't been so good at tracking, and I know when I don't do that, I don't do well. Today, I was so tempted today to get some ice cream (like the ice cream at McDonalds like a blizzard, but I overcame it..Just kept thinking how many points it is and that I don't need it). I treated myself to a 2 pt ice cream sandwich (skinny cow). When I do count my points, I do great at staying on target. Right now my difficulty is getting in any sort of activity. With Justin being so little still it is hard to get any time for me! Last night Todd and I (and Justin) went to the part and walked a few laps.....I just need to get that dedicated part of me out and schedule the time in when Todd is at home to work out. I really need to get in at least 5 hours a week, but that is almost impossible for me at this point......Well, hoping for a better week this next week...maybe we will do more walks in the park....

A small gain . . .

Well, I was right -- last week's excesses took its toll on me this week. I gained .6 lbs. -- bummer!! I guess it could have been more, but I'm just glad it was only a little more than half a pound. Oh well, on to better things this week.

Things have been stressful at work with lots of changes happening, and planning our annual staff development day, so I'm sure this contributed to my not being able to stick to program.

How is everyone else doing?

Wow!

Well, today is my WW meeting day and I had been dreading it, since I had been SO bad this week. But amazingly enough, I posted a 3.2 lb. weight loss!!! I was absolutely amazed. I couldn't believe it. No doubt next week will be not so good, because for me, it seems to take a week before culinary excess takes it's toll on my weight! I'll have to try to be extra careful this week.

So my total weight loss to date is 12.4 lbs. Wooohoo!!! I am very excited. Got my 10 lb. sticker today. Kinda sounds like kindergarten LOL. I am thinking that the reason for cheating so much this week is that things are stressful at work. I need to find a way to comfort myself without food, but that is a lifetime habit. I've tried other things, and they just don't seem to work. Anyone with ideas?

How is everyone else doing? What's tough for me this time of year is Easter and all the chocolate in the stores. YIKES!!! This weekend, the weather in Chico is supposed to be gorgous -- low to mid-80s they say. Good time to get outside and take a long walk in the park or a bike ride. Also a good way to burn calories for extra points!! :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

My journey...

I signed up to be an author a little while ago and then our computer went caput and I have just been trying to keep afloat since then. Anyway, this site is so much support as it is always hard to stay away from the sweets or overeating or whatever the excuse would be. My husband helps too but it is just great to be on the weight loss journey with others. I am so encouraged by you all and Alicia it is soo hard to face that real weigh in. I should know because I have not taken that plunge yet. I am still doing this unofficially partly because I do not want to see their scale, mine works just fine (I think), but also because since having a baby I would like to return without having to pay every week. I am already a lifetime member - prior to getting married I lost 30 lbs and became a lifetime member of WW's. I do have a goal of 150 and have lost 15 of the 20 lbs I need but now it is pedal to the metal, nose to the grindstone, etc... This is always my hardest time, losing those last five pounds. May 9th is Abigails one year birthday and I want my pre-baby body back... Getting closer all the time.

I just want to say thanks for letting me join in this journey with all of you...

Food Journal: Karen

Thanks, Rae Ann, for your post! We certainly all struggle with things, as you mentioned, the cookies, etc. Especially problematic is the weekend away, where you feel really deprived if you can't eat with abandon!!

You had asked if we could publish our journals. I track my points online with e-tools, but I will try copying and pasting it here, so here goes . . .

This is a typical weekend day for me. Mind you, at my weight and height, I get 33 points (well, 32 points after this weigh-in):

POINTS® Tracker entries

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Morning
3 slices cooked bacon 4
1/4 cup Egg Beaters 1
2 slices whole-wheat bread 2
2 tsp reduced-calorie margarine 1
Subtotal 8

Midday
1 item fat-free turkey hot dog 1
1 item hot dog bun(s) 3
2 tsp reduced-calorie mayonnaise 1
Skinny Cow - Quick-added food 2
1 item Chocolate Cake 1
1 items Rasberry Newtons 1
Subtotal 9

Evening
1 patty cooked ground beef 5
1 item hamburger bun(s) 3
2 tsp reduced-calorie mayonnaise 1
11 items Baked Original Potato Chips 2
Subtotal 11

Snacks
Skinny Cow - Quick-added food 2
1 item WW Chocolate Cake bar 1
1 serving Baked Lays (11 chips) 2
Subtotal 5

Food POINTS values total used 33
Food POINTS values remaining 0

Here's a typical work day:

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Morning
2 packet Instant Oatmeal with Apples & Cinnamon 4.5
1 WW Mini bar Chocolate caramel 1
Subtotal 5.5

Midday

Subway Lunch (Turkey Sandwich w/1 bag baked lays & diet soda) 6
1 bar WW Chocolate caramel 1
Subtotal 7

Evening
3 slices Thin Crust Veggie Pizza from Papa Murphy's, 14
Trader Joe's Meringuie Cookies - Quick-added food 2
Sugar Free jello and cool whip free - Quick-added 0
Skinny Cow - Quick-added food 2
Subtotal 18

Snacks
100 Calorie Bag of Ritz Thins 2
Subtotal 2

Food POINTS values total used 32.5
Food POINTS values remaining 0

I hope you find this helpful!! :-)

darn cookies

wow! karen and al, you guys are doing great!

al, i totally wondered about the extra "nursing points." i had a really hard time with those when we were on WW after we had the bean. it seemed like a lot and i rarely could eat them all. i had more points to consume than tom did at the time! that's great that your leader is open to letting you reduce the number- mine told me to eat an ice cream sandwich before i went to bed if i still had points left! that didn't make any sense to me at all.

karen... i love, love the TJ's list! we have a couple very close to us and ours have pretty reasonable prices. often they're better priced that the grocery stores that are close to us. i told tom i need him to print out a copy so that i can keep it with our WW resources and also tape one to the inside of the "snack cupboard." hopefully then it will be an easy reference for quantity and points.

i've been putting my sharpie pen to good use this week. i've managed to mark most of our snacky stuff and food that's in the fridge with it's point value. this has really helped us in the past so i'm counting on the method again.

i can't remember if i mentioned this, but tom was able to find our resources last week. we also found a stack of our old journals. that was really helpful. it's nice to go back and see what our meal plans were because it makes it so easy to have something to repeat when you just don't feel like taking the time to calculate everything.

i totally bombed this weekend. a girlfriend and i were at the beach and i just threw it all out the window. i don't think i did too bad, but i definitely could have eaten more homemade hummus and less banoffi. oh well.

this week was going really well until wednesday. we have our home church group here that evening every week and i realized it was our week to provide some kind of munchy. disaster ensued. the only thing i could think to whip together that i already had all of the ingredients for was chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (i think tom and i've figured these cookies to be about 5 points each). in the past, i would send all of the extra cookies home with people, but this time tom told me to keep some because he knew he could control himself. i should have sent those cookies off... apparently i have no self control. i've been eating 2-3 a day since wednesday. i'm throwing them out today.

for those of you who are using e-tools, are you happy with your membership? sometimes i think this would be easier- i could plug in recipes and such, right? and jim, are you still using this to calculate your daily points?

also, i was wondering if any of you wouldn't mind posting a days worth of journaling. it might be good to get some ideas.

Down another .6 lbs . . . and adjusting points!

Well, last night was my WW meeting, and amazingly enough, I lost .6! I couldn't believe it, since I was SUCH a pig over the weekend. Yikes! I was so bad all weekend and I just didn't care what I ate and I didn't count points. And we went out to dinner at Outback on Friday night and had a big ol' ribeye steak, but I did substitute the baked potatoes for veggies (cooked with butter, no doubt!!). And I had the croutons, egg and cheese removed from the salad. *sigh*. Oh well. I ate and ate and ate. But the good news is, that there is no "bad" stuff to eat in my house, so when I pigged out, I pigged out on relatively low-cal stuff. The only thing that was higher in points was the peanut butter, but even it was reduced calorie. It's still a lot of points, though. I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I didn't count the points. I was SO sick of counting points!!

Oh well, this is a new week and a new attitude! I'm back on track, and this will be a good week! We're going to a movie and dinner tonight, but I don't plan to have popcorn. But I do plan to spend some of my flex points on dinner tonight. Yum!

Just a reminder -- as you lose weight, you have to adjust the number of points you are allowed. I use the e-tools on the WW website, and when I posted my loss, it reminded me that I needed to take the points quiz. My total weight loss is nearly 10 lbs. now (9.2 lbs. to be exact!) and when I re-took the quiz, I had to drop one point off my previous amount. Its important to remember to adjust the points every 10 lbs. or so, to make sure you continue to lose!

LOW-POINTS FOOD INFO: I've discovered several goodies at Trader Joe's that are low points and very filling! One is the Pretzel Slims. They are kinda cracker, kinda pretzel. You can eat 23 of 'em for 2 points!! There is also a frozen apple tart (shaped like a small pizza). Apparently 1/4 of it is only 2 points!!! Also, there are chocolate cat cookies for people, 15 of 'em for 2 points! No Pudge Brownie Mix, 1 brownie is 2 points. Meringue Cookies -- 2 for 1 point and they are VERY rich and sweet. A serving is 4 cookies for 2 points, but I couldn't get more than 2 at a time eaten and it was plenty. Frozen Chicken Egg Rolls, 1 egg roll is 2 points (and they're big egg rolls). Santa Rosa Honey Whole Wheat bread, 1 slice is 1 point. And there is a delicious cinnamon raisin bread that is 1 point per slice, and the brand is Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 which is delicious, and organic for those that care about such things. There's a great website that lists WW-friendly foods at Trader Joe's: http://www.oduamy.com/tj_points.html. (Sorry I couldn't get the html code for the link to work -- I don't know why, but even if I click on the link button and enter it, it won't show on the blog for some reason -- ARGGGG!!!)Hey, I know -- I'll add it as a link to the blog, on the right hand side! Trader Joe's is kinda pricey, but its a fun place to shop, and they have some items that aren't found anywhere else.

How is everyone else doing?? There's a post from Alicia -- I'd love to hear from the rest of you!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Staying the same - Alicia

I weighed in really quickly last night at the WW meeting here in town. I was exactly the same as the previous week, so the leader instructed me to take away 5 points from the day. She said that many nursing moms have discovered it was too many points for them, so we will see how next week goes....how is everyone else doing this week?