Friday, December 31, 2010

Orange Dream Cheesecake

Pin It This recipe came from the Kraft Canada website.  Click the recipe title to go directly there.  I've entered it into the WW Recipe Builder to get the point value for us WW-ers.  The photo is from the Kraft website as I did not put all the fancy stuff on top of mine.  The spatula tasted great after I finished making this - I'll let you know if the final chilled flavour tastes as good!

**Review Updated:  We had this last night for NY Eve and I thought it was great!  The kids tried it and liked it too.  I think I would experiment with different jell-o flavours - I am thinking lemon jell-o with raspberries on top maybe?  I would give this a 4.5/5.  Not quite a 5, but pretty close.  It might be good if frozen too...  The kids thought cherry or raspberry flavour would be good too...so many options with this one!**


Orange Dream Cheesecake


PointsPlus™ Value: 2
Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 pouch Jell-O Orange light no sugar added
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1 cup (tub) light cream cheese
1 ½ * cups Cool Whip 95% fat free whipped topping

Instructions

SPRINKLE crumbs onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan sprayed with cooking spray.

ADD boiling water to jelly mix; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Cool 5 min.; pour into blender. Add cottage cheese and cream cheese spread; blend well. Pour into large bowl. Gently stir in Cool Whip. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until set. Remove rim of pan before serving.

*Original recipe called for 1 1/3 cups of Cool Whip, but I accidentally put in 1 1/2...made no difference in the point value though!

What is she doing that I'm not?

Pin It I lost 1.4lbs this week.  Not bad, but considering last week, not great.  Hopefully this week will be better.  I followed plan 100% this week, but am likely (I hope) still paying for last week's misbehaving.

So this lady WW this morning was celebrating having lost 125lbs!!! Woohoo for her!!!  So exciting.  The leader asked her how long it's taken her...she joined at the end of APRIL...of THIS year!  She is averaging almost 16lbs per month!  That's almost 4lbs per week!!  What in the world am I doing wrong???  She did start out a bit heavier than me, but not THAT much.  I've been working at this nearly 15 months and have lost 92lbs.  I am averaging 1.4lbs per week now.  *sigh* I am happy for her and part of me wants to know her secret, but another part of me knows that 4 pounds per week cannot be a healthy rate of loss - at least not one that can be maintained (my head knows this is true, but my heart still wants to be losing more than stupid 1.4lbs per week!).  WW's healthy guidelines say that a loss of 0.5-1.5lbs per week is healthy.  I guess I'm right in that healthy range.  It just frustrates me.  It's been so long since I've had a loss over 2lbs and certainly I haven't seen a 3-4lb loss in probably over a year...I sure would like to see 3lbs next week though...it'd be nice to reach 95lbs at my first 2011 weigh in.

I'm off to make a dessert for tonight.  I may post pics and recipe later if all goes well.

Happy New Year!!!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Spicy Stuffed Peppers and My Wii!

Pin It I am off work until next year!  Yay!  Ok, so that just means I am off today, tomorrow and the weekend, and go back to work Monday, but it feels good to be off for the rest of the year. 

To kill time today while waiting for my new Wii to arrive, I decided to make stuffed peppers.  There are about a bazillion different recipes out there and really, it's not that complicated to make stuffed peppers.  You take ground meat of some sort, tomato sauce, veggies and either rice or barley, some peppers and cheese if you like and voila!  Stuffed peppers!

Here is the recipe I used (click recipe to enlarge):


These turned out amazing!  Not bad for 5pts each (11pts for 2).  I had 2 for supper with some roasted sweet potato on the side.  Yum!




So I picked up my new Wii tonight!  I was one of the few fortunate ones.  Apparently ALL of the Staples online orders received between Dec 24 and Dec 28 were delayed due to a computer crash.  I placed my order on December 25th and miraculously it arrived!!!  Very odd...  So I have the Wii, the Wii Fit Plus, the Wii Balance Board (and the Energizer charger for it)...but I can't get my balance board to sync Wii console :-(  I may have to get my brother to look at it I think...good thing there's a techie genius in the family!  I did pick up the Jeopardy game though!  I liked it a lot (yes, I'm a bit geeky).

Tomorrow is first post-Christmas weigh in.  I think I'm down a pound-ish...Hoping for at least 2 to recover from last week's two pound gain, but I will take what I can get this time of year!

Stay tuned tomorrow when I will share my low fat fruit dip recipe (that I could just eat right out of the bowl - forget the fruit!!!)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Future Shop, Staples and Wii's Oh my!

Pin It Warning, long-winded shopping saga!


On Christmas Eve I decided to try and get the Wii Fit Plus that Future Shop had on sale for $49.99 (regular $99).  I had little hope of actually getting it because that price is amazing.  I logged onto their website and low and behold, it was in stock!  I added it to my cart and then tried to check out...I ended up in a "virtual line up"...yeah, I thought that was odd too!  45 minutes I waited in this virtual line up to check out, only to find out that the Wii Fit Plus had sold out while I was waiting in line.  I was NOT a happy camper.


On Christmas day my brother found me a Wii on sale at Staples (the nice pretty black one...it's all about the colour, right? that included the Wii Sport and Wii Sport Resort) for $169.99 (regular $209), so I ordered that (thanks to the generosity of those who love me, I got Wii-money for Christmas!).  I was a bit concerned because the order said "pending availability" and when I later went back to the Staples website it was showing as unavailable...and I wasn't sure how things worked...wasn't sure it would actually come....so I'm waiting and waiting.  Today (3 days later) I phoned them to change the delivery location (if possible) since my pending order said anticipated delivery would be Dec 30 (not knowing this, I had asked them to deliver to my office...but we're closed that day!).  While the girl did not confirm that they had one with my name on it in the warehouse, she did say she confirmed my change of delivery location (to the store this time...I hate waiting around for deliveries!) and that I could pick it up after 5pm on Thursday...does this mean it's coming? I was afraid to ask!!

So last night I was out and about doing a bit of after Christmas shopping...Ricki's for a couple of sweaters, Bath & Body Works for the usual soaps and then getting on the highway to come home I realized that the return direction did not offer an exit to go in the direction I needed (I knew this, just spaced out for a minute or two), so I ended up at Dartmouth Crossing (shopping district for those of you not from around here) and at Walmart - the Walmart website had their Wii Motion Plus remotes listed for $10 ($40-$50 everywhere else), so I thought I'd give it a try.  The electronics guy was useless!  I asked him if he could check other stores (and no, it was NOT busy at that time...I must have hit it at the right time to avoid the Boxing Day crowds) and his response to me was "I would prefer if you did it yourself"!!!!  On my way out the door, I decided to stop by Customer Service to inquire as to their policy on this...if it's policy, I have no trouble with this, but I wanted to know.  Sure enough, their policy IS to call other stores for customers and the people at Customer Service could not believe he had said that to me!!  A nice lady on the desk called the local stores for me, but no luck.  But at least I left the store satisfied with Walmart as a whole.

On the way out of the Walmart parking lot I took a wrong turn (it's dark, lots of roads, raining, you get it) and ended up in the Future Shop parking lot.  I decided, hey, what the heck, and went in to see if they had any Wii Fit Plus still remaining (a guy behind me in line at Walmart managed to get a returned/unopened PS3 when the store was sold out completely...so you never know).  In I go and I wait, and wait (again, no customers around!) but I stand there waiting with a smile on my face as 4 staff members are behind the customer service counter - 2 chatting, 2 helping customers.  I've decided waiting with a smile vs a scowl will get me much further in my retail endeavours.  I am finally served by a nice young lady who tells me they are sold out.  I ask her nicely if she can call another store for me (or tell me if they will be getting more in before the sale ends), but apparently the stores had turned off their phones for Boxing Day sales, so it would not be possible.  She told me they had the "white one" in stock - but the white one was regular price.  So I kindly asked if they would make a substitute (after politely explaining my yucky virtual line up experience).  All of a sudden someone informs her that the "bundle" that is on sale is the after-market balance board PLUS the Wii Fit Plus DVD (or CD or whatever you call it)!  Soooo, they DID have it in stock, it just wasn't a pre-packaged product - the balance board was in one area, DVD in another area and you just buy them together and get the sale price!  Whooohoooo!!!  The flyer didn't say this and the girl at Customer Service didn't even know this...I wonder how many people missed out on this thinking they were sold out?  But I got mine!  I don't particularly care if it's an after-market balance board.  SO, by Thursday at 5pm I should be able to actually USE my Wii Fit!  I'm SO excited.  I've wanted one of these since before last Christmas, but was waiting for them to come down in price AND saving up a bit of $ for it.  The wait is almost over!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Some photos from Christmas day

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Our new Christmas eve tradition - chocolate fondue!


Fondue fruit & fruit dip (low fat!)


my brother's clever wrapping job - was $ towards my Wii!


my new fav chocolate bar!


my plate

little bit of gravy added

squash for dessert!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Cooking is so sexy

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A friend of mine kindly brought me a new spice (anyone who knows me, knows I love different spices and seasonings!!).  It's called Sexyspices Chipotle by Sexy Gourmet Food Co.  Oh MY!  It is amazing!  I just had some on my cucumber with lunch today.  Spicy/smokey and a bit salty.  There is a recipe on their  website for corn chowder.  I won't necessarily make their recipe, but I can TOTALLY see this making the flavours pop in my own corn chowder recipe...something to try on one of my days off this week.  I can't wait to try this on my roasted veggies!!!  Chicken...fish....pork.... in chili...oh, the possibilities are endless!  Thanks Miss S. for the spice!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Pin It Merry (happy?) Christmas Eve folks!  I am nearly ready for Christmas.  The only thing I have left to do is make my broccoli bacon salad and my cranberry sauce (oh, and remember to bring the gifts to my brother's place...that's important!).  This morning I am going to WW a day early.  I am fully expecting to have gained based on my Tuesday night escapades, I just hope I don't gain more than 2.6lbs (I don't want to dip below the 90lb mark...again!).  I have (I think) prepared myself for this gain, although I am praying that I stay the same :-) 

After WW, I will come home and have a yummy breakfast (Egg Creations on a whole wheat English muffin with a Cheesehead cheesestring and some Canadian bacon + a banana and a Tim Hortons coffee...6Pts+ for the whole thing...yummy).  After that I think I will make my two dishes I have to make for tomorrow and then head to the gym.  Tonight I am heading to visit my fabulous brother and sister-in-law (and the kids too!!!) for chocolate fondue.  I am going prepared: bringing bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe and mango, plus I bought some Rolled Gold pretzel rods.  I think I am going to bring some low fat fruit dip (ultra low fat cool whip + source fat free yogurt) and may alternate chocolate with fruit dip to keep it a little on the healthy side.  Mom and Dad will be meeting me there this evening, so it should be a fun time.  Tomorrow we are having turkey dinner there as well - it is so nice to have everyone around for Christmas day - I love Christmas!!! 

Thankfully I have no food-related plans beyond Christmas day and the gym re-opens on Boxing Day, so I have no excuse.  I plan to count my points as best as I can tonight.  Tomorrow won't be too hard - the Christmas day festivities don't bother me too much - I love white meat turkey and veggies.  I have never been a HUGE potato eater and I can live with only 1/4 cup of gravy (or maybe none at all!).  Thankfully we don't have any really fattening family recipes that come out on this day!  In the morning for brunch, my darling sister-in-law is going to make a crustless quiche!  Yumm!!!  I am not sure what the points will be, but certainly it will be better than if it had crust (lots of fat in the crust).  I think things will be OK food-wise after my weigh in is over...I really should get going.  I'm stalling.  I don't WANT to see a gain on the scale.  But I know it's there and I just have to accept that and get going...here I go...

Ok, now I really am going!  MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and to all a good night....er day... :-)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Free wedgies?

Pin It The following blog entry may contain mature subject matter, reader discretion is advised:

So I booked a massage therapy appointment for today.  My regular girl is on vacation, so I got her fill-in person.  First of all, I forgot about the appointment until I got to work today.  Not a big issue as the appointment was at lunchtime and in the building next door to where I work...BUT I didn't do my usual "pre work" - shave the legs, make sure I had pretty drawers on, you know the drill.  So I had not shaved my legs and I had my granny panties on...oh well, at least they were clean and presentable!! 

So this girl tells me she's going to leave me alone to get ready - she suggests I take everything off!  I said "um, excuse me, can I leave my panties on???", so she relented.  She said she was concerned about getting lotion on them!  Lotion 'em up I say, the panties stay on! 

Ok, I've had massages many, many times over the years and have seen several different therapists.  This girl finishes with my back and shoulders and then moves down to my legs.  Safe enough, right?  Um, until she decides to tuck my panties in the crack of my butt!!!!!  and then starts working on my buns...I have to confess dear friends, I've never had a massage on my butt before!  NOR have I ever been given a wedgie...especially on the massage table!  So I finally start to relax (as best you can when someone's elbow is in your cheek) and she starts asking me about some body part I've never heard of and have I had it worked on before...of course I had to admit I had no idea what it was, so she tells me in plain English that it's the front of my leg (and here I thought that was my thigh).  Something about my hips causing problems with my blah blah blah...so of course, I ask what a blah blah blah is and basically it's my tailbone.  I've been having trouble with my tailbone since my trip this summer, but keep putting off getting it looked at.  Soooo, now I'm lying on this table wondering if this wedgie-giver is going to flip me over and start working on my thighs...where does she think she's going to tuck the FRONT of my undies??  Thankfully we ran out of time, so I didn't have to find out :-) 

Worked out at the gym right after work - had to do penance for all the food I ate last night at our office carolling event...is there an undo button for food???  Earned myself a tidy 9 activity points...let's hope it helps, otherwise Friday morning's weigh in (a day early due to Christmas) will be sad, sad, sad.  I should have spent the entire day at the gym after what I ate last night...I was out of control I'm afraid :-(

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Merrily We Roll Along

Pin It I'm off to go Christmas Carolling with folks from the office...falalalalalalalala!! 

Monday, December 20, 2010

It warmed my heart

Pin It I thought that people had forgotten what holiday was coming up.  I keep hearing Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings, but rarely do I hear Merry Christmas.  I do understand that not everyone celebrates Christmas.  I mean no disrespect when I wish you Merry Christmas.  Christmas is my holiday that I celebrate and I want to wish people the merriest of days.  To me, it's no different than someone of the Jewish faith wishing me a Happy Hanukkah - I would take no offence to that.  I'd say thank you, smile and carry on. 

There, that's my little Merry Christmas rant.  Take it however you will, but please know that I am not out to offend anyone who is not a Christian and who does not celebrate the birth of our Lord. 

My heart grew and grew and grew!

Last night I went to the grocery store over by Mom and Dad's place on my way home.  Walking through the store I saw a lady trying to decide if she should buy the Scotsburn Hoofprints frozen yogurt (you've heard me rave about this before), so I spoke up and told her how amazing it is, so she decided to buy it.  A few steps later we catch up with her hubby and he asks what it is - I told him it was terrible, he wouldn't like it! ;-)  Us women have to stick together...if the men find out this is good stuff, they'll eat it all!!  haha.  Anyways, as they "drove off" with their cart, they wished me a Merry Christmas and my heart grew a little bit bigger.  At the cash register, the cashier wished me a Merry Christmas too!!  Heart grew a few more sizes bigger.  When I got home, one of the people who lives in my building was arriving home at the same time as me and, not only held the door for me (my arms were laden with grocery bags!), but she wished me a Merry Christmas too!!  Not surprising to some, but I'd say more than half of my building is Jehovah Witness and they don't celebrate Christmas.  My heart GREW GREW GREW!  After rarely hearing Merry Christmas over the past few weeks, I heard it from three unexpected places (from strangers!) in less than an hour!  I have to admit, until this time, my Christmas spirit had been a bit squashed.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...er, good day...I guess I still have to go to work!  Please don't be afraid to wish me a Merry Christmas!!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Ready to go pics!

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Christmas party preparations!

Pin It Got my hair and eyes done this afternoon...progression pics below (will post the final product later when I get dressed):


Michelle doing my eyes for me (I'm hopeless with makeup!)


Elaine and I while my hair "marinates"

such a tease!
Finished product!




Elaine (best Stylist ever!! 
Visit her at HS Studio on Mumford Road) and I


Dress hanging on bathroom door


Friday, December 17, 2010

TGIF

Pin It Thank you God, it's finally Friday!  This week has felt incredibly long!  It's been a good week, just a very long one and my food choices have not been the best (even though I stayed within my points).  Let's hope tomorrow's results are OK :-)

This is just a quick post / plug to remember your local Food Bank (Feed Nova Scotia here) this time of year.  Several of my co-workers went to stock shelves at ours last week and they asked the person in charge what their greatest need was and they were told Baby Food :-(  They all agreed that they did not see much baby food at all during their time stocking shelves.  Our office decided we would do a BABY FOOD DRIVE between now and December 22nd.  I was going out last night to grab some of the stuff on sale at Wal-Mart and brought with me some $ from people who asked us to shop on their behalf.  I ended up with $120 worth of baby food!  Boy that's gonna be heavy carrying it from the car into the office today!!  It felt so good.  I got over 100 jars of baby food, cereal and powdered baby formula...and I only dropped one jar :-)

Ok folks, I'm off to finish getting ready for work!  Happy Friday!!!!!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Is it Food-a-palooza time again?

Pin It Candy canes, chocolates, fudge, Hello Dolly squares, truffles, chocolate covered potato chips...how IS a girl to resist all this?  The Hello Dolly square I discovered (after I ate it, of course) was NINE points!!  My half of a piece of fudge today was 2 points!  Our office is laden with goodies everywhere.  Last year I found it easier to resist, but I think that's because I was fairly new on program and was behaving better.  This year...I just can't seem to resist.  Thankfully the event I went to tonight had some very health options - my friend Heidi made a yummy low fat pork roast and a low fat squash recipe that was SO good.  I had salad with PC Blue Menu Fat Free California dressing (2 tbsp = 2 pts - so good!), veggies and hummus, a few Ritz crackers and cheese and a couple of puffed pastry thingys.  Thank the Good Lord that dessert contained strawberries, so I had no option but to avoid it!!! 

Well folks, tomorrow should be a somewhat "normal" day - 2 meals at home, heading to the gym after work (I haven't been since Monday night) and no events.  I've asked our receptionist to put the evil goody basket items that people keep sending us in the kitchen - I only go there once per day, whereas I pass through reception probably 30 times per day...much easier to face the temptation only once!

How do you all handle the food this time of year?  I suspect people might get ticked off if I poured pepper or ketchup over all the goodies to make them less appealing... haha

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Slow news week

Pin It Well folks, not much new going on here.  I did have a thought today as I was sitting at my desk listening to my BlackBerry buzzing (was I listening to it or was it that the vibrations are so strong I felt like I was on a carnival ride?)...do you think that those buzzes ever drive anyone to do anything drastic?  I have the sound turned off while at work and usually have it in my purse, but today I had it plugged into the wall charger, so I could FEEL the vibrations...I'm just sayin' - one of these days, some poor BlackBerry user is going to go POSTAL.

Oh, news I forgot to share on the weekend!  The WW App for BlackBerry and the iPhone for CANADA is finally supposed to be coming in January...I'm assuming January 2011, but nothing would surprise me.  I can't wait.  With my luck they'll say my BB is too old for the app ;-)

Night all!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Muffins galore!

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WW Banana Muffins (Margie's recipe)

PointsPlus™ Value: 2
Servings: 17

Ingredients
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
1/4 cup Splenda
1 cup low-fat milk
3 item egg white(s)
1 1/2 cups kellogs all bran
6 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 large banana(s)

Instructions
Mix milk, vinegar, and add All Bran. Let sit.
Mix together all dry ingredients.
Add mashed banana, egg whites, and applesauce to All Bran mixture.
Mix all ingredients together~ fold in choc chips.

Bake in 375 oven for 18-20 minutes.  If you follow the old WW system, 12 muffins = 1 point (pls reduce chocolate chips to 1/4 cup and banana to 1 large).





Orange Cranberry Craisin Oat Muffins

PointsPlus™ Value: 2
Servings: 15

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup low-fat milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/2 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
2 egg whites
1/8 tsp table salt
1/2 cup Ocean Spray Craisins Sweetened Dried Cranberries
2 Tbsp orange juice, chilled, includes from concentrate

Directions

Place oats in a small bowl, pour in pseudo-buttermilk. Let sit for two hours at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
Grease 15 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar.
Stir in oat/buttermilk mixture, applesauce and egg; mix well.
Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.


My review on these two recipes:

WW Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:  Excellent.  Very moist and banana-y and just the right amount of chocolate chips.  5/5

Orange Cranberry Craisin Oat Muffins:  These were OK.  I sprayed the muffin tin liners (as I always do) but they still stuck to the liners..grrr.  As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I am learning to like cranberries.  I used the Craisins in my Broccoli salad and liked them in there, but in these muffins they seem too raisin-y (and I HATE raisins).  I might bring these ones to the office or pawn them off on friends who like raisin-y textures :-)  I'd give them a 3/5.


Here's a quick pic of supper tonight - roasted veggies (carrots, peppers, mushrooms and squash), broccoli and tilapia.  I'm noticing it's a VERY orange-y supper!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

New recipes...planned and accidental!

Pin It I tried THREE new recipes today!  I made Broccoli-Bacon Salad for tomorrow's potluck at church.  I only had a tiny taste (have to save some for the potluck!) and it was YUMMY!  In addition to the recipe below, I also added some Epicure Sans Sel Red Garlic seasoning...I can hardly wait to try this tomorrow once it's sat in the sauce overnight.
click recipe to enlarge...

I also made squash fries...I was  originally going to make my usual sweet potato fries (baked, of course) when I saw a review on chipotle sweet potato fries that mentioned that they used squash (which is now zero points, thank you very much).  I decided I could forgo my potato for tonight and go with squash (along with tilapia, mushrooms and broccoli).  YUM!  These taste almost exactly like the sweet potato fries!  But a large sweet potato is now FOUR points, whereas the squash, as I mentioned, is ZERO :-)  I did add 2 tsp of olive oil (2pts) to my roasted veggies, but I think they'd be good even with just cooking spray if you had already had your healthy oil for the day.

My third recipe of the day (this is the accidental one) was a mixed-fruit sorbet.  I was watching TV and these Magic Bullet commercials kept replaying over and over, but one of the recipes they mentioned was frozen fruit with a "splash" of OJ blended up in the Magic Bullet.  I looked in my freezer and low and behold I had mixed fruit from M&Ms (mango, blueberry, raspberry) that I had forgotten about.  I also had some OJ in the fridge leftover from a work event last week (couldn't fit it in the fridge at work, so I had to take it home)...I don't normally have OJ in the house.  I decided to go with one cup of OJ and about a cup (ish) of frozen fruit.  Into the Magic Bullet it went then I blended til it looked all mixed up (that's the technical term ;-).  I took the blade off expecting a fruit smoothie and discovered sorbet!!  I ate it with a spoon and it was SO good!  I'm going to head to M&Ms tomorrow I think to buy some more mixed fruit.  It's a bit costly, but their mix is one of the few that does not contain strawberries (allergy), AND it has mango in it.

Overall it was a good day.  WW in the morning (HUGE CLASS) - so glad I bought my kit for the new program last Sunday - apparently they'd sold out of them by Tuesday!  I knew it!!!  I was down 1.8lbs I (the same 1.8 I've bee playing with for the past three weeks).  The leader went over the new program once everyone got weighed in (took a lot longer - I think there were a ton of new folks there).  The good news is that I had been doing things right all along.  I think because I've been eating "real" foods more and more lately that I'm not going to notice a great big difference.

After WW, Cheryl and I headed to Goodlife for my second (ever!) aerobics class.  I'm going to admit it.  I absolutely HATED the class.  It was classified as a beginner class, but I think it should really be classified as "low impact for folks who know what they're doing".  I'm the most uncoordinated person you've ever met (probably why I can't dance) and the instructor would show us a move, do it twice and then quickly move onto the next move.  By the time I'd figured out move #1, she was on move #5!  I got so frustrated - both with her and myself.  Needless to say I will not be going to that class again. 

Friday, December 10, 2010

Are the wobbly bits...a little less wobbly?

Pin It Perhaps it's my imagination, but looking in the mirror this morning as I was drying my hair (ok, I confess it was this afternoon...today I had the day off and didn't shower until almost noon!) and my wobbly bits under my arms seemed a bit..well, less wobbly (you know, the part that hangs down and continues waving 5 minutes after you've stopped...I think that part is actually supposed to be on the TOP!)  My trainer at the gym told me that I would notice shape changing much quicker with strength training than I would with cardio as the strength training will begin to tone the wobbly bits.  I've only been doing the weights for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure I can see a difference. 

I am anxious to see what tomorrow's weigh in will bring.  I've been following the new WW program for 5 days now and I still feel like I'm eating too much food.  I am struggling with what to eat.  Before the new program, I knew what I could eat for snacks and meals without doing much thinking about it.  Now I'm hesitant.  As I mentioned before, the new program uses fat, fibre, carbs and protein to figure out the points.  Fat and fibre I am familiar with, but carbs and protein are new to me (well, clearly they are not NEW to me as I've eaten them my whole life, but counting them or acknowledging them IS new to me).  I used to be able to look at a package's nutritional information and have a good guesstimate of the points...now I have no sweet clue!!  Oh well, I'm sure it'll come with time.  Tomorrow I will attend the WW meeting and finally get the in-person scoop on the new program.  It'll be interesting to see how good the WW online does at explaining the program and it's ins and outs.  I've often wondered how people who are not familiar with WW do on the online-only program.  

Well, I am off to peruse my cookbooks I took out of the library.  Need some new ideas for meals.  Tomorrow after weigh in, Cheryl and I are going to a class at Goodlife called Newbody...I'm a bit scared.  I've only ever done one fitness class in my entire life...if I'm not back by mid-afternoon tomorrow, better send the troops to find me!!

PS - my blog rolled over 1,000 page views today!!!  Wooohooo!!  I think people are actually reading this!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Getting the run around

Pin It So my email to WW last week asked them to tell me where in their Terms & Conditions it stated that you had to weigh in at the first meeting that you attend during the week.  Their auto response said that I would get a response within 24 hours - granted this was Saturday, so I figured 24 hours from Monday I would get a reply...yesterday I sent a follow up email since I hadn't received a reply.  No, understand, in my original email I did NOT dispute that this was part of their Terms & Conditions, I merely asked them to tell me where I could find it.  Today (day 5 after my original email) I received a voicemail from WW telling me that "Yes, you are correct, you can attend unlimited meetings in a week, but you must weigh in at the first meeting you attend in any given week."  She stated "this is part of our Terms & Conditions"...ok, my question still remains unanswered!!!  WHERE IN THEIR TERMS & CONDITIONS DO I FIND THIS??!!  I can't find it myself, otherwise I would not have contacted them!  Grrrrr

I've realized my blog sounds kinda whiny and complain-y lately...so sorry for that.  I actually had a great week.  Work was good - I've worked out according to my plan and eating has gone well too.  I still feel like I'm eating too much and I have 28 weekly points still left - and my week ends tomorrow :-)  I sure hope I'm doing this program right!  I did discover today that the 10 calorie Vitamin Water that I (very) occasionally drink has a WHOLE point!  It may only have 10 calories, but it is high in carbs...who knew?! :-)

I'm off tomorrow (yay!!!) and am planning to do a teensy bit of shopping, sleeping in (not in that order, obviously), gym and eye-brow waxing.  *sigh* I am so excited for my day off!  I may do some baking for the youth group if the day permits.

Another cute photo for you!

Sorry Mom, I'm new at this!


So tired

Pin It Even though this is what I feel like today, I'm still off to the gym right after work!


I just don't think I can
walk another step...
I'm so tired today!


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Day three and still going strong

Pin It Today is day three of Points Plus for me and so far so good.  In fact, I think I'm eating MORE than I was before...and that worries me a bit.  Where I have not attended a meeting yet, I'm concerned I'm doing something wrong...but, I guess I just to go with it for now.  Attending my regular meeting on Saturday, so I'll get the full scoop then.  I just hope and pray that I don't have another gain this week - would love to get back into the 90 lbs lost category again :-)

On the gym front things are going well.  Went Friday after work, missed Saturday, Sunday was Kam's pool party, so went to the pool and Mom and I did some noodle exercises while the kids played.  Monday and Tuesday went to the gym again - was disappointed last night at my "regular" gym to see that ALL of the stair masters were out of order!!!  That has to be one of the most popular machines and they are ALL broken?!!  Come on folks!  11 minutes on that thing gives me like 3 activity points!!!  Bring 'em back!

OK, I have to go work now - somebody has to pay for all this health food :-)

Monday, December 6, 2010

I'm in love with cauli-tators

Pin It I've seen recipes for 'fake' mashed potatoes for a long time now.  People rave about these 'potatoes' made with cauliflower that taste JUST like REAL potatoes...come on, get real folks!  Yesterday Mom and Dad were coming for supper and so keeping in line with Mom's new heart-healthy diet requirements, I decided to try making a potato cauliflower mash (named by my Dad as cauli-tators).  I wasn't ready to go cold turkey on real potatoes, but thought mixing them (as I'd seen in some recipes online) might not hurt.  I boiled each of them in their own pot and then combined them with about 1/4 cup of President's Choice Blue Menu chicken broth (only 85mgs of sodium per cup - by FAR the lowest sodium broth I have EVER seen) and 2 triangles of Laughing Cow Light Herb & Garlic cheese...and a mashing I did go.  I mashed and I mashed and I mashed and voila!  They looked like mashed (slightly lumpy) potatoes!  We were almost halfway through the meal before we told Dad that they were not real mashed potatoes!  SO GOOD!!!  I think if I'd used a hand-held mixer to mash them, you wouldn't know the difference.  Another thing...I absolutely hate leftover mashed potatoes - they never really taste good once they've been refrigerated...unless you fry them with butter and spices :-)  I ate the leftovers tonight and SO GOOD again!  So I bought some frozen cauliflower (yes, finally found some) tonight and will try making TRUE faux-tatoes maybe tomorrow night.

I would rate these cauli-tators a 5/5 for sure!

Finally!

Pin It So I woke up this morning and low and behold the POINTS PLUS PROGRAM has been updated on e-tools!  Yay!  My normal routine is to get up, shower, make breakfast and then sit down at the computer and plan my meals for the day (breakfast is pre-planned...see my Oatmeal post).  This morning the whole planning thing took SO much longer than usual, BUT that wasn't a bad thing.  The e-tools site was converting all of my favorites I had saved, recipes, etc., plus it went back to the start of my "WW week" which was Saturday and converted all those entries to the new program - some of the foods were ones I had added previously, so they had to be edited and some foods were no longer in the WW database, so I had to manually add a few things.  All in all, not a painful process.  So far of my weekly 49 points I have about 34 remaining (mainly because things went up in points...but then again, so did my daily target!).  My regular oatmeal went up, so did the peanut butter, but then again, the banana is now "free", so the total remains the same.  I read through the food companion and the dining out guides last night and didn't notice anything too shocking with the new point values.  If anything, I think I will struggle to get ALL of my points in.

On a slightly different note...I had an "aha" moment over the weekend following my gain.  A few weeks ago in my meeting, a lady spoke up and said that she just realized that the week 1 booklet tells you NOT to count points for your initial 2 tsp of "healthy oil" - that you only count anything OVER AND ABOVE the 2 tsp.  Woohoo, right?!  The leader did not contradict her, so guess what I did?  Went home and stopped counting the 2.5 points for my 2 daily tsps of olive oil...over a week that's 17.5 points...so this weekend I opened up my week one book (for the first time in over a year) and low and behold...can't find a thing in there that tells you NOT to count the points for the healthy oil!!!  Grrrr.  I really wish my leader had spoken up and said something in the meeting about her being wrong!  This means that last week I would have used all of my flex points AND a couple of my activity points.  I have NEVER used ANY of my activity points and rarely eat more than 2/3 of my weekly points...no WONDER I gained!  So this week, back to counting the oil...BUT on the new Points Plus program 2 tsp of olive oil is 2 points, not 2.5 like on the old program...thank Heaven for small mercies!

So one day into the new program and all is well...stay tuned folks!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Disappointed...

Pin It So I got up this morning to discover that e-tools has not been updated yet (that's what I thought, but my leader insisted that it would be last night not tonight...) and so off to WW I go - planning to buy the kit on sale (before they run out) and sit in on the meeting - afterall, I pay for the monthly plan and have unlimited meetings, right?  Um, there's a catch here folks...nobody ever told me that there is a rule - you HAVE to weigh in at the FIRST meeting you attend in a week and then you can attend as many as you like without weighing in!  Have you ever heard of such a crock??  I refused to weigh in and she told me I could not stay.  Apparently this lady was the boss-lady, so my regular receptionist could do nothing about it.  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...ok, calmer now.  I came home and read the terms and conditions like a good little girl - perhaps I was wrong...maybe I'd missed something...nope, can't find her little rule anywhere in this document!  So, I emailed head office...stay tuned folks, I'm not done with this - it's the principle of the matter now - I am paid up until December 20th - they've got my money!!  Ok, I'm calm now.

After church I headed to Sobeys to pick up a few groceries for supper (the folks are coming) and I wanted to make a Potato Cauliflower Mash...um, nope, no cauliflower in the store at all!  None frozen, none fresh, none in those neat little lazy microwave bags!  Are you kidding me?  Is there a cauliflower shortage I'm not aware of??  Ok, thankfully I think I have enough here at my place to make the recipe...we'll see - none of us has ever tried this recipe before...might as well use the folks as my test subjects!


I cooked, I cleaned and then I decided to decorate my tree and (somewhat) my apartment...photos below.  Don't laugh at my tree - it is 4.5' tall and has one string of lights on it...and mostly dollar store ornaments, plus a couple of handmade ones (thanks to Tina, Kayleigh and Kamryn!).  Have I ever mentioned that I hate decorating my tree?  I love it once it's up and done, but seriously hate the process. 

OK, much more love coming tomorrow - no counting, no grrrr-ing, no raging.  Tomorrow will be a good day....I'm off to try to make that cauliflower potato thing...wish me luck!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

It's almost here!

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T-minus 2 hours, 27 minutes until the Weight Watchers Canada site launches the new program on e-tools.  I thought it wasn't launching online until tomorrow at midnight, but my leader told us this morning that it is launching at midnight.  I can hardly wait!  We were also told that the Deluxe kits will be on sale for $22.50 and will include the calculator, food companion, dining out guide and $20 in coupons.  My plan is to go to the meeting tomorrow morning and stay for the meeting and pick up one of these kits (before they're all gone!!)  I am hoping that this new plan will be just what I need to jump start my weight loss program.  Today's gain was hard for me, but I am stepping right over that lump of fat and looking forward to the new program.  On a brighter note, I had my fat analysis done at the gym and I've lost 10lbs of fat since October 30th - which is not too shabby since the scale is only showing a loss of about 2.8lbs...I guess I must be gaining muscle!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Once we sowed wild oats...now we cook them in the microwave

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Somebody asked me today if oatmeal was good for weight loss.  I thought that was a great question!  I guess I KNOW that it's good for weight loss, but I never really stopped and thought about why.  I know it keeps me full, it's low in calories and high in fibre and, now that I eat the "real" stuff, it's unprocessed.  I thought I would list some of the health benefits I've found:

1.lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. According to Quaker, all it takes is 3/4 cup of oatmeal each day to help lower cholesterol. The soluble fiber in oats helps remove LDL or "bad" cholesterol, while maintaining the good cholesterol that your body needs.

2.The soluble fiber in oatmeal absorbs a considerable amount of water which significantly slows down your digestive process. This result is that you'll feel full longer.

3.New research suggests that eating oatmeal may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. The soluble fiber in these foods help to control blood glucose levels.

4.With the exception of certain flavored varieties, the oats found in your grocery store are 100% natural. If you look at the ingredients on a canister of rolled oats, you will usually see only one ingredient... rolled oats.

5.According to recent studies, a diet that includes oatmeal may help reduce high blood pressure. The reduction is linked to the increase in soluble fiber provided by oatmeal. Oats contain more soluble fiber than whole wheat, rice or corn.
6.Oatmeal contains a wide array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and is a good source of protein, complex carbohydrates and iron.

7.The fiber and other nutrients found in oatmeal may actually reduce the risk for certain cancers.

8.Oatmeal is quick and convenient. Every type of oatmeal can be prepared in a microwave oven. I make the "real" rolled oats (not the quick ones) and they take 90 seconds in the microwave...the steel cut ones take longer, but are good re-heated, so I make enough for a few days when I make that one.
9.Oatmeal can be absolutely delicious! Whether instant, cooked on the stove or baked in the oven, the combination of flavors you can fit into a serving of oatmeal is limited only by the imagination.

Ways I eat my oats:

I usually start with 1/3 cup of dry oatmeal + slightly less than 3/4 cup cold water in a cereal bowl and I nuke it for 90 seconds (keep an eye on it - if you have slightly too much water, it will bubble over the side of the bowl!!)

Add in 1:
banana, sliced
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp smuckers no sugar added syrup (for sweetness...10 calories per Tbsp)

Add in 2:
apple, diced (with skins!)
1 Tbsp PB
1 Tbsp smuckers

Add in 3:
apple, diced
1 tsp crushed pecans
1 tsp peanut butter OR 1 1tsp brown sugar
dash of cinnamon (you can add this to any of these)

If I am making steel cut oats, I make a big pot at the start of the week and eat it for 3-4 days - I usually cook this on the stove top (takes about 25 mins) and then reheat throughout the week - tastes just as good as when it's fresh.  You can add any of the above combos to the steel cut oats too.  Another good add-in for these is frozen raspberries or some sugar free jam of your choice.

This is such an easy and delicious breakfast!  I eat it probably 99% of the time.  I usually have it with a large glass of water (if you add lots of fibre, don't forget to add lots of water to keep things "going"!)

Well folks, there's my take on Oatmeal.  The wild oats of my life :-) 

Oh, I almost forgot - don't be afraid to buy your oats (steel cut or rolled) at the Bulk Barn (or similar bulk store).  A canister of steel cut oats at Superstore is $3.99 - for about $1.75 you can get twice as much at the bulk barn!  Just make sure if you are buying the rolled oats that you don't get the quick oats (they're too mushy in my opinion...and not as filling).  I usually buy the large flake oats.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Don't wait!!!

Pin It I was listening to a 2 Fit Chicks and a Microphone podcast (episode 21) today on the way home from work (I just love these 2 Fit Chicks podcasts!!!).  They re-did their interview with Mrs. Fatass and something she said struck me.  A friend of hers had recently passed away, but what she remembered about him was that he didn't put off living life (my paraphrase of her words!).  So why do we so often wait for things until something else happens?  I'll do such and such when I lose weight.  I'll go here when I lose weight (see a theme for me!).  Mrs. Fatass said she wanted to have a body to wear a bikini and then this past summer she decided to just DO IT and she wore a bikini all summer.  I say, why not? (no, I have no plans to don a bikini anytime soon folks, don't get freaked out!  But kudos to anyone who does want to!).  This made me think - what have I been putting off "until I get skinny"?  I'll give this some more thought and will report back - perhaps I'll make a list of things to do BEFORE I get skinny!  I do have a couple of things I want to do when I DO reach my goal - but in my mind they are non-food rewards for myself, not things that I think I have to be skinny to achieve/do.

Is there something you've been putting off?  Until you lose weight? Grow taller, get shorter? Get a better job? Cut your hair? Please share your "I'll wait until" stories...I'd love to hear them.

On another note...my hunger has found me.  I know I mentioned earlier this week that I just wasn't that hungry and that my 26 points per day were more than enough...not so much today!!!  I seem to be out of control.  It's the social situations that get me and today's social situation at work was my own fault...we had a office decorating party and I was the one who BROUGHT THE FOOD...chocolate...then I went to a friend's house tonight and had pepperoni and cheese (I have not had pepperoni in FOREVER) and half of a chocolate dip donut with candy cane on it...I had to leave before I ate the second half!  So those of you who were concerned about my lack of hunger...no need to fear, it's baaaaaack ;-) haha

I MUST go to the gym tomorrow...have not worked out since my walk on Sunday night...feeling kinda blah this week -winter blues maybe?  But I have to go work that pepperoni off my butt...nighty night folks :-)

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The anticipation is killing me!!!

Pin It This coming Sunday is the Canadian launch of the new PointsPlus system at Weight Watchers.  The UK has had their version (ProPoints) for a while now and it launched in the US this week.  As most of you know, my regular weigh in day is Saturday (the day before the launch!), so rather than mess with my mojo and change my weigh in day (not going to happen...I love my Sat morning leader!), I will weigh in on Saturday as usual and then Sunday morning I will attend the launch meeting and pick up a points calculator - sadly I will not get my books on the new program until NEXT Saturday when I weigh in....BUT I am an e-tools user, and I understand that it will launch on e-tools on Sunday night...thus giving me the info I will need!

I am excited and nervous all at the same time.  I've followed the WW Points systems (yes, plural) over the years - probably since the program came out in the 90s, so even times when I'm not on WW, I can look at a food item and with a fair degree of accuracy either KNOW the point value OR by looking at the NI, can quickly guess at the point value...not so much with this new program...back to square one!  BUT I think this will be good for me.  After having lost over 90lbs in the past 14 months, I think my body is ready for a change and this could be what I need to kick my butt to the finish line!  Hmmm....maybe it'll be enough to hit 100lbs by the end of December!! lol That's being REALLY optimistic :-)

For now I am living vicariously through my US blogging buddies (thanks TJ and Danica for the quick and detailed reviews!)  I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEW BOOKS!!!!  I love new WW books, gadgets and cookbooks...I might have to buy a new cookbook too :-)

Monday, November 29, 2010

The ultimate snack...(a review on Vitatops)

Pin It My new favorite snack:
One deep chocolate VitaTop (currently 1 point...we'll see what it'll be under the new PointsPlus program!!)
1/2 cup Scotsburn Hoofprints low fat frozen yogurt (currently 3 points)

Heat the VitaTop for 20 seconds in the microwave on high and top with frozen yogurt.  Oh my!

These VitaTops are amazing!  100 calories and 8 grams of fibre and chocolate all the way through.  I've tried the VitaMuffins (same flavour) and the Vitatops and they taste the same - the VitaTop are cheaper at Costco - 12 for 9.99 I think is what I paid.  I'd love it if we had some of the other Vitalicious items here...Vitalicious, where are you??  They appear to have muffin mixes, but I have been unable to locate them.  The only things I can find locally are the muffins (rarely) at Sobeys and Superstore (4 muffins for $4.99) and they only have blueberry bran or cranberry something - sometimes you can get the double chocolate.  I'm not fussy on bran muffins, so have not tried the fruity ones yet...I don't know if I'm prepared to spend $4.99 to try 4 muffins that I might hate...the chocolate ones, I give a 6 out of 5 (yes, they are THAT good!!)  I really wish we could get the Apple Crumbe VitaTops here...

I'll do a quick mini review (I believe I've spoken about this before) on the Scotburn low fat Hoofprints frozen yogurt...YUMMY!!  5/5 - better than the ice cream in fact!

Ok, this must be my week of reviews - I think talking about food is keeping me from thinking about the issues of the day/week :-)

Recipe review: Weight Watchers Magazine Winter Squash Soup

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Had this at Mom's place yesterday.  One cup is only one Point.  My first thought was "only one cup?!"  BUT I forgot...squash is very dense and filling.  This soup was GREAT!  Mom left out the celery, used dried rosemary and did not add the cheese or pumpkin seeds (simply didn't have these items in the house).  I don't think they were missed at all.  At the table we added a touch of Tabasco sauce, but I think when I make it I will add some red pepper flakes (I like it spicy whereas my family..not so much!).  I may also add a dollop of light sour cream.  I give this recipe a 4/5 (would have given it a 5, but I'm still learning to like pureed soups...I'm fishing around for chunks of chicken or something!)  This would be a nice soup to cook on a cold winter's night to warm you up from the inside out.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Strange things are happening

Pin It So yesterday when I lost my 1.8lbs it put me down another Point on the daily point scale.  I've often wondered how people could possibly live on such low point values (I mean some people have like 18 points per day!!!)  I am thinking that your body eventually adjusts to less food...well, I think (hope!) that's finally starting to happen.  Last week I was allowed 27 points per day, this week 26...and tonight I really struggled to get the minimum!!  Very strange indeed.  I wonder...is this a new thing or just a freak occurrence - seems to me I struggled yesterday to get my points in.  Now I always eat my daily points and often eat 2/3 or more of my weekly 35 points...yes, my friends, this is odd...two days in a row at 26 points and I am absolutely stuffed.

Oh well, just thought I'd share.  Anyone else experience this?

Do you ever...

Pin It feel like some people in your life are NOT happy for your weightloss?  They either make snide comments about it, or dismiss it altogether...  I'm very blessed in that I only have a couple people in my life who appear to feel this way...I just wish I could understand why.  Do they prefer the "fat" Tanya?  Have I changed?  I think I'm still the same person as I always was.  Perhaps it is their own insecurities.  Maybe my weight helped them to take focus off a flaw they have in their own life?  I dunno....I just got to thinking about this today.  Not sure why, but I feel like I have to figure it out.  If you are reading this blog, then please know I am not referring to you!!  I just have a couple people in my life that I thought I was fairly close with who never even ACKNOWLEDGE that I've changed.  I know life is not all about me, but come on!  I've lost a person the size of my Dad's sister!!!

OK, pity party over - I do have an amazing support system and wonderfully amazing friends and family, so I'll focus on this now.  I just wondered if anyone else experienced this?

Friday, November 26, 2010

Another crazy week comes to an end

Pin It I totally forgot to share what I did last Saturday afternoon!!  My friend Jewell kindly asked me to take their family photos for their Christmas cards!  I was soooo honoured :-)  So, I borrowed my friend Bianca's nice Canon digital SLR (nearly impossible to take a bad photo with this baby!) and out I went.  When I got out there, the snow had started (first of the year) to fly!  We had planned to do some outdoor and some indoor photos, so the snow was a nice touch.  I had a ball!  I was pleased with the pictures and I think Jewell and her hubby were too.  Sent them for printing tonight to Wal-Mart, so hopefully the printed versions will be OK!  I would love to do this more...but I think I'd have to get myself something better than my point and shoot Canon. 

So that was Saturday, then Sunday I had lunch with my friend Tina (it had been forever since we'd gotten together for a chat...it's a shame we live so far away from each other...teeheee - she lives next door!) and then headed to Mom and Dad's for the afternoon.  Met my brother and his girls there and had a nice afternoon.  My oldest niece, Kayleigh, bless her little heart, chopped her hair off to her shoulders and is going to donate her ponytail (to Locks of Love or something similar)...what a kid!  Poor Kam wants to do the same I think, but her hair is only just past her shoulders...her time will come though!  Both girls have such amazing hearts.

Monday was somewhat normal (still dealing with illness in the office, which is tough) and then Tuesday I did CPR/First Aid and AED (defibrillator) training all day...and then watched some lady fall backwards down the escalator on my way home from work!!!  Thankfully a co-worker of mine was in front of me and he caught her before she seriously hurt herself.

Yesterday I headed to our Moncton/Dieppe office to assist them with their first ever client reception since they joined our company.  The event was a huge success I'm please to say...the only bad part...all my fault...I gave into the appetizers at the reception...I was 3 coconut shrimp into things before I discovered that 4 of them were SIXTEEN MISERABLE POINTS!!!  That's more than half my total for the day!  Oh my....today I stuck to my target points, but unfortunately did not get to the gym because the power in my area was out until just about an hour ago :-(  BUT I did go to the gym at the hotel last night!! Yay me!

Sorry for the ramble - meant to post mid-week, but the week kinda got away from me and, well, here we are...Friday again! yay :-)

Off to see Mama Mia the musical tomorrow afternoon - looking forward to seeing it live!  I love Abba...grew up listening to Abba and Air Supply....such a child of the 70s I am.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

An ode to my support system

Pin It I started this day, as I do most days, thankful for the support system that I have in my life.  This is only solidified by the response each week to my postings on Facebook about my losses (and gains!). 

I guess I know other people don't have great support systems, but until I watched this week's episode of The Biggest Loser, I never realized just how bad it is for some people.  This week the contestants received videos from home to keep them motivated...all but one girl.  The producers had reached out to her family to send in a video, but never received a response.  I felt devastated for Ada.  I just could not imagine having my family shun me like that!  Being on The Biggest Loser must be so difficult and then to know that you have nobody at home rooting for you...so sad.  I cried my heart out for her.  In the end, the other 7 contestants created a video for her telling her how much they loved, supported and admired her.  She has done a truly amazing job and is a big inspiration. 

I guess all this to say that I realized today even MORE how much I value my support system.  My family (even my 7 and 10 year old nieces!), friends (long-term and new ones), people at my church, my co-workers, my neighbours, people at Weight Watchers, my blog readers (I know there's SOMEONE out there!!) - you all mean so much to me and your support matters more to me than you will ever know.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing support system and I never take it for granted.  There is no way I could do this alone - you know what they say, "it takes a village"!  It's not just one avenue of support that keeps me going, it's all of them together - the friends and family combined with the WW system (healthy eating, NOT a diet!).  I've also made new friends on this journey - online and in person and I even have a follower on my blog now!  I've even had people tell me that I am an inspiration to THEM!  I don't think I've ever been an inspiration to others...how amazing is that?! 

I'm feeling very pumped up today.  I lost 2.2lbs this week and am 1.2lbs away from 90lbs gone and I am hoping and praying that I will reach it next Saturday.  Last night my oldest niece gave me a bedtime hug and whispered in my ear "my arms go all the way around you" and I teased her and told her that her arms must have grown longer and she looks at me and says "ORRRR you got skinnier!"  I love my girls!

This week will be a struggle as I have two planned meals out, plus I am out of town for work Thurs and part of Fri and I find eating away from the comfort of home very difficult...where I used to LOVE to eat out, now I dread it (unless it's Swiss Chalet or McDonald's [salads, not Big Macs!]) as there is always that lack of control...oh well, at least the hotel has a nice gym and a pool that I can use - no excuses!!!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Some photos from my meals this week

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cheddar cauliflower
see, orange on the inside too!

roasted veggies (cheddar cauliflower) and chicken

club house quesadilla (10pts including the sour cream!)
bird's eye view of my quesadilla