Tuesday 12-13-11

Yup, here I go again with the day late post!  After watching my Tuesday night shows I decided to go to bed.  I was super exhausted.  I got up extra early yesterday (even before the hubby) to have breakfast and work out.  The kids had a Kidsville play date with their little friends and I got to play catch up with my friend.  (Last time we saw each other was about ten months ago!)  It was a lot of fun until it was time to go.  My boy child had a total meltdown as we were leaving because he didn't understand that he couldn't take one of the giant police car toys home with him.  I took him for a walk around the mall to calm him down and then we had some lunch.  I shouldn't have eaten since I had already eaten what was intended to be my lunch around 10:30 a.m.  (I always eat way too much when I get up before 6 a.m.)  Anyway, this is what I had yesterday.  It was a lot:

Breakfast 
Delightful French toast with Smart Balance light and Aunt Jemimi Butter Lite syrup, Egg Beaters egg sub, turkey sausage and a skinny caramel macchiato.

Late morning snack
Egg sub, light cheese and light ham in a low carb tortilla

Lunch at McDonalds in the mall
Grilled chicken club sandwich and medium fries

Dinner 
Turkey/veggie chili with light cheese and 1/2 oz Baked! Tostitos scoops crushed on top

Dessert
Bowl of Lucky Charms with organic skim milk

I used a lot of weekly points. Ugh,

Monday 12-12-11

Hi guys!  Sorry I skipped posting all weekend.  My eating actually wasn't too bad, but the wine drinking did me in.  I went to a friend's band's cd release party Friday night (where I indulged in chocolate fondue with fruit) and I attended two Christmas parties Saturday, the second of which included a lot of wine and a cookie exchange.  Sunday morning (yesterday) I woke up way too tired to do anything and we ended up having fast food for breakfast.  We had beef stew at my parents' later and then I had more cookies.  I only lost .2 of a pound as a result, but for me that's a good thing; I usually gain weight in December.  I usually plan my menu and do all of my grocery shopping on Mondays but it rained all day today and I was still exhausted from the weekend.  Hubby ended up bringing Mexican soup home for dinner, which hit the spot.  I did not exercise at all today, just vegged out with the kids in pj's and did a lot of relaxing, singing and keyboard playing.  (I love Christmas music!)  I am not happy with the way I ate today since I skimped on produce, but at least I stayed within my 33 points.  This is what I had today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
Egg whites, center cut bacon, Delightful wheat toast with Smart Balance light and an organic skinny caramel macchiato.

Lunch (10 pts)
PB&J with Sara Lee Delightful bread, 2 Tbsp reduced fat crunchy peanut butter and strawberry preserves plus a glass of organic skim milk.  I need to go grocery shopping.

Dinner (13 pts)
Big bowl of menudo with lime, onions and fresh cilantro.

Snack (2 pts)
A light string cheese rolled up in 4 slices light deli ham

33 of 33 points. I will try to do better (as far as nutrients go) tomorrow.  Good night all!

Thursday 12-8-11

Hey guys!  I stuck to my 33 points today.  Late last night I decided to plan every bite for today, snacks included.  I spent most of my "free time" working on an extremely frustrating and time-consuming sewing project, so it was helpful to not have to think about what I was going to eat.  I did make myself take a break to cook and eat dinner and then enjoy some quality time with the family though.  I am not even 1/6th of the way done with my project, but I am over it for the night.  My bed beckons.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
7 veggie, reduced fat pepper jack and egg white omelet, 2 slices center cut bacon, 1 piece of Sara Lee Delightful wheat toast with Smart Balance light and 2 skinny caramel macchiatos.

Lunch (4 pts)
Very light tuna salad sandwich (with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, onions and 1 Tbsp light mayo on Sara Lee Delightful bread) and 2 clementines

Snack (6 pts)
1 c. organic strawberries mixed with 6 oz 0% vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt and 1/2 oz chopped walnuts

Dinner (9 pts)
Big hearty bowl of homemade albondigas. (Mexican meatball/rice soup in flavorful beef broth with tons of veggies. I used super lean ground beef and brown rice in my version.)

Snack (5 pts)
6 Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits with 1/2 oz Silver Goat garlic & herb chèvre and 2 slices of Italian dry salame

I neglected exercise again today.  I have no excuse.  I should have used my spare time more wisely but when I get sucked into a sewing project I get obsessed and completely lose track of time.  I need some better time management skills.  Things are getting busier and crazier as Christmas draws near so I need to be more careful with my time.  I am just happy that at the very least I was able to stick to my points target for the day. I have 3 parties this weekend so I need to use those weeklies wisely.  I will try my bestest to get on here tomorrow night and report back to you guys, but no promises.  Have a good night all.  Thanks for reading!

Wednesday 12-7-11

Well, saving the rest of my weeklies for the weekend went right out the window today.  I worked on Christmas cards all day long, except for when I had to run to the store and the kids were crazy today and the bigger one didn't nap.  We ordered pizza.  I used a lot of points and I did not exercise.  (And I'm still not done with Christmas cards!)  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (10 pts)
Ham, egg whites & cheese breakfast sandwich on Sara Lee whole grain white hamburger bun, apple slices and skinny caramel macchiato.

Lunch (9 pts)
1/2 serving leftover taco casserole on top of 3 c. organic mixed baby greens with red onions, grape tomatoes, 1 Tbsp Spicy ranch and 2 Tbsp shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese.

Dinner (35 pts...yikes)
3 slices Domino's Philly Cheese Steak pizza (large, hand tossed crust), 3 pieces boneless chicken with Kicker hot sauce, 4 parmesan bread bites and a Diet Shasta root beer.

That was a whopping 54 points. Boooooo.

Taco Tuesday 12-6-11

I woke up feeling really motivated this morning, especially after my not-so-fabulous weigh in yesterday.  I was thrilled when both of my kids napped at the same time this afternoon because I was able to work out for a full hour, uninterrupted!  I went over my daily points target by a little bit, but I'm not too worried about it now that my points target has been lowered by 3 pts.  We have all kinds of fun plans this weekend so I will be doing my best to save the rest of my weekly points for then.  I am determined to have a decent weigh in come Monday.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
Egg white omelet with olive oil, onions, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, reduced fat pepper jack cheese, homemade salsa, and two slices of center cut bacon.  I also had one slice of Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast with Smart Balance light and two organic skinny caramel macchiatos.

Lunch (8 pts)
Breakfast sandwich with 2 oz ham, egg whites, reduced fat colby-jack cheese, a Sara Lee whole grain white hamburger bun and two clementines.


Dinner (12 pts)
Huge helping of super lean beef taco casserole topped with fat free sour cream, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and scallions and Diet Shasta Root Beer to drink. I wanted to do Taco Tuesday but I wanted the comfort of a casserole on this cold night.  This was perfect.

Dessert during Glee (5 pts)
6 oz Chobani 0% vanilla yogurt + chopped apple + 15 g caramel bits + 7 g chopped cashews

Random snack (3 pts)
A quarter serving of leftover taco casserole before I packed the rest in the fridge.

I used 37 points today, which is 4 pts over my new points target of 33 points per day.  (In case you missed my post from December 2nd, WW rolled out the new PointsPlus 2012 and with it came an adjustment to my points target.)  Ok, I have to run.  My supposed-to-be-sleeping two year old crying hysterically in his room right now.  Thanks for reading and have a great night!

Monday 12-5-11

Weigh in wasn't great this morning after the fun weekend I just had.  It was to be expected.  I'm still ok as far as my lifetime membership is concerned since I'm allowed to weigh in up to two pounds over goal and still be ok. I'm pushing it though, and I just inched myself further away from my personal goal.  I'm just happy that I'm still in the 120s.  I kicked off the weekend by having a lasagna dinner at my parents' house Friday night and then going home and eating two handfuls of dark chocolate Hershey Kisses.  Saturday was spent at a festival called December Nights where my family indulged in world foods (and a few other splurges like cookies and cocoa.)  Yesterday we went to my aunt's house to celebrate my grandpa's 77th birthday.  It was a potluck and I brought crock pot chicken chile verde which I ate instead of the heavy carne asada, but I cancelled that out by also eating the homemade dark chocolate peppermint bark I made and drinking a big raspberry martini. And let's not forget the cheesy nachos and my aunt's delicious pumpkin pie.  It was a point-heavy day for sure.

I did much better today.  I actually stuck to my new points target of 33, and it wasn't as hard as I thought.  I will just have to take December one day at a time.  I sat down and planned this week's dinners and lunches to try to make it a little easier on myself and I grocery shopped accordingly.  I never got my workout in because my two year old refused to nap and my one year old was super fussy most of the day.  I am ready for bed!  I really need to be more regular about exercise like I used to be.  This week should be easier since my hubby isn't on-call; maybe I can escape to the gym some time.  Anyway, this is what I ate today.

Breakfast (9 pts)
1 packet Quaker lower sugar maple & brown sugar quick oats + 2/3 c. skim milk, 1 slice Sara Lee Delightful wheat toast with Smart Balance light, and two skinny caramel macchiatos.

Snack (0 pts)
Small banana

Lunch (7 pts)
4 oz leftover shredded chicken chile verde in a low carb tortilla with reduced fat Sargento pepper jack cheese

Snack (5 pts)
6 Rosemary & Olive oil Triscuits with 1/2 oz Silver Goat garlic & herb goat cheese, 11 g Italian dry salame and a small pear.

Dinner (7 pts)
Broiled garlic & herb tilapia with lemon, 1/2 c. wild rice pilaf and organic baby salad with 1 Tbsp ranch dressing. Diet Shasta Root Beer.

Dessert (3 pts)
1 Kellogg Nutrigrain whole grain waffle with 1 tsp Smart Balance light and 2 tsp Aunt Jemimi butter lite syrup.

Dessert #2 (2 pts)
1 piece of homemade dark chocolate peppermint bark.

That was exactly 33 of 33 points.  My goal for tomorrow is to stick to my 33 points and exercise vigorously.  We shall see.  Good night folks!

Thursday 12-1-11

Hi there. Please excuse my day-late post (again.)  I don't have a good excuse, but I did go to bed earlier than normal which was nice.  I also worked out yesterday while my son napped.  (Baby girl just jumped in her Jumperoo clapping, cheering me on and trying to copy some of my moves.)  I was tired going into the workout but felt amazing when it was done, energetic and refreshed.  I'm glad I pushed through my laziness and worked through it because it was worth it.  I will have to remember that feeling next time I am too lazy to exercise.

In other news, Weight Watchers rolled out PointsPlus 2012 this morning, an updated version of the program they rolled out in November 2010.  I was surprised to wake up and see my online tracker say that my points target has been reconfigured.  They applied the change to my entire week so I was slightly disappointed to see that I no longer have weekly points left to get me through this weekend.  This will prove challenging, I'm sure, so I guess there will be some extra workouts in my very near future.  They dropped me from 36 PointsPlus to 33 PointsPlus a day.  That's probably a good thing though since it probably means I will get to my personal goal in a more timely fashion.  I'd love to start 2012 in my pre-kid skinny jeans.  That would be nice.  Anywho, this is what I ate yesterday, December 1st, 2011.

Breakfast (10 pts)
1/2 c. egg whites, 2 links of turkey sausage, an Everything bagel thin with 1 Tbsp neufchatel and two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

Snack (0 pts)
Medium banana

Lunch (9 pts)
Leftover turkey burger with an Indian twist on a Sara Lee white wheat bun toasted in garlic infused oil and topped with curried mayo, red onions, cilantro and cucumber slices.  I also had about half of a cucumber on the side.

Snack (4 pts)
3 Pepperidge farm Holiday Quartet crackers spread with 1 Tbsp Rondele garlic & herb cheese and 1 caramel filled Hershey Kiss

Dinner (6 pts)
Prosciutto, arugula & balsamic sandwich on demi-wheat French bread (with most of the inside bread scraped out.)  This is a Skinny Taste sandwich that I ate a lot this summer.

Dessert (10 pts)
White chocolate peppermint mocha hot cocoa cocktail topped with fat free Reddi-Wip and Andes peppermint chips.  DE-LICIOUS! But next time I will lighten it up. 10 pts is a lot for one little cocktail.

So that was my day yesterday.  Today should be interesting seeing as my points target is 3 points less than I am used to and I don't have any weekly points to dip into.  I'm a little nervous about that.  I guess I will have to resist the urge to bake this weekend, which is a shame since I bought a whole bunch of yummy ingredients yesterday!  Oh well, 3 more days til weigh in and a new set of weekly points to dip into.  Have a great day everyone!  I will try to post my menu tonight instead of tomorrow morning this time.

Wednesday 11-30-11

Today has been an absolute struggle for me, from start to finish.  I woke up super grumpy from a poor night's sleep and wanted to sleep in but I couldn't because I had too much to do before our 12 o'clock showing.  I felt tired and off all day, and when I lack energy I tend to want to eat.  After breakfast I went ahead and pre-tracked all of my meals and snacks with the hope that it would keep me on track, but I still wanted to munch all day.  I still haven't gotten a formal workout in since I've been back from Oklahoma even though I know it will help my energy levels. I don't know why I find it so difficult to get back into the swing of things when I take a break for a week or so.  I did take the kids for a walk today since it was so pretty outside and I needed to be gone during the home showing.  (My car keys finally arrived from Oklahoma today, but not until a couple hours after the showing.)  It was nice to get out in the sunshine, but it still didn't do much for my energy.  I still wanted to munch.

After lunch my desire to snack got so bad I decided to sleep it off and ended up napping with the kids until hubby got home form work.  I felt a little better and after all my snacking my planned dinner only went a point or two over my daily target.  But then after dinner we all sat down and watched the Polar Express and the hot chocolate scene made me crave hot chocolate something fierce.  I ended up baking cookies for the family and making peppermint hot cocoa  to drink with it.  I only ate 3 of the cookies but they were not WW-friendly so I used a whopping 20 weekly points today.  I don't know why I am so ravenous today.  It's awful and I feel out of control.  Baby girl seems to be in a growth spurt and is nursing pretty frequently so that could be part of it.  I need to snap out of this though.  It's only Wednesday and I have already used 36 of my 49 weekly points!  Anyway, before this post gets any longer here is what I ate today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Avocado bacon cheddar egg white omelet with homemade salsa and fat free sour cream plus two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

Snack (1 pt)
Light string cheese

Lunch (7 pts)
Chipotle chicken breast wrap with organic baby greens, cilantro, 1 Tbsp spicy ranch, Sargento reduced fat pepper jack cheese and a low carb tortilla plus two clementine cuties.

Snack (2 pts)
A 3/4 oz slice of cheddar cheese

Snack (1 pt)
Small banana spread with 1/2 Tbsp reduced fat creamy Jif peanut butter

Dinner (17 pts) 
Turkey burger with an Indian twist on Trader Joe's garlic naan with curried light mayo, cilantro, red onions and cucumbers plus 3 oz baked Ore Ida sweet potato fries with extra curry mayo for dipping.

Dessert (16 pts)
3 dark chocolate peppermint kiss thumbprint cookies with peppermint cocoa topped with fat free Reddi-Wip and a sprinkle of Andes peppermint chips. Super delicious but not really WW friendly.

I have major guilt over my snacky day, mostly because I woke up with a plan to eat no more than my daily target of 36 points plus and also because we're halfway through the week and my only exercise has been a leisurely walk around my neighborhood.  Tomorrow will be better.  I have my car keys back so I will be able to get out with the kids and hopefully get out of my silly funk.  I'm tired of being tired and I don't like feeling out of control like this.  Yuck.  Well, that's all I got tonight.  Thanks for reading!

Tuesday 11-29-11

Hey guys, I'm going to make this short.  I need sleep. This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
1/2 c. egg whites, 2 slices Oscar Meyer center cut bacon, 2 slices Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast with Smart Balance light and 2 organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes with Splenda.

Lunch (16 pts)
Leftover DiGiorno self-rising pepperoni pizza and baked shoestring fries. Horrible, I know. Ugh.

Snack (0 pts)
2 clementine cuties

Dinner (10 pts) 
Grilled chipotle rubbed chicken breast with homemade salsa, 1/2 c. pinto beans and organic salad with grape tomatoes, 2 oz avocado slices, cilantro, a sprinkle of 2% Mexican cheese and 1 Tbsp Spicy ranch dressing.

Late night snack (6 pts)
Tortilla chips and my delicious homemade salsa. Worth the 4 weekly points I used to eat it.

I used 40 pts today, 4 over my daily target.  I wasn't planning on using weeklies today but oh well.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Goodnight folks.

Monday 11-28-11

Hello friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great one in Oklahoma.  We got back Sunday afternoon but were pretty exhausted, so we were all in bed by 8 p.m. or so.  Hubby accidentally left my car/house keys in our rental car in Oklahoma and we are waiting for them to be mailed back. I hope they get here soon.  We rented a car so we could get around yesterday (to go run errands, grocery shop and get our Christmas tree) but I have to return it by noon today.  I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  I tracked about 3/4 of the time while in Oklahoma, mostly guessing at points values since I was mostly eating other peoples' cooking.  I felt like I did very badly while I was there because I grazed a lot, but weigh in said otherwise.  I somehow managed to lose 1.1 lb.  I am 127.9, inching closer and closer to my personal goal of pre-baby weight (124 lbs.)  I'm .1 below my WW goal on paper, but I won't let myself go into maintenance mode until I have reached my personal goal weight or all of my pre-baby clothes fit comfortably, whichever comes first.  Anyway, this is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast (9 pts)
My lightened up version of Jack in the Box's Ultimate Breakfast sandwich (burger bun, egg whites, ham, bacon, cheese) and 2 organic skim milk lattes

Lunch (9 pts)
Flame grilled Boca burger in a Sara Lee white wheat bun with light mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onions and light colby-jack cheese.

Dinner at McDonalds in the mall while waiting for my new phone (23 pts)
Grilled chicken club sandwich, medium fries and Diet Dr Pepper

Drink while trimming the tree (7 pts)
1/2 c. low fat egg nog + 1/4 c. organic skim milk (to make my drink bigger) + 26 g rum. I sipped at it all night to make it last.  Even "low fat" egg nog is super rich.  I think I'll do half a serving next time with more skim milk to dilute it. (That might sound weird, but the first ingredient listed on the nog carton is milk/cream, and it tasted the same to me diluted! I don't like it so thick anyway!)

I used 12 weekly points yesterday because of my unplanned dinner.  We went to the mall to pick up the kids' portraits from Sears and decided to upgrade my phone while we were there.  (My Droid 1 was on its way out, it seemed.)  It look much longer than we anticipated so the dinner I planned to cook at home went out the window; we still had other errands to run plus a Christmas tree to buy after the mall, and it was already dark when we left there.  I hope to get a workout in today and will most definitely be cooking dinner.  I am happy to be home with my kitchen again, where life is a little more predictable.  Thanks for reading!  Be back tonight.

Sunday 11-20-11

Hi guys!  Sorry again for the day-late post.  Last night after I finished uploading my food pics to my comp my Internet stopped working.  After messing with it for a long time I gave up.  I tried posting a blog from my phone but it was way too frustrating.  Thankfully my hubby fixed it before I got up this morning, so here I am. I was splurge-y last night.  I was so good all day and even worked out and had a super light dinner so that I'd stay within my points without using the rest of my weeklies, but my hubby kept bugging me all night to bake cookies.  (It was raining super hard and we were watching Christmas cartoons! It just felt mandatory!)  I kept refusing because I didn't have points left for cookies and didn't want to torture myself baking a delicious something I couldn't eat, but ultimately I gave in. I have been craving chocolate and peppermint together ever since that day I tried to get a skinny peppermint mocha from Target Starbucks and they were out of syrup or whatever, and seeing all the holiday inspired deliciousness on Pinterest every day surely doesn't help my cause. Blah...so I went wild and ate every weekly point and dipped into my activity points and it showed on the scale this morning because I was up .2 of a lb.  This could also be because I didn't nurse baby girl right before weigh in like I usually do and it could also be weight gain from all the weight lifting I did this week. My pre-pregnancy jeans fit better this weekend so I really think that's part of it.  Muscle is more dense than fat and I do seem to be taking up less space in my clothes.  I also know that I didn't always make the best choices last week so I'll have to try harder this week. (Thanksgiving week, gaaah!)

We leave for Oklahoma early tomorrow morning, so I am nervous about how this week will go.  On the plus side we did decide at the last minute to rent a car while we're there so that we aren't dependent on other people for rides, which means a little more freedom. This means I can go buy my organic skim milk, egg whites and other staples if I want to and that should help enormously.  Anyway, this is what I ate yesterday, Sunday November 20th:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Egg white omelet with neufchatel & scallions, 2 links of turkey sausage, Everything bagel thin with neufchatel & 2 organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

Snack (5pts)
Organic pear & baby arugula salad with homemade honey dijon vinaigrette, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and golden raisins

Lunch (13 pts)
Buffalo chicken salad sandwich (inspired by a Skinny Taste dip that I love) on a Sara Lee White Wheat bun, celery sticks, a slice of reduced fat Colby Jack cheese and a chocolate cherry bomb green monster smoothie (frozen banana, organic baby spinach, frozen sweet cherries and Soy Slender chocolate soy milk in the blender.)

Dinner (9 pts)
Very light breakfast sandwich with ham, light cheese, egg whites and Sara Lee Delightful bread and a small homemade pumpkin spice pancake with fat free Reddi-Wip, pumpkin pie spice and walnuts

Dessert (18 pts!!!)
3 homemade dark chocolate candy cane Kiss thumbprint cookies and hot cocoa made with Diet Swiss Miss, peppermint extract, Splenda and topped with fat free Reddi-Wip and 10 g Andes peppermint chips. So freakin delicious.  I only baked 9 of the cookies last night and froze the rest of the dough in balls so they're ready to bake another time.  They definitely hit the spot for my chocolate/peppermint craving!

Thanks for reading friends.  I will try to get back on here tonight, even if it's just for a quick post, to update about what I ate today.  I have a busy day of cleaning and packing ahead of me so if I don't update tonight that's why.  I doubt I'll be updating when I'm in Oklahoma but you never know.

Saturday 11-19-11

Hubby and I did a lot of running around today in preparation for Tuesday's trip to Oklahoma.  My parents took the kiddies for us so that we could get in and out of stores more quickly, and so they could spend time with them since they'll miss them so much next week.  I know I said yesterday that I was going to resist eating at a restaurant while my parents had our kids, but I totally gave in.  We were out for so long and we were pretty famished so we decided to try the new Smashburger.  (We meant to go to Subway but changed our minds at the last second.)  I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich a la carte since I had a feeling it would be in the double digits points-wise and I drank a diet soda instead of the wine I really wanted to have.  After our meal hubby suggested they might have nutritional info available since they're a chain, and they did!  My sandwich was 15 points plus! I was super happy I didn't order fries.  After lunch we got a lot done and we even got started on Christmas shopping, which was fun.  All in all it was a great day and I am happy to report that I used exactly all of my 36 points plus and not a point more.  Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast (10 pts)
Breakfast burrito with 44 g frozen hash browns cooked in olive oil, onions, tri-color peppers, 1/2 c. fat free egg sub, 2 slices center cut bacon, 1/2 oz reduced fat cheddar cheese, homemade salsa and a low carb flour tortilla. I also drank two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes.

Lunch at Smashburger (15 pts)
Spicy Baja grilled chicken sandwich (pepper jack, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onions, spicy chipotle mayo and fresh jalapenos on a spicy chipotle bun) and a Diet Coke.  I am so happy I resisted fries and alcohol.

Dinner (10 pts)
Blackened tilapia, 1/2 c. lemon and herb wild and long grain rice pilaf and organic mixed baby greens topped with 1 Tbsp Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch dressing.

Dessert (1 pt)
1 very large honeycrisp apple diced and baked with 1 Tbsp Smart Balance Light, 1 packet of Splenda and a whole lot of Korintje cinnamon. It was delicious and reminded me of a crustless apple pie, yum!

This is the best I've done on a Saturday in quite a while, so I am very pleased with myself.  I didn't get a formal workout in though, but at least I wasn't totally sedentary either.  I was pretty busy all day.  Now I am going to go lay on the couch and enjoy some movie time with my hubs.  Good night all!

Friday 11-18-11

Hey guys, happy Friday!  Today was pretty cool.  The hubby ended up working from home today and only til about 1:30ish so we got a lot of family time today.  It also meant that I was able to hit the gym in the middle of the afternoon, which was awesome.  I did get a bit splurge-y tonight, but I'm still within my weekly points so it's ok.  Plus I exercised a lot this week.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
Egg whites with lots of veggies, light cheese, 2 slices center cut bacon, 1 slice Sara Lee Delightful wheat toast and 2 organic skim milk/hazelnut lattes.

Lunch (10 pts) 
1/2 leftover Indian inspired turkey burger on 1/2 Trader Joe's garlic naan, hot curry mayo, cilantro, red onions and cucumber slices, 3 oz baked sweet potato fries and a Diet Shasta Cola.

Post-workout snack (4 pts)
1 slice Sara Lee Delightful wheat bread spread with 1 Tbsp reduced fat peanut butter and organic granny smith apple slices

Dinner (8 pts)
A big bowl of homemade crock pot chicken tortilla soup topped with reduced fat pepper jack, lime, Baked Tostitos scoops, homemade salsa, 1 oz avocado slices and garnished with cilantro.

Dessert (6 pts)
A bowl of fruit salad modified to lower the points. I think some people call it Ambrosia salad, but growing up we just called it fruit salad.

Dessert #2...oops (14 pts)
3 dark chocolate hazelnut kiss cookies and Diet Swiss Miss made with water and topped with 7 g mini marshmallows.

Unecessary snack (6 pts)
A handful of roasted pumpkin seeds and 2 sugar free mini peanut butter cups

Ok, ok, I went a little nuts with chocolate today. I am craving it like CRAZY.  But it really could have been much worse. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.)  I'm going to try to stick to my 36 pts tomorrow to make up for today's madness.  I can't believe I ate about 59 pts+ today, woah! I only have 18 weeklies left for the rest of the weekend, but all of my activity points are in tact and I refuse to dip into those.  My parents are babysitting for us tomorrow so that we can run errands for our upcoming trip (diapers, cold weather clothes, baby food etc) and I am going to try to resist eating at a restaurant.  I have a rough idea of tomorrow's menu in my head so I'm going to do my best to stick to it.  That's all I can do.  Well, thanks for reading.  Good night folks!

Thursday 11-17-11

I had a very productive day. I had a nice leisurely breakfast and coffee with the hubby followed by an intense cardio/weights/ab workout and shower all before the kids got up for the day.  I had to take baby girl in for immunizations and blood work today.  Her sad little face broke my heart. She cried so hard that she fell asleep right after we left the building.  After we left the doctor we went to an Indian grocer I've been curious about so that I could gather some authentic spices for tonight's dinner.  I was so hungry from having worked out so early that I gave in to temptation and ate a delicious snack while I was there. (The store was also a vegetarian Indian restaurant.) Plus I knew I still had to stop at Sprouts for produce and it's never a good idea for me to go in there hungry. Hubby has joined me on my health kick so we have been going through produce (and other staples) at record speed, in case you're wondering why I seem to hit up grocery stores daily. After the grocery store I took care of stuff around the house, or at least as much as the kids would let me do, and then prepped dinner.  After dinner the hubby and I relaxed and streamed some documentaries on Netflix, stuff that made my head spin. Anyway, before I get off on some crazy tangent here is what I ate today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
Egg whites scrambled in sauteed onions, red, green & yellow peppers, spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes and topped with reduced fat pepper jack cheese and homemade salsa, plus two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes, 2 slices of center cut bacon and 1 piece of Sara Lee Delightful wheat toast.

Post-workout snack (5 pts)
A small bit of leftover Moroccan-spiced apricot chicken on a bed of couscous.

Snack at Bharat Bazaar (4 pts)
1 Indian potato samosa dipped in a little chutney

Lunch (8 pts)
A huge salad of mixed organic baby greens, balsamic vinaigrette, 2 oz Trader Joe's just chicken, Trader Joe's lite havarti cheese, 10 g dried cranberries, diced apples, radishes, celery, sliced red pepper and a 1/2 oz of cashews. This was my attempt at recreating the salad I had the other day at Yellow Deli. The only difference was the addition of diced granny smith apples (oh, and my vinaigrette wasn't as good since it was from Stater Bros. Next time I am making my own.)

Dinner (16 pts)
Turkey burgers with an Indian twist served in garlic naan with 3 oz baked sweet potato fries and reduced fat hot curried mayonnaise. I used fresh cilantro, red onions and cucumbers for burger toppings. (The cucumbers served as a cooling agent to counteract the heat of the yummy mayo.) I found this recipe when googling inspiration for newer, more exciting ways to eat super lean turkey burgers. I cut out half the oil and used 99% fat free ground turkey and light mayo to lighten it up further. It was phenomenally delicious, seriously the best turkey burger I have ever had. Even the hubs told me it was even better than a beef burger, and that's saying a lot coming from him. I could have made it super light by using whole wheat pita or eating them protein-style but I still had leftover Trader Joe's garlic naan from yesterday that was begging to be used. The naan itself was 7 pts since I used a whole piece folded over as my "bun" but it was so worth it! Seriously people, make this recipe as soon as possible! Sorry for the paragraph, haha, but this was a good one.

Pre-blog Snack (2 pts)
1/3 of a leftover Indian-inspired turkey burger patty spread with 1 tsp of hot curry mayo, yum yum yum! And a navel orange.

I used 43 of my 36 points plus today, but I don't feel bad because I exercised a ton this morning and I need to eat (and drink) more when I exercise intensely so I don't kill baby girl's milk supply. I used 7 weekly points today, but I still have a whole 39 to get me through the weekend. Ok, that's all folks. Have a great night!

Wednesday 11-16-11

Today was a busy day of errand running, and I also got in a work out while the kids napped.  (They napped at that same time again, woo-hoo!)  It was a relaxed evening.  I got to watch a Netflix dvd with the hubby after dinner, "I Love You Man."  Loved it.  If baby girl cooperates and sleeps all through the night I am hoping to get an early morning workout in tomorrow.  We have a 12 o'clock appointment for her to have her iron levels checked, since we put it off due to illness. In other news, I can't believe Thanksgiving is in eight more days.  How did that happen?!  We still have a lot to do before our trip.  I'm a little stressed about it.  Anyway, back to the topic.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (10 pts)

Avocado-bacon-reduced fat pepper jack egg white omelet with salsa and light sour cream and two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes with Splenda.

Lunch (7 pts) 

Baby spinach salad with honey roasted butternut squash, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, gorgonzola cheese and homemade honey dijon vinaigrette. (Recipe by the brilliant Gina of SkinnyTaste.com.) 

Pre-workout Snack (1 pt)

Small banana and a light string cheese

Dinner (14 pts)

Moroccan-spiced apricot chicken with couscous and 1/2 serving of Trader Joe's tandoori garlic naan sprayed with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray.

Dessert (7 pts)

6 oz container fat free vanilla Chobani yogurt + 2 Tbsp homemade pumpkin butter + 1/2 oz chopped pecans

I used 3 weekly points so that I could top my yogurt dessert with nuts, but again I don't mind using extra points on days I have a hard work out.  I used 39 points of 36 but I'm still in great shape for the weekend, points-wise.  Well, I better get back to my poor teething daughter.  Have a great night all and thanks again for reading! 

Tuesday 11-15-11

Today didn't turn out like I planned it.  I slept in kind of late after an extremely long night with baby girl. She was up all night like a newborn!  My plan for today was to do a little bit of light cleaning, make up my menu for the next six days, grocery shop, take baby girl in for blood work and exercise.  The hubby called and asked if I could get the house ready for a showing instead, so I did.  Fortunately he got off work at a reasonable time and the four of us went on a mini-grocery trip together so we'd be gone for the showing.  When we got home there was no evidence that it even took place, which was a bit irritating since I rearranged my whole day for it and didn't get a formal workout in because of it.  Oh well.  Having a yummy late dinner and watching some Glee, New Girl and Raising Hope made up for it.  I love Tuesday nights.  Anyway, this is what I ate today: 

Breakfast (9 pts)

1/2 c. fat free egg sub scrambled in butter flavor nonstick spray, 2 turkey sausage links, 2 slices Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast and Smart Balance Light and two organic skim milk/fat free vanilla caramel lattes with Splenda.

Lunch (9 pts) 

Leftover chicken marsala, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and 1 1/4 c. broccoli lightly cooked in fat free chicken stock. (A shout out to my Tio Jaime for that idea!  He does something like this every year at our Christmas Eve get together, and it's great.)

Snack (1 pts)

Light string cheese

Dinner (17 pts)

Chicken fajitas made with onions, green/red/yellow peppers and mushrooms and topped with light sour cream, homemade salsa, 2 oz avocado slices and eaten with 1 Romero's low carb flour tortilla, 1/2 c. refried beans topped with 1 Tbsp 2% Mexican blend cheese and (not pictured) 1 oz of Baked Tostitos Scoops. 

I used exactly 36 of 36 pts today.  I was tempted to have some of the hubby's dark chocolate he picked up at Trader Joe's this evening, but I resisted since I didn't exercise today. It was hard to watch Glee without munching on dessert, but I made it through by chugging lots of water.  Well, I better get to bed and sleep while I can.  I'm crossing my fingers that baby girl goes back to sleeping through the night soon.  Good night and thanks for reading! 

Monday 11-14-11

Hi friends.  Today was a pretty good day.  I took the kids to lunch at the Yellow Deli so we could catch up with some friends.  My son had a blast with his buddy.  Then we came home and played together.  The kids and I danced together to a cd we got at a friend's birthday party a while back, and I also got a formal workout in before I made dinner.  Weigh in this morning went well.  I was down 0.9 of a lb which is awesome considering all the cookies I had this weekend.  I'm at my WW goal again, but my personal goal is just a few pounds away. I am going to try to have a very good week since next week is Thanksgiving and we'll be going to Oklahoma.  Between airport food, fast food and other peoples' home cooking I always end up gaining weight in Oklahoma, so I am hoping to lose at least a pound or two before going in case that does happen.  That's not to say I won't try to stay on track while I'm there, but you never know.  Anywho, this is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
Breakfast sandwich with egg whites, 2 oz Buddig ham, 2% American cheese and Sara Lee Delightful wheat bread and two organic skim milk/fat free vanilla caramel lattes with Splenda.

Lunch at the Yellow Deli (approx 16 pts)
Cranberry & cashew salad with balsamic vinaigrette (using the fork method, so I only used about a quarter of what they brought me), celery, carrots, havarti, red peppers radishes and deli chicken added. I also had some bread on the side. The menu said it came with whole wheat sourdough, but not sure if that's what I had.  It was kinda sweet and it had raisins in it, so I guessed on the points.  I also drank water and had the tiniest bite ever of my son's peanut butter cookie.

Dinner (11 pts) 
Chicken marsala, garlic & herb mashed potatoes and asparagus roasted in garlic infused olive oil.

I used exactly 36 points today and got in a workout, woot!  This was a great start to my week.  Goodnight friends.  "See" you tomorrow.

Sunday 11-13-11

Hi all!  This concludes my first week "back on track" with Weight Watchers Points Plus.  Not a perfect week since I only squeezed in two formal workouts and didn't meet my veggie quota every day, but it's still much better than I did all of last month.  We'll see what the scale has to say about it in the morning.

Today was rather slow-paced, though not as slow-paced as yesterday. It was a warm and mild day and the hubby worked again.  I wanted some much needed gym time so I dropped the kids off with my parents and they had a fun day with their cousin.  I was able to go to the grocery store for some staples (milk, bread, organic salad, etc), have a quiet leisurely lunch alone and then I went to the gym for some elliptical cardio.  It was a good day.  I ended up dipping into weeklies because I baked more of those double dark chocolate hazelnut cookies form yesterday, but miraculously I still have a few WPs to spare plus all of my activity points in tact.  This is what I had today:

Breakfast (13 pts)
Soy chorizo, potato & egg white burrito on a whole wheat flour tortilla with 1 oz 2% Mexican blend cheese and homemade salsa plus my two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes.

Lunch (9 pts)
Leftover Italian inspired turkey & cheese meatloaf with 1/2 c. roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a cup of plain, steamed veggies with a Diet Shasta Cola to wash it all down.

Dinner (9 pts)
2 c. bowl of menudo with lime, cilantro, diced onions, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. (I feel like I am getting sick! I forgot to mention that before.)

Dessert (15 pts!!!)
3 double dark chocolate hazelnut Kiss cookies and a glass of organic skim milk

Drink (3 pts)
1 c. high pulp orange juice. I don't usually like using points on juice, but I always seem to crave it when I feel a cold coming on. I woke up with a sore throat and I hope it doesn't turn into anything else!

I used 49 pts today, not the smartest thing the night before a weigh in, but it's ok.  I indulged in some treats this week but it could have been much worse. I'm just excited I was able to exercise self control around those cookies I baked yesterday, and happy I was able to refrain from using every single weekly point.  Well, that's all I got for yas.  I'll report back on my weigh in tomorrow. Good night!

Saturday 11-12-11

Today was the laziest day ever.  Hubby was on-call and worked most of the day, so the kiddos and I just stayed at home all day long (in our pajamas) enjoying the rain.  We watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and just relaxed.  It was nice.  I ended up baking some very sinful cookies, an adaption of a 4 ingredient cookie I saw on Pinterest.  The recipe made 2 dozen cookies, which would have been dangerous, so I only baked a dozen of them and froze the rest of the dough balls for another day.  I finally just enjoyed my cookies.  I wanted to savor them so I waited til I was done cleaning my kitchen and the kids were asleep.  (Well, baby girl is actually awake right now, but she's just hanging out with her daddy quietly. She missed him today and he just got home.)  Anyway, this is what I ate today:

Breakfast (14 pts)
Breakfast burrito with bacon, fat free egg sub, hash browns (in canola oil), turkey sausage, Mexican blend reduced fat cheese, homemade salsa and a flour tortilla plus my usual organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

Lunch (10 pts) 
1 oz whole grain angel hair pasta topped with the last 1 c. of my spicy Italian turkey sausage & chunky veggie spaghetti sauce.  I also made myself some garlic bread with Trader Joe's artisan bread and garlic infused oil, but a certain two-year-old food bandit jacked it off my plate! Just as well. Lunch was point-y enough.

Dinner (11 pts) 
Italian-style turkey meatloaf (my own yummy recipe I created today), roasted garlic mashed potatoes and fire roasted veggies in a balsamic butter sauce.

Dessert (11 pts!) 
2 double dark chocolate hazelnut kiss cookies and 1 c. organic skim milk

Even though I had a mostly lazy day I am pretty tired.  I jinxed myself last night when I said I'd be passing out after finishing my blog; baby girl woke up and kept me awake for 2 1/2 more hours, then woke me up twice more to nurse.  I was kind of a zombie all day, hence never getting of my pjs.  With any luck I will be passing out after I'm done here.  We shall see, but back to the topic at hand.  I used 10 weekly points so that I could have my dessert and milk tonight (46 of 36 pts+), but I still have some WPs left for tomorrow should I want/need them, and weigh in is Monday morning.  I really hope to get a work out in tomorrow.  I was so lazy today, but I felt like I needed it.  Thanks for reading.  I'll be back tomorrow.

Friday 11-11-11

Sorry in advance for the quick post and no pics.  I am EXHAUSTED and am going to crawl into bed and pass out as soon as I am done here.  Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
Light breakfast sandwich with black forest ham, 2% American cheese, egg whites and Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat bread and 2 organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

Snack while waiting for pasta to cook (4 pts)
Boca chik'n patty

Lunch (11 pts)
1 oz whole wheat thin spaghetti with 1/2 c. leftover chunky veggie & lean hot Italian turkey sausage spaghetti sauce, and 2 oz Trader Joe's Artisan whole grain bread with 1 tsp garlic infused olive oil

Snack (2 pts)
3 Hershey's dark chocolate kisses

Dinner (10 pts)
2 c. homemade turkey & 9 veggie chili (thawed and re-heated form deep freezer) with 1 oz Mexican blend reduced fat cheese and 1 oz Baked Tostitos Scoops for dipping

Dessert (10 pts but worth it)
1/2 c. rolled oats cooked in 1 c. organic skim milk, cinnamon, Splenda, 3 Tbsp homemade pumpkin butter and topped with 1/2 oz chopped walnuts and 1/2 oz dried cranberries. Sooo delicious for something I just threw together in a few minutes and would make a perfect breakfast on a chilly morning.

I used 45 of 36 pts today, but it's Friday and I usually use weekly points on Fridays anyway. Plus I didn't eat enough yesterday (since I was under my pts target by about 8 pts.)  Ok folks, that's all I got.  I hope your 11-11-11 was epic.  Good night!

Thursday 11-10-11

Hi guys, sorry for the obnoxiously late post but I had a busy day!  I worked on sewing projects and then took the kiddos to get their pics taken with the Sears Santa Claus.  I finished baby girl's turkey shirt and then made her a coordinating skirt and then after I made dinner I got to work on my son's turkey shirt.  I am almost done with it!  As soon as I am done here I am going to finish it and go the heck to sleep.  I'd rather finish while everyone is asleep so I can do it interruption-free.  Much quicker that way.  Anywho, this is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
Machaca burrito and 2 skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes

"Lunch" while running out the door to get portraits done (1 pt)
A light string cheese

Dinner (18 pts) 
2 oz whole wheat thin spaghetti with 1/2 c. homemade chunky veggie and hot Italian turkey sausage meat sauce with a slice of garlic bread and 6 fl oz of Moscato. SO delicious, all of it. So excited for leftovers tomorrow! Well, technically today since it's past midnight.

I only used 28 pts of 36 today because I got too busy to eat lunch myself.  I decided my lunch would be whatever my kids didn't eat of their grilled ham & cheese sandwiches but boy child devoured his and the girl one threw much of her's on the floor, and I don't do eating off the floor. Well, I better run. Thanks for reading my super late post!

Wednesday 11-9-11

Hi friends!  I feel like a truck hit me.  I am so sore from yesterday's workout, and I did not sleep well last night.  I got up kind of early too.  I had a busy day of running around.  My two year old got a much needed haircut and then we did some shopping.  The kids are getting their holiday portraits done Friday and I wanted some cute coordinating outfits.  We had lunch at Subway and I could not wake up despite 2 lattes this morning and Diet Coke with lunch.  My phone died while we were eating and I don't have a car charger so I couldn't track my food til I got home.  I stopped at the Starbucks inside of Target and tried to get a skinny peppermint mocha but they were out of the syrup or something, so I got the second best sounding thing which was a tall salted caramel mocha.  I got it with fat free milk and splurged and got whipped cream.  I looked up the points later when I got home and was shocked to find that my tall drink was a whopping NINE points plus, ouch.  That left me with two points plus for dinner so I had to dip into weeklies to eat it.  Oh well.  Anyway, here's what my day looked like food-wise:

Breakfast (9 pts)
Homemade machaca & egg sub burrito and 2 organic skim milk & sugar free hazelnut lattes

Snack (2 pts)
1 slice of cheddar cheese

Lunch at Subway (*15 pts)
6" toasted turkey & pepper jack on 9 grain honey oat (some bread scooped out of the middle) with avocado, spinach, tomatoes, onions, peperoncinis, pickles, bell peppers, cucumbers and chipotle southwest sauce, bag of Baked BBQ Lay's and Diet Coke. *Pts are approximate since I had some bread removed, but not sure how much exactly.

"Snack" at Starbucks (9 pts!!!)
Tall salted caramel mocha latte with fat free milk and whipped cream

Dinner (9 pts)
Leftover chile verde pork (see yesterday's post) with cilantro, lime and onions, a flour tortilla and 1/2 c. pinto beans.

I used 45 points plus today, so 9 weeklies and I didn't earn any activity points. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  Well my oven timer is beeping at me because my iron is pre-heated now, so I better run!  I'm making turkey applique shirts tonight.  "See" you tomorrow.

Taco Tuesday 11-8-11

Today I am grateful for the fact that my two year old napped, and not only napped, but napped at the same time as his baby sister! I got to work out for the first time in a super long time and it felt great. I did my Slim-in-Six "ramp it up" dvd by Beach Body.  I can tell I'm going to feel it tomorrow.  I haven't done this particular workout since before I got pregnant with baby girl.  Before working out I had a pretty productive day of laundry and cleaning.  The kids were a bit wild but they made up for it by napping at the same time, thank heavens.  Anyway, this is what I ate today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
ABC (avocado-bacon-cheddar) egg white omelet with light sour cream and homemade salsa and two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes with Splenda/

Lunch (9 pts)
2 c. bowl of New England style clam chowder with 10 fat free saltine crackers

Snack (0 pts)
honeycrisp apple slices

Dinner (13 pts)
Slow cooker chile verde shredded pork tacos in corn tortillas with cilantro, lime and onions, 1/2 c. pinto beans + 2 Tbsp 2% Mexican blend cheese, organic salad + 1 Tbsp Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch dressing + 2 Tbsp 2% Mexican blend cheese and a Diet Shasta Root Beer.

Dessert while watching Glee (3 pts)
1/2 c. Trader Joe's 0% Greek vanilla yogurt + 3 Tbsp pureed pumpkin + pumpkin pie spice + cinnamon + 7 g walnuts

I used 37 of 36 points plus today, so I used one weekly point. I don't mind dipping into weekly points on a day I've worked out so I am good to go.  Well, I better run! I've got some yummy pumpkin butter simmering on the stove that needs attention.  Good night.  "See" you tomorrow!

Monday 11-7-11

Hi guys, I'm back! (Again, hopefully for good this time.)  I got up early, weighed in for the first time in a couple weeks and had a crazy day of cleaning like a wild woman until fifteen minutes before a home showing.  At the fifteen-til mark the kids and I left so there was no chance of them making a huge mess before the potential buyers showed up.  As soon as we got into the car to leave my two year old started saying he was "so so sooo hungry" so I started driving in the direction of food.  He told me he "needed" Taco Bell, ha (what the heck?)  I ate off the "drive-thru diet" menu to stay kind of on track and the kids split pintos 'n cheese (no sauce) and a chicken quesadilla before we went off to the store to buy a few grocery items. I still need to plan the rest of the week's dinner menus, but I'm set for the next few days at least.  I needed to get back on track.  I had a super splurge-y October (as you can probably tell from my lack of blog entries.)  Amazingly I am still in the 120s, though just barely.  I somehow lost a couple of the pounds I gained over October but I'm still not where I should be.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
1/2 c. carton egg whites cooked in butter flavor Pam, 2 slices Oscar Meyer center cut bacon, 2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast with Smart Balance light, and a giant organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut latte with Splenda.

Lunch at Taco Bell (12 pts)
1 fresco style crunchy beef taco and 1 fresco style bean burrito, bottled water.

Sorry for the sloppy pic on a paper plate. I was starving and in a hurry to eat. :) 

Dinner (15 pts) 
Cheese steak sandwich made with 4 oz lean steak, 1 tsp olive oil, onions, red/green/yellow peppers, sliced white mushrooms, Sargento reduced fat pepper jack cheese and two Sara Lee Delightful wheat hot dog buns (because I totally forgot to buy bread at the deli, but it worked well since I toasted it!) Also, 3 oz baked shoe string fries with some ketchup and a Diet Shasta root beer.

I used 36 of 36 points plus today.  My one year old is showing no signs of wanting to wean from nursing any time soon, which is fine by me. I love the extra 7 points a day I get while nursing her and when she eventually weans I will sorely miss them.  Anywho, that's all I got for today.  "See" you tomorrow.

Tuesday 10-25-11

Hi guys.  I have to make this quick.  My kids (who should be asleep right now but aren't) need me.  Yup, still sick!  Baby girl got her very first ear infection so we spent our morning at the pedi, then the pharmacy.  I feel horrible for her.  Anyway, here's what I ate today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Avocado bacon cheddar egg white omelet with homemade salsa and light sour cream, and 2 lattes made with organic skim milk, coffee and sugar free peppermint mocha creamer.

Snack (0 pts)
2 clementines

Lunch (9 pts)
2 c. bowl of menudo with lime, cilantro and onions.  I feel like I'm getting sick and this sounded good to me.

Sorry about the horrible pic! It was so pretty til I added the saucy veggies to my plate!

Dinner (10 pts) 
Pork chop with mushrooms and shallots in a dijon herb sauce, 1/2 c. parmesan and roasted garlic mashed red potatoes and 1/2 c. Trader Joe's fire roasted veggies in balsamic butter sauce.  The veggies were good but I won't make them with this meal again; I don't know what I was thinking doing two sauces on one plate!  The sauce from the veggies took over my plate and it wasn't pretty.  (Yummy, but still...)

Dessert (5 pts) 
74 g Market Pantry reduced fat chocolate chip ice cream

Ok, I better get to my kiddos!  They're sick and I don't know why they're fighting sleep so hard!  I need my rest too since tomorrow will be a busy day.  Good night all!

Monday 10-24-11

Good evening!  I just got done having a late dinner and I am super full.  I had a busy day of cleaning, caring for my still sick babies and playing phone tag with the pediatrician.  We took a family grocery trip this evening because I was too busy to go myself today, and we all wanted to get out of the house.  I picked up ingredients for the rest of the week's dinners, plus some cheap, no-fuss dinner for tonight since we got done so late.  I used weekly points but I'm still ok.  I lost .4 of a pound at weigh in this morning, shockingly, but I need to do better this week.  I wasn't super healthy today, lots of processed foods and not enough produce but it could have been worse. This is what I ate today:


Breakfast (8 pts)
Egg whites, center cut bacon, Sara Lee Delightful wheat toast with Smart Balance light, 2 organic skim milk/fat free vanilla caramel lattes.


Lunch (10 pts)
2 chili dogs with Hebrew National 97% fat free all beef hot dogs, white wheat buns, 1/2 c. 98% fat free turkey chili from a can, 2 Tbsp shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese, mustard, light mayo, ketchup, onions and pickle relish.

Dinner (28 pts!)
1/2 of a small thin crust Philly cheese steak pizza (from the frozen aisle), 3 cheddar cheese jalapeno poppers with 1 Tbsp Hidden Valley Ranch dressing for dipping, organic baby greens & herb salad with 1 Tbsp Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and a Diet Shasta Root Beer.

Ouch, I used 46 of 36 pts today!  I have a yummy, healthy day planned for tomorrow though.  Good night all!

Saturday 10-22-11

Hi guys. I realize this is a day late, but better late than never!  I had a super splurge-tastic day yesterday.  I didn't track dinner so I don't have point totals to share, but I kept a mental note of it.  We went to our friend's 30th birthday dinner last night (without our two kiddos) at a Mexican place and..I don't know, I used it as an excuse to go nuts.  I am sure I probably went into the red last night, points-wise and probably ruined any chance for a good weigh in tomorrow, especially since we have more fun plans today, but what can you do?  It was a really awesome night and it was nice to have a "date" with my hubby and unwind with some other grown-ups. So anyway, this is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast (9 pts)
1/2 c. egg whites, 2 slices of center-cut bacon, 2 slices of Delightful wheat toast with Smart Balance light and strawberry preserves, and 2 organic skim milk/fat free vanilla caramel creamer.

Lunch (8 pts)
A Trader Joe's jalapeno chicken sausage in a 90 calorie white wheat hot dog bun with melted reduced fat pepper jack, an organic Bartlett pear and 1/2 an oz of cheddar cheese.

Dinner out at Fidel's/Norte's (points unknown, but a lot I'm sure)
Chips and salsa, and I lost count of the chips within our first 30 minutes there, so who knows? 3 strawberry margaritas (ridiculous, I know, but hubby was DD) 2 cream cheese & cheddar jalapeno poppers with Ranch dressing, about half of my chorizo with eggs, a tiny bit of beans with cheese and maybe a scoop of rice. By the time dinner came I was full from chips/poppers/drinks, so I brought more than half of my plate home and enjoyed it for breakfast this morning. Then I had a regular margarita on the rocks to top it all off, doh! It was good though.

I need to get back on track as soon as possible; the dress I'm wearing on Halloween just barely fits right now so I cannot afford to gain any weight or bloat or anything!  I'm going to chug water like a son of a gun today and hope I flush out some of the sodium. Wish me luck. Be back later...

Friday 10-21-11

Hi hi!  Just taking a quick break from costume making to update you guys.  My babies are still sick, so running errands and then starting hubby's Flynn Rider jerkin proved harder than I thought.  I had lots of interruptions and jammed up my sewing machine more than a few times, so the costume (so far) isn't great looking, but it'll do.  I ordered a pizza again....aaaah!  I know, I know!  So I used a bunch of weeklies but I still have some left for tomorrow and Sunday.  At least I bought thin crust. This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Breakfast sandwich with black forest ham, sharp cheddar, egg whites and delightful wheat toast, and 2 organic skim milk/fat free vanilla cinnamon creamer.

Lunch (13 pts)
Leftover pan-seared chicken in creamy lemon sauce with spinach and orzo "risotto"

Dinner and snack a lil later (23 pts)
3/8 of a Domino's large thin crust pepperoni pizza plus 4 pieces of boneless chicken with Kicker hot sauce and diet root beer

48 pts, yowza!  But I still have 12 WPs left so it's not the end of the world. Ok, gotta get back to my project.  Good night all!

Thursday 10-20-11

I just realized this morning that Halloween is only 11 days away and our costumes aren't ready yet!  Up until yesterday baby girl and I were going to do a Tangled theme together while hubby and our son were going to do a Kung Fu Panda theme, but the hubs told me to go ahead and make him a Flynn Rider costume and figure out a Tangled costume for our son.  So we officially have a family theme this year, something we've been doing for a few years now.  I'm pretty happy about it. I will be Mother Gothel (costume is mostly done), dear daughter will be Rapunzel, dear son will be Pascal (the funny little chameleon, Rapunzel's sidekick) and the hubs will be Flynn Rider!  It took me just about all day to collect all of the materials I need for the rest of our costumes.  I had a heck of a time finding material for Flynn's jerkin, so we did a lot of running around and I finally just settled on something when the two-year-old had a huge meltdown in the middle of the fabric store.  I will begin sewing tomorrow!  We were out pretty much all day so we ended up eating drive-thru food, but I made a decent choice, I think. Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Veggie and spicy sausage scramble (1 Trader Joe's spicy jalapeno chicken sausage chopped up with onions, tri-color peppers, mushrooms, spinach & tomatoes in EVOO with egg whites and reduced fat pepper jack cheese), 1 piece of Sara Lee Delightful toast with pumpkin butter and 2 organic skim lattes with fat free vanilla caramel creamer.

Snack (0 pts)
A honey crisp apple, yum!

Lunch from McDonald's drive-thru (8 pts)
Grilled chicken caesar salad with 1/2 packet of creamy caesar dressing

Dinner (13 pts) 
Pan-seared chicken breast with creamy lemon sauce over a bed of lemony spinach & orzo "risotto."

Dessert (5 pts)
A slice of pumpkin bread with cream cheese glaze

I dipped into weeklies for dessert so I used 38/36 pts today.  No formal exercise but I was on my feet all day so I don't feel *too* bad about it.  Good night all!

Wednesday 10-19-11

Good evening friends!  I am pretty exhausted.  I spent most of my day cleaning (blah) and caring for my poor little babies.  Both of them are sick so there were a lot of tears today.  Thankfully no one has a fever, just a whole lot of coughing and boogers.  (Probably not what you wanted to read on a food blog, sorry!)  I never got to go to the gym because hubby had to sleep after work so he could go right back tonight, so I feel bad about that, but it's not like I would have had time anyway.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow!  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (11 pts)
1/2 c. Ore Ida hash browns with onions and peppers cooked in 1 tsp canola oil and scrambled with 1.25 oz Reynaldo's soy chorizo, 1/2 c. carton egg whites and 1 slice Sargento reduced fat pepper jack cheese and eaten with 1 Romero's whole wheat flour tortilla and my usual organic skim lattes (this time with 1 Tbsp sugar free peppermint mocha creamer, yum!)

Lunch (12 pts)
3 oz leftover slow cooked turkey tenderloins, 1/2 c. low fat mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, 1/2 c. cornbread stuffing and a cup of steamed mixed veggies.

Dinner (13 pts) 
Chicken and veggie stir fry (broccoli, carrots, red peppers, onions, water chestnuts, sugarsnap peas, celery, garlic & green beans) with just a little bit of sesame ginger sauce, crushed red pepper flakes for spice and 1/2 a package of Oriental flavor ramen noodles. I was too impatient to cook brown rice and the ramen just sounded good! (The ramen is hiding underneath my stir fry which is why you can't see it in the picture.)  I love stir fry with noodles, and this was just so simple and quick.



Well, that's all for now guys.  I ate 36 of 36 points today.  I still have to finish cleaning my kitchen so I better run along.  Thanks for reading.  Good night!

Tuesday 10-18-11

Hello again!  I finally had an on-plan day today.  I managed not to use a single weekly or activity point and I went to the gym.  It felt good to get active again.  I also planned out my dinners for the next week and did some major grocery shopping, so I have no excuses this week!  I hope to lose what I gained over the last 3 weeks.  Thankfully it's not much.  This is what my menu looked like today:

Breakfast (8 pts)
1 Hebrew National 97% fat free all beef hot dog chopped up and scrambled with 2 egg whites (hey, don't knock it til you've tried it!), 2 slices Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast + Smart Balance Light and 2 organic skim milk lattes with 1 Tbsp sugar free peppermint mocha creamer.

Lunch (6 pts)
Turkey & Sargento reduced fat pepper jack sandwich on Sara Lee Delightful bread with Best Foods light mayo, mustard and romaine lettuce

Dinner (15 pts)
4 oz slow-cooker herbed turkey tenderloins, low fat mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, 1/2 c. corn bread stuffing, steamed veggies and bread with Smart Balance light.  (It's just half of a Sara Lee white wheat hot dog  bun. Why? Because I didn't feel like making homemade biscuits and because we have a bunch of hot dog buns right now for some reason.)

Dessert (7 pts)
1 slice of pumpkin bread with cream cheese glaze and a glass of organic skim milk


I used 36 of 36 points today and earned 5 activity points, woo-hoo! Goodnight all, "see" you tomorrow.

Hi, I'm back! Confession plus what I ate yesterday, Monday 10-17-11

Hello all!  I feel bad I haven't been updating this at all.  I can't really use the excuse that I've been "too busy" because things chilled out a lot after baby girl's 1st birthday party on the 8th.  (It was a great success by the way!)  I did have more birthday celebrations though, so I've had some busy weekends.  It's no excuse though.  I promised I'd post the "good, bad and ugly" on this blog and I haven't delivered on that, so I am very sorry to you and to myself; I have really let my healthy lifestyle go these last few weeks.  I barely tracked my food at all.  I just opened up WeightWatchers.com and was embarrassed to see I had postings on my wall from the 8th that I just now saw.  (Sorry girls, if you're reading this!)  

I weighed in yesterday morning for the first time since the 3rd of October and wasn't at all surprised to see that I'm over goal again.  (Insert heavy sigh.)  I weighed in at 131.6 lbs.  I was disappointed but I also knew that it was well deserved; I have had a ridiculous amount of cake and ice cream since baby girl's birthday party week, between cake pop making before the party and making more cake on her actual birthday and then attending two birthday parties the following weekend.  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, yellow cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate fudge cake, rainbow white cake, chocolate strawberry cake, pumpkin spice cake, red velvet cupcakes and some other cake I'm not too sure about!  I am ALL CAKED OUT.  We also ate pizza and fast food more times than I care to admit.  Don't even get me started on the candy.  We still have a lot of candy leftover from baby girl's party, and it's mostly chocolate.  I'd say we have a few pounds of purple, black and white M&M's, dark chocolate Hershey kisses, milk chocolate kisses, Almond Joys, Kit Kats, etc.  I'm a little freaked out!  Anyway...

I decided to recommit to WW yesterday after my less-than-desirable weigh in.  I had good intentions.  I woke up, had a low point breakfast, made plans to grocery shop, then the hubby got home from work super early and my plans changed.  We decided to go run a couple errands and take the kids to the pumpkin patch, but we got hungry while we were out and made bad choices.   We settled on Mexican since the restaurant was close to the pumpkin patch (and they had Margarita Monday.)  None of the "healthier" choices appealed to me yesterday so I was "bad", but at least I tracked it all.  It kept me full the entire day though, so I ended up not eating dinner.  I probably shouldn't have had the margarita though.  Oh well, moving on!  This is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast (8 pts)

1/4 c. Stater Bros carton egg whites, 2 slices Oscar Meyer center cut bacon, 2 slices Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast with 1/2 Tbsp of Smart Balance light and 2 organic skim milk lattes with 1 Tbsp Coffee mate fat free caramel vanilla liquid creamer. 

Late lunch/early dinner at Acapulco Mexican restaurant (approx 51 pts)

16 chips with salsa, a garden salad with an oz of Ranch dressing, 1 strawberry margarita, 3 mini chicken flautas, 1 cheese enchilada, about 1/3 c. of pinto beans, about 1/4 c. of Mexican rice and for dessert a mini fried ice cream (shared with my little boy.)  

Yikes, I used approximately 59 pts+ yesterday!  I had to guess at the points though, but if I was anywhere near accurate I am left with 26 weekly points until Monday.  I need to be careful since Sunday is our traditional dinner out/pumpkin carving night with our extended family. I desperately need to go grocery shopping since we've run out of a lot of staples.  My breakfast was pretty ghetto ridiculous this morning, but you'll see later when I post today's menu tonight.  I have turkey tenderloins in the crock pot for dinner so that's good.  Thanks for reading and thanks to those of you who gave me a little push to come back.  I needed it!  

Wednesday 10-5-11

Hi again. I've still been really busy with party preparations.  I still have some stuff to do tonight but decided to take a break since I had to nurse baby girl anyway.  Sorry to make this so quick, but here's the menu today:

Breakfast (12 pts)
Avocado-bacon-cheddar egg white omelet with light sour cream & salsa and a giant skim milk/fat free cinnamon vanilla latte

Lunch (0 pts)
I got too busy and forgot to eat lunch!

Snack (4 pts)
2 homemade pumpkin spice/cheesecake frosting cake pops that were made for baby girl's party but just didn't make the cut because they were ugly as heck. (Yummy though!)

Snack (3 pts)
1 oz cheddar cheese

Dinner (12 pts)
Oven "fried" chicken (made with fat free saltine crackers for crunch), 1/2 c. roasted garlic & parmesan mashed potatoes and broccoli with cheese.

Dessert (2 pts)
Another not-so-pretty cake pop

I didn't hit my points target today but I'm close enough and not hungry. There is still so much to be done before bed. Good night all!

Monday 10-3-11

Hi again!  Today ended up being a lot better than the last few days, food-wise, and I worked out today plus walked with the kids.  I dipped into weeklies a little at dinner, but nothing too crazy.  I used 38 of 36 points, so not too bad.  This is what I ate today:


Breakfast (8 pts)
Light breakfast sandwich made with Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat toast, 1/4 c. egg whites, 4 slices of Hormel natural ham, 2% American cheese single and 2 skim milk/fat free cinnamon vanilla creamer latter.

Lunch @ Subway (13 pts, though probably less because I had them remove some of the bread)
6" toasted turkey and pepper jack on 9 grain honey oat bread (with a lot of the bread in the middle scraped out) with avocado, southwest chipotle sauce, spinach, tomatoes, red onions, pepperoncinis, pickles, cucumbers and bell peppers, and a diet Coke.

Snack (3 pts)
A piece of cheddar cheese

Dinner (14 pts)
Grilled hot Italian turkey sausage with tri-color peppers & onions sauteed in olive oil in a white bun with reduced fat pepper jack and 1 oz of Baked! Tostitos scoops on the side with homemade guacamole.

Confession time.

Hello there.  Yes, I have been MIA, and no, it's not been pretty.  Last time I posted I admitted I'd been eating quick, easy foods and barely cooking because I was so busy with my baby girl's party preparations.  Well, it got even worse.  I didn't track my food at all from Friday afternoon until this morning, I did not measure out portions, and I didn't even look up points values for foods before eating them (or at all for that matter.)  Friday night I was light headed from crafting all day so I decided to take a break and relax with a movie, and some brownies---real ones made with dark chocolate, none of those reduced guilt or no-pudge ones.  (Four of them. Yup.)  Saturday I worked on more party prep and took a break in the afternoon to have a date with the hubby.  We dropped the kids off with my parents and had a Mexican restaurant "linner" (late lunch/early dinner).  We had queso fundido with chorizo to start with plus margaritas.  Oh, and pizza again yesterday, this time an "ultimate meat" take-and-bake from Target.  I worked on party decor all day yesterday except for a short break to pick up some supplies at Target & Michael's, which meant no cooking, no measuring, no caring.  Not pretty at all I tell ya.

Weigh in this morning came as no surprise.  I was up 3 lbs.  No, that is not a typo.  My hope is that some of that is water weight from the extreme amount of sodium I took in over the weekend.  This was definitely not how I wanted to start October.  I still have more party prep to do since the party is Saturday, like last second homemade decorations since I have neglected outside decor, the purchasing of perishable items I didn't want to buy too early (like produce), and the baking of Nightmare Before Christmas cupcakes, cake pops and a super healthy smash cake for baby girl.  So much to do, so little time!  I need to pick up some strong mint gum so that I am not tempted to do taste tests during all of the baking I have ahead of me.  Wish me luck!  My willpower is waning and I will need it!

Thursday 9-29-11

I can't believe I'm just now posting at almost midnight.  I lost track of time.  I have been working on my baby girl's Nightmare Before Christmas birthday party during every second of my spare time.  I went into panic mode this morning when I realized it's only 9 days away, and I still have so much to do!  I ate quick easy things today.  When it was 6:45 and I was in the middle of her photo collage my hubby said "should I just order some pizza?" and I said "Yup."  So he did.  Yikes, I am all out of weekly points now, and a bit in the red.  I have been in a bad place food-wise the past couple days and I need to snap out of it. Gaaaah! Ok, so here is what I ate today:

Breakfast (9 pts)
Egg whites, bacon, Everything bagel thin with neufchatel and 2 skim lattes with fat free cinnamon vanilla creamer.

Lunch (12 pts)
Stacked ham & cheese sandwich with delightful bread, 2 1/2 oz ham, light pepper jack, light mayo, mustard and lettuce, and 1 oz of Baked Tostitos Scoops with cream cheese salsa dip.

Dinner from Domino's again (29 pts!)
3 slices of large hand-tossed pepperoni pizza and 3 pieces of boneless chicken with Kicker Hot Sauce dip.

50 pts total, ouch.  Ok, baby girl just started crying.  I better go investigate.  Good night all!

Wednesday 9-28-11

Greetings from my phone! Gonna make this quick since my phone doesn't seem to like this site and my home computer is being wonky.

Breakfast: egg whites bacon bagel thin + neufchatel and skim lattes
Lunch: turkey, mashed potatoes + gravy, veggies
Snack: watermelon & cheddar cheese
Dinner: homemade breakfast burrito
Dessert: smores

Tuesday 9-27-11

Today was a little stressful.  I had to get the house ready for a showing in under 10 minutes and that was not pleasant for me with two messy kids, especially since all three of us were eating when I got the phone call.  After that it was errand running for baby girl's upcoming birthday party.  We had to pick up some things, get my son's hair cut, drop my Nightmare Before Christmas cake toppers off at the bakery (where my son and I tasted some cake) and then did more shopping.  We didn't get home til 6 p.m-ish, and I still had more cleaning to do (because we have an 8:45 a.m. showing with realtors tomorrow!)  I also worked on some homemade Nightmare decorations and sketched out last second ideas.  I didn't end up making dinner after all because I was too busy and because I didn't want to dirty the kitchen, so we ordered Domino's again.  Yup, I dipped into weeklies, again.  Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast (10 pts)
Egg whites, center cut bacon, an Everything bagel thin with neufchatel and 2 organic skim milk/fat free cinnamon vanilla creamer

Lunch (7 pts)
Leftover pork cutlet with apple-onion topping and a cup of honey roasted butternut squash

Snack at Cute Cakes of San Diego (9 pts-ish, hopefully an overestimation)
1 "deep south chocolate" cupcake with chocolate ganache, a tiny bite of vanilla cake and a tiny bite of lemon cake

Dinner (18 pts)
1/4 of a large thin crust Domino's pepperoni pizza, a big organic salad with 1 Tbsp ranch, 4 pieces of Domino's boneless chicken with Kicker hot sauce, and a Diet Shasta Root Beer.

Snack (3 pts)
1 bread stick dipped in Domino's marinara

I used 47/36 pts.  It sounds high but it's not too bad considering we had a pizza night. It could have been much worse!  Goodnight, I still have lots to do before bed!

Monday 9-26-11

Man oh man, what a long day.  Please forgive me if this is incoherent.  I am half asleep.  I was really thrilled when at 8 p.m. my entire family was in bed sound asleep.  I thought "yay, I can blog in silence and relax for a little bit and go to sleep before 9."  Of course my Internet stopped working and as I was trouble shooting my 11 month old woke up very playful.  I let her crawl around for a few minutes while I restarted my computer and then my two year old came walking out and said "Good morning mommy!"  He was in his crib, asleep.  He fell asleep halfway through bedtime story #2 and I snuck out.  He has a toddler bed but we decided to keep him in the crib as long as possible, but I guess he can climb out now so...that sucks.  He has never climbed out before.  Ohhh this is going to be a long night, I can tell.  Let the wild rumpus start!  On the bright side, I am officially a lifetime member again!  I had a decent weigh in this morning and am .6 of a lb under my WW goal, woot!  But I'd still like to lose 3.4 lbs to be at my pre-pregnancy weight.  I updated my Weight Watcher story page and everything.  Well, I better get on to my menu.  I have two little wild things demanding  my attention.  This is what I ate today:

Breakfast (11 pts)
Ham, cheese and egg whites on a Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuit with two organic skim milk/sugar free hazelnut lattes.

Lunch (12 pts)
4 oz leftover slow-cooked turkey with 1 Tbsp whole berry cranberry sauce, 1/4 c. garlic mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, 1 c. steamed broccoli/carrots/cauilflower, half of a buttermilk biscuit with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray and honey, 1/2 c. honey roasted butternut squash and a Diet Shasta Root Beer.

Dinner (10 pts)
Grilled pork cutlet with apple-onion topping, 3/4 serving of cornbread stuffing and 1 c. honey roasted butternut squash leftover from lunch.

Dessert (8 pts)
1 slice of low fat raspberry swirl cheesecake

I really wanted dessert tonight even though I only had 3 pts left, so I used 5 weekly points to have my cheesecake.  It was totally worth it.  Good night all.