Losin' It

I've been on Weight Watchers since December 2011. I've lost over 115 pounds ... so far. A dear friend, and fellow Weight Watcher, suggested I start a Tumblr blog to keep track of what's working for me and to share it with friends. It's also the answer to the often asked question "What do you eat?". I always reply "If you saw what I ate, you wouldn't feel sorry for me." Here's the proof. Thanks for visiting!

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So, it’s been a long hard road. I’ve gained a LOT of my weight back but I’ve leo learned a lot.  I did the Whole 30 program and learned that, yup, processed bread, crackers and other pretend foods, are huge triggers for me.  They do nothing but trip me up and get in the way of my goals. I also learned that I have a sensitivity to peanuts.  Who knew?  I remain lactose intolerant, which is probably for the best, but am otherwise good with all other clean, organic, simple, real foods.  As long as I avoid refined sugars and those pesky processed carb triggers, I’m cool.  I also broke up with Diet Coke and most artificial sugars.  I still, occasionally give in to a Quest bar when I’m on the go and need some protein pronto. As long as the artificial sugars are kept at a minimum, I no longer get headaches.  It’s amazing!

Also learned an awful lot about what motivates me.  For instance, images of amazingly fit young women do not motivate me. Why? Well, because no matter what I do, I will never achieve that form.  I’m in my late 40′s and have been overweight most of my life.  No matter what I do, I will never look in the mirror and see that body.  I can, however, achieve an amazing sense of wellbeing.  That is what motivates me now.  Focusing on how I feel is what gets me going. I intend to achieve and maintain a sense of wellbeing that allows me to do all of the active things I love, like hiking and exploring the outdoors.  Now THAT motivates this gal.  :)

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I’ve been back on Weight Watchers Simply Filling and it’s going great!  For those who may not know, Weight Watchers has lesser known but very effective clean eating program that allows the participant to eat from a (mostly) clean list of foods without tracking anything.  The trick is “eating to satisfaction” and never more.  It also encourages the participant to avoid processed foods or those with sugar. I happen to be a fan of this program.  I disagree with the fact that they allow fat free dairy on the plan.  I happen to be lactose intolerant and have bad reactions to it so I’m not consuming dairy.

I spend about 1-1/2 hours in the kitchen prepping food each Sunday.  I eat those meals for the following week and I love it.

I’ve have been taking my lunch to work lately and I think it’s been a huge help in my healthy eating efforts.  It’s truly the only way to know what I’m eating.

Above is a typical lunch of chicken salad (with homemade mayo) with grapes, and a side of cucumber watermelon salad, and mango.

I’ve also pictured a breakfast burrito.  It’s just a slice of my clean frittata wrapped in a low card, whole wheat tortilla.  It’s portable and entirely delicious.

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So, I’ve had an incredibly tough year with my weight loss efforts.  My doctor and I decided that I should go on some medication that has been very effective.  Unfortunately, these meds are notorious for causing weight gain.  I’ve been no exception to this bummer side effect.  Later in the year I began having serious, almost non-stop heart palpitations. I was in the ER, saw my doctor then a cardiologist and I learned that I have a benign, rather common, heart irregularity called PVCs.  I soon figured out that iIf I eat clean and avoid too much caffeine, I’m fine and the symptoms disappear.

As a result of this news, I decided to give the Whole30 eating plan a try.  It’s a very clean way of eating that, following 30 days of the plan, allowed me to reintroduce other foods in and out of my diet to determine if I had any food sensitivities.  In the end, I learned that I have a mild reaction to peanuts (insomnia and water retention). I already knew that I was lactose intolerant so that was no surprise. This experiment taught me to pay very close attention to the way I eat and how foods make me feel.  There is no doubt in my mind that clean eating is the way to go.  

After this past year I am grateful to have my health.  I am not as fit as I was a year ago and I’ve gained LOTS of weight.  I now plan to apply the clean eating principles to the Weight Watchers Simply Filling plan.  I know that I have to watch my trigger foods closely and following Simply filling should keep me honest. (More on that in my next post.)

I’m including pix of some of the types of meals I ate while on Whole30.

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I, unfortunately, hopped off the wagon a couple of months ago and into an epic wipe out.  The good news is that I've seen the error of my ways and  I'm back... and already feeling much better. 

I'm working through getting all of the junk out of my system which includes drinking a LOT of water.  I decided to make it a bit more appealing by making some spa water.  So far so good.

I then went to Sprouts to pick up a few essentials.  This included some Flatout bread for a lunch wrap.  I made it with a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge, fresh cut turkey & ham, lettuce and cucumber.  The "salad" pictured below is actually 1/2 c. 'Texas Caviar'.  It's a tradition in our family to eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day to bring good luck to the coming year.  There are lots of recipes out there, and most are WW friendly, but the bottom line is that it's the only way I'll eat a black eyed pea.

So, Happy New Year to all.  Here's to an amazing 2015 that includes meeting all of our goals.  :)

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This was breakfast and dinner today.

Breakfast was an egg with kicked up toast and avocado. I've finally come into some great tasting peaches so I've been eating those with most meals while I can.  They are SO GOOD!

Egg - 2 pts+, Toast + Avocado - 4 pts+, fruit - 0 pts+

I wanted to grill something tonight but nothing too heavy since I'll be weighing in tomorrow morning. I went with grilled corn on the cob and shrimp.  I've also been eating a lot of the watermelon that I cut up earlier in the week.  

Grilled shrimp w/olive oli - 3 pts+, Corn from 1 med cob - 2 pts+, fruit - 0 pts+

Like most, if I don't cut a melon up right away, it tends to just sit on the counter. Cutting up fruit and veggies on the weekend is the only way yo go for me.

All in all it was a successful "on program" day.  I'm looking forward to a good weigh-in tomorrow.  *fingers crossed!*

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I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned the Veggetti here or not but ti’s worth a repeated mention.  It’s got a God awful name but the product is good.  I use it to spiralize zucchini and tend to serve it with my lean meatballs.  The only down side is that when steamed the zucchini strands tend to get watery.  I haven’t quite figure out how to deal with that without squishing the life out of it.  

This was a great dinner but for when I look at this pic I’m concerned that I consumed molding parmesan. Those spot weren’t visible when I grated them but they look bizarro in this pic.  The good news is that it’s been over 24 hours since I ate this and I didn’t get sick so I guess I’m ok.  I will be checking on that block of parmesan though!

Meatballs - 10 pts+, Zucchini, marinara sauce and parm - 2 pts+

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A fellow WW friend recently posted some great breakfast salad ideas on Facebook.  I guess a breakfast salad had never occurred to me before.  I love my Breakfast Sandwiches but ditching the bread for lettuce is a great way to save points so I really wanted to try the morning salad idea. Above is what I've come up with so far.

The top photo is a homemade egg salad with lettuce cups.  I like my egg salad mixed with a touch of brown mustard, relish, light mayo and salt & pepper. 

Egg Salad (2 hard boiled eggs) - 5 pts+, Watermelon & blueberries - 0 pts+ 

My second salad was two eggs (cooked in my breakfast sandwich maker, thus the shape) over a salad with an olive oil, lemon and honey dressing.

Eggs - 4 pts+, Salad 1 pts+, watermelon & cherries - 0 pts+

The verdict? I really love a breakfast salad.  I plan to cook up many more.

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Bad news: I was called for jury duty and wasn't sure what to expect in terms of food choices.  I brought my favorite Apple Pie Quest Bar as a nice 4 pt snack... jic.  Outside of that I really didn't know what would come my way since it was hard to know how much time I'd have for lunch.  

Good news: Jury duty was close to home and I knew the neighborhood well.  Best of all we were given 2-1/2 hours for lunch!  That meant that I could walk down to The Yard House for great lunch (pictured above) and had time to stroll thought City Hall and the Public Library.  Both are beautiful historic buildings so it was a great afternoon.  Best of all, I was never called for eerie so I'm done for the next year.  Although, after having such a nice day reading and dining all by myself, I really wouldn't mind being called for jury duty again... as long as it's in the same courthouse. :)

Garden salad w/soy dressing - 1 pts+, Rice Bowl - 10 pts+ 

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How do I manage a meal out at a burger joint?

The kid's menu.

You heard me. My niece and nephew wanted to go to their favorite burger spot called Slater's 50/50. It's famous for it's 50/50 blend of ground beef and bacon.  (Yeah, I know.) Anyway, I wanted a burger but not the 50/50 blend. I decided on the kid's beef sliders with veggies. I ordered them with lettuce, tomato and grilled onions.  I never thought I'd say it but those two small sliders were seriously satisfying.  

When in doubt, and if they'll let you, go for the kids menu.  That's where you'll find the reasonably portioned meals.  

Sliders - 10 pts+, Veggies with a Tbsp Ranch dressing - 1 pts+

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How does one take on the 4th of July and stay on program? Well I do it with good ol' Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs. I had 2 hot dogs on 1 bun with a 2% cheese close cut in half. Add a touch of relish & mustard or ketchup and you're in business! I also baked "fries" in a 400 degree oven and served with watermelon. So good!

Hot dogs - 5 pts+, "Fries" w/ketchup- 2 pts+, Watermelon - 0 pts+

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I just discovered the Hoisin Bowl at Islands.  I asked for "easy hoisin", added chicken and resisted eating all of the rice.  Frankly, I was getting full and didn't need it all. 

It was delicious! It's a bowl of brown rice with broccoli, onion, peppers, snow peas, water chestnuts, pineapple, green onions and my added chicken.

Total: 10 pts +  YUM!

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Here's an awesome egg salad sandwich. I slice up one boiled egg plus 1 boiled egg white then add mustard, light mayo, sweet pickle relish, salt and pepper and blend. 

I happen to have a bit of  trouble with bread so I finally decided that if I'm going to have it, then it better do something for me like offer up protein and fiber to be worth the higher points value. This is a toasted variety of Trader Joe's whole wheat  bread. Add tomato slices and lettuce and it counts as a vegetable serving.

Egg salad - 3 pts+, Bread - 5 pts+, Fruit Salad - 0 pts+

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WHOA! This stuff is great! I mixed up a container of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with some unsweetened cocoa, stevia, a dash of salt and a few droops of vanilla extract. I used it as dip for strawberries and it was amazing! Bananas and so many other fruits would be good to. This was my dessert but theres' no reason I couldn't have this for breakfast some time. Greek yogurt has a ton of protein so I love it any time of day to squash hunger. Yum!

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I may hate the heat but I do love Summer dining. Tonight was grilling night.. and it was goooood!

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Here is a pic of my second juice. I based it on the "All Green" Juice I had while on vacation. I happen to LOVE pineapple in my juices. It adds so much great flavor!

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I'm back to making my frittatas again. I love them so!