Spark it up!

Sparkpeople that is!

So I went to weigh in this past Monday and was totally disappointed again. I gained back 0.8lbs. Grrrr! I feel like the first week was awesome and then let down after let down. I know that only 4 weeks in an "average" loss of 1 1/2 lbs a week is fantastic by most peoples standards but not for me, my opinion of course. So what to do? be mad and binge eat or try to figure it out? well I'm serious about this endeavor so I reached out to my fellow Weight Watchers.  I knew that they were going to ask me to post a sample of one of my days menu so that they can critique it. I did and said have at it tell me what you see and what you think i should change. Gotta love the Ladies on the Newbie board as they did just that. It was determined that I am eating around 14 servings of mostly fruits and some veggies. That's a lot of fruit. It was my go to grab and munch, a bunch of grapes, a pear, an apple, strawberries. It even sounds good now! You see if you remember WW made fruit and vegetables 0 points plus. The trick here is that it is 0 points but not 0 calories. WW figures that people are sensible and wont eat that much fruit so there isn't too great a risk of it being a problem. I am a foodaholic I can eat a lot of food. That is why I'm so big. So when I was told at the meeting when I asked "how much fruit is too much?" and my leader said "feel free to eat as much as you want" I took her at her word. 

Big Mistake!

So my tried and true WW buddies suggested I put one of my WW menus into Sparkpeople (calorie counting website) and see just how much I was eating in a day, i did. The day I picked turns out I had eaten 2100 calories that day! Yikes! no wonder I gained.  I decided to continue to track my foods both ways on WW and Sparkpeople and see how it all pans out. I have to say that since I'm seeing the caloric intake on a constant basis it has kept me in check when wanting to reach for a piece of fruit because i can. I stop to actually think, do i really need that? Most times I just skip it and wait until I am really hungry not just bored munching. It also brings up the question, do i really need to continue paying WW for a program that I am not particularly finding as beneficial as their previous programs. Well I'm paid up for another month so we'll see if I renew at that time. 

I need ideas can you help?

I have been going to the gym but not for very long workouts. Mind you I didn't really want to go but figured that it's paid for and I am trying to lose weight I should use it, right!? So something is better than nothing, So I have been trying to go at least 4 days a week after work. It's been working out pretty good so far. I am getting on the elliptical because it is the easiest on my knees and boy does that machine get my heart a pumpin, breathin heavy, and pouring out the sweat (now wouldn't it be nice to find a guy who does that to me!). Not to mention I burn 2X the calories on it than any other machine in that gym. Here's the issue, I get so focused on how long it is taking and how fatigued it's making me feel that I am stopping the workout after 12 minutes. Which at the speed I am working at is one mile. I did manage to push through to 15 minutes today though.  I need something to distract my mind. I acquired one of the older model ipod shuffles but i have no idea how to download music or anything else to it, nor do i have an itunes account. My brother in law offered to help me with it but we are having a hard time connecting as we have busy lives and that's cool i totally understand. What I do have, but am not really sure how to use it to its full potential, is my Blackberry curve. Do you know does it download audio books? i think an audio book would be ideal for me. I love to read and holding a book on the elliptical is possible but not preferable. Have any of you tried this? do you like it? What do you do to occupy your mind while working out?
Let the games begin!
So the ladies at work have been listening to me talk of my efforts to lose weight for awhile now. It has inspired them to want to do it too. We decided to have a little competition to see who could lose the most % of weight in  a 2 month time period. Winner gets the pot, I think we agreed to either 10 or 20 bucks to enter. Woo Hoo! I'm excited about it. We have to warn all the Pharmaceutical Rep's to  bring healthy choices when they want to treat us to something. I know most days i can turn down Paradise Bakery but can my coworkers? hmm
That's all for now folks thanks for reading. I will write to you again soon I'm sure or I'll see you on one of my message boards and FB!
still haven't smoked 10 weeks tomorrow!!

Poppers Pizza and Beer OH My!

Jalapeno Poppers

(recipe from the WW newbie board)

8 jalapenos halved and De-seeded

place on a cookie sheet and bake for 40 minutes to wilt on 400 degrees

8 laughing cow cheese wedges cut in half

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

8 slices of turkey bacon cut in half

once the jalapenos are done wilting take them out and place a 1/2 laughing cow wedge on each one and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Then wrap each one in 1/2 slice of turkey bacon and bake another 20 minutes.

if you like the bacon more crispy put into microwave for a min or two before wrapping the poppers. 

makes 16 poppers at 1 points plus!

My review of this recipe

I made these couple days ago and really liked them. The laughing cow cheese doesn't melt but gets really hot and will burn your mouth if you don't let it cool. I also think in the future that I would use 16 whole jalapenos and just cut down one side  and open them up then stuff and wrap them. Only because I really like the flavor and heat. So 4 out of 5 stars for these. Why not 5? yeah I just plain love real melty cheese. These are pretty darn good but would prefer to use a low fat mozzarella and deal with the extra points plus on occasion.

Week 3's weigh in:

I lost 1 pound. Yay! I wasn't sure I would lose anything because I did  

drink a lot over the weekend and didn't watch my intake. On the other hand i did go to the Renaissance Festival and that entails a whole lot of walking activity. 

I had a whole lot of fun both days and I even embraced the little girl in me and got my picture with Twig the Fairy!

She is the coolest! Anyway, I did get off my caboose and got back into the Gym! I still get really bored when exercising and want to find a good distraction so I am not watching the clock as I workout. I know that is my problem. If I were distracted and focused on something other than the fact that I hate what is going on, it's boring and It's kinda hard, I know I would last longer on the Elliptical or treadmill. So I will be trying to get with my Brother in law or someone else who is better educated about ipod's and how to upload stuff to them and i think i will be better off. My niece was kind enough to give me her old Ipod shuffle that she hasn't used for a long time. She's the best. Maybe one of these days I'll share some of her artwork with you, she is AMAZING!

So tonight is a lazy night and I was in the mood for pizza and beer. So that's what I had for dinner! god I love WW for allowing me to be real and still lose weight. (I could never give up pizza!)

Can you call it gaining weight if..............

I gained .2 lbs

Yes, I said point two. So Im calling it "I stayed the same". After the first weeks 7.4 pounds and an adjustment period of getting to know the program im still ahead of the game. I did have some weak moments this week. I realize I have to be careful if I'm gonna be drinking alcohol that I have to REALLY watch what I eat. When you drink your "give a shit" goes out the window and you will pretty much talk yourself into most anything. I know I do. I did stay within my alotted points this past week but I know I could have done better with some of my choices.

The Allergy Factor

I have known for most of my life that I have certain allergies to some foods. I guess I got used to avoiding them and at the same time forgot I have allergies. I did not know that I have an allergy to Edemame. Yeah the stuff i was raving about loving a couple of blogs ago. So good and fun to eat, but I was breaking out into mild cases of hives and itching at first and it steadily got worse. I thought it was the grapes at first but one day i didnt eat anything else yet that day and i served up a good helping of Edemame and Bam! Major hives. I was a madwoman on the hunt for Benadryl. Lucky for me my coworker had some. Crazy! Secretly glad it wasnt the grapes though. I would have been seriously bummed!

January 8th to March 8th

I made it to the 8 week mark without smoking.  I was even able to go out drinking and not have one. YAY!

Anyway for most of you who follow me on FB this stuff isnt new, except the part about my gaining. I still appreciate you reading my blog and helping me through my journey! I'll keep you posted.

Going to Ren Faire this coming weekend Ill try to have some silly Picture for ya next week!!