I believe if Tony could have bet if I was going to get up early Saturday morning to go to Weight Watchers, the over/under would be that I would oversleep – look at the clock and say “shit” then roll over and go back to sleep. Because sleeping in is my thing 😀
But guess what? I got up at 6:15 a.m., was in the car driving to Weight Watchers for the 7:00 a.m. meeting – it was still dark people! I actually took this picture as I was leaving the meeting – I think its hilarious that right next to Weight Watchers there is a burger place, a bakery, and two doors to the left of the bakery is a Dairy Queen!
This is the same location I went to 10 years ago when I was lifetime. I only went a handful of times because at the time I didn’t like the leader that much and then just dropped out. Best story ever. One day at the end of a Weight Watcher meeting, there is a boy scout right in front, in his parents van with the trunk open, and its full of boxes of Crispy Creme donuts. He is hawking “ladies, buy some Crispy Creme’s to support your local boy scout troop – you know you want them!” Best sales pitch ever!
So the moment of truth. First weigh in: 173.4. I am not going to lie when I began to think about going back to Weight Watchers, I may have eaten an extra cookie or piece of pizza in anticipation! So my first goal is to reach the 5% goal, which is losing 9 pounds. I am going to reward myself with a pedicure! 😀
On the way home I made a decision. I have 29 daily points and 49 flex points for the week. I decided to eat like I normally would, just to see how many points I am actually eating in a day. I have to say I don’t normally measure out my sugar free coffee creamer, and when I measured it out when I got back home from the meeting, I could tell right off the bat that I probably have been giving myself 3 servings!
Breakfast: a corn tostada, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/2 ounce cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup refried beans, 1 serving coffee creamer and 1 large banana: 6 PointsPlus.
I had some chicken breasts that needed to be cooked or frozen, so I decided to make a chicken gyros. So its weird about the whole gluten thing, which makes me think my “issues” may or may not be related to gluten. I’ve eaten pizza and pasta and have had no ill effects. So I decided to make pita bread for the chicken gyros. I love using white whole wheat flour because you can’t tell its whole wheat! Love the recipe builder in eTools!
| Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value: 4 Servings: 10 Preparation Time: 90 min |
Ingredients
| 3 cup(s) White Whole Wheat Flour | |
| 1 Tbsp sugar | |
| 2 tsp yeast | |
| 1 1/4 cup(s) water | |
| 2 Tbsp olive oil | |
Instructions
Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the olive oil and water and mix with a stand mixer until combined and doesn’t stick to the bowl.
Knead for 10 minutes on low speed. Put in a bowl with olive oil and let rest for 90 minutes.
Punch down. Heat oven to 400 degrees with baking stone on middle rack. Divide dough into 10 pieces. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Roll in flour to 1/4 inch thick. Using a basting brush, brush off any excess flour. Cook on baking stone for 4 minutes for chewy bread, up to 8-10 minutes if you want a crispy brown pita.
I used this seasoning for the chicken:
My sammie: 1 pita bread, 6 oz. chicken, 1/4 cup tzatziki sauce, 1/3 cup spinach, diced cucumbers: 10 PointsPlus.
I had a snack of 1/2 a pear and 1/2 an apple – Tony got the other half 😀 (yep, even though he’s still doing South Beach, I try to get him to eat some fruit) 😀
So last week I had beef stroganoff on the menu, but Tony wasn’t feeling up to it. I could have sworn I bought sour cream, but for the life of me could not find it. And I didn’t have enough egg noodles so I subbed in these rice noodles.
So when I brought this to the table, Tony was like “this is stroganoff??!!” This isn’t his mother’s dish he remembered from his childhood, I can assure you that! My plate: 4 ounces round steak, 1/4 cup beef gravy, 1/2 cup rice noodles and 1 cup green beans and 4 ounces red wine: 12 PointsPlus.
Here is where the point situation is coming into play. I have never counted calories or points for wine. Ever. It’s liquid, so it doesn’t have any calories, right? Well we were decorating the house, and I ended up drinking (yes I measured it!) 12 ounces of red wine after dinner, topped off with 1 ounce of peanuts.
The wine and peanuts? 15 PointsPlus. Almost more than my breakfast and lunch combined! So I think being held accountable for the wine and handfuls of peanuts will help me in the long run.
Stats for Saturday:
- 43 PointsPlus
- 30 minute Level 1 30-day Shred
I got a message from Kelly at Fitting Back In that she made my breakfast nachos and she and her husband loved them. Thanks for the reminder, because I made them for breakfast Sunday!
This time I took 2 corn tortillas, sprayed them with Pam and baked them for 10-12 minutes. I heated up 1/4 cup refried beans, and put some on each tortilla. Topped with 1/2 cup of egg whites I cooked in and cut into 8 pieces. Used 1/2 ounce of chopped cheese and then put them under the broiler until the cheese is melty – this only takes a couple minutes, you don’t want to burn your nachos.
Then I drizzled with chopped spinach and hot Taco Bell sauce and Tabasco. 7 PointsPlus.
I went to the store – great shop – this post is too long already to post my weekly menu – you’ll just have to come back each day to see what I make!
So lunch was on the fly while I was making dinner in advance of my Mom coming over yesterday afternoon. Two whole wheat dinner rolls (3 ounces total), 2 ounces deli ham, 1/2 ounce American cheese, handful of baby spinach, jalapeno mustard and 1/2 an apple. 9 PointsPlus.
My Mom and I had a Christmas date – to sing Handel’s Messiah at the Raue Center in Crystal Lake. Thanks for making the trip out in shitty weather!
We enjoyed the concert, even though the walk to the car in subzero temps wasn’t comfortable! Good thing we had comfort food waiting for us! Chicken Divan! I adapted this recipe from Skinny Taste – I love using real cheese, so I reduced the cheese to 4 ounces because it was full fat, then reduced the Parmesan and bread crumbs from 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup each. She’s got a ton of WW recipes if you haven’t seen her site yet!
| Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value: 9 Servings: 8 Preparation Time: 0 min |
Ingredients
| 1 pound(s) broccoli | |
| 1 1/2 pound(s) Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts | |
| 1 Tbsp regular butter | |
| 1 Tbsp olive oil | |
| 2 clove(s) garlic clove(s), minced (medium) | |
| 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour | |
| 1 cup(s) canned chicken broth | |
| 1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk | |
| 4 oz gruyere cheese | |
| 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, (1/8 cup) | |
| 1/8 cup(s) seasoned bread crumbs | |
| 8 oz uncooked pasta | |
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions, removing when done with a slotted spoon to reserve hot water.
Once the pasta is removed, add the chopped broccoli and blanch for 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, salt and pepper chicken and cook until almost done. Let rest until its cool enough to chop.
In another pot, melt butter and oil. Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add broth and milk slowly and continue stirring until the sauce is nice and thick.
Remove from heat and stir in 2 ounces of the gruyere cheese.
Add in cooked pasta, broccoli and chicken and stir until well combined.
Add to casserole dish. Top with the remaining 2 ounces of gruyere, parmesan and bread crumbs.
Cook at 350 for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and browned on top.
My plate: 1 serving chicken divan, green beans, sauteed apples and 6 ounces of white wine: 14 PointsPlus.
Stats for Sunday:
- 3o PointsPlus
- no exercise (Sunday is my day off of workouts!)
If you still have to add something to your Christmas list, ask for Adobe Elements. Its a $75 photo editing software, and I’ve had it for almost a year and know about 1% of what its capable of. Well, I just figured out how to make a picture black and white, and then add color back in – so cool!
Wow, these Monday posts are getting long! I’ll need to figure out how to truncate my weekends better next week! 😀
Have a wonderful Monday – and if you are in Chicagoland – bundle up – its gonna be a cold one!
I really think they do it on purpose — having a WW location next to all sorts of non-WW friendly restaurants! 🙂
Thanks for posting that pita bread recipe, it looks great!
Where did you get your shish kabab seasoning from?
We actually have an ethnic grocery store near our house – I love it because every aisle is another cuisine – I found it on the middle eastern aisle. 😀
I wanted to thank you for sharing your pita bread recipe. I have failed over and over again trying to make pita bread, and for some reason you recipe worked for me!!! I even sent it to my mom because it just turned out so great!
I’m glad your first meeting went well. Congratulations for getting started! Your photo and story about the location of WW is too funny!
HI- So sorry it took me this long to get internet. I just got you comment from back in October. It looks like thinks are looking up. You and your mom look so wonderful together, i love it. I also instantly noticed the burger joint and bakery next to the weight watchers and laughed before i even read the comment about it and the dairy queen. That would be hard for me. Way to get up and go. Dark mornings i tend to use as an excuse but you always inspire me. I even called Hubby in the middle of reading your post to have him add pears to the shopping list because they looked so good. I’ll write an updated post soon and a response to your comment. It will be good to catch up with everyone again. – Krystal
Ha, I love that WW story! Smart Boy Scout he was!!! I’m proud of you for a 7am meeting on a weekend! I would never 🙂 I do want to know more about the new WW plan, so I’m anxious to read along! I do not like that wine “costs” that many points!!! Eek! I love wine 🙂 Good luck with your 5% goal, Biz! That will be the best pedicure ever! Stay warm!! Brrr!!!!!!!!!!
I think it’s great you started this right before the holiday!!! Awesome!
Your food always looks so great, Biz…… 🙂
I’m eating too much too:( I redid my Sparkpeople numbers and I’m way over!
Other than that I’m doing pretty well I guess. Still trying to get back into the habit of blogging and reading blogs.
Sorry about not responding to your e-mail. I meant too but your e-mail got lost in a flood of e-mails confirming my race entries 🙁
No worries John! I always think the worst when people don’t blog for a while – glad you are alive and well! 😀
First of all it is so cold in Iowa today! Holy moly! And second of all those pitas look amazing!
That story about the boy scouts is pretty hysterical!!
I know what you mean about extras. Even though I am an RD and I should know better, I have been doing lots of extras also. I think it is especially do to this time of year. I have been writing down what I am eating just to keep myself more accountable.
The chicken divan looks great!!
You make healthy food look so good! That chicken gyros makes my mouth water! The WW by my house was next to Coldstone ice cream and I always wondered how they could do that! But there was a Jimmy Johns further down which might be a little better depending on what you get…
Biz I am so proud of you for getting up early on a Saturday and going to your WW mtg! Bravo to you. It is an eye opener when you track what you are eating and actually see how it all adds up, be it points, calories or however you choose to track it.
Of course your food looks amazing and chicken divan is a family favorite here. Your recipe looks a tad easier than mine so I will have to give yours a try!
Wishing you much success on your new WW plan. I am loving points plus so far!
That’s just not fair to have all of that temptation near your WW center! I think WW is a great program, but it’s hard to calculate when you eat out, which everyone does, you know?