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?
Oh, Biz, I feel your pain. After 4 pounds came back that I thought were pretty much gone for good, I just tracked for a couple of days and boy, was that an eye-opener! Portion creep seems to be my biggest recurring issue. It took me a few days to ratchet things down to the calorie range and portion sizes I needed. (Now I just need to keep doing this on the weekends!)
You know, I think if we have more “on” days than “off” days, we’ll get through the holidays just fine. Good luck to us both! 🙂
Sounds like a plan! 😀
It’s not just funny that there is a burger joint next door, but the NAME of the burger joint is kind of ironic as well. Nice, post, and thanks for being willing to share your experiences. Maybe sharing with your readers will make it easier this time around. Good luck to you! Pretty much all of the food you posted looks so delicious!
Love all of the EATS! I always go over my dailies on the weekends. I WI tomorrow and this week is about the same as last week for me using 26 out of 49 of my weeklies. So we shall see!! 🙂 I used to drink LOTS of unmeasured wine and ALWAYS loved salty snacks with my wine. I can totally relate to the wine/peanut party over there! lol On Sat I did measure out 4 oz and 49 pistachios and had a relaxing evening and moved on. 🙂
Oh my gosh….that is too funny about where WW is located! It’s almost like….do they do that on purpose, or something? As a sick joke? 😉
P.S. I LOVE Dairy Queen. I have 2 within 2 miles of my office….good, and bad!
My first time at WW was an eye opener too with how much I was eating.
And wine. Wine is a killer for me.
First, that shirt you are wearing in the pic with your mom is so cute! And you and your mom look great – what a fun date you two had!
Now I have to say REALLY? You didn’t count the wine calories?!? No wonder you hardly lost anything! That stuff is a diet killer (and this is coming from a former wino who KNOWS of which she speaks, lol). I know that if you hold yourself accountable for everything, liquid or solid, that you eat, you will drop the weight quickly. Now go get ’em, Tiger! (sorry, I channeled Mr. Brady for a pep talk). 🙂
Hanging head down in shame . . . yes Shelley, I never counted my beloved wine before 🙁
But I am from now on! 😀
You are one dedicated chick to get up before the sun comes up to go to your meeting. I think it’s hilarious that there is a FAT BOY burgers next door. LOL
LOVE the nacho idea. I also keep taco bell hot sauce around to put on stuff. So good.
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if wine had 0 calories? Think about it. 😀
Weight Watchers offices always seem to be next to food places, crazy! Ours in Louisiana was next to a Smash Burger and Krispy Creme and then across from TGIFridays. That chicken Sammie has me drooling!
Hi Biz, congrats on the weight watchers joining!!! My hats off to you joining RIGHT before Christmas!!! I know you are going to do well, you seem so motivated and ready to go!!! Love the photo of you and your Mom!!! Have a great Monday!!!
The burger place and bakery next to the WW building is hilarious. Too funny! I like how you are rewarding yourself with non food rewards when you reach your goal Biz. What a great picture of you and your mom.
Holy cow how tall is your mom?? My grandma was 5’4″ and she was always the short one in our family. We are mutants though.
One encouraging thing about your weigh-in might be that it was so early in the morning… I am always a few pounds lighter a few hours later, like if I sleep in.
P.S. I am not blogging again (yet) but I can’t help stopping by to read yours 🙂
Thanks for reading mine even though you aren’t doing your blog anymore! 🙁
I should say that at the time that picture was taken, I had 2 inch heels on, which I immediately switched to boots when we left the house it was so damn cold – so in heals I was 5.4, but my Momma is 4.9″ 😀
Wow that points counting exersize was eye opening, eh? Your wine story reminds me of the lady who used to come to my WW meeting (years ago) and couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t losing. When I finally got around to asking her about alcohol – because I couldn’t see anything wrong in her trackers – I found out she was having several Mai Tai’s every evening but only counting it as 3points or whatever the booklet said. No measuring and no counting the 2nd or 3rd drinks – lol!
All the WW around here are next to Chinese restaurants. I think it’s mandatory or something. Even when they opened the new one people got all excited because it was near a Subway, but guess what was inbetween? Yep, Chinese.
I should introduce your mama to my Aunt Bunny – I think they might be the same height!
I had a co-worker who had two giant Dunkin Donut Coffees every day – with like 8 packs of sugar and 10 creamers! She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t losing weight, and when I looked at her journal and asked where her coffees were on it, she was like “oh, there is no points in coffee!” She didn’t realize that meant ONLY black coffee! 😀
I applaud you for starting Weight Watchers right here before Christmas!! I know I’ve gained weight since the holidays began (excuses, excuses!) Good luck, I look forward to seeing your WW recipes. Your post may have been long, but they are fun and interesting to read!
Thanks! 😀
“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! ”
When I joined, my wife had signed up first, gave me the low down before i went. I wore heavy clothes and had a couple rolls of quarters in my pocket before the first weigh in.
Sweety, you know I have your back and I hope this is the one that works for you. Lots of great knowledge is shared. But, one word of advice…. SPICES. do not eat bland low cal, low fat food. Eat spicy low fat low cal food.
Equal parts, Garlic flakes and Black & White Sesame Seeds and quality Sea Salt… mix well, and use as a salt substitute. You’ve cut back on your salt intake and you have increased the taste of your food without adding calories (or points).
I am confident you will take the weight off, WW does work. As you know, the challenge is always going to be maintenance.
Thanks for the spice seasoning recipe Dave! 😀
My WW center has a Dunkin’ Donuts in the same plaza….amongst other things…when they built the Dunkin’ Donuts there was a lot of groaning!
I think you did awesome on your food/points. Alcohol and nuts add up REALLY quick so you learn to limit those. Nuts are good for you because of the good fats so you should eat a small handful every day or every other day. Alcohol is just empty calories so they don’t want you drinking it!
I did the same thing the first week back on WW, didn’t try and change anything, just tracked what I was already eating. I was eating WAY too much!!! I’ve had a hard week, so I’m not looking forward to my weigh in this morning 🙁
Jen
That Fat Boys Burgers sign is really hilarious!
In 2003 I successfully dieted with Weight Watchers too. In retrospect I think WW allows you to eat too little calories (I think it was about 1200/1300 kcal at that time) and that is one reason I don’t want to go back. * The new points systems sounds better than the old one.
* I forgot WW stopped it’s operations in Finalnd a few months ago, I think there is too much competition from good, free, web-based services (and Finland is a very small country).
We are drowning in snow here, I wish I had skis..
Sorry about the snow Satu! 🙁
LOL…my local WW is next to Ezell’s Famous Fried Chicken, in the same parking lot as Carl’s Jr. and across the street from Dairy Queen!
What an eye opener about the wine (and the coffee creamer.) WW definitely helped me to realize how many bites/licks/tastes I made throughout the day.
I so hope this works out for you! I’ve been hearing mixed things about the weight watchers plan. I’m a calorie counting girl. It just works for me. I measure and weight everything (when I’m in diet mode like I am not). That wine adds up a LOT. Glad to see you’re adding it in now. Can’t wait to hear more about this and see how it goes.
What is with Weight Watchers always being next to really fattening food places??? Same in Wichita, there was one right next to Dairy Queen for years and years. Yup, I figured you might be surprised when you started tracking your points–measuring & writing everything down is such an eye-opener! It’s always the snacks for me too–I stick to my plan through meals but then I have a snack or two and suddenly it amounts to more than a single meal! Also when I don’t measure, the portions gradually increase until it probably adds up to hundreds of extra cals a day. Phooey! I’m excited for you on the new WW program–I know you’ll do great!!