I was so confident going into Saturday’s weigh in. Two weeks before I had a 3 pound loss, followed by a .2 loss, so I was expecting the scale to catch up with me on Saturday. Um, have you seen my tracker?! So many blue dots!
So I was a bit shocked that I again lost only .2. Huh. I was disappointed for a second, but then told myself to shake it off and move on. Much like if you have one flat tire you wouldn’t stick a knife in the other three, I am going to continue on and I know that the scale will eventually catch up.
And, I am proud to say that I am still team #dryjanuary – thank you very much. I really wanted a glass of wine Saturday night, but being so close to the end of the month, skipped it. Oh, and have I mentioned that I have FOUR bottles of wine in my pantry from holiday gifts?! #nsv for sure!
I am still down 3.4 pounds for the month, and had I not been on Weight Watchers I could have easily continued on the holiday bus and gained 10 pounds this month, it’s all good.
But it got me to thinking, in the end, it’s still calories in/calories out, and while chicken, eggs and yogurt are all “free” on the program, they still have calories. So I am tweaking my points this week – on days that I have mostly “free” stuff, I am lowering my daily points to 19, and on days where I eat regular food (i.e. beef, rice, etc.) I am counting those days 25-28 – all while eating my weekly points.
I had such a nice day on Saturday. Jacob was working all day and Hannah was hanging out with her friend. The house was quiet, by 10:00 a.m. I’d already been to WW, got my car washed, and did my grocery shopping. Total score on the discount meat bin at Jewel! I know it’s boneless skinless chicken breasts that are free on Weight Watchers, but I also grill or roast my chicken breasts on the bone – so much more flavor, and turns out the dogs like chicken skin. 😀
You may remember that I made a batch of my skinny pizza dough on I made for my buffalo chicken chili last week? I pulled two ounces off to make the naan above – just pan fried in a teaspoon of grapeseed oil – so fluffy and delish! I love how versatile this dough is.
It was near 50 degrees on Saturday and I had to grill. I bought a fresh turkey breast, did a dry marinade on it and left it in the fridge for several hours before letting it get to room temperature before grilling. Is there a better smell than grilling meat?!
I cooked the turkey over indirect heat, and turned it once and pulled it once the meat thermometer hit 157 degrees. I know all the cookbooks and experts tell you to cook turkey breast to 165 degrees, but that doesn’t take into consideration the residual heat. I let this turkey rest for 30 minutes before slicing and it was so juicy! Jacob loves it when I grill meat.
Sunday morning I made 2 point bagels, using 2 ounces of the dough, adding an egg wash and poppy seeds. For these bagels I baked them at 350 on my baking steel for 13 minutes. This is a salad plate to give you a scale of these mini bagels, Hannah loved them! #winning
Here is what happens to me when I recipe develop. I know I should have one book where I scribble all my recipes down so I know where to find them. Last week I made a batch of chick pea brownies and they were delicious and only 2 points for 1/9 of a 9×9 pan. I didn’t have good light because I made them at night, and when I went to recreate them this weekend, I couldn’t find the recipe. Doh!
No big, I went back to the few recipes that I got ideas from, though I recreated it again (well, this time I added pumpkin which could have been my fatal mistake!) and they turned out looking like I took dog poop from the back yard, spread it in a pan, added chocolate chips and then baked it.
The flavor was good, but this was an epic fail. Just want to let you know that there are mishaps in my kitchen – a lot!
Which brings us to Sunday dinner. This is Certified Angus Beef sirloin tip steak. It’s super economical at around $3.99 a pound, which is about half the cost of sirloin, but can be just as delicious. I did a marinade for this 5 ounce steak: 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil, 1 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. The vinegar helps tenderize the meat. And since this was a small steak, it only took about 90 seconds per side in a hot cast iron skillet for medium rare. And you have pomme frittes with steak, no?!
I was a homebody much of the weekend and I love that sometimes. The dogs and I relaxed, I went to the library and read a book for a couple hours yesterday. It was the perfect balance of productiveness and lazy.
How was your weekend? We got a layer of snow last night, and the cold air is going to stick around for a while. Good news is that it’s staying lighter longer, so spring can’t be too far off!
Happy Monday friends – I’ll be back tomorrow with a 3 point copycat Starbucks lemon loaf recipe! Hannah gave it two thumbs up. 😀
Make it a great day!
I think a 3.4 loss for the month is progress. I would love to see that on my scale. I have been struggling these last few month. I need to turn this ship around. I want to join team never give up.
Have you thought about the balance in your meals and what an overall day looks like in terms of fruit, vegetable, processed food and water intake daily? You may be eating within point range almost all days but are you getting adequate balanced nutrition and hydration as well? And exercise? I’ve been doing T-25 since I don’t have a lot of time and sometimes it’s hard to travel to a gym. It’s quick and there is a modifier.
Remember that actual day to day weight varies enormously based on water retention, how much you just ate or drank, bowel movements, etc. Keep doing your thing and the overall TREND will be down and down and down!
Question: Do you only add the yeast to your dough for the flavor? It looks like the dough doesnt need to rise at all?
Thanks Melly!
And yes, I do add the yeast to to add flavor, but it does rise a bit – the flavor the longer it sits in the fridge is just so much better than the straight yogurt/flour combo. 😀
NSV FTW!
Thanks Carrie! 😀
Hey Biz – I know it’s sooooo hard to think of the big picture with weekly weight loss results, but you have to think of this… Even if you only lose 3# month for Feb-Nov, that will be 33.4 # lost going into December. You’d take that, wouldn’t you? I think you’d probably be at your goal or really close to it?? It’s hard for me to think this way with all the weight I have to lose, but I think it’s why the successful people talk about setting SMALL goals and then then the little successes just pile up! So – set your sights on losing 3# for FEB and watch the magic happen 🙂
You are so right Lynne – gotta think big picture! At 175, if I lost 35 pounds that would bring me to my goal of 140 – so you are correct! Baby steps will get me there 😀
Every time I see one of your grilled turkey breast I just drool and tell myself I must make one. It would be so much easier if you just vacationed at my place and cooked all the meats 🙂 I know, on vacation someone else is suppose to do the cooking. I’m guess the pomme frittes were done in your deep fryer? Mine just doesn’t hold temperature. I bought an air fryer to try but it smoked up the whole house with some chemical smell. It was horrible! I never saw one smoking on the infomercials. Potatoes are my one weakness.
Ha, I’d come to visit and cook your meat! And you guessed it – I fried the tots – everyone keeps telling me to buy an air fryer, but because mine holds the temp so well, nothing is greasy and I just add a point for the oil. And I think Hannah would freak out if I added another kitchen appliance to the house!
Just make Skinny Taste’s black bean brownies already will you 😀😀 People rave about them. I might make them today. Glad Hannah is doing well, I follow her on Insta and have been thinking about her. That turkey breast looks amazing!
Ha, I will make her recipe – but truth be told, I kind of want to make just regular ones! 😀
Just think of the .2 this way – wouldn’t you rather be showing -.2 than +.2 for two weeks? Because in the end that’s not consistency – that’s gaining! And this way, you’re still consistently losing! Keep up the hard work and it’ll show (just unfortunately not on our preferred schedules, of course haha)
How’s Hannah doing? Still crushing it?
Oh and there’s a website called chocolate covered katie that does TONS of chickpea based desserts. I’ve made a few of her things and they always turn out well so maybe worth a shot?
Thanks for the pep talk Alex! I do have to remind myself big picture 🙌🏻
Hannah is doing great 👍 meal planning like a boss and I think she’s only had fast food once and she got veggie tacos 🌮 🤤