Recovering...

...from a visit to "I don't give a &%*!" world.  Oof.

After a week of consistent exercising and mindful food choices, I was rewarded with a 3 lb weight gain.  Not a plateau.  A gain.  3 lbs.  I think I stood on the scale for a whole minute, frozen with disbelief.  Then came anger.  A week of it.  "If I'm going to gain, g*ddamnit, I'm going to know why!!!"  So I ate.  Cheese, chips, butter, chocolate, cupcakes, muffins, bagels, sugar, sugar, sugar.  ~sigh~ 

Last night I finally hit the wall with a double helping of take-out Chinese, and woke up this morning with a sense of resolve I haven't felt in a few weeks.  It felt good.  And I'll take this refreshing perspective one day at a time.  No big claims, no big goals... just day-by-day mindfulness.  The best I can.  Though I won't be stepping on the scale for a couple more weeks, that's for damn sure.

Today my goal was to eat "clean".  Here's how I did:
1 cup of lemon/ginger tea.  No sweetener, no sugar, nothin'. 
An egg (just one) and mushroom scramble, cooked with a little bit of coconut oil, on two slices of sprouted grain toast and sliced tomato.
1 apple, 1 tangerine.
Large salad: mixed greens, 1/2 avocado, red grapes, red peppers, onion, carrots, tomato, cucumber and 2 Tbsp ginger dressing.
1 cup decaf Earl Gray tea w/ stevia and a splash of soy creamer.
A handful of raw pecans.

If I stop eating now, and that's the plan, it will have been a very successful food day.  Being only 7:30pm on a Saturday, I may have to fight some sugar cravings before I hit the sack.  That's okay.  I'm still feeling that resolve I woke with this morning.

One day at a time, ladies and gents.  One day at a time.

Experiment roundup...

Not a lot to report since my last post.  I'm no lighter/skinnier, though I am on a good rip with my treadmill; putting in 30 minutes every other day, now alternating 90 seconds of jogging with 120 seconds of walking.  Not too-too shabby.

Getting back in the habit of taking pix... so a quick montage from last week.
(Pictures already queueing up for my next post.)

Two cans of corn.  Same brand, same everything... except for their size and one is vacuum-packed...

...then why the difference in portion size and nutritional values?  All I can figure is a portion of the non-vacuum-packed corn includes the salty water it's packed in.  I can't imagine anybody NOT draining the corn before eating it... right?  Hm...

An experimental batch of: corn, quinoa and roasted parsnip...

...divided into 4 servings equated to 7 WW points each.  A healthy,  yummy, protein-packed, vegan lunch.  Though I think roasted carrots would be better in this concoction.

5 oz grilled tuna, roasted root veggies (carrots & parsnip), ~1/4 cup chickpeas and some steamed broccoli of sorts. 6 points.  Nice!

Talk about "experiment"!  Roasted duck breast (next time, I must remember not to be frugal with the seasoning), bulgar wheat and a simple bit of salad.  I sautéed the bulgar in some of the duck fat and it should have been yummy but what do I know?  Blech.  It was a poor companion to the very promising (though a bit bland) duck. 

 

Salad without the lettuce: apple, carrot, cuke, red pepper, radish, onion and a Tbs. Good Seasons Italian dressing.  2 pts.
VERY nice!

 

Hello old friends.

Coming soon: comments on our first snow of the season, much more food & exercise commentary, and a little snark where appropriate.

Ghosts of efforts past...

...There it loomed.  Hiding in the corner.  Taunting me with its silence.   My vacuum cleaner?  Nooooo.  The toilet bowl brush?  Euw ~I mean nooooo.  It was my treadmill.  Patiently waiting... and waiting ... and waiting.  Well, today I approached my old friend with downcast eyes and humility in my heart.  And you know what?  I was welcomed back as if I were never gone.  "Hop on up!  Let's go, we have some miles to trudge today!"  So after work today I dusted off my sneakers and there I was, alternating 90 seconds of walking with 60 seconds of running for a half hour.  

I was grumpy when I got home.  No particular reason, though I may have been subconsciously planning to bail on the treadmill and was already feeling disappointment with myself.  But surprise, surprise, I didn't bail.  And I got'ta tell ya, I feel pretty damned great about it.  I'm lovin' me my endorphins right now.  I even felt a drop of sweat trace down my face as I was cooling down.  Hello another old friend!

My 3rd visit with the nutritionist was earlier this week and the only thing that I brought to the table was an extra pound.  I'd like to believe it was all in my clothes and... well... yeah, that's it.  I'd like to believe it, that's all.  :-)  I'm not stressing about it because I still have a happy glow from my treadmill experience earlier tonight. 

The past two weeks I've resurrected my WW food journal and have been keeping diligent track of my points.  Truly, my downfall is evenings after dinner.  I want to snack. I want dessert.  I want my Nutella concoctions and salted chocolate and Skinny Cows.  I've been keeping within my allowed points, but it's very obvious to me that my late night snacking is my weak link here.  Or it may just be another demonstration of my raging sugar addiction.  Oof.

I took some pictures over the last couple weeks of several extra yummy meals.  I'll post them next time, for the sake of publishing this blog entry tonight.  So, on that note, it's time to publish and call it a night.  I'm tired.  It's almost like I exercised or sumthin'. 

Non-update update.

No news today.  This week.  This fortnight.  Well, nothing extremely interesting anyway.

I had my 2nd appointment with my nutritionist.  Still not completely warm & fuzzy with her approach.  It's based on the typical American diet, albeit a balanced one, with X portions of protein and Y portions of carbs per meal, 3 meals per day w/ a snack in between each one.  So I tried for a week, and par for the course, I was strong the first few days and then slid steeply off track.  Too much sugar, just too much friggin' sugar. 

So do I claim I'm back on track?  Do I say for the bazillionth time that enough's enough?  I will tell you that I spent most of today in my kitchen, reformatting my fridge and pantry, making my food for the workweek and feeling optimistic.  The food I made was decidedly NON-American, consisting of kitchari, tofu, nuts, seeds, rocks and twigs.  These are the foods I cooked because these are the foods my body craves.  Eastern influence, vegan, savory, somehow cleaner (for this body) than yogurt and cheese and meat and bread.

I have a gentleman's bet with my BFF; the first to lose 15 lbs wins the bet.  She's winning.  This week (the first full week since our bet started), she's down a solid 3 lbs, I'm down zero.  I don't have a strong competitive nature, though I can get pretty hardcore when competing with myself.  I sure wish that hardcore edge would appear soon 'cuz I'm floundering.  All that being said, this week will be a good one.  One week at a time.  One day at a time.  One hour at a time if necessary.

I'm grateful for you, my loyal followers of a less-than-diligent blogger.  I wish I had more successes and less failures to share with you lately, but one thing's for sure; my failures feel a little lighter after sharing them with you.  Thank you for that.

Here's to a good week, yes?  Healthy food, productive workdays, lazy autumn evenings, good sleep, happy dreams and lots of cozy love, whatever that means to you.

More soon.

Is EVERYBODY younger than me??

I'd have to say, uhm, yes.  Now on my ever-growing list of people-in-my-life-who-are younger-than-myself is today's newest member: My Nutritionist.  She's wonderfully enthusiastic and helpful and engaging and sincere and bubbly... and approximately 12 years old.  Adding insult to injury, I sought her out to help me navigate through my mid-life health issues.  I feel older than Methuselah's grandmother.

Okay, in all seriousness, she's not 12.  but the rest is true.  I'm all about being one's own advocate, being an informed and educated agent in one's own health & wellness journey... but I feel kind of saturated with all the information available to me.  Thank you, Interweb.  I'm going to place my faith, for a while, in a professional.  I know my preferences, my goals, what works for me in terms of weight loss (portions, portions, portions), but for the most part, I'm kind'a tired of the wild swings I take between obsessive food tracking/measuring/weighing/journaling and, frankly, not giving a crap.  Perhaps this slight shift in perspective will be just enough to push me back into a healthy pattern of ... being.  and maybe I'm putting too much thought into this, as I tend to do.  Whatever.  It can't hurt, right?

So I'll write more about my first set of on-boarding appointments once I get through them (three of 'em), but my initial impression leaves me with a feeling of ... what would be a good word... uhm... hesitation?  No... I guess a little skepticism.  I knew a couple things that she didn't and it makes me wonder how experienced she really is.  Although I am a million years older than she is so I'm bound to have a few more factoids bouncing around this head of mine.

Cliche to live by...

Good morning everybody.  Today is starting out pretty good, my body and mind feel a little more settled than usual. 

Right now I feel a particular affinity for the credo "Food is medicine".  Or is it "Food AS medicine"?  In either case, I'm taking baby steps in that direction.  And it feels pretty good.  Is it a simple matter of my (finally!) choosing to take some kind of control?  I dunno.  Was I ever really out of control in the first place?  Maybe not.  But I was getting there, that's a fact.

But really; Food is Medicine.  I'm attempting to baby-step away from my raging sugar addiction;  This morning I made a breakfast smoothie, and it's aaaaalmost too sweet: vanilla almond milk, banana, blueberries, 1 tsp psyllium husk, 3 Tbsp hemp powder (9 g plant protein), vanilla bean (not extract) and 2 fresh dates.  All natural, very sweet and very filling. 

Spent about an hour and half at my favorite health food store yesterday, spent waaaayyyy too much money (not hard to do) and will be taking this afternoon to prep for my work-week meals.  Meals that include tofu, tempeh, rice noodles, lentils and all things foo-foo.  I'm feeling optimistic, can you tell?

More later, with pix of all things foo-foo. 

Grabbed this pic from the archives, but it represents
 exactly how I plan to eat this following week.  Wish me luck!!

Way out'ta whack.

Hi folks.  I'm back.  And I have a statement to make.  It seems I'm officially ~ahem~ middle aged.  How so?  Hot flashes.  Crazy, mind numbingly frustrating hot flashes.  Hot flashes and night sweats.  Hot flashes, night sweats and stupid mood swings, oh my.  How many years of this will I have to endure?  ~sigh~  Actually, the question should be how many years of this will my friends and family have to endure?  Eh... I was right the first time.  It's all about me, after all.  Uh HUH!  Is too!!!

I went on a fantastic hike last week.  We were out for 7 days, covered 70 miles.  I spent that week hiking 10 miles a day with 30'ish pounds on my back, eating high-carb, high-sugar, high-salt trail food.  Up at dawn, in my tent at sunset... sometimes sooner.  My theory is this very fun but very nutritionally imbalanced week gave my system a strong kick into the world of menopause.  Peri-menopause.  Whatever.  Psh.

Upon our return from the trail, I indulged in a plate or three of Chinese takeout.  And every evening has seen ice cream.  And my days include very sweet, high-octane tea, and cocoa w/ hazelnut creamer, bread and butter, toast and butter, crackers and butter... 

I really need to get a grip.  I've been saying that all week/month/year, but I believe I turned a subtle corner today and am making my way back to relative healthy choices.  I know; just words.  The proof is in the ... damn it ... pudding.  I like pudding.

I started a rough food journal today, more so to try to correlate certain foods with my hot flashes.  I'll keep you posted.  But really, it seems like it's not simply a matter of weight anymore.  My shape is changing, beyond what the extra poundage accounts for.  I'm losing my waist.  I'm becoming less of a pear and more of an apple.  Well, not an apple, more like a linebacker.

My plan, starting tomorrow, is to resume my quest towards whole foods, vegetarianism, and ultimately veganism.  Wish me luck.

Now where's that ice cream?

Trail lunch: crackers, cheese, Nutella and a Clif bar.

Trail breakfast: instant flavored oatmeal, cocoa.

Oh, and a very special thank you to my friend at work who turned me on to cups of double cocoa with shots of hazelnut creamer.   You are an evil genius.  Damn you.  ;-)

 

 



Happy muscles...

...maybe "happy" isn't the right word, they're actually complaining a little bit.  Whyyyyyyy?  Because they were forced into action last night.  Using weights and everything!  How heavy, you ask?  Embarrassingly light, says I.  They say after a certain age one loses muscle mass at a rate of 10% per year.  I think that's a conservative estimate.  I know it is.  It has to be. I'd hate to think I'm some kind of freakish exception to that rule.  In any case, my muscles complain and my mood soars.  Now we'll see if I can continue this trend for more than one day in a row. 

Food/meals planned for the day (in no particular order)...

1.5 c vanilla almond milk and a scoop of Vega chocolate meal replacement stuff.
1 (thick) slice whole grain bread with fake butter (about a Tablespoon)
2 small apples
1 cup fat free vanilla Greek yogurt
1 banana
Large salad minus the lettuce: apple, carrot, cuke, onion, red pepper, 1 oz aged goat cheese, 1 Tbsp Good Seasons Italian dressing.
1 cup red rose tea w/ 1 Tbsp raw sugar and splash soy creamer
2 Lara bars for when the dreaded sweet tooth hits; lemon pound cake and chocolate chip cookie dough.
Dinner: TBD...
 

Arch nemesis... or best friend..?



Pretty yummy... for pre-fab stuff.  Having chocolate in it helps enormously.  Of course.

Monthly nonsense...

This once-a-month blogging silliness must stop!!  Is nothing happening?  Noooooo.  Am I still working on my WW'esque goals?  Yeeeessssss.  Have I forgotten how to type?  Uhm ... maybe ... yes..? 
Well, without apology or excuses, I'm here now.  Without a whole hell of alot to say.

Our WW at work program has not been renewed for another round.  Not enough interest.  It's a tough sell and I don't envy the gal* who goes above-and-beyond rallying the troops every three months to (re)join up.  (* I write "gal" only to respect her privacy.  The term in no way conveys the truly heroic efforts she's been putting out over the years to keep this program available for the rest of us.  Thank you, "gal".)

So what HAS been happening this past month with my health and wellness efforts?  Can anybody say "Yoyo"?  Ugh.  I lost 8 lbs and promptly gained it right back.  My exercise efforts are of the "weekend warrior" type and although I'm not injuring myself, I'm not really doing much good for myself for the long-term either.  And I'm coming to terms with the fact that I really am a sugar junkie.  ~sigh~   There must be some kind of support group for... oh ... there is.  It's called Weight Watchers.  Damnit.

I have 3 weeks before this year's hike and I'm in need of going to my favorite outfitter (REI) to buy a pair of hiking pants... one size LARGER... which is TWO sizes larger than when I last hiked.  Grump grump grump.

It occurred to me just this morning that maybe if I put in the effort to blog just a few minutes every day, reporting on what I eat without too much fanfare, I'll be helping myself stay accountable, which can only help, right?  Actually, YOU'LL be helping me stay accountable... oh you know what I'm getting at.

I haven't weighed myself in a couple weeks but I know... it ain't perty.  I'll step on the scale before my hike, but until then I'll just report on what I shove down my gullet and how tight my clothes are.  You know... the clothes I swore on my life never, never, ever, ever, not-in-a-million-years to ever outgrow again.

Yeah, I'm beating myself up a little bit.  Being Monday doesn't help.

And on that note, my tally for the day.  ~oh, and how tight are my clothes?  Uncomfortably so.  ~snork~

• Red Rose tea w/ 1 T raw sugar and a splash of soy creamer
• 1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (vanilla flavored)
• 1 banana
• 1 apple
• 2 slices whole grain bread (nope, no butter)
• 1 large salad: ~3 cups lettuce, cuke, carrot, onion, apple, corn, 2 T ginger dressing, 1 oz aged goat cheese, 1/2 cup crispy rice noodles. (And as is par for the course, after a very healthy and satisfying meal, I'm craving dessert.  Something sweet.  Crazy sweet.  Sugar.  Sugar, sugar, gimme sugar.)
• 1 Family size package of Pixie Stix.  No, of course not.  I'm just being a wise-@ss.  Do they even make those anymore??



Pixie Sticks... 'cuz kids can't afford Crack.

• 1 Lara bar.  Sweet but naturally so.  May need to follow up with a cup of sweet tea...
• 1 double cup of cocoa with hazelnut creamer.  What's "double cup"?  Two packets of instant cocoa in one cup.
• 1 veggie burger on lite toast w/ sautéed mushrooms, onions and peppers, extra light cheese ("extra" as in extra light, not extra cheese), pickle and a fistful of blue corn chips.  A pretty yummy dinner, actually.
• 1 cup red rose tea, 1 T raw sugar and a splash of soy creamer.
• 1 donut.  See?  Sugar.  I'm helpless.

I did exercise tonight... 1 of the 12 P90X DVDs.  Holy crap I can't believe how out of shape I am.  My plan tomorrow, cardio (maybe a lunchtime run) and then some core work in the evening.  Not sure what that means yet but I'm gon'na wake up this six-pack, oh yeah, baby!

Retox...

Well, my three day juice fast/fest/feast lasted 1.5 days.
 
The good things that came from it:

• A renewed awareness of my severe caffeine addiction.
• Breaking my caffeine addiction.
• Losing 3 lbs of ... junk (I assume).
• Knowing I put in a good, solid effort.

The not so good things that came from it:

• A raging caffeine withdrawal headache.
• Juicer cleanup duty.
• Fielding loved-ones' concerns ("...do you know what you're doing?")

My intention, once I knew I wouldn't make my 3 day goal, was to stick with primarily raw produce (salads) and simple soups (miso, lentel) for the remaining day and a half, but I was woefully unsuccessful today.

Lunch:

• Falafal pita, hummus w/ flatbread.

"Well..." I reasoned to myself, "...at least I've been making vegetarian choices."

And then there was dinner:

• Large salad (lettuce, onion, carrots, red peppers, green grapes)
• Ginger dressing.
• Chicken.  Lots of chicken.  With skin.  Yummy, rotisserie-crispy-almost-tastes-like-bacon skin. 

Now here I sit, trying to sate my dessert tooth with a cup of decaf Earl Gray tea sweetened with raw demerara sugar.  There's no chocolate in the house (thank goodness) but there IS ice cream.  And donuts.  Yup.  And lemon pound cake.  ~shiver with delight~  And my mint/chocolate Clif Bars.

I'm happy to report that I'm still decaffeinated, but other than that, I'm fully retoxed. 
Deliciously, belly-stretchingly retoxed.

I'm making light of this short experience but truthfully, the headache I endured was pretty nasty.  I believe it was from caffeine withdrawal, but also from artificial sweetener which I had been using exclusively in my tea for a couple months.  And I've been drinking diet soda. Not a lot, but enough.  And I don't think I use too much salt, but I haven't really been paying attention so I might be wrong about that. 

I'm making an effort, starting right now, thanks to my 1.5 day juice fast/fest/feast, to return to mindfulness.  To think about what I choose to eat, not only when I choose it but also while I'm eating it.  To think about the time I allow for myself and what I do with it.  Zombie out in front of the tube, or Ohmmm out in my Sanctuary room.  And to appreciate.  To just be... grateful.

A whole month, is it possible?

...Of COURSE it's possible, this is me we're talkin' about.
What brings me back to the keyboard? You'll never guess, not in a million years.  Really, wan'na try?
What's that?  I hit my weight goal?  I wish, but no.
I hit the lottery?  Oh boy, do I ever wish, but no.
I decided that waffles and bananas would never cross these lips again?  HA!  What universe are YOU living in?!!!!
No, what I find so incredibly interesting that I HAVE to share with you is ... THIS:



Eggs, eggs, as far as the eye can see!
 Chicken eggs.  Turkey eggs.  Quail eggs.   Pheasant eggs...

...wait... what..?  An Ostrich egg???

...Is that still only 2 WW points??!

Insane, right?  If that's not worth blogging about, I might as well retire my pen, ~er~ keyboard and pick up knitting.

A whole month, boys and girls.  I wish I had a month's worth of interesting shtuffs to share, but I don't.  So I'll just blab for a little while.  If you get bored, don't hesitate to log off, or Google "Eggs of the North East" or somethin'.

I'm plugging along with Weight Watchers, a slow and steady tortoise.  A happy tortoise: 8 lbs in 8 weeks.  Clothes are starting fit again and I'm hitting that point where I'm reminded of something our former WW leader said; "We lose weight to look good in our clothes.  We exercise to look good without them."  ~sigh~  Time to dust off my sneakers.  Again.  ~groan~

I'm being a little bit of wise-@ss about the exercise because I have been "training" for my backpack adventure, slated for September.  Eight glorious days on the Appalachian Trail.  70'ish miles.  Unplugged and experiencing the world at 2 miles per hour.  I can't wait.  Truly.  I've been strapping on my pack with about 20'ish pounds in it and I hook into the section of The Trail that cuts through the northwest corner of the state.  For a few, short hours I might as well be a thousand miles deep in the wilderness, and not just a mile or two off Rt. 7.

Today is day 1 of a 3 day juice fast.  My BFF and I are doing the one day "together" (we'll be comparing notes tomorrow). I don't know if I'm going to make it the whole three days though.  I'm struggling through a caffeine withdrawal headache, which will be gone by tomorrow morning, but still: ouch.  I'm juicing my own fruits and veggies instead of buying it off the shelves.  A lot of work, a lot of cleanup... hopefully my body will reap a lot of benefit.  I'll keep you posted. 

I have begun repopulating Joe's tank.  Last week I bought 5 zebra danios ("Sale!  5 for $5!"). I had one fall-out, leaving 4.  Well, you can do the math.  Then today I bought 3 more of those plus 5 leopard danios. I jumped on the "spots & stripes" theme the minute it dawned on me.  My next purchase will be some kind of algae-eating something or other.  I'll research my spots/stripes options in that regard.  These little guys are very, very zippy and really fun to watch.

Man, I'm hungry.  I sure would like a veggie burger...

Or maybe a real burger like the one I had on the 4th.  With lots of cheese.  And bacon.  Oh mannnnnnnnn.

So even though I've been WW'ing and losing a slow but steady pound per week, I have not been making the wisest choices nutritionally (note aforementioned bacon cheeeeeeseburger).  I'm hoping this juice fast will launch me back onto the path I always stray from every time a sexy cheeseburger comes my way.

And now just some random food pix:

A breakfast of 1 fried egg w/ leftover roasted sweet potato, asparagus
and rye toast w/ "butter".  Yummmm

Grilled chopper, steamed Brussels and an ear of corn.  Again: yum!

Hello, old friend.  :-)

I can easily (and have been) eating half a watermelon per day.
I love melon season.

More soon.  How soon?  Definitely before another freakin' month screams by, egads.

Milestone!

Well, I played a little loose with my points a couple days, but for the most part I stayed on track and was rewarded with a 1.2 lb loss for the week.  So it took four weeks to lose five pounds but here I am, five pounds lighter!  Woo Hoo!!

On a sadder note, my handsome little fish Joe is now proudfully, gracefully adorning that great aquarium in the sky.  I believe he just got old.  There's no way of knowing how old he was when I brought him home, but he sure was beautiful to the end. He just sort of slowed down and lost interest... tsk.  My Joe. I'll miss you.

On another not-sad-but-huge note, my now little family of three will be a little family of four in a couple days.  Hubby's Mom is moving in with us.  What does this mean?  LOTS of things!!  What does this mean to my WW efforts?  LOTSs of things!!!  With Mom comes donuts, white bread, pasta, pastries, pies and cookies.  Put 'em all together and what does it spell?  LOVE!!  Delicious, highly processed, mega-points love. :-)  Seriously (for just a sentence or two), it will be challenging of course.  My morning sweet tooth will have more than yogurt & fruit, or waffles & fruit to choose from.  Just the thought of it is making me crave late night bowls of Cap'n Crunch and plates of buttery cinnamon & sugar toast.  Oh yeah, baby!

My exercise is intermittent at best, although for the past couple weekends I've been hittin' the woods and puttin' a few miles under my feet.  It feels really great.  And I'm starting to put together my food plan for this year's week-long hike in September.  My intention is to keep it as simple as possible.  Boringly simple.  Food as fuel only.  But whenever I sit down at my Excel spreadsheet, I manage to add "just one more" bit of comfort'y trail food.  Hey... trail food is all about calories (for the most part), maybe the donuts, white bread, pasta, pastries, pies and cookies will be just the trick!

My food journal capturing the evening's chaotic food choices.

Veggie burger on light toast with sautéed onions & 'shrooms, sliced
pickles (underneath, can't see 'em but yum) and one oz of killer delicious jalapeno kettle chips...

Yeah... THESE chips. 

 

Trail food!!!

My Joe.  oxox

Hump dayyyyyyyy!

Just a mid-week huddle, in part to touch base real quick an in larger part to extend a formal apology...

Overall, I've been having a good week.  Exercising, being very mindful of my food choices, meeting temptations head-on and emerging triumphant with the aid of at-the-ready fruit and portioned snacks brought from home.

I ambitiously attacked my favorite 5 mile walk/jog route yesterday after work.  Although my scale seems to say otherwise (water weight due to damaged and repairing muscles... I'm guessing), the reality is I burned a lot of calories and woke up my body a little bit.  Yeah, I'm feeling pretty great this week.

But sometimes feeling great can present itself as cockiness or conceit... two things that I don't find very attractive, especially in myself.  So, in this somewhat public forum ("somewhat" because my reader/follower list is comfortably modest), I'm asking that my dear WW@work buddy accept my sincere apology for any judgmental snark I may have thrown her way today.  We laughed about it later this afternoon, and I'm hoping I'm wrong about all this, but I feel crummy for what I will evermore refer to as "The Guacamole Skirmish".  Please know I was this close to diving face first into that huge bowl of the green stuff and was not in my right mind to offer calm and civil support. 

Of course I'm trying to be funny about this, and I'm using too many words, but I am completely genuine in feeling like I owe you my apology.  You help me more often than I say.  I'm grateful.  And you're fun to gab with too.  Please accept my apology..?

And on that note, it's time for me to sign off.  It's dinner time!  I'm having a full plate of roasted squash, steamed green veggies and as much grilled rib-eye as my points will allow.  (Obviously my dreams of being first-vegetarian-then-vegan has been temporarily (?) sidelined.  We'll get back to that soon enough.)

5 ounces grilled rib eye, about a cup each of roasted squash and steamed Brussels & asparagus. 
Note: after taking the pic, I piled on a lot more Brussels & asparagus.
8 points for the whole thing.

...it was terrible.  Worst meal I ever ate.

Crazy!

What's crazy?  That I actually lost a few ounces this week!  I traveled for work, only gone for two days, but that equates to seven un-measured, un-weighed, un-restricted meals.  Oof.  I think my choices were reasonable, even my portions weren't completely out of whack... but I still ate more than usual.  Until the moment of my official weigh-in I felt kind'a bloated and was braced for weight gain.

I would have sworn I saw a pig flying past the window as I stepped on the scale, only to see myself 0.2 lbs lighter than the week before!  Magically all feelings of bloat disappeared and I was doing that awful, and awfully dated happy dance.  You know, the one that embarrasses everyone young enough to be your kid?  Yeah, that one.  I really need to cut that out.

Without reconstructing this week's discussions, I left the meeting with a sense of reinforcement.  I know my key is to stay connected with my food, not making it as convenient as possible but being part of its prep.  So I'll keep on keepin' on with my food scale and measuring spoons and keep my eyes on the prize.  And on the occasional pizza.  And steamed dumpling.  Dumplings.  Plural.

Still riding the high, I grabbed a small backpack this morning and hit a local trail for a couple hours.  It was insanely wonderful.  I need a few days out there.  I have 8 days slated in September but that's still a million years away.  For now I'll have to do with day hikes.  Harrumph.

And just so you know, in spite of my success with not gaining, and my reinforced feelings of control, I did manage to chow down a half a bag of jalepeno kettle chips and half a bar of salted chocolate Friday night.  What the hell was THAT about?!  Yeesh.

My faithful hiking sticks

The woods ... my sanctuary

One pot veggie steam

Mon dessert de l'année!
Bottom layer: 1 Tablespoon Nutella + 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt. 
Next layer: 1/4 cup straight vanilla yogurt. 
Next layer: fresh strawberries. 
Topper: 1/2 oz pretzel sticks. 
Total points: 4 (yogurt is fat-free).

This morning's pre-hike, 6-point snack:
2 slices rye toast w/ 1 Tablespoon "butter" (Earth Balance spread),
1/2 cantaloupe and 1 cup tea w/ sweetener and a splash of soy creamer.

No celebratory pizza...

...Instead I celebrated by staying on target.  After which I crashed on the couch and unwittingly skipped dessert.  And skipped my update... 'til now.

I did very well this first official WW week.  3 pounds gone.  Sweet!!!  And I even had a few weekly freebie points left.  Imagine the damage I'll do when I finally get an exercise routine going!

So today starts week #2.  And today I have 11 points left for dinner.  I'll definitely be dipping into my weekly freebies 'cuz there's a fat rib-eye steak in my near future.  "Fat" as in "thick" and yes, as in "fat...ty".  Yum.  Pix to be posted later.

But in the mean time:

Celebratory dinner: 4 oz cod, 1/2 roasted sweet potato (I thought slicing them thin would result in a crispy, chip-like 'tater.  Nope.), steamed brussel sprouts and un-measured butter ("celebratory", remember?  Woo hoo!)

A standard salad dinner.  I can count on one of these about 3 times a week.  My "go to" meal.

Another salad.  Surprise!

This light bread decided it could be a liiiitle bit lighter.

There's something deeper behind those eyes.  My boy, I love him so.

How'd I do? Huh? Huh? How'd I do??

Good morning gentle readers and fellow WW'ers.
It's been a good week for me; followed the plan, kept to my points, exercised (sporadically), journaled my food...
According to my home bathroom scale, I'm off to a good start.
According to my favorite jeans, I have a way to go.
Today is Friday, official weigh-in day, official end of the work-week... all is good!
So how'd I do?  How'd I do?  Huh?  Huh?  Well? Huh?
Weigh-in ain't 'till noon, my brothuhs and sistahs.  I will testify tonight, with one hand on the keyboard, the other holding a celebratory slice of pepperoni and mushroom!
Of course I'm joking.
Maybe.

...No she's not.

Full Speed Ahead!

It's been 4 days since the Weight Watchers @ Work kick-off meeting and I've been embracing the W like never before!  Untrue.  I've embraced before with great success so... I've embraced like once before!  Based on my bathroom scale (aka "arch-nemesis"), I'm already down more than 3 lbs.  It's not dehydration because I'm glugging water like it's nobody's business.  I won't get too wordy here, it has been only 4 days after all.  But I'm feeling very optimistic.

Went for a fantastic hike this morning (worth the 40 minute drive to the park).  Great elevation changes over about 3.5'ish miles.  Took me an hour and half start-to-finish.  5 hours later and I'm still feeling high. 

So without further adieu, some pix for your viewing pleasure. 

Out with the old, in with the new.

Much better than "just" a notebook.

 

Day #1, full of promise.

Excellent day #1.

 

Waffle command center.

Hello old friends.  So good to see you again.

 

5 point protein sammitch: 1 fried egg, slice of whole grain toast
 and 1/2 oz hard goat cheese slowly melting under the egg.
5 points and about that many bites.

1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt, strawberries and 1/16th angel food cake.
Total points: 4

3 oz marinated & grilled tuna, 1 ear corn, steamed fiddle head ferns
with a dusting of grated parm.Yeah, it was really good.
5 points.

 

Twice a day.  Four of these are for "feminine health".  Yeesh.
With all these, I'm expecting to wake up soon looking like Venus.

Insanely simple and insanely delicious: 1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt,
 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk, 1 frozen banana, a splash of vanilla extract,
a pinch of cinnamon & a pinch of ground clove. 
Pointage: 2



"Honey, are there any ginger snaps left?"
"Uh, yeah!  I left you some!"

 

One of these things is not like the others...

No caption necessary.