So much to say!!

Sorry for being MIA for a few days, things have been busy!

On Wednesday my husband & I went to New York City to see a taping of the Wendy Williams show. She used to have a radio show for a long time, which we loved and we tivo her show everyday. We had to wake up at 3:50 to drive an hour to catch the train to be at the studio by 8 am - but it was worth it. We got to sit in the front row, and at the first commercial break she ran over and talked to us! Its hard to see her, but I took a picture of the TV (how corny - haha) and we are above the ms in Williams. She is talking to my husband in that shot. And the second shot is one i took in the studio - that's how close she was to us!!

I was proud of myself because I packed an oatmeal bar and an apple for breakfast, and for lunch we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., mostly because it has nutritional information on the menu! I got a shrimp and veggie stir fry. It was good, and only about 9 points with a little of the rice.

My husband had to get his favorites to bring home from the city, Crumbs cupcakes and Garretts popcorn. I was a WW allstar all day but, I was hungry and cranky on the train ride home. So dinner was half a cupcake and 2 cups of cheddar and Caramel corn mix popcorn (sounds gross, but is SO good). I had no nutritional info for wither, so I counted it as 30 points, to be on the ultra safe side, tracked it and crashed in bed!

I have a horrible habit of letting one bad meal snowball into weeks of eating like shit. But I have come to realize every meal is a new opportunity, I have the power to make it a negative or positive experience.

I have been eating 100% on 'point' since that craptastic dinner and feel great. I can't wait to weigh in on Monday!

We got a new cable service a month ago and I found out that in addition to the many on demand shows they have available, they also have exercise DVDs! I have been doing the shred, but am going to try a new one every day. Today was Biggest Loser Cardio Max....or something like that. All I know is it kicked my butt and Bob was in it.

Before I pack it up for the night, check out this chick who is having a Jillian-Michaels-tastic give away!

Recipe Review

This is a recipe I have been making for years. I was pleasantly pleased when I put the info in the WW recipe builder.

Sorry for such a craptastic picture, but I was starving and served our meatloaf before I remembered to take a picture. Whoops!

Spinach & Cheese Meatloaf
Points: 4
Servings: 6





Ingredients:


1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 cup (or more) thawed frozen spinach
2 oz 2% cheese
1/2 cup of dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup of eggbeaters
1/3 cup ketchup
Shit-load of spices (I used a meatloaf spice package, but I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili seasoning, Italian seasoning; really anything your family likes)


Pre-heat oven to 400. Spray a loaf pan with Pam.

Put everything but the ketchup in a bowl and mix well. Form a loaf & make a little slit in the top and top with ketchup. Cook for about 50 minutes.

Sorry for such a quick post but we are going to see a taping of the Wendy Williams Show in New York City tomorrow. The only bad part - we have to be at the studio at 8 am. So I will be waking up around 3:45 am to start getting ready for my close up!

My first weigh in

Let me preface this post by saying I hate when people complain about weight loss. I really do - any loss is a success. But today was my first weigh in and I thought I hit the ball out of the park. I ate like a champ, drank my water and I lost .6 lbs.

I was bummed, I can't lie. I thought about all the food I said no to. All the times I went to the gym. I was pissed, so you know what I did? I went to the basement and did this:

And I realized WW may be on a weekly schedule, but my body isn't. I can't let the scale dictate how I feel about myself. I am eating well, working out and feel great. The weight loss will come with it.

I made a great dinner, which I will post a recipe for tomorrow. As for tonight, I am hitting the hay early, thanks to my pal Jillian!

Busy weekend - and my first recipe review

Sorry for the lack of posting the few days. Friday night we went to my brother in laws house for a get together, Saturday we got to utilize my handy brothers skills and got many to-do items for the house done, at night we went to a friend's new house for dinner and this morning I needed some exercise so we went for a 2 hour hike! That's a lot to cram into a weekend.

I was really nervous about going out both nights, but Friday night I brought a huge veggie platter and some low fat dips. I still had some spinach dip and a few other things, but was able to steer clear of the pizza, cupcakes and Halloween candy that was all out!

Saturday night our friends made wings and baked ziti. I brought shrimp cocktail and another huge veggie plate. I had less then half a cup or baked ziti and 4 buffalo wings in addition to an insane amount of raw veggies, and 2 servings of dip. Woo-Hoo! I am really glad I stayed within a reasonable amount of my flex points (7 & 12, respectively) both nights.

Saturday I made my brothers favorite weight watchers recipe (yes my 120, rail thin brother has sampled many of my WW creations, and loves most of them!). Buffalo Chicken Lasagna. I got this recipe off the message boards a LONG time ago, sorry I can't give someone credit!

Can you spy which piece I had to make special for my husband who doesn't like spicy food and won't eat pepper jack cheese? lol

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients:

* 12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
* 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
* 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce
* 1 cup mild buffalo wing sauce
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 15 oz. non-fat ricotta cheese
* 1/2 cup egg substitute
* 9 slices 2% pepperjack cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray. Cook chicken over medium high heat 4 minutes or until almost done. Stir in sauces and water. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and egg substitute. Spray a 9″ X 13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of pan. Top with 4 noodles. Spread more sauce then spread ricotta mixture on top of sauce. Arrange 4 noodles on top. Keep repeating process until you end with sauce. Cover and bake 70 minutes. Uncover and place 9 cheese slices on top. Bake additional 15 minutes, uncovered. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

The recipe says for 8 servings its 8 points, but I need to verify that on the recipe builder.

And I realize its kind of pointless for me to take pictures of every meal, because for weeks on end, I repeat breakfast and lunch over and over.

But my new breakfast of choice is oatmeal made with 1/2 cup of milk 1/2 water, a little SF maple syrup and some sort of fruit. And Lunch has seen grilled cheese on ezekiel bread and some Trader Joe's roasted red pepper soup. If you haven't tried that soup yet - RUN to the store and get some. Its great!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I need to sit and the couch, relax and enjoy the few hours left in this weekend.

My little secret...

I am so tired today! I am worried about this weekend. Going to play cards at my brother in laws house tomorrow night, and going to have dinner at a friends house Saturday. Who wanted to try out her new deep fryer. Yikes!

She is an awesome person, but her like, most people in my life, don't know I am doing Weight Watchers. I don't really tell people. I feel like people judge or ask "are you sure you can eat that" and that just pisses me off. So I figure, why bother? Do people know you are trying to lose weight or did you keep it a secret when you started too?

Eats were good today. Breakfast was oatmeal with frozen berries.



No picture of my AM snack - a apple. Lunch was a left over chicken sausage burger on a sandwich thin, baby carrots and some sad look asparagus. Oh, and the LAST chocolate covered rice cake. Thank god they are gone!



I had tons of errands after work, so I was STARVING when I got home. I made a cobb salad from scratch. Well, I hate bleu cheese and don't eat pork, so it was a cobb salad with feta cheese and turkey bacon, so close enough. I even made it look all nice for you!



Ok - after this long day I am off to bed. Have a great night!

Lying to myself

Have you ever looked at the nutritional information on something and knew it was WAY too good to be true - yet still wanted to calculate the points and eat it without guilt? Me too. But I couldn't today.

Lets rewind to yesterday. We went to Stew Leonards, which is a grocery store unlike any other you could imagine - its a huge weird specialty place. They make most of the stuff they sell, mostly right in each store. They make these AMAZING rice cakes from scratch right in front of you. They come out in a machine similar to the thingy that shoots out tennis balls. Very cool.

Anywho, the make ones that are chocolate drizzled. The NI on them indicate they would be one point for two of them. Well last night the 'drizzler' on duty must have been have been hitting the bottle because they weren't drizzled - they were completely covered in chocolate. I ate 3 so far, which isn't bad for a 24 hour period. As much as my hand wanted to write 2 for 1 point in my tracker, I had to guesstimate each one as two. Which stinks. But I had to think - who am I cheating? Myself - and that's what got me to my current weight.

Ok - rant over. Thanks for staying with me. I had a great breakfast, an egg in a basket that got a little messy in the pan, and some pomegranate seeds. Love those things - too bad they are only in season a short time!

I had to have a lower point dinner so I could fit some chocolate covered rice cakes in my day. So i had a chicken sausage burger on a sandwich thin with some 2 % cheese, asparagus and TJ's kick ass one point chips and salsa. That's a lot of food for 8 points!

If you haven't sees this awesome post about Sue, please check it out. She is the shit, and really deserves it. I know I and am new to the blog world, but I am awed by what an amazing community it is and how supportive people are. Its a great feeling.

And with that - I'm out! Have a great night.

Obsession

Do you ever see something on a menu or at a restaurant and then think about it until you get it?

My boss took us out to lunch today at a new restaurant near the office. Its a modern-comfort-food-too-fancy-to-be-a-diner diner. Does that make sense?

Back to the subject at hand, my new obsession. They had a 21+shake section on their menu. Yes, you read that right, SHAKES WITH BOOZE. I can't remember the name of my obsession shake, all you need to know is it was vanilla ice cream, vanilla vodka, and a twinkie. In a blender. Sounds like something angels would sing about.

I ordered the Kitchen Sink Salad - romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, kidney beans, feta and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!!! While I was eating that great salad I watched a man devour the twinkie shake. How did I know it was the same shake? It comes garnished with a twinkie. Heart-Attack-City. I know.

I thought about the shake all day, that is until my motivational partner, WW College Girl Pointed the fried banana nuggets at Peanut Butter & Jenny out to me! I can't wait to try these. I love all things banana, and at least the point will be reasonable. Shake? What shake?

Since I ate an early, large lunch, I didn't eat any snacks today. Dinner was a Perdue baked chicken patty on a sandwich thin and some butternut squash fries from Hungry-girl.com. They were great.



There are my new cookbooks in the background. Can't wait to look through them and get some good recipes.

Have a great night!