Sunday, November 27, 2011

My Thanksgiving

It was a success! Well, a success in the fact that I made a plan and stuck to it. I decided to plan my meal ahead of time and record it in eTools Wednesday night. I also tried to be as realistic as possible about it and account for all the delicious dishes I knew I would cave in for. So, I counted stuffing, mac and cheese (Clay's contribution), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, pie, blah blah blah. I knew I wouldn't be able to turn any of it down, but I knew I COULD stick with portion control. So I counted out 1/2 c. of each item, added my pies, and spent a whopping 39 points on my Thanksgiving dinner. But guess what? I ate exactly what I planned for and was quite satisfied with my portions. I call that a success.

I realize I didn't do a weigh-in blog last week. I stayed the same, which is pretty awesome since I've been feeling less than motivated lately. So far this week the scale says I lost, but I'm not counting on that yet. I've been semi-decent with my eating but have only exercised twice this week (the two-hour spinning class on Wednesday was fantastic, btw).

As for the pies, they turned out pretty great. Of course I forgot to take pictures, but I got all the ingredients for a round 2, so I will hopefully remember to take some pictures then.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Thanksgiving Teaser

Soooo, in ADDITION to my light pumpkin pie, I'm also making this scrumptious-looking peanut butter pie (recipe courtesy of Hungry Girl).

There is a 2-hour spinning class on Wednesday -- much needed for Thanksgiving week! -- so I'm going to do that then taking the afternoon off to spend the day baking with Clay. I will be sure to charge my camera and post pictures of my finished products.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

How to Eat and Exercise while Traveling for Work

Hey guys! Guess what DIDN’T happen this week? That’s right, I didn’t officially weigh in. I felt like I stood up WW. I’m in D.C. for work this week and spent my Tuesday morning at home packing, downloading templates, and going to the doctor’s. I did, however, use my weight from the doctor’s as my official WW weight. According to that scale, I gained .2 pounds. If you’ll recall, I spent the past weekend pigging out with no regard to points or regret. So a .2-pound gain isn’t bad.
I’m mentally preparing for Thanksgiving. I’m going to my parents’ house and am preparing for my weakness: pumpkin pie. To help with the temptation, I’m going to make this recipe from skinnytaste.com so I can have a guilt-free slice after my dinner.
I’m in D.C. until tomorrow (Friday) and I’m happy to report that I’ve been pretty much on track since my arrival and have exercised both full days I’ve been here. I say “pretty much” because, as I’m sure you guessed, I have to eat what is available to me here and that isn’t always WW-friendly food. Fortunately, the company that is hosting my classes has a smorgasbord of food with a decent amount of healthy options. Yesterday I had half of a turkey sandwich and some green beans; today I had half of a tuna fish sandwich, asparagus (only two spears because it was soaking in oil – bleck!), and half a cup of ravioli. For breakfast I had one piece of toast and a banana and half a T of peanut butter. Score! I love my PB & banana breakfasts.
I was able to research my hotel and snag one with a fitness center (and it’s also across the parking lot from the building where my classes are being held!). They have three treadmills, one elliptical, one recumbent bike, and a weight-lifting area. I did the treadmill yesterday with varied speeds and inclines, and an elliptical/treadmill combo workout today. Not bad, Kelly, not bad.
And as if it can’t get any better, I also packed some WW-friendly snacks for my flights. For tomorrow’s flight back to Pittsburgh I have a pack of 3PP WW honey mustard pretzels. I am on top of some stuff right now, I’ll tell ya what.

Weight loss this week: +.2 pounds
Total weight loss: 31 pounds


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Major Fail in the Cupcake Department

Hi guys. I've been neglecting my blogging, haven't I? No fear, I haven't completely fall off the wagon, although I think maybe my one leg is dragging on the path.

I lost one pound this week, which is pretty good. I know I mentioned this before, but I've been pretty relaxed about my eating. The newness of WW is wearing off and even though I still track and am making healthier food choices in my life, I am pretty haphazard about the weekends. Like today, I went to my nephew's first birthday party. I kept track, came home, entered it into eTools, and about shit when my points totaled 72! OMG I didn't even eat a real meal and I'm still hungry! Back at the beginning of WW, I would have had MAYBE one cupcake with no ice cream. But today, today I ate two cupcakes and two servings of ice cream. Why? Why would I do that? It wasn't even a to-die-for cake flavor and the ice cream was just vanilla. I DON'T EVEN LIKE CAKE AND ICE CREAM THAT MUCH!

Old habits, my friends. They're like cold sores. Just when you think you're through with them, they show up on your lip again.

I blew through my extra points, but I have 30 activity points and am going to the gym tomorrow morning to earn some more. That last part is important because tomorrow I'm going to an early Thanksgiving dinner at Clay's sister's house. Oh boy. I could eat my weight in stuffing.

There were good things this week, too, and I need to mention them so I don't convince myself that I'm a total sloth. Counting tomorrow, I will have worked out four days this week. I have also eaten within my points every weekday (although I went over by eight last night), and my size 16 jeans fit very nicely now. So there are some successes here.

But now I must be domestic. Fold laundry, wash dishes, and hum my way through both activities.

Oh! I accidentally bought a Christmas tree and all the necessary ornaments to go with it. This is a big deal because I have never owned a Christmas tree before. Too high maintenance. But I'm pretty pumped about the holidays this year and am getting all fuzzy just thinking about it. I'm having a tree-decorating night with Hannah and Hannah (friend and niece) and will be sure to post some pics.

Weight loss this week: 1 pound
Total weight loss: 31.2 pounds

Saturday, November 5, 2011

How I Conquered Mt. Everest and Pizza All in the Same Week

Hello! I gained .6 pounds this week. I exercised a lot, and I ate a lot. Other than that, I'm not going to over-analyze this one. Promise. I will say that I have a size 14 pair of Old Navy dress pants that have been hanging in my closet for years. I tried them on today and they fit! Woohoo! Old Navy runs big on their sizes, though, but I'll take it.

I realized that I haven't talked about my Mt. Everest two-hour spinning class yet. It was pretty fantastic. It was a climb-based class, so we did a warm-up of 14 minutes, then a 22-minute climb (standing and pedaling the whole time). Then we rested for a song, then climbed for another few songs. It went on like that for two hours. It was pretty intense and Lara (the gym director) varied the climb resistance, so sometimes we were doing a running climb, sometimes we were doing a if-you-let-yourself-slow-down-too-much-your-pedal-will-get-stuck-because-the-resistance-is-too-high climb. Those last ones are the worst. You just want to cut off your thighs right there on the spot. It was a fantastic workout. There was also a slide show that changed with each phase. Also, the music was just right: fast when you needed motivation, and slow-to-build music during our climbs. Lara did a fantastic job with orchestrating the whole thing.

She's giving another two-hour spinning class the day before Thanksgiving, so I'm going to sign up for that one too. Only this one will be a regular spinning class with jumps and sprints and climbs all mixed in. She's tough, too, so I might vomit.

Let's move onto food, shall we? The food I've missed most since going on WW is pizza. I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life and I would die a happy, albeit very overweight, woman. Because there's so many different kinds and every pizza place makes it so differently that it's like a new food each time! I'm getting too excited and I need to calm down.

Anyway, I found a great way to make a whole pizza for nine PP. Yes, that's right. I said nine PP. The trick is using Flat Out. Each wrap is only two PP. I topped mine with 1/4 cup Ragu pizza sauce, 2 oz. of fat free mozzarella, 1 oz. of freshly grated parmesan reggiano, onions, green pepper, and 16 pieces of turkey pepperoni. That adds up to nine PP for a whole pizza! And it tastes delicious! Here's the thing in action now:


Tell me you couldn't gobble that up like a fat kid would. My goodness that is heavenly.

Now that I know how to get my pizza fix, you better believe I'll be all over this new trick. I must admit, one isn't enough for me. I'm still hungry (or at least not satisfied) after I eat it all. But they're so low in points that I usually have enough left over for my full peanut butter and jelly sandwich flat AND a cup of tea! That usually does it.

I don't generally post non-WW related things on here, but I was interviewed by Fiction Brigade today, so look for my interview on their website in the near future. I'll be sure to let you know when it's up. And if you write fiction (or any genre), send them a piece of it. It's a fantastic journal run by two great ladies. They're currently running a haiku contest and the winner receives a copy of my chapbook. What a great prize, if you ask my opinion. I think I heard you ask.


Weight loss this week:  +.6 pounds
Total weight loss: 30 pounds

Friday, November 4, 2011

It's Been A Week!

I have lost track of time! I need to get a picture up this week but am currently doing my 1-year self assessment for my job, which trumps any blog update at the moment.

I will write about this week's weigh-in when I can grab a second to do so, hopefully before the end of the weekend.

Do not think I have abandoned you, because I haven't!