Liz, don't get discouraged!! I so know how you are feeling. Some backgournd..........My heaviest was 233. I was a tight size 20. Could only shop in women's dept or at Lane Bryant (YUK)!!! So, I lost a good bunch of weight and got into size 18. I felt so darn good. Then, I saw myself in some pictures. Oh my gosh. I actually asked my husband how many pounds he thought I would need to lose to not be a "fat girl" anymore. I kid you not, I asked him. He of course was great and said he did not know because of the working out etc. It would be too hard to judge. I know he did not want to hurt my feelings. He is supportive and happy for me, but tends to let me do my own thing without saying much (he is affraid of saying the wrong thing). Anyway.........I am currently in week 15 with weight watchers. As of week 13 I weighed more than I did in week 6. I was gaining a pound, losing a pound, up down etc. I felt ok about myself. After seeing those pictures, I keep referring back to them. I found my motivation to keep going. Look how far you have come. I bet you feel healthier, right? Just keep on a goin. That is all I wanted to say. As of last week I am down a total of 18.6 (on ww only). I lost more than that previously. I finally am in a size 16 and shopping the misses dept. It is great but I know I still have a long road ahead of me. If I would have stayed on program and not slacked, I would be at goal in about 5 weeks. So stick with it my firend! I hear it is all worth it!!!
12 oz skim latte - 2pts
salmon oil tablets - 2pts
small apple - 1pt
1/2 cup Light & Fit yogurt - 1pt
A blt:
WW English Muffin - 2pts
2 pieces of micro bacon - 1.5pts
Lettuce, tomato, mustard - 0pts
Salad w/ FF Ranch - 1pt
I picked up a baked chicken from the deli at our Safeway. That will be dinner with (maybe) half a yam and veggies. Hopefully I'll have a point left for a Weight Watcher's fudgsicle thingy because my throat is really sore. It might even be worth going 1pt over for it just to give my throat some relief.
I hope everyone else is having a good food day!
That leaves me with 9.5pts for the rest of the day if I stick to my 20pts. I did get my workout in (I think I said that earlier) but I still feel like crud.
question- the 12oz skim lattee- are you making this yourself or buying it from someplace? There is a small coffee shop that I like getting the skim lattee at but I am not sure if the nutrition information so I stop buying it. Also what type of skim lattee are you getting( what flavor)?
We make the skim latte's at home. I add 1tbsp sugar free Hershey's syrup (0pt) to it to make it kind of like a mocha. I haven't had a coffee from a shop since I started WW because I wasn't sure of what I'd be getting.
The rest of the day - cinco de mayo
Dinner: At the cinco de mayo party
I did really well - considering the chips, dips, and chocolate fountain.
Strawberries (not dipped in chocolate) 3
Seviche (5)
Pork (4)
Salsa/lettuce/pico de ?/ (0)
2 8oz margaritas (OK now I am freaking out. According to DWLZ 16 0z of margaritas runs 800 calories or 16 points. According to Ann Collins 900 or 18 points. I was thinking - two small glasses - I am being good here. No wonder I am fat. I could easily down 3 big ones, 3 nights a week at family gatherings. Realbear.com said it only ran me 600 calories (or 12 points)... I AM NEVER DRINKING A MARGARITA AGAIN ... ok, maybe I take that back. This is like when a cheesecake lover realizes that one slice has 35 points (true for some cheesecakes)......) I just don't want to think about it anymore. (16)
so my two very small juice glasses of margarita turned a 20 point day into a 36 point day.
I don't get any flavor in my latte - just coffee and milk. I figure a 12 oz cup has about 2 oz of espresso and 10 oz of milk. But since I also use milk in my regular coffee before leaving for work, I add the 10 oz from the latte to the bit I had at home and call it good with two servings of milk.
Sometimes I order cappicino (espresso with milk foam on top). Basically a cup of foam with some coffee on the bottom. They really don't taste the same without whole milk, but will do in a pinch when I am short on points.
Hey ladies. Finished off my cinco de mayo as well. UGH!! CHIPS AND BEER!!! I planned it though. My husband is at a sports game entertaining customers from work (I did not want to go). So, I had two girlfriends over and made Mexican food. My meal was fine. It was the beer and chips. I only had two light beers. That should be only 4 points. The chips.......well I think I may have eaten half a bag of tostitos gold corn chips. My dinner ran me about 15 (a guess). So my day was about 28 points not counting beer or chips. Tee hee hee. I don't care. Right back on tomorrow. I wanted to have a fun night with my friends and food. Now I can't get enough water down to counter act the salt from the chips.
Regarding those lattes.........I know some of you use small coffee shops (I am jelous). But, if you go to starbucks.com you can click on the nutrition information for some guidelines. Lattes are easy, as stated above they are just milk and espresso. Espresso is 0 points, so just count your milk. You can even customize your drink on the website and find all the important information. Maybe this will help. Has been a life savor for me.
Thanks for sharing the info on the margaritas. That is one of my favorite drinks when we go out. I never would have guessed them to be so high in calories. I guess the mix does have quite a bit of sugar. Should I call you Morrigan or Wendy now?? --------funny about the kid/pet names. I used my favorite name on our first pet (Bailey). I would have used it for a boy or a girl. Instead, I have a Tatum and a Bryce. Naming our kids was almost as difficult as the pregnancies. Tatum was about 6 hours old before she was named and Bryce was I think about 10 hours. I could not sleep in the hospital because I wanted to get them names so badly. Husband and I could not agree.
Well, I have lots of b-day parties going on again this weekend. Will try to post often still. It helps me stay focused. ==Amy
Ours didn't have names until day 2. And then the not agreeing over unusual names resulted in two very ordinary names. The decision probably would have been easier if we had known the sex, but it was sure fun hearing the doc say, "It's a ****".
Today: Breakfast (way to early) oat bran cereal with blueberries (3) and creamer (1)
Weekend at home with DH and Kids. This is a first since last fall. My DH works weekends all winter, so we never get 2 days in a row off together. I actually wanted to go to the lake cabin (not ours, my uncles) this weekend, but we have to spend at least one weekend a month at home to keep up on house and gardens. I am off to plant veggies, weed flower beds, fix fence, and generally be busy.
I take back whatever I said about dieting being easy. I must have been out of my mind.
Today - after breakfast I have had. Crackers (4), several bowls of yam and lentil veggie soup (8), and a slice of bread (3) - putting me at 19 points for the day and it is only 11:39 am. And the kids are not cooperative in my yardwork endevours today. We keep ending up back in the house.
Wine (2), crackers (2), and (2) South Beach Diet Bars - thank god they are now gone - I am not buying them again. For a running total of 25 points today.
Finished the day with a couple bites of spinach and the last of the soup. (2) for a 27 point day.
Sunday 5/7/06
Late Snack (last night) - noodles and veggieburger (4)
Breakfast: Oat Bran Cereal with blueberries (3), creamer (1)
Snack: Tofu stir fry (6)
Lunch: More of the same (4)
I made cinnamon rolls (what was I thinking?), I poured my self a glass of wine - just now, not a good combo. When I finish the wine I am going upstairs to pack them up and put them in DH's truck in the garage for work this week.
If I make him muffins at the beginning of the work week, he doesn't stop to get one at Starbucks - saving us lots of dinero. I just got a little carried away today - I actually started off with the intention of baking bread, and it sort of turned into cinnamon rolls. Speaking of cinnamon, check out this article.
Quote:
Cinnamon joins cholesterol battle
By Judy Foreman | August 24, 2004
The next drug in your medicine cabinet might come from the spice aisle of the grocery store.
Although research is still preliminary, doctors and researchers are getting excited about the diabetes and cholesterol-fighting potential of cinnamon.
Cinnamon probably "can't harm in small doses, it may help and it's not adding calories," said Melinda Maryniuk, a senior dietician at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
A small study completed last year on the possible health benefits of cinnamon was "very exciting and promising," according to Dr. Andrew Greenberg, director of the obesity metabolism laboratory at Tufts University, who is so intrigued he has begun studying it himself.
The 40-day study, of 60 people in Pakistan with Type 2 diabetes, found that one gram a day of cinnamon -- one-fourth of a teaspoon twice daily -- significantly lowered the subjects' blood sugar, triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood), LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, and total cholesterol.
Don't go bananas with this, of course. In high doses -- no one knows exactly how much -- cinnamon is believed to be toxic, according to Richard Anderson, a researcher at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland, part of the US Department of Agriculture, who conducted the study in Pakistan.
And don't substitute cinnamon for prescription medication whose benefits are well established.
"Cinnamon is a lot less effective than statins" at lowering cholesterol levels in the blood, according to Dr. Frank Sacks, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Statins have been tested in rigorous studies on 70,000 people for five years or more. Compared to that, he said, the research on cinnamon is weak.
"There are certainly substances in plants that have very strong biological effects, so the concept is fine," he said. And plant derivatives "are being intensively researched at many places -- that's a hot topic."
But it's also "a little weird," he said, that the USDA study found that the beneficial effects of cinnamon lasted for at least 20 days after people stopped taking it. "I don't know of any drug or product whose effects persist for 20 days."
For diabetics, cinnamon "does much the same thing as insulin" biochemically, said Don Graves, an adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of California in Santa Barbara who has studied how cinnamon works in the body.
In Type 2 diabetes, the problem is that insulin no longer does a good job of escorting sugar into cells, said Anderson of the USDA. Cinnamon "makes cells more sensitive to the insulin that is available," he said.
An active ingredient in cinnamon, proanthocyanidin, worms its way inside cells, where it activates the insulin receptor. Once this receptor is activated, whether by insulin or cinnamon, chemical reactions occur allowing the cell to use energy from sugar.
A few other caveats are in order. If you have Type 2 diabetes, you should monitor your blood sugar carefully when adding cinnamon because the spice may intensify the effects of insulin medication -- or better yet, talk to your doctor first.
And don't use the good news about cinnamon to indulge regularly in calorie-laden cinnamon buns or muffins, warned Alice Lichtenstein, a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Gaining weight would be worse for your health than not eating cinnamon, she said.
Finally, there may be an indirect health benefit to be had from cinnamon, according to Taiwanese scientists writing in the July 14 issue of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Cinnamon oil, they found, kills mosquito larvae more effectively than DEET, a common pesticide and mosquito repellent. The next step is to test it against adult mosquitoes.
Judy Foreman is a freelance columnist who can be contacted at [email protected] .
I was surprised to see that the research was done by the Department of Agriculture. It seems that usually these types of studies are all industry funded to promote sales.
Afternoon snack: Glass of wine (2) to stave of cinnamon rolls.
Speaking of which, I put a dash of cinnamon in my coffee every day. Now I have an even better reason to do so.
20 points so far today - My goal is to stay in the 20's again.
Nibbles: (1)
Salad with croutons and cottage cheese (3)
Apple cake (4)
28 point day. Now I am just going to drink lots of water and not eat until weigh in tommorrow morning. I know it is probably ridiculous fasting until weigh in, but I get really obsessive about weigh in, and I want to do my best.
Ahhhhh!!! Hmmmmmmmmmm...........where do I begin? So much for trying to check in over the weekend. Let me try to re-trace my steps.
Sat am. The whole family was up early to get to a 8am teeball game. I ate some sort of skippy yummy bar on the way (4pts). When we got home at 9:45, I got busy cleaning in the master bedroom to avoid eating. You see, by this time I was starving. We were headed to a bday party at 3pm and I wanted a bite or two of cake, so I wanted a late lunch. Lunch was left over Mexican food. Could have been ugly, but it was....chicken (3pts), rice (2.5pts), beans (1pt), and one taco shell (1pt), salsa too (zip). Ok...........three small bites of cake at the party (4pts?). Dinner.....well I went to participate in the relay for life cancer walk. They were selling Chick-fil-a sandwiches. It was on a bun with nothing. No sauce, nothing. I ate about 2/3 of it (6pts). I should have walked a ton. However, to keep a long story short I will just say this, I lost my 3 year old son and was so upset and flustered that I could not do anymore. Not to mention I was scared he would get away from me again. So I only walked about 1 mile. Should have been 3 or 4. Back at the tent I ate 1/2 of a blonde brownie (more like a chocolate chip cookie bar) and two no bake cookies. Never had them before and they were yummy and full of points. I will guess 6pts for the junk food. Total for Saturday was 27ish. May be off there. OH! the party we went to was at a bounce place. I ran and climbed and jumped. I should have earned some activity points there. That makes me feel a bit better.
Ok, so now on to today. Woke and got everyone ready for my son's bday party. Ate yogurt and go lean (3pts). Had 3 small slices of cheese pizza and diet soda at party (12pts). Had again 3 bites of cake (4pts). Went to Subway for dinner. Husband wanted Panda Express, but I (proud of myself) requested Subway since I knew I could do a low point dinner there. Subway was good (8pts). Walked next door and had a tall frappuccino light at Starbucks (2pts). So, today's total was 29. Wowee...not too bad. If TOM does not get in my way I should lose my 1.4 this week, and get my 10% We will have to see.
Quite the run on paragraphs here. I guess that happens when I try to purge an entire weekend in one sitting. This week is really busy. Son's real bday is tomorrow. Going to 1/2 of dance for daughter, then leaving early to have a celebratory dinner. Tuesday is a bridging ceremony for my daughter's girl scout troop (I am the leader). Wed. My family is going to a local lake at a park to fish and have a picnic dinner. Thursday is teeball practice (can't wait until it is over)!!!! So, in the midst of all of this, I plan on planning to eat well. I will check in here during the day and late at night as time permits. Hope you have all had a good weekend.
Your week sounds like my life - something going on all the time.
I have had worms in my fridge for 3 weeks now, but I haven't made it to the fishing hole. Considering I only have to walk 1/2 mile to get there.... excuses, excuses. I did spend most of the afternoon in the garden while the kids were napping - AND - I went to the gym first thing this morning for an hour of cardio.
GOOD AND EXCITING NEWS. I had my lowest point week since starting WW in January. These are my average points per day for each week since starting. 27.3, 28.9, 32.9, 32.0, 33.3, 29.1, 35.1, 32.9, 30.9, 29.4, 31.0, 33.0, 29.0, 39.4, 31.1, 27.0
Any week over 29.0 points means I used up all my extra points and then some. This is only the 3rd time I haven't gone over on my extra points for the week.
Well, I take some of that back - I just went upstairs and ate kids leftovers
30 points for the day and an average of 27.3 for the week.
My goal this week is to have an entire week in the 20's. I got off to a great start today by heading to the gym at 5:30 (DH has to dress, feed, and deliver the children to my mom's house ~ I hope he survives). It actually just struck me last night that I can work out in the mornings. I have been breastfeeding for so long that I forgot that it was my excuse for not going to the gym in the morning. It took me awhile to come to this conclusion, as I stopped about 3 months ago. Also, since DH works at a ski resort, he is under considerable less stress now that the season is over, and is actually working 8 hour days with weekends off (as opposed to 12 hour days weeks at a time with no days off). So I feel less guilty sticking him with the kids while he is getting ready for work.
I got 1 hour of cardio at the gym and even did 50 sit ups. I haven't even tried push-ups. Maybe I need to lose a little more first.
Breakfast: 12 oz nonfat latte (3)
Lunch: oat bran cereal with blueberries (3)
WEIGH IN IS TODAY!
AND.... I LOST 2.6 lbs, down to 185.8
Dinner: Hummus (4), Chicken (5), and salad (0)
WW meeting - then serious evening muncha, muncha
snack: garbanzo beans and cukes (2), oatbran and blueberries (4), kids cereal (3)
Good morning! My day is off to a pretty good start. Had insomnia last night. Was up past 12am. Not usually a problem. Except, I promised my now four year old that I would make him banana bread for his birthday breakfast. I did not get to it last night so I had to get up at 5:30 in order for it to be ready in time. UGH!! I normally don't get up until about 6:50. Anyhow....made the bread and cleaned up the kitchen from the entire weekend. We were so in and out of the house, that even dishes piled up. I was good while the other three in the family ate the yummy bread. I had my oatmeal. I finally got a banana bread recipe that I like about one month before I started WW. As a result, I have only had it twice. But I love it! So, it took real will power to eat oatmeal.
Morrigan, good for you for going to the gym. I have found that if I don't go in the am, I tend to not go. Or, I go in the afternoon and don't have as good of a workout. On the pushups.....the friend I work out with is very strong and muscular. She has always been able to do standard pushups with no problem at all. The trainer started me with my knees on the ground. After about two weeks of that (oh, and I had to get my chest down low) he had me do traditional (man) push ups. I could not go down very far. He said that did not matter. As time has gone by I have been able to go down farther and do more without stopping. I started off only doing about 10. Now I can do about 50 without stopping. Try it gradually. It is liberating. Hee hee hee.
Well, that being said I am off to the gym now. I will do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes with my trainer.
After my 3pt breakfast, it has gone down hill. I made chicken salad for lunch. Had to use regular mayo because I'm out of my lo cal stuff. I had a large sugar cookie with m&ms on it Could not say no for some reason today. The rest of the day may not be a problem since I am now not feeling well. Sick to my stomach. Bad reaction to sugar? I wish. Intestinal bug is going around. Always happens in the spring/summer. Hope that is not it but the thought of food right now makes me want to be sick. Will see how this evening goes. --Amy
I only had two light beers. That should be only 4 points. The chips.......well I think I may have eaten half a bag of tostitos gold corn chips. My dinner ran me about 15 (a guess). So my day was about 28 points not counting beer or chips. Tee hee hee. I don't care. Right back on tomorrow. I wanted to have a fun night with my friends and food. Now I can't get enough water down to counter act the salt from the chips. 