I am exhausted when I come home, for the last couple of weeks ive been working 50 to 60 hours and then I come home to all the daily tasks including 3 kids, I dont know what I would do if it wasnt for all the things my DH does around here.

Well, tonight should be an interesting test: a friend is throwing his annual birthday dinner at a swanky restaurant -- the place is so upscale that they do not provide prices, much less dietary info! So I'm going to have to do the eyeball-portion-control method. And NO bread! Luckily most of the fancy places around here serve those "elf portions" so I'm probably okay there, but I'm worried about all the hidden calories (like stuff cooked IN butter, etc.). All day I've been eating 0 point food to prepare! Is that what we're supposed to do?

I try to adjust during the day, if I'm going to eat out, like leave the cheese off my sandwich or eat my puffed wheat cereal by itself (I usually mix it with a higher pt. type of cereal) to shave off a couple pts. but I would never make it on 0. Now that I'm in my mid 40s I have a hard time restricting myself

You don't want to go in too hungry, so be careful of that. I've read a few times about eating an apple or drinking a glass of water before a meal. Maybe eating an apple before you leave the house? I always order water with my meal, too. Even if I get a soft drink, I'll order water as well.

Some people say they divide their meal in half right at the beginning, too. If you chat alot you'll eat less, too. Whatever you get, enjoy it, don't feel guilty and get back OP next meal.

Drink an extra glass of water tomorrow, too.

Thanks for the great advice! That apple idea is awesome -- I'm going to pop one into my purse and eat it on the way. Luckily I love veggies, so today hasn't been too hard, and getting to have a little wine tonight will be a nice treat/reward!

So how'd you do, Lizzie? Did you eat anything absolutely delicious? Though fancy upscale restaurants are pretty much terrible for weight loss, they do make some fantastic food. If you're going to eat out, might as well be GOOD food, not the greasy chain type stuff.

I think I did pretty well because I did wake up hungry today!

I had a hot salad (very interesting -- seared greens with shaved beef) which I nearly filled-up on, prime rib (I ate 1/3), some delicious little beans (ate about 2 tablespoons), and exactly one bite of chocolate cake. My downfall was probably the wine -- hard to gauge, as they just kept pouring it before the glass was empty, but no hangover today, so it had to be fewer than 5 glasses total. Plus 3 servings of water, and one cup of decaf coffee with cream (a real treat -- I never use cream at home). It's hard to figure the points, because I'm certain there were hidden no-nos everywhere (I don't know how the salad was dressed, and was that meat cooked in butter?). I'm going to guess on the high side and say 6 for the salad, 6 for the steak, 4 for the beans, 2 for the cake, 10 for the wine, 1 for the cream. That's 29 for the meal, and my daily alloted is 23...so, not too bad!

And back OP today I go!

It sounds like you did great, LizzieW! The most important thing, I think, is that you paid attention, that you kept control, and you made smart choices. That's what it's all about, right?

I have a weird issue that might get things thrown at me -- some days, I have a problem using all of my points. I mean, I end up with 6 or 7 points left at the end of some days. Yesterday, I had a bowl of sugar-free, low fat ice cream just to bring it up to a reasonable level. The big problem is, I've REALLY hiked my veggie and fruit intake, and a lot of those foods are 0 or 1 points per serving.

Now... I'm still on 32 points a day, and I know as the weight drops off my daily target is going to go down, so I'm hesitant to force myself to eat all those extra points only to have to cut them out again in a few weeks. I'm not starving myself -- I'm more than satisfied with what I'm eating, but the plan says to use all your points every day. What do you guys think? Should I force myself to eat more, or should I let it go?

I just had a wicked deja vu. I think I might have asked this question before. LOL.

It does sound like you really took care of yourself at that dinner, Lizzie. Congrats!

hafowler -- EAT your points!! I know it may seem like it'd be easier not to, but really, if you let your body eat them all now, you'll actually have somewhere to go when you drop your points. Say you get 25/day, but you find you only want to eat 20. What will you do when you stop losing on 20/day? You'll have to go down to 19 or 18... and what can you cut out when you were eating just enough to satisfy you before?

I used to have a similar problem, but I've learned how to work with it -- an ounce of almonds (23 nuts) has 4 points, tons of health benefits, good fat, and, well, 4 points. It won't make you full and it's a good crunchy snack. Also I will take some of the fat-free products out of my diet and replace them with low-fat versions to up the points (things like milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese). That helps too, and you're not actually getting any new volume, just choosing higher-point (but still healthy) options.

I went to Panera last night for dinner... Not my preferred course of action, but I needed to continue working on this project and I needed someplace with WI-FI, and my friend suggested we get dinner. So I diligently looked at nutritional values online and figured out what I could have before I went. I picked a couple of moderately high-point foods because I felt I'd be more satisfied with them, and they'd only put me over by 2 or 3 points into my Flex. So I ordered 1/2 a portobello and mozzarella sandwich (envisioning this glorious, beautiful chunk of portobello mushroom topped with a shred of mozza and maybe some kind of italian seasoning... mmm....) and a bowl of french onion soup with the cheese and croutons (remembering the best french onion soup I've ever had, somehow thinking it'd be the same).

And.......... it sucked. All of it.

The sandwich was little pieces of mushroom in a TON of cheese, and they messed up my order by putting the soup in a bread bowl, which then made the soup more like soggy bread than soup. I was very disappointed in it all. I still ate it..... god knows why.... even though I didn't enjoy it and it was costing me 14 points.

I dunno, I guess I'm starting to have high expectations for restaurant food... Because I know I could have had a better dinner than that at home. Someone tell me why I spent $9 on food I didn't like? That wasn't healthy? Does this happen to anyone else?


How is everybody doing? It's been awfully quiet in this thread lately. Hope everyone's week has been OP so far

Any plans for the Super Bowl? Anybody?

Suite--sorry you had such a bad experience with Panera. it is very dissapointing when you learn to cook such healthy OP foods at home and go out and its yuck!! I personally would have taken the soup back if you specifically asked for a bowl rather than bread. That is one thing I have learned and have probably had my food spit in once or twice because of But you have to ask for what you want and send it back if it is not what you want. I fell horrible wasting points on somethign I didn't order and didn't like

Hope your next dining out experience is much better.

As far as the Super Bowl, I am making a big pot of WW Bar B Que Chicken Chili and having some friends over to watch the game. Looking forward to the chili, it's been a while since I have had it.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Ooh, BBQ Chicken Chili sounds amazing. Is the recipe for that on this forum? I wasn't able to find it.

I got it from a WW cookbook. Here is the recipe. I double it and put it in my crockpot--it is Yum-O!!

1 lb. Ground chicken breast
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 (15 1/2 oz) cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 1/2 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (12 oz) bottle chili sauce
1 (4 1/2 oz) can chopped green chiles
1/4 c chili powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cumin

(I add in some liquid smoke also, just a bit to give it a smokey flavor)


Put chicken, pepper, onion and garlic into crock pot. Stir with fork to blend. Add the kidney and pinto beans, and everything else into crock pot, stir well, cover and cook 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.

This recipe makes 8 servings at 5 points each.

Per Serving (1 1/4c): 280 calories, 3g fat, 10g fiber.

You can also mix everything together the night before and refridgerate then just put the insert in the crockpot and turn on in the morning.

Enjoy!!

How do I get the ticker???

Thanks! It sounds delicious! Might have to make a trip to the store and get some of the ingredients just to try it out! I don't have a crockpot, so how long do you figure it would take to cook on the stove? Seeing as I'm just one person, that would make more than enough to freeze and enjoy on cold days... yummy... thanks so much for sharing!

ToulaWW, you have to have 30 posts in order to access your signature through your user CP, then you can have a ticker I just got mine back yesterday (the 30 post rule was just recently implemented) since I didn't have 30 posts myself!

[QUOTE=freedomreins;2026732]Thanks! It sounds delicious! Might have to make a trip to the store and get some of the ingredients just to try it out! I don't have a crockpot, so how long do you figure it would take to cook on the stove? Seeing as I'm just one person, that would make more than enough to freeze and enjoy on cold days... yummy... thanks so much for sharing!

I would think just long enough that the chicken is done and the flavors are incorporated. Also they onions and peppers should not be crunchy. But as long as the chicken is done, it should be ok, everything else is already cooked.