Post birthday wrap up

So I am staying strong at 151 lbs this week. After having a week of "I don't care what I eat because its my birthday," I was surprised I didn't gain.
I mean, I ate some pretty non-diety foods, and lots of it. But I guess there is still part of me that in the back of my mind is saying, "don't do that, don't eat that, don't eat ALL of that." Some of that must of come through. That or I just had a good "scale day." haha
Here's some of the lowdown on the foodies since last I updated.

 Yeah. So, this is soooo not on my diet. But it was free from Buffalo Wild Wings for my birthday. Sometimes you just gotta live a little, or just drool over the picture and not eat it. Luckily, I shared it- I couldn't eat it all.

 My birthday dinner at Bellissimo italian restaurant in Allentown. I was smart enough to only eat a portion of it and got the rest to go. Pesto Chicken pasta- yum!

 Great wine we tasted for my b-day dinner. Shared among 3 of us, so that wasn't too bad.

 My absolute favorite Healthy Choice steamer- pesto pasta with chicken. Can you tell I like pesto chicken?

 Homemade sloppie joe bowtie pasta. Hubs' favorite.

 The most amazing cupcakes known to man- Margarita cupcakes made by my co-worker for my b-day. So awesome!

And lastly, the Rita's in our area has officially opened. I celebrated their season opening with a sugar free mango-peach gelati with slenderita custard. Not bad on weight watchers points, actually.

Hopefully after our big party on Saturday I can get back on track. We've been strapped for cash, since all our spare $ is going to the party, that I haven't gotten a chance to make a good healthy grocery run. What is your go-to healthy food that isn't that expensive?
Happy weight loss!
-M

the Yo-yo of weight loss

So this week I lost 0.6 lbs. (when I hopped on the scale this morning, I lost another pound-but after the rest of the day, I doubt that "stayed," lol).

 (Yellow piggy bank says hello- I see his adorable yellow self every weigh in- as he sits on the shelf in our yellow bathroom where my scale is also, lol)

Right now my weight loss is so Yo-Yo. One week I do great, the next week I do horrible and gain back what I lost. Now, right now I'm hovering back and forth around my original goal weight. I'm having such a hard time getting past that weight. I guess that is ok, since technically it was my goal, but I still have that last 10-15 that would be my Ideal weight.
I don't know, maybe I'm just not ment to be that weight, unless I decide to do some major "working out."- which I HATE. But who knows, maybe next week will be different. lol

 I tried the Skinny Girl California White wine. Not bad, but a lot more dry than I enjoy.


This week my hubs and I tried the Weight Watchers pre-portioned chicken, and had it with rice in a ginger sauce. It was super fab and super low points. I must say, it was so nice to already know what the points were for the chicken and not have to weight it all out.

Other new things in weight loss land- discovered faux ice cream. Check out the recipe post over at my other blog here for the "Banana So-called ice cream."
It was tasty.

Also tried a new healthy Choice steamer dinner tonight, and I must say it was AWESOME! Who new that carrots, rice, chicken, pineapples and sauce would be so tasty?

I also aquired this lovely dress at the SalVal, while shopping for my dress for our 1980s Prom birthday bash. (I got that dress too, but I'm not showing it off till the actual party- don't want any spoilers!- as I say in my best River Song/Dr. Who voice)

I am planned to wear it to the banquet for the New Jersey Press Association Awards, where I scored a 2nd place in Business page design and a 3rd place in Illustration/Graphics. I might pair it with black shoes/jewelry and my black balero mini jacket, as I hate bare shoulders on me. lol

It has been so cold this month, I am looking forward to SPRING!!
Anyways, have a great weight loss week all!
-M

Back on the saddle and losing the pounds

yay! I'm down another 3.2 lbs this week, after restarting my weight loss program. I'm basically taking everything I've learned from Weight Watchers: track my points, count my points, exercise, etc. and tada! Weight loss. (I even had some leftover holiday cookies!)

 (No more cookies left in the house- thank heavens!)

I stuck to my 26 points plus (which is what roughly I should be at- I did 27 on some days, since I'm at the point that is between those two numbers) all but one day. Saturday- my day of doom. I would of been perfect if I didn't have buffalo chicken strips and Woodchuck cider, but alas, I was good the rest of the week and it paid off in the end. Best to have your bad day in the middle of the week, so you can work it off later in the week. haha

 (I know- bad bad...however I only ate a small portion of the fries and had my husband's carrots too!)

I only got a little bit of exercise, and it was today (walking with co-workers), so it technically didn't count to my weight in this morning, but I'm hoping I can get a little bit more of the walking exercise in this week. We'll see if the weather permits.

I happily had me some Tuna Rolls from Concerto Fusion (down the road from us). Super low points meal!

I enjoyed Indian Food from Indian Garden in Yardley, Pa. on Monday, and luckily ate well the rest of the day so I could enjoy Chicken Makhani. After having the Lean Cuisine version a few weeks ago, I've been craving Indian food ever since.

I've also found that frozen pineapple is a great zero point snack that has kept me saine in my weight loss reboot. I used to eat frozen mangoes like ice cream, so its nice to try another frozen fruit.

Other than that, been sticking to my variety of lean Cuisines, Smart Ones and Healthy Choice meals while at work. The pesto pasta from healthy Choice I tried this week- it was AMAZING! Delicious!

Lastly, my hubs and I have been in LOVE with our new SodaStream. They have a diet energy drink (tastes EXACTLY like Red Bull) and I love their diet Grapefruit (below). The diet soda is good too, sadly the Diet Dr. Pepper-type doesn't taste the best, but one out of all not good, is great for me.

Well, Happy weight loss all!
-M

Rocking the loss

So I lost another 2.4 lbs this week! Woot woot! That's one of my better losses for a week yet! :D
I tried out a few new dinners this week:

 (This one was fantastic, and only 4 points plus!)

(I guess I've been on a sweet potato kick, since both had sweet potatoes. But this one was also yummy and had great rosemary flavor. I have found the Healthy Choice steamers tend to have some of the better flavors.)

The hubs also made homemade pizza (even homemade the crust from scratch!) He has been on a baking kick- breads mostly, but decided to try his hand at pizza. It turned out quite good. Perfect crust. Was similar to the typical points of pizza (5 points plus a slice) because he didn't use my weight watchers cheese (I only had mexican grated WW cheese, not mozzarella). It was quite awesome.

I also have been (and will) volunteering at the Newtown Student Theatre Festival this week (Monday, Thursday, Friday). Thus far I've avoided the dreaded popcorn and candy...its been tough. This looks so yummy.

Other than my usual, I've gotten better at keeping my portion sizes down when at potlucks and such. I'm not nearly as good at figuring out the points by looking at the nutrition info like the hubs can, but at least I'm being better at smaller portions.
To leave you off for the week, here are my numbers for the week, from my dry erase board at home:

Happy weight loss!
-M

Another day, another loss

So I'm down another 1.6 lbs this week! yay! I sticked to my points pretty much every day except Sunday, so I'm glad I lost the same amount as last week. Here is my numbers:

If I keep up this loss each week, I'll get to my goal in no time, with plenty of time in my goal weight before my friend's wedding in Sept. I'm looking forward to Thursday- Phillies opening day, and hot dog/hamburger day here at my work. Luckily our wellness group at work brings in wheat buns and turkey hot dogs and burgers. :D

Among the happenings of the week, we got an ice cream cake for my hubs, to celebrate his birthday belated.

Also, basically everyone I know: at work, friends, family, etc. all entered the Mega Millions lottery. Sadly, this 100 grand fun size candy was the closest I got to winning money. lol. The fun size chocolate is 2.5 points plus!

I tried a few more different dinners, first this asian steamer from healthy choice. Not bad, actually really sweet- almost too sweet for my taste, but good. I did take out the mushrooms (not a fan of those), but other than that, not bad.

I also tried this mexican smart ones. Really good. Didn't look that good when I mixed it up, but the taste was pleasant.

Lastly, on Sunday I enjoyed some wine with friends. I then made the mistake of going to the bar with the hubs and our one friend, because supposably there was karaoke at the bar. By the time we got there, the karaoke was done, but I ended up getting some bahama bay breezes. Can I just say that wine, followed up with these drinks- they may seem fine at the time, but the next day- makes you feel like horrid!

Anyways, hopefully I can keep this up. So far so good!
:D
-M

Blargh!

Blargh! So this week I officially switched my points to 29 from 30 daily points. I guess my body didn't like that and I only lost 0.2 lbs! That by far has been my worst lost yet. It kind of made me what to cry and beat up my scale all at the same time. I did hit the 33 lbs down total mark, I just wished it was closer to 34 instead. Part of it was hard figuring out the points for my dinner at this one restaurant that we went out with some friends with over the weekend.

 (my Key-lime martini- my one splurge of the weekend)

Over the weekend I cleaned out my closet- purged a lot of clothes that either don't fit, I don't like anymore, etc. I separated my clothes into a few piles: Clothes too big, too small, donating to Goodwill, trying to sell on eBay, and then in the closet goes those that fit. :D Here's the cleaned up closet.

Another thing I have been testing out this past 2 weeks is to try some new dinners. I tried the Healthy Choice Beef Merlot steamer- SUPER AWESOME! I totally would suggest it.

I also tried the Chicken Basil in Cream Sauce with Tortellini by Lean Cuisine, also another fab. dinner. What a big change between the classic Lean Cuisine and these new Chef specials. I tried their Ranchero Beef with Sweet Potato mashed potatoes- wasn't bad tasting, just wasn't big enough to justify 6 points. I think I'll stick with the Chicken Basil.

I am only 4 lean cuisine's away from getting a free lunch box! yay! I love their rewards program. I just have to have them in by March 31st, and then I get a new lunch box. Hooray!

Today I also got my first package from my secret sister weight loss swap- super cute! I got a whole red themed package of crafting goodies and an adorable strawberry card and the most awesomeness of snacks- Skinny Cow chocolate caramel clusters- only 2 points plus a pack! Super amazing and so worth it!

Well, hopefully this week goes better. Already, it has been better with me exercising a bit more (beautiful weather and all) and so far sticking closer to my points. I'm looking forward to my dessert tonight of a Weight Watchers Ice Cream bar. Can't wait.

*crossing fingers* for a good weight loss week.
-M