Traveling is the most difficult thing to do while on a diet

So I finally got to go to the Craft and Hobby Association Conference in Chicago (semi-vacation). However, let me tell you. That was the roughest I've ever had thus far on this diet- all the food at the airport was either A) bad for you  or B) expensive  or C) both.  Then while at the conference, their food was the same way. I think I ate soup and salads 90% of the time! My mom and I (she is also on Weight Watchers) actually walked to the Aldi's down the street from our hotel JUST so we could pick up some fruit, jello, and fruit frozen bars- so we would have at least SOMETHING on our diet.

 (I drank water the entire trip- except one time I did get a margarita, but other than that, water with lemon please!)

 (3 bean soup. It was good, but after having soup and/or salad all trip, I was glad to get some more sustenance by the end of it).

 (Somehow managed to enjoy vegs and chicken (stuffed with spinach and feta))

By the 4th day of my trip, I was so tired of salads that I broke down and ate pesto tortellini with chicken in cream sauce at this italian restaurant that we got invited to go to with 2 ladies we met while at the conference (they were so sweet to take us! They don't know how much it ment to us). It was so delicious, I didn't care how many weekly points I was wasting on that dish, because it was so good.

 (most amazing pesto pasta!)

Surprisingly enough, when I got home, I weighed in on Friday (my weigh ins are normally on Tuesdays, so I was a few days late) and I had only gained 0.4 lbs. *phew* I'll take less than a 1/2 a pound gained during my trip. I can deal with that. I was fearing it would be worse. Since I dropped down to 26 points plus, I've had such a difficult time having just that- I usually can eat and feel full at 28 points plus. I guess that means I gotta do some more exercise.

(Lunch today: quiche and soup.)

(Co-worker gave me HUGE zucchini from his garden- time to make some yummy foods from it!)

 Hopefully I'll be getting plenty of exercise with practices for our show ramping up in full speed. We open August 9th, so we are dancing pretty much every practice now. (and boy do my calves feel it after dancing in character shoes all day). Here is the promo for the musical. I'm Marian the Librarian (pink top, black skirt).

Stay tuned for another promo (featuring just me singing a part of "Goodnight my Someone". Hopefully this show keeps me in check by exercise, since packing lunches/dinners is very hard with the theater group- we all like to go out to eat after practices and shows. *crossing fingers* for a better week. However I already was bad today- tortellini got me again! Eek!

 (bad bad bad)

Here's to hoping I have a better weight loss week.
later.
-M

Banana muffins and margaritas

So I lost another pound this week. To be honest, this reallllllyyyyy surprised me! I had the hardest time tracking things and was pretty lax over the weekend, so getting on the scale this morning and seeing I had lost a pound was such a relief.
My hubs was in super-bake mode: banana muffins (similar to his banana bread) and more homemade pizza. Check out these beauties:

Now these are 4 weight watchers points plus each, but so yummy they are worth it.

I also was in a creating mood on Saturday and made 4 cake stands, 1 small cupcake/cake stand to go with my cheese dome, started repainting an old rack thing, and added a stand to my headband holder. Here's the mini cake/cupcake stand with my cheese dome on top. I think it turned out adorable!

Other than that, I tried out this chicken enchilada Smart One. Looks horrid, but pretty darn good, spicy, but good.

I also picked up a bunch of things from the Amish market by my work- had Botti Boi (chicken pot pie noodles) for dinner at work, then had corn on the cob with chicken croquettes and pasta salad, ALL from the Amish market. Was great to have something different for a change. We still have some of the corn left, but I'm sure we'll have that soon enough.

The biggest thing that surprised me, was that I had some margaritas on Sunday night with the hubs and a friend after seeing the Avengers. I was sure that those drinks were going to screw me all up in the loss department.

Another interesting thing was that yesterday I went to a tailor to get a quote for how much it was going to cost to fix my bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding. So far, he's going to have to take it in 2 inches from each side (or if you fold it in the back, bunch it in a little more than 2 inches) besides shortening it. As much as it sucks I'm going to have to pay to get the dress altered (it was purchased in December, and the wedding isn't until September), it also feels good to be smaller.

Anyways, crossing fingers for good losses each week. Now I'm down 45.8 lbs! Woo! Goal weight, here I come!
Happy losses!
-M

Another milestone

So today I lost another 1.4 lbs this week. That means I have lost 40.4 lbs since I started my weight loss plan in October. I am 1.25 lbs away from having lost 5 gallons of water worth of weight (hopefully will achieve that next week). Yeah, you read it right. See what I mean:

Crazy right?
Anyways, some weekly updates on the food front.
We had hot dogs and peanuts at work last Thursday to celebrate the start of baseball season. I decided to try one of the veggie dogs they had. Was only 2points plus for the dog and 3 points plus for the bun (they didn't have any wheat buns- poo). To be honest, I really thought the veggie dog tasted gross- bland, boring, and kind of rubbery. Not worth it. Luckily there was peanuts galore, and you can have 8 peanuts for single points plus.

 Didn't try any new frozen dinners this week. Sticking with my usual favorites that often have rice with them. :D

Our local Bottom Dollar had Banana twin pops! I haven't had these since I was a little kid. Always kind of reminded me of the banana runts but sweeter. I think if they banana Runts would of tasted like twin pops, I would of actually liked eatting them as a kid. haha. Anyways, these babies are only 1 points plus! Heck yeah, a bag went home with us. hehe

 The hubs tried out making what I call "Manly potatoes." Basically roasted potatoes, corn, and beef that was marinade in A1 sauce, with lots of spices. Certainly had a kick, and was pretty good tasting. One bowl (or 1/4 of a casserole dish that he made) was 11 points. Not horrible, and was quite filling with one bowl. Next time I'm going to suggest he uses slightly less salt (I can't handle salty things much anymore since I basically stopped putting it on things) and use more than just a 1 lb of meat in the whole casserole- needed a little something more than just potatoes. But overall it was tasty, and I'd have it again. To think, it all started because he wanted Shepard's Pie, and I wanted roasted potatoes.

Being Easter over the weeken, we decided to dye some hardboiled eggs.
I tried the rubber band method. Sadly, they didn't work nearly as nice, partially due to us not having vinegar to make the dye really nice.

But, the eggs are a good thing to snack on with some pepper on them. I like the egg whites, but don't like hard-boiled yokes. I can have 3 egg whites before I even dip into a single points plus!

So, I'll just have to keep on trucking along. This past week I didn't use any of my weekly points, but did use up some exercise points. I even splurged yesterday and had a Dorito Taco from Taco Bell (*gasp*) Surprisingly enough, hard tacos are only 4 points each, where soft are 5!
I also looked through a pile of photos I am looking to scrapbook this weekend while on a Scrapbook retreat/crop for Autism, and noticed for the first time since I started loosing weigh, how big I really was. I guess I never really noticed I had gotten that bad, but I look at photos of me during the summer and boy was it not pretty. Makes me cringe just looking at those photos. I guess I'm going to have to crop a bunch so they don't show my weight. haha
Anyways, *crossing fingers* for more losses!
-M

eeek...cookies...but yay on weight loss

So today I lost another 2.2 lbs, making my grand total of loss since joining weight watchers at 24.8 lbs down! hooray! And with this, I celebrate with...girl scout cookies?!
Not really, but there was the dreaded but delectable cookies in the office today. With that, I thought I'd look up the points plus for all the different kinds of girl scout cookies. Check it out:

Girl Scout Cookies:

• Caramel deLites (Samoas): 2 cookies = 4 points plus 
• Peanut Butter patties (Do-si-dos): 2 cookies = 4 points plus 
• Peanut butter sandwich (Tagalongs): 3 cookies = 5 points plus
• Shortbread (Trefoils): 4 cookies = 3 points plus
• Thin mints: 4 cookies = (4 points plus from ABC bakers/5 points plus for Little brownie bakers)
• Savannah Smiles: 5 cookies = 4 points plus
• Thank U Berry Munch: 2 cookies = 3 points plus
• Lemonades: 2 cookies = 4 points plus
• Dulce de Leche: 4 cookies = 4 points plus
• Thanks-A-Lot: 2 cookies = 4 points plus
• Shout Outs!: 4 cookies = 3 points plus

Best bang for your points:

• Shortbread (trefoils)
• Shout Outs!
• Savannah smiles

(I found this info at:  http://www.justdietnow.com/girl-scout-cookies.html )

So I snarfed down 2 peanut butter patties, and jotted down the dreaded 4 points of those two cookies, and now must re-arrange my dinner around it. haha
I guess I'll just have to eat a small dinner with lots of fruits tonight!
Happy weight loss everyone and *crossing fingers* for a good week again.
-M