Rollercoaster... of weight loss

(...As I sing the title to this post like the "Rollercoaster of Love" song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers). lol

So Last week I gained, this week I lost. So overall, pretty close to what it was a few weeks ago. Ugh. Goes to show you that I gotta keep up with things- Part of it was with the yummy food from an awards banquet for work (below). I just ADORE the way they made a "ring" out of the squash.

 Look what book I just got! Woo! Can't wait to try things from it.

Did a lot of yardwork, weeding, etc. Oh, exercise...

This past weekend I auditioned for a show, so I got a little more dancing exercise than I normally do. haha. I auditioned for Grease, so I was attempting to channel my inner teenager (below).

I thought I did a pretty good job at it, however I don't look as young as the 14-year-old boys that got cast as the Burger Palace Boys (T-birds), so I'll be playing the teacher. Supposably they want Ms. Lynch to be more in her 40s for this version of Grease. To be completely honest, I was kind of mortified when they first offered it to me (the hubs got cast as Eugene, mind you) but after finding out that pretty much the entire main characters are all 14-18, little 27-year-old me just doesn't fit in as a student. (sad panda face). But alas, I am an actress- I will make the best of any role given to me.
So I'll be playing a pretty British Chick in "Odd Couple" in June, then prudish English Teacher in "Grease" in August. Crazy how theater can be so out there, as far as roles.

I've also been on a huge "sweet salad" kick- Salad greens with Raspberry Walnut dressing, Dried Cranberries and Feta. YUM- and only 4 points (because the cranberries are sweetened- would be 1 point less if it wasn't for that).

So Red Robin's Turkey burger is 19 points plus. After a full hour of Zumba, I was starving, and I really wanted a burger- sadly, this is actually one of the lower points sandwiches. Luckily, I subbed out the fries for a fruit salad, had the 10 calorie iced tea and used some of those Zumba/exercise points to enjoy the Turkey burger. It doesn't look super great in photos, but it is quite tasty.

Anyways, I hope to keep up with things, and stop yo-yoing.

(Diet Grapefruit soda at friend's bonfire!)

I want to keep on the down-low!
Happy weight loss!
-m

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

Enjoying the good things in life, and still losing weight

So I am down another 1.8 lbs this week- grand total of 27.4 lbs since I started Weight Watchers. :D
Today my pants and shirt are loose- haven't really noticed the clothing difference except for the pants. Some things I learned this past week:

Pepperidge Farm Light Style soft wheat (says 45 calories per slice on the front) is an amazing alternative to the Weight Watchers wheat bread (I couldn't find it at my local grocery store, but found the Pepperidge farm one and it tastes just as good and is only 1 points plus a slice!)

It is always so hard to go out to eat and be healthy. My favorite soup in the world is Chili's Chicken enchilada soup. So when the hubs suggested we go get some lunch on Monday (my last day before my weigh in on Tuesday mornings) I knew I HAD to have the soup and salad combo. Now, chili's has great chips and salsa as well. Luckily I had a light breakfast, and hadn't touched my weekly points at all this week. So I kind of splurged and had an extra cup of soup at the end of the meal, because I think that soup is THAT good. So this is what I got at Chili's:

• 1/4 of Chips and salsa (they said the entire basket and salsa is 27 points plus): 6.75 pp
• 1 bowl of Chicken enchilada soup: 11pp
• 1 salad with low fat ranch on the side (just for dipping), no tomatoes and I ate only 1/2 the croutons: I said it was only a 2 pp salad because I didn't use all the dressing and didn't eat all the croutons. It might of even been only a 1 pp salad, but better to over shoot.
• then finished with 1 additional cup of chicken enchilada soup: 5pp

Total meal (with a large glass of water): 24.75 (25) points plus
(it could of been a LOT worse, but that soup was killer- if I had used some of my weekly points, I would of skipped the chips and the extra cup of soup, but I was good all week, so I couldn't pass it up)

So overall, a very large meal- very filling too, but I didn't have much for breakfast and had a very light dinner, so it all worked out. We didn't do any entertaining or go out really all week (except Chipotle- which at this point, we are such regulars, I get the same thing every time). Later I'll upload my own photos of the soup and chips, but for now, you get this filler photo above. hehe

So, I also plan on creating this awesomely cute idea I picked up from Pintrest (which in turn is actually from this site: http://hotmessprincess.com/2012/01/the-motivational-marbles-project/

When I make my own, I'll photograph it and add it up here too. :D

Gotta keep on trucking along. I'm less than 4 lbs away from my midway point. Can't wait till I hit those 30 lbs mark!

Happy weight loss!

-M