Even out...

Ok. So this week still wasn't my best week, I enjoyed a wine tasting the day before Memorial Day. However I tried my darnest to do well every single other day except the wine tasting. This paid off with me losing 0.4 lbs (the exact amount I gained last week). I am determined to do even better this week, being the last full week I have before I start practice for the show I got cast in. (I'm still in disbelief of that fact).
Here's some happenings this week in weight-loss land.

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(The hubs made this lovely avacado ranch dip after I was raving over it from TexMex. It's 1 points plus for 2 tablespoons!)

(Last Wednesday we celebrated our one newspaper I work for winning Best in the State. I however was good and bypassed having a piece of this lovely cake. I instead enjoyed the free salad and sandwiches.)

(What a rarity- I had taco bell for dinner. I only had 2 soft tacos (10 points plus for 2 soft beef tacos) but getting off of work and after grocery shopping late at night, I didn't feel like cooking)

(My first glass of wine at my friend's Wine tasting. It was some white wine of some sort)

(This is my "I'm bad" cheesecake. I was good with everything else, but I REALLY wanted a piece of this)

 (On Memorial Day, we used a Groupon to go mini golfing with two of our friends before I had to work night shift. It was super fun, but super hot outside.)

(Here is the lunch I had at Ruby Tuesday's. I even avoided the dreaded cheese garlic biscuits they give out. This was actually a very healthy dinner. I've become obsessed with roasted zucchini!)

 (My numbers for this week)

(Here is 3 pictures all from the Holiday dinner at my husband's work- Top picture is 2009, middle 2010, and bottom 2011. Can you tell the gains and losses going on here?)

(lastly, here is my new drink of choice if I'm going to have a soda. Yummy!)

Overall, not the best, but not the worst week. I hope to rock this coming week, as I have no major parties or get together to bog my weight loss down. *fingers crossed* We are also hoping that the housing situation all goes smoothly this week as well. *double fingers crossed*

-M

blargh!

So today was my very first weigh in since I started Weight Watchers that I gained weight: 0.4 lbs gained to be exact. I knew it was going to happen too. I tried to be good, but his week was filled with parties, eating out, and all around bad bad bad. To be honest, I was surprised it wasn't more, but I guess the exercise and the little bit of healthy foods I threw in when I could made it ok. This is why I CANNOT have more than one day a week where I don't track. *sigh*
Any other week I would be way more bummed about my gain, but this week was a pretty awesome week overall in life-wise stuff, so it outweighs the gain.

Among the big stuff, I got cast as Marian the Librarian in the Newtown Arts Company's "The Music Man." I am SUPER excited over this, as it is the first time that I've been THE FEMALE LEAD in a show. I've been the secondary female lead in a bunch, but never the leading female. It really was a boost to my confidence. I also hung out with a bunch of cool people throughout the week and enjoyed being a part of a surprise party for one of my theater friends for his 30th bday. (we made a "beer" cake for him- no food- just beer cans)

Another big deal weight wise, I was officially able to get my wedding band and engagement ring off my fingers. This may seem like a minor thing that shouldn't be such a woo moment, but I had been struggling to get my engagement ring off my right hand (I normally wear my band on the left and engagement ring on the right, because we haven't gotten them fixed/fused together after the jeweler went out of business before he could do it). So, here is my two rings sitting on one hand after I could get them off (because I can't photograph both hands at the same time on my own). Basically I was driving home from work on Saturday and was rotating my ring at a stop sign. It came off and I looked down in shock- did that just happen? I quickly moved it to my "skinny" hand and was super excited to tell what happened to my hubs. Sadly he was asleep when I got home from working night shift, so I had to tell him in the morning- kind of lost its "woo" by then, but still was a great moment.

Here's a few other things this week:

 (diet wild cherry pepsi- the only way to get through the day, and the only diet soda I really like)

 (snack time- apples!)

 (part of my chicken meal at UNOs out with friends. Roasted vegs and rosemary chicken. I gave the breadstick away (6 pp for that alone, so I gave it away) I also had a salad with their no-fat vinegrette)

(this is one of the reasons I probably gained this week- margaritas. The hubs and I had TexMex last tuesday, so I didn't start the week off well.)

So, as much as the weigh-in was not what I wanted, I knew I was bad, so therefore this week I MUST do better. Gotta keep it up if I want to be the best Leading Lady in The Music Man this August and look fab in my bridesmaid dress for my friends wedding.
Gotta keep with it!
-M

Trucking along...

Down another 1.6 lbs this week. So that makes me down 47.4 lbs since October. I'm nearing the 50 lbs mark!

Here's my numbers:

Other than the usual, I tried my hardest to not use any weekly points (only my exercise), since I still haven't dropped my daily points yet- I can't bring myself to do it.
Though on a happy note, I am able to get into most size 12 jeans- got two pair at the SalVal during the week, so I don't spend a fortune on clothes I'm going to grow out of.
Also, my friend's sister (another bridemaid in her wedding) got the wrong size and needed bigger, so we hoped we could swap dresses since mine was way too big- sure enough, hers fits like a glove (might need a tiny bit taken out at the top, since I'm top heavy compared to her) but overall, the waist portion fits beautiful- still need it shortened though. It made me super happy to try that one and see what the dress is supposed to look like, instead of swimming in the dress everytime.
Speaking of swimming, it is starting to be summertime, so I'm going to try on my swimsuits tonight and see if they look better, or if I have to get a new one. who knows...I hate swimsuits, so hopefully it goes alright.
Happy weight loss all. I'll leave you with a picture from my photo a day project- the prompt was, "Something that makes you happy" which for me is big sunglasses and pearls. :D

later all.
-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

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

More pounds bite the dust

So this weekly weigh in I lost another 1.8 lbs, making my grand total loss at 42.4 lbs since October 2011. I still have a little under 20 lbs left till my goal, but it is nice to be under 170 now. I think I now can go down another weekly point, but I might wait till next week to drop it down to 28 weekly points from my 29. Here is a site that you can calculate out your weekly points plus: http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/points-plus-allowance.html
 (this is what I've been using since I can't afford the only weight watchers currently.)

This week I was fairly good all week, which made up for the fact that Sunday I didn't count my points- a friend had a get-together with theater friends, and everything was bitesized- so hard to figure it all out. I was good- had lots of fruits and vegs, and only splurged on one cookie and the smallest sliver of apple pie. Since I was pretty full on fruits and vegs, I didn't eat anything later that night, so I think even if I did go over by a few points, because I was so good the rest of the day, it worked out.
Now some of my friends and family have asked me to do a before and after. Even though I haven't hit my goal yet, I thought I'd take a "mid" point- at my current weight. Here is my before and after (I did two, since I couldn't decide which shots showed it better).

 As far as the week of good eating, I got to use my new Lean Cuisine lunch bag a lot- I find it is super cute, and I love it- especially because it was free!

Other than that, didn't try anything really new, just still enjoying skinny cow chocolate clusters as a splurge candy and finding diet cherry pepsi to be my only saving grace when I need some caffeine. I did get a lovely package from my weight loss secret sister, so that made my week too!

Oh, and I found out my previous post about Rita's was slightly off- turns out I was looking at the original weight watchers points, not points plus. But, since I love rita's, I found this great nutrition facts about all their sugar-free and slenderita products, so you can punch them into your calculator. I LOVE the sugar-free chocolate water ice, and I'm pretty sure a regular size is only 4 points plus!
Here is the site: http://www.ritasice.com/uploads/documents/Ritas_Light_Line_Nutrition_Facts_Information_12.30.08.pdf

Keep up the weight loss if you're trying, and if you're not, stay healthy!
-M

oh poo!

Oh poo! Only lost 0.2 lbs this week. I blame my vacation- it was SO hard to track my points while away and eating hotel fancy food. I tried my best, and only tried eating what exercise points I racked up, but I didn't walk as much this week, so that might be part of it.
Over the weekend I went to a Scrapbooking Crop with my mom, who came to visit Wednesday and left today. When my mom comes to visit, it is hard to stay healthy, as we then go out to eat a lot. Luckily, she just made lifetime in Weight Watchers, so we both track what we eat. I shouldn't complain too much, it is a loss, even if it is small. I'll have to try harder this week.
I also stopped by the one Weight Watchers in the mall by my house with my mom on Thursday, where she picked up some snacks for our trip out to the Crop. We also picked up some Skinny Cow clusters and stocked up on lean cuisines and Smart ones for my freezer from Target- they had a sale on Smart Ones!

I also was extremely tired and bloated all week, so that adds to it (my pretty pillows at the hotel).
*crossing fingers* for a better week. (I plan to weigh in again later tonight and tomorrow morning, just in case it was a fluke of the morning blahs. haha)
-M