good weekend, bad sunday...

Okay, so we got back from our weekend today and I totally made a pig out of myself. I did relatively good while we were away. Maybe that's why I went overboard today. I had real scrambled eggs (no egg beaters) with real cheese and hash browns with real cheese and a bagel with real cream cheese (is anyone catching the fact that I miss real cheese?). And as if that weren't bad enough, tonight I had a double cheese burger and fries from Steak N Shake.

Well, I think I've gotten it out of my system, though. All I want to do now is go for a run. Get it out of my system. It's too late tonight, but I've definitely going tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

I don't even want to attempt at tracking the points I ate today. And I was so good this weekend, too.

We had so much fun, hubby and me. We went to a remote control airplane show a couple of hours away. It was an international competition. People came from UK, Australia and even one guy from Taiwan. Their planes are just awesome. They're usually 1/5, 1/4 and 1/3 scale planes. They have certain maneuvers they have to accomplish and they're graded on them by the judges. And at the end, they give awards and trophies. It's pretty serious stuff.

The "half time" shows (during lunch break) were the best. There were stunt plans doing all kinds of acrobatics and just some really cool looking planes.

Was way too hot, but we still had a blast.

The best part was just getting away with my hubby.

How was your weekend?

overcoming ghosts from my past...

There's a lady I work with who had knee surgery and as a result is going to be out of work for a while recuperating. She can't put any pressure whatsoever on her knee for two weeks. Complete bed rest. So a bunch of us at work got together and decided to cook her meals for her for these two weeks. We each took two days and one person is taking the meals to her each afternoon.

So the story starts out pretty nice, right...

Well, so I decided to make her a casserole. Actually, it was an excuse to make one of my favorite foods on this planet... Connecticut Beef Supper, a yummy casserole from Betty Crocker in the early 70's.

I haven't been able to make it over the years because my family doesn't like mushrooms. (Pic to right is from the recipe card.)


Tender beef stew meat with onions are on the bottom, on top of that are sliced potatoes, covering it all is a mixture of sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, and milk, so it drips down over the potatoes, beef and onions, and topped with shredded cheddar cheese. It's the yummiest thing I could possibly think of.

Well, because she's only one person, I made a half casserole for her. The problem with that statement is that I made a full casserole from the ingredients and put it into two half casserole dishes to bake separately. One for her and one for...

So I figured I'd have a small portion and throw the rest of it away. But I thought, what a waste of food. So I decided to give it to the only person I know of who's not on a diet, my father-in-law. But I could never make it out to his house.

So last night I pulled it out to toss it because it's almost a week old in the fridge. I open it up and smelled it and it still smells fresh. So what do I do? Yup, I fix myself a 2" square portion. Tiny little thing. Tiny little piece of heaven!

Oh my gosh! It was better than I had remembered it! "Hello Old Friend!"

Now came the problem. How on God's green Earth was I going to be able to toss it?? Not now,. Not after I've tasted it. If ever there was a "red light food", this is it!!

I did the smart thing, well the only thing I could think of, and put it back in the fridge and ate something healthy to get that wonderful taste out of my mouth. It worked. I didn't want any more of it.

Well... that night.

But it was still in my fridge.

What was I going to do??

How was I going to be able to throw it away??

So today at lunch time, I broke down and had another serving. This has got to be one of the all time lowest points in my life since I started WW a year ago. This serving was about twice (okay, a little more than twice) the size of the last one. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! I can't believe I did that!!!

But here comes the redeeming part of this story. As soon as I was done eating it, I threw the rest of the casserole in the trash.

Yup! I have conquered Mount Connecticut-Beef-Supper! And now it's gone! Leveled it flat. Blew it up like... well, you get the picture.

I will not be making Connecticut Beef Supper EVER again! I think it's something like 15 points per serving. I'm sure I could make it with reduced fat and fat free stuff, but it would not taste the same and some things just shouldn't be messed with. This is one of them.

I'm over it now, though. But I did sniff, sniff (tears) a little bit when I went to throw something away this evening and saw it sitting on the top of the trash.

Gone, behind me, though. Onward and upward!


P.S. I won't be blogging this weekend. Not to fret, I'll be back at it on Monday.

walking, running and dogs...

Had a great walk this morning. There are normally 4 of us that walk, but one is out of town and one "called in sick" so it was just the two of us. The two who started first together. Was nice. Though I did miss the other two.

We tried doing more of the c25k. This was her first try at it, though she's a little more in shape than I am and weighs about 40 pounds lighter than I do, so it wasn't that bad for her the first time like it was for me. Still, we just did 4 sets of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking.

I think I'll do it again Friday morning and just keep it to 4 sets. It ends up being a total of 4 minutes running and 6 minutes walking. Sounds so measly when I say it like that. But in the grander scheme of things, 4 minutes is HUGE.

I'm not afraid to run any more. I was totally relaxed this morning and felt great at the end of every run. I'm sure I could do all 8 sets. But I don't want to push it. The last thing I want to do is burn out on this or go to fast that I get hurt or start hating it.

I had an okay day yesterday. Work is going smoothly. I had Cracker Barrel for lunch (egg beaters, turkey sausage and bran muffin - I know, for lunch, right?) and then a roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. Was probably too much food. No, i know it was too much food. But at least it was high in protein and fiber. I was up a half a pound from yesterday morning, but I'm not worried about it.

I gotta tell you a funny story about my puppies. I have two pups, a Chihuahua and a Lab/Sheppard mix. The little one is about 9 lbs and the big one is about 90 lbs. Big dog LOVES to eat little dog's food so we have to keep it up and little guy can only eat when one of us is in the room guarding him. So yesterday I was siting there waiting for him to get done eating and I see big dog laying about 3 feet behind the little guy as he eats. Like she's just sitting there waiting to get his food. So the little guy likes to flick his tiny food pieces out of his bowl one at a time then he goes and chases the food piece and eats it. A little eating game he plays with himself. So he starts doing that and a little piece of food flings behind him and before he can see where it went, it landed between big dogs paws. So they both look at it for a second. Big dog says "thank you food god for sending me morsels from heaven". Little dog says "crap, how am I going to get that piece of food now!". So big dog eats it and looks up at little dog who has a look of total amazement on his face. So little guy walks back over to his bowl and does the EXACT SAME THING. Same dilemma, same look on their faces and big dog eats it. This goes on two more times before little guy sits down and looks at big guy for a second, probably saying to himself "okay, no more, you're not getting another bite". Then he stops flicking his food out of his bowl. Was weird seeing him eat his food out of his bowl. He'll usually only do that when he's absolutely starved. I think he was afraid of losing one more precious bit of food.

Was the funniest thing to watch. Dogs are cool to watch and get a chuckle out of!

victory!!!

I did it. Well, actually, I didn't do it. What I mean is I didn't feel like I was going to die this morning when I did my c25k workout again. It was awesome! I only did 4 sets again (but only because I had to go to the bathroom so bad, eh-em) but if it weren't for that I'm sure I could have done the whole 20 minutes!

I think the problem was that I was panicked about running so when I did the 60 seconds of running, I tensed up, I think I even held my breath at certain points so when it was time to walk for 90 seconds I was completely out of breath and to tight I thought I was going to pass out.

So what I focused on this morning was muscle relaxation and controlled breathing. Who knew I'd have to teach myself how to run! As I started running, I focused on the muscles in my neck and shoulders and back and even rolled my head around a couple of times to focus in on it real hard. And I focused in on my breathing too, in through my nose, out through my mouth, steady.

It worked. I am victorious over the big bad running monster.

Woohoo!!!!

(and, no, that photo isn't me :)

i started running today...

Well, I did it. I started the c25k program this morning. Was the coolest thing, my hubbie and daughter both are doing it with me. Hubbie doesn't much care for exercising outside (too hot most of the time down here in FL to exercise outside on a regular basis) and my daughter is, well, to her own admitting, she's a bit too lazy to run (sorry, babe). But I was so proud of both of them. Hubbie was on my left and daughter was on my right. Was the coolest thing!

Was funniest thing. Before we started, we were standing in the kitchen and they asked me okay, what's the plan. I said "hi, my name is Julie, I'll be your cruise director today". I thought it was hilarious. She's never hear of Love Boat and he, well, he thought probably what the rest of you are thinking.. hardy-har-har.

Anyway, so we started out with the 5 minute quick walk warm up... goin' good. Then came the first set of run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds... goin' good. Then the next set... okay, getting a little more difficult, but I'd caught my breath enough during the last 90 seconds of walking that I was starting to think this might not be as bad as I thought. Then the next set of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking... um, not going so good... I was breathing soooo hard. I'm starting to wander if this is a good idea... Then the fourth set... After I ran the next 60 seconds I started getting light headed and I was breathing like I'd just ran a marathon or something. I couldn't do any more.

I couldn't believe it! I'm in better shape (though still 50 pounds overweight) than the two of them and I pooped out first. What's up with that???

I was so disappointed in myself. I was only able to do 4 sets and we had to walk the rest of the way home. Hubbie was just getting warmed up. Daughter admitted to me later that she was just about to say I'll meet you guys at home because it was kicking her butt too.

Oh, well, so I won't get it done in 9 weeks. Maybe 18. I guess it doesn't matter how long it takes as long as I keep at it slow and steady until I'm comfortable to take it to the next level. The website says it's okay to redo a week or two until you feel like you're ready to advance to the next week's level. I think I'll be redoing this week for a while until I can make it up to 8 sets (20 minutes). At least half way through the first day is better than stopping after the first set, right?

Oh, well.

for such a bad week...

For such a bad week, I had a great weigh in!

I really didn't think I was going to lose anything. In fact, by Wednesday I was up 3 pounds from last Saturday's WI. I was eating similar foods (not exactly the same, but had the same calories, fat, fiber and protein) and exercising exactly the same. I had no idea what I was doing wrong. So I chalked it up to my wonderful (she says sarcastically) cycle of losing big one week then losing little for the next few weeks. Which, when it comes right down to it, really is a great cycle to be stuck in, you know?

But then along came Thurs morning. I have no idea what I did on Wednesday that was so different than Sun-Tues, but by Thurs morning I was back down to the weight I was last Saturday. Woo Hoo!!

I stayed home Thursday afternoon (remember my wonderful, beautiful Thursday afternoon?) and relaxed but I stayed up until 2pm (Fri morning) to finish reading that book I read Thurs afternoon. So I just knew when I weighed myself Friday morning that I'd be back up. For me, the less sleep I get the more I'll weigh. In fact, I can wake up at 2am and weigh myself and then go back to bed and then weigh myself when I wake up around 6 or 7 and I'll almost always be a half a pound if not a full pound lighter.

Friday morning I was down another pound. Who knows why. Like I said, same thing all week.

Anyway, this morning at WW WI I was down 1.4 pounds. Can't beat that with a stick!

I guess the moral to my story is, forget the day-to-day weigh ins, they'll drive you crazy. Just focus on the weekly WI's. That's all that counts anyway!

One more thing... My mom (check out her blog) had left a great recipe on one my comments last week for some bran muffins and I wanted to leave the recipe here again in case you guys missed it. I just made the recipe this morning and it was wonderful! The mix you make up ahead of time and keep it in your fridge and then just make one or two as you need them because the batter will stay good for 6 weeks in the fridge. Hence the name, 6 Weeks Muffins.

2 Points Each:
"6 Weeks Muffins"

1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup All Bran Cereal (I used Flax Flakes cereal because All Bran's ingredients showed Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup in it - you could probably use your favorite high fiber cereal, so long as the points aren't more than 2 per serving - My Flax Flakes were 2 points for 3/4 cup serving but I only used 1/2 cup in this recipe)
1/4 cup Shortening (does anyone know a healthy substitute for shortening?)
1/4 cup Splenda (or 3/4 Sugar but then there's more points. I accidentally put 3/4 cup of splenda and it gave them a sweet flavor that was yummy)
1/4 cup egg beaters
1 cup low fat buttermilk (I used whole buttermilk but it added a point to each muffin - it's all I had in the fridge)
1 cup Kellogg's Special K (if you have trouble going to the potty here is where you add another cup of All Bran Cereal) (I added more Flax Flakes)
1 1/4 cup Self Rising Flour (I substituted Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)

In a small bowl, pour boiling water over the 1/2 c. bran cereal; set aside. In a larger bowl, cream together the shortening, Splenda, egg and buttermilk. Add the Special K and mix well. Add flour and mix well. Fold in the water/cereal mixture. Spray Pam into muffin tin or use muffin papers. Fill to 3/4 full.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes (mine took about 25 minutes to cook). Makes 1 dozen. - 2 points each (unless you use my substitutes, then they're 3 points each)

Enjoy!

my thursday was MUCH better (except for the pain)...

So, I played hookie from work this afternoon. Woo Hoo!!!

Actually, it was for a bad reason. My pre-menssie turned into a full blown menssie with raving cramps. (I know, more than you probably wanted to know!)

I should have know. With all the emotions pouring on. I should have known that the horrible pain was sure to follow.

So not very much was going on at work today. Sure I had some things to do, but if they waited until tomorrow, that would be okay. So I to a half personal day and went home and put my feet up on the couch and stayed there the rest of the afternoon.

The good thing was that I had this book that I've been so engrossed in for the past week and a half and have had NO time at all to read it. It's really spell pounding and compelling and I was getting so mad because I could only find 5 minutes a day to read it.

So I had about 4 hours to read it and I almost finished it. I had to quit at 5:30 when hubbie got home. I have only about 40 pages left. Ugh!!

Oh, well, the good thing is, at 5 minutes a day, I should have these last 40 pages read by, say, oh, NEXT WEEK!

Was a great afternoon, though. I opened the windows and let the sun and cool breeze in while propping my feet up and reading. No noises. No distractions. No TV. No nothing. Just me and my awesomely wonderful book.

Was a great afternoon.

How 'bout you guys? How does your day compare to mine?

another yukky wednesday...

Well, today was a little better than yesterday. I'm still down a bit, though. But at least I didn't eat my weight in food today.

Had my usual cream of wheat with honey and pumpkin for breakfast. And for lunch was a soup and salad. My after noon snack was a treat. I poured a cup of decaf coffee and put a dark chocolate kiss in the cup (no cream or sugar). Man, that was awesome! I wonder if that's better or worse than the cream and sugar I usually put in there. I don't know, but it was wonderful. Isn't dark chocolate supposed to be good for you, too? If it's good for me, shouldn't I eat more of it????

Dinner was a joke. We decided to splurge a little and go to Applebee's and try one of their WW dinners. We should have known things were looking bad when we got there and there was a wait because it was kid's night. So we had to sit in the bar at a high top. Then there was a dish I saw online that looked yummy, was chicken with a salsa ranch sauce, mozzarella & cheddar cheeses, and black bean & corn salsa. But alas, this Applebee's didn't offer it. So I settled for the steak and portobello mushrooms.

When it came out, we both laughed. It was 3 ounces, tops. Seriously! The thing was like 2 inches square. The side dishes were roasted potatoes WITH GARLIC and broccoli WITH GARLIC. In case you're wondering why I capitalized WITH GARLIC? It's because I think the cook is having an affair with GARLIC right now. I have never eaten anything so laden with garlic in my entire life. My mouth actually burnt because of so much garlic.

So I cut into the itty bitty steak and chewed on the first bite. Then I chewed and chewed and I couldn't get it to break up in my mouth. It was laced with gristle throughout. I cut a little bit more of the steak and it was horrible.

I had to send it back. There was no way I could chew it. They were apologetic and all, but then I had to wait another 25 minutes before my replacement meal was ready. Meanwhile, hubby had already finished eating his miniature dinner. So we sat and talked for a while before my dinner arrived.

The one consolation in the whole thing was that they comp'd my meal.

I've never liked Applebees. Now I know I don't like Applebees WW meals either.

Oh, well. At least I didn't go over my 23 points for today.

Oh, did I tell you I lost another point this past weekend. I used to have 24 points until I lost 75 pounds. Now I only have 23. It's just not fair!