Roni’s Weight Watchen Page(s) - Take 2 (the rebuild)

No one won, I think it was a tie. 

Let me back up.

Tonight was my first experience Trick-or-Treating with the toddler.  It was a BLAST! I really thought I would be ok.  I had no cravings for the candy until we came home and dumped it out. 

Then it was

“Oh just one small piece of chocolate won’t kill me”

Which turned into

“One dot won’t kill me.”

 All of a sudden, it became

“I already had one I might as well…”

What did I do to stop the insanity?

I made SOUP!

That’s right, soup.  And why not? It’s low in points, it fills you up and it's much better for you then candy. 

I knew I wouldn’t stop eating so I decided to cut my loses and save the night with soup.  Now I’m full and over my candy munch attack.

This candy is coming to school with me tomorrow!

Labels: journal

...not in the mood to 'talk', if you belive it! ;~)

Labels: journal

All right, so you are going to absolutely love or hate this soup.  I don’t know how else to describe it. You are either a butternut squash soup person or you aren’t.  I am the husband isn’t. Although he did try a taste and he wasn’t totally grossed out, which was WAY more then I expected. 

You could make this without the shrimp.  I just happen to have some in the freezer and thought they would compliment the sweetness of the soup. Plus I wanted to add some protein for my lunches.

• 5 cups Butternut Squash (700 g)
• 1 Apple cored and cut in chunks (leave the skin on)
• 1 Pear cored and cut in chunks (leave the skin on)
• 1 small sweet onion (or a thick slice) chopped (150 g)
• 2 cups fat free chicken broth or vegetable broth (more if you want a broth-ier less thick soup)
• .5 tbsp Coriander Seeds crushed or run through a small food processor
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• .5 tsp ground cinnamon
• .5 tsp ground cloves
• .5 tsp ground ginger
• 1 lb steamed shrimp, cleaned and de-tailed (I used frozen)

In a large pot, add the squash, apple, pear onion broth and spices.  Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Don’t worry if the broth doesn’t cover the tops of the veggies, they will cook down.

Lower the heat to medium and continue boiling for about 15 minutes.

Using a hand blender, (or transfer in small amounts to a blender) purée the squash, apple, pear and onion.  I left a few chunks but you can puree it smooth if you like.

Continue to cook over low heat for at least another 10 minutes.  Add the shrimp just before serving.

I’m calculating 5 servings about 400g each.  Even with the shrimp, the soup is only about 206 calories, 2 g of fat and 5 g of fiber per serving.

Labels: DinnerIdeas

I had a MUCH better today and I owe that to two things.  

1. Staying true to the blog.  I‘m convinced that that one commitment made huge difference in my last weight loss attempt.  You know, the attempt where I actually lost 70lbs! For those of you who don’t blog I recommend spilling your guts out in a journal.  When you force yourself to admitted, observe and learn from your own behavior you can then truly move on.  There is almost something cleansing and forgiving about it.
2. All of your kind words, observations, theories and recommendations.  They keep me going! They really do.  

So I hear you, more protein, more calories to account for my workouts and for as much as I don’t want to admit it, watch my cycle. You guys are right, a lot of my cravings are hormonal.  There is definitely a cycle there and apparently, we aren’t crazy (like my husband thinks I am).  I found this study from the UK that concludes….

Orderly fluctuations in eating and other measures of food consumption do occur during the menstrual cycle. Generally, there is an increase in energy intake and appetite during the pre-menstrual phase

Great, just great, like I didn’t have enough to battle on the weight loss front.

As for my goals today, I met most of them.  I drank so much water I spent half the day in the bathroom, which was good a weird way.  I ate tons of fruit and veggies and I followed my plan, giving me that “see I can do this feeling”.   The goal I missed was my 20 points but I’m not worried about it. . I’m really not trying to lose (except that those 2 clingy pounds I picks up on vacation) and  I’m not into starving myself.  I was hungry, stomach growling hungry, so I ate. I ate good stuff, not a sleeve of cookies or a full bag of chips but I ate.

Labels: journal

UGH!

I am sitting here with that gross overstuffed feeling.  Why? Why? Why am I doing this to myself?  I’ve been totally out of control on the eating front since Thursday.  Whoever told me to throw away the Girl Scout cookies was TOTALLY right.

I made a commitment to stay true to the blog so here goes…

Last night I proceeded to eat an entire sleeve of thin mints.  That’s right, one half of the box! I wasn’t hungry and I wouldn’t called it mindless eating. It was conscious eating. I was totally aware of what I was doing. I just didn’t care. I wanted them.

As if that wasn’t enough tonight I ate an entire bag of baked chips. And I’m not talking the small 2 serving type bags.

These are only 2 examples of my overeating splurges. There were more.

What is wrong with me?

I seem to be in the bad pattern of starting each day off awesome and then totally falling apart by bedtime.

However, I am NOT letting this ruin my Sensation Sunday.  I still had an awesome day, got tons of things done, spent time with the family and got to the gym. 

The day started with a fresh double batch of Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins baked with the toddler.  I love the fact that he is showing interest in helping me cook again.  I give him a bowl with some flour and spices allowing him to mix along side me. SO MUCH FUN!

After breakfast, we, of course, danced around the house and cleaned up.  Then it was off to the gym for my date with the wall.  Even though I reached my goal, I know I need practice. And I was right, I couldn’t do it a second time.  I climbed my heart out but my muscles just gave.  I’m not worried, I’ll get it again.  It’s tough! But a workout I love to do.  Speaking of workouts, even though my eating is out of control I’ve been  hitting the gym hard.  I almost feel as though I’m trying to counteract all the bad eating with exercise. 

Getting back to my Sunday, after workingout the toddler and I hit the grocery store for weekly supplies.  I bought the biggest Butternut squash EVER! There is enough squash for about 3-4 trays of Butternut Squash Fries plus I experimented today and made a Butternut Apple Pear soup.  I’ll post it later in the week when I have a bit more time.

Let’s see, other things on this Sensational Sunday worth mentioning….  The family went for a short walk after dinner.  We hit a local Barnes and Nobles for new books and now It’s about time to finish the laundry.  Ahhhh  good old Sundays. 

Back to the out of control eating thing, I know all I need is a good day on plan. I also know I haven’t been drinking enough water.  So tomorrow’s goals…

• 20 points
• More water, a lot more water
• Meals planned (off to do that now)
• More fruits and Veggies

I rambled, vented, confessed and chatted enough.  I’m off to plan.  Hope you had a great weekend! I'll be back tomorrow to post my sucessful day on plan!

Labels: journal

Just because you were feeling a bit stressed and alone at the toddlers Halloween party does NOT give you permission to eat everything in sight.

Can anyone say, sugar overload?

BLEH!

Labels: notes

I did it. Holy CRAP I really did it.  I climbed the medium inclined wall at the “Y”.  I almost lost my balance 3 separate times and it took every muscle in my body to get up there but I DID IT!!!  It was SO EMPOWERING!

Really, there is no better confidence builder then setting a goal and reaching it.  Really!  

And you know what? Once you reach one goal, your other goals just seem so much more attainable.  Almost like goal achievement is contagious.  If that makes any sense?

Ok, I’m rambling.

So my next goal is to tackle that wall a few more times and then hit the hard incline. Right now it looks absolutely impossible but you never know.  Maybe I’ll tackle it by Christmas!

Other then that I was hit by my girl scout cookie order today. They are just evil. Evil I say!

Labels: journal

I received this comment from Michelle the other day.

I am a school teacher and I just had my baby girl four months ago. I am struggling to keep up with everything and be healthy. How do you manage it? Like getting to the gym. I joined the Abingdon YMCA with the intention of stopping after I pick her up from daycare, but I feel guilty for not going home and spend time with her after she was in daycare all day. How do you get over the "Mommy Guilt"?

Ahhh mommy guilt.  Oh I know it well. I definitely have it and I don’t think it ever goes away. Does it? Those with older kids please chime in.  My little guy is only 2.

So the question is how do we balance what we need do for us with the needs of our children.  I think this is tough for all moms, especially working moms.  We are away from our little ones all day so how do we justify leaving them again to go to the gym? How do we balance what we need to do for ourselves with being a mommy?

I’m not sure I have the answer. I’m just a mom juggling too many things myself but I can share my insights.  First, when my little guy was an infant I didn’t go to the gym. Remember I just started working out at a gym a couple of months ago but that doesn’t mean I didn’t “workout”. 

• I went for longs walks normally carrying or ‘wearing’ the baby.  I figured the extra weight would do me good.  Not that pushing a stroller isn’t workout enough, especially if you need to tackle some hills! Sometimes I’d even get the husband to come with us.  I love family walks.
• I made up my own mommy and baby workouts. Whether it was dancing with the baby (just trying and hold a 20lb child with your arms straight out while dancing to James Brown All-Time Greatest Hits!) or laying down and placing him on shins while bouncing him up and down.  He loved it and I was burning calories!

Now, I hit the gym and I love every minute of it.  Really, I wish I started earlier. I try t go during the workday but it’s not always possible.  I’m not going to lie, there are days where I pick up the toddler and go straight to the gym.  It only takes me about 40 minutes and afterward the toddler and I play basketball on the open courts.

Does this make me a bad mommy?

I don’t think so.

In my opinion, I’m setting a good example for the little guy.  He already knows what the gym is and enjoys going.  We get to be active together as a family and I think that’s great. He will grow up seeing his mom take care of herself and know how important it is incorporate physical activity into your daily life.  I don’t think I have anything to be guilty about. Others may disagree, but that's my take. When push comes to shove, a happy mom is a better mom.

As for today, the same thing happened as yesterday. I’m having a week of nighttime munch attacks!

Labels: journal

I took a break from weightwatchen today to work on the community.  I had to fix some small things that were nagging me and I’ve been slacking on responding to user requests, so I stepped up and added new themes and video support.  

After the updates, I got quite distracted reading all the great posts and comments.  So instead of my normal post I thought I would link to some great blogs on the community so we can spread some support!

• Bubble baths are calorie-free!
• My new motivation
• To Core or not to Core
• Day 25 - Water Weight? - WAIT!!!
• Day One of My (hopefully!) Last Attempt at Lasting Weight Loss
• Bye, Bye 40 Pounds!
• Crustless Pumpkin Pie

As for me, I did great all day until dinnertime.  My appetite has been insatiable! I’ve been trying to be good but honestly, I’ve been nibbling all night, popcorn, pretzels, Weight Watchers 1 point bars (more then one so I guess that ruins the point!). I just can’t seem to fill this pie hole tonight!

Tomorrow will be better.

Labels: journal

My mom emailed me that the other day and I thought it was cute.

Labels: journal

This sensational Sunday started a bit groggy.  Last night I went to a haunted farm with a friend and her daughter.  We didn’t get back until well after 1AM and, of course, the toddler was up bright eyed and busy tailed at 7AM. I made him breakfast and snapped out of it but it took every ounce of energy to get my butt out of bed!

I decided early to make a crock-pot meal for this beautiful October Sunday. So after breakfast I prepared everything for my Beef Stew with Orange Fall Veggies and Orzo. Honestly, it’s what I had so I went with it. It made the house smell delicious ALL day!

Then the toddler and I jammed out while folding the laundry.  It’s amazing how much the little guys want to help so I put him to work organizing the socks! It’s too darn cute!

After laundry and a bit of clean up I was off to the gym. To my surprise, the toddler wanted to come so we decided to go as a family.  The husband played Basketball, the toddler made some new friends and I hit the bike.  Afterwards, the wall was open so I gave it a shot.  The medium incline still kicks my butt but I nailed the easy.  I will make it up that medium wall. I will! I’m making a date with that wall every Sunday until I do it!

After the gym, we decided to go to lunch and hit a local pizza place.  I splurged a bit on pizza and mozzarella sticks.  To be honest, my eating has been a bit out of hand all weekend.  Not a total catastrophe but I’ve been treating myself to food more then I should.  You know, the “ohhh I’ve been so good that extra slice of pizza won’t kill me” or the “It’s just a bag of chips, I’ve worked out today” type of treats.  Now I’m not saying they are bad every once it awhile but 3 days in a row and I can feel it becoming a pattern.  So tomorrow, I’ll be back to counting and tracking.

After lunch it wasn’t only the toddler napping.  ;~) We spent the rest of Sunday pretty lazy, watching Nemo, eating stew and hanging out.  MAN I don’t want to go to work tomorrow!!

Labels: journal

What says comfort in the fall more then Stew! I just had a craving for it today.

I looked in my pantry and noticed an abundance of orange colored veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash.  Why not throw them together in the crock-pot. 

Now the husband is just not a “Stew Man”.  He wasn’t too happy with my choice for dinner but, to my surprise, he liked it! His exact words, “it is very very good.” Of course, he did leave the butternut in the dish.

I should say the toddler was not a fan. I just don’t think he’s ready for stew yet.  It’s a bit intimidating for a 2 year old.

• 1 lbs beef stew meat (I just bought package from the store-not sure of the cut)
• About 3 cups (420 g) of butternut squash cut into chunks
• About 1 and ½ cup of baby carrots (170 g)
• 1 (very) large sweet potato cut into chunks
• 1 small sweet onion cut into large chunks
• 1 can condensed (about 10 oz) 98% fat few cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can beef broth (about 14 oz)
• Dash of pepper
• 6 oz Whole Wheat Orzo

Add all the ingredients, except the Orzo, in a crock-pot with 1 can (the mushroom soup size) of water.  Cook on low for about 7-8 hours.

About ½ hour before you want t serve add the uncooked Orzo.  It will soak up the extra moister and flavor of the stew.  

As for the nutritional information, I’m estimating about 375 calories, 6 g of fat and 10 g of fiber for 6 nice size servings.  When I separated the stew into storage containers, each serving was just about 3 ladlefuls.

Labels: DinnerIdeas

I love getting an unexpected day off work.  Of course, I spent it experimenting in the kitchen!

The holidays are coming and I thought a simple pumpkin spice muffin would be nice.  My first take at it was pretty darn good! I think I may try other spice combinations (they need a bit more) but as for texture, size and nutritional info, I couldn’t be happier! 

• 2 cups (240 g) of Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 & ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp (21 g) honey
• 1 tbsp (20 g) molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• ½ cup (4 oz) water
• 1 can (15 oz) canned pumpkin
• Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Double sift all the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.

Whisk the egg, egg white, honey, molasses, and water in a large bowl.  Mix in the pumpkin.

Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just mixed (you don’t see anymore dry ingredients).  Don’t over mix!

Spread the muffin batter evenly into 2 6-muffin pans sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake for approximately 18 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins, nutritionally, I’m calculating about 100 calories, 1 g of fat and 3 g of fiber for each!

By the way, I sprinkled the whole batch with about 1/2 tsp of powdered sugar just to make them prettier. It only adds about 5 calories for the whole batch.

Labels: BreakfastIdeas, DessertIdeas

This post is going to try to be too many things but I don’t care. I’ve been getting so many emails and comments asking about slumps and binge eating it deserves a rant. Even if it’s an illogical one.

Jennifer commented the other day…

…my cycle right now is: gain back a few pounds, get depressed, eat more, drink more out of depression, gain more, feel more hopeless, eat more/drink more out of depression, etc.
Did you ever go through this?

Oh My GOD Ummm YES!!  For years I was trapped in that cycle. I’m not even exaggerating when I say years.  The cycle started before High School and I didn’t break it until I had my son at the age of 29.

I may have broke the cycle but I still struggle with eating issues. I’m not a doctor and I was never diagnosed with a binge eating disorder but it seems pretty clear to me. I was a binge eater. According to ahealth.com most people with serious binge eating problems have:

• Frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food.
• Frequent feelings of being unable to control what or how much is being eaten.
• Several of these behaviors or feelings:
• Eating much more rapidly than usual.
• Eating until uncomfortably full.
• Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry.
• Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten.
• Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after overeating.

I pass this test with flying colors… flying bright fluorescent saturated colors.

Why? Why do some of us do this? I’ve asked myself that a million times and I still don’t really know the answer.  All I do know is I ate when I was sad, I ate when I was happy, I ate to celebrate and to sooth depression.  Eating just seems to fill a void for me. 

Some people call it emotional eating. I agree.  The funny this is most of the time I was eating because I was depressed about eating too much the day before.   I was eating because I didn’t like the body I was in.  It’s so illogical.

In my opinion, and experience, people who have these tendencies never really get over it.  I know I haven’t.  I still have “relapses”.  Even tonight, I “pigged out” on squash fries. That’s right, squash fries. Don’t chuckle, it true.  I was feeling down. It was just the toddler and I after work, I was lonely, overwhelmed, trying to get too many things done at one time (like usual) and so I ate.  

Notice what I ate, not pizza, not French fries, not overstuffed Italian subs, cheeseburgers, Stromboli, wings, fried chicken tender or anything else I used to binge on.  I chose to indulge my emotional eating binge on a winter squash.  Do you know how hard it is to overeat squash? 300 calories of the stuff and you are way past the point of fullness and entering the uncomfortable stomach feeling.  Believe me I know.

Now I’m not condoning this type of overeating behavior, but sometimes if you can’t change something you need to make it work.  I don’t think I’ll ever not be an emotional eater so I changed what I eat. It works for me. Sometimes food really does comfort.

Labels: insights, journal

...short post.

Labels: journal

If you are starving after work and the husband asks if you want to go out to dinner, NEVER recommend a new bar and grill that opened up at the mall. You KNOW that bar food is a big weakness of yours.

Next time, follow the plan and cook the nice lean pork loin you defrosted. It would have been so much better for you. Plus you wouldn’t feel like a beached whale right now.

P.S. I wrote that note to myself before calculating my points for the day. To my surprise the day wasn’t a totally disaster. I really thought it was. Just goes to show, never just throw the day away because you think you messed up. Face it, count it and move on. It’s probably not as bad as you think.

Labels: journal, notes

I have so many little things to tell you but I need to start with something I forgot to mention this weekend.

Friday night I went grocery shopping to get a head start on my crazy weekend. I just went for some staples and my normal weekly supplies. I especially needed bread. Since I work 2 evenings a week, the husband makes a lot of sandwiches. Now, I’ve been buying the same whole wheat bread for over a year and it took me about 2 years before that to find a brand the husband would be satisfied with. See, I used to buy 2 loaves but that’s ridiculous. First of all, we don’t use that much bread so it would just go moldy or I would have the same loaf in the freezer forever. Secondly, I don’t see any possible reason to buy non 100% whole wheat, it’s just illogical to me. Long story long, I made him switch to whole wheat. It took a L-O-N-G time but he’s been eating it for over a year. .

Well, apparently I grabbed the wrong loaf off the shelf and didn’t discover it until I got home. I had too much to do to go back and I figured one loaf of white bread won’t kill us (plus I has some leftover whole wheat for the toddler).

So Saturday I make everyone sandwiches for lunch. The husband takes one bite and says,

“What’s up with the bread? Is it different?”

To that I reply,

“Yeah, sorry, I grabbed the non-whole wheat by mistake. I’d thought you’d be excited. Do you like it better?”

Now, I’m totally worried he’s going to say yes and force me to buy the old stuff again. TO MY SURPRISE he says,

“No, it doesn’t taste right. I like the other stuff you buy better.”

What is this I hear? He LIKES the healthier, whole-wheat stuff better! This is the same guy who WILL NOT eat whole grain pasta, who took 2 years to convince to eat the whole grain bread in the first place and who cares less about what he puts in his body then dog.

I almost fainted. Score 1 for Mommy! I guess I won the Battle of the Bread in the War on Healthy Family Eating.

AAhhhh that makes me feel good. Honestly, and I just may be super weird here, nothing makes me feel better then getting someone to try/eat/enjoy something healthy. I think I found my passion.

Speaking of passion, I got so excited writing that story I totally forgot what else I wanted to tell you. Ummmm let’s see.

1. I came home and made the BEST tortilla pizza after work. I just had to share the picture. It was delicious!
2. I updated my workout progress. Not sure if anyone was following it but I had to change the format, it was just too much to manage. Plus I feel very good about working out. I think I’ve successfully integrated into my daily routine. The reason why I jounraled it in the first place was for accountability and to help make it habit. It worked! I will still update it in an abbreviated form.
3. Notice my weight is up a bit from Friday. I refuse to get scale angst. If you really look at my weight from day to day, the fluctuations are quite normal.

Ok, I know I had more but I’m watching a recorded version of Heroes from earlier and I need to get to bed at a decent hour.

Labels: journal

Ok, so I’m cheating. This isn’t really a recipe, just a festive way to use a mix. I found Halloween colored sprinkles at the grocery store and thought this would be cute.

Alright, alright, so maybe it’s just a reason to post a picture of the toddler. ;~)

Now, I actually envisioned smaller bites but I only had 1 min-muffin pan. There was more then enough mix to make 48 bites.

• 1 package of VitaBrownie Mix (Chocolate Brownie Mix) (Click here to purchase)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 ¼ cup water

Prepare brownie mix according to package. Evenly distribute in 24 cup mini-muffin pan. Sprinkle with jimmies.

Bake for about 23 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

As prepared, each bite is about 50 calories, less then a g of fat and 3.5 g of fiber! That’s half of what a VitaBrownie is. If you make 48 cut the nutritional info in half again! I don’t know about you but I’d rather eat 4 bites then one brownie, even though it’s the same amount. Call me simple but it’s easy to trick this mind into thinking it’s eating more. ;~)