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

I don’t think I’ve ever ranted on this blog. Have I? Well I’m about due. 

Let me start at the beginning….

I’ve had a long busy day, running here, running there, trying to squish too many things in 24 hour period as usual.  There was no time for dinner so I decided the little guy and I would hit the drive thru on the way to the gym.  I really wanted Chick-fil-a but Burger King was on the way so I settled.  I should go on the record as saying I think Burger King has the worst options for anyone who is WeightWhatchen but that’s not he point.  So I order the best I can…

For the toddler - Kid’s Meal with 4 Chicken Nuggets, applesauce and a milk
For mommy - A Tendergrill Chicken Sandwich no mayo and a bottle of water

Not too bad for a meal on the run, although not my first choice. 

Note the key words “ON THE RUN”.  That’s when you want to hit the drive thru, right? When you are busy, on the run, and don’t have time to go in and eat.  Translation… I’M IN A HURRY!!!

Oh… Did I warn you the rant has started??

So WHY is it that drive thrus take F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I should NOT be sitting in my car for 15 minutes, stuck with NO ESCAPE. In 15 minutes, I could whip up a much healthier meal at home.  I’m paying these fast food places for a service.  That service is food, fast because I don’t have time.  If I had time, I sure as heck would NOT be wasting it sitting in a drive through with a whinny toddler and a growling stomach. 

This isn’t just one occurrence, every time I go to one of these “fast” food places it takes FOREVER to get food that’s not even good for me.  Plus, most of the time the food itself doesn't even taste good either.  Don’t get me wrong I enjoy a greasy burger and fries as much as the next guy, I just don’t indulge as much as I used to.  So when I do, I want it I want it fast and I want it good.  Not with a stale bun, cold French fries and nuggets that have been sitting in a drawer for 4 and half hours.

Alright so all that and I’m not even to the best part yet. So after waiting 15 minutes for my slow food, I pay, pleasantly I should add, saying thank you, and smiling. Do I get the same courtesy and respect in return? Do I get a “sorry for the wait”? or a even just a “you're welcome” to my “thank you”? NOOOoooo I get treated with disdain, like I am such a burden on this person’s day at work. I’m sorry you work there, but it is your job to serve people pleasantly.  I know it sucks, I know you are tired, you feel greasy and gross.  You want to know why I know? I did it.  I worked at McDonald’s for 5 years, yes YEARS.  And when I did I was pleasant to customers. I gave them respected, apologized when I took a long time or messed up an order.

Speaking of messing up an order there is one more aspect to this story I didn’t tell you about yet. The best best part is yet to come.

I drive away with food in hand.  After all that and I’m still going to make the class at least. I get to the gym parking lot where the toddler and I are going to picnic in the car.  I get his kid’s meal ready and sure enough, no applesauce, just cold fries. Unbelievable.  Ok, I figure not a big deal, it’s a common mistake.  I take a deep breath, pull out my sandwich, and notice it doesn’t feel right.  It’s not the round. It’s their original FRIED chicken sandwhich with BACON on it. WHAT? Could it be the polar opposite of what I wanted any more? This is beyond unbelievable. All of that and they got the WHOLE ORDER WRONG!!! I am NOT kidding. 

So that’s it.  That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.  I am TIRED of paying for bad (UNHEALTHY) food and bad service at these “fast” foods joints.  I’m done.

My husband is not going to like this, but I am starting a boycott of fast food restaurants that do not provide good service or good food. Life is too short to waste a meal on junk and deal with bad service.  

Will you join me? Can you do it? Can you vow to avoid fast food? Are you already doing it? Let me know and spread the word.

phew I never ranted before. Man that felt good! ;~)

Labels: journal

Sorry I was missing in action yesterday.  I spent the very little time I had posting Mommy and Me Omelets on GreenLiteBites. Maybe this 2 blog thing wasn’t such a good idea.  I love working on both of them equally and now I’m torn at night. Tonight was even worse because I HAD to write about my Fast Food Fiasco.

Anyway, I still journaled yesterday so I wanted to post both menus (with a little self-observation of course.)

Day 1

Yesterday was my typical 12 hour day at work (these are coming to an end soon, YAY). I packed a bunch of stuff, planned, came home and made a light snack.  I dipped into flex because I was hungry, and I don’t believe in going hungry.  

Day 2

The complete opposite of yesterday, I had a meeting off campus, didn’t pack a lunch and ate every meal on the run, except breakfast. I did find out the toddlers “fwavortie” cereal is strawberry frosted mini wheat’s.  I know this because he told me at breakfast.  I LOVE 2 year olds! ;~D

So there you have it, the last two days. Even tough I ate the same number of points, I felt much better yesterday eating all of my own food. Plus I had more variety, ate more often and was overall more satisfied.

In other news, I will be working on the community this weekend and possibly a food journal generator tool.  I’m really excited about it! But for now it’s off to bed for me!

Labels: journal

I’m tired, lazy and spent too much time updating my food blog.  So I’m cutting it short tonight but wanted to pass on a great post by Carolyn from One Pound at a Time.  It’s nice to read a happy post, especially one where someone recognizes what they have accomplished and sees the positive changes in herself.  Call me a sap, but I almost teared up reading it.  I think I’m in a similar place and it is still unbelievable to me after 2 years!

Labels: journal

You know it happens to you, admit it.  

All day you do great! Points are in check, feeling good, water is going down easy. Then it happens. The night time snack attack hits and it hits hard.  You try popcorn.  It doesn't help.  You make a snack, thinking that act of cooking something will satisfy the hunger.  No dice! The soy crisps just keep calling your name. You cave.  But it’s not a big deal, you still have weekly points left over.  You remind yourself, “that’s why they’re there”.  Then you realize you are now completely satisfied. You know you did good, stayed on plan and are 1 day closer to your goal.  

Keep up the good work! ;~)

Labels: journal

Yes, yes, yes, I gained.  I knew I did. It wasn’t a surprise. However, I am NOT letting it get out of hand.  I took control today and I feel GREAT!

So great actually I’m going to cut this short.  My Sensational Sunday was jam packed with cooking turkey soup, going to the gym, grocery shopping, unpacking, putting up the Christmas tree, cooking a healthy dinner and updating the umpteen sites I now feel compelled to update. ;~)

I’m going to head to bed and get a good night sleep so I can do it all again tomorrow! I will also update my weight progress tomorrow but just so you know the official Weight Watchers weigh in was 146 not the 148.5 below.  That was just my morning scale reading.  But see how fickle our friend the scale could be.  That’s a difference if 2.5 pounds in 1/2 hour!  

Labels: journal

I feel yucky.  Yup, yucky, and bleh.  Those are about the only words to describe me right now. I’m exhausted, tired, stuffed, bloated and overall YUCKY!

I ate too much every day since the day before Thanksgiving. That’s how many days? Ummmm *counting on fingers* 4, FOUR days of being out of routine, having more temptation and totally just eating what I wanted, when I wanted it. Is it possible to gain 25 points in 4 days? Because that’s how I feel right now.

Tomorrow is a new day. I returned home tonight.  I don’t care how tired I am tomorrow, I AM going to a Weight Watchers meeting, I AM working out and I AM going to journal in loss mode for the next few weeks.

For those that don’t know my “loss mode” is when I go back to basics with Weight Watchers and Flex points. I start tracking weekly points and keeping a food journal 7 days a week.  Normally I do my version of maintenance where I track only during the week and just try to stay under 30 points.  

So for as much as I got off track this past week I’m not letting it get me down. Don’t beat yourself up, it’s not worth it.  I lived it up for thanksgiving and now I’m home. I know what needs to be done and now I’m going to do it. It’s that simple!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a full report on my official weigh in (oh god, I’m trying not to think about it) and first food journal of the week.

Have a great night!

Labels: journal

Soooo I didn't do as well as I wanted today, BUT it's only one day, right? The biggest problem for me will be the next few days. I'm out of my element at my parents house and I tend to overeat a bit when I'm here. Mostly becuase there is so much more available. What is it about grandparents and junkfood?!?! I mean everywhere I look there is another temptation!

As promised, here is my food journal. These points are total estimates but at least I tracked. I'm posting it quick, I'm on my moms older computer and we are watching movies. Man do I love holidays!

• clementine - 1
• pear - 1
• lite english muffin with a slice of cheese, lean ham and mustard - 4
• veggies (no dip) - 0
• Thanksgiving meal (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, applesauce, 3 crescent rolls -no butter) - 17
• nonpareils (I just couldn't stop once I started) - 5
• slice of pumpkin pie - 8
• slice of apple pie - 9
• TOTAL - 45

OUCH!

Overall, not that bad, it could have been a lot worse. I purposely stayed away from wine, butter and other empty points/calories/fat, whatever. I rather splurge on the pies and other treats that are only around on the holidays.

I may not be back until Sunday. It's tough to post away from home.

Labels: journal

Check your local grocery store lines. I may be starring you in the face holding a bowl of spaghetti!

I have a BILLION things to do. I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  I WILL be posting a food menu tomorrow.  It may be estimates but at least I will be tracking instead of mindless eating!

Oh! and keep an eye on GreenLiteBites I will be posting one more recipe before I leave (I travel to the parent's for Thanksgiving), Moist Pumpkin Bran Muffins!

Labels: journal

Take a look at yesturday’s food journal and then compare it to today’s below. Could they be any different?  Seriously. 

Yesterday I had a very normal, long day at work.  I packed my snack/meals ate small throughout the day, never really being that hungry but completely satisfied.  By the end of the day I felt GREAT!

Today, total opposite.  I had an on the run day.  I started off at the gym, then work, then lunch, then a hair appointment, then work again and finally home. I was on the go and unprepared. Letting myself get too hungry and then eating larger meals. Now I feel BLEH and bloated.  Even “heavier”. 

I know this. I know eating small meals throughout the day and being prepared is the way to go but sometimes life just gets in the way.  And when it does it’s nice to know I can still keep the points in check.  I didn’t allow it to give me license to go crazy. Something I would have done in the past.

Labels: journal

Let’s start with the cheese. 

I got it….

My advanced copy of Women’s World with me on the cover and boy do I look cheesy! LOL Wait to you see it, big open mouth smile, holding a bowl of spaghetti and standing on a scale.  It’s so surreal. I don’t even look like myself!
 
They did include my Tomatoes Shrimp and Zucchini over Fettuccini recipe.  Is it odd that I was more excited about the recipe then the cover? I just thought it was so cool that they made the recipe and photographed it for the article!

All right, I’m a big geek.  I know this.  Just wait, you’ll see it next week.

As for today, I just wasn’t that hungry. I think my weekend of overeating a bit stuck with me.  I noticed that about myself, sometimes after a day or two of eating a bit more points I tend not too be as hungry the next day. I’m sure this is quit normal but for years I never really listened to my body. I just went through the motions of eating 3 meals and snacks the next day.  Now I’m so much more aware and I pay attention to these signals.  I guess I’m getting the hang of this maintenance thing!

Labels: journal

OK, that’s it, I’m done. I don’t know what else to do! Well, besides more proofreading, MAN I make a horrible editor! I can’t spell and I have NO sense of grammar. Don’t bother to comment, I know this. ;~)

Anyway, I’ve posted some older recipes and 2 new ones (Thai Inspired Vegetable Soup, Simple Pumpkin Spice Mini-Loaves) on new food blog… greenlitebites.com.

From now on any food related posts I would have placed here, will be posted there. That includes recipes, produce picks, and food finds. I still plan on posting my daily (whiny) thoughts and observations on weight loss and maintenance here. However, when I post my daily menus I will be linking to the recipes on greenlitebites.

SO have a look. Let me know what you think. Now that it’s out there maybe I can go to bed at a decent hour!

PS. Being away for the weekend has put me behind on comments, emails and the community. No worries, I’ll catch up. It just may be AFTER the thanksgiving. ;~)

Labels: journal

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I am SUCH a sucker for a meme (I think that’s the right term). Joyce got me this time. You have to check out her blog, her progress is super inspiring! Congrats Joyce!!

Here goes...

Four dishes I like to cook (and eat):

1. Make Ahead Mexican Pie
2. Roni’s Homemade sauce with Meat
3. Vegetarian Chili over Spaghetti Squash
4. Balsamic Dijon Chicken

Four qualities I love in people:

1. Loyalty
2. Honesty
3. Motivated/Active
4. Humor/Satire

Four places I have been:

1. New York, NY
2. Paradise Island, Bahamas
3. Las Vegas, NV (took a road trip there!)
4. The state of Florida (literally, I traveled all over FL for a job one summer)

Four things in my bedroom:

1. A collection of stuffed animals playing games on the Jersey Shore Boardwalk
2. An Ikea bed and wall unit
3. A toy box to keep the toddler busy if I have to get ready alone in the morning
4. A TV, I can’t sleep at night without my dose of History channel.

Four dirty words I like/tend to use:

1. Sh*t
2. Son of a Bitch
3. Penis Head (so it’s better then the “real one” – no?)
4. Jackass (I use this A LOT)

Four objects I will never part with, and will leave to someone to inherit when I die:

1. My old photos albums. Even as a child I liked to take pictures and I have albums of old friends and family going back to grade school
2. My Wedding rings
3. My old Albums. I have some old records from my dad and when I was a kid. I’m never giving them up, even though I don’t have a turn table.
4. This isn't an object, but I all of my files. I have a family website that I started when I got pregnant, all of my digital photos, and videos. Most of my precious “objects” are now digital.

TAG, you're it!
I'm choosing the following people to be TAGGED, YOU'RE IT. Please answer the prompts by cut and pasting the above and replace my answers with your own. And feel free to steal the tag button at the top.

1. Swizzlepop, because I think she’s back and active on the community, but I’m not sure! Sorry Swizzle, I can’t keep up! ;~)
2. Katelyn, just because. :~)
3. Wendy, just because. :~)
4. Jim, because he’s new to blogging and this is a “rookie” assignment. ;~)

Labels: journal

When you are leaving Atlantic City DO NOT go to the gourmet store buy a bag of dark chocolate covered blueberries and then proceed to eat the ENTIRE bag on the drive home.

This after quite an overindulgent weekend, not too bad but definitely not on point.

I did have a BLAST thought, now it's back to work. I'll be back later with my little announcement!

Labels: notes

First, THANK YOU for the all the kind words and congrats! The amount of support and motivation you guys give me is just phenomenal. I mean it, really phenomenal.

Ok, I said really REAL quick so you get a list.  This is how my brain works…

1. My diet was crappy today.  Not over points or particularly bad, just crappy.  Let’s just say a bag of soy crisps for lunch isn’t the best option.
2. On the workout front, I climbed the wall AGAIN! I’m getting smarter.  This time I did it BEFORE my cardio kickboxing class.  Which, by the way, is KICKING my arse! In a good way.  Today we ended with an exercise ball ab workout. WOW I never knew you could do so much with a ball!
3. Tomorrow is Friday so I thought you might enjoy Five Point Friday brought to you Mel. Especially consider thanksgiving is on it’s way.
4. That’s it…  Sunday is the Day.  I will be posting a link to my new food blog. I’m SUPER excited!
5. Finally, the Husband and I are off for a weekend gateway! I’ll be back Sunday so have a GREAT weekend.  Drink your water, stay on points and get some activity in. I will do that same on my 3 day vacation!

Labels: journal

ME!

On November 27th I will be on the cover of Women’s World Magazine!! 

Did I just type that?  Yup.  I did.  I still can’t believe it.  If you have no idea what I talking about click here and here.

Is it weird to be nervous? I mean, I don’t know what it’s going to look like, or even how they are going quote me.  I think they will be showcasing one of my recipes but I’m not even sure about that! It’s a total mystery. My type A personality can’t handle it!!!

So that’s the big news today.  Now I have to go to bed before I eat this whole friggin’ bag of pretzels!

Labels: journal

Sorry for my lack detailed posts this week. I’ve been working on my new food blog and just can NOT wait to get finished.  I’m almost done and should be able to post the link by this weekend.  

Here’s the deal.  If you haven’t noticed I REALLY love posting recipes and I posted so many they are hard to find on this blog.  So I’m spending time designing a new place for the sole purpose of archiving recipes with photos.  In a nutshell the new blog will house all of my food related posts. The new site will have ways to list recipes by ingredient, meal, type and will automate the food photos page so it’s easier for me to maintain.  Pretty much, it’s my version of an online, interactive cookbook.  

I’m having a blast working on it but it’s consuming my free time after the toddler goes to bed.  Once I have the interface and functionality done I’ll be back to “normal”.  Whatever that means!

I guess this post has become more detailed then I anticipated. The funny thing is I’m not much unlike the women in this article except I am my only sole programmer and I work a full time job. LOL

My food intake was good today.  I would post the daily menu but I’m just too exhausted.  If I were to estimated I’d say I ate about 28 points, splurging a bit on chocolate milk and pretzels with the toddler. OH! and I went to the gym this morning for a bit of treadmill and upper body workouts.

That’s it off to bed I go! Tomorrow is my L-O-N-G day at work.

Labels: journal

I've been working hard, just have no energy to post. Here's the menu for the day!

Labels: journal

It’s Sunday isn’t it?  That’s right, a Sensation Sunday!

I finally dragged my butt to a meeting. My schedule has been pretty tight the last few weeks and the meeting times weren’t jiving with my schedule.  But that’s no excuse.  I need to go.  I like to go.  So I’m making a commitment to go Sunday mornings before I hit the gym.  That means getting up a but earlier but it’s worth it.  I’m worth it.

I’m also worth my trips to the gym and boy am I LOVING the gym right now.  I had a NSV (Non Scale Victory) today on the treadmill. First, I’ve graduated to jogging a bit.  I’m not saying I’ll be running any marathons anytime soon but I’ve upped the intensity of my walking workouts and now I add a few minutes of jogging to the routine.  It’s tough but I can feel my stamina increasing every time I try it.  The first time I tried, I only lasted about 2 minutes. Today I did 2 - 4 minutes stretches. Not too shabby considering 3 months ago I could hardly walk for 5 minutes without wanting to blow my brains out of boredom. What happened in those 3 months? I changed my attitude around.  Instead of considering exercise a chore I now realize it’s a my gift to myself and guess what? I’m worth it!

Back to the NSV (although I guess that’s one too!) while on that treadmill I happened to look down at my legs. I was wearing shorts and I noticed something, something quite shocking to me.  My upper thighs were jiggling a lot less! I mean they was still jiggle there but behind the jiggle, I can see the definition of muscle.  I CAN NOT BE-LIEVE IT there is muscle under there!My workouts are paying off!

All right, that was all the good news but I do have some bad.  My eating has been a bit on the over indulgent side.  Not out of control just a bit over points on the unhealthy stuff, fried chicken, chocolate chip cookies, chips, leftover Halloween candy. . I think this coupled with my lack of attending meetings is to blame on my small gain this week. What am I saying, of course it is!  I updated my weight progress and if you look at this years chart, it’s a bit of incline. That’s a little scary for me especially considering the holidays coming up.

I feel like the eating thing is still a struggle and I’m sure it always will be.  There are still times I feel a little out of control but I know what I need to do to and I know I’m worth it.  So my question to you is…

Aren’t you worth it too?

Other quick news points I need to tell you...

1. I’ve been working my butt of on my new food blog and I may be ready to go live soon.  I have 2 new food ideas to post from this weekend but I may save them for the new blog if I can work out the last few bugs this week. 
2. I’ve posted a few times on my DietDetective blog and forgot to tell you.
3. I had some friends over for a playdate/dinner tonight and made them my Roni’s Homemade sauce with Meat.  I love cooking for other people.  The funny thing is I never realize how “overly healthy” I try to cook until people start asking me questions about my food.  Is this turkey sausage? You used pumpkin is this? It just makes me laugh as I assume everyone cooks like me.  LOL
4. I just want to give a shout out to my Aunt Helen and Uncle Al.  Mom said you’ve been reading!

Labels: journal

I like to recognize great days when I have them. Yesterday was, just... well.... GREAT! And I don’t mean great just on the diet, weight loss maintenance front.

Let’s start with a decision yesterday morning.  If you remember, back in August I was debating having a little more “work” done. Well I have made a decision not to proceed with the surgery right now and to spend the money on something more, ummmm, empowering, no… wait….. rewarding?  I can’t find the word I’m looking for.  Anyway I decided to take the money and invest it in myself a different way. I’m going to start my own business!

Now before you get too excited (now I’m making assumptions that you are excited for me) I don’t mean I’m going to quit my job, and go all crazy entrepreneurial. But I am contacting a lawyer, taking the proper steps and making it official.  I’ll fill you in on more details as they unfold.  The fact that I made this decision just made me feel, well, for lack of a better term, GREAT!

After the decision-making, I had lunch with the husband.  We had a bit of a tiff earlier in the morning and I love when we both make the effort to compromise.  It was an awesome lunch for both the food (see below) and the conversation. Of course the conversation centered around this new business decision.  Which was fun and exciting! The husband is totally behind the new business idea.

Lunch ended with a bit if shopping for the toddler and then back to work. On the work front, I was able to get something off my chest that’s been bothering me for sometime.  You know that feeling where you are holding back a secret or a feeling and when you finally get it out the weight of the world is listed off your shoulders.  Well, that happened to me yesterday too.  I had a conversation with my boss that just made me feel, you guessed it, GREAT! ;~)

Then dinner, I re-made a old recipe I lost in the big crash and it came out delish! The toddler loved it and I now have more lunch options then just Vegetarian Chili over Spaghetti Squash next week. 

After dinner, it was off to the gym!