Jelly Beans, Chocolate and Working Out

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! We had friends over Friday night and visited with family both Saturday and Sunday. This year, for the first time in my adult life, I hosted an Easter meal :) I feel like a big girl now! But not only was there pressure to host the meal, it was with the bf's family! So it was my first time hosting them for an event too. Luckily they are laid back, fun and so wonderful so everything went smooth. The food was great and my brown dogs only did a little begging. I also knew that I would be consuming foods (in moderation) that I don't normally consume, so I did my normal Saturday run for my C25K, which by the way now has running segments of 5 minutes!! I also woke up Sunday morning and got in a 45 minute run before I started cleaning and prepping food too. GO ME! Those two runs really gave me the energy I needed to get through the weekend and made me feel a little better eating some of the more rich foods that I did.

On Friday at work, someone had given everyone some Easter candy treats...this was a big dilemma for me because I didn't want to eat any of it...but then again it looks so yummy. So I decided I would eat only the white and pink beans because they are the only ones that taste good, and two of the four little chocolate eggs. That way I get a little taste but don't go overboard. The rest of the candy I threw away (sorry whoever gave me the candy!)

I had two Easter events to attend and I knew I wanted to eat the foods at the meal at my house, so at the first gathering we went to I tried to eat small portions and mostly the fruit, salad, and veggies. But there was a cheddar biscuit that happened too, so good.

For the dinner at my house, I was making green beans with toasted almonds, fresh cut up fruit, jello, and the most amazing and dangerously naughty potatoes I made this recipe at Christmas too and they are so easy and so so delicious. I have yet to find a person who does not love them. However, they are are rich and are obviously not a "health" food. So I make sure to monitor my portion with them. I also made them with reduced fat cheese, low fat sour cream and a little less bacon than it calls for. That made me feel like I tried a little to make them not as awful. So trust me, I know my plate here is NOT DIET FOOD. I am aware of that , but I feel that sometimes for events you can bend a little and eat things you don't normally eat all the time. I had only one plate of food, where in the past I might have had seconds or thirds, I had smaller portions of foods, and I didn't finish my dessert- I only had a little taste.

How was your Easter? 

Did you have to eat more than one meal?

How do you handle holidays?

Eight Weight Loss Essentials

Good morning! Yesterday on my drive home from work I got to thinkin', what are the essential things I personally need in my weight loss journey? Now I know each person is different and has specific goals for their own health, but I realized there are a few things that are absolutely necessary for me to reach my weight loss goals. Why are there only eight you ask and not a nice solid number like ten? BECAUSE, I only could think of eight and I didn't want to throw in two junky ones just to have a good number, so the number is eight. If your OCD can't handle it (mine is just a little uncomfortable with it) then you can mentally picture two more items on this list.

So without further ado, my Eight Weight Loss Essentials
(so important I created a cute little graphic for it)
((I didn't work that hard on it though I only made it in Paint))

1.) Something that you will drink water from. Water is SO important and if you have a container you LIKE to drink out of it will be more likely that you will drink water. I personally love drinking out of straws, so I have these plastic tumblers that I get, that way I'm not buying disposable straws and I like that these are less likely to spill too. I keep these at work, at home, wherever I am. This particular one the bf got for me on one of his trips, I think it is so cute it makes me drink even more water :) 

2.) Food Scale- This is soooo important for me in my cooking because measuring food with measuring cups is very difficult and can easily cause inaccurate results, especially if the food item is oddly shaped, however with a scale like this you can easily get the exact amount in a serving and they are not too expensive either. I got mine on Amazon for $13 which is a bargain in my opinion for how much I use it and how much it helps me. I also love it measures in grams and oz/lbs. It can zero out so I can put any container on there, zero it and add my food. 

3.) Good workout shoes. I used to just buy any old sneakers from where ever and use them, I never knew the importance of a good pair of shoes. This became especially important when I moved from the elliptical to the treadmill. Running requires well fitted shoes if you want to avoid injury and pain. I bought my first pair of Asics a few years ago and love love love them. I am now on my second pair of Asics, the retina burning pink ones on the left :) and so far I love them too. 

4.) Along with good running shoes, I would not be able to monitor my workout progress without my chest strap. I have only ever had this Polar HRM but I'm sure there are others out there that are equally as good. I like that you put in all of your own personal information in it and it tracks your personal heart rate zone, lets you know how many calories you burned, your workout time, high heart rate, average heart rate etc. I love this gadget.

5.) And of course, a good sports bra! This might not be an essential if you are a male, but if you are female I would greatly stress the need for a supportive and well fitting sports bra. Especially if you are like me and are  a bit bustier. I have worked out with ill-fitting sports bras before and let me tell you it is NOT PLEASANT.

6.) Another item that is essential to my success is my tablet. This one might seem silly and might not be essential to you, but maybe you have a laptop, maybe you use your phone, or an e-reader, or even a good old fashioned cook book, but for me, I use my tablet ALL THE TIME to look up recipes online or on Pinterest. I use my tablet for my Weight Watchers app to use the points calculator, I Google substitutions for recipes or measurement exchanges, everything. I even use it to play Pandora while I cook, it is definitely my cooking buddy. 

7.)  I love love love Tupperware! I use containers for packing items in my lunch, I use them for saving portions of meals to freeze for future enjoyment. I use them to portion out items I buy in bulk. They can be put in the freezer, microwaved, go in the dishwasher. I have purchased a few sets of these Tupperware because I love that they all match and the lids fit a few different sizes of each container. I also love these lunchboxes because you can put different parts of a meal in one container without stuff touching or getting all mixed together (I know I'm kind of a freak).

8.) Lastly, a scale. I know a lot of people like to measure Non-scale victories, and I do too, it's important to recognize accomplishments in building muscle  clothes fitting better, feeling more energy, making healthier choices, all of those things. But it is also important for me to track my weight progress as well. I used to have a scale that measured body fat and hydration and weight and tracked from previous weights but it really didn't work well. I think it was just too fancy and I never had much success with it actually getting me all that information. I now have this scale it is simple, works so well and I love it. (can you tell I buy everything from Amazon? Prime baby!)

So those are my most essential items I own/use in order to be successful in getting healthy, changing my life and of course, losing weight.

I'd love to know what YOUR essential items are, what do you need for your personal journey?

Do you buy things on Amazon like I do?

Here is what happened for dinner last night. I made stir fry veggies, and some chicken with this new Campbell's skillet sauce I had. I combined it with my noodles from my Trader Joe's Extravaganza and it was a delicious 9 Points Plus dinner.

Why Doing Stuff All Day is Hard

And by stuff, I mean house projects- specifically PAINTING.
Yes, the saga continues, weekend three of painting. I was so tempted to take a weekend off, my body takes all five weekdays to stop being sore and then BAM I make all the muscles hurt again. I wanted to just take it easy, but the bf decided to let me know that his friend whom he hasn't seen in a while wanted to come over and see our place for the first time next week...UM I guess that means my break will have to wait because I don't want people seeing a half painted house! So here's why doing stuff all day is hard- specifically when it comes to healthy eating. Here is how the day breaks down:

• 9:00am wake up and have coffee, banana and protein muffin
• Start taping and prepping
• 11:30am I am kinda hungry already, must be all the moving around so I grab a Luna bar because it's quick and I don't time to stop
• Start painting
• 2:00pm I'm hungry!! but I 'm in the middle of painting and need to do something quick- ok well trying this new guacamole will be quick and at least give me some energy- now BACK TO PAINTING
• then I finish painting the house, I must put my kitchen back together, I am moving my stove across my living room and kitchen back to its place, I'm moving my fridge back into it's place, I'm up and down ladders, sweeping, cleaning, scrubbing, I'm a crazy woman because all I want is to be DONE painting and have  my house back together and OMG now it's 8:00pm!!!
• 8:30pm I am so so so way too hungry, I've had a total of 11 of my 34 points and usually at this time I'm about done eating for the day...So I quick throw together some tacos because heck they are easy and filling and I don't have time to think
• 9:00pm I'm eating my tacos, sitting down for the first time in 12 hours

Do you see how doing stuff all day is hard? Well for me it is because I get so involved in my project that I don't want to stop and eat a real meal, I don't stop to cut up fruit and veggies or drink a lot of water I just kind of go. I didn't go over my points, and I did a lot of physical activity, but for sure not great to eat most of your points at 9pm at night. EEK
Here is the finished product- the left is before we moved into the house, the right is now.

Also, here is the guacamole I tried from my Trader Joe's Extravaganza, and it is AMAZING! Especially with their baked Blue Chips.

Here are my quick tacos:

I also tried this Cowboy Caviar from Trader Joe's,  it's corn, black bean and pepper salsa. REALLY GOOD, not as good as the guacamole, because hey, guacamole is awesome, but this stuff is spicy and fresh tasting.

In other weekend news, I ran Saturday morning, day 1 of  week 3 of my C25K and my puppy layed so nicely waiting for me to finish

Saturday night, the bf, got tickets to go see a comedian named Bill Burr downtown, we went with his brother and his girlfriend.

We were going to eat at a restaurant next to the theater called Rock Bottom Brewery- I knew in advance I wanted to eat something yummy so I saved up my points AND I looked at their menu, planning out three different options in case my tastes changed, I ended up getting their homemade veggie burger plain with a side of onion rings, for 24 points. It was the majority of my daily points but it was very good and worth it.

How was your weekend? 

Did you do stuff?

Why Scale WHY?!

So today was my weigh-in day...and clearly it did not go well. I am having zero success with Weight Watchers Points Plus program. Either there is something wrong with me, or something wrong with the program. I first started it in January and after three weeks of dedication I had NO RESULTS, and I know weight loss takes time but I should have seen something, so I got bummed out and for a few weeks just ate wisely but did not track points. Then I decided to give it another go, I have been tracking points for three weeks again, I am in week two of a running program and ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING, the scale has not budged! Saturday Morning I stepped on the scale for just a mid-week check and I was down two pounds! I was so excited. I also worked out on Saturday and earned 5 activity points, on that evening I ate those points but otherwise did not go over my daily limit + activity points. Sunday, after working hard painting all day and only eating brief healthy snacks I wanted Chipotle dinner, I ended up using SOME but not all of my weekly extra points, I thought that's what they were there for. Yesterday I was exactly within my points not going over and not eating my activity points. Today I am up 4 POUNDS from Saturday morning...how on earth could a person gain 4 pounds in four days?! I know I did not eat an extra 3,500 calories every single day, I know I didn't. Is there something else going on? Do you build muscle from running? Could it be water weight from being a female?  I'm just not understanding why I have no success. I guess I can try a week or two without using any extra weekly points and not using my activity points and see if that works, but besides that I don't know what else to really do. I'm eating good foods and paying close attention to what I'm doing, working out 3-4 times a week burning 400-500 calories and drinking water like cray...I'm getting downtrodden again about this whole thing....

And also I'm on a 12 hour fast because I have a wellness screening at work so I'm probably a little extra crabby since I haven't had my morning coffee and I'm not allowed to have breakfast until I'm done with the screening. Anyone else having trouble with WW PP? Anyone having great success and want to tell me what you're doing? Should I eat less points? More? Should I quit and try something else?

In other news, I ran yesterday- day 2 of week 2 of my C25K, part of the Spring Training 5K Challenge with KTJ and Latte and a Prayer

And I ate some food- p.s. Vanilla Chobani is not good in my opinion, it is sour like sour cream and not vanilla-y at all.

But this salad with Newman's Own Greek Vinaigrette was a super tasty lunch!

Hopefully you had a good Monday and aren't feeling hunger pains and caffeine headaches because of a dumb work health screening. Clearly I have a little coffee addiction but I'm not ashamed, I love me my morning coffee, it's the only non-water beverage I really drink and it is so good. 

Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling more positive.

Visiting an Old Friend

So I've been getting frustrated at my lack of progress this time around on Weight Watchers, I'm not sure if it's the new Points Plus system, if my body is just different now, or if I need to just mix things up. The first time I did WW in 2008 I lost 17lbs the first month, that was extremely motivating and really got me on the right track, granted I was a bit larger back then, but still, I expected to see at least SOME results this time. So, I decided that I couldn't make any more excuses and it was time to visit an old friend.

Mr. Treadmill. I have done two C25K programs in the past and really enjoyed them, I loved starting at a safe and comfortable pace, one that I felt I could actually do, and then slowly ramp it up and see results. The problem is I end up missing a few runs, or a week, and then I get back on and feel like I lost a huge amount of progress, and I get mad at myself and stop. The last time I was on this bad boy was January, so I had to dust if off a bit! I use a chest strap and watch to monitor my heart rate and get somewhat accurate measurement of calories burned and time in zone, etc. So I'm in the basement, starting This C25K program, however I usually like to watch a good tv show while I run to distract me, (so even though it starts at only 30minutes, I end up doing 40-45 minutes). I turned on SMASH from this week, I start my workout. Then about 25 minutes into it, BAM my treadmill just turns off! I grabbed the bars so I didn't fall and I was so confused, it started turning back on...it is less than a year old so I don't know what happened, but at that point I had lost all my distance and my time and I was so bummed, I wanted to just stop and go upstairs, but instead I talked myself into just walking a five minute cool down, but a couple minutes into it I talked myself into just finishing the workout even though I wouldn't know my actual distance. So I did it! 40 minutes later I finished my workout, I estimate that I went about two miles based on my pace and I felt really good :) sometimes I forget that working out is like a happy drug. I am going to keep on this happy wave and use it to workout again today.

For Breakfast I had my greek yogurt, fruit and cereal.

Lunch was leftover tater tot hotdish with ground turkey and sweet potato tots

Afternoon snack of dark chocolate sugar free pudding and a banana

For dinner I made our favorite Black Bean Enchiladas, but I usually make them with jarred store bought salsa, and my bf is sort of a salsa snob because his mom makes THE BEST fresh salsa ever. So he decided he wanted to try them with her salsa, over the weekend we asked her to make a big batch for us and we have been seriously enjoying that salsa and it made these even more amazing!

 You can see some of my enchilada guts spilled out, but that's ok they still tasted yummy!

When it was time for bed I went to lay down and there was this awful huge spider on my pillow!! but it was actually just an evil fuzz from my down comforter that likes to look like a spider, these have been tricking me a lot lately, I am not amused.