New Plan Day 2!

So I must admit today went a lot smoother than yesterday went. First off I made sure I planned out my meals better for the day so I knew by tonight I wouldn't end up with 17 points left over like I had yesterday. This morning I had an 11 point breakfast which helped put a dent into my dailies. I also planned on making pasta for dinner which I knew even using Whole Wheat pasta was still going to cost me some Dailies because of the about of carbs being consumed. Here is a look and breakdown of how I spent my points today, and if you notice I even managed to get in 2 AP's this morning with a little mini workout before I had to head into school for the day!

For my pasta sauce I added Shredded Cheese, along with fresh garlic, green bell pepper, and minced onion. I calculated the pasta points with the cheese points included it's just easier for me to lump things together given the amount of ingredients I use when I cook. So at the end of today I managed to reach all of the goals I set for myself yesterday... I got in my Dairy, I Ate almost all of my DP's, I got in a Multi-Vitamin, and I even got in a bonus mini workout!! Overall I would say I had a pretty successful day I just hope tomorrow goes as well.

Goals For Tomorrow-

* Earn at least 4-AP's
* Get in all of my GHG's
* Track all of my points!



 

NEW PLAN AHHH!

So the new plan started for me this morning, and after reading everything the website had to offer about the new plan I new it was def. time I head into a meeting and get all the facts. I plan on going in on Thursday my normal WI day to get all the new info, but for now I tried my best to get the new hang of things. Here is what's changed for me on the new plan:

ProPlus Allowance Daily- 41

Old Points Allowance- 33

New Weekly ProPlus Allowance- 49

Old Weekly Point Allowance- 35

ProPlus Fruits/Veggies Value- 0 !!

Old Fruits/Veggie Value- 0-3 depending

So I took a couple of Screen Shots of my Tracker for today, and as you will see by the end of today I had 17 points left over even after the stuff I brought to work with me to eat overnight! I guess I didn't realize how much I counted for fruits and veggies before. With all of these left over points I did realize that I didn't get in any dairy today, but I hit almost all my other GHG's and still was short... I will def. have to plan better, because while I like having a few points left to play around with at the end of the day 17 is just to many to do me any good. 

I really made a mess of this first day, and while I ate pretty well I do see that I need to add in Dairy on a daily basis which I normally do, but I'm out of milk and cheese at the moment. I also forgot to take my multi-vitamin today, and didn't get in a workout :( So while I may still have this many points left over for the day I know I need to focus more on getting all my GHG's completed during the day, and really plan my weeks out better from now on. This new program will take a bit of getting used to but I think I will really like it once I have all the facts and have more time to get into things. Today was basically a throw whatever I had left in the fridge into my tummy day.

My Goals for Tomorrow:

* Eat all points
* Get in all my GHG's
* Take Multi-Vitamin

BLACK FRIDAY... OR NOT!

Okay, so everyone I know always gets so hyped up about the deals and specials they find on Black Friday, but honestly for myself I get some amazing shopping done way before Thanksgiving even comes around. Like this year I am currently at work while others have been sitting in a cold parking lot waiting for the doors to open and for hundreds of crazy people to thrown them down so they can get that flat screen TV before anyone else does. To me that just seems CRAZY! If I wanted to be killed and squished in a stampede I would go to the Zoo and start opening the cages to let the real animals out.

This year I bought my friend a grill that was on sale about a week ago, and the deal I got was even better then it would have been this morning. I bought my godson a whole SpongeBob Bedding Set and matching Curtains at a really great price seeing as it's such a popular gift item this year. My secret... Shopping Online!! A lot of people don't like to shop online because they think it's unreliable, but I use AMAZON.COM and love it. I found some really amazing Black Friday deals online while sitting home and enjoying my night off a couple of days ago.

 

I guess I just really wanted to say that you don't have to kill yourself to get a good deal on Holiday Items and gifts if you look around online, and even in stores a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving you can really find some great stuff for really great prices, and save yourself a limb or two by not having to fight the swarming masses at 3am the day after Thanksgiving. I'm glad to say that all of my Holiday shopping has been done for over a week, and now I can just sit back and enjoy the next couple of weeks instead of stress over last minute present ideas.

Meetings Meetings Meetings!

Today I stumbled across my old WW meeting book, where they have all the stamps from when you got weighed in. Looking back at how Amazing I did when attending meetings got me to realize that I have been majorly fooling myself if I think I can do this plan strictly online. While I love all the girls on the boards I don't have anyone to be truly accountable to when I weigh myself in at home. I change the WI dates all the time, and the time of day I weigh myself in at. All of those things make for inaccurate measurements. The last weight I had recorded at a meeting was 236.6 which had me down 50 pounds with WW at that point and 75 in total from my highest weight ever.

When I looked at that and saw all of my 5 pound stars that I had earned it made me want to cry almost because I knew that I was now back up to 265 which means I have seriously screwing myself over, and I don't think I really would have stopped myself unless I saw those numbers in that little book. I have decided that as of this week whether it is 30 dollars more then just online program I have to get back to the meetings. The people there have great ideas and tips, and I also feel myself wanting to impress others and myself each week when I attend the meetings. I had originally stopped going to them because my school schedule got crazy, and I didn't have the extra 40 a month to go, but now that I think about it I spend 40 dollars a month on bullshit things I don't even need so I will be able to pay for this if I really need to. I also was using the excuse of school to not go to meetings, when honestly I can just change the day and time of my meeting to fit my schedule. So here from my mouth to God's ears I will be attending a meeting this Friday to learn about the new plan WW has started, and by this time next Friday I will have a loss in that book again..

If I keep with my meetings, and keep up with my exercise I know I can kick this weight problem in the ass. I will no longer be using money and school as a reason not to get back on track and start losing again! I can do it this time!

Today's Points and AP Stats-

Daily's Consumed- 31/33 (First Time all week I had any leftovers!!

AP's- 3.5 Short Walk This Morning!! (First one all week!)

VENT!

Okay, so for the last 2 weeks I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. First was my parents 25th wedding anniversary party I hosted 2 days later it was my grandfathers 75th birthday party, and then a couple of days after that we did Early Turkey day for my brother while he was home. I thought I had done pretty well with counting points and eating okay, and last weeks scale visit was a pleasant one, but after today sneaking a peek I think last week went horrible and it's all catching up to me now!! I know your weight fluctuates between 1 and 5 pounds a day so I could be off by some, but as of this mornings early peek I am up 6 pounds... ***Shakes head*** I thought my eyes were gonna pop out of their sockets when I saw that this morning. I had assumed with all my running around and being more active then normal it would help burn off some of the extra calories I ate, so I have not gotten in a decent workout since last week sometime. 

As I write this I am making a vow to get off my lazy ass in the morning come hell or high water, put on my walking shoes and get in at least 2 miles if not more. I used to walk every morning, and come racing home to count up all my AP's and eat a healthy breakfast before bed. It seems as of late though I am very tired in the mornings and just give up on even the thought of walking. I really can't afford to have this set back I am already working on losing the weight I had gained back now I will be even farther behind. I honestly don't know why I screw myself over like this, but it's going to STOP NOW!!

I have a little over a month before I go back to class, so I am setting a small goal. I want to work out at least 3 times a week, and I want to have lost 10 pounds and have kept it off before the New Year. It may not seem like a good goal to some, but it is doable for me when I stay on track and get in my workouts the problems is I have been letting my self yo-yo back and forth and it's doing more damage then good. 

I will keep my blog updated each day as to my point consumption and my workout efforts for the day. I have been letting this slide to long and it's time to take back control of my life once and for all!!

Early Turkey Day!!

Thanksgiving is a big Holiday in my family, we all love to get together and celebrate every year. This year however my younger brother got to come home on leave from the Navy so we decided to do Turkey Day early since he will be heading out before the actual day. The normal tradition for the last 15 years or so is for me and my father to get up at the crack of dawn and start cooking while my brother and mother sleep in. Personally I like it like this I get to spend quality time with my dad, and that way we keep the amount of cooks down to just 2 in the kitchen instead of 4 lol. 

This year we found a 21 pound bird, and I must say after we got it home we had to admit it must have been the misfit in the bunch because it's neck socket was slightly crooked, his legs were short and stumpy, and he had a huge long neck. My dad had grabbed all the giblets out to boil them and later we found a second neck piece still inside it!! As always we rubbed our Turkey down with lots of soft butter, Stuffed him with the best homemade stuffing, then shoved his butt into brown bags which we then placed in the oven and baked until he was golden brown and delicious!!

Making the Stuffing is what got me really into Thanksgiving in the first place, when I was little my dad's mom always cooked dinner and she always let me help her make the stuffing. Over the years my dad took her place and it's become the part I look forward to the most each year.  Personally to me if the stuffing sucks then the day is ruined. We use bread cubes, celery, onion, jimmy dean sausage, sage, poultry seasoning and a couple other key ingredients. Over the years we have changed a couple of the side dishes we make, but in all the years we have never changed our stuffing recipe. It came out amazing this year, and I have to admit stuffing it into the bird is what really gives it the best flavor!!

Next we took our Rutabagas and peeled them and got them on the stove to boil, while we started the candied yams!! Those are always the best and even though they were a little more mashed then we normally liked them by the time they cooked all the way through the flavors were AMAZING!! My dad used Orange juice concentrate, nutmeg, brown sugar and some other goodies to make this dish.. the only picture I have is when we first started them, but if you look on my last pic of the whole plate you will see how dark they get from all the sugar!!

 RUTABAGAS !!! SO YUMMY WHEN COOKED!!

 

CANDIED YAMS!!

While all of this cooking was going on our two dogs, Harley and Jitters where freaking out because they knew that as soon as we had eaten they were going to get the giblets we had boiled earlier that morning for the gravy... Here is a picture of Jitter looking at me wondering if it was time yet lol..

After all the cooking I decided that, since I hadn't eaten anything all day long I was going to take a little bit of everything we cooked... Well my plate got to be really full, but halfway through I was so stuffed I ended up not being able to eat it all. I'm just glad I took home some stuff for leftovers they really are the best part of all that cooking!!! So damn good, and the best part this year was I had my brother home to enjoy it with us even if he does have to ship back out!  Here is a picture with all of the food we made... Normally there is way more of a variety, but it was only immediate family this year and not our normal crowd of 30 or so lol.. I was going to make a homemade pumpkin pie, but unfortunately I didn't have enough time to get it ready before today, so we settled on a pre-made one which was okay. At least now I have something to aim for next year making my own!!

The orange/yellow looking pile on the plate is what the Rutabagas look like when they have been cooked down and mashed they were so yummy it's the one dish me and my dad fight about for left overs!! You can also see how the Candied yams browned right up after cooking in the brown sugar and other goodies!! I mixed white meat with my favorite dark meat, and the gravy was awesome!! Overall Thanksgiving was great this year, and I look forward to doing it all over again next year hopefully at my own place!

Great Weekend!!

So this weekend started early for me I took off Thursday from work, so I could host my parents 25th wedding anniversary party. We had a bunch of family and friends over to celebrate with them, and threw a dinner party. I knew going into this weekend that there was going to be a lot of food going on, and that I was going to have to be very careful with my points. To my delight everything ran very smoothly, and I even managed to stay pretty on track. For my parents anniversary dinner we made stuffed chicken breasts with broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mixed baked beans, and corn. Since I hadn't gotten a chance to eat earlier in the day I managed to eat with in my points range even with having a slice of their Raspberry Decadence cake which was topped with cream cheese frosting!!!

 

So after my parents party, we had my grandfathers 75th Birthday party to throw. We surprised him and has some of his friends fly in from NY for the party which turned out to be a great success!! For the party I made 75 assorted cupcakes and I am proud to say out of the 75 I only ate 2 and not even on the same day! I also made a pasta salad that had everything but the kitchen sink in it.

Pasta Salad Contents:

Tri-Colored Spiral Pasta

Cucumbers

Grape Tomatoes (Halved)

Black Olives

Sharp Yellow and White Cabbot Cheese

R,Y,G Bell Peppers

Italian Seasoning Packet

Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing

Balsamic/Italian Robusto Dressing

It tasted very good, even though it was a little pointy for my normal day I had saved up my weeklies for this party. I also made mixed baked beans which were so yummy (cant post recipe though it's my grams). Overall the party was a lot of fun my brother was in town on leave from the Navy which made things that much better for us all. I don't know about all family's but in mine we are very close and food can sometimes be equated with love. It's hard being on WW and having big events like this so close together, but for the most part this weekend was a blast and I managed to control my eating habits and count my points. I do have to get in a couple workouts this week if I plan on having any points left for the upcoming days but it was def. worth it for all the fun we had! I just hope that the scale will agree with me this Thursday!!!

My Gramps in his Superhero undies, getting ready to blow out 74 cupcakes.... someone ate one early can you believe that!!!!

Me, Gramps, and my Brother Mike... ( Don't you just love his Birthday Attire!!) 

I'm just glad that this weekend went as well as it did, not many people can say that they have been married for 25 years or have live to be 75 I'm very lucky to be blessed with great family, and if it means sparing a few points to celebrate with them than it is def. worth it to me! I can always get my workout on later in the week to make up for it!!