7/30 - Back to the Grind

WARNING:  Picture heavy post. My trip to CO Springs was really nice. I got some good information to take home and some things I want to explore to expand our business. It was also really beautiful.

Garden of the Gods

I had a lot of delicious food too!

Delicious Sushi

Miso Soup and a Giant Beer

The WORST salad in the world from Fat Tire in Denver

Had half of an egg bagel for breakfast on the way home

Roasted Veggie Sandwich from Horse and Hound

I worked out 3 days while out of town which was huge for me!

So overall, I'm looking forward to continuing on plan this week and don't think the trip threw me off too much.

Yesterday, I had kombucha for breakfast for 2pts+.

For lunch, I had a mini salad with no dressing because I forgot it! 1pt+.

I was starving when I got home and had chips and guacamole with a lot of watermelon for 8pts+.

For dinner, we had bbq chicken and fries for 9pts+, with a beer for 5pts+.

Work Trip!

I haven't posted since before the weekend, mainly because I was busy gearing up for a work trip to CO which I am now on. I enjoyed this salad a lot last week: Cobb salad no tortia chips, no cheese, add avocado from Trinity.

And this...

Fish Tacos from Mono Loco

For this gal's birthday...

with some drinks

I took 1 day off and had this scrumptious southern meal ;)....

With some drinks

And because I'm in CO Springs for work this week. I ate well on my way here...

One of the worst salad's I've had in my life! Cobb salad from New Belgium Brewing Co in the Denver Airport. Avoid when possible except for beer.

...and am gearing up for a productive week.

Anyone in CO Springs have suggestions on some things to do in my spare time?

7/20 - What's in Those Cookies?!

I had a pretty stinking un-productive day at work Thursday. I was continually letting myself get distracted by parents and students. It was nice to talk to people, but didn't help me finish my to-do list. Going to fix that today. 

For lunch, I got to enjoy a real treat. I went to lunch with Lori, a friend who I met through being a client where I work. Lori is what you would call a power health mom. Her daughter was diagnosed with a severe case of Celiac's (coma level severe) over a year ago and she has since made it her mission to learn about natural healing, eating, and body restoration. She has fought a lot of battles against conventional medical wisdom, navigated the unknown and unanswerable from her doctors, and made unbelievable progress with her daughter's illness. Its always a treat to pick her brain and be impacted by a testimony of healthy eating. 

I haven't shared this here, but a while back I went through getting blood work done for Celiac's. My blood work came back negative. I was gluten free on that blood test, but had not been for any length of time. My dr has recommended retesting while eating lots of gluten to see if anything changes. 

I had a gargantuan salad from the Whole Foods salad bar. I tossed in spring mix, chicpeas, red cabbage, cabbage slaw, tomatoes, cucumbers, and balsamic vinaigrette for 2pts+. I had half a glass of Kombucha citrus with it for 1pt+. Probably got in all my veggies for the day. ;)

For dinner, I got off work a little early to let the dog out before weight watchers. I weighed in at 157.2 lbs. A new WW low and down -2.4 lbs from the previous week. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was a loss. I'm back to my weight pre-summer vacations minus another quarter lb. 

I had spaghetti squash with zucchini marinara for dinner for 2pt+. I had 1tsp of peanut butter while it was heating because I was famished for 1pt+. I also had 1/2 cup kombucha with dinner for 0pts+. I also had two chocolate chip cookies for 3pts+.

After dinner, Matt and I went to Fry Springs Station for two drinks. I had two Vienna lagers for 10pts+. It was nice to get out and talk. 

When we got home, all I could think about was cookies! They were so good I had FOUR more. Some one must have slipped cocaine into them. 6pts+ more.

Total: 25/26

Perfect Spaghetti Squash Noodles

Spaghetti Squash is so simple to make, considered a power food, and worth 0pts+ for weight watchers. I've been digging it with my Zucchini Squash Marinara over the last few days. Here are the instructions for how I prepare it. I eat about 1/2 a medium squash for 1pt+. With the marinara, it is a 2pt+ meal!

Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti sqash
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Cut the squash in half (or have your hubby do it if you're a weenie like me) and scoop out the guts.
3. Brush 1 tsp oil on flesh side of each squash half.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Bake flesh side down on a foil lined cookie sheet for 25-35 minutes. (I have cooked it for 20 and it was great, and I've forgotten it for just under an hour and it was still great, so I'm pretty sure you'd have to leave it in for a day to mess it up.)
6. Pull strands of flesh out with a fork parallel to the length of the squash.

Enjoy and hope to see less of each other next time!

7/18 - Truckin' Along

Hump day seemed like mountain day at work. I got to work early and didn't get home until after 7. I packed breakfast, which I didn't have a chance to eat since I hit the ground running in the morning and dove into meetings. By lunch, I was ready for some food. Even though I packed my lunch, Liz and I hit up The Carving Board Cafe because I was ready to stop thinking for a bit. I got half of a turkey sandwich on gf bread for 12pts+. I ordered a side salad, but the 1/2 sandwich was so large, I didn't need it 0pts+.

I ate my packed lunch for dinner at work instead. I had toasted sesame seed chicken with quinoa for 9pts+. Not quite as good when it was fresh or only a day old, but still filling and hit the spot.

I ran our monthly trainer meeting at night and was able to avoid the beer, lemonade, and chips, but the cookies got me. I had two gf chocolate chip cookies for 3pts+.

After work, I was ready for some decompression time. I had already eaten dinner but Matt hadn't, so we decided to go out and have a drink on Wild Wing's patio. I got an iced tea and ate an appetizer of chips and salsa for 8pts+. Eating our dinners at home and having an iced tea or soda with an appetizer out is one way Matt and I like to save money and calories while still feeling like we have lives outside of home. 

Do you have any get-out-of-the-house ideas that aren't focused on spending $$ or eating?

Points: 32/26

Activity: 0/3

Hope to see less of each other next time!

7/17 - Summer Lovin'

Can't say enough how different leaving work around 5-5:30 feels compared to 7. Even though its not a huge amount of time, it feels like forever when I have daylight to be outside before winding down for the evening. I missed out on breakfast Tuesday morning since I woke up late! I had spaghetti squash with zucchini marinara again for lunch for 3pts+.

Since I had lunch while working, I popped out to run an errand at the mall. I picked up a tall, light coffee frappuccino for 2pts+. I bought a bra from Victoria's Secret last month and one of the straps broke almost immediately. I took it back and returned it for a new one with a coupon, so I came away with a new bra, underwear, and a $10 refund. Win.

Megan and I leisurely swam for about an hour after work for +1 activity pt. I had ~1tsp of peanut butter as a snack for 2pt+.

Megan, a friend from work is house sitting for our boss while he is on vacation. We decided to enjoy his patio, some wine, good food and card games for the evening. I marinated portobelo mushrooms in red wine, vinegar, onion and garlic and grilled them along side a ton of asparagus and a spicy chipolte seasoned pork tenderloin.

Lots of food!

Lots of this!

I really enjoyed sitting outside, grilling, and enjoying the summer night. Sometimes changing scenery to another friend's patio feels like as much of a treat as going for dinner and drinks. :)

mushrooms and asparagus (sorry these are dark)

pork tenderloin - perfectly grilled thanks to the hubby!

 I had about 2pts+ of oil on the veggies and 3 oz of tenderloin for 4pts+. I had ~10 baked tater tots for 4pts+. I had four glasses of wine over the course of the night for 12pts+. Cheers!

Daily Total: 27/26

Activity Total: 2/3

The Secret of Success is the Consistency to Pursue

I have been cooking up a storm and tracking my eats. Its going well so far and I hope to see the scale move in the right direction this week. For breakfast, I scrambled an egg...which I burned so I only ate half of it for 1pt+.

Work is going great. There are some kind of stinky things I've been dealing with at work, and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, but today it felt good to resolve conflicts and implement solutions. My boss is out of town which means there's a lot to get done, but not so much to where I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Doing everything at the center generally gives me a sense of continuity in my day. 

For lunch, I had spaghetti squash topped with this zucchini marinara sauce for 3pts+! It consisted of half a spaghetti squash with a little olive oil (2pt+ for the oil) and the marinara I made Sunday. Perfection.

After work, Megan came over and we went to the pool and swam and dilly-dallied around for about an hour before heading home to cook with Matt. I was so excited about the recipes I was making. Matt made baked barbecue chicken thighs and I made green curried lentils and spicy curried cauliflower. 

 The sweet, savory barbecue sauce was an interesting, but complimentary pairing to the spicy curried sides. My dinner was 13pt+ and I had a light beer with it for 3pts+.

Pts: 20/26

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Zucchini Marinara Sauce

If you're looking for a summery low-point pasta or spaghetti squash topping, this is the dish for you. I put it on spaghetti squash for lunch today and it was fabulous. Its 1pt+ per serving. Makes 8 servings about 3/4 cup each.

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil

1 zucchini squash, sliced 1/4" slices

1 yellow squash, sliced 1/4" slices

1 onion, diced

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 cup red wine

28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, torn apart

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried parsley

salt 

pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.
2. Lay zucchini and squash slices one layer thick and saute 3 minutes on each side or until tender. You may have to do in two batches
3. Set squash aside. Saute onion in remaining oil until tender. Add garlic and saute until fragrant.
4. Add wine to deglaze pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 20-30 minutes. 
5. Sever over top of your favorite pasta or spaghetti squash for a vitamin rich, low calorie meal.

Hope to see less of each other next time! Enjoy!

Back to Meetings

I returned to WW meetings yesterday...again. How many times will I write this same post? I feel like I can just scroll back a few months and copy and paste the same thing. So same game, different name. Its now January March June July, and I'm working at it again.

Like I said, I went to a meeting yesterday which always gets me back into go mode. I weighed in at 159.6 lbs- a little up from my last weigh in from May. I don't feel bad about it considering I've been living it up on my vacations this summer! I followed WW since Sunday of last week. I'm going to keep going until I am down a minimum of 15 lbs. 

I've made a ton of new recipes this week to throw some variety in my routine and its helped keep me going. I'll post some over the next few days. Here's to practicing healthiness!

Hope to see less of each other tomorrow!