Day 253 - Weigh In : /

Hmph. Grrrr. Grumblegrumblegrumble.

I lost this week again... but barely. -0.2 lbs. And I know it's my fault. Even though I started the C25K program I failed at my hydration goal. I barely drank my water this week and I ate most of my points later in the days. I had a hard time getting my breakfasts in by a reasonable time and got busy during the afternoons and didn't do dinner until 7pm or later. I also ate too much processed stuff. : (

O.K. Pity party over and on to another week. I've learned my lesson and am ready to get back to it! Tonight's dinner... Thai Peanut Chicken with noodles, red pepper and baby corn. YUM!

Oh! Coming up this week, lots of food ideas! 

Day 249 - Nonni's THINaddictives

Did you see the new addition(s) to my Product Review page? There's actually two there, my favorite steel-cut oats and the AH-MAZE-ING Nonni's THINaddictives. Don't know what these are? Click on the tab above and have look-see!

Running again today with my sister, my body has recovered from the first day and I'm ready to go again! So, who's decided to join me???

Day 248 - Couch To 5K (C25K)

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

I started the Couch To 5 K program yesterday with my sister. It felt great to take another step towards regaining my healthier lifestyle and figure. It was a manageable amount of walking/jogging and was completely doable. I challenge all of you to join me if you've ever wanted to run, but felt silly (like me) starting it. Oh! And did I mention that there are podcasts you can download for FREE to help time and coach you so it's pretty much a no brainer while you're out there? Yup. She and I run again again tomorrow afternoon.

If you want to see the generals of the program, click here to go to Cool Running, the website I used to get me started. The podcast is slightly different, but the website is a great reference point to begin.

Also, this week I need to begin to pull myself away from sugar. Not completely, but in the highly condensed versions I get easily addicted to. Like Caramel Creme candies *drool*. I have found another treat, lower in sugar but a great little not-to-sweet treat when you just need something to get you past your craving without causing a sugar crash. I'll share tomorrow on my Product Reviews tab!

Day 246 - Back To Weighing In

Well, it feels good  to be back to my Sunday morning routine. I actually missed doing this, it centers me and focuses me. I get re-motivated for the week ahead and make decisions about what I need to improve upon versus the previous week. Oh! You want to know how I did this last week, huh?

I lost 2.6 lbs. : )  So my current weight is 211.0. I may re-weigh in an hour or so...

My husband hasn't been counting points, just eating the foods I have been all week, staying away from restaurant foods and soda, and paying attention to portions and he lost 4 lbs.! (Men. Honestly. I look at a Twinkie and put on 5 lbs., they eat 10 Twinkies and nothing happens.)

My goals for this week? Get in all of my GHGs (Good Healthy Guidelines) each day, including water and vitamins, and starting the Couch 2 5K program with my sister. I've always wanted to like to run, but I've always hated it. I'm determined to like it. So, off I go to get started!

Day 245 - Autumn Sweet Vegetarian Chili

So I LOVE chili.

Here you can find my usual go-to fall favorite made a bit healthier. Today's yumminess is brought to you by my lovely boardies over at Weight Watchers : )  It's also brought to you because I tend to over-buy. I get excited about odd things, and the sweet potatoes and squash got me on one particular shopping trip... I digress.

So my lovelies at WW suggested a few good uses for my overabundance and this is what I did for dinner last night. Well, I did a slight variation on it. My variation is below, this link takes you to the original at Eating Well magazine.

Sweet and Spicy Vegetarian Chili

Served over a bed of brown rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile (see Note)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
•  2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy stock pot over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato, both squash and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to soften for about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Yields 10 - 1 cup servings (approximately) at 2 Points Plus for Weight Watchers (I build my recipes without the veggies added into the builder... It adds points that it shouldn't. Feel free to ask me more about this.)

I would easily count this as 2 servings of veggies, and I would add a teaspoon of safflower oil when serving to get in a heart healthy oil. I'm serving this over a bed of brown rice (left overs from the previous night) and perhaps having a cup and a half : ) Yay Autumn flavors!

**

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

• Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers. Ground chipotle chile pepper can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets (I got mine at Wegman's... McCormick Spice Islands line) or online at penzeys.com. 

Tomorrow- Weigh In number 2. Let's see how well I've readjusted to eating well again. I did have a few cookies this week. Not good with cold turkey type behavior.

Day 244 - Hydration

I'm sooooo bad at drinking anything, least of all--water.

 But it is so crucial to weight loss. I know this from my journey thus far. I fell off the boat during my pregnancy hiatus, though. (Hahaha! Fell off the boat. Like into water : ) Pun intended.)

It's boring to me. But I also think that because I have been so used to NOT taking in liquids for most of my life (like since I can remember) that I don't get to the point of feeling parched or dehydrated. Perhaps I do though and I'm accustomed to it that I don't even know what it really is anymore.

So today's focus--drink all my water/liquids. This is 8 cups. And I can't use wine as a "liquid"... *sigh*

Any hints or tips to getting in all this water? Leave your suggestions below. I promise I'll try them!

Day 243 - The Mess Monster Strikes Again

All proud of myself this morning for getting and getting my steel-cut oats with peanut butter made. I had to eat them on the go since I was meeting someone at the local mall. I thought it was brilliant to just take the bowl in the car with me to get in my whole grains AND get an errand run.

Two birds, one stone.

Then I decided to forget my half eaten bowl of heart healthy steel-cut oats was in my passenger seat awaiting my return--and I threw my lovely fuchsia handbag into the bowl.

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!

If I'm not spilling food on myself during a meal, I'm finding creative ways to get my other possessions into the action. : /   Healthy food fail.

Day 240 - Peanut Butter Chocolate Apple Bowl

I'm into bowls. I'm also NOT into meals right now. This is mostly due to lack of time and energy caused by newest love (Baby). So I'm thinking outside the plate.

I needed to get some fruit in for the day and I was craving protein of some kind. So this is what I created, and it made a great mid-afternoon snack/meal-thing. Check it out...

Peanut Butter Chocolate Apple Bowl

Hmmmm.... just noticed that gigantic chip in my bowl. Time to head to Pier One : )

Here's the recipe and Weight Watcher's Healthy Checks breakdown:

• 1 small/medium apple (I like Granny Smith)
• 2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Bear Naked Heavenly Chocolate granola
• 1 tsp safflower oil

This provides:

• 9 Points Plus
• 1-2 servings fruit
• 1 serving heart healthy oil
• delicious whole grains and satisfying protein

It may seem like a lot of points, but when you have to squeeze in meals in the form of snacks, feel satisfied, and demand yummy things in your mouth... this works perfectly! The peanut butter adds the heftiest portion of points and I'm thinking of changing it up slightly for tomorrow using fat-free Greek yogurt instead. I'll let you know how it goes : )

How would you compose your snack bowl? I would love to hear your thoughts below!

Day 239... I think

My Math may be off. No one ever accused me of being good with numbers... Should have the hubby help. Oh well. I digress.

Current restart weight: 213.6
New goal date (calculated by the average loss I used to maintain): January 20, 2013
Current mood: In control, but nervous. And needing coffee.

I ate with wild abandon for the last few months. I always knew I would come back to WW as soon as I could post-baby, but now I wish I had been a little more rational and reasonable about what I was eating. I used pregnancy as an excuse to be irresponsible. Fruit? Vegetable? What's that? : /

Well, now is not the time to get down on myself and beat myself up emotionally for what happened in the past. Now is the time to get back into my good habits and start seeing the results I was so able to count on by following the program!

I'm also going to commit to getting exercise into my daily habits this time around. It'll be necessary as I was beginning to plateau last time around without it. I'm thinking Couch to 5K.

It's good to be back! Follow me again?

Tomorrow's the day!

Tomorrow is like day 1 all over again!

Except it's not. Not really.

I've done this before and my last pregnancy was just a short hiatus in my weight-loss journey. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things again though! So I'm going to spend today reviewing where I was when I left off, update all of my stats for the world to once again see, and get ready for tomorrow morning's early weigh-in and measure session.

Oh! By the way! Not only did I have a baby since I last updated here, but I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America, second in my class and elected graduation speaker, and we moved back to Buffalo, New York, my very missed hometown. This in and of itself will pose a challenge for me, the food here is different and I've missed it. I've only been back 3 weeks now and I'm trying to get all of my trigger foods out of my system so that I'm more ready to get back into healthful mode. I'll still enjoy those foods at times, but not with the wild abandon that I've been enjoying them recently *blushes bashfully*.

Tune in tomorrow for the low down on where I'm at now... Still the same goal though, 150 lbs. and feeling great!