12W12S: W11 Update

I lost another 5 pounds this week -- don't ask me how, because I'm not entirely sure myself. Since I started keeping track of my weight loss about three 3 weeks ago, I've lost 9 pounds, so I'm probably down 25-30 lbs. altogether. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up this breakneck pace, but we'll see. Two pounds a week should not be a major struggle, not with so much to lose, but it's weird to watch the calorie allowance get gradually smaller. Who'd have thunk that a grown person could actually feel like they're getting enough to eat when their eating plan is based on ~1,500 calories per day?

Also, I am now beginning to see the tragic flaw in the "Desperation Samba" meal plan: we are basically out of food at this point. I had yogurt, fruit, and a mini-bagel for lunch today because I couldn't have a bowl of cereal -- we're out of milk. And it's too damn hot to go out to the store if we don't need to (especially because we already went to BJ's today and got about a ton of nonperishables for vacation).

My big decision now: weigh in before I go on vacation, or not? On the one hand, it would be nice to have an "accurate" calorie budget for while we're away, but on the other hand, I want to be able to enjoy myself and not feel like I can't have any typical vacation foods, like boardwalk pizza or ice cream. It might only be a few calories that I'll be cutting off the total (right now, my "allowance" is 1,540), but that extra few calories might mean I can get sprinkles.  :-)

Cousins Calendar - July 2011

When I am not obsessing over what vegetable to make for dinner, sometimes I get some other stuff done. I went with the "rock star" theme here, because they're in sunglasses.

12W12S: W10 Update

Yesterday was a rough day for me because I was entirely off-book for basically the whole day: we went to Hersheypark for the company picnic. Part of our Annual Hersheypark Ritual is our Annual Pilgrimage-to-the-Bob-Evans-Right-Outside-Hersheypark. We always do this, so I tried to plan ahead, checking the Bob Evans website the night before so I could plan my breakfast in advance.

Here is the short version of the story -- I won't reveal what I actually ate, because I don't feel like getting sued, but next time, I'm just going to get a fruit plate and bacon or something, and save myself the agony.

Also: when a company sponsors a Weight Watchers program in the office, would it kill them to have additional offerings at the company picnic besides dried food-service hamburgers and room-temperature salad? I ended up filling a plate with burger toppings and calling those my "sides." Some chicken salad would have been nice.

Now, today is the last day of Week Ten (even though this is my 11th week on the program), so tomorrow I'm supposed to start Week Eleven, which was supposed to be the week of the family vacation, but it isn't. I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to address the "fresh goddamn air" problem, but I think I'm going to just bite the bullet and do two laps around the building at lunchtime. FBAEW.

12W12S: W10 Update

Last night's dinner ...

... which inspired this here post.

12W12S: W10

Oh my God, I can't believe I have actually stuck to this for 10 whole weeks already (because, remember, we had Week 9A in there)! Yay me! Even though I spent a ridiculous amount of money on these tiny little baby sodas:

As a reminder, for this week, I am switching from 12-oz. cans of Mountain Dew to 8-oz. cans. That's as small a serving as I can get, and as small as I am willing to go anyway. I know it's completely deranged, but knowing that Mountain Dew is part of my eating plan -- not something I am allowed to have, but something I am actually building my menu around, more or less -- has really helped me stick to this. And no diet will work if you don't stick to it, right?

I'm also making one previously un-announced adjustment to the plan, and that is to limit my lunchtime entrees to 300 calories or less. Using Lose It! has been very helpful because it gives me a daily calorie count to stick to, and that calorie goal adjusts as you lose weight. Right now, based on my current weight and my weight-loss goal (2 lbs. per week, until I'm down to 135 lbs., which is what I weighed the day I graduated high school), I get 1,586 calories per day. I want to make lunch and snacks take up 50% or less of my daily calories, so I can have more flexibility (and dessert!) at dinnertime.

12W12S: W9A Update

I started using a new app on my iPhone called Lose It! and while I'm figuring it out I'll be keeping track of my food there, so diet postings over here will be light. I know: escandalo! But I'm pretty sure it's kind of boring for you to read about how I eat the same damn things every day, just in different combinations. (Right, J?)

I will share amazing culinary discoveries with you, though, and today's is: Wegmans Food You Feed Good About Lemon Vinaigrette. HOLY TOMATO, yo.

Like good little dieters, we have been eating lots of fruits and vegetables. As I mentioned before, we are trying to follow a "half-plate healthy" eating plan as much as possible, especially at dinnertime. Due to my work schedule being kind of crazypants, we eat a lot of frozen veggies, but we eat fresh when we can (and, mainly, when our budget permits it).

But let's all admit it, shall we? Steamed fresh green beans are okay, but nothing spectacular.

Until today, that is. Because I tossed about a pound-and-a-quarter of green beans with some salt, pepper, and just one wee little tablespoon of that there vinaigrette, and I swear to God, I heard the angels sing.

Or maybe I am sick of just plain veggies.

But in any case, I can recommend this stuff. One teaspoon of dressing over a cup of vegetables is plenty, and I can absolutely vouch for how delicious it is on green beans. I can imagine it would be great on broccoli and with spinach, also, and probably even cauliflower and carrots. Only 15 calories for one teaspoon, also. Highly recommended.

12W12S: W9A

This week is actually the 10th week of this "program," and I was supposed to be keeping on with the positive changes plus cutting back to only an 8-oz. can of Mountain Dew (down from the regular 12-oz. can), but I still have more than a 6-pack of 12-oz. cans from the last time I went to the store and as I mentioned in the last update, if there's anything I hate more than being fat, it's wasting money. So I'm extending the Week 9 "menu" for another week and will fully switch over to Week 10 beginning next week.

Menu:

• Monday -- Smart Ones Breakfast Quesadilla, cherries, Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs with Pasta, pistachios, chef salad (iceberg and romaine lettuce blend, celery, cucumber, tomato, shredded Colby Jack cheese, diced ham, diced turkey, chopped reduced-fat reduced-sodium bacon, croutons) with 2 Tbsp. Ken's Light Options Honey Dijon dressing, 3 small slices Italian bread with margarine
• Tuesday -- 4 oz. yogurt, mini bagel with ½ oz. fat-free cream cheese, apple, Healthy Choice Sweet & Spicy Orange Zest Chicken, ½ sliced peeled cucumber with 1 Tbsp. light ranch dressing, pistachios, 2 TGI Friday's Sizzling Steak Fajitas, sliced onion and bell pepper, ½ cup Knorr Taco Rice
• Wednesday -- GoLean! Crisp, milk, frozen mixed berries, Lean Cuisine Mushroom Tortelloni, single-serve Brussels sprouts, Birds Eye Steamfresh Roasted Chicken in Honey Chipotle Sauce, sliced onion and bell pepper, ½ cup steamed broccoli

We don't often have salads for dinner but it was so stinkin' hot this week that a nice salad was perfect, especially because on Monday we were still recovering from the holiday weekend's shenanigans and over-indulgence.

Also: I am trying out a new iPhone app starting this week, Lose It!, which I can use to track food and calories and exercise and nutrients and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! I will give you a report in a little while, once I've used it for about a week.

12W12S: W9 Update

One quick advance update* -- next week I am supposed to switch over to 8 oz. cans of Mountain Dew, but I still have more than half of a 12-pack in the fridge, so I am going to "extend" Week Nine until the regular-size cans are gone. Week 9A, I guess it will be.

Anyway:

• Thursday -- Jimmy Dean D-Lights Turkey Bacon Breakfast Bowl (delicious! but needed some ketchup), pear, Healthy Choice Fire Roasted Tomato Chicken, single-serve broccoli and cheese, pistachios, brown sugar barbecue chicken breast (marinade, not sauce), ½ cup Birds Eye Steamfresh Southwestern Style Rice, ½ cup Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans
• Friday -- GoLean! Crisp, milk, cherries, Healthy Choice Country Breaded Chicken, carrots, pistachios, egg roll, 2 cups wonton soup broth with 4 dumplings
• Saturday -- 2 eggs scrambled with spinach, cheese and onions, 2 slices reduced-fat reduced-sodium bacon, mini bagel with margarine, V8, 2 cups wonton soup broth with 4 dumplings, 2 slices pork roll with cheese (no bun), grilled marinated chicken finger, 1 cup baked macaroni and cheese, 2 slices tomato pie, 3 wedges watermelon
• Sunday -- cherries, 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, 1 breakfast sausage, 1 slice Pepperidge Farm Light Style Soft Wheat bread with butter, 2 beef BBQ sandwiches with rolls, 1 cup macaroni and cheese, Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter 90 calorie granola bar, grilled marinated chicken breast tenders, sauteed zucchini, 1 cup pasta salad with cheese and pickles, cherries, watermelon

The weekend was tough because we were at picnics most of the time, but I tried to make good choices. Limited my snacking, chose fruit when it was available, etc. It wasn't good, but I could have done worse (especially on Saturday, when we were at a picnic and there was nothing but high-carb side dishes and non-diet sodas). Will try to improve this week, and go back to packing a travel lunch next week.

[* Ed. Note: This was started on Thursday 7/1 so it isn't so "advance" any more, but it was at the time.]

Cupcake Calendar - July 2011

I got lucky with this page in two big respects: (1) I found a picture with a flag where Shae was looking directly into the camera, and (2) I was able to find exactly what I wanted for backgrounds, etc. I started scrapbooking around this time last year, and when I started, I wasn't entirely clear on the whole concept of "kits" and so stuff that I downloaded got split up and categorized and moved around, and it was surprisingly easy for me to find the stuff I acquired back in the beginning. The hardest part about putting this calendar page together was building the firework, which is made up of four different (similar) elements, which were conveniently all located in the same folder. Yes, the wording on this page is from the same source kit as the wording for the July page from the 2010 Cupcake Calendar -- I guess the takeaway from that is that Scrabble tiles make excellent "All-American" word art.

Anyway ... Happy 4th.