So close...yet so far!

So with last week's weigh in, I realized that I would not be able to make Lifetime by my birthday. In order to make Lifetime by my birthday, I would have had to be at goal weight at this weeks weigh in, then maintain my goal weight for 6 weeks. I am not going to let myself be discouraged by this, I can still reach goal by my birthday and then reach Lifetime shortly after that. I am still going forward focusing on working out and drinking lots of water

Thursday- I was pretty lazy for breakfast, but luckily one of the other projects had ordered breakfast. I ate some scrambled eggs and a ton of fruit. For lunch we had a lunch meeting. Luckily since I order for the lunch meetings, i had control over the food. We had salads with the choice of grilled or crispy chicken. I ate a big plate of salad with grilled chicken and a blueberry vinaigrette. After work my friend Lindsey and I went out for drinks. I had two Cigar City beers and we munched on wings and some spinach artichoke dip. I made sure that I tracked everything when I got home.

Friday- Breakfast was an English muffin and a bunch of grapes. I made my favorite mix of iced tea and sparkling water to drink on the way to work. Again we had a lunch meeting, so the choice was mine. For this meeting the team requested Panera, so I ordered sandwiches, salads and mac n cheese. After work I went to the gym and did some weights, then ran errands and got the house ready for some visitors this weekend.

Saturday- Andy and I started our day by going to get bedroom furniture for the guest room. After that Andy headed to work and Jason, Leah and I went to Riverside market for lunch. I love Riverside Market Pizza, so I decided to splurge and get Pizza with Jason. After Riverside we went to Funky Buddha. We then headed back to the house for naps before the Bruins vs. Panthers Game.

Sunday- We headed down to South Beach for some fun in the sun. South Beach is weird!! So many crazy outfits and people. It was very interesting but so not my scene. Sunday night Andy and I went out to dinner, since we were both too exhausted to cook. I got blackened mahi-mahi with a baked potato.

Monday- I got seriously back on track Monday. For breakfast I made 3 egg whites and wrapped it in a warmed tortilla with some sirarcha. For lunch I brought a stuffed squash, sparkling water and an apple. Dinner was a rotisserie chicken with roasted broccoli.

Tuesday- Breakfast was another egg white breakfast burrito. Lunch was stuffed squash with carrots and hummus. After work Andy and I went to Costco to do some shopping. We stocked up on oranges, meat and veggies. I snacked on an orange on the way home. For dinner we used the leftover rotisserie chicken to make stuffed poblano peppers. I mixed the chicken with cheese and salsa then baked in the peppers. We then ate the peppers with some guacamole. It was a super easy yet delicious dinner!

Wednesday- Breakfast was another egg white burrito. Lunch was stuffed squash with an orange and an apple. After work I headed to the gym for a session with my personal trainer. Dinner was leftover chicken with tomato soup and snap peas.

Weigh in- Good Week!

St. Patrick's Day and Andy's Birthday!!

I started this week with focus but knowing some challenge would be in front of me. To start with Monday is Andy's birthday which means going to his favorite brewery for his birthday meal. Then also St. Patrick's day which means corned beef and cabbage. These are the types of weeks that weekly points are for.

Thursday- Breakfast was coffee and strawberry yogurt. For lunch we went out to honor a coworker. I got a roasted beet salad and snacked on some guacamole and chips to start. For dinner I had a lamb burger with sweet potato fries.

Friday- For breakfast I made steel cut oats overnight. I ate the steel cut oats with berries and had some coffee. Lunch was a tuna salad. I made tuna with 1 TBSP of mayo, whole grain mustard, relish, pepper, celery salt and paprika. I also brought green beans, and apple and peppers and hummus. Instead of this for lunch, I got some lentil soup. Then used the lunch for dinner. Friday night Andy and I went to choose the clothes for the groomsmen to wear for the wedding.

Saturday- Saturday I got up and ran the Shamrock 4 miler. This was the first time I had run in a while and I was surprised that I was quicker than I had been in the past. When I got home I made some coffee and reheated some steel cut oats for breakfast. Then I started on my projects for the day. I repainted some Adirondack chairs that we had and replanted our herbs and planted some succulents in a window box I repainted. Here are some before and after pictures! For dinner we kept it simple. Grilled chicken,  kale with onions and garlic and Mac n Cheese.

After: Fresh paint, fresh soil and some succulents!

Before: Empty rusty window box

After: Kelly Green chairs

Before: Really nice wooden Adirondack chairs

Sunday- Sunday we got started early and went to the farmers market. The day started with a cafe con leche. When we got home I ate an apple. A little later on I ate some steel cut oats with a little milk and brown sugar since I was reheating them. Dinner was the points for the day. I made corned beef and cabbage. This year I changed things up by roasting the cabbage and the potatoes and carrots. I made sure that I was mainly eating the vegetables but did enjoy some corned beef!

Monday- For breakfast I had some steel cut oats reheated with a pinch of brown sugar, splash of milk and walnuts. Lunch was some leftover corned beef and cabbage, with carrots and potatoes. For dinner, we celebrated Andy's birthday. We went to Titanic brewery so that Andy could get his free meal. I decided on grilled seafood and veggies as my meal. I also enjoyed two beers and tracked ever single drink!

Tuesday -  For breakfast I brought oatmeal with a splash of milk and brown sugar. Lunch was left over grilled seafood and veggies with an apple as a snack. For dinner I made corned beef has with one egg. Since it was St. Patrick's day we celebrated with some Jameson and Ginger Ale.

Wednesday - For breakfast I made an Almond butter, banana protein smoothie. For lunch I decided to get a salad at work.  I had found gorgeous round squash at the farmers market and decided that would be great for stuffing the squash. I looked for recipes and wasn't really finding anything that appealed to me, so I decided to make my own recipe.

Stuffed Squash

Makes 4 servings 

WW points per serving:5 PP 

1 lb ground turkey

2 tsp. olive oil

4 c. baby kale

1 large onion thinly sliced

4 round squash, top cut off and inside scooped out

1 TBSP tomato paste

seasoning to taste

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan set to medium-high. Add turkey and brown the turkey. Remove turkey and place on plate. Heat 1 tsp of oil in pan, add thinly sliced onions. Cook onions until they are dark brown in color and caramelized. Once the onions are caramelized add the baby kale and cook until wilted. Add the ground turkey back into the pan and and mix with the onion and kale mixture. Once mixed add the tomato paste and mix. Once the tomato paste has been incorporated, remove from heat. Stuff the filling evenly between the squash and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the squash are fork tender.

Here is a picture of the finished project!

Weigh In- Getting myself back on track really helped this week...down a pound!

The Struggle of Time Management

Lately I have been struggling on my journey. It is a job to commit to this lifestyle change. It requires planning your food every day, preparing food and working out. This is all on top of a full time job, wedding planning and trying to have some form of a social life. I am finding myself getting lazy with food ideas and then getting bored with food. It feels like I have lost the time that I used to have to cook or maybe it is that I have lost some of my joy in cooking. I really just want someone to cook all my meals for me! Although I had one favorite meal over the weekend which is picture below:

Quinoa, kale, onion, mushrooms with an over easy egg

I know that because I have been un interested in shopping, preparing and cooking food, I have also not been tracking that well. So starting this week I am trying to get interested in cooking again.

I was talking to my good friend Caley about my current indifference to working the WW program. She suggested that I try some small changes this week. She suggested focus on changing my workout and maybe working to increase my water intake. So she and I started our own challenge. We are going to try to drink 100 oz of water today. And I am going to focus on different workouts than I usually do, so the blog will look a little different.

Monday- This was the day Caley and I determined we should do mini challenges to get our butt backs in gear. Lunch was a simple quinoa, kale, onion and craisin salad, with carrots and hummus and an apple. For dinner I made a simple turkey meatloaf, which I almost burned...luckily I popped a breaker, over a baby kale salad.
Workout- 25 minutes of walking at 3.5 mph at a 7% incline followed by weights with my personal trainer

Tuesday -  I started the day by drinking 24 oz of water as I got ready for work. For breakfast I made a mango and berry protein smoothie. Lunch was similar to Monday, except I brought watermelon instead of an apple. Throughout the day I used my Weight Watchers tracker to track the water and by lunch I had already consumed 50 oz of water. Dinner was grilled salmon with broccoli and cheese tots. In attempt to get back into cooking, I went to my favorite blog for recipes. I made there Broccoli and Cheese tots which were pretty easy to make and a huge hit with Andy!

Broccoli and Cheese Tots

Workout - 35 minutes of walking at 3.2 mph at 6% incline.

Wednesday- Breakfast was a banana and mango protein smoothie. When I got to work I also got a cafe con leche for a little pick me up. Today I changed up lunch a bit. I brought a baby kale salad with coleslaw dressing topped with meatloaf. I also brought grapes and peppers as a snack. For dinner I had leftover meatloaf and sautéed snap peas.
Workout- Walking at 3.2 mph on a 7% incline for 30 minutes.

Weigh In - This wasn't my best week because I gained 0.6lbs. I keep reminding myself how far that I have come, and am trying to stay encouraged for next week!

Back to Basics...Part 2

It was back to the basics this week. I need to get back on track if I am going to make lifetime by my birthday.

Thursday - For breakfast I had a green berry protein smoothie. For lunch I made a nice big green salad, topped with peppers, scallions, salsa and ham. I also brought some hummus and carrots, and an apple to snack on. For dinner I decided to make some Meatloaf with some roasted broccoli.

Friday - Friday was a strange day for our group of friends. We lost a friend of ours, Cherilyn. She was Matt's girlfriend and an incredible woman that unfortunately lost her fight with Brain Cancer. We took Matt out to try and get his mind on other things and show him our support. I got roasted cauliflower and a spinach salad. It was delicious. We talked about Cherilyn and toasted to her memory.

Saturday-  I made an egg white scramble with greens, cilantro and onion for breakfast. I topped it with avocado and salsa. Since I knew I was going out to dinner that night, I snacked on fruit and veggies for the rest of the day. At dinner I ordered kung poa shrimp and requested that no noodles or rice be brought with my dish.

Sunday- Sunday I ate some cottage cheese and coffee for breakfast. For lunch I ate some veggies and fruit. Dinner was leftover meatloaf and roasted asparagus.

Monday-  For breakfast I made a green berry smoothie. Lunch was a spinach salad with peppers, cucumber, scallions, garbazno beans and salsa. For snacks I brought carrots and hummus, an apple and orange. For dinner I made a Skinnytaste.com recipe. It is a whole recipe for tacos, but I just wanted to make the chicken and bean filling because I thought maybe I would make a salad or just do tacos, I wasn't sure yet.

Slow Cooker Black Bean and Chicken Tacos (modified from the website)

Makes 6 servings, 4 PP each

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 15 oz can low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed (Goya)
• 3 tomatoes diced
• 1/4 jalapenos, diced
• taco seasoning
• Place black beans, tomatoes, jalapenos and chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning and cook on low for 5 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Drain black beans and place back in slow cooker to keep warm. Mix Chicken and black beans.

Tuesday -  For breakfast it was the usual green berry smoothie. I went to lunch with some co-workers and got a spinach salad with blackened shrimp, crispy goat cheese, strawberries, blueberries and balsamic vinegar. I chose shrimp over chicken because it is lower points. After work I went to happy hour with some co-workers and munched on some chips and salsa. 

Wednesday - For breakfast again it was a green berry smoothie. For lunch I brought a salad with roasted chickpeas, peppers, cucumbers, scallions and jalapeno lime vinegar. I also brought carrots and hummus, a tangerine and an apple. After work I went to the gym and worked out before my weight watchers meeting.

Weigh-in- Back to basics helps! Down 1.4 lbs this week!! Only 2.8 lbs from goal!