My 50 Point Day

I decided to document my food Wednesday so I could share a glimpse of how tracking/food shakes out in my world when I have social plans.  Wednesday night I had a Paint Nite event with three of my friends.  It was the start of my week and I don’t have anything else on the agenda this week.  So, I knew I would be going over my DSPA, which is 24, and using some WSPA.

Here is what a 50 point day looks like:

This is my usual breakfast.  I cook my frozen potatoes in olive oil and add a couple eggs, or I make egg cups with egg beaters and light mozzarella cheese.  Sometimes I have bacon or chicken sausage and I always have coffee!  Breakfast used to be one of my biggest point meals of the day but now eggs are 0 SPV.

I almost always have at least one iced coffee a day, usually from Starbucks.  This day it was from Human Bean.  I drink Americanos with two or three Splenda and a little bit of cream, which I count as 2 points.

Lunch ended up being an impromptu meet-up with The Hubs during his work day.  I was craving pizza after talking about foods we are not willing to give up.  I knew the pizza buffet might tempt me too much so I ordered the two topping personal sized pizza, half with pineapple for me and half with bacon for Kenyon.  I did my best guess one what my two slices if chicken and pineapple with white sauce would be, tracked it, and moved on.  My salad was all 0 SPV veggies/beans/pineapple and a little bit of ranch I dipped my fork in on the side.  I LOVE that beans are 0 SPV now.

I knew I was having a pretzel at the brewery where Paint Nite was later in the day and knowing I’d be spending a lot of points on that and beer, I was stressed out!  I hate feeling like I have to micro-manage my point.  Plus, I’ve lost the last two weeks eating all my WSPA and having sugar/desserts.  So, I don’t know what was stressing me per se but I can have the worst internal battles with myself.

Despite all that above, I met up with my sister before picking Danielle up for Paint Nite so I stopped by for a second coffee of the day.  This was a skinny sugar free mocha, which Lucky Perk uses real chocolate milk so they taste the best.  I asked for half chocolate milk and half fat free milk.  Again, points were based on best guess from searching the WW database.  I went for a small since I knew the mocha would cost more points than my Americano.

Paint Nite was a lot of fun.  We went to CopenRoss, which is the first time I’ve been.  The beer selection was amazing and the food was good.  The service...only so-so.  I’ll have to give them another chance.  I had one flight of beer, two light and two dark, and then Danielle and I shared the second flight.  I love getting a flight because you can try more beers and it is a smaller pour thus less points!

I had my giant pretzel and shared with the table.  It was delicious. I was going to try and “white knuckle it” the remainder of the evening since I’d used so many points but I was starving.  And, I might have accidentally drank my paint brush water...twice.  So, I needed something more substantial than pretzel and beers in my stomach.  I went for a chicken burrito that was served with chips, which I didn’t eat all of either.  Again, really good food.

I factored up the points for my beer and then I added 20 points for the CopenRoss food.  I’m sure it was way more than that, but I am happy with that number and my overall day.  There you go, a 50 point day.  Of course, not everyday can be a 50 point day or I’d have never reached my goal weight.  I’ll balance this day with the rest of my week.

Here are the Paint Nite photos.  The painting always looks easier than it actually feels out but it turned out cute.

May Apple Watch Activity Challenge Complete

I am attending an all-day training today, which should be really great and is catered to just women.  I’ll share about it tomorrow.   I also have some new recipes from The Pound Dropper to share with you as well.

Today’s topic is FITNESS!

Fitness is not my favorite thing.  But, I’ve realized that you can’t have a healthy lifestyle without a healthy heart and diet alone can’t do that.  Also, this go-round I am trying to focus on cardio and strength training since I like how it makes me feel more confident in my clothes.

Since I don’t love fitness, I need rewards to keep me going.  The Apple Watch Monthly Challenges has been really helping me this year.  So has the Movement Streak, which is on day 55.  I found myself getting in some activity this week when I realized the end of the day was nearing and I was going to mess up my streak.

May Challenge is complete.  I logged 13 workouts of at least 15 minutes this month.  That makes five months of completed activity challenges.

Weekly WI: Feeling Back On Track

I had a great WI yesterday and am rounding out the month of May and 2019 thus far feeling like I’m back on track.

I lost 2.2 this week.  This included using all my WSPA (and then some), beer, pizza, birthday cake, Rocky Road ice cream.  I was mostly worried I had tanked my WI snaking too much on Monday afternoon.  So, I as stoked to see such a large loss.

I have lost 2.0 pounds for the month of May and I am up 0.4 pounds for this year.  This make me feel really good and energized to keep it going.  Plus, with my goal in mind to lose 2 pounds a month until my 40th Birthday in October means I am also right on track.

I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t have to be perfect and it is okay to eat my weekly points, which is good, but I like food!  I’m meeting friends this evening for Paint Nite at a new brewery in town and I’m looking forward to the giant pretzel and beer.  You better believe I’ll be going over my points today.  But, I’ll stay mindful of my day as I move along.

It is nice to look back at the last few months and see the progress.

All those small steps add up.

The Benefits Of Aging

I’m not quite sure if life really does get better with age, or if you just have a lower tolerance as time goes on.  Seriously, though, the older I get, the less I care about what other people think.  It is nice and I wish I could go back to my 20s and have a nice ‘ol pep talk with my younger self.

I truly like where I am at in this stage of my life.  I have a job that affords us travel and a kick-ass, good looking, super sweet travel partner.  I also have a supportive and loving family and a really fun group of friends.  I mean seriously, what else could I ask for?  Okay…maybe more money for even more travel and less work!  Wouldn’t that be sweet.

When FB Memories pop up, I always take a moment or two to analyze the photo (i.e. pick it apart).  Most of the time I am happy with the photo and usually I wished I had a better hair day.  It is interesting when photos from my maintenance journey pop up because I notice right away how low of a weight I reached.

When those photos pop up from a few years ago, I notice how much weight I really re-gained.  In either case, I usually go back to my WW weight records to see what I weighed during that timeframe.  I am often surprised that when I think I “look good” in a photo, then check the date/weight, it is usually a time that I remember I was struggling with the number on the scale. 

Here is a photo from 2015:

This was the year that I got back into the 200s.  After my back issues started in August of 2013, I wasn’t able to hold onto my goal weight anymore.  From then on, I really struggled with the mental aspect of my weight loss journey, no longer being at goal, and feeling less-than because of my weight gain.  It was an even bigger blow when that scale said 200. 

It is so hard to get out of the negative mindset.  I really felt like I was “less than” because of my weight gain.  Who says I am less than anybody else because I carry extra weight around my middle?

I am not less kind because I am overweight.

I am not less pretty because I am overweight.

I am not less of a good friend because I am overweight.

I am not less of a great wife because I am overweight.

I am simply not less than because of my size.

It may have taken me 20+ years to realize this…but I am glad that I have and I’ll continue to work on positive thoughts about myself and my body, regardless of my size.

New Recipe: Lightened Up Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake From The Pound Dropper

I’ve been wanting to blog about this delicious cake recipe I found online…and I finally got a decent phot to share.

 

I found this Lightened Up Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake on Instagram and knew it would be worth saving for Mother’s Day.  Since Mom is a WW LT Member, and now Dad is on the WW Train, I wanted to make a point-friendly dessert.  And this was HUGE hit.

You can find the recipe on The Pound Dropper’s Website, which also has other WW Freestyle Recipes.  For the Lightened Up Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake <- click here

This cake was easy to make, despite the extra steps.  I easily found the sugar-free cake mix at Walmart (bottom shelf in the baking isle) and unfortunately, I can only find fat free ricotta at one location here in town which is annoying but at least I can find it.  I had the Splenda baking mix on hand so that didn’t cost me any extra either.  I made a smaller 8x8 version for my Jamberry Party last week and found splitting the recipe easy and just as good.  I weighed out half the cake mix and reduced the recipe to two eggs in both the cake batter and the cream cheese mixture.  I also like to add sugar-free fat-free cheesecake pudding to my mix with chocolate fudge.

I even love the pudding so much I’ve been making extra as my “desserts” for the week.  I love chocolate pudding.

This cake is seriously delicious.  You need to make it ASAP!

Pre-Planning & Pre-Tracking For Success

I’ve been working hard this week on tracking and earning blue dots.  My days off were tough because we ate out a few times, which accounted for a larger amount of points than I’m used to.  I feel like I did really great balancing it all but I occasionally felt restrictive too.  It is a fine balance when trying to earn that blue dot if you plan to eat out much.  Since I have no desire to give up eating out, hopefully the lower point days off-set the higher point days.  I’m also trying to remind myself that it is okay to eat over your daily points and it is also okay to not earn that blue dot.  I think by focusing on the dot, it keeps me from going way overboard.

 

The other thing that has helped me this week is planning ahead to days where I will need to use extra points (i.e. Hailey’s Birthday Pizza Party).

 

I made sure I had a low point breakfast, which really is my every-day breakfast, packed a 0 SPV snack, and a low point (mostly 0 SPV) lunch.  This allowed me to have a lot of my daily points left for my evening meal.

 

I also pre-tracked as much as I could thinking ahead on what I’ll eat.  Of course, that meant I had to stick to that plan…but at least I knew where I was and would be able to make the choice to eat more pizza, drink more beer, etc. when the time came.

 

The hardest part of eating low throughout the day to try and save points for later is that it can make me super hungry.  And, usually after a large point meal with low volume, I can be super hungry the next day too. We had a change of plans and had pizza at my sister's house so I had to adjust my points accordingly.  And, I ended up eating more pizza (plus there were breadsticks) than planned.  Then, I blew through the rest of my WSPA by finishing off the Rocky Road ice cream.  But hey, that is what Weekly Points are for. 

Happy Birthday Hailey

Happy Birthday Hailey

We celebrated Hailey’s 15^th Birthday yesterday.

Today is her actual birthday so…Happy Birthday Bugglet. 

 

She requested that her photo not be shared on Facebook but when I asked if I could share it on my blog she said “sure.”  So, for you 12 lucky readers, here you go.

 

Despite not wanting to look silly, she is a pretty good sport about it.  At least for now.  When I came in the door yesterday she said, “I am not wearing any silly hats.”  I told her that was no problem and how did she feel about silly glasses?  Ha!  My brother ended up bringing her a birthday crown to wear.  Then, we had to force her to smile.  She had just cut her thumb opening up her gifts with scissors so this was her compromise, a smile AND a bum thumb. 

Ah that kid, I love her to pieces.

The Streak Is Still Alive

I was so lazy yesterday.

We slept in and then had pancakes for breakfast.

I attended the Idaho Peace Officers Memorial and the luncheon that followed.  Then, I came home and napped.  It was until evening when I realized that I’d miss out on my Movement Streak if I continued to sit on the couch.  So, I did a few house chores and then got on the treadmill.

The streak is still alive!  49 days and counting.

"Blessed Are The Peacemakers..."

This morning I had the privilege of attending the 21st Idaho Peace Officers Memorial.  

It was a beautiful ceremony and extra difficult with the addition of a new name this year.  Shelley PD Officer Sgt. Kent Swanson suffered a heart attack while responding to a domestic call on May 21, 2018.  His family attended the service in Washington DC where his name was added to the National Wall and today, his name was added to the Idaho Wall.  His fellow co-workers presented the wreath.

Then all 75 names are read, each accompanied with the sounding of the bell, and a rose placed on the ground under the wreath.

We had a break in the rain and even the sun came out.

“Blessed are the Peacemakers…”

Weekly WI: Finally A Loss

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday

I’m working a four-hour OT this morning so I’ve been up before the sunrise.  I’ve got a hair appointment afterwards and then later this evening, a Rock Concert where my niece Hailey is playing guitar.

My WI yesterday went really well.  I was a bit nervous with my sugar intake towards the end of the week and my Jamberry Party on Monday night which included some party food and alcohol.  I lost 0.8 pounds, which I’m super stoked about. 

 

My first thought was, “Whew!  Not a gain.”  My second though was, “Oh, I wished it was more.”  Then, I realized that if I’d like to lose at least 2 pounds a month, maybe even 4 pounds a month, then I’m on a good track thus far.  I’ll keep it rolling this week.

 

We had a great meeting and I love my group so much.  The leader, Cindi, was back from her vacation and we started off the meeting refreshing last week’s topic of fixed mindset vs. growth mindset.  Cindi shared about the image on the white board at her Saturday meeting and I was able to find it online.

 

This is a great representation of how a growth mindset and being open to change, while scary, can be really rewarding.  I can think back to my own WW journey and how scared I was when I started.  I had such a large amount of weight to lose that it felt impossible.  At that time, I was focused on losing at least 15 pounds.  I remember very vividly how it felt when I reached goal and how I stood in front of a mirror in the dressing room at JC Penney in tears.  I had done it and it felt so good.

We shifted our meeting to this topic of the week which was about taking a break from weight loss.  Weight loss can get exhausting and at time really frustrating.  When that happens, it might be time to take a step back and relax while giving maintenance a go.  When in maintenance, you add 5 points to your DPA and you still get your WSPA.  It can sometimes take the pressure off the scale and maybe allow you to feel better overall.  Cindi stressed the importance of giving it an end date so you can come back at losing with a fresh mindset and attitude.

 

Cindi asked the group if we could weigh the exact same as we do now come Labor Day would you be happy?  Um…YES!  And, I can answer yes not because I’m where I want to be but because where I am is way better than being any heavier.  I’d be ecstatic to not have gained anymore come Labor Day.  Of course, my goal is to continue to lose weight so going into maintenance for me isn’t in the plan.  But, it is nice to know if I get mentally burned out, that taking a step back to refresh is always an option.

Six Weeks Until Girls Weekend

It’s my Friday today and I’m looking forward to my “weekend.”

My weekend is starting off with a Jamberry Party this evening after work.  It will be a small group, my house is ready to go, and I’m super stoked for some fun this evening.

Speaking of fun, I’ve been reminiscing of our past Girls Weekend Trips since they have been coming up on Facebook.  We moved the date so our next trip is now six week away.  In the meantime, I’ll be smiling from ear to ear as I think back on all the fun we have had.  This year, two new gals will be joining Phoenix and I.  It is really enjoyable to meet/visit new people and/or get to know your friends better.

Here are the previous Girls Weekends posts:

I consider the Las Vegas trip Danielle and I took back in September of 2013 the “first official Girls Weekend.”  It was just her and I had year because nobody else could really swing the cost and the time away from work and family.  Don’t be fooled with just two of us, we had a blast.

Las Vegas Adventures – Part One

Las Vegas Adventures – Part Two

 

Our Girls Weekend in Walla Walla was the first time we rented an Air B & B so we could have room to stretch out, visit, cook some meals, and enjoy your time visiting with each other.  We had a nice size group and tons of fun.  Despite Walla Walla being super dead since it was just after the local college students graduated, I’d go back again.

Girls Weekend In Walla Wall, WA – Day One

Girls Weekend In Walla Wall, WA – Day Two AND my 1000th Blog Post!

 

The following year, we looked around at local destinations so we could try and build a larger group.  We had tons of fun visiting Sun Valley and Ketchum and spending a day at the Sun Valley Inn getting spa treatments.  This was one of my favorite Girls Weekend destinations.  Again, we rented an Air B & B for this trip so we had plenty of room.

Girls Weekend In Sun Valley

 

Last year was our smallest group, just three of us.  But don’t be fooled in thinking we had any less fun.  Bend, OR was my very favorite Girls Weekend.  Maybe it was alcohol, maybe it was the small group, or maybe it was destination.  But I loved every minute I spent with Phoenix and Danielle.  Now, while we did love our destination at Old St. Francis, the actual hotel room for three girls felt cramped.  I’m happy this year we are going back to a house rental.

Girls Weekend 2018: 12 Breweries In 3 Days

Girls Weekend 2018: The Other Stuff Besides Beer

 

This year our destination will again be local.  More details to follow….