April Apple Watch Activity Challenge & Feeling A Bit Depressed

My June Apple Watch Activity Challenge is keeping me on my toes…literally.

 

I might not survive this month and/or I might not hit my goal of 110 miles.  Having to complete a step/mileage challenge really sheds light on how much I actually sit at my job every day.  Without any formal activity, I only log about one mile during my workday.  When I’m required to log 3.6 miles each day, which makes me feel way behind really quickly.

 

And, it starts to stress me out.  Also, I think I’m a bit depressed right now so at least the activity is supposed to combat that.  The biggest stressor is the toll it takes on my body.  I want to push myself and meet my goal so I’m not giving up or going too easy.  My “bad hip” as I like to call it isn’t really happy with me right now.  I could be that most of the activity is treadmill based so maybe if I get outside for some walks that will help.  I might also try to log a couple smaller workouts.  One walking and one strength and/or cross training type movements.  I’m not sure.  The thought of two workouts a day sounds exhausting.

 

I think my FitPoints earned this week may cancel out the pint and a half of ice cream I ate yesterday.  I’m not feeling very confident about WI this week.  It makes me mad that I didn’t control my food better this week and it makes me frustrated that I have to choose being social settings and weight loss. 

I need to sit down and have a serious talk with myself.

Struggling With Food/Meal Prep For Dinnertime

I’ve been struggling this week with food/meals. 

 

I always seem to have the hardest time coming up with dinner ideas.  It feels twice as hard when I have to account for Kenyon, which is why I tend to lose better when I’m working the mid-day or night shifts.  I can pack all my food for work and I don’t have to worry about another person to cook for.  Also, I can have the same boring meal everyday if I want to since it is just me I have to please. 

It feel so complicated meal planning sometimes.

 

Maybe I’m just being a big baby.  I’m not sure. 

Friday was a crazy day at work.  We had a semi-truck roll and spill it’s load of sand blocking two lanes eastbound and one lane westbound.  That quickly spiraled into several other crashes, 10 total.  Ugh.  After my shift ended, I wanted to eat out/stress eat so badly.  I had no desire to go home and cook my planned dinner that I had all the stuff ready for.  I also had no desire to exercise that I desperately needed steps/miles for.  It was a big internal battle with myself but I was just too exhausted to eat out and I knew stress eating wouldn’t help.  I was so proud of myself for going home, starting up the Instant Pot, and did a WATP video. 

Saturday was another crazy day at work.  I’m thinking this will be the theme of the weekends as we start into summertime.  Ugh.  I wanted to eat out again so bad and leftovers was all that was waiting at home.  I had worked a 12-hour shift and was exhausted.  On a positive note, I was able to walk on the work treadmill for 1 hour and 15 minutes total throughout the day.  Yeah!  Instead of eating out, Kenyon suggested brining home Panda Express.  Okay, that fit into the WW points budget and was delicious.  And, that was 10x better than what I would have consumed had we actually gone out to eat.

The struggle is real.

Some strategies that will help me avoid this back-and-forth on eating planned meals at home when exhausted:

• Start using the Instant Pot/Slow Cooker so meals are ready to go when I walk in the door.
• Prep some casseroles ahead of time that are ready to go into the oven.  This would also allow me to get in my exercise while it bakes.
• Squash the thoughts right away on eating out.  It will save money and calories.
• Instead of eating out so much and using so many WSPA on Tuesday-Thursday, which has been difficult because I’ve been meeting Phoenix to try out new restaurants, plan some high point days/meals out on Fridays and Saturdays when I’ll be exhausted after work.  This are my preferred days to eat most of my WSPA anyway.
• Just say “screw it” and eat out…okay…not the best idea for weight loss but tempting!

More Recipes From The Pound Dropper

I wanted to share a couple dinner recipes I’ve made recently. 

After having a lot of success and positive comments on the The Pound Dropper Lightened Up Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake, I spent some time looking over other recipes on her website.  She has some great stuff on there and the points are included.

Both recipes were made in the Instant Pot, which is one of my favorite ways to cook meats.  And, they both included pasta because I was craving it.

The first recipe we tried was Creamy Italian Chicken.  This recipe was super easy to make and only needed one other pot since the fettuccini cooked separately. 

 

I have no idea why but by the time my chicken was done, it is bursting with pepper taste.  Kenyon noticed it too.  I followed the recipe exactly so either the Italian dressing mix packet I used had extra pepper in it or since I was prepping my ingredients beforehand, the pepper infused in the garlic. I had put the garlic, salt, and pepper together in a dish ahead of time.  When it was time to add it, the moisture from the garlic had made the salt and pepper stick to the dish.  That is all I can think of that would have made it a bit too peppery.  Oh well.  It was still good.

The second recipe we tried was Creamy Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta.  This was a one-pot dish using the Instant Pot since the pasta cooked in the pot (after sautéing/browning the chicken first).

 

I don’t know why but every time I thought of making this, I felt it needed peas too.  So, I cooked them separate and added them after cooking.  Thankfully, I didn’t put them in the pot because I don’t think it needs peas after all.  Also, I didn’t put enough ranch mix in so maybe I’d add more next time.  I bought mini penne pasta so I felt like I got a bigger portion that way.  I cut my recipe in half, except still added plenty of 0 SPV chicken, and make four servings vs. eight.  I find that pasta with creamy sauce doesn’t re-heat as well. 

I’m having leftovers for dinner tonight….sans peas.