January Apple Watch Activity Goal Complete

 My January Apple Watch Activity Goal for 2021 is complete.

I logged 990 exercise minutes this month.  Thankfully, it took the total from my overall exercise movement and not just when my exercise app was running.  This helped the goal feel left lofty as it would track a few minutes of unintentional exercise each time.  You know, when you are going up/down the stairs or walking/shopping a lot.  

I had to make a conscious effort to exercise most days and our extra movement in Vegas helped too.  One down, 11 more to go.

An Assortment Of Meals

 I’ve been changing it up with my meals this week.  I need a better variety once I start the work week too.  In the meantime, some meals out have at least spiced things up.

I met a local WW friend at Das Alphenhaus Deli.  I’ve been wanting to try for a while.  I had my sight set on the schnitzel sandwich served an a homemade pretzel roll, which did not disappoint.

I had already pre-planned eating half and looked up the points ahead of time.  Nothing like starting your day with eating your whole daily point allowance with a half sandwich.  I will need to plan a return visit so I can try some of the many German beers they have on tap.  The only thing they didn’t have was German potato salad.

Cafe Ole has $5 happy hour appetizers, which I turned into my meal.  I had the chicken street tacos and a side of black beans.  It was $7.95 and made the perfect size meal.  Plus the abundance of tortilla chips helps you get full fast.

My coworker told me about this new low point beer on the market.  When we were in Vegas, I picked some up at the Walmart and eventually a few made it home with us.  It hit the spot when I was craving beer and is only 3 points per can.

I had pizza home along with my beer.  I bought some prepared pizza dough, which is more points than making two ingredient dough.  I couldn’t get it to roll out very big but I did enjoy every bite.  This pizza had Alfredo sauce for the base, black forest ham, pineapple, and fat free mozzarella.  

I made bagels with the left over dough…or attempted to.  My bagels never look like bagels.

After seeing a recipe on Facebook by Skinnytaste, I put it into the WW app and decided to give it a go.  This Ruben Stuffed Pork Tenderloin was amazing.  It was a little time consuming but really, really good.  My only complaint is that I wanted another serving but at 5 points per serving, I didn’t want to spend that many points to have more.  I will be making this again.

Weekly WI: One Month Of 2021 Complete

My weigh-in this week has me back on the downward and I hope to make it a new trend for the next several weeks.

I am ready to make some strides in my weight loss journey and take full advantage of the next few weeks of “normal” life, hopefully less stress, and maybe some warmer temps?  Boy am I really, really, really feeling depressed and missing sunshine.

After meeting Phoenix for a long walk yesterday, I am almost finished with my Apple Watch Activity Goal Challenge for the month. I am ending the month a little bit higher thank December 2020.  I am really to tackle 2021.

I might meet a friend to try out a new German restaurant in town.  I’ve been wanting to go for a while and I think tomorrow might be the day.  I have done some pre-tracking and am already out of daily points with just lunch.  Oh boy.  Good thing I’ve got weekly points to help out.  They serve a schnitzel sandwich on a pretzel bun that sounds amazing.  Plus, I love German potato salad so I have tracked some of that too.  I might even bring some home to go along with my lentil sloppy joes for the work week.

Chocolate Donuts

I had a hankering for something sweet the other night and remembered I had spotted a chocolate donut recipe that I saved for later.  I happen to own a mini donut maker so I revisited this recipe from Drizzle Me Skinny for her Chocolate Glazed Donuts and figured with some modifications of what I had on hand at home, I could make us some donuts.  

They turned out pretty well and are low-points too.

I don’t keep milk in the house since neither of us drink it regularly.  The first substitution I needed to try was adding Premiere Protein in place of the milk.  I know you can do this with sugar free pudding, but it always makes it really thick.  In this recipe, it worked just fine.  I used the Cafe Latte flavor.

While the recipe calls for only 2 Tbs of sugar, I knew I wanted to substitute the sugar for Swerve, a sugar substitute that is good for baking.  This also allows them to be better for Kenyon and reduces the points.  The last two times I have baked with Swerve, we felt like it was just not quite sweet enough.  I may consider adding 1/2 Tbs regular sugar and 2 Tbs Swerve although next time I think they could use some chocolate frosting so that would amp up the sweetness with some points addition too.

Lastly, I wanted to try grounding up Quaker Oats vs. using the flour.  I have no problem using flour and taking the points for them.  I am also thinking that grounding up oats into flour consistency changes the breakdown and thus it isn’t technically a Purple Plan zero point food.  I decided to try the ground up oats and tracked them in the recipe as oats vs. oat flour.  I’ll need look at what else is in oat flour the next time I am at the store and compare.  If you don’t feel comfortable counting this as zero points, than factor in the points for 1/2 cup oat flour and go with that.

The result, the mixture was a bit runny.  I’m not sure if this was because of the oats vs. the flour.  The donuts cooked up just fine but were small and thin.  The baking powder also didn’t mix in really well on the first batch.  I added more oat flour as I had ground up extra to make sure I had 1/2 a cup and that seemed to help make the batter thicker. 

Either way, they tasted really good but not very sweet.  I added some sugar free whip cream and really do think they needed a glaze or some frosting.  I didn’t have confection sugar on hand so I couldn’t make the glaze.  I knew Swerve also sells that variety so I might need to pick some up at the store.

Drizzle Me Skinny has a lot of great donut recipes that I am eager to try now that I don’t feel I need to buy a donut pan.  My recipe was able to make four batches of seven mini donuts (the amount the maker has spots for).  So, I tracked this recipe as four servings, seven donuts in a serving.

Enjoy!

Confessions Part VIII

I gave in to stress eating a work last night.

 

Having just finished my first year as a supervisor, I delivered my final evaluation to an employee that was not received well.  I hate situations like this because I don’t know how to react when how I think things will go doesn’t actually happen that way.  Afterwards, I had a conversation with another supervisor who asked where we were going to for dinner.  I had my meals packed and tracked but was flexible. 

 

She mentioned Texas Roadhouse.  Oh boy have I been craving it.  I asked around the room and two others were planning to order takeout with us.  “Let’s do it.  Tonight, I’m eating my stress.”

 

Now, Texas Roadhouse really is a “safe” place to eat my stress.  I order similar low point food options.  Tonight’s feast on the Purple Plan was:

BBQ chicken with the BBQ sauce on the side – 2 points

Green beans – 2 points

Mashed potatoes with no gravy – 3 points (It is actually 5 points but since I don’t get gravy, I count is as 3 points)

 

While I may have acknowledged that I was eating my stress, the NSV (Non-Scale Victory) is that I had no rolls/butter.  Later in the shift, my coworker came around asking for Crumbl Cookie orders.  I politely declined saying, “I already ate my stress in Texas Roadhouse.  I can’t do a cookie.  Thank you.”

 

You see, while I was stressed and feeling a bit deflated, if I had eaten with reckless abandon, I would have felt miserable.  Instead, I made a conscious decision to re-adjust my points, have a delicious meal out that satisfied my taste buds, and have my meals all prepped and tracked for tomorrow’s workday.

 

I’m feeling pretty empowered over here.  The rest shall pass.

Las Vegas January 2021

Since we had an idea of what “the new Vegas” is like post-COVID after our trip in July, I think that set the stage for what to expect and also allowed us not to feel underwhelmed as we did on our previous trip.  There were still some restaurants/bars that close down mid-week, which was the time we visited.  But overall, Vegas was more open in January 2021 than it was in July 2020.  That makes me hopeful but also still slightly nervous as the crowds are just so slim right now.

We took advantage of the light crowds and having a car to take in some Vegas we have not done in a while and/or have not done yet.  One of the first stops was the Welcome To Las Vegas Sign.  We have only visited the sign once as it is on the bus route.  When I spotted practically no crowd/line to get a photo, we planned a stop when we were on the southbound direction of Las Vegas Boulevard.  

The show girls accept tips and there is a man there offering to take photos, which are completely free.  I tipped each of them $5 and was glad they were there for photos.  Don’t freight, the showgirls told me I could take off my mask for the photo.  I promise, there was no harm done to the showgirls during the taking of these photos.

The new experience was a visit to The Neon Sign Museum.  This museum works to restore the old signs of Las Vegas’ past.  Since the location is a little harder to get to via the bus, it was a perfect opportunity since we had Kenyon’s car.  I didn’t think we would be able to go see this attraction since in the weeks prior, they weren’t showing the guided tour, which is what we really wanted.  We checked on tickets early Wednesday morning and saw they had guided tours and the Brilliant extra tour options.  They also had not yet sold any ticket in the 8:30pm time slot which meant we could possibly get our own private guided tour.  

As luck would have it, there was only two other people in our group, a couple of Mexico City that were very nice.  We loved our guide Matt.  He was fantastic.

After our guided tour, we were walked over to the “boneyard” section for the Brilliant laser/light show.  This was ahhhhhh-mazing!  And what was even better is we were the only two people there.

This portion of the tour, which costs extra, is the opportunity to look at Vegas signs that are unable to be restored so they are brought back to life using lasers that also includes a really neat light show with music.  It was fantastic and I highly recommend both the guided tour and the Brilliant light show.  We might need to make this a stop on future trips.  This was one of the attractions that I just could not stop taking photos.  I loved it.

We walked around Fremont Street during the daytime, which didn’t feel any safer than the nighttime.  I tell ya, Fremont Street is starting to feel a bit sketchy lately.  We parked at the new Circa Hotel and Casino which is beautiful.  I found out on our tour at The Neon Sign Museum that the photo I took at the hotel is one of their restored signs. 

They also have restored signs all along Las Vegas Boulevard.  I didn’t even know this.  We were able to see the various signs as we braved the very, very, very light traffic returning to our hotel.

Anyway, Circa is beautiful and it is a paradise for a sports enthusiast with three levels of sports viewing/betting and so many beers on tap.  If it wasn’t in Fremont Street, I might consider staying there on a future trip.  They also have a Swim Stadium.  I had to get a photo with this masked guy outside a sandwich shop and as we were leaving, the gal inside asked if she was able to successfully photo bomb me.  I love it!

We continued towards the Banger Brewery and next door was Heart Attack Grill.  We knew we needed something to tide us over so we shared a burger, fries, and shake.  OMG.  I had heartburn like you would not believe after that.  The food was good and the ambiance was interesting.

The beer at the brewery was just okay.  I was super full from Heart Attack Grill and the beers just takes too “hoppy” for my taste.

We played off free play at various casinos and had a few wins to keep us entertained.  

Having the car meant we could give our feet a break and drive/park at different hotels along The Strip.  We also had resort credit to use for food and some MyKonami and GroupOn deals which meant we didn’t have to spend much on food.  On our stop at Walmart for some water and Coke Zero I also picked up some light beer and drink mixers.  The mini fridges in the room are now empty due to COVID and we had a car/cooler so we didn’t have to worry about drinking all our fluids before boarding a plane.  That also helped cut down on cost.

We rolled out of town with plans to spend the night south of Salt Lake City.  Along the route we stopped at Eureka Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, NV where this couple won $12,000 on a slot machine jackpot.  Oh man was I jealous!  I spotted The Creamery of I15 in Beaver, UT and convinced Kenyon to make the five minute drive into town to get some cheese curds and  ice cream.  It was delicious.

We spent the night in Lehi, UT so we could hit up the Container Store in Salt Lake City before we headed home.  We will be back through SLC in March so I decided not to go to any of the Coach Outlets.  It was a tough decision but since I love my current purse, I didn’t figure I should temp myself.  

We will not be traveling again until March.  It is time to hunker down and focus on my weightless journey.

Weekly WI: A Gain Which Is Managable

I was able to return to the WW Studio for an in-person workshop, which was four weeks ago.  Due to travel and other conflicts, it felt good to be back.  The “official scale” number at the studio was lower than my last home scale weight-in, both of which were a gain.  It is some fuzzy numbers but I guess I’ll go with what my app has tracked.  My gain this week was +0.8 pounds.

My gain since I was in the WW Studio four weeks ago, was +1.6 pounds.  Regardless of what the number says, I had prepared for a gain after a few days in Vegas (I still owe you a travel re-cap) and I know this gain is just temporary.  I am re-focused this week and other than needing to get my meal plan in place, we are good to go for blue dots.

My WW Coach at the workshop last night showed a new feature on the WW app where you can find a Virtual Zoom Workshop anytime fo the day.  This was game changing as it makes it so much easier to pop into a meeting at whatever time of day works for you.  You no longer have to joining the WW Group and then plan around whatever times are available.  It doesn’t get any easier than that.

From your main screen, My Day, scroll down until you see Virtual Workshops are now more flexible!

I was up late in the night/early morning as I work the night shift and typically stay up most of the night on days off.  It was awesome to see if I wanted to, I could attend a Zoom Virtual Workshop at 3:30am.  

The time zone has even been adjusted for you, which is great for me since I totally did not pay attention to a Zoom work training that was on Pacific Time vs. Mountain Time.  Whoops.  Thankfully in the case, I was early to the training and not late.

I need to get my meal plan in place and I want to focus on my activity this week as I am in the last stretch of completing my January Apple Watch Activity Challenge.

Apple Watch Activity Challenge

Hello and Happy Monday.

I had decided I would take an activity rest day today.  

At least until later at work if I decide to take a walk on the console treadmill.  I forgot that it was going to be a beautiful day with sunshine and what appears to be low wind.  Now that internal battle begins.  I know I should go out for a walk but a rest day sounds so nice.  I am also battling a headache, which is not usual.  I’m hoping it subsides soon as I have a million things I need to get done with my office time at work tonight.

My Apple Watch Activity Goal is on track.  I have been able to shave off a few minutes of required activity each day.  My plan is that if I exercise 30 minutes or more when I do, it opens up those days I can then take a rest and not feel guilty.  However, it is still easy to feel guilty when I don’t move my body.

After two shits training a new trainee at work, and two weeks of training another trainee coming up, I am feeling slightly stressed.  Once I get caught up with the items I need to do in my office, I should be good.  At least I hope I’ll feel less stressed.  I really loved this comic from The Awkward Yeti.

This quote I have been seeing from Martin Luther King Jr. has also really resonated with me today.

January Travel

Travel is still 100% the top thing I’ve really been missing since COVID-19 reared its ugly head changing everything last March.  While I have still been able to travel, it looks a lot differently since living amongst a Global Pandemic.

 

Seven years ago, we visited Hawaii.  It was a glorious cruise on NCL’s Pride Of America visiting several ports of call along with some days before and after the cruise in Oahu.  I blogged about the travel memory Two Years Ago if you would like to read about it.

 

I may not strike you as your typical Island Girl, however, this was a really great trip.  We almost went back to Hawaii in November on promotional travel which was the plan prior to COVID restrictions that were put in place.  I honestly don’t know if we will ever return to Hawaii.  When I want to think about a relaxing place to de-stress, I picture a house on an island with all the windows open where we can hear the waves and feel the warm breeze.  It is in those moments that I think about Hawaii.

 

Last year we visited Scottsdale, Arizona which was the first trip for me.  Scottsdale in Janurary has the perfect weather and I can absolutely understand why so many retirees “snowbird” therefor the winter.  You can sign me up now and save me a spot!  Scottsdale is a travel destination we will visit again.  Kenyon has a high school friend and his family that live there and my neighbor Trini now owns a second house near there.  I would love to take Phoenix for either a girl’s weekend or a couple’s trip.  There is so much to see and in Scottsdale and the surrounding areas.

Arizona Living

Arizona Vacation – The First Few Days

Arizona Vacation – The Last Few Days

 

I was able to enjoy some sunshine and warm(er) temps in Vegas, although I am sad the day we he to leave it will be was in the 70s.  I really needed this time to recharge my batteries and spend time with Kenyon.  We were last in Vegas in July, which had very noticeable and very sad things missing from our usual visits.  I hope my beloved Vegas will bounce back.  Recap soon.

Health App Year In Review

Being married to a “techy” means we have fancy things at our house, including our scale.

 

My husband bought this scale that reports to the Health App and shows you trends, which is pretty neat.  I was pleasantly surprised with my 2020 year in review.  I had stopped weighing in at home before my WW Workshop since different scales can be inconstant.  With COVID, I was a weighing in weekly at home.  Here are the year-end results:

 

Weigh-ins

45 weight measures in 2020

vs 19 in 2019

 

Body Composition

52.0% muscle mass

vs 50.0% at your first weigh-in of 2020

45.0% fat mass

vs 47.0% at your first weigh-in of 2020

3.0% bone mass

vs 3.0% at your first weigh-in of 2020

 

Weight goal

Your objective was to reach 199.5 lb

At the end of the year, you weighed 203.0 lb

vs 208.5 lb for your first measure of the year

 

While I may have not ended 2020 at that 199.5 weight goal, I was able to see similar numbers three times over the last year.  I am usually most proud of my weight loss successes. 

 

Seeing these other times of numbers is a great reminder that there are other ways to gauge success.  I gained 2% in muscle mass and lost 20% in fat mass.  Plus, anytime you don’t lose bone mass is always a positive.

 

There are times I wish I had more body measurements in inches similar to when I was paying for personal training sessions.  I was able to start wearing a size 14W jean and dress pant again and even order some shirts in size L.  Pre-WW, I was wearing a size 26 in jeans and XXL shirts. 

 

I will be officially celebrating my 14^th Anniversary since joining WW later this month.  What a journey it has been.

Weekly WI: A Loss...Finally!

Good Morning.

I snagged the loss I have really been working hard for.  WhoooHooo.

I earned six blue dots and stayed focused on my daily points budget making the decisions that would keep me in check.  I love successful weeks.

I am going to set the intention of being Mindful this week.  I will focus on staying mindful of my food choices and my alcohol choices this week.  That starts with not going to the pizza buffet today.  I have been craving pizza and with some meals planned out this coming week, having pizza today, even if it is mindful such as an individual pizza vs. the buffet, I will wait until later this week and enjoy the foods I eat and/or see if pizza is a possibility.  

I am going to add some turkey pepperoni to my morning omelette.  It won’t be pizza, but since I’ve never tried it…what the heck!  I also need to get my activity in for the day.  The January Apple Watch Activity Goal requires me to strive for movement each day.  

Let’s do this Tuesday!

Low Point Breakfast

I’ve been on an omelette kick for several weeks now after finding the Velveeta single cheese slices at Albertson’s.  After my Mom re-introduced me to the Buddig lunch meats, it has given me some new low point foods and a little more variety.  

This morning I had a two point omelette.

On the Purple Plan:

• Two eggs  - 0 points
• One slice of Velveeta - 1 point
• Half a package of Black Forest Ham - 1 point

           *The full package is just 2 points

I also really enjoy my morning breakfast potatoes.

On the Purple Plan:

• 100 g frozen potatoes - 0 points

         *I buy potatoes with no additives.  Some varieties will have oil added and have higher points.

• 1 tsp olive oil - 1 point

I’ve also been eating the deli meats as sandwiches with the highlight being some Pop Chips.  I love any excuse to have chips, especially salt and vinegar.  I’ve tried the pastrami (2 points per pack) and I have the turkey on hand (2 points per pack) for an easy sandwich or snack.  

Happy Eating.

Oh 2021, You Are Just As Fickle As 2020

Oh 2020.  The year that we weren’t sure we would survive.  Of course, this is coming four years after Idaho had the worst Snowmageddon in a 30 year history.  When I look back at my Facebook memories of 2016, I remember thinking there is nothing so miserable I have experienced in my life.  Well, that is until 2020 and a Global Pandemic arrived.

I still feel deep down inside there is something we are supposed to learn from all we have been through this last year.  While I typically look forward to a brand shiny new year, 2021 feels different.  It doesn’t feel like the clean slate we all know and crave with each passing year.  The holdover from 2020, the cancellations that have already taken place in 2021, the unknowns of travel and entertainment this year continues to hang over us as we enter this new year.  On top of that, our country is at odds with each other and that creates a lot of unrest inside of me.

2021 has not been off to a good start.  I have to hold onto hope that something good is coming.  I am not made to dwell on the negative and if I do, then I can’t help but think, “what is the point?”  Why are we trying so hard to live through a Global Pandemic when the aftermath looks pretty darn miserable.  Something good has to have come out of all this.

2020 was the year that I was able to focus on myself and my WW Journey.  With government shutdowns and restriction on travel, it allowed me more time to work on the parts I was struggling with on re-claiming my weight loss goals.  It allowed me slow down.  It allowed me more downtime to rest, rejuvenate, and re-focus.  

I am lucky enough to still have my job and that my job allowed me to continue to have a routine this last year.  Without a routine, I would have been lost.  There were ample opportunities last year where I could have eaten my work stress or given up on my WW program because I was having a tough transition adjusting to my new supervisory role.  Instead, I dug deeper to the core of WW.  The one thing that has been a constant for the last 14 years.  

My WW Virtual Workshops allowed me to stay connected to the program and to my beloved WW friends that I have not seen in person for almost a year.  I am so very thankful for this new platform that rolled out.  I am also very thankful that we are able to have some in-person Studio Workshops as well.  This has also been wonderful and allowed me the luxury to continue to work the program that I know and love.

I’ve been slaying my goals and I will continue to do so in 2021.  Even with so many unknowns moving forward, that only I do have control over is myself, my emotions, my food choices, and my ability to move my body.  The rest…we I have to just trust that somebody else is looking out for us.

The Week Following Vacation

I am having a really great week and am anxiously waiting my Tuesday weigh-in.  I am on a 12-day streak for closing all three of my Apple Watch Activity circles and earned my special award for January.

Part of me wants a rest day and the other part of me wants to keep the streak going.  I have not had a perfect month in a long time so it might be good to shoot for that.  I don’t like feeling exhausted all the time which is why I like rest days too.

My food is on track this week following our New Mexico vacation.  I am actually headed to Las Vegas for a few days on Tuesday so this week of on-track is sandwiched between two weeks of being off-track.  I really want a loss this week so I am not seeing a third gain and then a fourth gain when I get home from a mini-getaway.

I’ve earned blue dots each day except Thursday.  This included celebrating Grandpa’s 91st Birthday on Wednesday.

My Mom made the WW Classic Lasagna, which is a large portion for 7 points.  I pre-tracked and stayed on track even when my Aunt Gerri brought a delicious oat cake.  I had a bit of Kenyon’s piece and stuck to my plan so I could earn my blue dot.  I have a couple piece tucked in the freezer for another day I am ready to spend the points.  It is a really good cake.

Thursday I had pre-tracked 1/2 cup of ice cream as I was meeting Phoenix and her kids at Reed’s Dairy.  Kenyon came along and since we don’t always like the same ice cream flavors, I decided to go along with his Blueberry Cheesecake choice and we got the small cup to share.  I ended up only eating a couple of bites thus tracking less and having more points for our dinner out.  The egg nog ice cream was my choice but this way, I saved 6 points in letting him pick the flavor.  Win:Win

We thought we might hit up Twin Peaks for their Thursday cheeseburger promo.  You get a cheeseburger, fries, and a 22 oz beer for $10, basically meaning the beer was free.  Now, it was also happy hour so the mozzarella cheese bites were also going to be consumed as they are THE BEST.  They also have the best blonde beer which is their own signature beer.  Despite some back and forth on if we should go and/or I wanted to have such a high point day…we decided what the heck.

Oh yum…it was delicious!  And was also a 40 point evening.  DOH.  I practically wiped out my weekly points and since I am already did my meal prep for the work week, I should easily be able to roll some points back over and earn those blue dots.

That was another thing I did this week to set myself up for success.  I prepared meal ideas ahead of time so if I was hungry, I had low point foods to off-set the high point meals.  It also gave me a back-up plan if we decided not to eat out and knew if we just came home, I had food ready to go.  I am now all set up for my four days of work.