Trending in the right direction

Despite my struggles with eating plans over the last 2 weeks I was down 1.6 at weigh in this morning. I’ll take it!

Whoops

I was so proud of myself at the start of this week for making a menu plan. I knew I’d have 2 unsure nights because I was going out but I planned everything to have more than enough APs to cover whatever I had there. Well, that didn’t work. They say no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, and in this case the enemy was myown lack of thinking through the week.

I planned to eat Sunday-made American Chop Suey for lunch at work Monday and Tuesday. I ended up working from home those two days, but I stuck to my plan and ate that. Then comes Wednesday. What’s on my plan for lunch…grilled cheese and tomato soup. Yum! I had done that because it was going to be a cold day but guess what…I was in the office. With no stove. Which means no way to make a grilled cheese. Oops. And I had no backup plan.

Now in all fairness to myself I didn’t know I was going to work at home those first two days (sleep-related issues kept me home unexpectedly). But when I realized it I should have switched the grilled cheese days with the already-packed Chop Suey days. Lesson learned.

I will also admit that because of the sleep issues I didn’t make very good choices at the work cafeteria. I had a chicken salad sandwich on wheat with baked multigrain chips one day and a turkey club wrap the next. I could try to squint my eyes, tilt my head to the left and try to tell myself those things were good for me but let’s face it. They were the kind of crap I just don’t usually eat anymore.

I didn’t eat much for dinner Wednesday night because the event I went to had “unusual” food that really wasn’t my style. Thursday night I was late to a friend’s birthday party and grabbed what turned out to be a ginormous slice of thin crust pizza before I went in, never noticing the Panera Bread across the street.

All of these less than stellar choices are pretty a-typical for me but I kinda no why I made them. (Really tired = poor judgement and carb cravings). Luckily you can start fresh with every new choice. I’m getting ready to go to bed now, heading to the gym for a double class in the morning, and formulating a game plan for the coming week that will involve better thinking ahead than last week’s did.

In the past this little slip up would have disheartened me but when I first got to goal the saying on my WW community profile was “It’s about perserverence, not perfection.” I still 100% believe that today so I just keep going. Here’s to a great week!

One step forward, two steps back

My first week back to WW was great. I journaled, tracked everything, planned, had about 29 WPAs left over. And I lost half a pound. Woot, woot! Week 2…I think my willpower muscle got tired. Really I was away for the weekend and didn’t have time to plan or shop for the week. I’ve known for a while that a  plan is essential to me staying on track so it’s no surprise things went off the rails a bit. I’m hoping I didn’t undo the first week’s work, but the good news is I’ve already planned the coming week’s meals. They include:

• Grilled cheese & tomato soup for lunch
• American Chop Suey
• Steak, quinoa, and squash
• Chicken Quesadillas
• Chili Cheese Baked Potato
• Breakfast for dinner (pancakes & turkey sausage)

I’m also going to be able to get my weekend workouts in which is when I have the most flexibility. That will include at least BodyPump and my spin training class (90 minutes, 15 APs - yikes!!). I might try to do a double on Saturday with either kickboxing after BodyPump or step class before. We’ll see how awake I am in the morning. But my goal is to save as many of my WPAs as possible for 3 evening events and on other days only eat my daily Points+ and my APs.

What are some of your well known obstacles? How do you overcome them?

Great tip for freezing ground meat

I’m getting rid of some old magazines, saving only the articles I plan to reference again (and even those digitally). In my May 2010 issue of Real Simple I found a great tip for freezing ground meat that can also help with portion control. Basically you lay the meat in a ziploc baggie, press it flat, then use a chopstick to press “perforations” into it for as many sections if you want. A typical portion is 4 oz so if I had a pound of ground turkey I’d do four 4 oz sections.  Supposedly you can then just break off one section when you need it. I’m going to give this a shot the next time I pick up a package of ground meat at the store.

Shepherd’s Pie for 7 PTS+

For reasons I don’t really understand I’ve been craving Shepherd’s Pie lately. I found this highly rated recipe on the WW site and decided to give it a try.  I used extra lean ground beef and by my calculations it doesn’t change the PTS+ value. I also used the Garlic Mashed Root Vegetables to top it since the recipe made so much, and swapped frozen peas & carrots for the carrots and celery because it’s what I had. It was super-easy and took about 45 minutes to make (30 of which it’s baking in the oven. Actual prep was only about 15 min).

I have to say the filling was really tasty. Surprisingly so. I ended up having 1.5 servings for 10 PTS+ because I was really hungry, but I’d done a 50 minute spin class that earned me 8 APs so I had more than enough to cover it. I might play with the seasonings a little bit to get the flavor just right, but all in all it was a very good starting point just as it is.

Product To Try: Vitasandwich Egg & Veggie

I ran to Target after the gym last night to grab – I’ll admit it – a single-serve cup of ice cream (I’d just earned 15 APs in a 90 minute spin class so I was treating myself.). While there I noticed a new product from the makers of Vitamuffin – the VitaSandwich Egg & Cheese.

It’s a breakfast sandwich made with a whole wheat english muffin, eggs, veggies, and cheese. They come two in a box, and when I checked the PTS+ values on my WW app it came up to be only 3 PTS+!! I’m normally not a fan of packaged foods like this but I’m also a realist who knows that sometimes you need something quick and easy. These seem like a very reasonable grab-n-go option for folks who might not otherwise eat breakfast. I bought a box to keep just in case and will probably use them on days I work out in the a.m. as a 2nd breakfast. Given how low the PTS+ value is and the fact that it combines whole wheat, protein, and veggies it’s alot better than my old standby of a granola bar or a 5 PTS+ energy bar.

Have you tried these new sandwiches? What did you think?

Product To Try: Almond Breeze Vanilla Unsweetened almond milk

One of the other things my best friend shared with me was her Hungry Girl 300 Under 300 cookbook. I scanned the recipes and found quite a few I wanted to try, so I picked up a copy for myself when I got home. More on those as I make them, but one of the products she uses alot in that book is Almond Breeze Vanilla Unsweetened almond milk. I’d been thinking about trying Almond Milk anyway so I picked up a carton on my next shopping trip.

I haven’t used it in any recipes yet, but I used it to make hot chocolate tonight and I have to say it was really tasty. The almond milk was only 1 PTS+ so it’s lower than regular milk, and will hopefully be less harsh on my system since sometimes too much dairy can make me an unhappy camper. This weekend I’ll likely try it in some of the HG recipes, and will let you know how it goes. Can’t say I’d drink a glass of the stuff, but I don’t drink regular milk straight either so that’s no big loss. But it could be a nice addition of some nutrients to oatmeal, smoothies, and other recipes that call for milk.

Have you tried this porduct? How do you like to use it?

Garlic Mashed Root Vegetables for 2 PTS+

Part of what helped me get back on track this winter was a visit to my best friend T. She’s been having tremendous success on WW after the birth of her 2nd child and was a much-needed inspiration. She got me tracking again, and shared an awesome new recipe. It’s direct from the WW site and is a great alternative to traditional, boring mashed potatoes called Garlic Mashed Root Vegetables.

Mine didn’t come out quite as good as hers even with an extra 1/4 cup of fat free sour cream so I have to go back and find out her secret touch. But  they were still very tasty and a much more nutritious alternative to the all-potato version. And at only 2 PTS+ for a giant serving, it’s winner in my book!

Back In The Saddle

Anyone who looks at the dates on my posts from 2011 will see that I wasn’t terribly consistent with my blogging efforts last year. The same was unfortunately true of my healthy living efforts due to some health issues I had for most of the year. It’s nothing serious, but sapped most of my energy until late in the year.

The good news is that I’m feeling much better, and have been funneling much of my returned energy into reviving my efforts to live healthy. I’ve been sleeping better, trying new recipes, and hitting the gym much more regularly. It helps that I was on vacation for 19 days at the end of the year, but I’ve also taken steps to curb my work travel a bit and make my workload (and associated stress) more manageable so I can make time to take care of myself.

The results of these efforts will be a flurry of new posts for the few of you who actually read this blog. I’m not silly enough to think that I have a huge following, but a handful of people have told me they find it really helpful so I’m committed to keeping it up in 2012.

As always if there is something you’d like me to post about, shoot me an email or a comment and I’ll oblige if I can. And if you have successes, tips, or tricks you want to share yourself comment away – this whole process is much better when we do it together!

Here’s to a healthy, confident new year for us all.