Valerie is losing it!

So Roni has all these pretty pictures of her recipes.  We just bought a new digital camera and I have been taking pics of the food I have been making.  I always cook a lot when I do WW and have come up with some great meals that my entire family loves.  I may start posting them.  No way will it ever be as nice as Roni’s but it’s fun.  I guess pics of food are better than pigging out… lol

Happy weekend!

It has been a long time since I’ve blogged.  And why is that, you may ask.  I’ll tell you why.  Pure and simple SHAME!  I have fallen off the wagon and gained back the 6 pounds I lost in January plus one more.  Ick.  So, I put on my stomp the shame shoes, purhased a monthly pass, and went to a meeting today.  I feel so much more in control. 

There were several eye openers for me lately.  We went to dinner and I ate as much (possibly more) than my 6′5″ 205 pound husband.  We went to see some of my family for Easter.  Easter dinner wasn’t fabulous but I still ate so much that my stomach hurt for 2 hours afterward.  I tried to be a vegetarian for a few weeks and gained weight because it was all fatty crap.  I felt like crap.  And I hated having to work so hard to avoid meat.  I don’t dislike meat.  While we were visiting the fam, we went to the mall.  I tried on a pair of jeans and realized that my waist is the same size as aforementioned (albeit skinny) husband.  I felt like such a lard butt.   And the last eye opener… pants that were loose on me this time last year are tight now.  Ugh.  Gotta hate it when that happens.  So, I climbed back on the wagon today.

It feels good to be in control again! 

I, like Roni, am all about eating.  I love it when I find a recipe that allows me to eat A LOT of food for very few points.  I created such a recipe this evening.  It was a HUGE bowl of food for only 5 points.  I only wish I had taken a picture of it so you could have seen how pretty it was.  I was planning to make goulash for the family… you know the old standby… ground beef (i only ever buy 96% lean), bell peppers, onions, jarred pasta sauce.  I really didn’t feel like “wasting” 6 points on 1 1/2 cups of the standard.  I was looking through the fridge to see if I had anything that could be added to give in volume and flavor and actually fill the void.  I found some froxen green beans, little stubs of zucchini (my family eats zucchini like most people eat cucumbers), mushrooms, and butternut squash.  I took 2 oz of the ground beef, added the requisite peppers and onions and then tossed in all the other veggies.  When I make homemade spaghetti sauce, I typically add a dash of cinnamon just for flair maybe… I don’t know… I always have… it may have initially been a mistake but turned out so well that I have kept doing it.  Long story shorter, (notice I didn’t say short???).  I added some garlic and a dash of cinnamon.  Then 1/2 C of elbow macaroni (2 pts.)  I also added a little fat free jarred pasta sauce (I use classico spicy red pepper), and added some cayenne and crushed pepper flakes.  Obviously, if you dont’ like spicy, leave that stuff out.    SOOOOO yummy!!!  So, 5 points.  YUMMY!

My first weigh in is later this week.  I have to exercise tonight still and I am so tired.  ugh…  Hubbers is working late and wild boy #1 has homework to finish.  And the biggest loser is on.  I may walk on the treadmill after that.  I just finished eating and don’t have the oooomph to do much other than sit on my butt on the sofa right now. 

 Hope all is going well for all of you!!!

So yeah.  I had a great day yesterday.  Until midnight.  I should have gone to bed.  But, my friends called and wanted to hang out.  I trundled across the street and had a few beers.  And some chips (but at least they were baked lays!).  And a few pieces of dark chocolate.  And finally went to bed at 3am.  It was a great time.  Lots of catching up and really awful yet highly entertaining karaoke.  With all of it, I figure I used 12 allowance points.  Could be worse.

We went to lunch today.  I did so much better than I ever used to but it was rather high in points. It was 12.5 points.  I ordered chicken breast and green beans and peppered chicken.  Could be worse.  I could have made it at home for fewer points but alas, I did not!  I did however, earn 7 activity points today!  Yes, I said 7!!!!  YAY ME! 

Time to cook some dinner… Chicken drumsticks for the kids and chicken breasts for the hubbers and me.  Sides?  No clue yet!  Veggies, of course.  maybe salad.  I don’t know yet….  I still have 6.5 points left for the day. 

Hello all!  I am feeling really under the weather today but wanted to post regardless.  I have yet to exercise today and being that a) it is already 9pm and b) my throat feels like raw hamburger looks… ICKY, I really don’t think I am going to beat myself up about it.  I have been on plan all week.  I havent’ even used any allowance points and exercised twice.  It’s my first week back to weight watchers and exercise.  I didn’t want to  kill myself.  I’m nervous because I go back to work on Monday and then the following Monday, night classes start again.  We shall see how it goes.  I am going to do it this time!

so the main reason for my post is my brilliance (okay, maybe not brilliance) in the kitchen tonight.  I took 1 nyquil last night and still feel muzzy.  I took a snooze on the sofa while the hubbers and the wild boys were playing wii (which I might randomly add is NOT conducive to good snoozing).  I woke up thinking it was time to start thinking about making dinner.  Here’s where I am really proud of myself… I would typically think, “let’s order in.” It may have just been the laziness of not wanting to go out in the cold to get something because in this town, ONLY pizza delivers.  I’ve been craving a meatball sub ever since Roni’s post about the leftover meatball wraps.  I’ve made Roni’s meatballs twice now and they are a HUGE hit in my house.  I forgot the parmesan cheese in them tonight but they were still good.  I didn’t feel like making a big spaghetti sauce production so I opened a jar of store bought sauce (GASP!) to put over the meatballs.  And then I didn’t feel like cooking pasta.  I thought about Roni’s wraps.  I opened the cupboard and the lite english muffins fell out and hit me in the face.  Okay.  English muffins it is!  I made a sort of meatball muffin pizza thingie for me.  The hubbers and 1 wild boy had meatball sandwiches and the youngest (and pickiest) wild boy had plain meatballs (no sauce) in a tortillas.  I had a side of baked beans and baked chips.  It was yummy goodness!  If I were short on points, I would have skipped the chips.  But, it is 9pm and i still have 5 points left.  Craziness, I know! 

This is getting long winded.  I could go on all night!  lol  Here’s to being in control of food and not letting food control us (water glasses clinking)!

Wow.  I wrote a lovely post yesterday and now it is gone.  Huh.  It baffles the mind! 

I went to my first meeting of the year yesterday.  It was great!  I weighed in at 183.4 (I was thinking 186).  I’m 5′10″ so that isn’t too big.  It just stinks that I was down to 168.4 (but for only 1 day, I’m certain of it!) last February.  I was up and down for the rest of the year and ended with more up than I’d like to be but less up than I thought I was.

I made a fabulous dinner tonight.  I have been craving chicken fajitas in the worst way.  I always buy tortillas that are 1 point each but tonight, I was feeling stingy with the points.  I wrapped  1 oz chicken (which I prepared with lime juice, cayenne, and fat free chicken broth) along with bell peppers, onions, and asparagus (all cooked with the same stuff), a pinch of fat free cheese, and a dash of homemade salsa into green leaf lettuce.  1 wrap = 2 points roughly.  And it was SOOOO good!!!! 

I found a new exercise DVD that I love.  The Biggest Loser CardioMax…  Wow… tough workout but exactly what I expected from those trainers.  They mean business!!!  My legs are killing me from all the lunges, forward, backward, sideways.  It is divided into 3 sections; weeks 1-2, weeks 3-4, and weeks 5-6.  I have also purchased the sculpting dvd with the same folks but I have yet to try it out.  I was surprised by how good this workout was!  You should give it a whirl!

So, I am all pumped up for a great year.  My initial weight loss goal of 10% is 18.3 pounds which will put me at 165.1.  The thing that really excited me was when I figured the 10% of 165.1 and discovered that it about 2 pounds less than my goal weight of 150.  So, I am stoked.  I am easily amused, what can I say?

Bought a scale at Sam’s today too.  I had one in the past and it kept me on track and “honest”.  If I weighed daily, I was less likely to eat something incredibly unhealthy like half a pizza and an order of hot wings.  

Hope you all had a great OP day!  See you soon! 

I am a dork.  I wrote a lovely post and lost it somehow…  hmmm.  I’ll try again tomorrow!

My husband and I have traditionally exchanged gifts for Christmas AFTER Christmas.  That gives us a chance to see what everyone else got us and to contemplate what we really want.  The other day, I was drying my hair (while on vacation), thinking how fat I am (5′10″, 180ish… not obese but could stand to drop a few pounds…) and the hubbers asked if I had decided what I want for xmas.  Yes, I want to go back to weight watchers and hire a personal trainer.  His response?  Okay!  No questions.  No argument.  Just support.  Wow…  I didn’t really expect that.  Normally, I get the, “just eat less.”  “go to the gym more.”  He has been supportive while I am succeeding and sticking to it but when I slack and start pigging out and skipping the gym, he gets… crabby. 

So, tomorrow (if I can drag my kiddos out of bed and to a meeting by 0930), I will go to my first meeting in 8 months.  I am so stoked.  This site has def given me inspiration.

I look forward to getting back on track and where I want to be!  :)  Val

My name is Valerie.  I am happily married to the love of my life for 15ish years now!  I am 36 and the proud momma of two wild and crazy boys who are currently 6 and 9.   I am a biology/chemistry teacher and am taking classes to expand my certification.  My husband is in the Air Force and has a crazy, insanely, jam packed busy schedule.  No wonder I let myself go! 

I was on weight watchers before.  I started in NC when I weighed 196 pounds.  I got down to 176 before we moved to NM.  I joined again in January 07 and lost another 8 pounds but only stayed at 168 for about a day! I changed jobs about the same time I stopped going to meetings and found myself surrounded by food.  I worked at a preschool and “had to” eat what the kids ate.  Then I would come home for lunch and eat more.  I stopped working before the summer to save $$$$ on daycare fees for the wild things.  I lost some but then gained it back when I got lazy and having a fun, lazy summer.  I lost a bit when I started teaching again.  Our school does not have a cafeteria so I have to bring meals from home.  It started off as salads and healthy options but somehow degenerated to large quantities of whatever leftovers I made.  It wasn’t so much what I ate but how much of it ate.  My biggest issue is portion control.  I love the act of eating.  And then the holidays… 

That’s my story for now….