Good days, Bad days.

Its been over a month, and a lot has happened. 

First off a few weeks ago I hit my 40 pounds lost with Weight Watchers! But I couldn't stay to celebrate because I had to go to our Convention. If you want cardio, go to Qualcomm and do the stairs three days strait!

We had a great convention and had a family stay with us for 4 days during. We had a blast! I went back the following Friday and I had gained 0.6 pound. But I was still at the 40 pounds lost, so I was ok. 

I was doing ok and getting back into the routine of things, but still was over my allowance points for the week by wednesday night. Then Thursday I went to Disneyland with friends, with all intentions to track. But I ended up not counting that day. It was the last day of the week and I knew even if I didn't count that day I could start over again on Friday, Friday is after all a new day of a new week. 

We had a blast throughout the day, Spencer was able to join us in the evening! I even went all day without the scooter. Did pretty well. I did have to take 2 pain pills throughout the day, but that is less than I would have normally taken before. 

On the way home from the parks I started a bad tremor due to my disability. It was in my spine. I had to have spencer pull off at the rest area. We were there for an hour and the whole time I was in pain, trying to get the pain to go away. I was still in severe pain and I knew I didn't want to deal with it at the rest area. People were starting to wonder why I was screaming. So I told spencer to clear out the back seat and I somewhat buckled myself with the middle seat belt and laid down to be more comfortable. I ended up falling asleep about 30 min later, thankfully. I had this tremor almost 2 hours. And it was the worst I have ever had pain wise. 

The next day I slept until late in the afternoon. I was feeling a little better. Went to hang out at a friends house in the evening. Still didn't feel the greatest. I didn't Track.

Saturday was a Bonfire and I went to that as well, was doing ok, still not the greatest. Also did not track. On the way home a severe migraine hit me. This migraine lasted until Monday afternoon. So you know I had not tracked. 

Then Tuesday morning I woke up with another migraine. 

I think this tremor took a toll on my body.

It is now technically Thursday morning and I am just now starting to feel like myself again.

I decided to take this past week of tracking off. Start over on Friday, and take whatever gain I have. 

Friday is a New day, New week, New attitude!

I am determined to start my routine of activity again. Determined not to overdue it, like I did last week. I knew with all the good days I had been having, I was due to have some bad ones eventually. 

I do have some good news too. I went to Lane Bryant tonight and got myself a new outfit. Thank you clearance!! I am happy to announce I am a size 16 pants and a size 14/16 top! Such a change from over a year ago when I was size 24!  I am almost no longer able to shop at Torrid and Lane Bryant. Here is the new outfit I got tonight. I cant wait to shop for bathing suits!

My newest find.

First off let me just say I did gain 1.2 pounds this week. But it was expected. But I am surprised it wasn't more with three days at Disneyland.

I wanted to let everyone know about something that I have used in the past but has now become a staple in our house. I started every so often buying Lavash bread. And using it for different things. I recently bought a package and my dad got into it and he thought he wasn't going to like it. He thought it was going to be dry and  not that good because its healthy. Well he was pleasantly surprised when he tried it and he loved it!

I use this bread for everything. I will give some meal ideas later but first I am going to give you the specs.

I get this bread at Fresh and Easy. Each package of 6 full lavash wraps is $2.50. I have not found it anywhere else, so if you see it somewhere else let me know. They have a white lavash and a whole grain lavash. The name of it is California Lavash. I get the whole grain lavash. It has no trans fats. Low sodium. And no cholesterol. It is vegan.

Nutrition facts include: 0g fat, 10g carbs, 1g fiber, 2g protein. For half a sheet. So for half a sheet it is only 1 PPV. If you want a whole sheet it is 2 PPV for the whole grain. The white lavash comes to 1 PPV for half and 3 PPV for a whole sheet.   For the whole grain there is also 0g sugar, 70mg sodium, and 0mg cholesterol. And 60 calories per half sheet.

They can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or desert. I have used them for all.

Here are some ideas.
Breakfast: I have used them in place of bread. I made scrambled egg whites and a sausage patty with some cheese and used the 1/2 lavash instead of a tortilla to make it a breakfast burrito.

Lunch: I have used a whole lavash grated cheddar cheese on it. Sliced tomatoes and put it on half the lavash. And heated it in the oven. Then I take it when it is completely melted and fold it in half and made it a quesadilla with tomatoes.

Dinner: I use a whole lavash (I have also done it half when I'm not too hungry) and put on fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, baby tomatoes, and mini pepperonis.  No sauce. I heat it in the oven until its melted and just made a a pizza!

Desert: I use half a lavash but a tablespoon of Nutella, with bananas and strawberries. Then microwave for like 10 seconds. And make it like a Nutella crepe!

You can also make sandwich wraps. Which i have not done yet. Or use it as hamburger buns. We made mini patties and used half a lavash broken into 4 pieces and made two mini burgers.

This lavash bread has helped in my food lifestyle change. Instead of a 2-4 point tortilla I use a lavash that is only 1-2 points. Instead of a 4-8 point pizza dough I use a 2 point lavash. Instead of a 4 point hamburger or hot dog bun I use a 1 point lavash! And we all love it in our household! I even just went and bought 4 packages yesterday so we could be stocked up!

I wanted to share this with my friends because it is now a staple in our house. I'm not a big bread fan so this is awesome!

I hope you all have a chance to try it.

My amazing WW group!

I have an amazing WW group! Everyone is so encouraging. I go to El Cajon on Friday mornings at 6:30am. I know, I know that's super early! But regardless we have a very large group that shows up. And every single one of them are awesome!

I walk in this morning and at least three people tell me I'm looking great. I weigh in and I have lost 0.2 pound. It's a loss, small, but a loss! I show my leader my t-shirt from my 5k and she tells me to show the group.  I go to sit down and before I do I get compliments from 4 other people! They are wondering how I do it! Which I thought it was funny because we are all doing the same thing, weight watchers. Then they say specifically what is working for me? I tell them the added activity helps a lot. As well as tracking no matter what. The meeting starts.

Marlene our leader (the best in the world btw) starts the group. This week we are talking about our tracking. She gets to the point of announcing the 5k that the "dynamic duo" did. (That's me and Vickie) she tells me to stand up and show them. And I stand up and show them my shirt from the Sea World 5k and announce I completed my first 5k! And everyone cheers. Before I can say anything else I get even more compliments and someone says "she's wasting away" (wasting away in a good way) and I get another couple "looking great". I feel awesome! I tell them all that I finished with my fastest pace ever and that I even ran some of it. I said "which isn't me, well not usually" and someone says "it's you now!" And it is!

I sit back down and Marlene gives both me and Vickie a 5K charm and I look over and Vickie has got the biggest proudest smile on her face and is looking at me. That feels amazing that I can make someone that inspires me so proud.

I feel amazing after every meeting I attend at weight watchers. But today I felt even better. The 0.2 loss didn't bother me being so low. I have so many other accomplishments and I have an amazing group that attend with me. I know I will succeed at this even if I never hit goal. Because I have so much encouragement in my group.

From wheelchair to running. My first 5K experience.

Can you believe it? I completed my first 5K!!
Sea World Pole to Pole 5k fun run. April 20, 2013.

I never thought I would ever be where I am today. 7 months ago I was in a scooter, and just two days ago I completed a 5k. It's an amazing accomplishment. I am so proud and happy with where I am today. Granted I will never be rid of my disabilities but I don't let them ruin my life. This is my experience from the day of my 5K.

I was nervous, scared, excited, worried and overall happy to do it. I didn't know how I would do or what would happen at the 5k. But I was determined to finish Nd not be last!

Spencer had to work that morning but he was able to drop me off. We get to Sea World and parked. He walks me up to the registration tables and waits with me to get my bib number and T-shirt. I had to sign a hard copy of the waiver and went to the table to get my bib. The tables were set up alphabetically. I go to the table for that has the A's through E's I think. I get my bib and I am bib #2. Since they did it alphabetically there was only 1 other person in front of me that had a name before mine in the alphabet. I proceed to get my shirt and we see Vickie and Vern in line to get their bibs. Then we see Mary Jo and Joe waiting to get Joe's bib. Then we all get our shirts. Vickie and Vern let me put my back pack in their car and there I say goodbye to Spencer. And the three of us head in. Now I didn't know what this was going to be like but when we went in it was so awesome. They had booths up for swag. They had characters out to get pictures with. They had a huge billboard to get a picture in front of. And there was the start. I was ready for this! I saw the start line and we waited until it got close to start time. All the runners/walkers got ready at the start line and they did a count down. And it was time!

We got the GO! And EVERYONE starts running. I walked. I told myself slow and steady wins the race. As everyone is zooming past me I see another woman my age walking. I told her it was nice to see at least one other person walking. She said she doesn't run. I told her that everyone that started out running will soon slow down and we will be passing them soon. I heard a mother tell her daughter "Don't worry. Whats nice about your first race is that it is your personal best". That was encouraging to hear for me. It was so nice to walk through the park and see some animals out. As I go on I periodically look at my MapMyFitness app and I am doing the fastest pace I have ever done. It feels great. I don't know why but I got the urge to run/jog. So I started jogging and lasted about 60 seconds. But then I decided I will walk for awhile and jog until I can't anymore, then walk until I get my breath back and jog again. So I did interval walking and jogging. And it worked for me! I would walk about 5 minutes and jog for 30-60 seconds. I did very well. 1/3 of the 5k was in the parking lot. No music (which actually makes me go faster) and it was getting warm. But I walked and jogged back into the park, stopped by the water station (which was placed perfectly coming back from the parking lot) and soon was at mile 2! I'm almost there! I kept telling myself I'm gonna finish, and I'm not gonna be last! There were still some people behind me. Pretty soon I was at mile 3. And I decided to run from mile 3 to the finish line, and I did!

I was determined to finish this race in 50 minutes and as I got closer to the finish I noticed the clock saying 39:47 so I run just a little bit faster! And I cross! Vickie is there taking my picture for me. And I am just full of accomplishment! I feel great. I had my phone out with MapMyFitness up and notice that the course was actually just a little short of 3.1 miles. So I walk past the finish and get it to 3.1 and stop it. On MapMyFitness I hit 3.1 miles in 40 minutes and 27 seconds. A personal best!

They were handing out reusable bags at the finish line with stuff in it. After the race they gave everyone breakfast. Breakfast burritos that were very good. They had coffee, tea, orange juice, bottles of water, and vitamin water that they were handing out. PopChips was also there handing out samples. There were conservation fund tables so we could learn about protecting the animals. A lot of conservation swag. And Smooth 98.1 was there as well. They had animal ambassadors out. And they did an opportunity drawing. They had a lot of nice stuff they were giving away in the drawing. I also got to see my friend Cristina and her son.

After the drawing they thanked everyone and told everyone if they want to see their times they were at the back. So we go to the tables to check. I find me with the estimate of 40 min and they have me down as finishing at 40:05. Which is a 12:55 pace per mile!! Best ever! They had announced that 700 people had signed up for the race. And of that 700 only 531 crossed in time to get on the list of times. I am happy to find out that I ranked #279 out of the 700 registered! That is awesome to me!

After we all had to leave, so they could clean up and open the park, we headed back in to walk some more. There was a triathlon going on that day and they closed a couple roads to make way for the biking part. So the roads wold open at 11:30am. So we all waited inside and walked around until 11:30. So after just finishing a 5k I walked for another 3 hours! I am surprised I didn't collapse. Vern and Vickie were nice enough to drive me home.

The after effects is what hit me hard. It is now two days later and I am still having pain. But I am so happy to have done it. And I am so proud of what I did. I had such encouragement at the run. Nd I look forward to doing the Sea World 5K next year. I do have other 5K's planned. Mom and I will be going for the Girls on the Go 5K next month together. Ad there is at least one a month that I want to do every month this year. But I am so happy I did this one at Sea World as my first one!

I encourage everyone to do one if at all possible. But train, train, train! Because I would have never accomplished what I did without training.

Thanks for reading!

Link to all the pictures from the day: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.587495051261540.1073741832.100000031503377&type=1&l=768888dadd

It is a public album so no need to have FB.

I have posted two pictures. One before the race and one crossing the finish line!

Ready for new things!

I lost another pound this week! Didn't think I would lose so that's a good thing! I went over my allowance this week by 11. And even used all but 3 of my 19 activity points. But I don't think the Active Link counts as many points as I do when I work out.

I started The C25K program (see previous post) and since I did it my knees have been killing me. Today my left knee is still sore but almost better. My right is fine now. But they were both so sore for the last couple days. Eventually I will get it going. I should be fine for tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is my first 5K!!! Sea World Pole to Pole 5K fun run! I am happy to be doing it with my WW buddy Vickie! I cant wait! I don't care what pace I do I just want to finish! Sea World is giving all the runners a light breakfast after. So this is going to be fun! I do plan on eating light before I get there. Carbs and protein. Planning on toast with egg whites and a banana, an orange and strawberries. That way I can get through the 5K and then have a full breakfast after.

I want to eventually do a 10K. I am thinking that if I can work on doing the 6.2 miles by May 3rd then I will sign up for the Girls on the Go 10K. But if not I will do the 5K. And hopefully mom can do it with me!

Well I have to prepare for tomorrow. I will post pics later.

C25K

Today I started the C25K program. (Couch to 5k) this is the first day I added running to my walking.

First off I don't run!

I don't think spencer has ever seen me run in our 8 years together.

I was never a walker either. When I was in middle school I would walk half the track and the cross the grass and tell the teacher I quit. In high school I was only in school for 1/4 of the year and then I went into home school with no PE. So I never really ran before. So this is huge for me.

I got the C25K® - 5K Trainer FREE from Zen Labs on my iPhone. It's a good program. You can use it with multiple programs. I was using it with my music and my MapMyFitness app. I was able to hear my music no problem and when it went to talk it would turn the volume down on my music then turn it back up when done. And my map my fitness app was still able to speak as well.

The training starts out this way: Week 1 Day 1 workout. Warmup walk 5 min. Run/jog 60 seconds. Walk 90 seconds.do this for 20 min. Then 5 min cool down walk.
As the weeks pass you do longer runs and longer walks.
It gets you 5K ready by doing 30 min a day, three times a week, for 8 weeks. It gets you to run a 5K. Not just walk it.

Well today I did my 5 min warm up and then was only able to do about 9 min of the 60 second running and 90 second walking. So I did 14 min in total. But I still did a mile!

I know I will get this done eventually. But the best part of this is I started! I won't be running on the 5K on Saturday. But eventually I will be running a 5K. It will just be a long ways off.

The best part of this is I have so much encouragement!

I have so many friends at Weight Watchers, friends on FaceBook, friends in the congregation, and family near and far that are so encouraging. Even just someone commenting on or liking my status on FB is encouraging. When someone says "you look amazing!" That is such an encouragement. Being invited to hikes or to go do something active, is an encouragement. Even seeing any loss at the meeting, wether it be 3 pounds or 0.3 pounds, its encouraging. Because that is gone!

I will continue to work at this. And like other things I thought would be almost impossible, I will succeed!

I am back!

I know it has been a little while since I have updated. Well I am back and it will be updated more often.

Here are some things you may have missed.

I am now 43.2 pounds loss since end of August. And around 55 pounds lost since last April when I was at my heaviest.

I started adding walking to my weekly routines. I started walking on 2/18/13 and since then I have been working toward my first 5K!! I have my first 5K at Sea World on Saturday morning. I cant believe it. This is a huge accomplishment for me!

Also I have almost completly stopped using the scooter. I no longer use it to get to places. I now walk to places. I do however take it to Disneyland when we go just in case. Also I will be taking it to convention next month also. But for the most part it will stay in the car. I have not used it since February.

I do still have my health issuse that iwll never go away. If I am having an issue then I deal with it and if it is on a day that I plan on walking (Mon, Wed, Fri) then I just adjust my walking days until I feel better. These health issuses will never go away but the weight loss have helped me tremendously.

I no longer let my health issues run my life. The weight loss and activity have made me more confident in all aspects of life.

Well I just wanted to update and I will do so more often.

Thats it for now.

Another good weigh in!

I lost 2.2 more pounds. That gives me 8 pounds lost in Weight Watchers. And 15.4 pounds lost in total! I can notice the difference in so many ways. I am feeling better, more upbeat. Doing more on my own. I have been to a lot of places on my own in the last my own. The scooter helps. I hope there is a day in this system that I wont have to rely completely on the scooter. I still have a lot to go but it takes time. Little steps at a time. I will be happy if I lose 1-2 pounds a week.

Today has been tough. I have been having one of those I want to eat and nothing else. Thankfully it is the last day of the week. Tomorrow is a new day. Hope to stick to this plan. I have been doing well so far. And I plan to continue to do so!

Movin on down!

Weigh in today. Lost 2.6 pounds this week. Total loss at Weight Watchers is 5.8. And total loss is 13.2 pounds!!! I am so happy! I hope that this continues to be the case. I love that I am making better choices. And I cant wait til Spencer starts counting. It will help me out a lot more. Til next time!

My good choices is helping others!

Spencer weighed himself tonight and told me that he has lost 4 pounds. He was happy about that. I told him that if he would start counting he would drop the weight he wanted to lose in no time. Last night he had me figure out how many points he would get on WW. However, he ate 3 bowls of chili tonight was 21 points. So I guess it has to be baby steps to get him to follow a plan. But I see little things changing with him. He does help me out when it comes to cooking and getting food out. He makes sure we can go somewhere that I can find the points. Also he is willing to share plates out with me. So it the little things to help me. Now how to get mom and dad to stop asking for ice cream and cookies lol.

Six Gun Chili

Spencer wanted to make food tonight. He found this Six Gun Chili Mixin's package at Walmart.

What you need
~1 pkg Six Gun Chili Mixin's - 10 points for whole package
~water (we ended up using 5 cups but it will depend on how much you will want to make it thinner or not) - 0 points
~2 pounds raw ground beef (we used 85%lean and it cooked out to be 1 1/2 pounds) - 32 points
~14.5 ounce tomatoes with juice (we used diced) - 0 points

Other additions:
~Pinto beans drained (we used a 20 ounce can) - 18 points
~ 1 onion chopped - 0 points
~ Black olives (we used 3 ounces) - 3 points

Directions:
~ Add two large brown pouches of Mixin's to 1 cup of water in a bowl...Set aside.
~Brown 2 pounds hamburger(ground beef)(we cooked it fully)... drain the grease. (after the grease was drained we weighed the cooked beef and it came out to 1 1/2 pounds cooked. But it will vary depending on what % of fat it is. Best thing to do is weigh it and count the points then!
~add 14.5 oz can of tomatoes (juice and all)
~ stir Mixin's and water mixture into the meat and tomatoes. if wanted, add drained can of pinto or kidney beans. Bring to a boil.
~ Now add small red pepper pouch for heat levels like these:
TENDERFOOT CHILI: (Family Style)... wave the unopened pouch over the chili... don't add any... but tell 'em you did.
OUTLAW CHILI: (Medium Hot)... stir in 1/2 the pepper... hot enough to drive the in-laws out.
SIX GUN CHILI: (Hot)... add all the pepper-thenstir fast if you want to keep the spoon!
(We used the whole thing and it was not too spicy. it had a good flavor with the right amount of spice!)
~Simmer uncovered for 30 mins. or longer. adding water as desired for a "thick stew" consistency. (At this point we added in the onions and black olives) As an option, the large white pouch of masa flour can be used to thicken chili. Mix it with warm water to a batter thickness and add to the simmering chili. (we opted for this and glad we did!) You've just made the best chili that ever met a mouth!


We really like this chili. You can tweak it however you would like. We did and accounted for the points!

With everything it made 9 Cups of chili. Total points added up to 63. So each 1 cup serving was 7 points. But each batch can be different point wise. So best bet is to keep track of what you add in and measure and weigh everything.

I highly recommend this to everyone. Especially if you like chili!

A visual motivator!

Thanks to Pinterest I now have a visual motivation tool! This will help me to keep focus on WW and losing my weight and getting to goal! I have 98 stones in the "pounds to go" jar and 10 in the "pounds lost" jar. I started at a weight of 267.4 when I started eating better and decided that I needed to lose weight. Then 2 weeks later I started Weight Watchers and I was at 260 with the result of losing 7.4 pounds on my own! The two weeks I have been on WW I have lost 3.2 pounds. A total weight loss of 10.6 pounds. My goal weight is 160 (or 180 I haven't decided yet). I have a ways to go but these motivation jars will help. I will NEVER want to put a stone back in the "pounds to go" jar (even though it will happen from time to time). But how much more of a motivation is it to NOT have to!

Another week another loss!

Yesterday was weigh in. And I did well! Even with going to Disneyland last weekend I lost 2 pounds! Down 3.2 so far. I have another 97ish to go. But it feels good. It didn't come on fast so it won't leave fast.

Doing well so far!

So I have been doing well and staing within my 41 points a day on WW. So far this week We have been making better choices here at casa de Crazy! A few of the things we have do is splitting meals when we go out to eat. Spencer and I split a 3 entre meal at Panda Express. A little word of advice is to avoid the bejing beef. 1 serving is 23 points. good thing we split it! Tonight we went to walmart to get zero point and low point snacks for disneyland this wekend! I am determined to stay on plan this weekend! I have been doing really well and I have not touched any of my 49 extra points for the week. My last count day is friday. Weigh in is on friday morning and i am very possitive. If I dont use any extra points tomorrow then I will have 90 points for disney on friday! Not that Im going to all of them. Saturday will start a new count week. And I am determined not to go over my 41 daily points. I have been getting help from spencer. Even though he is not doing the counting he helps encourage me. And he has stated that he wants to start counting soon! That will help alot. Only issue I am having here at the house is my parents. Tonight they were requesting donuts. My mom got some bad news today and she just really wanted donuts. but for the most part they are helping out. They did have me get them cookies tonight at walmart but they get to stay in their room! and away from me! lol. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting my first loss (hopefully) on friday.

Weight Watchers official start!

I went in this morning for my first official weigh in at WW. According to their scale i was at 260.0. Almost 2 weeks ago I was at 267. I have lost about 7 pounds in 2 weeks! But what matters now is from this point on. I have a goal of losing 100 pounds. My goal weight is 160. But my first goal is a 5% goal which is 13 pounds. After that my next goal is to hit 26 pounds (10%). And from that point on I will set another goal until i hit my goal weight. I hope that I can stick to this new lifestyle. Tomorrow I start counting points. Hardest thing this week will be the food at the wedding tomorrow, lunch at my aunts on Monday, and then Disneyland on Friday and Saturday. But I have a plan! That is the way I have to do it. To plan and count. I feel better already and I want to keep this up. I know with the help of others I will make it. I didn't put the weight on overnight, so it wont come off overnight. It will take time. Which I have plenty of.

Already losing!

The other day when I posted I was at 267 lbs. Well I am happy to say that today after eating I was at 264. I have lost almost 3 lbs already!! And I am not even on WW yet. I will be going friday morning and getting my first official weigh in. And then Saturday I will be starting the plan! Cant wait!!

Tazo Passion Tea Lemonade

An awesome drink and only 7 calories per 8oz glass! Passion iced tea bags from Starbucks! It says to brew 4 cups but I do 8. I make the hot water in my hot tea maker. I just don't put tea in the maker so I add 8 cups hot water to the bag and let set for about 5 min. Then pour it in a very large pitcher. then add the minute maid light to it. Mix and put in fridge to chill. Then enjoy! Tea is 0 calories. Lemonade is 15 calories per 8oz glass. Add I all together it comes to be about 7 calories per 8oz glass. Why not 7.5 calories? Because there is more tea than lemonade. The lemonade is less than 8 cups its about 7 3/4 cups. Where a the tea is 8 cups. This can totally replace soda for me!

Total Points Plus Value 0 points for 8oz!!

Starting anew!

Well it has been decided by myself that I will be starting, and sticking, the the plan this time! I am at the heaviest I have ever been. I weighed tonight and i was at 267. I really need to do this, this time. With not being able to exercise because of the health problems, I will need to do something to stop gaining weight. The last 3 days I have already been eating better! And it feels great! I really hope that I can stick to the WW plan and that people will encourage and help me. I will be posting from the app a lot but I will also be putting up a tracker and other things on my blog. And all my previous recipes are on the old WW points plan. eventually I will post the points plus values on the old recipes. But any recipe I post from now on will have points plus values. I look forward to going back to the meetings and sticking to this! And in all making my life better physically and lose weight!

The most recent picture of me!

Here is the most recent picture of me. it was taken on 4/17/2010 at Disneyland. This will be my B4 pic. I am not the type to be in front of the camera. you can usualy find me behind the camera. But I promise to post pics of my weight loss progress.

WOW it's been a long time!!!

It has been a long time since I have been on here. I am starting new. I will be going back to WW meetings. I have to do this for me and my health. It will give me stability and something to focus on in my life (other than the stress) Spencer will not be attending the meetings with me because of his job we never know when he has to work. But I will be bringing the information home and he will be eating what I make. This blog was created to track my weight loss and to post my recipies that I created for WW. Everything on here will be focused around weight loss and the food that get me to my goal. Please feel free to comment on here. Upbuilding comments only. Any negative comments or jokes about my weight will be deleted. I know that my friends and family will be supportive about this. Thanks in advanced for your support.

Just to let everyone know that our weights, measures and tickers will be updated soon. We had a bad (and I mean BAD) month last month but we are getting back to normal again. You will notice when i put our weights up what I am talking about. I will also have a detailed extended post coming soon as well as another blog. Hmmm I wonder what it could be?!?!?!

Update

I have lost 37.8 pounds. I only have 55 pounds to go. Spencer hit 29 pounds on Monday. He only has 8.8 to go now. So hopefully he will lose it real soon then after 6 weeks of maintenance he will not have to pay anymore. YAY!!

Yaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!

I hit 30 pounds even on monday night. That is a good feeling. I totally thougth maybe i would lose like 1 pound but nope I lost 3.6. YAAAAY!!!
Spencer Was back on Thursday evening and after counting all his points by the end of the week he had gone 80 points above nd beyond his 35 weekly allowance points. And that punk didnt gain. But he didnt lose either. So I guess thats a good thing, but hey it might catch up on him this coming monday. We have both been really good this week. I got a new job that I am starting on tuesday so I will be walking alot more to the trolley and bus. So I hope to see the pounds fall off. Well got to go finish cleaning for our dinner were having tomorrow night.
Happy Anniversary to us (March 24th 2007) and to the O'Rears (March 25th 2007) Yay One whole yeay that is so awesome!!!

Spencers 25 Pounds

Spencer hit 25 pounds lost yesterday. Too bad he is in Schaumberg, IL. He couldnt celebrate it at the meeting. He will next week. Also he will be celebrating his 16 weeks and our 1 year anniversary.. However I gained this week. I have no idea why. I started working and have worked my tail off this week. I stayed on plan and got 100% on plan and I didnt drink or have sugar this past week. Oh well I just hope I lose next week, or we wont be going out for our anniversary this month. It will be next month that we do. Spencer only has 12.2 pounds to lose til goal. So I hope he loses it in the next month or 2 so he can maintain for the 6 weeks and in a couple months we wont have to pay anymore for him yay!!.

The cooks 10% goal!!!

I lost my 10% tonight. I hit 27.6 pounds tonight. yay!!!






My Weight Chart:

Twinkie Weiner Sandwich

Spencer wanted me to post this. If you have never heard of this before, it is from the movie UHF. Spencer sweares by these. I say try It once if you dont like it never do it again. All I will say is that they are interesting.

TWINKIE WEINER SANDWICH




Points per Serving: (really it depends on what hot dogs you use) these points are based on the Hoffy Extra Lean Beef Franks: 5 Points per serving

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS
4 hot dogs (Hoffy Extra Lean are 1 point each) (Oscar Mayer Light are 2 points each) (Oscar Mayer Weiners are 4 points each
4 cream-filled sponge snack cakes (such as Twinkies™ 3 points each)
4 (4 inch) squirts of pressurized canned cheese (such as Easy Cheese™ 1 point),


DIRECTIONS
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add hot dogs, and boil until thoroughly hot, about 5 minutes; drain and keep warm.
Meanwhile, unwrap the snack cakes, and place onto a cutting board, upside-down. Cut halfway through the bottoms of the snack cakes with a small, serrated knife to create "buns" for the hot dogs.
Blot the hot dogs with a paper towel to remove excess water and place a hot dog inside each "bun". Remove the protective top from the can of cheese, and hold the nozzle close to, but not touching, the exposed side of the hot dog. Dispense cheese by decisively pressing the nozzle towards the hot dog and slowly drawing the tip along the hot dog in a straight line, or decorative pattern of your choice.

Lose a little win a little

So I lost 2 pounds tonight. Spencer gained 0.8 today. Not bad. Tonight was my 16 weeks. YAY! so I only need to lose 1.2 pounds to get my 10% goal. That is totally doable for next week. I WILL lose it next week.

Hot Dogs!!

So a couple posts ago I mentioned I had found 1 point hot dogs. Yes it is true! Hoffy makes extra lean beef franks. These are 1 point each. Also they make 1/4 pound ones that are 3 points each. They are really good. If you don't believe me try them yourself. YUMMY.

11 MONTHS!!!! and 16 WEEKS!!!

One more month and it will be a year since Spencer and I were married! Tomorrow will be my 16 weeks at Weight Watchers. I am hoping that I will lose 3.2 pounds. If I do I will getnot only another 5 pound star for 25 pounds, but I will also get my 10% goal. I have been working really hard to get that this week. But if I dont then I should get it next week. I will let you know tomorrow what happens. TTYL

OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

So as some of you may know We are having our one year anniversary on March 24th. One whole year and it has been an amazing one. And many more to come. Well since we got tax return at the beginning of February, I decided to give Spencer his gift early. So here is a little background on Spencer: He loves movies, music and computers and his guitar and drums. I mean anything Audio Visual he loves. I mean come on that’s also his job and I don’t think he would trade it for anything (well ok maybe more money). But anyways, He owns like over 350 CDs and over 300 movies on DVD and VHS. Well we even have our "den" (or living room if you considered it, since we live with another couple, the 3rd room is our living room) anyways our den is setup really cool. In the middle facing the closet is our couch/loveseat. The closet has the TV armoire in it and it has a subwoofer in there and 2 speakers. Also there are 4 more speakers around the room as our surround sound. And on the closet we have the velvet red curtains like that of an old movie theatre, and they pull back with gold roped tassels. We also have his guitar and amp and computer in the rear of the room. Well since he loves his movie theatre room I decided to get him his own lobby for it. So see the attached pictures and you will see what I mean. Oh and by the way he loved it!!







So that night I gave it to him and we had hot dogs 1 point each (yes I found 1 point hot dogs) and 2 points for each bun, and we had old fashioned kettle popped popcorn 1 point per cup. It was delicious. That weekend we had friends over to watch movies in our new movie theater.




So he ended up buying me a really nice dress for our anniversary that I am going to wear to dinner on the night of our anniversary (pending we have money. We are planning on going to a seafood place because I want seafood and have been craving it lately. So if anyone knows of a nice classy formal seafood place in San Diego where you have to dress up to go to (not Red Lobster but waaaayyy nicer with slim to no kids), Please let me know. I'll post pics of me and Spencer all dressed up for dinner next month, so you all can see my beautiful new dress!!

German Pancake or Dutch Babies

German Pancake or Dutch Babies



Points per serving: 5
Servings: 4





Make sure oven rack in middle space. Preheat oven to 450 and also preheat pan as well.
Oven safe dish no taller than 3 inches.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
½ cup Milk
7 tsp Butter
½ cup Flour
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Vanilla Extract

Prepare Eggs:
Beat Eggs until frothy and fluffy, when they start to capture air.
Add other ingredients to egg:
Add milk
Add Flour
Add Cinnamon
Add Vanilla Extract
Beat for 5 Minutes until bubbly, smooth and fairly thin
Add 1 tsp melted Butter beat in

Add mixture to preheated pan:
Add Butter until good and melted, slide it around.
Add the mixture to pan.
Place in oven. Cook 20-25 Minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Garnish Plate:
Apple and banana.
Slice apple into eights and slice banana in half then lengthwise. Place as desired. Leave room for pancake on plate.

Place pancake on plate and add syrup or butter or regular or powdered sugar or all.

Jessie's Carne Asada Fries

So if you love Carne Asada Fries but hate eating 45 points in one sitting these will help.

Jessie's Carne Asada Fries






Points Per Serving: 20
Servings: 2

Ingredients:

20oz Ore Ida Golden Frozen French Fries
4oz Carne Asada (I just get this from the taco shop for convenience, but if you know how
to make carne asada you may want to cook your own)
4oz Cheddar Cheese
½ cup Low-fat Sour Cream
½ cup Guacamole

Cook the fries on a cookie sheet in the oven. Prepare carne asada like you want then I layer it like this:

First Fries
Second Meat
Third Cheese (I put the plate back in the oven just to get the cheese melted)
Fourth and Fifth I put the Sour Cream and Guacamole next to each other on the top.

Calorie King

Thanks to Steph @ WW for this website, I never knew how much a Deep Fried Twinkie was 11 points. WOW!
But check out the site http://www.calorieking.com/

Chicken in Creamy Pan Sauce

I got this recipe from Kraft Foods Magazine. It is delicious. If you like cream cheese like I do then you will LOVE it. ENJOY!

Total Points per serving: 5
Make sure if anything is added to count the points. Points are for the recipe shown not for the kitchen tips jazzing it up. Double if necessary but count the points. And make sure that you evenly distribute the sauce in 4 servings. (we don’t want to cheat now).



Prep Time:
10 min
Total Time:
30 min
Makes:
4 servings

Ingredients:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. oil
3/4 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese, cubed
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
8 Cherry Tomatoes Quartered
COAT chicken with flour. Heat oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 to 6 min. on each side or until cooked through (165°F). Remove chicken from skillet, reserving drippings in skillet. Cover chicken to keep warm.
ADD broth to skillet; stir to scrape up browned bits from bottom of skillet. Add cream cheese; cook 2 to 3 min. or until cream cheese is melted and sauce starts to thicken, stirring constantly with wire whisk.
RETURN chicken to skillet; turn over to coat both sides of chicken with sauce. Cook 2 min. or until chicken is heated through. Sprinkle with parsley or top with tomatoes or both.
Kraft Kitchens Tips
Jazz It Up
Substitute your favorite chopped fresh herb for the parsley.
Note
If possible, use a large skillet with sloping sides when preparing this recipe. Not only does this allow you to easily turn the chicken pieces but the larger surface area speeds up the evaporation of the cooking liquids which, in turn, allows the chicken to brown more quickly.
Variations
Prepare recipe as directed. Transfer chicken to serving platter, then top with one of the following options: Spinach-Bacon: Top chicken with 1 cup baby spinach leaves. Drizzle with sauce; sprinkle with 2 slices cooked and crumbled OSCAR MAYER Bacon. Tomato-Basil: Top chicken with 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with sauce; sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil.

Spencer Lost again!!

Spencer hit 20 Pounds tonight at the weigh in. This week he lost 2.8 Pounds and I lost 1 Pound. Mom hit her first 5 pounds. yay! She lost the same amount as spencer- 2.8. I forgot to bring in recipes to WW meeting tonight so I will be posting alot of them tonight here on my blog. I better get typing. TTYL.

Spencer lost!!!

Spencer lost his 10% goal this week. On monday he was recognized for it and he got his WW 10% goal keychain. Yaaa!! He only has 19.4lbs to go for his goal. I have 4.2 lbs to go to get my 10% goal, yay.

The Captains 10% Goal



My Weight Chart:

Since my last post

Oks so since my last post...... Yeay I ended up going to bed on wednesday about 2:30pm and slept about 3 hours. so I think I was up 25 nd a half hours strait. Boy that is fun.

Aaaanyways,

Spencer and I measured ourselves today, in the last 3 months I have lost 12 inches total and in the past 2 months Spencer has lost 9 inches. YAY!

I will be at my 16 weeks in 3 weeks YAY! and before then I will be at my 10% Goal in about 1-2 weeks. YAY! Spencer will get his 10%goal prob tomorrow night, if not then maybe next week. Anyways I'll talk to you all laters.

When night doesn't end and morning never starts.

SO I lost 3.4 this week and Spencer lost 3.2 this week. Neither of us used out allowance points this week. Yesterday I woke up about 1:00pm and have not been asleep since. I didn't do much yesterday. I have been working on Spencer's Anniversary gift. I'll tell you all about it later after I give it to him. Don't want to ruin the surprise. Mom and Dad got home and we sat around trying to figure out what to have for dinner. We all decided to get different things. I got Subway for me and Spencer. A Roast Beef foot long sub for me (20 points) and a Turkey foot long sub for Spencer (18 points). We hadn't ate very much all day so it was worth the points. Mom got a meal from El Pollo Loco (6 points but she only ate 3.5 of it, she also got fried zucchini from Carl's Jr (8 points but only ate half so 4 points), and dad got a Carl's Jr Famous Star w/ cheese (16 points). We all had alot of points left. We got home and I ate half my sub and waited for Spencer to get home from work to eat the other half. He got home about 8:30pm and ate. about 9pm The Boys (Michael and Cecil) came over and helped us start cleaning the den. The 3 guys kinda worked on the den and got about half done. But mostly moved boxes into the living room that I have to go through. I started on those but ended up starting to play X-Box 360 with the guys for a bit (like half hour). Then I went to the living room to start on the box again then decided to clean the bathroom. So I washed and scrubbed the shower and tub, then washed the toilet and counter and stand. Then swept and mopped the floor. But I forgot to wash the mirror (oh well). The Boys left around midnight. I finished the bathroom and sat down for a few to rest. Spencer worked on his talk, its just bible reading so he did it. And went to bed about 1:00am. Well I couldn't go to bed so I started working on the den some more. Yyyyeeeaaaahhhh I ended up cleaning it completely, well as much as I could. But its spotless to say the least. If you saw it before and then saw it now you would be shocked. I worked on it til 4:30am almost 5:00am then I went to lay down. Yeah I couldn't sleep. Spencer's alarm went off at 5:30am so I got back up and started working again. Then Spencer came in at 6:30am and said goodbye and left for work. Poor thing works crazy the next 2 days. I finely came out of the den and watched a bit of news and then got online and started posting this. Well I think I have cleaned about 3 hours which is 10 Activity Points for yesterday. Today is another day and more cleaning is needed. Well I just wanted to update and say "Hey". Talk to you all laters.

I'VE LOST!!!

I have lost :

DDR

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION
Its hader than you think!!
Deffinately a HIGH activity.
But a fun one.

This Week

This week has been a good week, despite only losing 0.4 pounds and not making my 15 pounds, but Spencer lost 4.6 pounds and hit his 10 pounds this week. We have done really well this week. This week is the C.O.'s visit and so meetings were on tuesday and thursday not monsay and wednesday. We have been really good with food except for last night. We went and saw Cloverfield at midnight and boy, take a diaper, cuz it will scare the crap out of you. Well we went and got our tickets and then went to Taco Bell. We did ok. I went over 3 points but thats all I have gome over this week. and with spencers activity he came to 0. I swear I worked off those 3 points because that movie was soooo intense. Anyways, Today chrissy had the CO and his wife over for lunch, there was a bunch of people there. I did good I mainly ate fruit. But I prob ate about 4 points of fruit. I had about 2 points of sliced cheddar cheese and about 2 points of this pasta stuff they had there. so 8 points so far today is not bad. Im trying not to use my allowance points for this week until tomorrow. We are going to the Antique show tomorrow and then having Libby and Barry over for my homemade carne asada fries and 4 point margaritas. YUM!! So I guess now I will go clean for tomorrow. TTYL

A Before Picture

I have decided to post a before picture. This is at Petco Park about 3 months before joining Weight Watchers. I had to be at least 260-270. The date is August 03, 2007. When I hit my goal I will put up another pictuer of just me, my after picture!

Margaritas!!!

Picture of one I made
(prety nice size for 4 points)









Frozen Strawberry Margaritas

Weight Watchers Points Values:
4 per serving

Servings: 4


INGREDIENTS
6 fluid ounces Tequila = 8 Points
2 fluid ounces Triple Sec = 4.5 Points
8 ounces frozen strawberries = 1 Point
4 fluid ounces frozen limeade concentrate = 4 Points
6 cups ice = 0 Points

DIRECTIONS
Place ice in a blender and crush for 15 to 20 seconds. Add frozen strawberries, tequila, triple sec, and limeade. Blend until smooth.

You may want to add more frozen strawberries but if you do dont forget to add the points for them.

Oh what a day!!!

Today I had an interview. I am never doing that again. My interview was at 12:15p.m. I had to leave at 9:05a.m. It took 20 minuets to walk the half mile to the Lemon Grove Trolley Station. I had to take the Orange line to Gillespie Field trolley to the Grossmont Trolley Station. Then I had to get on the Green Line to Old Town and get off at the Fashion Valley Trolley Station. I got off and had to get on Bus route 41 UCSD-VA Hosp to La Jolla Village Drive at Genesee. Then I had to take another bus route 921 Mira Mesa to Scranton Rd at Morehouse Dr off of Mira Mesa Blvd. Then I had to walk a half a mile to Oberlin Drive. The interview was for American Income Life Insurance and not what I really wanted to do, so it was a flop. After the interview I had to walk the half mile back to the bus stop and get back on route 921 and head back to La Jolla Village Drive at Genesee. I ended up walking about 2 blocks to the Human Resources office of California Bank and Trust and personally handed them my resume since I was never getting a response back after I applied online and repeatedly left messages with the recruiter. I didnt want to head back home on busses and trolleys for 2 hours and since Spencer got off work in another hour I started walking toward where my parents work. I was only 4 miles away so I was looking for the bus that went to their work. Route 31 was no where to be found so I decided to walk it. I had already walked alot so this wasnt much more, so I thought. So I Started at UTC. Started walking down La Jolla Village Drive, and walking and walking and walking... I walked down La Jolla Village Drive, crossed the 805 overpass and thats when it became Miramar Road to Camino Santa Fe. I was about 1 mile away from my parents job when Spencer got off work and picked me up. So we stopped by and saw everyone. I figured I walked about a total of 5 miles today. I kept track of the times and it was 315 minuets, which makes 15 activity points for today. Then we went to Robbins Bros in Mission Valley and got our rings checked to keep the warranty valid (we have to do it every six months). Then because I was on the go all day I hadnt ate yet so we stopped by "Robertos Very Mexican Food". We had never ate there before. We both ordered the Carne Asada Plate. It included: about 2 oz Carne asada, 1 huge Flour Tortilla (about 10" Diameter), about half cup refried beans, about half cup mexican rice, about a quarter cup of guacamole and a quarter cup of this yummylicious salsa fresca, and a small 2 oz bag of fresh made tortilla chips. And they had the best hot carrots. I had everything but the chips and my meal was 16.5 points, but that is ok because I had only ate 3 points the whole day. Spencer had everything and his total was 22.5 points. But he worked it off in DDR tonight. I think I ended up getting home at 5:30p.m. So I, to say the least, am wiped out. At least it was an activity filled day. And I get to walk to an interview tomorrow as well but at least that one is in Lemon Grove and not where I had to go today. Well I have to finish the 10.5 points that I have left. Hope your day was better than mine.