First, I had Mexican (chips/salsa, grilled chicken fajitas with sour cream and guacamole) for lunch and then the leftovers for dinner on Saturday.  I snacked way more than I should have late Saturday night – not crazy off-plan things (like ice cream), but definitely more than I should have had and didn’t count it.  Sunday, I had a bagel thin pizza (just a homemade pizza using a bagel thin) and a doughnut for lunch before the game.  I didn’t eat anything at all at the game (victory!), but then had Sonic for dinner, and had two more doughnuts over the course of Sunday evening/night.  On Monday, I was back on track.  So you see, my gain could have been much worse.

Second, remember how I was worried about last week’s huge loss being a fluke?  This weigh in (in a weird twisted way) combined with what I ate over the weekend, makes me think that it really wasn’t a fluke (don’t tell me if you don’t see it that way, ’cause that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

Third, well, I’m just not bothered by it.  I know that this is a new week and hopefully if I don’t let it “derail” me, I’ll show a loss next week.

Next, to be totally honest, I haven’t been officially tracking my points for the last week or so.  I’ve kind of been trying to follow my own body’s instincts of when it’s hungry and such and mentally tracking the points.  I know that some days I was over my points, but I also know that on other days I was under my points.

One of my favorite things to make when I get home from work now is this skillet thingy.  Not quite sure what to call it.  I’ve been throwing in a bunch of veggies, a teaspoon of olive oil, some balsamic vinegar, a little Mrs. Dash, and either shrimp (surprisingly my favorite) or some naked (unbreaded) chicken nuggets that I got at Costco.  Here is a picture of last night’s version and it was pretty yummy if I do say so myself (and I do):

So here’s to a new week!

I know I owe a couple of you emails, and promise to get to them soon! Just been kind of wiped out lately – haven’t been sleeping too well.

And check out tonight’s sunset!  The blue rays are totally natural and not a product of the photograph.  If you look closely in the upper left corner (of the enlarged version you can see by clicking), you can also see a star!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh In & New Dinner Obsession

So yeah, unfortunately for several months during 2009, I was off plan, but I’m still factoring those weeks in.  And unfortunately, I was up 0.5 pounds at weigh in today.  Ah, well.  You know, seriously, I can’t complain.  It’s the first time I’ve been up since 3/2/10, and it’s not even a whole pound.  And I did 53 minutes on the treadmill last night!  And Sunday was Easter! SO – I’m going to be happy with it.  It could be worse.  Believe me, I’m well aware that it could be worse – again, look at what happened in 2009!

Now, I’m not entirely thrilled with the fact that I weighed 187.9 on week 100 and am now about 64.5 pounds heavier than that, but I’m moving in the right direction again and am making progress.  That’s what matters, right?  Right?!  Right. 

Ironically, I went back and checked for what I posted on week 100 and it sounds kind of familiar.  Check it out here (it’s very short – I know, totally unlike me).

Have you guys been following the “Exposed Movement” in the weight loss blog world lately?  This guy is the most recent addition (that I’ve seen).  Go Steve!!  Words can’t express how much I admire these people for doing what they’re doing, but I’m gonna tell you right now.  Not. Gonna. Happen. Here. EVER.  I mean, I love you all, but um, NO.  This is about as “exposed” as I’m ever gonna get on here.

Do any of you all regularly check out PostSecret.com?  Have you seen this week’s postcards?  How about this one:

Talk about deeply disturbing on all kinds of fronts.  Thoughts?

And does anyone else think that airfare charges are getting out of control?  Spirit Airlines is now charging for carry-on bags.

Also, I keep mentioning the banana bread muffins that I like to make, so I thought I would share the recipe.  You can find it here, and you can also get to it via my “Food Ideas” page above.  In fact, I’m eating one right now!

Okay, that’s all I have to share today!  Hope you’re all doing great!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh In 4/6/10 – Week No. 200!

This means time for weeding (ha, yeah right) and oh god, mowing soon!!!!

Second, I practically laughed the entire way into work today and am about to blow wide open an undercover conspiracy.  There is a 24 Hour Fitness that I pass almost every day that I’ve considered joining.  The two things that have held me back are that it isn’t very big and that the parking lot isn’t very well lit.  Since I’d most likely go after work in the wee hours of the morning, that’s a no-go for me.  But there used to be a gas station at that corner, that has since gone out of business.  It sat empty for quite a while and then finally it was torn down, and they’ve been building something new.  All along, we’ve been wondering what was going in in its place.  I found out today.

Keep in mind that this location shares a parking lot with 24 Hour Fitness!

I mean, really?!?  A Dunkin Donuts??  Definitely a conspiracy here!  So they’re either thinking you’ll stop and have a donut and feel guilty, so you’ll go work out.  OR  You’ll go work out, be starving, and hit the donut shop on your way out.

This also means that I will have to drive by a Dunkin Donuts every day.  Luckily, I won’t have time to stop on my way to work and they’ll be closed on my way home!

Next, has anyone listened to any Owl City?  I had heard “Fireflies” on the radio and kinda liked the tune. Then my friend from college played “Vanilla Twilight” and I fell in love with it.  Simply an absolutely gorgeous song.  So I thought I would share in case you hadn’t heard it.  I’m also including the video for “Fireflies,” because I just think it’s awesome.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JE0HovpAzw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4

In an amazing incident, a coworker just told me that my food smelled good!  I’ve been eating this the past two nights.  I made kind of a homemade sloppy joe concoction (at least that’s how it turned out after just throwing stuff in the skillet).  But I’ve been eating part of it as a wrap with spinach leaves and ricotta (sorry for the crappy picture -- I blame my cell phone):

Wow!  Something I made smells good!  Whoever would have thought?  I’ve been putting spinach leaves in almost everything I make lately and I’ve discovered that I adore ricotta!

And I am dying to have this woman make me something!  I just can’t think of anything yet.  She will draw just about anything you ask on a brown paper bag for $10.

Dietgirl posted this “Sermon on the blog” quite a while back, but I’ve had it tying up a tab in my browser for weeks meaning to share it with you in case you haven’t seen it yet.  Totally awesome!  The second to last item on her list gives me food for thought (ha ha).

Do you guys remember this program from Pizza Hut?  Oh man, for a little book/pizza lover’s heart, it was a match made in heaven.  I lost track of the number of buttons I filled up (you do realize how much I like to read, right?) and free personal pan pizzas I got.  I was interested to see that the program is still running.

I randomly came across another movie called, “On Borrowed Time,” again by accident.  You can check out info on it here, along with the trailer.  I’m not too sure what I think of the premise, but it sounds interesting.

I ran across this somewhere…maybe a blog….I’m not sure.  But I immediately fell in love and immediately ordered some.  I’ve complained enough about thinking of things in the shower or while I’m driving and not being able to write them down.  They’re called Aqua Notes and they take care of the first problem.  You can write on them in the shower, in the tub, under water!!  I’ve tried it out and it works!  Just about the coolest thing ever!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-7zABpEN3E

I used mine on Tuesday to write down my weight (since I weigh in right before I shower).  The water is still running in front of the notes in this picture:

I just might have an extra one to give away if anyone is interested…..let me know in the comments if you might be!

Okay, that’s it for this edition of all kinds of fun stuff.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

All Kinds of Fun Stuff

First, I’m loving that I’m still on plan.  I’ve missed my treadmill night the past two nights, but am hoping to get back on it soon.  Food-wise, I’m doing good.  Friday, as you know, I had a bit of an unexpected situation, but I dealt with it and tracked it.  Last night, I was so freaking exhausted from stress and lack of good sleep that I had a fairly good-size piece of cake (yup that one that I didn’t think was so great).  But I counted it and didn’t let it sway me off course.  I’m doing good today, as well.  I just had my previously mentioned homemade mac ‘n cheese favorite for dinner (but the portion-controlled variety).  I’m still utterly exhausted – I even had a two hour nap this afternoon and feel like I could sleep for another 12.  But through it all, I haven’t lost my way!

I love the new Thomas’ Bagel Thins.  I’ve had both the “Whole Wheat” and “Everything” varieties and love them both.  While I was afraid to try them at first, I think I might actually like the “Everything” ones a bit better.  You can’t beat one point for a bagel. I’m going to try to make a mini pizza from them tonight for a snack.

While we’re talking about carbs, I’m also loving the Mama Lupe’s Low Carb Wraps (only one point).  I’ve used them for all kinds of things like breakfast burritos:

I love the pre-portioned Weight Watchers cream cheese packets (one point).

I’m loving my Weight Watchers scale that hasn’t failed me a single day in the past 3 1/2 years – still going strong with the same battery – and though there are a few bad reviews, I’ve always gotten a consistent reading (same weight each time I step on it). I remember ordering it the week I started following WW in June 2006. It’s become an old friend:

I’m loving my Terraillon kitchen scale that I got at Dillard’s.  I haven’t had much luck in the digital kitchen scale department.  I originally had one of the Weight Watchers scales, but it constantly timed itself out and shut itself off before I was ready for it to.  Drove me nuts.  I then bought one from Bed, Bath & Beyond that was nothing but a pain in the ass and rarely would actually come on when you wanted it to. This one, I love so much that I re-bought it when I dropped the other one and it broke.  So if you get one, just don’t drop it!  (Though it was on top of the fridge when it fell).  It only has one review on Amazon, a bad one, but I really like mine.

I mentioned the other day that I bought a SurfShelf.  I freaking LOVE this thing.  Using it, time flies by so fast on the treadmill that I barely even realize how long I’ve been on there.  The only thing that I don’t like is that it covers the digital readout, so I have to lift my laptop a bit to check my speed and time.  I can keep track of my time, though, on my laptop clock and not being able to see my speed has actually made me go faster than I normally would.  I think it makes me workout harder because I’m not paying attention to how tired I am and based on my sweat output (eewwwww), I’m definitely working out harder.  The last two nights, I even fogged up my glasses.  The first night, I took some time checking e-mails and such, and then started catching up on The Biggest Loser episodes online.  The next night, I spent almost the entire time reading through blogs.  (Though I almost fell off of it at one point when one blog post had me laughing too hard.)  When I first installed the thing, I was extremely skeptical.  When I strapped the base to the treadmill (before I attached the shelf that the laptop actually sits on), I was thinking that there was no way it was going to work.  It just didn’t seem sturdy.  Even with my laptop strapped to it, I was wondering, but I now feel very secure about it.  I have even bumped it up with my arm a couple of times and it didn’t go anywhere.  Two overall two thumbs up.

I’m loving that my friend, Riley, is in a magazine.  I mentioned this the other day, but I ran to two Barnes and Nobles this weekend before I found it and bought two copies.  So happy for her!  (Of course, the fact that one of my favorite actors, Shia LaBeouf, just happens to be on the cover didn’t escape my notice.) Go Riley! I’m also loving that she and Shawna are vacationing in Hawaii right now (What is the deal? Seems like everyone I know is going this year), but am so jealous!  Though going to Hawaii would involve bathing suits and that’s not. ever. gonna. happen.

I snuck a Dove milk chocolate promise from my mom’s stash yesterday (I counted it!) and love what it said inside:

Another thing I’m loving (always) are your blogs!  Seriously.  You guys keep me going!

As far as what I’m not loving right now:

I’m not loving that I accidentally left a kleenex in my pocket when I threw my laundry in tonight.  Argh!  I hate that!

I’m not loving that we have to tail my dad every time he does the stairs – and I know he hates it, too.  I’m sure it’s going to get annoying for him real fast if it hasn’t already.  But it’s necessary right now and we’re looking into several temporary options until we can figure out something more permanent.

I’m not loving that it’s Sunday night. Why do the weekends go by so fast?!

So anyway, I just thought I’d share some of what I’m loving (and disliking) right now! Of course, I’m also loving that so many other people who have seen it are loving that movie that I won’t name.

I did some minor tweaking to my site earlier (very minor), such as adding previous and next post links within individual posts (so you don’t have to go back to the main blog page), adding time stamps to my posts (I may or may not leave this turned on), rearranged some things in my sidebar, and added a Google Friend Connect box.  Please take pity on me!

Again, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Is there anything you’re loving right now that you’d like to share with me?

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Things I’m Loving Right Now

For me, in my own personal experience, I don’t believe I’ve ever really had what you would call a “trigger food.”  Believe me, I know how lucky I am.  I’ve always been kind of an all-or-nothing kind of girl.  If I’m on plan, then damn it, I’m on plan!  If I’m binging then man, I’m binging in style.  Even my mini-binge of last week wasn’t caused by a trigger food.  I just wanted/needed/HAD to eat.

For one example, two of my old favorite frozen “on plan” snacks are being discontinued according to my grocery store.  They were blue bunny sugar free popsicles and Weight Watchers chocolate mousse bars.  They were selling them way cheap at $2 a box, so I bought two of each.  That was about three weeks ago – at least – and they’re all (but one of each) still in the freezer.

There’s something I feel I need to share (or disclaim).  I am, obviously, not a professional blogger.  I don’t do this for a living.  I don’t make any money off of it.  I only have a dot.com because I like the creative control (not that I’m a professional at that, either – not by any means) and all of the hosting fees come out of my own very shallow pockets.  That’s not to say I’ll never have ads or anything like them on here at some point, because this hosting thing is helluva expensive, but I can’t see it ever taking over who I am.

I’m not a professional writer.  I’m not a certified nutritionist.  I’m not a personal trainer (ha, let’s all have a good laugh at that one).  I’m not a doctor.  I only know what works and doesn’t work for me. In none of my posts will I ever proclaim to know what is right for you or what you should do.  And if it ever sounds like I’m saying that my way is the right way and the only way, then I apologize, because I never have and will never intend that.  Believe me, I think I’ve mentioned often enough that I believe all of our journeys, while sometimes having similarities, are entirely unique.  These are just my experiences.

I thought for a long time about starting this blog before I finally did it in January of 2008.  Seeing the blogs of others on the WW Message Boards is what finally stirred me into action.  I wanted my own little place to work out all of things involved in my own weight loss.  There are so many other things that a person goes through as they try to lose weight – other than what’s going on physically.  I also, more than anything, want others to know that they aren’t alone, especially if they’ve ever felt out-of-place or like they didn’t fit in.  Of course, I’m sure my own experiences color that desire.

This blog was intended as a place for me to come and share my thoughts, my successes, and my struggles with whoever wants to “listen” or just a place for me to see my own thoughts in print if no one else does.  I mentioned that I used to journal, and can’t bring myself to keep up with that anymore.  This is much easier for me.  And when I began this blog, I made sure to stress that it was about my life in general and not just my weight loss, because really, those two are so intertwined, that I don’t know how anyone could separate the two (unless you are a professional such as I mentioned above).  My life affects my weight, which affects my life, which affects my weight, and so on.  It’s a rolling ball of twine. So it sometimes really bothers me when I see other bloggers feeling guilty or apologizing for writing about things other than something weight- or health-related.  Yeah, sure, we like to read and see tips and new things to try, but we’re there (or at least I am) to hear about your experiences and your life – whether weight-related or not.

Now it may seem like I’m bashing the “professional bloggers.”  I’m not at all.  We need you guys around, too!  Especially for those fantastic tips, and exercise ideas, and food recipes, etc.  I mean, where else are we gonna get them?  You all are a great source of valuable information for us.  And we still enjoy hearing about your “real” lives!  Or at least I do.

Sure, my life is about the furthest thing from exciting, but it’s what I’m living day to day and I’m going to share what I’m going through, even if it’s sometimes (often) on the embarrassing side.

And sure, I sometimes wonder if anyone even cares about what I’m posting or is even reading it, but I know that there are a lot of blogs that I lurk on myself.  And if even one person is out there nodding their head once a month, then I’m satisfied.  It doesn’t take much to make me happy. 

I’m truly grateful for all of you who have stuck around with me on my journey (both the downs and ups), whether you’ve left comments or not, and I always love “meeting” new people.  So come on in and pull up a seat and tell me a bit about yourself sometime.  We’re all a family here (sometimes dysfunctional – mostly on my end), but a family nonetheless.

I also want this to be a place where you can feel comfortable to come without the fear of judgment (from me anyway – that’s all I can promise).  As both Rebecca and Carmine have reminded me lately, we get enough judgment and moral condemnation from the general public without doing it to ourselves, too.

My uncle posted this earlier today and it pretty much sums up what I strive for in my life.  I quite often fail – I’m not a saint and I quite often can be selfish and self-serving – but this is what I strive for:

Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do.

But anyway, that’s all I wanted to say.  Just that you, whoever you are, have a place here.  Even if you think I’m nuts. 

Oh that, and that you’ll never see something like this from me (from my most recent Barnes & Noble e-mail):

Also, please check out the “Bethany McDonald Memorial Blogroll.”  Bethany was a member of our community who recently passed away.  I was not lucky enough to have known her, but it sounds like she has made a lasting impression on many lives.  Lyn, from Escape from Obesity, has created this blogroll in order to help both established and new bloggers find support and a sense of community.  If your blog isn’t listed, and you would like to be included, please let Lyn know – there are links on the site.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Why I’m Here

My schedule (working nights, sleeping days) tends to royally jack with my system.  I was tired Friday night, and knew we were thinking about going to the zoo on Saturday (which got rained out), so went to bed around 3:30 am.

What time did I get up?  5:30 am.  No, that’s not a typo.

I dawdled a bit that morning, checking e-mails and other such stuff and then made a breakfast burrito (I’ve discovered that I actually like doing this!).  After that, I got ready and we ran a whole bunch of errands, two of which are worth noting:

• We went to Sam’s Club – on sample day, and while I looked, longingly, I didn’t touch a single thing!

• We went to Kmart and took advantage of their sale to get this:

I’ve been wanting one forever, and it was on sale, so we decided to go for it!

The guys at the store loaded it into the car, but then we had to get it into the house and into our basement….boy was that a fiasco.  After resting for a bit, my mom and I sat down and watched “Amexicano” (my 2^nd time, her first), which she really liked -  she got so involved in what was going on!  It was great.  Even I caught some things I didn’t see the first time around.

After that, we ran and did grocery shopping and then when we got back, I made a homemade pizza for dinner (my parents got Pizza Hut and I didn’t eat a single bite!) and started rearranging boxes in the basement.  It was set up as a bedroom for my brother way back when, but has just been used for storage mostly over the past few years.  Lots of boxes – mostly clothes that I need to get rid of.  So I condensed and shifted, and got them well out of the way.  Now, we’ve got a nice area with the treadmill, elliptical (which I have trouble using because of my knee) and the tv/dvd/stereo, etc.  Perfect for working out.  Oh and a loveseat to crash on when we’re done.

On a side note, when I was going through stuff, I found my old phone and discovered the recording I made after my brother died of his voicemail message.  It brought tears to my eyes, but also a smile to my face to hear his voice again.

It took me until well after midnight to get all of the moving done, and then I got my dad to help me move the treadmill box into the basement (luckily, he seems to be doing okay with his epilepsy from all of the extra work he did this weekend).  But damn, those suckers are HEAVY!

After that, I had a hard time winding down, even though I was exhausted (2 hrs of sleep, remember?) so I played on the internet for a few more hours and finally went to bed around 5 am this morning.  Yes, very close to having been up for 24 hrs on only two hours of sleep (even with the time change)!

I got up around 11:45 this morning and we started around 12:20 with trying to put the treadmill together.  I tell you what, I am sore from my head to my toes!  My poor hands are still so tender and were pretty red towards the end of the project (my hands were even redder than in the picture when we were done).

We finally got it done around 4pm, but had to go buy a surge thingie for the wall and then ran to Wal-Mart for some loose ends.  But it was together.  The worst part was that the grounding screw didn’t fit into the hole, so after trying for eons, we finally ended up having to drill to make the hole a bit bigger and it finally went in – I think figuring that out took us over an hour!

Then, because we had to unplug the TV and everything to plug in the treadmill (closest properly grounded outlet), I had to redo the entire entertainment center connections to get those plugged back in.  I got that done right at about 6:50 – just in time for Amazing Race.

At this time, however, I decided to go ahead and take the trash out for tomorrow and make the Cheeseburger Pie from the latest WW magazine recipe.  It makes 6 servings at 5 pts each.  This was my second time making it.  The recipe recommends cooking it at 375 for 25-30 minutes, but I put it in for 27 last weekend and it seemed way overdone.  This time I tried 24 and it was better, but still a little bit too much.  I think next time I may bump it back down to 350 and check it more often.  It has an interesting flavor – my dad thinks from the Worcestershire sauce (side note – I LOVE the smell of Worcestershire sauce.  One of my favorite smells).  I think that it’s a bit on the dry side but I don’t know if that’s the recipe or the cooking time.  Of course, my dad smothers it (and everything else) in ketchup.

And since I was doing this, I missed most of Amazing Race.

After that, I decided to try out the new treadmill.  A little bit of Finding Nemo, a little bit of Roseanne, a little bit of M*A*S*H (gotta love TV Land), and 61 minutes later I was done!  I really pushed myself.  No running, just walking, but I was worn out by the time I was done.  I kept the speed at 2.5 for most of it – not much, I’m sure, but I did bump it up to 3 every once in a while and even tried the incline up to 5.0 (but couldn’t take that for long).  At the end, I just kept telling myself, we’ll go to 45 minutes, and when I hit 45 minutes, I told myself, let go for 50, and that’s how I hit an hour.  So I’m kind of proud of myself right now.  Okay, I’m freaking proud of myself right now!  Remember, this is the body that has seen VERY little exercise in the past few months.

So now, I’m showered, have thrown the laundry in and am sitting down to write you all and watch the newest Star Trek movie with my dad again.  Finally, I feel like I’m relaxing.

I’m hungry and have a couple of points left over.  I obviously don’t really feel like cooking anymore, so I’m having one point worth of tomato soup (a great low calorie, organic one I got at Whole Foods), and one of those new Bagel Thins with a little packet of WW 1 pt cream cheese (which is almost too much cream cheese).  As I was finishing spreading it, I noticed that my plate was sticking its tongue out at me:

I’m planning on getting to bed earlier than usual tonight (yeah, right, that’s what I say now), because I want to get up and see the “Lbs.” cast ring the NASDAQ bell in the morning.  I’ll go back to sleep afterward, of course.

As far as the scale, I’m not sure what is going to happen this week.  I’ve been perfectly within my points all week!  In fact, I only have to make it through tomorrow, and I still have 25 of my flex points left!  Isn’t that insane?  I was so busy Saturday, that I actually had one of my daily points left over that I didn’t use!  I don’t think that’s happened in over a year!  (Besides the fact that that just seems SO wrong to me  )  So between that, and the workout tonight, your guess is as good as mine as far as the scale is concerned.  Especially when it was actually showing me as being up on Friday.  Picture me shrugging.

I had a couple of “down” moments last night (long story), but overall, I’m very happy.  SO many non-scale victories this week!

Anyway, sorry for the long post – I hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend!

PS – don’t forget to let me know how I can find you on Twitter!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Holy Cow What a Weekend

I first mixed up a batch of one of my favorite go-to *EASY* recipes: Mexican Corn Bake.  I can’t remember where I got the recipe from, but I think someone posted it on the WW message boards once upon a time.  I’ve been making this for a couple of years now.  Click here for the recipe.

Dry ingredients have been mixed and am getting ready to mix in the wet ingredients (don’t you love my green bowl?):

This is what it looks like mixed up and with the added cup of frozen corn (okay, we won’t discuss what it really looks like).  The ring is from my camera flash:

Here, I’ve poured the above mixture into the pan and have scattered the cheese on top.  It calls for 2 1/2 oz of low-fat cheese.  I normally use all fat free cheese, but have started doing about 2/3 fat free cheddar and about 1/3 2% sharp cheddar.

And here’s what it looks like fresh from the oven 43 minutes later (I wish I could use smell-o-vision to share the scent with you):

At this point, according to the recipe, you’re supposed to let it sit on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  I let it sit, but not on a wire rack,  so maybe that’s why mine shrivels, but I don’t care, because …..

It’s still yummy!

While that was baking, I made what I’ve been using as a go-to meal for work lately.  It’s whole wheat couscous from Whole Foods, Salt and Peas (with no salt added), a little bit of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray (which I often leave out), and Southwest Chipotle Mrs. Dash:

In fact, that’s what I’m eating as I write this.  This time I divided it into four HUGE portions for only 5 pts each.

After finishing that, which takes all of maybe 10 minutes (I love that couscous is so quick to make.  Once the water is boiling, it really only takes about two minutes before it’s done), I cut up a Jicama.  I had seriously forgotten how much I love Jicama.  I pass it in the store fairly often, but can’t always find one that looks decent enough for me to spend my money on (hint: go for the smaller ones, they’re sweeter).  I hit the jackpot at the grocery store the other night as they had a huge bin full of them.  I only bought two and I wish I had bought more.

The best part?  It was, the last time I checked, on Weight Watchers’ list of zero point foods.  I do know that a cup of it in my WW online tracker is zero points.  If you’ve never had Jicama, you can read about it more here.  I consider it a cross between an apple and a potato and love to just eat it raw.  Just wash it, peel it, and eat it.

Sorry the picture is kind of crappy – I’ve been having problems with my flash lately.

After cutting up and munching on the Jicama, I washed and cut some strawberries that my mom brought back from Florida.  Unfortunately, they aren’t nearly as good as they were last year – just not very ripe.

So I’m feeling pretty good about what I brought to work tonight for my meals and snacks:

• whole wheat couscous w/ peas and corn (I added some of this chicken)
• a banana
• an orange
• strawberries
• Jicama

And did I mention that I actually got up a little earlier and had breakfast?  I had already made some steel cut oatmeal (thanks, Riley, for finally finding some oatmeal that I can stand!) on Sunday and portioned it out, so I just had to heat it up, add a little milk, a little maple syrup, and a little honey, and yum!

So food-wise, I’m doing pretty great!  I’m actually getting a bit excited about tracking again.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

How I Spent My Evening

My mom gets home this afternoon sometime from her trip to Florida, so my dad and I made it through the week!  Hallelujah!  And my mom just actually called me as I was writing this to say that they made it back and that she’s at the airport.  It should just be a couple of hours then until she gets home.

Today is also my brother’s birthday, so happy birthday to him – wherever he may be (I personally prefer to believe heaven).  He would have been 29 today.

Lately, I’ve been sensing a need to go back to basics on a variety of fronts.  I’ve been in a “simplify” mode lately and am going to start going through stuff and getting rid of it.  My first non-product related step was in cleaning out my personal (non-web related) email inbox the other night  (I went from 1400 emails down to 2.)  I’m promising myself to deal with them as they come in from now on and I’m not going to allow myself to feel guilty for not reading every single forward that my aunts send me.  Next up is my worldly possessions.  Which I’ll get to….sometime.

On my last go ’round , when I was losing so well, rewards were one of the things that kept me going.  I kept a clear glass jar in which I put a quarter for every full pound I lost and a five dollar bill for every five pounds lost.  There’s quite a stash in there now.  Of course, I’m going to take out what I’ve regained so that it’s accurate.  I’m going to continue with this, but I thought of another idea the other day.  Think back to kindergarten and first grade.  How did you get rewarded?  Stickers!!!  You can’t get more basic than that!

It’s silly, but I’ve always loved stickers.  Seeing as how I’m now 32 years old, I sadly don’t have much use for them anymore.  But my mom got a page of smiley face stickers in the mail a few weeks ago from one of those nonprofit organizations trying to get money and asked me if I wanted them.  I said sure, but had no idea what I’d use them for.  They sat on the kitchen table for at least a week.  The other night, as I was walking by them, I had a thought.  So here it is:

I’m going to give myself a sticker for every day that I track and stay within my points!  At least for a while.  This pic was taken early Friday morning, so I need to add one for Friday.  Anyway, it gives a nice visual reminder of a good job done.  For some reason, the pink face on the right reminds me of some cartoon character that I can’t put my finger on….

The other area where I’m heading back to basics is in some of the foods I eat.  For example, I actually cooked a spaghetti squash last night.  I’ve bought a couple of them over the past several months, but ended up never making them (I know, I know).  I’ve loved spaghetti squash ever since I first tried it!  So amazingly low in points!  The one I made last night had 24 ounces of cooked squash.  I was hungry, so had half of it (a lot of squash) and it was only one point.  I separated my 12 oz in half and put I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray and a little parmesan on one half and a little bit of spaghetti sauce on the other.  For variety.  But when I was making it, and going through the grocery store today, I started thinking of all of the things that I used to love that I no longer eat and want to try again.  And it made me start thinking about why I stopped.

I really think the thing that tipped me off of the cliff of just eating crazy was when my doctor tried me on birth control a little over a year ago.  To say I had a bad reaction would be mild since I was god-awful nauseous for the entire week I took it.  I just couldn’t take it anymore after that – I would rather have had my eyeballs boiled in acid while they were still in my head.  Okay, maybe not, but pretty darn close.  I was so incredibly nauseous that I could barely eat anything and I would get seasick just by sitting and breathing.  Let’s not even talk about how I felt when I actually moved.  Surprisingly during this time, the only things I could somewhat keep down were crappy things that I shouldn’t have been eating.  And now, I still get nauseous thinking of some of the things I ate leading up to that time period.  For example, I used to love Amy’s Shepherd Pies (only 3pts) and I saw them at Whole Foods today and almost gagged.  There are other things, too, from that time period that I just can’t bear to think about.  Luckily, my love of spaghetti squash seems to have survived.

I did buy a couple of things to try out.  I got some beans and chili seasoning to try to make chili – probably next weekend – and I also got kale!  I’ve never ever had kale before, but this post by Roni caught my eye (I adore her!  Make sure and watch the video if you have time – it was cute) and I decided that I just HAD to try to make kale chips today.  I’ll let you know how they turn out.  I even bought a salad spinner!  I should have bought one long before now, because I hate wet lettuce.

So that’s where I’m at right now.  I think I actually hear my bed calling my name for a nap.  I’m going to do my best to stay on track through the rest of the weekend, but like I said, today’s my brother’s birthday and I know we’re getting pizza tonight.  I’m still going to try to track everything though!

I hope you all are having a beautiful weekend!

PS – my heart goes out to the people of Chile this morning because of their earthquake, and am thankful that the one in Japan seems to have been much milder.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Back to Basics

But where my terror is coming in is that I’m so scared to leave him alone so long when I go to work tonight.  Normally, my mom and my hours overlap quite a bit.  I’m here when she’s at work and vice versa.

And he tried to argue with me that he was going to shovel tomorrow afternoon!  HA!  AS IF!  I threatened to call my mom and tattle.  Unless something else happens (knock on wood), I’m not going to tell her about these incidents, as I want her to enjoy her time away and not worry about us.  So please, keep your fingers crossed.

Second, I made my banana bread muffins again tonight.  I had two bananas that were too ripe to eat and I didn’t want to waste the money by throwing them out.  So I tweaked the recipe a bit and was going to try Smart Balance light butter (with flax) instead of the regular stick butter.  I also made more muffins so that they would be one point instead of two each (only 3 pts for two).  I noticed when they were done that while still delicious, they were a tiny bit drier than usual.  I thought that it either was the fact that I made more servings or that I must have cooked them a bit longer.  When I went to make my dinner later, guess what I found in the microwave?  The Smart Balance butter!  I had put it in there to soften it.  Someone (certainly not moi) left it out of the mix.  Oopsie.  Well, that’s one way to cut calories, huh?  The points – at least for one muffin – are still the same. Thank God I used a tablespoon of canola oil or it might not have been edible.

(I decided to be a little silly as I was coming in from taking out the trash tonight!)

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Two Things

Since I joined Weight Watchers in 2006, I rarely ate pancakes.  In fact, I didn’t have them more than once or twice in the two years that I was perfectly on plan.  Even over the last year in which I’ve pretty much “fallen off the wagon,” I didn’t have them more than a couple of times.  They’re just too many points!

I was perusing the grocery aisles on my last trip and more than ever was paying attention to all of the things on display.  Everywhere you turn there’s more sugar or fat!  Candy on display at the end of this aisle, donuts on display at the end of that aisle, chips here, soda there, etc. etc. etc.  “[Grocery shopping] is a battlefield” kept singing through my head.

But as I was walking down one aisle, something caught my eye.  It was this:

One serving is 1/2 cup of the mix, and contains 190 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber.  Yes, that’s only 3 points!  Now if you’re watching your sodium or are avoiding artificial flavors, etc., this might not be for you, but I think they’re pretty delicious and are very filling.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of mix to 2/3 cup water, but I just halve it and only make one serving at a time.  Works like a charm.

I’m not associated with Fiber One or being reimbursed by them in any way for this post – just enjoying their pancakes!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Pancakes!!