Thursday Weigh In - September 29th

I was 178 at my morning weigh in today. So what did I do for dinner? Two sonic hotdogs (Chicago and Coney Island), tator tots, and half a pumpkin pie milkshake. You can only imagine how excited I am to find out how many Weight Watchers points I consumed today. Thank goodness these mad cravings only come once a month and will be out of here within the next few days. I think I'll avoid the scale tomorrow and wait until next week's weigh in to see what happened. How's that for avoidance?

So how were the hot dogs, you may ask? Well, I'll tell ya. I don't think I'll ever put a regular hot dog in my mouth again. The beef hot dog was far superior in taste. I can already see my ankles swelling, however, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a very, very long time before I splurge on a high salt, nitrate laden dog again. In retrospect, it just wasn't worth it. The tator tots rocked! THAT I'll do again! lol. The pumpkin pie milkshake was good, but my soy version was lovely so there's no need to go out to get one.

As they say, tomorrow is another day. I'm packing low sodium soup or a tuna sandwich on light whole wheat, a banana, and an apple for lunch tomorrow and my cereal is ready to pour into my bowl, so I'll be back on track. If Randy is home, I'll pick up a sushi roll for dinner and call it a day. That's the thing to do, right? Make a plan and get back on track. I can do that.

The Chicago Dog

(The best of the two I had tonight)

The Coney Island Dog

(Just a regular ol' chili cheese dog)



Banana Cream Pie "Milk" Shake

 


This is my Banana Cream Pie "Milk" Shake. I was inspired by the Pumpkin Pie shake from We Are Not Martha and wondered if I could make a shake that was delicious and reasonably low in WW points+. So tonight I created a delicious, creamy, healthy shake that only clocked in at 4 WW points. Woo Hoo!

Place in your blender in the following order:

1 cup ice
1 cup light vanilla soy milk
2 bananas
2 graham crackers
1 to 2 packets Splenda
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Blend until desired consistency. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Enjoy! (A nice dollop of lite cool whip and a little crumble of graham crackers on the top would fancy it up and give it more oomph!)

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake is Perfect for Fall!

Kelsey posted a pumpkin pie milkshake recipe from the blog We Are Not Martha on her WTF: What Tasty Food blog. Since I love pumpkin, it wasn't even 24 hours before I tried it. I'm going to post the recipe below, but I did make changes to fit it into my plan. I left off the caramel drizzle and I left out the graham crackers because I didn't want to splurge on things I don't care about anyway. I mean, I love caramels, but the point of this shake is the pumpkin, and I don't eat caramels on my pumpkin pie...I'm a purist. I used sugar free vanilla ice cream and vanilla soy milk. Delicious! (Have I mentioned how much I adore Kelsey? I just love that girl!)

Here is the We Are Not Martha link and recipe:  http://www.wearenotmartha.com/2011/09/pumpkin-pie-milkshake/



Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes

• 10 caramels
• 1 T water
• 1 1/2 C vanilla ice cream
• 1 C milk
• 1 1/2 C pumpkin
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 4 graham crackers

Instructions:

1) Put caramels in a small saucepan with 1 T of water on medium-low heat. Keep stirring the caramels until they melt.

2) Put the ice cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 3 of the graham crackers into a blender. Blend until smooth.

3) Put the fourth graham cracker in a ziplock bag and crush it into crumbs. Wet the rims of two glasses and place them in the graham cracker crumbs to coat.

4) Pour milkshake in glass and drizzle caramel sauce over the top.

Fall Delights!

Randy returned from a trip to New Orleans with some axis deer steaks. He marinated them in Allegro and then hit them with some Cabella's seasoning before grilling them. I steamed butternut squash and sliced them lengthwise, then I sprinkled on some maple cinnamon pecans (1/2 cup pecans, 3/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tbsp Smart Balance butter, and 1 tbsp pure maple syrup.) What an amazing fall dinner! We didn't even miss the brown rice that took so long to cook that we just stuck it in the fridge for dinner tomorrow night. There's nothing like the tastes of fall...cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, pears, nuts - yum!

I can't wait until the leaves fall and fireplaces start burning. Then we'll have the sights and sounds I've come to love so dearly these past three years we've been in Louisiana.

The next butternut squash recipe I'm going to try is from Martha Stewart's website. I posted the link above. I'm going to lighten it up by using a lesser amount of low fat ricotta, and I'll use either whole wheat or dreamfield pasta. Butternut ravioli is delicious, so I'm thinking this recipe is going to be great, too! I'll be sure to take a picture and let you know how it turns out.

Weight Watchers Thursday Weigh In Day

I didn't think I'd see it again - 179! I started out at 194 at the beginning of May and I'm down 15 pounds. I'm so thrilled to be in the 170's! It's a shame I ever got this size in the first place, but I have to tell you that when you feel ucky so often and work a stressful job, it's rather hard to say no to comfort food at times. I used moving as an excuse to pig out, too. Finally, though, I feel in control of what's going on in my life and what's going into my mouth. Tonight I had a big pig out on Popchips - all natural pressure popped potato chips with no oils and all natural ingredients. I think it added up to a total of 9 WW points. I can live with that. Much better than a mac and cheese pig out or biscuits and gravy pig out! What a relief! Besides, my weekly "extra points" just renewed today and I still have 40 left for the week. lol. Some pig out, huh?

On the health front, I started my colcys yesterday and had no major adverse effects. The ulcers should subside and eventually stop. Not sure how long I'll be on it, but I'm thankful to have it. I go back to the rheumatologist in 4 weeks to see how things are going. Things are looking up. With the weather changing, I'm hoping to start walking again. I'm going to take it very slowly and see if I can avoid the pain I experienced last time. Randy is running now, so we'll head out at the same time, but I'll walk at my pace and he'll run on ahead and do his thing. This can work if we just keep going at it. I can't wait to have bloodwork done in two and a half more months to see if my triglycerides have lowered and my B12 and iron have raised. I'm going to borrow my friend's phrase of the day and say I have "high hopes."

Blissful Saturday

This is going to be a blissful Saturday. The bathrooms are clean, the kitchen is clean, laundry is nearly finished, and I'm headed out for the rest of the days with sweet women I love dearly. Oh, how I need this after the chaotic summer and back-to-school madness I've been through. Finally, things are beginning to settle down and I can relax and simply enjoy life.

Stats day is going to be on Thursdays now due to my Weight Watchers schedule. I can't believe I'm seeing 180 on the scale. Back in early May, I weighed 194. When I started this blog, I was at 190. So 14 lbs in 4.5 months is what I've really achieved. Maybe 3/4 lb per week-ish? Of course, a lot of that came off just recently due to health issues, but this past two weeks it's been because of Weight Watchers. I'm really enjoying tracking points. It's so easy to look up an item. I even build recipes by putting in the ingredients/quantities and it gives me the point value of anything I cook at home. Since I'm going to Olive Garden today, I looked up some websites that give you point values for eating out and found that I can have
pasta fagioli for 2 points and half an order of ravioli portabello for 7 pts. The salad is 2 for one bowl and a breadstick is 2. So, for 12 points I can enjoy the foods I would have ordered anyway and thoroughly enjoy them!  The added benefit of Weight Watchers is that they give you a point allowance for the day, but you get extra points you can draw from throughout the week. Today, I'm sure I'll have to borrow some points but that's what they're there for. :o) Since I didn't eat breakfast until 8 and am having an early dinner at 5 (with a movie right in the middle at noon), I'm simply eating sugar free jello and diced pears for lunch and will have a green salad with balsamic vinegar (all for zero points) when I get home from the movie. How's that for advanced planning and being in control. What a great day! I feel like my health is surely going to change for the better. Keep your fingers crossed!

B12 is Good

I can't tell you how exhausted I was on Tuesday and Wednesday. Boneless is the best I can do. I was in bed by 9:30 both nights and still awoke exhausted. While I didn't exactly get a good night's sleep last night due to random late night/early morning phone calls from someone we didn't know, I do feel better since I got my shot yesterday. I was able to grade all of my math tests and get them recorded in both my hardcopy gradebook and my online gradebook. That's such a relief as it means I won't have any Sunday schoolwork to do. Whew! I feel like I'm finally catching up.

Curious about how I'm doing on Weight Watchers, I weigh myself daily. Today I weighed in at 180.7. I haven't seen 180 in over a year (maybe two) so I'm really excited. It's motivated me to avoid overeating and snacking when I'm not hungry. When I do grab a snack, it's in the correct amount and it's healthy! Go me!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Saturday is an all girls' day with a movie at noon with friends and dinner at Olive Garden with more friends. I can't wait!

Half isn't Half Bad

I guess half a pound a week for the past four months isn't all that bad. I'd hoped for one per week but half is better than none, and it's sure better than a gain! Randy has been a huge motivator. He's been running nightly and cut back on his dinners and he's lost many pounds. He's had to have a suit taken up and he just bought a new one. He's looking good and feeling better. I love having company on this journey!

Tomorrow I get my second B12 shot. I have to say, I am feeling a bit better (less foggy brained until later in the p.m.) that I was last week. The antibiotic I'm taking isn't killing me and neither is the iron supplement. Woo Hoo! Next week I see the rheumatologist. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll pinpoint my problems and help me get on the road to recovery!

Stats

I forgot to put in my stats when I blogged on Saturday. I now weigh 182, but it's mostly due to a tummy bug and the B12 problem. Now that I'm on Weight Watchers again, I expect to drop some weight through actual effort. I'm not currently exercising since I have yet another sinus infection and am on meds, but I will start rowing later this week after my next B12 shot on Wednesday. I'm determined I'm going to get exercise going in my life, but I think I'll start out at 15 minutes at a time.

I'm very thankful for supportive people in my life. My friends, family, and boss are all cheering me on and offering me valuable help. I love you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Anyone out there with fibromyalgia? I'm in quite a flare right now. My eyesight is wacking out over black and white so you can imagine the fun I'm having typing this, grading papers, and reading paperwork right about now. Argh. Here's wishing all my fibro friends an easy transition into fall. Blessings to you all.

I'm including the link to Weight Watchers online. It's been a big help to me and is a comfort in a way. I feel more in control when I can log in my food intake, exercise output, and see a graph that shows which direction I'm heading.  Hope it helps someone out there!

Another Fresh Start

Oh my. I don't even know where to begin...

Obviously I haven't been posting since the end of July. I've had some health issue that took over my life and school started at the same time. That all adds up to OVERLOAD for me.

Here are the health issues. All summer, I had sores in my mouth, dry mouth, dry eyes, dry skin, a superficial blood clot in my leg, and angioedema (swelling of the throat and face). Sinus surgery has been put off indefinitely. In trying to find solutions/causes they found I'm allergic to my old blood pressure meds. Tried a new one and had adverse reactions to that. Now on the 3rd one and so far so good. I've also had an upset stomach (IBS) all summer. Then when school started, I began having severe stomach issues with fever and also got an upper respitory infection. Dr. gave me Ceftin but I had a reaction to it. Dr. gave me Erythromycin but I had a reaction to that as well. Missed 3 days of school due to illness, then woke up Friday morning with a swollen throat and uvula and had to go get a steroid shot and take Benadryl  so there was another day off of work. Not a great start to the school year.  In the meantime, the dr. took blood and found that I have a B12 deficiency and anemia. I started B12 shots this week. I also started an iron supplement. To top that off, my cholestorol dropped below 200 for the first time in 10 years, but my triglycerides jumped to a whopping 742 which is extra high. So...now I'm on a low sugar, low fat, good carbs only diet.

So...since I can't just scale back and eat my old foods, I started researching diabetic diets and looking into how many carbs to eat per day, etc. It turns out that weight watchers online is very helpful so I re-upped my account and am on weight watchers again. I can keep track of my weight, measurements, and how many fruits/veggies/carbs/and dairy products I have in a day. It's simple and I like the graphs and message boards. They even have a board for women with fibromyalgia although I don't think I'll hang out there too often because I don't like to think about it on a daily basis. Do you know what I mean?

The next step is to go to a rheumatologist to see if they can figure out why I'm B12 deficient. The good news is that many off my symptoms will turn around once the shots take hold. The bad news is that I'm still icky while I'm waiting for that to happen. All I can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep on going. WW is something I can "do" to help myself each day. Hopefully I can start walking again soon and that will help too.

Any thoughts?