Steps I have taken, tricks I have tried....

                                                     

I thought I would dedicate this post to sharing the different steps I have taken to reach my goal "wedding weight" while doing the WW diet for the last 10 months. In these last 10 months I have tried many things....some of which were good ideas, and others that weren't the best ones.....

This is what I did: I joined WW online for a month. After this month, I got a hang of what the diet entailed....I also did a lot of googling, to find out more about the diet.  I bought the books, and taught myself how to calculate how many points any food item was. My mom had a WW calculator she gave me, and I can use that to figure out the point value in any item. All you need to know are these 3 things......Calories, Fiber, and Fat, that's it. You can look up how many points you are allowed to have. It is based on several factors, but just google "WW point allowance" and it should bring up how to figure how many points you are allowed a day.....and then there are always the 35 bonus points a week! :) I love those!

Here are some of the things I eat quite often.....

Breakfast Favorites:

*Fruit, and lots of it!! :) Most fruits are about 1 WW Point per cup. Never liked fruit too much, but I have found my favorite fruits and I have stuck with those. I always make sure I buy strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, kiwi's and grapes occasionally. You can also find the cups of sliced pears that are only 1 WW Point as well (most of them).

*Honey Comb: A cup and a half of cereal, and skim milk. The milk doesn't really matter to me as much, because I don't ever drink it up anyways, so usually I don't count it.  2 WW Points Total! :)

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat: 2 WW Points a packet.

*Use white wheat bread (2 slices, 1 WW Point) and spread a half tablespoon of PB on each slice (half tablespoon 1 point, total of 2 points if you do a half tablespoon on each slice) 3 points for 2 pieces of PB toast.

Lunch Likes:

*Baked Lays (Individual bags) They work great because 1 bag (like you would buy at Subway) is only 2 WW Points.  I find that these are better to buy than the large bags they sell in the supermarket. Why? Because, I always would become tempted to eat more, since they are healthy and all, and although yummy, this would hurt my points big time....so I always make a special trip to Wegmans or Subway to buy the individual bags of baked lays.

*Cambells Soup At Hand: Only 1 WW Point if you stick with Chicken Noodle or Vegetable. The rest are more points.

*Smart Ones: Broccoli, Potato and Cheese Dishes, they are my favorite, and the only ones I haven't gotten tired of yet. You really have to try them all, but I strongly recommend trying this one for sure! :)

Dinner Delights:

*Cascadian Farm French Fries (Crinkle style, or skinny style): You can find these at Wegmans! :) 2 points for 30 of the skinny fries, and 2 points for 18 of the crinkle fries. That's really good, and they taste great!! :)

*Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Hot Dogs: These are beef hot dogs, and they taste pretty darn good for being so healthy!  These are my favorites, I have tried Ball Parks, but I always come back to these.

*Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! :) The important thing to remember when making these. Use a good bread. All the bread I buy is the WHITE WHEAT brand. They make hot dog buns, hamburger buns, and regular bread ofcourse. 2 slices of this bread are only 1 WW point. The hot dog buns and the hamburger buns are 1 point a piece.

*Sometimes I eat Bagel Bites, LOL....Only 9.5 points for a whole box of 9. Its a good amount of points, but if you have them left at the end of the day, I say go for it. Sometimes if I have a small lunch or breakfast, I will do bagel bites for dinner.

*Tysons breaded chicken patties: 3 points, add a WHITE WHEAT BUN 4 points total. 

Good Snacks for when you are just hungry and need something:
*1 point popcorn bags, I always get kettle corn.
*String Cheese: 1 WW Point
*Sugar Free Jello: 0 WW points!!
*Fruit Rolls Ups: 1 WW Point
*You can always get the 100 calorie packs of cookies, goldfish, etc... they generally are around 2 points.

Eating out favorites, food I love:

*Chick Fil A Chicken Sandwich (Regular Chicken sandwich, not grilled) 8.5 points if you ask them to use a wheat bun. Add a point if you use BBQ sauce on it.

*Noodles and Company: Small House Marinara dish made with penne noodles. Ask them to add NO toppings, to use just the sauce, and don't get a chicken add on. This meal comes to only 5.5 points, WOW! Is definitely one of my favorites. The employees know me by name, I think I go in there a bit much. 

*Wegmans: Strawberry Smoothie, smallest size, 1.5 WW points, super great for you, and low in points!! :)
 Wegmans mini cannoli: 2 WW points
 Wegmans mini fruit tart: 5 points, but soooooo worth it! :)

The Sweet Stuff: (my fiance, hehe)
But for real,

*ANYTHING Skinny Cow, most of their ice creams range from 2-3 points.
*Smart Ones Desserts: My favorites are the cookie dough sundaes! :) 3 WW Points
* 3 Musketeers just came out with a new candy bar, almost like a twix, but they are called Truffle Crisp Bars, 2 points a bar, 4 points in a pack.

Working out has benefited me but it wasn't anything drastic, that changed my schedule too, too much. I just started to run, and sometimes walk around the neighborhood 2-3 times a week. About 2 miles every walk or run. 1 mile out, and then I would turn around and do 1 mile back home. I always take our puppy "Roxy" with me, so when she needs to take a "break" so do I, it works very well for me, LOL. If I am tired, I walk.  I also signed up for 5K's here and there. Not all the time, maybe 1 a month, or 1 every  2 months, it depends. That's all the exercise I did, and combined with the WW diet,  it really helped.

Buy a new scale, thats what I did last August, when I started out all of this.  I have had to cut back on my alcoholic drinks, never drank too, too much, but still, it helps to cut back. When I do have mixed drinks, I stick with diet coke and rum, because a shot of rum is 2 points, and then the Diet Coke is 0 points! :) 2 points total. Most beers are also 2 points as well.

I get a lot of help from friends.....people who have been successful at this diet, and it really is motivating, when you see a change.  I have also started to drink only water. Making all these changes in my lifestyle has made me feel 10 times better, I feel more healthy, and I have a lot more energy than I used to. You know, I haven't been sick since I started this diet. Last year, I can't tell you how many times I came down with a cold. I am such an advocate for this WW diet, so I thought I would post some of the things I try to do myself. :) I have lost a total of 54 pounds and reached my goal weight, so I have a lot of faith in this diet, it has done wonders for me! :)

What a great weekend!

My bridal shower was this weekend! :) It was really nice to see everyone. I got sooo many wonderful gifts.....esp. kitchen items (they are what I need the most)  It went well, it was a beautiful day, and I am glad that I got to see my mom and sister, I hadn't seen them in a while.  The shower was at my house, which generally it wouldn't be, but since my family lives out of town, we decided to do things that way.  I can't wait to be able to use everything I got. Much needed things that I definitely get many uses out of.

I gotta admit, I have been an interesting person to deal with in these last few months coming up to the wedding, but I am soo glad that they semi-understand, and can put up with me. They are wonderful people for dealing with me, so is Scott, he is a very brave man, LOL....to take me on for life, just kidding. :)

Scott and I are finally getting things straightened up around the house. Still have a lot of work to do. This weekend, we are thinking we will do some major work around the house, and clear out all the stuff, that we have no use for. We have a room that is basically the "junk room" and that is one of our main goals, to get that room cleared out, and "usable" again. :)

Another great thing about this weekend....I got on the scale Saturday morning and realized that I had met my goal weight that I set for myself back in August of last year!! I lost 54 pounds, and I am so glad that I am able to say that I met the goal I set for myself. It was hard, and painful at times, (esp. when at restaurants, haha) but I made it! :) It's such a great feeling, and personal achievement that I am sooo happy about! :) I have been rewarding myself for reaching the goal, by having a few more cupcakes (ice cream cupcakes) than I probably should, but I think I have earned it, and will go back to my regular diet here soon.   Doing this WW diet since August, has almost trained me to eat certain things, and when I eat junk food....my body definitely will tell me now that is doesn't like it anymore. I guess that's good (except when my body says it doesn't like cheesecake, gotta do something about that, hehe)  Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week and I will talk to you soon! :) Oh...and I will end with a quote I found today that caught my eye,  love finding new quotes....

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. --Pericles

WW Friendly Food Finds!

Hey everyone. Today I was browsing around at http://www.hungry-girl.com/ and I found a lot of new snacks that I have yet to try that I am looking forward to and I thought I would share!!

These ice cream pops are only 3 WW Points! Yummmm and they have a whole selection of different of things, chocolate chip cookie dough sandwiches, etc...All fairly low in points....so I am going to give them a try.

These are also a new Nabisco item, only 3 points as well, and super yummy I am sure. I am anxious to go to the store and try some of the things I have seen. Now these are the things I have seen on the "snack side". They also have some good dinner type items. I found 80 calorie mashed potatoes made by Betty Crocker that are only 1 WW Point a piece, and I also found these Annie Chun chicken wontons, yummm! 1-2 WW points a piece.  There were some other things such as Pop Chips and these Cheese Puffs that I wanted to try too!! :) I will make sure to pick them up at Wegmans on my bi-weekly grocery trip! :) Anyways, I hope everyone has a nice rest of their Tuesday! It's been raining here, blahhhhh, so I haven't been able to get my runs in...well I could have....but I don't like runnning in the rain, it gets quite chilly!

A busy kind of weekend...

(Shahanna, Me, Sarah Monroe)

Hey there! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a busy one, and after having some "not so busy" weekends, it was nice to hang out with friends.  Friday night, I went over to my friend, Shahanna's house. We all just hung out, played cards and had a few drinks. Scott and I didn't end up leaving 'till about 2 in the morning, mostly because of my talking, LOL....Hey, I like to chat, always have tons of things to catch up on! The next day, I went to sell some Thirty-One products, didn't do too much selling, but a lot of talking, AGAIN.

 (Some of the pledge sisters above)

After I was done with that, I was off to Richmond. I met some of my ZTA sisters in Richmond. We all went to Sines in Richmond and had a great time. Good to catch up with all the girls and pledge sisters. It made me feel like I was back in college when we went back to Margie's house (One of my pledge sisters) She lives in Richmond, and let us all come back to her house. I wasn't planning on going intially, but I am glad I was "convinced" to make the drive.

I got in a little shopping too, mostly in Ann Taylor Loft, they had some really cute shirts on sale, and I finally found some shorts that looked nice on me, and I bought a few pairs. When you find something that works, you stick with it! :) So I managed to make it to Ann Taylor Loft twice, once in Richmond, and once in Fredericksburg.  All in all it was a great weekend!

Simple Low Point Snacks!

While browsing the web over the weekend, I ran into two items that I knew I would need to try.  Now this first item, I have yet to find in a store, but I keep my eyes open. If you see them, let me know! :) It almost reminds me of Twix bars. I can't wait to try them. They are not healthy ofcourse, but they are only 2 weight watchers points per bar. That would be worth it to me! Now, my problem is, I would end up eating the other one, and have to use 4 weight watchers points, LOL.

The second item are these kraft singles, they melt in like 15 seconds. So you could easily take some baked tostitos (1 serving is 14 chips) which is 2 weight watchers points, and add a "Kraft Singles Meltdown" to the top of the chips, to make your own nachos. They come in a few different flavors. One flavor is nacho (the one I bought) and the other one I have run across is Pizza flavored. I don't think i want to try that one.  Each kraft single is 1 weight watchers point, so you can have a little nacho cheese snack and only use 3 weight watchers points! The only place I have found these in are at Walmart....many smaller grocery store chains don't carry them quite yet since they are so new.

So those were my discoveries from over the weekend. Not much else happened this weekend. On Saturday I had signed up for a 5K at the local YMCA. It was a little breezy, which was great running weather.  And guess what happened?! I actually got 3rd place in my age division!! Ofcourse, I wasn't there to accept my gift certificate because I NEVER WIN, so I NEVER stick around, makes sense, right?! So I placed, so that was something nice that happened, being that it never happened before.

Last note for the day.....I saw something over the weekend, and it really got me thinking.  I saw an elderly man, walking with a walker to get his mail. When I drove by, he was on his way back to his house, but you could tell it was a painful walk for him, but he was really trying. It made me sad.  It got me thinking, that I want to help out around the county more. Even if it is just simple things like going to people's houses, bringing in their mail every evening, I want to help. I really have been recognizing that every day is a gift, and I want to make it the best that I can. If anyone knows of a group that I could be part of that does things like this let me know. Too bad I can't be closer to my family members that could use the help as well, because I would really like to be there.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week, talk to you soon! :)

Thursday Thoughts

Hope everyone has been having a nice week! I am soooo glad it is almost Friday!!! :) This week has been a busy one, so it will be nice to relax (somewhat) this weekend. I have a bunch of little things lined up to do throughout the week, such as....

*My bi-weekly grocery trip, LOL....Wegmans/Food Lion to get a few things

*I signed up for a 5K on Saturday, so I am looking forward to that (kind of, hehe)

*Meeting with a rep from the Riverside Center to talk about wedding stuff, you know I like doing anything wedding related!

Not too much is new really. I haven't been spending too much time on my Thirty One Gifts selling. They always have really great deals though. For the whole month of May, you can get an ALL-IN-ONE Organizer for only $5 when you spend $31. It's an awesome deal and it will be going on ALL month!!

I have found some more really great quotes this week, and I wanted to share them, I love quotes:

(I know this post is super random, cramming a bunch of unrelated things together, but hey, it's me!)

* "I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall together."

* "Life doesn't always give you the people that you want...it gives you people that you need, to help you and to hurt you...because this is what helps to shape you into the person you were meant to be."

*Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."

(Read a blog yesterday, and it got me thinking about kindness, and how really such a simple act, can really mean so much to someone)

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great Thursday!