Lean Mean 2013

So I didn't quite make the 13lb benchmark by January.  I missed the last 3 weigh ins.  According to my scale I was up and down over the 3 weeks; when I went for my official weigh in yesterday I was down .2 lbs.  At least its not a gain and I can still maintain my all loss book.  I've been on "break" making brownies and Mexican food (Why not go for bust since I wasn't counting anyway) but now its time to get back on the horse.

I've kept my promise to myself and I joined the community center gym.  I also went ahead and purchased Active Link to track my soon to be activity points.  I'm still trying to figure out how to use it but I'm excited about the tool and hoping it will give me more incentive.

My team leader was nice in saying "don't worry about the past, that's last years weight." 
Very true, I'm ready for the boost.  I'd love to say I'm going to lose 2 lbs a week and be at my goal for next year but realistically I'm going to put it out there to shoot for a 1lb a week knowing there will be ups and downs.  That will put me at a hopeful loss of 50 lbs!

So here's some other goings on for start of 2013.
As mentioned before we are moving!  In 5 weeks and counting...Officially February 16.  This has caused me some major stress in the past month but now things are settling down.  Hubby officially got a new job.  As of today his start date is January 21, but he's trying to get it bumped up to the 14th.  Seeing they want him on a conference call that day, I think it's fair the payroll clock starts then.  He'll be flying to Canada on the 21st and then to Atlanta to meet his new counter part on the 31st.

There was a lot of back and forth on the flight schedule but I'm happy to say He'll be able to go to the first fertility apt we have scheduled for January 24. 

Now I've read the starter packet back and forth and still have no clue what we're going to discuss in that first appointment.  But what I did find out is that we have to meet with a financial planner before we start any kind of treatment plan.  I thought this was kind of funny because don't you need to know what your planning to do before you know how much its going to cost?

The house we are moving into, I believe was built in the 70's.  Now my parents did some remodeling during the 20 years we lived there, but in the past 8 years the place has been screaming for a face lift.  At bare minimum we need to paint and carpet the place.  Gold, green and burgundy just AREN'T my colors!  There is also a leak in the master bath the feeds into a wall that will need to be taken care of ASAP so I've spent WAY more time in hardware stores than I'd ever imagine.  Why do I bring all this up?  A dirty little word called Finance, it's looming over my head. We don't have the up front cash to fix the house and I refuse to borrow it from the bank of Mom, so we'll have to finance that on top of what I'd already figured we'd have to finance for the medical stuff.

Yes there are a lot of goings on in my head.  On the funner side,  I have my annual scrapper bowl coming up February 9 and I'm hosting book club in March.  I've also added a knitting circle to my craft menagerie.  Sprinkle in a few photo shoots and we've got a full spring line up.

I just want to say I appreciate all my "cheer-readers" out there.  It mean's alot that you keep up with my silly stories and keep me encouraged to keep on my way.

Hobbies and Jalepano's

I don't have anything super wonderful to report, but I feel like writing so it's time for show and tell.

Since its been cold and raining, the general feeling is to be inside nice and cozy.  So here are a few of my current projects. 

I started a mini book that I had intended to give as a baby shower gift.  That didn't happen and now the baby's heading into 4 months lol.  But I had all the stuff and so I decided to go ahead and finish it, the up side is I can now add pictures instead of giving it to my friend blank!

Next on my list of cozy projects is knitting.  One day while walking through Michael's I noticed this scrumptious sample of yarn, Loops & Threads Bunny Tail (pom pom).  I had to have it.  It looked really hard to work with, so I did my research and found some patterns to use.  Last November one of my besties and fellow knitter came over and we watched multiple you tube videos to figure out how to cast on these little monsters.   Once we got it down the rest was easy peasy.  The trick is you knit one stitch between the balls. The funny story about this blanket is that it called for 70 stitches.  I decided I wanted it a little bigger so I cast on 80 stitches.  Then I had my sister look at it and she said might as well make it a even hundred.  Well NOW the blanket is about 6 feet in length.  What started to be a lap blanket will now be a couch blanket for me and my hunny.   Since I usually scrap during the summer (and we've had a unseasonably warm winter) this project got pushed in the closet and was recently resurrected.  I'll be sure to post a picture when its done.  At the rate I'm knitting should be some time in January.

Last but not least I joined a book club.  This past month I read "The Lost Wife".  It was REALLY good so much I wish I had more book to read.  Tonight is the first meeting I'll be attending and the dinner theme is Gourmet Grilled Cheese, Soups and Champagne.   I'm in trouble lol.  I made jalapeno poppers pictured below.  Not too bad, I used the reduced fat crescent roll dough and re cut the sheet into 32 squares.  With a tsp of cream cheese and some chopped jale's, they come out to 1 point each.   I also made some with mini chocolate chips and brown sugar, also 1 point each.

Down side, I had a off site meeting for work today and they provided lunch.  The lunch in itself wasn't bad, 7 pts.  But I was STARVING and ended up eating the 12 point cookie that came in the lunch box.  I'm contemplating taking my own dinner to book club tonight so I don't totally botch this week.  We'll see what the scale says on Monday!

Live a Little

Happy Monday Ya'll

I bet your wondering what the big loss was this week... a whopping 0.4!!  Whoo hooo!!

I'm just going to say I have no regrets from this last week.  Every morsel I ate was worth it, I did the best I could to track and hey at least I didn't gain!  So I'm still on track for my book of losses.  Since I was given a new book to go with the new program I am now trying to accomplish 20 losses instead of the original 16.

I can't say exactly where I went wrong last week, I just know that I was tired. 
Wednesday we went out to dinner and had sushi.  The sauces are just too oooey gooey delicious.
Thursday they had a appreciation lunch for us at work, no idea what they put in those potato's *wink*
Friday while I was at Costco picking up my photos I tripped and fell into a very berry sundae.
Saturday I went to a scrapbook crop, I had a salad for dinner but it came with garlic bread! and a cake pop for dessert.
Sunday we spontaneously had friends over for dinner.  Hubby did the cooking and it was fabulous steak with brandy cream sauce...along with my glass of wine and chocolate cheese cake to top it off.

Can you hear my buttons popping?

So no, it was not a surprise that I didn't lose as much as I "could" have, but some weeks you have to LIVE and that's what this program is about.  This week I'll get back on track, need a bigger loss this week.  I'm shooting to be down 15 lbs by Jan 1 and I have 5 lbs 10 oz to go.

We also got our paper work from the fertility dr on Friday.  It was SO much paper work to go through.  I basically skimmed it over long enough to see that they don't agree with herbal remedies.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do, if I should keep on my herbs for the next month until I go?  Or stop them now?  I'll have to read the whole packet and make some phone calls.

Hubby has a interview on Thursday, it's in Canada!  The job will be based on the west coast though.  This is the final interview so I'm hoping he comes home with good news.

Big changes ahead....stay tuned.

Pina Coladas

Today's weigh in:  -1.4
Grand total: 9.2

They rolled out a new plan today that I'm not sure I like yet. Could be that I'm just not a fan of change.  The points are the same thank goodness because I'm used to them and they are working for me.  New thing called Spaces and Routines.  The reason why I'm not crazy about them is they are things I'm already doing.  Routines is very similar to 21 day challenges and Spaces is just controlling yourself in trigger environments.  I'm sure they will be helpful to most people just starting out.  We'll see how I feel in a few weeks.

Tips from the week:
1. I've never actually used Simply Filling part of the program until this past weekend and I did it subconsciously.  We went to a anniversary party which was pretty impossible to count the food.  So I filled my plate with "safe" food.  Salad, Veggies, a small portion of meat, yams.  I kept sipping on water and avoided the dessert table. Yea Me!

2. Last Wednesday I had my hair done by my wonderful sister.  We had some nice conversations and I told her about doing WW.  It was nice to have her support me because when we went to dinner afterward she encouraged me to split a meal with her.  I'm grateful because those veggies were certainly laced with butter.
So even though on these 2 instances I wasn't exactly sure what the points were I still counted and even over estimated a little for just in case.

3. My friend and WW buddy turned me on to La Croix coconut seltzer water at Target.  The flavor is great coconut/vanilla, so I googled the name and recipe.  I got the idea to make a skinny Pina Colada!  By using a cup of frozen pineapple bits from trader joes, 1 can of coconut water and 2 oz of coconut rum, it makes 2 servings.  Technically the rum should cost you 2 points per ounce and the rest is free, but for some reason when you put it in the recipe builder it bumps you up to 4.  Its your call on how you want to count it.

I basically spent the weekend singing "If you like Pina Coladas, blah blah blah in the rain"

It helped cheer me up, since my car just got recalled for the engine catching on fire!

Hmmm I guess I could have gone around singing "Great Balls of Fire"....



Drippy

This is how I feel today

Its been raining the past 2 days.  I have a KILLER sore throat.  All I want to do is sleep and instead I'm zoning out at work. I didnt do to hot this week with my food choices so we'll see what happens on Mondays' post.  I still have the weekend to eat nothing but soup haha.

Thank goodness its Friday!



Turkey Lurkey

I'm proud to say as of yesterday I've completed 4 successful weeks on WW.  My loss for the week was 2.4 bring me to 7 1/2 lbs lost. I'm pretty dang excited. So far I haven't felt deprived at all, I just feel like I'm more "careful" in my choices. 

One major change I did was go back on my meds (metformin) to help with the insulin resistance.  The last time I took it it really made me nauseous.  I've been taking it at night and haven't had any bad feelings yet,  I did stop taking my herbs last week so my body could get used to the Met again. I think I'll start them again in December.

Tips from this week:
1. I've been drinking alot of mint tea.  It's calming to the stomach, helps me drink more water/feel fuller and it has no caffeine.  Plus its been cold and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

2. Planning ahead.  This really helped me alot especially during the 4 day weekend.  I knew my mom was going to make our big family dinner on Saturday so I loaded my point tracker with everything I could possibly want to eat so I knew what kind of damage I was working with.  I made sure to plan my week to eat super good and save up those bonus points for turkey!  And its a good thing I did.  Sunday we went over to a friends house who made 18 point roasted potato's (she used a cup of butter)!!! 

3. Picked up my hobby, crocheting.  I had a lot of free time to graze this weekend, by keeping my hands busy with a crochet hook and working on my invitation job it kept me from popping things in my mouth.

As you saw from Thursday I did a little baking.  I also did a little freaking out.  Hubby joined WW a little earlier than expected and I wasn't mentally prepared for it.  I'm not sure why but it really made me mad that he gets 54 points and I only get 39.  I had spent all day Thurs cleaning my house, catching up on ironing, baking and cleaning up that mess and he....tinkered around in his truck.  I know I should have been grateful when he made me a tuna sandwich for lunch (maybe it was the hunger mixed with cleaning fumes) but I lost it because I didn't have control over how my tuna was made.  I already know I'm a control freak, but this brought out the worst in me.  I told him I wasn't going to let him sabotage me because he had so many more points and could eat what ever he wanted.  In the end, it was ok.  I made a turkey sandwich even though it was the same point value as what he made it was the fact of being in control. 

Yesterday I felt bad, poor hubby didn't really know what to eat so he took yogurt for lunch.  I went to trader joes on my lunch break after weighing in and loaded up on protein full point friendly foods for him to make his lunch.  When I got home last night I whipped out my sharpies and wrote the point values on everything so he wouldn't have to ask.  I told him to pack his food for the day and plan for 20 pt dinners.  I hope it works out, after my melt down I realize we need to help each other and this needs to be a team effort.

This weekend I turned my alarm off.  Every morning I woke up trying to figure out what day we were on.  I got alot of things accomplished and it was nice to be with my family and friends.  Coco didn't seem to mind the turkey scraps either.



Baked Oatmeal Thursday

Thursday seemed as good a day as any to drag out the ol' mixing bowl and bake something up for my honey.  This recipe has been floating around pinterest amongst my friends with rave reviews so I had to give it a shot myself.

You can find the original recipe here on this cute little blog.  Now I wanted to make this as WW friendly as possible so I did alot of change ups.  For instance I used egg beaters instead of eggs.  I also took out the walnuts (high fat) and banana (I'm allergic).  I also opted to use mini chips instead of regular size and added marshmallow bits.  Since I was getting in tune with my inner Martha and I don't have a apple corer I decided to use a heart shaped cookie cutter to punch out the centers of my apple.

And here is the finished product!  It was way yummy and definitely on the "make again" list. 

I think after all was said and done I estimated 7 pts a serving and my family was non the wiser.

Bon Apetit!!



Good News and other things

So here's the dish...sorry its a day late, but I do work ya know.

First things first, I wasn't going to weigh in yesterday because of Flo and water weight, but I did and I'm glad I did.  I had a loss of 2.4 lbs.  BOO-YAH!  That made me so happy, especially because of my little loss last week and that I tried SO hard even with my 9 point coffee hehe.  We are now at a total of 5 1/2 lbs down.  I got my little *bravo star* in my book but didn't stay at the meeting for any announcements.  I'm determined to have no "gains" in my 16 week book.

Speaking of Aunt Flo, she came at day 32 this month.  Not bad.  Way better than 48 or not at all. Hopefully with the continued weight loss I'll get down to and maintain 28 days.

Here are my tips from last week:
1. DON'T put the creamy chocolate shake mix in your coffee.  It does NOT taste like a mocha.  My team leader LIED.

2. The best meal I cooked was grilled chicken and vegetables covered in mozzarella and a half cup of marinara for 10 points!  I now found a light provolone at target thats 1 pt.  Going to try that next.

3. Fav Finds: Skinny Cow Mocha Truffle Bars for 3 points and WW Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Bars for 2 points.  Got both at target.

What really helped me is tracking.  I'm trying to make it a game, see how much food you can get for the least points.  Its the first thing I do in the morning when I get to work.  I also started taking my dog Coco for short 15 minute walks.  Since it rained half of last week it was short lived, but I plan on getting back on track.  I had taken him to a dog trainer for jumping and she told me that he needed to be walked to exhaust his brain.  Works for me.

Here is my Puppy Love.

In other news...I was with my friend on Monday night (had to pick up my lunch bag) and her Mom was there, she works with insurance, we'll call her Nana P.   A few months back neither myself or hubby had health insurance and I was calling around to get pricing on coverage.  In my quest I had been asking about infertility/pregnancy coverage and kept getting shot down.  We now have Kaiser through Hubby's work and I was afraid if we used a RE (reproductive endocronologist ie. fertility dr) that the pregnancy wouldnt be covered.  Which is partially why I was thinking in desperation to go to Mexico.  Thankfully I asked Nana P about what these insurance reps were telling me.  She explained that Independant coverage can deny you where as group coverage will cover it. She encouraged me to call Kaiser today and find out what exactly they will cover. 

And thats exactly what I did (about 30 minutes ago).  In short I now know that we are not covered for fertility treatments under our current plan, but that I can see my Kaiser drs OR go to the HRC and once we do get pregnant they WILL cover the pregnancy.   This is a hugh relief.  I am a glutten for punishment/worry I guess, because I keep reading these blogs and now on the WW site there are MORE blogs about women who've gone through all this crap.  I really thought IUI was the way to go, but the more I read I'm seeing that these poor women are going for 6, 7, 8 failed treatments and eventually going to IVF anyway.  I don't want to pay for each IUI and have it end up being a waste/costing the same as 1 IVF.  I still dont know which way to go, but I'm glad I can now get this ball rolling and that I can finance it either way at the HRC.

Own it

Hubby's been out of town for a solid week.  He came home Saturday night and left before the sun came up Monday morning.  That left us with one day to hang out, the day of diet demise. 

I did so well while he was gone, I weighed myself on sat morning and whooo hoo down 2 lbs.  Well...Saturday night came and we had sushi for dinner. Yum!  I only ordered 1 roll with rice.  Its the dipping sauce that kills me.  Surprisingly I couldn't finish what I had ordered.  So we ate sushi for breakfast on Sunday morning.  That didn't fill me so I had some eggs on toast.  Then came the Costco run and the endless sample pushers.  Hubby tasted them all, I kept my hands firmly on the cart.  By the time we got in line I was starving and finished almost a whole carton of raspberries.  It was all down hill from there.  We split a chicken bake and a frozen yogurt, for who knows how many calories.  My mom made fidello  (its like a Mexican spaghetti) only she made it with so much ooey gooey cheese.  I didn't feel like cooking and had already blown it for the day so I pulled out salami, cheese and crackers to munch on.   I didnt count any of it.  I just thought ok I had my points for the day and those floater points, I'm probably in range.

WRONG.

My weigh in for this Monday... half a pound loss. Whaa whaa. 

At least I know and own where I went wrong.  I'm back on track as of yesterday with my wounded ego.  I'm going to have to do extra good this week because Friday Hubby and I are going to see Joshua Radin in concert!  Need to save up some points for a nice evening out.

A tip from Audrey

I woke up in a good mood this morning.  Way better than the rest of my week has gone.  Maybe I'm getting over the mean carb deprived monster haha.  Anyway I was thinking about little Miss Audrey and how I love this quote:

Its true, I'm eating better and feeling better which means my happy pretty self can come out. 

Among other Audreyisms -

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm.
As you get older, remember you have another hand:
The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!

Paris is always a good idea!

While I may not make it to Paris any time soon New York is definately on the list! I was just speaking with my WW buddie "E" about having a goals and reward system. She'd made a deal with her hubby that if she got to her goal weight her ultimate prize would be a weekend in NY. Now I've pondered this, marinated on it for a good week and thought thats a great idea. What if we BOTH go to New York together???

I've never been to the city and I'm totally in love with the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. So much so that it was the theme to my bridal shower. I would love to see time square, central park, broadway and go to the actual Tiffany's store where Audrey stood in front of the window. E and I both have 125 lbs to loose and its nice to talk and keep each other on track. I ran this by the hubs and he is on board. We decided to reevaluate this potential trip next October, a year from where we started, and see how close we actually are at meeting goal. Hopefully we will be going in the Spring of 2014.

Now I'm trying to come up with a good list of rewards for my loss's along the way.  E and I agreed that each 25 lbs would be a good marker.  All I know for sure is this Michael Kors Colgate Calfskin bag is going on the list!  I've been wanting it for quite a while now.  Drool.  I think it would be a great reward for 50 lbs.

I'm off to eat my healthy lunch, Tata for now...



Crab Apple

And I was doing SO well yesterday until I got home...

I guess I should preface this with the fact that I live in an apartment that is attached to my parents home. 

So I get home from work and I'm enjoying the blissful silence of my home when I hear my mom talking through my window asking what I was up to and if she could come over...  UHHH I guess so?

It seems that when Hubby is out of town it is my mom's duty to keep me company.   Well that turned into binging on some brownies and pulling out a bottle of wine.  Stress eat much?

Its not her fault.  I just wasn't in the mood to talk about my screw up brother...after he came home at 2 am and woke the neighbor hood with Coco's (my dog) incessant barking.  No I'm not bitter or sleep deprived.

I counted my loss of points...10 over my allotment.  thank goodness for those floater points.

Unfortunately the same 2 am appearance happened last night so it sent me into a tail spin of bad mood today. 
At work there is a man that sits behind me, I don't know if he's Persian or Israeli, but he always offers up food from his home land.  I've done my best to avoid him but today I felt like I was utterly insulting him by not accepting his candy.  It was just a bite.  A bite of DOOM.  When he went to lunch I got the box off his desk and whipped out my point calculator.  A whopping 5 points! All these grapes and cucumbers and I waste 5 points on that? 

So then the other thing that's bummed me out today is that out of curiosity I googled my blog name to see what would come up.  I came up with someone with the same blog name in England, cool right?  She's actually a really good writer and really funny.  The bummer part she's had a terrible time with fertility and 4 failed IVF's.  From her blog I found other blogs with sad story's.  I really just wanted to stay in my hopeful bubble. 

I'm sorry about my funk...I hope to have better sleep tonight.  Other wise someones going to die.

Starting off November with a Bang

Today is weigh in day....my first of many to come.

"Drum roll please"  This week I lost 3 lbs! 

I have to say I'm a little elated because I did exactly what I was told not to do, weigh myself.  Not only that but I did it like every day.  And my scale only showed a 1.5 loss. As my WW leader says the only scale that matters is this one. So I'm going to stop weighing and just be surprised on Mondays.

Tricks I love this week:
1. Greek yogurt, tastes good high protein low points.  My friend showed me how to make tzakiki too.  Amazing.

2. Hummus and Cucumber, delish crunchy snack.

3. Using flavored olive oil in tuna instead of mayo.  It was SO good, I used a tsp of basil flavored EVOO in my tuna with onion, pickles, celery and a little mustard.  I stuffed 2 sandwich flats and had a totally satisfying lunch.

I also bought a pomegranate, my mom showed me how to knock out all the little gems.  I juiced them and added some to my green smoothie this morning.  SUPER sweet.

This morning I found out that one of my long time dearest friends is ALSO doing WW.  She just joined the week before me and I'm so excited that we can encourage one another.

My 5% goal is 13 lbs. I'm really hoping to be down 20 lbs by January. The community center that my ww meeting is at has a small gym.  I used to go about a year ago and I really like it.  I dont feel overwhelmed by the equipment and I love the classes they offer.  Anyhoo...they are offering 50% off the monthly membership in Janurary so it will be $14 instead of 28.  This is going to be my treat for acheiving my first goal so I can keep the momentum going.

After reading the PCOS blog, getting a big eye opener on the process and a little more research, I've determined that IUI is going to be the best course for us.  This also ties into my January goal.  I made a deal with Hubby to follow through with the consultation at the HRC (Huntington Reproductive Center) so they can give me a current status on my ovaries and do a work up on him too.  Its time to jump in.  Next year I'm determined to be a Mother.

Hubby is out of town this week for work.  I got the cleaning bug yesterday and purged his dresser and closet.  Got a nice little donation pile for the good will.  I also ironed the big pile of dress shirts I've been avoiding for about a month.  Now I actually know what he has and needs.  I'm hoping to give the bathroom a good scrub tonight and dust.  Then I'll have a chore free house for the rest of the week which means I will have time to scrapbook! guilt free.

I have a baby shower invite job to get crackin on too.  I have till the end of November to pump out 75. Woo..

One, Two, Three...

Ok so since my last "poor me" post I've actually accomplished somethings...

One...on Monday I officially joined weight watchers and went to my first meeting.  Thankfully my scale and theirs is the same so the number wasn't shocking...I was pre-shocked at home lol.  I love the new point system, it totally makes sense that the values should be determined by how your body digests foods.  I got the app on my phone, super handy and easy to use.  I love the web site and I actually get excited to track my food.  I'm actually looking forward to getting weighed next Monday!

Wednesday I popped over to TJ Max and bought myself a new lunch bag.  It's my little way to go you did something good for yourself treat, that and Hubby lost my old one.

Two...I started taking my herbs.  I called to find out my dosing, some went up and some went down and one got dropped all together.  I started taking them Tuesday morning because I altogether forgot on Monday.  So far, I feel like crap and they are making me burp some weird clove/Cinnamon flavor,  I know that my stomach will need time to adjust. The last time I took them I felt great with in 2 weeks.  I have a follow up call on Nov 12 to see how things are going. 

Three...I decided to drop coffee.  Its bad for you, bad for me more so because I cant take the caffeine.  It really screws me over on top of my insomnia.  Plus its 5-7 points the way I like to drink it with cream and sugar.  My next big feat will be to drop the diet coke.  I had stopped it for a while and was drinking juice instead but now that's out because of the sugar....baby steps.

I started reading a blog about someone else's trials and accomplishments with PCOS.  I think its funny reading about how someone else has done all the things I'm doing including wasting time at work googling any and everything about fertility and blogging about it.  She's a real person, with the same real problem and real anxiety who has twin girls today.  It makes me feel good and inspired and not alone to read it.  I even emailed her today, we'll see if I get a response.

I'm still reading the beauty detox book.  Slowly but surely.  Good thing is that it follows the same principles as weight watchers so it will be easy to incorporate.

I've also started knitting again.  I'm working diligently on some baby scarves for my friends visit to NY this winter.  I'm very excited I just learned how to make a button hole.  My next you tube video will be on how to crochet chevron stripes!!

I feel good.