Progress – End o’ week 9

So yes, I didn’t post last week, and I’m late for this one. But really that’s a good thing. It means that I’ve been so busy living life that I haven’t had a chance to write about it.

Anyway…on to WW: End of week 6 I had lost 18.2 lbs. Gained 1.4 the next. Gained 2.4 the next week on my trip to Utah. And this week, I lost 2.8 lbs. I’m getting there and expect to continue loosing. Traveling was hard and I didn’t have a plan. I had abandoned all my new great habits and paid for it. Live and learn! I hit the gym twice last week, went kayaking and went for a walk on the beach. I just need to stick with it and continue planning.

Some visible progress has been made because people keep saying that I look good. That’s always nice. I also feel good. I notice the difference in some clothing, and I feel little differences all over.

P.S. Does anyone want to go kayaking before the hot weather is gone? It was fun and the harbor was so beautiful.

Progress - end o' week 7

Ok, so maybe no weight loss progress 'cause I gained a pound, but I'm still motivated. I made it to the gym Friday night; did 40 minutes cardio, 10 minutes stretching on the AWESOME stretching station/seat, and 20 minutes on arm machines. My arms are still sore and that might explain some of the weight gain. So even if I only made it to the gym once, I'm still proud because I did it. I didn't make excuses because I couldn't find anyone to go with. I ended up feeling great afterwards too.

Newest (good) discovery: Jack-in-the-box Chicken Fajita Pita. 6 points and so yummy. Today I got the combo with the fresh fruit cup instead of french fries (not like I eat fries anymore anyway). I was totally impressed with the fruit cup. Each piece was delicious and there were no rotton pieces hidden in the bottom. The country of origin was listed for each type of fruit (honeydew & cantaloupe - US, grapes - Mexico, pineapple - Costa Rica.) So good for only 1 point.

Newest (bad) discovery: Fried jalepeno rings from Del Taco. I like jalepeno poppers and jalepenos in most other things. These were tasty and spicy. Which for me is a positive. However, my body is not reacting well. I don't think I'm used to fried foods anymore and it may have just been too many jalepenos on an empty stomach (hence the bad decision in the first place). Oh well. Live, get sick, and learn.

Progress - end o' week 6

Yes, you are correct…I did skip the end of week 5. But in my defense, this last week was really busy. So on to the results --> At the end of week 5 (the day after I came home from camping) I had gained 1 lbs. I wasn’t that surprised because I didn’t practice portion control or sticking to filling foods when on the trip. I ate grilled cheese, full fat (chicken) hot dogs, and basically anything else that we could eat warm. The trip ended up being cold for 21 hours per day. Seriously crazy June gloom we’ve been having in So. Cal. I’ll post more about camping later – with pictures.

Anyway, today I weighed in and had lost over 6 lbs. WOW! Even I was shocked! That’s 18 lbs in total people. I’m pretty happy to be losing at this rate especially when I had such a hard week last week. I hadn’t planned well and ate out a few times (which always uses up more points). I had used up all my weekly points by Thursday night and I was surviving on activity points. I am proud of myself that I got to the gym twice this week (which adds to the busy-ness of the week).

Have I told everyone that the best time to hit the gym is Friday nights? It’s a good thing I don’t have a life or date… ‘cause it’s like having the gym to myself. Plus I went really late. Tuesday night I went to the gym, took Jonas, and met my friend Lorie, her fiancé and her son Joseph there. Jonas & Joseph played in the kid area together. Having the gym act as a play date alleviates my guilt about abandoning him to work out. I know that he is having fun (he’d rather play with Joseph than me anyway), and he is being active. I’ve been enjoying my work outs lately too. I got an IPod Nano to help with the mundane nature of the elliptical. I’m trying to work on building muscle too. I’ve been blown away at how weak I am now. I’ve had to start with the lowest weight on most machines. At least I’ll be able to see growth.

Off point, but too yummy to not blog about, was my dinner with “my girls” on Thursday night. We went to El Polla Inka in Gardena. This was so tasty, but not low in points. Well it wasn’t the way I did it. LOL! The bread is served with a spicy creamy cilantro sauce/salsa, entrees come with a tasty chicken rice cilantro soup, the entrees are big and full of flavor, and the fried sweet plantains were some of the best I’ve ever had. I’m craving them right now **mouth watering**. The funny thing is that I hate bananas. They actually turn my stomach sometimes. But plantains don’t do that. I’m glad. Dinner was great and the company was better.

Saturday I went to my first drive-in theatre. I went with a group from church and had a blast watching the double feature and trying to stay warm (that darn gloom!). I can’t wait to go again. Maybe I’ll make it a family trip. Sunday we make Korean BBQ, El Pollo Loco flavored chicken, Chinese chicken salad, the best fruit salad, asparagus… It was a great Father’s Day filled with family. It was a great week overall.

Progress - end o' week 4

This morning I thought, “I better do my weekly progress post before my readers (both of you) get upset.” So, I’m down almost five pounds since last week’s weigh in (13 lbs in total). That’s pretty good since I was down to only 8 weekly points left as of Friday afternoon when I stopped counting for the rest of the week. However, I did go to the gym on Saturday (and officially joined) and took a walk on Sunday with my family. I just refused to get de-motivated and acknowledged that I’m eating better then I was before, even if I don’t lose pounds. I feel better and am conscious of my food decisions. (btw, I’m eating sour patch kidz as I write this. Ha ha ha!)
So what’s the plan for this week? Well I’m going camping this weekend and am trying to save all my weekly points to use on SMORES, and maybe a hot dog. I’ve made a menu plan of filling foods and “better” choice items. I wanted to make it to the gym, but we went miniature golfing last night, I have church responsibilities tonight, packing and cooking tomorrow, and we leave Thursday afternoon. I’ll just try hard to find active things to do while camping. I’m excited. Really. (Even though I just read Christina’s blog about her camping experience). I think it will be really good for Jonas and I can’t say I’ve ever really camped. Although technically I don’t know if it is “real” camping if your car is parked right next to your tent. Oh well. I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes (the camping and the weight).

Progress (or not) - end o' week 3

Okay, so I've been officially been harassed for not posting yet. Sorry. But seriously, I've been busy. I'm in an intense training program to become an internal auditor for ISO ******** (I don't know if it is confidential, so I won't say too much right now). It's been really interesting and what I've been needing. I've been craving growth and missing school. The class has reminded me of one of my favorite classes at CSUDH. And the training has been ALL day and I've been trying to get other work done during lunch.

So enough excuses...I didn't do well this week. I stayed within my points, but still gained 2 pounds. I'm not giving up or loosing motivation. I know I'm doing good things and am looking for new ways to improve. I know I do better on weeks when I have lots of fresh produce. I've had many temptations (peanut M&M's for example) and haven't fit in any activity points.

Feedback please - I'm having a difficult time fitting in time to work out. I work full time and usually have a few nights each week that are busy. I don't like the idea of spending time at the gym when I have my son with me. I don't get to see him enough as it is. I've attempted to include him in activity. We've gone to the park to run around, but he's so whiny right now. But that's a different blog. There isn't enough room in my room to do videos and the living room isn't available. I'm not trying to be negative, but to show my obstacles. Suggestions please.

Progress - end o' week 2

This week was more difficult. I was getting bored with all the new 'exciting' food I bought and went out to eat a few times. But I still stayed within my total points and even earned quite a few activity points (Thanks YW car wash!). I also joined the gym (24 hour). Good news though. I lost another 5 pounds (11 lbs total)! I know that I'll have to start working harder to keep seeing these results and that I have a lot more to loose for others to see the difference. I'm still happy and am seeing a difference. It is encouraging.

My new favorite yummy meal: Whole wheat pita warmed, spread with jalepeno cilantro hummus, topped with tabouleh and chicken (optional). I got the hummus and tabouleh from a mediteranian food vendor at the Huntington Beach farmer's market. It is so good and filing.

I was telling my mom tonight that besides slight changes in my body, I actually feel better. I have more energy as if the food is actually fueling my body instead of making it sluggish. I see the difference when I snack on a filling option (like the one above) and when I have a few chocolates. All the chocolate does is make me want more chocolate. Haha.

Pampered Chef Product Review #1

I decided that this might be a good forum for me to review my experience with some of my Pampered Chef products. So here goes my first one.

Tonight we had a BBQ for my mom's b-day and had some yummy food. See picture:

I have been dying to try the new PC Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce and figured this was a great time to try it. We BBQ'ed some boneless skinless chicken tenderloins after brining them in salt/sugar water for a bit. As soon as they came off the grill I spread on the sauce. They were a hit! The sauce could be used for so many other things too. One suggestion from the bottle is to put it on top of vanilla ice cream. I think that would be good. I'll let you know once I try it. The only dislike about this sauce for spreading on meat is that there were chunks of fruit in it. While those chucks were vary tasty, they made the spreading more difficult.

I give this product 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The next product up for review is the Pineapple Wedger. This product was fairly easy to use and made two perfect half moons/circles of pinapple with using moderate pressure. My brother commented on a little bit of wasted good meat still left on the shell of the pineapple. True. However, the core came out perfectly, which made up for a little bit of waste. There would not be any way to make a one-size-fits-all-pineapples perfect. After having two large sections of the pineapple cut, we put the pieces on the grill for a bit. I then cut each section into slices. It was so good and an easy way to grill pineapple.

I give this tool a 4 out of 5 stars.