Weight Watchers Wednesday

Since I joined Weight Watchers in May 2011, I have been an advocate for them. I believe in their program because it worked for me. I lost twenty-one pounds, earned my lifetime status in November 2011 and have been proud to be a success story. I have continued to attend weigh in at least once a month to maintain my lifetime membership and I have always been within two pounds of my goal weight.
Several weeks ago, one of the receptionists asked me if I would please apply to become a receptionist to help others. I was fairly confident that I could encourage others. I applied online and this morning, I had a phone interview with a regional representative. It did not go well. I'm pretty sure we were both turned off by each other. I know I was partly at fault because I couldn't really explain the PointsPlus program to her. I was still breastfeeding Mayer when I achieved my lifetime status, so the number of daily points I received was different than the average member. I also had trouble coming up with three words to describe myself.
She sounded upset that I had never really attended a meeting. I explained that I mainly used their online tools and only attended weigh in to help keep myself on track. Once I received my lifetime status I lost access to the online tools, unless I pay for them. Which is another reason I couldn't remember exactly how PointsPlus worked because it has been so long since I have used the actual formula. I chose not to attend meetings because after working eight hours, it meant more time away from my family. Plus, I always had Mayer with me, which was a distraction to more than just myself.
After the interview, I was pretty discouraged. Weight Watchers changed my life. It taught me what I needed to succeed. I learned it so well that it became second nature and I don't have to think about counting points. It doesn't mean that I can't review the tools well enough to explain them and help others succeed. We'll see if the district or territory manager contacts me, but right now I don't feel like I could be more than just a positive success story. I will offer support to others, but probably not as an official Weight Watchers representative.

Weight Watchers Wednesday: Week 48 Update

It has been a long time since I have done a Weight Watchers post. I have consistently maintaining under my goal weight. There have been two times when I had significant weight jumps. Weigh in on Week 35 happened to be the day before I started my period for the first time in two years- since becoming pregnant with Mayer! I don't really recall what caused me to jump two pounds above my goal weight on Week 42, but it scared me back on track.
Last time I posted a chart of my progress was at Week 22 when I achieved lifetime status. I thought I would post a new chart during maintenance. Sorry for the quality! I haven't been attending weigh ins quite as religiously has I had been and I noticed they haven't been very good about always recording the date.

Click to see a larger image

All in all I have been completely happy with my Weight Watchers experience. A few times the ladies have been less than friendly, but overall they are generally very supportive. Yesterday I had a newer leader and she was very rude. Early Monday morning I either had a 24-hour stomach bug or a case of food poisoning. Not to be too graphic, but I was affected at both ends. I explained what had happened. She told me I was too far below my goal weight and she would let it go this week without charging me, but I needed to gain at least 2 pounds before next weigh in. I told her I hadn't anticipated on losing anything, but I was sick.
I understand why they say you will be charged if you are +/-2 pounds, they don't want people to take advantage of free lifetime status. I was not trying to abuse the system. If you look at my chart, you can see several times I have dropped below the -2 pound range. When I weighed at home last week, I was about the same as Week 44. My best guess is that is what I would have been had I not gotten sick, but it was like she didn't hear a word I was saying. She very rudely kept insisting that I would be charged if I it happened again. Perhaps I will take my chart to the next weigh in, just in case I get her again... :)
I hung around because I was waiting to see how my sister-in-law fared. Unfortunately, she had the rude leader too. Amy reached an awesome milestone -45 pounds!! Instead of being congratulatory, the lady told her she could stop at any time because she was within her weight range. Amy said she was sticking to the goal weight she had set because then her total loss would be 50 pounds. The leader said it was her choice. On second thought, if I have her next time, I will let the person behind me go first. :)

Weight Watchers Wednesday: Update

I has been awhile since I have done a Weight Watchers post. I have only missed one weigh in since June. As a lifetime member, I am only required to weigh in once a month. However, I feel like the best way for me to keep myself in check is to continue to go every Tuesday.
The holidays were a little shaky. Several events occurred that made me unsure of where my points should be. Weight Watchers changed to PointsPlus2012 right around the time my online subscription ran out. Also I have always been used to extra points because I was breastfeeding. I was also able to be a little more reckless/ careless with tracking and junk food intake. Since I made my one year goal, Mayer has weaned and I am no longer nursing him (upcoming post). That effected my daily points and I had to rethink all those extra sugar cookies, especially ones that Tate and his cousins decorated!

There is always so much good food around the holidays. Our Christmas lunch was a cheese overload and cheese is one of my weaknesses. It was so yummy, but Christmas night, I felt miserable because I totally overindulged! We didn't really eat dinner because we had been munching all afternoon and evening. I even ate when I wasn't hungry just because it was there and looked good.
I felt completely lost when there wasn't a weigh in or meeting on the 27th. I felt like I really needed a reality check. I had weighed on various scales and I was nervous! I had no idea what my points were and I was totally gluttonous. I was looking forward to the next weigh in, yet I was dreading it based on the numbers I was seeing. I was fearing the worst; but lucky for me, yesterday, I was still under my goal weight! I also talked to our leader and got a maintenance point goal. Since I can't track my points online any more, I'm not sure how well I will do tracking points very accurately, but at least I have an idea of where I should be.

Weight Watchers Wednesday: Lifetime Status

I haven't done a Weight Watchers post since my first week of maintenance because there hasn't been much to report. Yesterday was my 6th week and final of "paid" maintenance. I have been hovering about 2 pounds below my goal weight. I was definitely worried during the last week. It showed last night! In order to make my weight within the 2 pounds, I had to put my cowboy boots back on. They weigh 3 pounds and I was still under my goal weight. So I have officially achieved "lifetime" membership status!!
Since I am no longer a paying member, I have to maintain the 2 pounds and weigh in at least once a calendar month. As long as I'm under my cushion, I won't have to pay, but if I am over, I will have to pay the weekly fee. I will also no longer have access to the online tools, which include the free WW app on my phone. I haven't tracked my points in ages, but I used the app for the point calculator. I can pay extra to continue using the online tools, if I really wanted to.
It took me 16 weeks to achieve my personal weight loss goal, plus 6 weeks of maintenance. Here's a chart of my progress:

I wanted to do it on the computer so it would be neat and look nice, but I couldn't figure out how to do it in Excel. I figure my handmade chart took me less time and can be an ode to one of my favorite blogs, Crappy Pictures.
While I'm doing shout outs, I want to share a few recipes I have tried over the last few weeks that are worth sharing. Last night to celebrate, I made a pumpkin-chocolate chip cupcake. Yes, you are reading that correctly, "a...cupcake." I didn't have the ingredients to make the frosting, but they are on my grocery list. Chocolate Covered Katie has multiple flavors of single serving cupcakes and I plan on trying all of them.
During our family reunion a few weekends ago, I tried a few WW recipes on the family. I tried 2 breakfast recipes. The pumpkin spice pancakes (minus the pumpkin butter) were a huge hit for both kids and grown-ups. The quiche cupcakes were modified a bit to save time. I used frozen spinach versus cooking down fresh. In my opinion, they would have been fine without it and it wouldn't have changed the 1 point value.
Saturday night all of our soups were WW-friendly. I made corn chowder, my sister made a very similar potato soup recipe and my mom made a simple vegetable soup. The only problem was I probably had a full serving of all 3. Between 16 people eating, there were very few leftovers. It was an easier alternative than eating out for the 3 of us on WW and was probably cheaper too.
I have a few more shout outs, but these are more personal. My mom, my sister-in-law and I joined Weight Watchers together. It has been a great support system to have! Since we have joined, a cousin and an aunt have also joined us. My mom has struggled, but has lost the last 2 weeks. My sister-in-law hit a milestone last night too. She will probably kill me for telling, but she has lost 30 pounds and I am so proud of her!
I am really glad I reached my goal before I start weaning Mayer because I am really nervous that the breastfeeding has helped speed my weight loss progress. I still get extra points because I am nursing. I will continue to go to weigh in on a regular basis until I feel comfortable that I am going to stay within my 2 pound range (with or without my boots on, haha). Thank you, Weight Watchers!

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 17 & 18

Week 17: GOAL! I reached my goal weight; although since it was 0.4 pounds over, Weight Watcher's weight tracker online didn't recognize it. My leader talked to me about maintenance and gave me my WW silver star pendant. He told me I could start adding points back to my diet. I didn't tell him I hadn't tracked my points in weeks.
I did tell him that I was still at 43 PP per day because I was still nursing Mayer quite a bit. My biggest fear is that I won't know how to manage once I stop breastfeeding. He told me that if I stayed within 2 pounds of my goal weight for 6 weeks, then I achieved lifetime status and all the meetings were free. The only thing I would have to pay for would be the online tools. That left me hopeful and with some incentive to stay on track.
Weekly lost: -1.4

Week 18 (maintenance week #1): Since I reached my ultimate goal and I had extra points, I went a little crazy and more than just in the food area. I chopped all of my hair off and dyed it brown with blue highlights. Before I show you the "after" picture, I have a few "before" pictures.

These were taken at the end of May. Sorry about the quality, they are from Michael's cell.

 

The first isn't very good, but it is a start. This was exactly one week into WW and I had lost 1.4 pounds.

 This was taken between weeks 5 and 6. I had lost 5-7 pounds here.

Week 18: -24.2 pounds lost and 4 pant sizes

(Yes, I lost 2.8 the first week of maintenance. I have NO idea how because I ate so much junk!)

Weight Watchers Wednesday Weeks 12-16

I would like to tell you I have changed my habits, but nope, I'm still a point-counting slacker! The good news is apparently it works for me, most of the time. I just have to watch my portion sizes and make smart choices. If I know I am going to splurge, I need to plan ahead. If I unexpectedly splurged, I need to be extra careful about what I eat next.
Week 12: -2.4 (10%)
Week 13: -2.6
Week 14: 0
Week 15: -2.6 (-20.8 total)
Week 16: +0.8
I am within 1 pound of my goal. It happened to coincide with the Kansas State Fair. I did well the first weekend. I had a rosemary chicken gyro on pita loaded with veggies and cucumber dressing. I opted to add the feta because I love cheese. I ate strawberry ice cream on a homemade waffle cone. The worst thing I had was fried pickles with buttermilk ranch dressing, but I shared with Michael so I wasn't tempted to eat them all myself.
My in-laws came to town and they like to eat at LoneStar and I was prepared. I had a salad with lite Italian dressing on the side so I could control the portion. For my main course, I had green beans and a baked sweet potato. I asked for the butter and cinnamon sugar on the side so I could control the portion there too. I tried to share both with Mayer for the textures, but he wasn't a fan. I had part of a margarita with no salt or sugar on the rim and a very small portion of the fried onion with sauce.
The second week I didn't do as well. I worked the Little River Band and REO Speedwagon concert and it was the first really chilly night of fall. To warm me up, I had my favorite fair dessert, sour cream raisin pie, and fried cheese curds for dinner. I shared the cheese curds with my brother. They tasted so good, but we both felt so blah after eating them. We aren't really used to fried foods. Saturday, I worked the Daughtry concert. I had roasted corn, without butter and a homemade red velvet cupcake with a generous portion of cream cheese frosting. I love fair food, but I am really glad it is only 10 days out of the year and I don't go everyday!
I did tried 2 new recipes. I had a ton of fresh Colorado peaches, so I made clafoutis, instead of peach cobbler. It was really tasty. I got some frozen berries to make the other version, flaugnarde. It is a quick breakfast idea. The other was grilled chocolate and cherries. It was good, just don't substitute mini M&M's for mini chocolate chips, they don't work!

Weight Watchers Wednesday Weeks 10 &11

I'm a week behind in posting, so it's a two-for-one post!
Week 10: This week I tried a few new things. I was really craving a Taco Bell bean burrito, with no onions, add sour cream. I went online to see how many points it would be and that was not the thing to do! I saw the pictures and then really had a hankering for a grilled stuffed burrito. I wasn't sure I really wanted to use 23 points, but it looked so yummy... sour cream, guacamole, cheese, rice and chicken! So, I went home over my lunch hour and made my own version... minus the guac, rice and chicken. I substituted black refried beans for regular refried beans and a whole wheat tortilla for the flour. I had some taco meat leftover, so I added a little and used some homemade salsa. It wasn't quite the same, but it was still pretty tasty and I saved a lot of points.

My sister-in-law wanted some cheese sticks, so I did a little research and came up with some options. I had been wanting to try zucchini fries since I saw them on greenlitebites.com. I also saw she had some other fried favorites. I found a cheese stick recipe on Weight Watchers' website, but it needed modifying. They didn't come up with a very low point alternative. I used their string cheese cut in half and made my own whole wheat bread crumbs. I used skim milk and an egg white, but I need to come up with something more sticky to get the crumbs to stick.
Week 10 progress: +1 (oops!)

Week 11: This week I had to get back on track. It was really hard since we had Tate's birthday, his open house at school and family in town. We had birthday cake twice. We ate out Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch. I tried to make good choices. Based on the results, I did better than I thought I had.
Weekly weight lost: -2.4

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 9

This week I would like to say I was extra vigilant in tracking food and workout points. After losing 3.6 pounds in one week, I was petrified it was a fluke of the scales. But instead, I really did nothing. I didn't track my points. I didn't try any new recipes. I watched my portion sizes, but that was about it. I splurged on too much cheese, chocolate birthday sheet cake and homemade ice cream. I worked out less (aka taught fewer swimming lessons to toddlers) than I had been. I ate a giant steak, plus ate out... twice. Once was the tiniest Arby's roast beef sandwich that was gone in like two bites, but it was still fast food.
I went to weigh in knowing I had to face the consequences for my actions.The conversation went a little something like this:
Weight Watchers Leader (insert fairly good looking guy that lost 100s of pounds): How are you today?
Me: I don't know yet.
WW leader: What do you mean you don't know yet?
Me: I'm nervous I won't be able to match what I did last week and that possibly it was an accident.
WW leader: Well, you did everything the same didn't you?
Me: Ummm... sure... yeah... maybe... well, I didn't exercise as much as I have been...  (Pinocchio's nose is going to add a few pounds! Usually I'm a much better liar!)
WW leader: Sometimes that doesn't even matter. So let's see... (I step on the scale with a pained look, thinking skinny thoughts)... well, it looks like -2.2. How are you feeling now?
Me: Good! (Really I'm thinking, "WTF?!?! Seriously?! OMG!!")
Weekly Weight Lost: -2.2

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 8

This week, I am back on track after my 0.4 pound gain. We tried a couple of new recipes- quick pickles and spinach feta turkey burgers. We have a lot of cucumbers, so I was looking for a new way to fix them. I love dill pickles and I have a lot of the stuff to can my own, but I am intimidated by the process. I found this recipe and thought it would be my solution. Warning: these are intensely vinegar-y! I added an extra cup of boiling water and they are still almost too much to eat. I added extra dill too because I LOVE it!! Tate helped me make them, but he wouldn't try them. I think I can modify the recipe to help the flavor when I make them again. In the meantime, our garden is still putting out a lot of cucumbers that need to be eaten. I have been adding them to my water with a splash of lime. It has helped me drink more water.

He surprised me with the turkey burgers though. He ate every bit with no complaints. Michael even tried one too, but guess who is eating all of the leftover patties. The only complaint Michael had was the spinach. He likes to eat it, straight out of the can, in fact, but he didn't like it added to his burger.
My splurge this week was sausage gravy. I thought biscuits and gravy sounded good. I tried to make the gravy as "light" as I could, which consisted of using skim milk. Instead of the biscuits, I ate mine with half of a whole wheat thin bagel. It wasn't quite the same, but definitely a lighter version.
Weight lost: -3.6
I got another 5 pound star sticker!

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 7

This week, I tried to get back on track recording my points. I did better some days than others. The most exciting part of the week was finding several new snacks, that are quick and easy! I am not a huge fan of salt, I pick or brush off as much as I can.  First I tried homemade microwave popcorn. It is so simple, why didn't I think of this?! Pour some kernels in a paper lunch sack, fold over and zap! (If you need more instruction than that, here's where I got the idea.) The only problem is every time I try to make it at home, I blow a fuse. We can't run certain things together without blowing a fuse and the microwave and air conditioner are 2 of them.

The other recipe idea came from a conversation with my cousin. She is struggling to get her 3 year old to eat healthier. His daddy okays the orange, fried, fatty chips and puffs. (Michael buys the economy 5 pound cheeseballs, so I can TOTALLY relate!) In all of his toddler glory, her son threw a big, beautiful, most-embarrassed-mommy fit at the store when she said no. I was trying to think of a healthier alternative for both of us. I came up with making our own out of tortillas. Mission tortillas have some flavored wraps that I thought would be perfect! They are fun colors and already flavored.
I chose Jalapeno Cheddar and Tomato Basil for my experiment. I baked them at 400 degrees, turning them a few times. I have no idea how long I left them in because I was multi-tasking. If I had to guess, between 5-10 minutes, but if they start to turn brown, they have been in too long. For the taste test, I took them to a police barbeque. Success! They were all really impressed when Michael told them they were homemade, until he told them they were just tortillas and I didn't have anything to do with flavoring them.
I also experimented with another recipe for the police barbeque. I wanted something cold and sweet since we would be out in the heat swimming. I found a simple recipe for watermelon ice. There was just one problem: she says stir every 20 minutes to get it to freeze evenly. In case you haven't noticed, Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals are more my style. I don't have the patience (or maybe the attention span) for something that labor intensive, so Sarah's Solution: ice cream freezer! It worked really well until I ran out of ice. *sigh!*
Weekly Weight: +0.4
** Footnote: Now I don't really believe it. I think that I stayed the same because the numbers were still moving when she starting recording. Last week's weight showed up on the screen more than once. (Apparently she didn't have the patience or attention span to wait for the numbers on the scale to stop fluctuating!) As my dad so candidly pointed out, "you could fart and lose 0.4 pounds!" Thanks for the support, dad! Or... this could be the reason for my gain:

Blue Bunny Premium Ice Cream Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake

 

 

 

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 6

This week, I have done well watching what I eat.. minus those 2 red velvet whoopie pies on Monday... (note to self: see if those can me made with lower points) I just haven't done well tracking my points. I get discouraged because the points are different on the computer and on my phone. The point totals on my phone are always higher than the computer. Since I do most of my tracking on my phone, I never know how accurate it is. It is an official Weight Watchers app, so I'm not sure why they are differing so much.

We tried quite a few new things this week. Tate and I made a giant omelette with urban farm fresh eggs. I tried to get mostly just whites but with 1 mini-chef in the kitchen helper and the other mini-chef in the ERGOsport it was a little difficult. We tore up some lunch meat and a piece of deli thin Swiss cheese. We also added chives, rosemary and basil from our herb garden. There was enough for both of us to have breakfast, including 2 helpings for Tate, plus some left for a bagel, turkey and egg breakfast sandwich the next day. I got some thin bagels to try. I wanted some thin whole wheat bagels, but the Dillon's I went to didn't have them. (Those are 1 point and mine are 3.)
Tate and I also made some smoothie popsicles. We used V8 V-Fusion Acai Mixed Berry Juice, some fat free vanilla yogurt and threw in some pineapple, cherries and black grapes for good measure. They are quite tasty!
My sister-in-law works at the library and has found several Weight Watchers cookbooks. None have the new PowerPoints, but they all have the nutritional values listed so we can figure it. They raved about some black bean, spinach quesadillas, so naturally I had to try them... with a Sarah twist, of course! I was saving my spinach for another recipe, so I swapped that for peppers. I also prefer taco sauce to chunky salsa. We made them on Mission Garden Spinach Herb Wraps the first night and the leftovers on Mission 96% fat free whole wheat tortillas. I sauteed the peppers and part of an onion with some cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and cayenne pepper. It was a definite toddler-approved meal since Tate ate the entire thing! There are some recipes that I want to try and all of the nutritional information is provided making it easy to figure points.

My favorite was probably the roasted veggies: red potatoes, carrots, onion, zucchini, and orange, red and yellow peppers. They were seasoned with sea salt, cracked black pepper, garlic, rosemary and chives. I was eating them straight off the cookie sheet! It made the kitchen so hot since the oven was at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. It is already the hottest room in the house in the evenings (thank goodness I left to teach a swimming lesson and then we had the boys' lesson).
Weight lost: -1.8
I reached my 5% goal!

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 5

I couldn't get all 3 of them to hold still long enough to focus.

This is the week where I fell off the wagon, so to speak. What got me? A wedding and my birthday. One of Michael's best friends got married. He was the best man and Tate was the ring bearer. I did well at the rehearsal dinner. I may have gone over a little with Snickers cheesecake, but I shared half with Michael so I didn't eat the whole thing myself. I quit tracking my points Friday night for the weekend because I had no idea what to guesstimate.
I did ok before the wedding and it wasn't the cake or mints that knocked me clear off. They fixed me a sampler plate with 3 out of the 4 flavors and they were small pieces. The kicker was Granny Hathaway's punch at the reception that got me. I'm pretty sure I used last week's remaining points, this week's points and next week's points! I don't know what was in it, but it was fruit and alcoholic, so I figure it was pretty high up on the point scale. But it was yummy, we were celebrating a wedding and my birthday on the same day. Dancing surely earned me some extra points...

At least I looked good in my dress from
Brick House Boutique before
I lost all self control !

Sunday, we celebrated my birthday with lasagna, scalloped potatoes, bread, cake and homemade ice cream. Odd combination, but if I was going to splurge, I was going all out! I swam and Hutchinson recorded the hottest temperature in the U.S. at 112 degrees, so there are probably some points there too.
We tried one new recipe this week and a variation with the shredded crockpot chicken. The new recipe was BLT Macaroni Salad. Of course, it was modified. Fresh tomatoes aren't my favorite, so I substituted with canned diced tomatoes with no salt added. Instead of light mayo, I used Miracle Whip. They are both 1 point per serving. I also didn't have any spinach, so I used romaine lettuce. It was a hit with everyone. I used fresh cucumbers from our garden as the side and it worked, but definitely more of a side dish than a meal option. I did notice it went bad pretty fast. I made this on Wednesday night and by Sunday afternoon it wasn't good any more.
I made philly sandwiches with the shredded crockpot chicken. I cooked some green peppers and onions, then added my chicken. I used Nature's Own Multi-Grain sandwich rounds, which are 2 points and thin sliced Swiss Cheese. It disappeared off my plate before I could get a picture of it!
** I wrote this post before weigh in, fully expecting to gain this week. We have 2 gallons of Granny Hathaway's Punch in our freezer saved for the bride. Maybe it is actually a weight loss elixir because I was shocked at the results...
Weekly weight loss: -1.2

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 4

This end of this week was really rough when it came to tracking points. We went to two barbeques for the Fourth of July. It is really difficult to track points at potluck events! I did the best I could with my portions and tried to guesstimate points for everything I ate.

I took a low-fat dessert to both, so I knew the points for at least one dish. I made a Red, White and Blueberry Trifle... sort of. It is a little tough to use blueberries when the grocery store doesn't carry any! I improvised with black grapes, which I think made it better because I'm not a huge fresh blueberry fan. I also cheated a bit because I already had a tub of regular Cool Whip. Since I made the same dessert for both, I mixed half regular with half of the fat free version and added 2 extra points. My presentation wasn't the best, but it received rave reviews.
I have also found it difficult and ridiculous trying to track my activity points. They list pushing a child in a stroller for 10 minutes as 0 points. The closest thing they have to carrying your baby or baby wearing is carrying wood or lumber, one point for 10 minutes. Clearly the point deciders have never carried a 17 pound baby AND pushed a 31 pound toddler! Apparently, I am also the only person that rides a bike and pulls a child (plus at least 10 pounds of miscellaneous cargo) in a trailer because it isn't listed either.

This week I also made a menu and stuck to it... most of it! It made the evenings go so much smoother. It is definitely something I need to keep up. Here are a few of the dishes:

 

Wednesday: modified Pasta and Zucchini Bake (original recipe)

Modifications: Tate wanted bowtie noodles. Instead of homemade sauce, we used Prego Light Smart Traditional Sauce for 1 point. It isn't listed on their website, but I think next time I want to try one of the Veggie Smart sauces. 

Thursday: Grilled Sausage and Pepper Kabobs and grilled pineapple

I don't remember where the original recipe came from, possibly a Weight Watchers cookbook from the library. Modifications: Michael added deer steak and pork.

Tate loved helping!

Weekly Weight lost: -0.8 (Every little bit counts!)

Weight Watchers Wednesday: Week 3

This week, I knew I was going to be using my extra allotted points. I tried to be extra diligent in tracking activity, just in case I went over the 49. I didn't even come close to using them all, but I love my father-in-law's steaks and I wanted to be sure I had plenty of wiggle room!

My favorite new recipe of the week was Southwestern Turkey Burgers. I rarely follow a recipe exactly, so of course, I made my own modifications. I found I didn't add enough seasoning, but I was trying to keep them from being too spicy for Tate. They tasted much better with taco sauce and a bit of cheddar cheese! They would also taste better off the grill or smoker. Michael didn't eat them (fine because more leftovers for me!), but Tate liked them.

My biggest splurge of the week was at my Mamaw's and Papaw's house. Papaw is a pie connoisseur. I had a sliver of warm apple pie a la mode with some caramel sauce. I guessed about 8-9 points.

I had a personal triumph in the clothing department. Four years ago, I bought a pair of pants on clearance that I thought would fit. They were my size, but so small, I couldn't even button them. I found them again while I was getting rid of clothes and tried them on just to see. Lo and behold they fit, a little snug, but fit nonetheless!
Despite my splurges this week, I reached the 5 pound milestone and received a gold star!
Weight lost this week: -2.2

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 2

This week, I have found a new love... chicken wraps! My mom saw the recipe on Dr. Oz (I think). It's super simple and versatile. Throw some chicken breasts in the crockpot with chicken broth and taco seasoning for a few hours, shred and voila! I am still struggling with a lot of extra points at the end of the day and I feel better about snacking on a whole wheat tortilla with some 2% cheese, chicken and a little lettuce, then trying to fill the points with junk food. It's ranges from 4-8 power points, depending on how much chicken and/ or cheese I add. You can also use it in enchiladas, fajitas, salads, etc.

One thing I am trying really hard to like is venison. I have been trying since I met Michael, but now I'm trying a little harder because venison has fewer points than beef. Our freezer is also well stocked with deer meat. I don't mind the backstrap, but I think the burger and sausage tastes too gamey. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears! I've tried to use it in quite a few different recipes as a substitute, but I can still tell a big difference. I have even tried mixing half deer, half beef with a little more luck.
I need to get more organized in my meal planning! I have seen so many dishes I want to try. Last week, Chari, from Take Time To Smell The Rose, introduced me to another website with Weight Watcher meals. I have trouble measuring and following recipes, but I have gotten some good ideas from GreenLiteBites.com. The author has toddler-approved meals and picture tutorials to go along with the recipes. She has a ton of breakfast ideas that I need to make and have on hand for a quick, easy, low point breakfast.
Occasionally, I like to have a girly beer or when we eat out, a frozen strawberry margarita. I just knew the points were going to be too high to justify. I was surprised to find that a Mike's Hard Limeade is only 4 points! I searched for the nutritional facts because I had already recycled the box and found them here. Now if a frozen strawberry margarita with sugar on the rim was that low too, I would be amazed!
Weight lost this week: -1.6

Weight Watchers Week 1

Last week, my mom and I decided to join Weight Watchers. I lost my pregnancy weight fairly quickly this time around, but I would like to lose about 15-20 more pounds. I have not had the healthiest diet for a breastfeeding mother, so hopefully this will help with that too. Our meetings are Tuesday evening and I thought weekly "Weight Watchers Wednesday" (how's that for alliteration?!) blog posts would help me recap my week.
I have learned a lot this week! I start with 29 points, but since I am still breastfeeding exclusively, I receive 14 extra points. The first day, I starved myself and had way too many points left at the end of the day. It has taken me all week to try and get my points spread out evenly throughout the day. It has been really easy to keep track online. I also downloaded a free app for my phone that has a point tracker and point calculator.
My biggest challenge is something I have always struggled with, drinking enough water! I have been eating a lot more fruits and vegetables. I was worried I wouldn't be able to eat salads with dressing, but I have found that half a serving is even sometimes too much. I was also worried I was going to have to give up my Pepsi or worse, switch to diet-- yuck! I'm generally not a fan of most sugar-free or fat-free foods, but I really like the Jell-O Pudding 60 calorie snacks.

I found an awesome blog that posts recipes and includes Power Points: Gina's Skinny Recipes. I made some enchiladas loosely based on what I read on her site. I didn't want to spend the time to search for some of the ingredients in the sauce. I discovered a few things- whole wheat tortillas aren't too bad and low-fat cheese does not melt well. Michael wasn't a fan (he also wants a fry daddy, if that's any indication of what type of food he prefers).
Weight lost this week: -1.2 lbs