Tuesday Dinners and Workout Buddies

Bah! I forgot to take a picture of dinner tonight and it was fabulous!! For the past few months, on Tuesday, my friend, Amanda, and I get together and cooked dinner and watched Big Love. Now that this season of Big Love is over, we are catching up on True Blood, Season 2. For tonight’s dinner we decided to go with a “Cajun” theme this week since True Blood is set in Louisiana. I prepared Cajun Chicken Breasts and Amanda made Creole-Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe courtesy of Weight Watchers). And dessert was fresh strawberries topped with fat free cool whip. Grand total of 4.5 points. Quite possibly one of the lowest point dinners, but completely filling.

Our initial goal when we started making dinner each week was to also go on walks. Which never really happened because I was full of excuses. I’m too hungry, I’m tired, blah blah blah. But now that I’m into my new habit of working out then having dinner, Amanda and I are going to fit in working out as well. Tonight we both did the 30 Day Workout and it fully kicked our asses. It’s a workout that is better to do with someone because I have someone else keeping me in check and also correcting by bad form. Yay for more workout buddies!

I'm Halfway There!

Whewwwwww! I made it through another weekly weigh in and I lost another 1.5 pounds!! I’ve reached two goals with Weight Watchers, 5 pounds last week and 5% weight loss this week. Making it a total weight loss of 7.4 pounds in 24 days. I’m halfway to my target weight!

Every week I’m completely nervous that the scale won’t budge. This week I felt less motivated and splurged more than I should over the weekend so I was afraid I wasn’t going to lose any weight. When I was sharing my anxiety with a friend earlier today, he asked, “Can't you tell you're losing weight even before you weigh in?” My reply back was “No, not really, because 1-2 pounds isn't a noticeable difference.” Only this last week, I was able to tell a difference overall. My clothes are fitting a little looser and my love handles are almost all gone....now if only that beer belly would flatten out....

Please Stop The Hunger!

I was hungry all week, which makes dieting THAT much harder. I’d eat and about an hour or two later, I felt hungry again. After dinner it was easy to ignore - I would just go to bed. But, in the middle of the day the hunger would kick in and I would want to eat whatever was around me. Most days I tried to stick with strawberries or an orange to hold me over. One day after a going away party at work, the ginormous Costco muffins were staring at me until I realized one muffin was 600 calories. That’s easy enough to pass up. However, one day I had a See’s truffle and on another day a mini Hershey bar. I somehow managed to walk away after one. This must mean I’m crazy.

Prime example of my ridiculous hunger issue - Last night I had leftover turkey ziti with spinach and roasted broccoli. I was nice and full. We went out to celebrate my weight loss and as soon as I walked in the bar, I felt hungry again. What the hell. The poor guy who was eating his chicken wings probably thought I was crazy, drooling after his food. I wanted those wings, but damn it, I can’t have them!! I waited it out and ended up splitting a dessert, which I’m sure was equally as bad for me. Oh and the 1.5 beers I drank. (Yes, I realize that it’s a bit contradictory to celebrate weight loss with food and drinks. When I reach the actual goal, I’ll celebrate by buying a new pair of jeans.)

I’m not sure why this never ending hunger started this week. I don’t feel like my food intake changed. I try to incorporate “filling foods” into my meals. I eat slow. I think I’m doing everything right. What is it!? Help!


And for good measure to make me hungry again, pictures of food!

Guinataang Kalabasa at Sitaw
(squash and yard-long beans in light coconut milk) with brown rice, 6 points


Roasted broccoli with garlic, 2 points


reheated baked ziti with spinach, 5 points

A Day Off! Or not.

Yesterday I was a little excited that I didn't have to workout, and then I remembered it was Wednesday and I have Pilates. No day of rest for this girl!  Most days I see Pilates as an opportunity to escape from my crazy job and relax for one hour.  I free my  mind of stress, I stretch, I laugh, I half-ass the exercises, and I come back to my desk refreshed.   Since I knew ahead of time that I couldn't work out after work, I pushed myself extra hard in class.  I completed almost all of exercises and felt stronger throughout the session.  I wondered if my dedication to a healthier lifestyle is finally paying off...or did I just feel guilty that I couldn't workout after work?  Definitely a combination of both, but I'm glad I pushed myself to maximize the hour long class. 

"Why are you on a diet?"

I get this question often when I talk about my diet at work. One person said, “You are my goal weight. Why are you trying to lose weight?” Which was flattering, but the fact is, this is the heaviest, wait...WAS, the heaviest I’ve been my whole life. Even in college, the ‘Freshman 15’ was more like -15 because I accidentally lost a lot of weight from having tonsillitis twice in one semester. After college, if I wanted to lose weight I would cut back for one or two days and would lose 5 pounds overnight. And, in my late 20s I went on a low carb diet and the pounds melted off. Now that I’ve reached my 30s, the weight comes a little easier and goes off a little harder. I tried cutting carbs and that didn’t work. I started exercising and that didn’t work. All I could do was maintain, which wasn’t making me happy.

I talked to a friend a few weeks ago who had tried Weight Watchers and what sold me was “I could have my glass of wine each night on Weight Watchers.” It probably should have been, “I lost 6 pounds in the first month.” But let’s be serious here..what diet can you be on and still have a drink each night? I thought to myself, now this is a diet I can do. And, here I am almost 3 weeks later and not having a drink each night but saving the drinks for when I really want them. I have replaced my winding down drink with working out. I have substituted happy hour and burritos for cooking at home. I have 9 more pounds to go until my goal weight and will continue on this path until I reach my goal. It will be challenging and some days are harder to stay focused (like today) but the hard work and dedication will pay off.

Tonight’s dinner was a bit of a splurge, totaling 9 points. Carnitas recipe courtesy of http://www.skinnytaste.com/ with homemade pinto beans. I could have shaved 2 points off if I didn’t add a few small slivers of pepper jack cheese and guacamole but it was well worth it!




(photo by Nico)

I Am The Biggest Loser

This was my third weigh in and I have lost almost 6 pounds! 5.9 to be exact! I was shocked actually because this week I lost 2.2 pounds which is more than I did in week one or two. Yay!! I’m pretty excited to be on a healthy diet instead of a fad diet and just end up gaining all of the weight back. I feel confident that once I reach my goal weight I’ll be able to maintain. And, by that time all of my bad habits will be gone and replaced by good habits...such as working out instead of going to happy hour.

Tonights dinner was baked ziti with ground turkey, roasted vegetables and fresh tomatoes. I used spray olive oil when sautéing the onions and garlic for the ground turkey and also for the roasted vegetables. You’d never know the difference! Grand total of 5 points!



taken by melinda


photo by nico

No More Hangovers

I have been quite the party pooper lately due to my diet. I work hard all week by eating healthy, working out, and saving my extra points so that I can drink a few pints on the weekend. Because what is a weekend without a few pints of beer? Even with waiting all week to have a drink, I’ve become slightly obsessed with counting points. I am constantly keeping the point count in the back of my mind and then talking myself out of drinking more. Which means I haven’t had a hangover in weeks!! Score one for the diet!!

I’m really hopeful that I still lose weight this week. It was a tough week full of temptations: birthday happy hour, birthday team lunch, March Madness, home-brewed beer, brownie bites...the list goes on and on. I maxed out on my point allowance both Friday and Saturday, fully dipped into the weekly extra points and have a mere 4 extra points for the week. I worked out almost every day this week and I started the 30 Day Shred workout on Thursday. That should help with balancing out some of the indulgences I had this week. It may seem that working out at home isn’t as hard as working in a gym, but for me this workout makes me sweat more than I EVER have in the gym. I can’t rest, I can’t take a break, I just have to keep going. Jumping jacks, lunges, one full minute of abs and repeat! And that’s just level one. I did both level 2 and 3 to see what each entailed and all three equally kicked my butt.

I have graduated from using cans of kidney beans to 2 pound hand weights and repeated level one tonight. I’m sure I’ll be able to feel that tomorrow! One more day of the dvd and then it’s back to the gym for a few days. Fingers crossed for the weigh in tomorrow night!!

Tonight’s dinner: Chicken Tinola made with chicken breasts instead of chicken parts, approximately 6 points.

A New Regime!

I decided that I am going to start Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD workout today. It is a fairly intense 20 minute workout with three levels so you have something to work toward. The workout is designed to burn fat and build muscle by combining cardio with strength training. Sounds pretty easy until you are in the second or third round of jumping jacks for two minutes straight after doing two minutes of lunges with hand weights! I felt awesome after though and Jillian didn’t yell at me once, which was a just a little disappointing. Maybe I should buy the LAST CHANCE WORKOUT!! DVD so I can the real Jillian experience.

Even with eating out for lunch today, I consumed my daily allotment of points, a little less actually. We had a combo birthday lunch and I modified everything I ordered: chicken sandwich, buffalo sauce and blue cheese on the side with a side salad instead of fries. No dressing please, a side of balsamic vinegar instead. And please move away the dessert that is sitting right in front of me saying “Eat me! Eat me!” Gee, I really love passing up dessert. Not.

Tonight’s dinner was Chicken Parmigiana and Roasted Eggplant with Tomato. I modified the chicken dish a bit because I didn’t want to use egg to coat the chicken and actually forgot to add parmesan cheese. It turned out great though. The roasted eggplant was a little disappointing after eating the Filipino version last week. I’m really happy that the Weight Watchers recipes from the website are fairly easy to make and taste pretty good! You’d never know how healthy it is!

St. Patrick's Day Dieting

I can’t really remember the last time I went out for St. Patrick’s Day or made something Irish to celebrate, so dieting on this day wasn’t so bad. Except for the ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​L​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​OL’s I got when asked what I did the night before: “Gym, dinner, sleep.”

The gym still isn’t getting any easier for me. I dreaded it and I kept talking myself out of ​​​​​​​​​doing more while I was there. I hope that changes soon because I know I’m supposed to enjoy it, right? Meh. 20 minutes on the elliptical seems like an eternity!! What makes this more bearable? Weight training is usually a little bit better and I can push myself a little harder by adding more weight or reps.

Dinner was great though! I even had dessert!! Mixed greens salad ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​with balsamic vinegar, chicken with eggplant and olives and, for dessert, angel food cake with strawberries and fat free cool whip. All for a grand total of six points. Yay!

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Lighter, Cheaper Drinks

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here's your guide to lighter, cheaper drinks for those who are counting calories (or points!).  

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2010/03/quick-and-dirty-guide-to-lighter.html

Happy Hour isn't as Happy

This diet has turned me into one of those people that I didn't understand. One beer at HAPPY HOUR?!  No fried foods??  Leaving before HH ends?!  Does dieting make me boring? Maybe.  But it is only temporary.  Once I reach my goal weight, I may not be able to partake in HH on a regular basis, but I will be able to splurge a little more on the fried foods and not feel guilty.

As far as happy hours go, La Jolla Strip Club has a pretty decent menu that is diet friendly.  I had a shrimp cocktail, one chicken skewer and shared a portion of a chicken quesadilla (no creamy stuff on top please!) and stayed within my points yesterday.  Unfortunately since I didn't consume any filling foods, I was hungry later but was able to minimize the hunger pains by eating an orange.  All in all, HH isn't a far fetched idea while dieting but it isn't always as diet friendly as the strip club's menu. 

It's That Time Again...

It’s Monday so that means weigh-in day!! Why was I so nervous? It’s not like I’m going to be voted off if I don’t lose any weight! And I am happy to report I lost weight! It wasn’t quite as much as I thought since I peeked a few days ago and it appeared I’d lost more, but I’m happy with the continuation of weight loss.

Tonight I made garden fresh tomato bruschetta with multigrain baguette and eggplant parmigiana with asparagus. It was a little more in points than I would normally eat for dinner but I spent all day walking at Disneyland and was pretty hungry. My dinner total was almost 8 points and it was really good. It will definitely be added to the rotation. The other pic is the pineapple whip I thoroughly enjoyed at Disneyland. :-)

Weekend Blunder

My goal all week was to not use the “extra” points I get because I started this diet to lose weight, not maintain, right? Ah, the best laid plans.... I ended up with 9 remaining extra points out of 35. All spent on Friday and Saturday. Friday: One pint of beer, fried macaroni and cheese (who can pass that up?!!), another pint of beer, a veggie sandwich that was doused in mayo and cheese (that I scraped off) and half a cupcake (it was Edwin’s birthday!). 30+ points later, I was full and a little buzzed from my two pints. And then there’s Saturday..... I started out the day healthy with breakfast and lunch at home. That evening we went to a Manny fight party full of lots of fried treats. Lumpia is five points each!! Fried coconut shrimp is four points!! Red velvet cupcakes three points each! One beer is three points! While I didn’t eat healthy, I managed to not overeat or drink too much, but I easily exceeded my daily point allotment as well as dipped further into the extra point allowance. I got back on track on Sunday, even with eating out at Bangkok Thai.

It’s all about the choices you make and sometimes, those choices end up being easy and some are urges I just can’t resist.

One Week Down!

I completed one week of the new diet on Thursday! Now the big question is how many more weeks to go until I hit my goal? And how many weeks until this new routine is a habit? I realize that dieting and exercise is a way of life, rather than a short term fix to lose weight. But, let’s face it, I know I can count how many times have I started a new routine only to have a reason later why I stopped. I have noticed that I’m making healthier choices, watching how much I really consume and fighting the urge to get a burrito after a couple of drinks in. Oh! And! I think I’ve lost some of my tolerance! 2 beers in last night and I was feeling pretty buzzed. Cheap date!

Overall, week one was a success. I ate healthy, I worked out, I passed up having a few beers and I felt less tired than I have in months. Weekends are going to be challenging with so much going on and not fitting in as much activity as I should and trying to eat healthy....and not over drink. I feel like I have accomplished a lot in short amount of time. Thank you Weight Watchers for keeping me in line.

Pictures of Dinner

Proof that weight watchers recipes aren’t so bad!


Filipino Pork Skewers with Ensaladang Talong (eggplant salad)
Skewers = 3 points each and salad is 0 points
​


Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms with Smashed Cauliflower (and more Ensaladang Talong)
Balsamic Chicken = 3 points, Smashed Cauliflower = 1-2 points




​

The Biggest Loser and Me

Today was a challenging day. I woke up late, hungry and I forgot to bring another box of cereal so breakfast was light, which set the tone for the day. By 6 p.m., during my workout, I felt famished and was definitely ready for dinner. I became grouchy and gave up on some of the weight lifting toward the end out of frustration. Once dinner was ready, it took a lot of restraint to not shovel in my food and overeat. I managed to stay within my points today even with my splurge of one glass of champagne.

After dinner we watched last night’s episode of The Biggest Loser. I started watching The Biggest Loser this season and I was sucked in from the first five minutes. One contestant this season has lost over 100 pounds but started out at almost 500 pounds. Every week I am amazed with how much weight they lose and continue to push themselves to be healthy and live better lives.

While watching this week’s show I realized I don’t push myself like these guys do. I barely break a sweat in the gym and I definitely don’t sweat in my pilates class. Granted, I don’t need to lose 100+ pounds, just 15, but I do need to push myself harder in the gym. Do I need a Jillian Micheals trainer to yell and scream at me “LAST CHANCE WORKOUT!!!!” in order to really get moving on the elliptical and lift that extra 10 pounds? Maybe.

Pizzzzzzzzzaaaaaa!

Temptation # 362: Pizza!!!!! And of course as soon as I start my diet, we have a pizza party at work. It took all I had not to eat more than 3 slices. I ate slowly, discarded the crust (sin!) and stuck with the veggie pizza, which luckily is my one of my go-to pizzas. 8 points later, I was actually full and didn’t feel totally gross after like I normally do when I eat pizza. I topped off my hard work at lunch with chocolate malt & St. Patrick’s mint frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon (1 point for a mini cup!). This diet isn’t so bad after all! (Except for the beer that I’m missing out on lately.)

Tonight was my weekly dinner (chicken broccoli casserole with brown rice = 5 points) with Amanda and watching last night’s episode of Gossip Girl. Which means I took today off from exercising, and I must be crazy because I actually missed it. Although I know tomorrow I’ll bitch about having to go to the gym and do 30 minutes of cardio AND 30 minutes of weights for a mere 2 points of activity.

Weigh-in Day!

Why, oh why, did I choose Monday to do my weekly weigh in?? I better keep this in mind next week before I overeat and drink next weekend!  I didn't anticipate that I would lose weight,  since I haven't completed a full week and quite honestly, I drank too much and ate too much over the weekend.  But, I'm happy with losing even one pound, because that's one pound closer to my goal!

Tonight's dinner was Coconut Curry Shrimp with brown rice, recipe compliments of Weight Watchers. Only 7 points and actually quite good!

Another successful day, stayed under my points, avoided temptation, ate healthy and worked out.  Life will get interesting again soon.

Day 4 was a success!

I stayed under my allotted points! I worked out, I ate healthy and I avoided my biggest temptation! Weight loss here I come!  (I hope!)

Breakfast was the standard Special K low fat granola, 1/2 banana and skim milk. I have started measuring my cereal and realized I was eating WAY too much.  Lunch consisted of leftover hunan pork with egg drop soup.  For dinner, Nico made sinigang with pork ribs instead of pork belly to help with my diet.  I was surprised the sinigang was only seven points for a serving (had to add two points for rice!). Perhaps I will be eating more Filipino foods on this diet?


My biggest challenges so far are avoiding beer and realizing when I'm eating that I'm full/satisfied. Weekdays should be easier as long as I don't feel the urge to drink an adult beverage or two in the evening.  Fingers crossed for day 5!

Disneyland and Day 3!

Five+ hours of walking = 10 points! Sweet! Totally blew any benefit
by eating out, but we were at Disneyland! Where dreams are made of!
And pineapple whip! And fried foods!

Dinner was equally as sinful with tapas, sangria and creme brûlée.
Totally worth every point I consumed.

Perhaps I shouldn't start a "diet" on a Thursday?

My so called diet.

Day two of this so called diet I'm on. I went over my daily allowance
by 10 points. Once again, it was the tasty pints of beer I consumed
while counting every piece of food I put in my mouth. Why does beer
have to be so delicious? Light beer isn't going to be my fix. I'd rather
starve myself than drink shitty beer.

On a positive note, I am being more conscientious with how much I'm
eating and stopping when I feel satisfied.

Bye Bye Beer?

I started Weight Watchers yesterday and am already 10 points over my daily allowance. How does that happen?! Oh, the two beers I had with dinner equal almost 8 points. Do I really have to give up beer in order to lose weight?