clarification
About my last post. I thought I should clarify that I'm not talking about my husband. Promise.my heart is broken
I knew better than to trust you because you've hurt me before. Yet I still loved you because you are my family. I tried to be the better person. I tried so hard to believe that you loved me, too.You hug me. You tell me you love me. But I know that you don't. You can't. You just cannot love someone and say such harsh and hateful things when they're not listening.
You burned me before. I let you back in. I shouldn't have but I did. Without fully trusting you I allowed myself to let my guard down and what do you do? You criticize my parenting, my housekeeping, my weight and more hurtful than anything else? You criticize my children. The two little people that bring me the most joy in my life. The innocent children that love you. That get excited to see you. Because they think you love them too. And you don't.
I'd love to tell you to grow up, get off your high horse and get a life; but if I do there are children that will suffer - mine and yours. If you find out I know you may very well find out how I know and then you will take it out on them.
I want to tell you how disappointed and angry I am right now. But for the sake of the children caught in the cross-fire I won't. But only for them. Not for you. Because as far as I'm concerned there is no relationship left and there never will be a way to mend this. You've gone too far this time and you can't fix it.
merry christmas
From our house to yours...have a very, Merry Christmas!
holiday hoe-down ~ the finale
Challenge Starting Weight: 199.6
Change This Week: +0.6
Change for Holiday Hoedown Challenge: -3.8
Total Pounds Gone since 9-8-2010: 7.8
Err, ummm, I didn't get my 10# button. But I know why (see yesterday's confession and I'm late for the monthly thing - do not go there, friends). I am not stressing. I'm on track. And I'm looking forward to a loss next week.
Weekly Update on Goals:
- Track my food and do my absolute best to stay within my Points target on Weight Watchers. - YES! Until Sunday. Sunday and Monday I did not count and ate crap.
- Attend my Weight Watchers meetings consistently. - I did not go this week (weighed in at home).
- Drink. More Water. - I have no idea why I'm having issues with this. Definitely not drinking enough. I did chug 32 ounces yesterday and that's the most I've had in any one day all week. Bad Roo!
conversations with my daughter are exhausting
No really. They are.Mommy, I won bubble-bee cwunch.
You want, what? Cereal?
Mommy, bubble-bee cwunch!
Captain Crunch?
NOOOO! Bubble BEE CWUNCH
Oh...Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Ok, let me get a bowl for you.
NO NO NO Mommy. BUBBLE BEE CWUNCH {big sigh}
I proceed to fill a bowl with Captain Crunch.
NO MOMMY.
I then fill a bowl with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
NO MOMMY BUBBLE BEE CWUNCH WITH THE HOLE IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheerios. The child wanted CHEERIOS. Bumble Bee Crunch.
confessions: planning fail
"When you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
I've heard this quote many times and while the source is unknown, the message is so true.
I did really well through Saturday...stayed on plan, counted Points (even during Christmas dinner at the in-laws), etc. I had planned on going to the grocery store on Friday when my oldest got sick. Today is the first day he went back to school and guess who has no real food in her house? Yep. That'd be me. I should've went to the store this weekend when my husband was home but I was exhausted. Still am, actually. So this bump of not having any real food is totally my fault. Sunday and Monday I ate crap. And guess what? I felt like crap too. I'm back on track today and if I don't get to the store before my husband gets home (youngest is sick - read: crabby and whiney) I am going after dinner. I don't care what time it is, I'm going. I just hope my two bad days don't mess up my weigh-in even though I know more than likely it will (if not this week then next).
Moving on...
you capture - outside
I love You Capture at I Should Be Folding Laundry. While I don't participate as much as I used to I still try to hop over and look at some of the captures taken by the crazy talented peeps that link up.
Deciding to participate this week was a no-brainer for me as I had lots of outside pictures. My children would live outside if I let them. Year-round if they had a tent, I'm sure. And while it's getting colder here on the East Coast it's still not so cold that we can't be outside. Most days.
The "no snow" sign was compliments of me. My children would never write that.
holiday hoedown check-in ~ week 4
Challenge Starting Weight: 199.6
Change This Week: -2.0
Change for Holiday Hoedown Challenge: -4.4
Total Pounds Gone since 9-8-2010: 8.4
I am SO CLOSE to my 10 pound button that I am going to do my best to grab it next week - which means I need to lose 1.6 this coming week. I *really* want to accomplish that before Christmas. That would be awesome!
Weekly Update on Goals:
- Track my food and do my absolute best to stay within my Points target on Weight Watchers. - YES! I even consumed all but 2 of my 49 weekly points allowance.
- Attend my Weight Watchers meetings consistently. - Yes! Went to Tuesday morning meeting.
- Drink. More Water. - Let's just say this is still a work in progress. I'm so addicted to Diet Coke it's not funny. I PROMISE to work on this daily. And if anyone wants to text me or @ me on Twitter reminding me to drink my water, I'll gladly accept it!
the veggie beef soup that even my kids will eat
I have picky kids. Wait. I take that back. I have a super picky 6 year old that only likes potatoes and cheeseburgers. Oh and pizza. What can I say, the kid loves his carbsWhen it's cold I love, love, love soup! I found a recipe for vegetable beef soup on the back of the McCormick Slow Cookers Vegetable Beef Soup Seasoning and bulked it up a little bit (extra veggies). I then plugged everything in to my Weight Watchers Recipe Builder and it works out to 3 points per cup and makes approximately 10 cups. I served it to my children and they ate it and liked it which means it must not taste icky. Okay...I tasted it too - it's good.
Here's the recipe:
Vegetable Beef Soup
POINTS Plus: 3
Serving Size: 1 cup
Servings: 10
McCormick Slower Cooker Seasoning Mix for Vegetable Beef Soup, 1.2 ounce pack
1 pound stew beef, well-trimmed, cut into 3/4" cubes
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups carrots, sliced
2 large potatoes, cut into 1" cubes
2 cups frozen cut green beans
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups water
Place beef and vegetables in slow cooker. Mix Seasoning and water until blended. Pour over beef and vegetables. Cover. COOK 8 hours on LOW. Stir before serving.
It's that flippin' easy, yo.
And look - a picture of my bowl (please ignore the messy desk surrounding it - focus on the soup!)!
Don't let the picture fool you. I use a great big soup mug. One cup is a nice filling amount.
If you try it lemme know what you think!
Enjoy!
true confessions: the i actually have good things to confess edition
I can't believe it but my confessions this week aren't bad. Normally when I weigh-in with the weekly transgressions we all tend to have it's bad. Really bad. But this week it's not. It could've been though. Here's why:
On Friday afternoon I went through the Burger King drive through (don't judge I ordered a grilled chicken salad with no dressing). It was going to be a busy night with work and I wanted quick and easy. We (the kids and I) arrive home. It had been snowing and they wanted to play outside so we hung out and played in the snow for quite a while. We were outside until dark and well past the point in time that I should've eaten something. I was FAMISHED. Not hungry. Out of control give me FOOD hungry. I know better than to let myself get that hungry but because I couldn't eat my salad and drive I skipped dinner (the kids ate on the ride home). Husband, in usual fashion, was working late and called to inquire about dinner to which I replied, "Pick up a pizza and breadsticks." Yes, I did. When he got home I had 1 breadstick and 4 - YES 4 - pieces of pizza.
(Don't ask why I didn't just eat my salad when I got in from the snow. I really don't know why I didn't. All I know is I wanted pizza. And I wanted it now.)
I didn't count the Points. I knew I should but I didn't. I ate what I wanted and didn't think much more about it. When I woke up Saturday I (regretfully) remembered my food fiasco from the night before. I (begrudgingly) counted the Points and, to my surprise, had not gone over my weekly points allowance with Weight Watchers! In essence, I was still on track for the week and hadn't sabotaged myself.
Making myself go back and write down and count what I ate was a big hurdle to jump. In the past (so many times in the past) I would've just said, "Screw it. You messed up. Why even bother trying?" I didn't do that this time. And I'm so proud of myself for that.
in control
I am in control of my eating.I am in control of my mind/thoughts.
I am not letting circumstances derail me.
And yes, there have been days I've had to forcefully stop myself from reverting back to where I was even a few weeks ago.
I am starting to feel normal again.
I actually believe I can succeed.
Content? Yes.
Happy? I think so.
another idea for turkey leftovers
No, I don't have any turkey left from Thanksgiving but I did make another recipe that we really loved with our leftover turkey. If you're having turkey for Christmas this is a great idea for leftovers. We're having ham so it will probably be awhile before I make these again.This recipe is from Gina's Skinny Recipes and the original can be found here.
Baked Turkey Croquettes
POINTS Plus: 6
Serving Size: 3 croquettes
Servings: 6
12 oz cooked turkey breast, chopped fine with a food processor
3 potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
¾ cup fat free chicken broth
2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
½ cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
½ cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs
1 egg, whisked
Olive oil spray (about 1 tbsp)
In a large bowl, mash potatoes with ¼ cup broth, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Sauté garlic and onions in oil on low heat. Add parsley, salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add turkey and remaining broth, mix well and shut heat off.
Add turkey to mashed potatoes and using your clean hands mix well. Taste for salt and adjust if needed.
Preheat oven to 450.
Measure ¼ cup of mixture then form into croquettes. Place on waxed paper. Repeat with remaining mixture.
Dip each croquette in egg wash, then breadcrumbs and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet for easy cleanup. Spray generously with olive oil spray (about 1 tbsp worth). Bake in the oven 15 minutes, or until golden.
holiday hoedown check-in ~ week 3
It's finally happened. I've finally stopped letting things that are out of my control thwart my weight-loss efforts. I don't know exactly what happened but a switch flipped and I'm done. Done letting my husband's work schedule dictate my routine. Done letting my mind tell me I'm not doing it right or good enough. Done with the negative thoughts about how long this will take (forever - because we all know it never stops - we may get to goal weight but we can't stop being healthy because we lost the weight). Done beating myself up for one bad choice which ultimately turns into several bad choices. I'm done putting everyone else first and not worrying about me.
And with that, I give you my weekly weigh-in deets:
Challenge Starting Weight: 199.6
Change This Week: -1.7
Change for Holiday Hoedown Challenge: -2.4
Total Pounds Gone since 9-8-2010: 6.4
How am I doing with my goals from last week? Pretty darn good, I think. Except for the water. Need to work on that this week!
- Track my food and do my absolute best to stay within my Points target on Weight Watchers. - YES & YES - No cheating. Not once!
- Attend my Weight Watchers meetings consistently. - Yes! Went to Tuesday morning meeting.
- Drink. More Water. - Meh, notsomuch. Will do better this week!
Now, off to see how my fellow Shrinkers did this week!
turkey leftovers again?
One can only eat so many turkey sandwiches or dinners with turkey and gravy before it gets really old. One of my favorite post-Thanksgiving meals is a turkey pot pie but hello calories! I found a recipe for Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie on the Weight Watchers site last night and decided we were going to have it tonight but with turkey instead of chicken (which worked out to be the same number of Points - yay!). I linked to the original recipe but here it is with turkey and a few variations I made. It was so pretty. I really should've taken a picture. Obviously, I'm not going to be a famous food blogger. Ha!Old-Fashioned Turkey Pot Pie
Points Plus Value: 6
Servings: 6 (works out to be a heaping 1/2 cup of the turkey/veggie mix and 2/3 of a crescent roll)
non-stick cooking spray
1 tsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups frozen mixed veggies
1 cup chicken broth
3 cups turkey (mixed dark and white meat - no skin), shredded
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk, divided
4 reduced-fat crescent rolls*
Preheat oven to 375. Coat a 10-inch round shallow baking dish with cooking spray.
Coat a large pot with cooking spray. Add butter and melt over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms and cook, until tender, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in paprika, thyme, salt and pepper. Add veggies, broth and turkey. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
In a small cup, combine flour and 1/4 cup of evaporated milk; stir into turkey mixture. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup of evaporated milk and cook until mixture is slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes more.
Spoon chicken mixture into prepared baking dish. Unroll crescent rolls and arrange dough around inside edge of baking dish to form a border (there will be a hole in the middle). Bake until rolls are golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 15 minutes (mine only took 10 minutes). Cut into 6 pieces and serve.
Eat slowly, savor and enjoy. Because if you inhale it? You'll miss the yumminess. And yes, one serving is a really nice size portion.
*Okay, has anyone ever found a container of just 4 crescent rolls? I couldn't find anything smaller than 8 so I used 4 for the recipe and baked the other 4. If you do that, plan on an extra 3 Points per roll.
holiday hoedown check-in ~ week 2
Depression and anxiety are ugly creatures. And they both tend to leave me paralyzed, existing and just going through the motions. The nightmares and lack of focus, I'm sure, are a result of my doctor switching my medicines. I went from being very sad to not caring and quite frankly, a bitch. (If I was bitchy to you over the last few weeks please, please forgive me. I am truly sorry.) I'm working on my -ahem- attitude, but suffice it to say it's been difficult.
I did weigh in the last 2 weeks - down .4 last week and .3 this week. Not fabulous, I know, but no gain over Thanksgiving makes me feel better.
Know what else makes me feel better? The new Weight Watchers plan! Today was my first day following it by the book and I had no headaches, was NOT hungry and just felt good. Recently (over the last year when I've attempted to follow Weight Watchers) I was so hungry. All. The. Time. What a relief to eat and not feel hungry and know that I stayed on track.
I have not logged any minutes this week because the back/hip/leg pain is back. Gah. There are days I wonder if it will ever end, yo. But I am not going to let it derail me. I just need to find something that works fitness wise and run, or ummm, walk slowly with it.
As far as the non-fitness challenge this week, the three things I'm going to do this month to help me stay on track is:
- Track my food and do my absolute best to stay within my Points target on Weight Watchers.
- Attend my Weight Watchers meetings consistently.
- Drink. More Water. It's kinda like the Chick-fil-A cow with his Eat. More. Chicken. sign. You know which one I'm talking about, right? This one.
I realize these are so simple but you'd be amazed how hard this is for me some days. Especially when I'm dragging my 3 year old to a meeting with me.
Anyway, what I'm NOT going to do is quit or give up regardless of my mood, attitude and/or disc problems.
Here's to a good report for week 3!
