BMI - An indication of Health

Because of Weight Watchers, I knew that 160 was the top of my healthy range for my height range, but never paid much attention to the detail of this until coming across http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/weights-poids/guide-ld-adult/bmi_chart_java-graph_imc_java_e.html, a government website. I like this site because the other 'trackers' always want to round your height. WW says I'm 5'7", Ticker factory says I'm 5'6", but I know I'm in between these - at least I used to be 5'6.5". If anything, I'm more likely to have lost some height and will need to measure to be sure.
According to the site, and using 5'6.5", at my highest non-pregnancy weight (around 189 before I joined WW) I was just at 30BMI, which is considered Obese Class 1. By the time I joined WW, I had dropped to 29.6, the top of the overweight range (Ticker, above, still had me at 30, shorter, and technically obese). 24.9 is considered 'normal'. If I am currently 26.6, still 1.7 BMI to go. In terms of weight that is anything under 157lbs. So, I think that after I reach 160, I will need another mini-goal of 156.8.
One other thing, healthy is anything 18.5 and over. WW has the bottom of my range as 128 and, even at 5'7" appears to be using 20, vs 18.5, as the cut-off. This gives an extra 2.5lbs to my height. But should I REALLY worry about whether or not the low range is 128 or 125.5? Not likely.
Of course, all of this excludes other health factors such as muscle vs fat, bone structure, etc. and knowing that 130 was too thin for me when I was 18 and likely still is (that involved 8 hour shifts over a fryer for 2 months at KFC and is another story).

Maybe I should just concentrate on staying OP today, plan for the weekend, and see what happens next Wednesday. 160! AND BEYOND!

Have a great long weekend!

Blood. It's in You to Give.

With the long weekend coming up, there is a call for Blood Donations. Also, with the anniversary of 9/11 there is a symbolic reason for donating at this time of year. There have been floods, fires and daily local incidents that put a demand on reserves. There is a calling for blood of all types in recent weeks. I urge anyone who hasn't donated in the last two months to take the time and make a donation of life now. Blood - It's in you to give!

Wednesday WI - Down .2

I am now officially 167.6lbs. I've been thinking since last night how I was going to post todays WI without sounding whiny. Fact is, I think this is the first WI where I've been disappointed - sorry, I can't help it. I worked hard this week, sticking to plan. Sure I tried Wendy, but that is still within the confines of the plan. I've been getting in activity for more than a week now. Logically I know that there are explanations, so I am going to outline all of the reasons I may not have seen a larger loss.

1. Maybe the push-ups, glute exercises and crunches are causing muscle to develope. I also read that when muscle is developing it tends to hold water to protect itself.
2. Although it isn't humid and I've been drinking my water lately, I have noticed some water retention (see my Monday post re: an 8lb gain on Sunday morn). I cannot pin-point what could be causing this, but I can feel it on my ring finger and in my feet when I go to bed. Then I drink, pee, and feel better, but the retention comes out of nowhere.
3. Last week I wore a long flowy dress and this week I wore a light tank top and not-so-light capri's. The pants may have added to the scale, although without a digital scale to weigh the outfits, I can't tell by how much. Next week I'll wear the dress again and take a 2-week average.
4. I ate late last Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday (after 8pm) due to working late and shopping. Although points were within plan I need to be careful of eating late.

So maybe it was one, a combination, or all of these things that caused a less than stellar week. I guess I should be grateful it didn't go in the other direction. I wonder if they would have taken my key chain away? And, writing these things out has helped me to feel better.

On the plus side, I won a recipe book. Fiona, the leader, asked if anyone had a completed tracker. She's from England and the term tracker seems to throw everyone off for a few seconds. I immediately raised my hand and said, "I do, I do." so she gave me the book. It's a 'comfort food' one. Hubby and I went through it last night and it looks really good. I looked at one recipe and said, "That looks good, but look at all of the ingredients!" That usually discourages me. But when I went through them I thought, this isn't so bad. It wasn't ingredients where you have to buy a pound of something but only need 2Tbsp - they were fairly common ingredients, most of which I have. I always hate those books/recipes that call for stuff that I don't even know what it is, like polenta. Or stuff I can't get, like edamane. Ahhh, OK, 'nuff

Cheers,

September Goals

I posted this on Sparks, but figured I'd add it here as well. I read something the other day that said the point of challenges/goal setting is not that you WILL get them all done every day/week/month, but that you'll TRY. Being accountable to them daily means I'll do better than if I didn't have them. Kind of like WW GHG's.
This week I've also given thought to a Cindy, a lady from my meetings. She's been having a 'maintenance' summer, not by choice, and she seems discouraged about it. I think she'll pull it together once fall hits next month. The point of mentioning her is that I joined WW the end of May and have worked diligently over the summer, even while on vacation, trying to figure out my body, experimenting with different foods and points, etc. Anyway, I say I'm down 18.2lbs, but sometimes think, "I'm down 25lbs from where I WOULD have been now if I hadn't done this." How so? Both Cindy and I would likely have put weight on this summer had it not been for Weight Watchers. As it is, I have lost 18.2lbs and she is still down around 60lbs from starting.

So, the reason I am posting this is to keep momentum happening in the face of new changes with the schoold year starting, Mark taking a realtor course, fall activities starting up, and just generally less 'ME' time all of a sudden. So, without further ado,
My goals for September are (many of these are also part of the 12-week Octoberbest challenge for me, others are WW, others are just me):
- Get to below the 160lb
- Drink at least 8 cups of water daily
- Some type of exercise or activity for 150 mins/week, incorporating abs/glutes/arms/cardio (all my weak areas)
- WW GHG's of 5 F&V daily, 2-3 Dairy daily, 1-2 healthy oils daily (I have recognized that I have a hard time with oils, but if I can get in even 1 it's better than none and I'm gonna count it as a success, even though it falls short according to WW)
- If I slip forgive myself immediately, not the next day, and get back on plan. No sense in turning a 1 meal slip-up into a 1 day or week slip-up.
- Journal all my meals with the exception of Wednesday nights (With Wed WI before, if I have points available, I don't worry about this meal - just keep the guidelines in perspective)

I am also currently attempting to follow Wendie. Mmalloy is having success with this, but I am in the 'test' phase. Yesterday I was 1pt shy from Wendie, but I was done, so that's cool. Tonight is WI and the September Goals will officially be in place tomorrow for 5 weeks (ending Oct 3). This will also wrap up Octoberbest Challenge.

Cheers, and Happy Hump Day!

Just 165 minutes of your time

That's what I logged from last Wednesday to this Tuesday in activity minutes. I missed my daily lunch walk on Monday, skipped 10 minute morning activity (crunches, glutes, push-ups) Sun-Tues (but did them again this morning). I managed 150 by yesterday noon then took hubby and the LO out for a walk - didn't track time, but we walked down the road, jogged up a dirt road, and cut through a sod field back to home - I'm guessing 15 mins, but I have no idea. The field was torne up, but a truck had left a nice path through that the jogger fit in nicely. Then we hit the 100% clover. There were even a few sunflowers out there! We saw a deer that was just not fearful enough - I hope she makes it through the fall.
The dog enjoyed the walk, too - I'm thinking about getting her a come-along because we just don't enjoy taking her and I'd really like to enjoy taking her.

Forecasts, Foodflux, Flabfooled

Well, I thought I'd attempt Wendie this week and, well, forecasting foodflux's to fool the flab isn't as easy as it seems. Planning a little off. Saturday evening I went out with my daughter and, with 6 pts left and no books tried to figure out what to order from McDonald's while I was famished. There was really no other place to go (we were shopping at Wal-Mart and it was already after 9pm and they close at 10). I tried, but ended up 4 pts over for the day. Sunday we ended up running into m-i-l's and I had, once again, left all of my books at home. I had no idea what I was shooting for and ordered from Subway. Monday I made a subraction error first thing in the morning and only found it today.

Yesterday I was stuffed. Stuffed on 24 pts! I think this is quite the thing, so I'm gonna post my menu:

And, the recipe for the Chicken Casserole - I've been told by a chef friend that there is no substitution for rosemary, but it does dry well, so she gave me some. The recipe as stated below was calculated at 24pts and I divided it in 4 for 6pt meals:

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were pre-cooked and I wanted to use them up - this could have added to the dryness so I added broth - I also added the chicken in step 2 as it didn't need cooking.

Water Weekend and Weight Ramble

This was a water weekend in more ways than 1. This was the last weekend for our little outdoor pool before closing for season. Saturday was Family Fun Day with BBQ and games. The kids had a great time. I had my water bottle and did drink plenty, but being in the heat did a number on me. I weighed yesterday morning and the scale was around 175! I couldn't believe it - that is up around 8lbs! We were back again yesterday afternoon and I didn't have my bottle or any cash to buy a water which sucked, but what do you do? I drank quite a bit late yesterday evening trying to offset any water weight I had. Also, I made yesterday a very high points day (22+9) and will stick to dail points only today to unofficially test this high/low theory - I really don't have the planning down to do the points as outlined. Regardless, the scale was back where it needs to be by this morning, a little below the 168 mark. I wonder what one does if something like this 8lb water happens on weigh-in day once you're lifetime.

I was chatting with a friend Sat night and mentioned that I had joined Weight Watchers. Her comment was, "You too!". We got chatting about a number of things - she's going to send me a link for a multi-stage 12 min/day government tested exercise routine. It's a PDF file. Also, we talked about migrating to Core. She thinks that's where she and her husband need to be. We're around the same height and were always at the lower end of our healthy ranges growing up. Range=128-160, I was 135 as a teen and 140-145 in my 20's. I've read on others blogs about self body image (Roni has talked about this a few times, too) and how it's a shock sometimes to see a thinner version of ones self when you're used to seeing an overweight individual. For me it's different. It's like I've been looking in the mirror at someone else for 8 years and want to see myself again. Peggy concurred that she feels the same way. Moving to Core and only tracking non-core foods also makes sense for both of us. Bread to me is about having something to hold my sandwich together, so Weight Watchers whole wheat at 1pt for 2 slices or WW tortillas at 1pt each suites me fine. I have developed a taste over the past month for whole wheat pasta and brown rice - even the family hasn't complained. I also feel fuller longer with these options. The one thing I would need to track is my wine and beer and the odd baked indulgence. No biggie as I don't over-indulge anyway - well, maybe with baked goods.

Peggy got to meeting a while ago and realized she was well into her healthy range (153) and so decided that would be her goal so she wouldn't have to pay anymore. Yet, she advised me not to 'settle' for that - funny, I thought. Point is, she knows me. So do I which is why I decided on 148. Why 148 - because if I ever get into the 150's again, I deserve to have to pay. Also, from memory, I believe the 150's is where I transition between the 12 and 14 sizes. When I reached a 14 I convinced myself that it was the 'new' 12 (well, that's what MSN said one day, so I bought into it). Time to take my head out of the ground. A 14 is a 14 (and I am really happy to be a 14 right now, don't get me wrong), but a 12 is a 12. I still have size 10's I saved which were bought AFTER Cienna was borne (the 9yo). What is the point of all this? It's not about how we sometimes set minimum standards for ourselves. I can understand why - Roni did it and it worked out well for her. DC&Z is now fee free and has the determination to continue losing 20 lbs and I know she'll do it. It's about chosing what's right for the individual. Peggy's group was shocked when she told them that she was going to continue to lose another 10 lbs - why would she want to do that, it would be too thin! My leader suggested that I'd do well at 160 and was surprised when I told her that I'd do better at 148 - I haven't mentioned the 140 to her yet. It's the mentality for us. It's that I need accountability to get back to who I need to be. The 140's are my home and I can maintain that well into life.

Have a great week everyone.

CRAZY NEWS!

WARNING: LOCAL RANT
The government of Canada's Ocean Playground has determined that the term Newf is offensive and will no longer issue personalized license plates with this term on it. However, they have 'grandfathered' an applicate from last spring and will be issuing NEWF3 for her motorcycle. To clarify, Newf, or Newfie is a term used in reference to residents from Newfoundland. If it really is offensive, I would think re-calling the ones already issued would be more appropriate. If any Newf's happen across this blog entry, I'd be interested to know how you feel about this offensive word. Is it really another 'N' word? I don't think so! My sis and her family reside in Newfieville, The Rock, or simply Newfoundland - I think I'll ask her as well. I am very conscious of wanting to be politically correct, but am I being ignorant in just not 'getting' this one?
Maybe the term 'Bluenoser' ought to be deemed offensive as well. For those not 'in-the-know' that is the term used to reference Nova Scotian's (after the famous Bluenose sailing ship) and is usually portrayed that we have big blue noses from, hic, drinking too much alcohol. Hic - be sure not to drink and swim while visiting Canadia Osen Play Gownd. And don't get sick on my shoe's either, you drunk bassssturd!

Just got a call from a retired friend of ours looking for Mark. He's 2lbs away from his 10% and wants us to go visit so I can enjoy some of his homemade wine and beer. We've decided that Mark will need to stay sober, which he just won't like at all.

Attempting Activity

Compared to most of you, my activity has been lame. Even the goals I set for myself I only met 2/6 of them; although others were attempted which is good, I guess. This week, I have decided to do the following:

Morning 'stretches' - alternating days because if you work your glutes without a break it could do damage to the muscles. I presume this applies to other muscles as well:
Day 1:
- Glute exercises - 3 sets each of 3 types. On all 4's for all of these
- Knee into chest then kick back. Do set, then repeat other leg.
- Knee out to side keeping leg bent then back to ground. Do set, then repeat other leg
- Knee out to side, leg bent and kick leg back, return, repeat. Do set, then repeat other leg
- Repeat for set 2, then 3 taking breaks to do the 'doggy' or 'kitty' stretch when your butt feels it's on fire.
- A few push-ups, girly-style stopping to stretch arms and cry, but then think of jfarley and jynell and go again. It's very important to cry during this process to work out your face muscles as well.
Day 2:
- Push ups as in day 1 - try to do 3 sets of 10 without too much cussing - but it's good that the girls are still sleeping.
- After each set of push-ups, get arms under you at a right angle, get up on toes keeping body flat. Hold for as long as you can. Sounds so simple, doesn't it?
- crunches of all sorts - straight up, side-to-side.

All days:
- various stretches such as toe touching attempts, shoulder rolls and neck rolls as warm-up and cool down.

Daily walks: I can't seem to find the time, or I just don't find the time, after work. So, in my half hour lunch I put on my sneakers and walk for 20 minutes. This may not be a lot, but it is something. And, being in a industrial park that takes 20 minutes to get anywhere, what else am I gonna do with that time other than sit in the lunchroom or work?

I've actually managed this since Monday, so who knows. The pool is closing for the year this weekend and it will be mid-September before any other 'activity' starts. Hubby may want me to choose 2 things only so we'll see. The 9yo will be in jazz/hiphop and is also thinking about ballet this year, plus she'll be 1st year Guiding. The 4yo is in creative movement dance class. Hubby really wants to join a gym and I'm thinking that, since he'll be studying in September, that it'll be October. I've tried to convince him to go to one that is month-to-month, but it doesn't have trainers on staff. Plus I'm buying a family membership at the local indoor pool. I say this every year, but especially with the 4yo just now putting her head under water it's a perfect time to stay swimming.

10% - Hallelujia

Wednesday Weigh-In and I'm DOWN 1.6
This puts me at my 10% and I received my key chain. I also think I got a lot more in the past 14 weeks!

Walking towards a healthy model of myself!

Goals met/or not

I decided to set similar goals as Swizzle this week and - well, she did better than me in sticking to them. This is how it played out: Incomplete, Complete

My goals for the past week (Wed - Tues):
Exercise 3 times for at least 30 minutes - 2 20 minute walks
Do a daily 10 minute morning routing for 6 of 7 days - Mon and Tues only
Copy my manual journal into Sparks Food log daily to check on 'value chart' - even though many of these food choices are brand-name and do not reflect my choices 100% - mostly and will complete and analyze later today.
Have a fruit or veggie with every meal - Check
Drink at least 64oz of water every day - 5/7 days met - short on Sat and Sun
Write something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image - 6/7 met - missed Sun

On the exercise front, I know I did less than I should have. No excuses, just trying to get back on the wagon (or should I say on a wagon). I think I'll strive for a more structured guideline this week.
Water - I guess I need to figure out a way to keep water in front of me at home, as I do at work. Maybe I'll buy a honkin' big jug.
Food - I seem to be hitting my goals on this front fairly regularly.
Personal positivity - This was an interesting exercise. This may be a neat thing to do once a week.

UN-Hungry Day!

UNDER-Estimating points? I'm not talking about on a product, but rather a day. Yesterday I diligently wrote down everything I ate, but didn't calculate points until this morning. This is how it went down, and some of the values are estimates as I don't have my books on me:

Breakfast:

1C LF Vanilla Yogurt, 1C cubed watermelon and 1/8C wheat germ (4pts)

6oz instant coffee with 1/4C whole milk (1pt)

Lunch:

1.5oz pork chop, 1/2C brown rice, 2Tbsp soy ginger sauce, 1C peas (6pts)

Snack:

1.5C grapes and 1/4C pretzels (2.5pts)

Supper:

3oz salmon, 1C mixed veggies, 1/2C Basmati Rice with soy sauce (3.5pts)

Snack:

6-8 nibs (1pt)?

around 2/3 of choc covered peanut granola bar (2pts)

If I did this right, I think I got to 22 pts. The down side is that my meat and soy drink portions are over-estimated I think, but veggies really do have calories, so maybe it works out OK anyway. Funny thing is, I really didn't want/need the nibs or granola bar and only ate them 'cause the kids didn't want them.

I'm finding that lately I'm really not that hungry and am pushing to meet the minimum points. In trying to eat a piece of pizza Saturday night to test the Wendie theory, I had to really push, and still left a fair bit of crust on the plate. Or maybe it was the fact that we were watching '300' that my appetite left - the violence, not the movie - the movie was top-notch. I also finally saw 'The Departed' this weekend. It was also top-notch

The Departed and 300:

If I had to only recommend one of these movies that I saw on the weekend, it is a close call, but it would have to be The Departed. Jack Nicholson was great! Leonard DiCaprio has, IMO, always just been a good actor. He exceeded - must really be coming into his own - my expectations, and for the first time I can say he was definately yum! Martin Sheen and Matt Damon also gave good performances. Alex Baldwin was typically yuck, but you just had to watch. Marky-Mark, bless his soul, has come a long ways and I enjoyed his portrayal of the aggressive good cop. I expected Anthony Anderson to have a bigger part when I first saw him, but the scenes he was in were all the better for it. Vera Farmiga was perfect in the sole female role worth mentioning. Her scenes with Leonardo were very well done.

Virtual Kick in Ass for Colette

Re: http://coletted.blogspot.com/2007/08/im-not-happy-camper-today.html

PS - You are awesome! Get back on the wagon, we're missin' ya.

Swimmin' Barbie

Hey, 2 posts in 1 day - whatup widdat?

I just wanted to share something that I had mentioned quite a while ago that had been a mini-goal, but when it happened it was like, no biggie.

So what's the deal? When I was packing for vacation, I couldn't find the shorts to my 3-piece bathing suite http://journeytothin-candace.blogspot.com/2007/07/challenge-prep-and-bathing-suits.html

I figured that since I wouldn't be 'around home' that I would just go with it. Well, after vacation I just kept going with it. I did wear the shorts once, and it's nice that they hide my mid-drift - although the top is long enough that when I stand it meets the bottoms. However, the shorts are starting to look quite 'skirty'. I mean, the elastic is not expanding quite so far and this creates a fair bit of creases (?)/material creating more of the skirty look that I'm not as crazy about. So, the shorts took a heave-ho and I'm down to a 2-piece. Yeah!

Since we plan to continue our swimming at the local indoor pool, I will let you know when the top needs an upgrade. The 'boobie' shrinkage has left the top as my next replacement, but I will need to wait for a while on this one as it still has decent support - just nothing flattering anymore.

Happy Monday

Just a quick post to say Happy Monday. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and ate healthy. If you did have some run-ins with excess points, I hope you forgave yourself and look forward to an amazing week. In the spirit of the Wendie plan (site obtained from DietCoke) http://www.stormpc.com/ww/wendie_plan.htm, make today a low point day to take advantage of the increased metabolism.

I read through the article and it makes sense. Involves a bit of planning, but may explain why we often show our biggest losses on weeks when we've had bad days followed by days when we try to 'make-up' by sticking to minimum points. The human body - fascinating!

To test this theory I actually ate an extra 6 points on Saturday night. Hope it doesn't back-fire!

Cheers, Candace

Motivating - Who Me?

Before getting started today, I would like to clarify something that Jodi pointed out from my post yesterday. The 16 points are attributable to my weight only. The others, due to the other factors such as sitting on my butt all day and being female and all add up to 6 for a grand total of 22. Even if my points did all add up to 16, I think WW requires you to eat a minimum of 18/day. Thanks for the concern Jodi, and sorry to confuse. I also indicated that 'officially' they were 16 - I decided not to reduce them, based on our leaders advice, until I'm into the zone and see that I am not losing as much as I'd like. Right now, I think that 22/day may be too little. Considering I always use a few FPs each day, it really doesn't matter as long as I dont use too many in 1 week.

OK! Me? Motivating people IMRL to lose weight?
#1 - When my mother indicated that she was going to do WW after seeing my success, I took it with a grain of salt. She obtained information and is choosing to go it alone rather than join. I will work on trying to convince her that the meetings and being accountable are invaluable, but she joined during her 'grieving' stage after my father passed away and never lost weight. Going to the meetings is fine, but you also need to be accountable to yourself on a daily basis. I think wanting to do something is better than nothing.
#2 - I wrote a while ago about a girl that I work with who got talking about losing the 30+lbs she'd put on this past winter. She also doesn't want to 'pay' for stuff (to me, the money is so worth it - an investment that will pay off potentially in reduced drug bills in the future, but I digress) and has been asking questions. Funny, I really thought she was going to do something in May and it was just one of the things that kick started me. Anyway, I thought about it and suggested she sign up for SparksPeople. She printed off her menu and is happy. She's decided that she wants to lose 21 lbs for mid-November, and knowing that I've lost close to that in almost 3 months has given her determination. We'll see how it goes.

I really hadn't any 'friends' at my meeting - living in commuterville and commuting a lot, most people I do know around home have children at or around my 9yo's age. Everyone at meeting was very nice, though. This week, a lady from our Church joined. I'll admit I have been MIA from church since about last November (something about not wanting to hear the "Where have you been" 's and I just never got back), but it was nice to see a familiar, friendly face. I think that's why I love Steph, Colette, Dizzy, Amanda and DietCoke - going there and seeing their smiling faces gives me a sense of realism. I think I'll have to get my pic up, too - I never realized what an impact those had. I just wish I took a better picture.

Sweet 16!

Sweet 16 lbs. Last week I weighed in at a 16 lb loss; however, it was Tuesday before lunch rather than my usual Wednesday before dinner, so I took it with a grain of salt until I knew it 'stuck'. It DID! This allowed me to reach my mini-goal of 170, the weight I was when I became pregnant in 2002.

Sweet 16 pts. My loss this week was a whole 0.6 lbs - I'm now 169.4, which officially puts me in the 16 pts/day attributable to my weight, or basically takes a point away. Wow, it's been a while since I've seen the 160's. When I reach the bottom of this number I will have reached the top of my healthy range, so that's a lot of motivation and my body will think I'm a very nice person for doing this, LOL.

Sweet 16 Aug. Maybe nothing so special about this, but I had to add it. It is a beautiful day and I am in a very good mood. The software upgrade went well last night and the database split has been re-scheduled for the end of the month. This is good news for me as I'm still working on July month-end. Happy August 16th everyone!

On the verge of reaching my 10% goal I have been thinking about my lifetime and where I really want to be at the end of this. I have decided to set my WW lifetime at 148, but continue to work towards 140, which is where I really want to be. This will give a lot of wiggle room and will (as dietcoke has done) save some buckos on dues. I could go with the top of my range, but I really don't want to be 'comfortable' in the top 10lb zone called the 150's. I have adjusted my ticker accordingly this week in case anyone thinks she's moved too far, too fast. I took off a whole 3 lbs from her journey. I'll re-adjust after reaching my lifetime status. Now that I've lost - well, 20lbs from that fateful night I bought a set of scales in May and 16.6 since joining WW 4 days of crash dieting later - I feel so determined to get where I need to be.

Scarlet Barbie is feeling good today, ladies! The boys better watch out!

Calling all Canadians!

If you like a good burger, you really oughta check this one out from Superstore:They are 3 points each (140 calories with 8g of fat). They are smaller and less expense than the 'adult' vertion. Yet larger than most take-out burgers.
So, if these satisfy a 170 lb woman, but are designed for children (my 4yo at 42 lbs can gobble 1 up), I wonder where our portion distortion comes from...

Cheers, Candace

Frozen lunch Wednesday

I got home late from work last night and hubby had some pork chops waiting in the oven. He covers them, adds water and a bit of BBQ sauce. A few small potatoe's and some string beans and I was so tired. As I was packing this up I began to think about Randi's Tuna and Pea frozen dinners. Hmmm, let's go again:

I broke up the 1cup of rice I had frozen in the bag and put half in each of 2 Ziploc containers. I took 1 chop (they weren't big, about a deck of cards so maybe 4oz), cut it in half and put half in each container. Then 3/4C frozen peas and 2 Tbsp of Sauce (I used soy with ginger). I had one today at noon and it was very good.

So, it's only Wednesday and I have 2 boughten frozen dinners in the freezer and 2 homemade ones. I am going to do this more often.

OTOH, I hadn't intended to consume 260 mg of sodium on WI day - crud, I missed that. Actually, maybe being so close to WI it won't matter much.

Cheers,

Smells Good - What is that?

Sunday night I had a hankering for some rice with honey garlic sauce. As I started, I first decided to put on a large amount of brown rice. I had been told about someone freezing this in individual serving bags in their freezer since it takes so long to cook. This was my initial thought - freeze for future use.

As the rice cooked, I decided that it would be nice to have some chicken balls to go with it. I bought these and no one is eating them. I began to defrost some for myself and whoever else wanted a couple (hubby maybe, the kids were into mac & cheese). Then I thought, why not add some frozen ones to the rice. OK, so a short jump later and I decided to make my own frozen dinners for lunch in those Ziploc boxes. I made 3 of them and froze 1cup of rice separately in a baggie. My frozen lunches are 6pts each, but it could be cut by using less meatballs. I could add cooked chicken breasts for less pts, too - maybe because then I'd need more sauce.

What you'll need:

Freezable 2C containers

Cooked rice (I think mine was a no name)

Frozen meatballs (I used reduced fat PC Blue Menu Italian chicken meatballs)

Frozen veggies (again no name mixed veggies, removing the brocolli as it takes too long in the microwave)

Sauce (I used Diana's Gourmet Honey Garlic, pictured above - this is succulent)

OK, I had all of the goods. I calculated out my points and decided that I would only need in each container:

half a cup of rice (2pts)

6 chicken balls (3pts) - mmm, so worth it

2Tbsp sauce (1pt)

top up the container with veggies

Me no chef. Me like food much, though. This yum yum. Make tum tum happy.

Happy Days!

Monday, Tuesday, Happy Days!

OK, I felt I needed something more upbeat after yesterday. After reading through my blogroll and getting a few laughs (special thanks to Colette and Chris), I feel much better today.

Mom called last night and, although we didn't 'work things out', I did finally get out how hurt I was and why. She doesn't think she has anything to appologize for and that's fine. As I said yesterday, it helps to know where you stand. It helps because I can finally move forward and keep myself from relying on her again. Anyway, I'm bored with this subject, "Fiddle-dee-dee. Cottage, cottage, cottage; this cottage talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this summer. I get so bored I could scream. Besides... there isn't going to be any cottage."

There's a lot to catch up on at work. I put in 3 hours yesterday and will likely average a couple of hours each day for the rest of the week as well. That's OK - it helps when you like your job. We are (finally) splitting the company databases. For some reason, the books for 2 companies are all in one database file. We get cross-entries periodically that I need to adjust for as part of month-end. This will alleviate a lot of confusion, but I also need to document some procedures for inventory movement to send to the sites.

On the activity front, I have the challenge to do 150 minutes of activity each week. I wanted a combination of things in these minutes, but this week it all looks like walking. Here goes:
Day 1 (Wed) - 35 minutes on treadmill - rolling hills at an average of 3 miles/hr
Day 2 (Thur) - 45 mins on treadmill - weight loss routine (minimal incline, up to 5 miles/hr
Day 3 (Fri) - 60 mins walking with hubby. Actually, I think it was more like 1.5 hrs, but forgot to look at the clock. This was an endurance walk. I picked up speed for a while after getting started, but Mark set the pace for slower when he realized where we were walking.
Day 4 (Sat) - Nothing. I had intentions of swimming, but the water was too cold, so after diving in I got right back out. Brrr.
Day 5 (Sun) - 40 mins walking while pushing jogger. The LO came with, and walking pushing that thing really worked my calves. Again, the time is an estimate, but I'm pretty sure it's accurate.
Day 6 (Mon) - Nothing
Day 7 (Tues) - I may get out at noon, but nothing planned as I'll be working late.

So, I've exceeded my 150 minutes. It feels great. In another month my dance classes will start back up and by mid-September I plan to join a swim class when the pool opens up. I want the kids to stay in the water, too, so I think I'll buy a family membership.

On the food front, I don't know how I'm doing. I only started journaling again yesterday as I stopped for vacation, but did try to eat healthy. Actually, I didn't even calculate my supper points, but had 10 left after work. I don't think eating the melty left-overs of ice-cream and chocolate sauce helped, but hey I forgave myself afterwards, LOL. I should have said, "You can take it all back to the kitchen; I won't eat a bite." No wonder Scarlett was always so thin.

Cheers all,

Download the Bad - Maybe tomorrow I can pull out the good

OK, I mentioned the other day that there was Good, Bad and Ugly over vacation. I guess I just really got my feelings hurt and maybe putting the Bad out there will let me let go of it.

First, my mother said that she was not going to rent out her cottage during my vacation, but then called me up at the last minute to say that she had the opportunity to rent it, and was sure I wouldn't mind. Well, I'm nothing if not flexible, so I arranged my schedule to include a few days at home and a few with my mil. Now, my m-i-l either has alzheimers or brain cancer. Taking her to her cottage with my kids worked out pretty good considering, but she got off her meds the last of it, the kids argued the whole time we were there. There were also lots of horsefly's, and a mucky, crab-grassy beach. Went swimming with the kids on Friday and was dodging large clumps of seaweed. I tried to get the 9yo away from one, but...too late, she spotted the dead mouse on top of it and freaked. This traumatized the 4yo to no end and I couldn't even get her in the ocean at the 'sandy' beach where you could see the bottom after that. I couldn't wait to get to my Mom's cottage Sat morn. after the renters left.

Anyway, on Saturday, my m-i-l through a tantrum and wanted her car back from s-i-l who needed it as hers was at a 3-day concert with her 17 yo. She was trying to get ready for an open house and needed to get all of her animals out Sunday morning. Long story short, I loaned her my car and was 'stuck' at m-i-l's house until Sun afternoon. All the kids did was watch TV for 24 hrs, grrr.

OK, so we're off to my Mom's. Mom and Mark do not get on so well. She's been trying for the last couple of years, but there's a lot of water under that bridge. Anyway, that's why we were going to go back to m-i-l's cottage - so that he wouldn't have to spend a weekend around her. I talked him into coming up as the kids and I really wanted to stay (and we really didn't want to go back to the other beach) and he agreed. Sunday night myself and the girls were told to bring in our sleeping bags because 'they' were coming tomorrow and she didn't want us in the sheets - should have been my first clue.

My sister landed on Monday and the girls and I slept in the tent 2 nights running. They were upset about sleeping in the tent, but my Mom made it clear that the cottage was for sis, not me. The 3rd night it was going to storm, so we were invited to take down our tent and sleep over at Mom's boyfriends cottage (they've been dating and living together for a few years, and that is where she lives). It is only a few minutes down the road. This is where the hurt comes in. Thursday morning, Mom made it clear that we were no longer welcome. She 'couldn't' let us stay at their place, because it wasn't hers. She promised my sister the cottage, so I couldn't stay there any longer, not even in a tent on the side lot. It was strongly suggested that we go back to m-i-l's cottage for the weekend. I could surely come back on the weekends, she said. Problems I see with this:

1. We were sleeping in a tent in the yard. Who was that hurting?
2. Mark would have gone up at least for a visit to see his niece and nephew that we haven't seen for 2 years, but we clearly weren't welcome.
3. The cottage has been rented steady - sis is there until the 18th, then is occupied by Mom and her BF while his dd's get his cottage - tell me when I'm supposed to go up? In the fall?
4. You don't do that to family.
5. You just don't do that to family.

Furthermore, because my 9yo was crying over this (and of course blaming me), Mom actually gave her a cheque (made out to me) for $100 so we could 'do something fun' - but was told not to give it to me until much later after we left so I wouldn't return it. So, the message here is that money fixes everything. Well, it doesn't. She's been selling that message to my daughter for years and I'm actually sick of it. If you can't be there and be real, stay away!

Next year, I will be better prepared and will take my children away - rent a place or something. I am hurt, a little for me, but mostly for my girls. Guess it's best to know where you stand in life.
We ended up coming home. I think a couple of days to unwind did do us all some good. My s-i-l called to tell us we couldn't have the 'other' cottage as her dd was going out. I told hubby that they could piss off and I didn't want to go anyway.

Well, back to work, daycare, and sitters today. Everyone is glad to be back, I think. I know I am. I've had enough 'family' fun for 1 year.

HOME AGAIN!

Home again, Home again, Jiggidy Jig!

Great to be back. Will catch up with everyone later as kiddies are crazy to go to the pool right now.

What's new: Got high speed, but need a card for the 'puter, apparently, so it's not working yet.

After 5 days of 'weekend' and a 0.6lb gain, I decided to do Core for a week. I didn't record anything, but tried to stick with Core foods as much as possible. Since I was shopping and cooking for everyone it was quite easy until the kids wanted to make a blueberry pie with the blueberries we picked at m-i-l cottage. I only ate 2 pieces (1/4 pie) - oops. Well, that was the only thing.

Weighed in at noon (before lunch) last Tuesday and was down 2 lbs. I was pleased, but am going to wait until the official Wednesday night weigh-in this week before celebrating meeting the 170. Hopefully it can be maintained and will hold true for a 6:30pm weigh-in.

Cheers, Candace