Weight Watchers Points Plus – A Fruit Lover’s Paradise
15 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in General Conversations Tags: healthy living, weight loss, weight watchers, weight watchers points+
I am rededicating myself to blogging – and my diet. I haven’t blogged (or dieted) in many months. To be honest, while I was couch-bound, I really started the blog because I was taking a blogging class in college. Going back to school helped me keep my sanity during those months spent as a prisoner on my sofa.
Recovery was a slow, painful process consuming the past year of my life. Couch-bound for months, I progressed to limited mobility with a walker, and eventually a little more mobility using crutches. I no longer need walking aids and get around quite well. Stairs are still a little slow, but other than that, I’m mobile.
However, I spent these past months yo-yo dieting. The portion control plate I blogged about probably works well if you’re eating fairly healthy foods to start with. Our recipes from Paula Dean and the Neely’s – not weight-loss friendly.
I tried things I ended up hating, such as the the HCG diet (using real HCG). Messed my hormones up big-time and my doctor said QUIT! Then I tried Nutrisystem. Tortured myself for 7 weeks, but couldn’t take it any longer. Seriously, canned dog food probably tastes better. Lost weight, but when I went back to eating my husband’s cooking, it came back. Tried Atkins, but after a week of eating primarily just meat, my mouth felt greasy, and I was craving greek yogurt and fruit. You see, I’m a fruit-aholic.
So, I joined Weight Watchers, and most importantly, I made my husband join with me. Of course, he refuses to go weigh in, so he’s not an ‘official’ member. I’m sure the token male in my meetings would love to have a Weight Watchers bromance. I calculated his daily points allowance and gave him a Points book and tracker. I told him we both needed to lose weight, and to be successful, our journey needed to be a partnership, and we needed to make lifestyle changes in terms of our food choices and exercise.
The new Points+ program is awesome! So easy, and we can eat whatever we want. We just track the points. We’ve adjusted some of our favorite Iron Chef and Cooking Channel stars’ recipes to make them healthier. He’s so cute…he’s so excited when he finds a new recipe to try. ‘Honey, check this out. Sounds great and it’s only 4 points a serving!”. He’s like a little kid who has discovered a favorite new candy.
Best of all, fruit is FREE. That’s right – even consuming copious amounts of high-glycemic bananas doesn’t count toward your daily points allowance. Hungry and don’t want to use your points? Eat a giganto apple! Craving sugar? Grab a sweet, juicy peach! Thanks to Weight Watchers, after two weeks, I am down 6 pounds, eating what I like and am living in a fruit-lover’s paradise!
Why Does It Take a Crisis For Motivation To Kick In?
26 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in General Conversations, Healthy Eating - Nutrition and Recipes Tags: diet motivation, dieting, healthy eating, healthy recipes, lemon chicken, nutrition, portion control, portion control plate, weight loss
The saying ‘the road is paved with good intentions’ can be applied to my lack of use of the portion control plate I ordered. However, a recent family health scare has left me with renewed motivation. But the first three weeks after receiving the plate went something like this…
The first few meals my husband made after we received the portion control plate were homemade pizza, Jamie Oliver’s Chicken and Leek pot pie and a casserole from Paula Dean (the Queen of butter-laden comfort foods).
The first day, he called “Dinner’s ready, honey!”, and I hobbled to the table. It was an exciting day – pizza Friday. There was, of course, no way to measure out the meat, veggies and starch individually in a dish where everything was combined. I stuck a piece of pizza in the main dish/meat compartment and it stuck out at a funky angle. The only way to make it fit would have been to rip it into pieces and stuff the compartments full. I wondered if I could cram 3 pieces into all the compartments, did that mean I could eat 3 pieces? If you had my husband’s homemade pizza (featuring caramelized onions, various meats including bacon, lots of cheese – oh, num!), you’d understand my train of thought here. I had two pieces, but probably should have stuck to one.
If you haven’t had Jamie Oliver’s Chicken and Leek pot pie, you absolute HAVE to make it. Google it, but make sure you get the version where you use white wine and ground sausage. Trust me – it’s to die for. Being British, his recipe calls for a “nob” of butter. What the hell is a nob? To my husband, it’s a whole stick. He’s the Butter King to Paula’s Queen-ness. So while the ingredients themselves may not be that fattening (minus the crust of course), my husband’s version is not going to help melt the pounds off my ass.
So the portion control plate was pushed into a catch-all corner of the built-in kitchen desk where other random items have been stashed. Out of sight, out of mind…I suppose if I’m being honest, it’s not totally out of sight. I’ve caught sight of it a couple of times in my peripheral vision as I’ve made my way through the kitchen and chose to pretend I didn’t see it.
My brother’s stroke scare this past week (he’s only 39 with a toddler and new baby) scared the procrastination out of me, let me tell ya. Comparatably speaking (male vs female), he’s probably as overweight as I am. He’s not couch bound, but between work and family duties, he hadn’t been to the gym for a long, long time. We’re in similar physical situations, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it could have been me being wheeled into the hospital with a numb right side and memory and speech loss. So portion control plate, here I come – prepare to be used.
I will be searching out new and delicious recipe’s that are more health-conscious than those dishes from the various Iron Chef’s (and Paula) that my husband loves to try. I’ll share the best of the best with my readers.
Very Lemony Chicken
I feel very guilty right now that it took my brother’s situation scaring the crap out of me to give me the motivation to start my diet ‘for reals’.
Pilates…from a chair??? Yes, indeed…
25 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Exercise and Keeping Active Tags: chair exercises, exercise, exercise for chair-bound people, exercise for seniors, exercises for immobile people, pilates, pilates from a chair
I’ve spent some time checking the internet for websites that have exercises for people with restricted mobility. I wasn’t finding anything of interest. But then I checked youtube.com and found www.strongerseniors.com. It’s technically an exercise website geared toward senior citizens, but they do a lot of seated, chair-based exercises. I found this ‘chair pilates’ video…I’m going to give it a try!
This Little Piggy Cried Wii, Wii, Wii – Back to the Couch
14 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Exercise and Keeping Active Tags: exercise, exercise for chair-bound people, exercise for the overweight, fitness, Wii, Wii Fit
Though I’m 42, I believe my mother still prefers to think of me as her “kid”. This belief is backed up every year at Christmas when I open gifts inside the stocking she mails me and find slipper socks adorned with stuffed animal heads and a matching animal-themed shower scrubby puff. My favorite color is pink, but pink was sold out last year, so I received purple Octopus socks and scrubby. This year, she shopped earlier, and I received multi-color pink stripe socks with stuffed pig heads at the top (one head on the outer side of each sock) and a pink pig scrubby.
This year my mom was staying with us for Christmas, so being conscious of the weight I’ve put on while couch-bound, I asked her if she was trying to convey a message to me in giving me “pig” themed gifts. She laughed and insisted no – that she grabbed the only pink animal socks and scrubby available.
I must say, the socks are very soft on the feet and warm, so while I hate the pigs, I wear them anyway. (I gave the scrubby to my 9-year-old niece yesterday). This morning was especially cold, so I pulled on the socks and went out to the living room. I decided to see how well I’d fare in attempting some exercises. I’m far from being able to perform exercises that require standing, squatting, walking, etc., but I thought I’d give some floor exercises a go. I pulled out the Wii Fit, turned it on and was ready to go.
I started with leg lifts but didn’t get through too many on the first leg. My muscles are weak from so many months of inactivity and my knees aren’t yet healed enough – the leg lifts were somewhat painful. But I suffered through the same number of lifts on the opposite leg before I quit. Can’t have thighs thinning out at an unequal pace now can I? Certainly wouldn’t be attractive in a swimsuit…
Next, I opted to attempt some stomach exercises. I laid on my back on the floor, and with my knees bent upward, set my feet on the Wii balance board. One sit up, two…no problem…twenty…becoming difficult…thirty…struggling more and more. Ugh – my stomach muscles are equally as weakened as my legs. I used to be able to out-’crunch’ everyone I knew, and here I am struggling to get to 50.
Somehow, my socks got a little twisted up in my efforts, and every time I sat up, those damn pigs were staring at me – I’m positive they were laughing. I hit the big 5-0 and decided I’d done enough for my first time out – don’t want to pull a stomach muscle and have something else to recuperate from – so this little piggy cried Wii, Wii, Wii … straight back to her couch.
Through Simple Changes, I Am Now ‘Normal’ (My blood sugars, anyway.)
01 Feb 2011 1 Comment
in Healthy Eating - Nutrition and Recipes Tags: managing type 2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes
Cutting out fast food is a simple step toward managing blood sugars.
I was talking to a friend this weekend over a glass of red wine. We were discussing weight (of course) and the subject of Type 2 Diabetes came up. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2004. I was about 30-40 lbs overweight, overwhelmed with all of the things I had to do during the day, and I wasn’t exercising. Overweight, eating increasingly unhealthy meals, eating too much, and lack of exercise led me to Diabeticland.
At that time, all of the horrible ways Diabetes can ravish your body and steal your health were of no concern. I felt young and healthy and figured my doctor’s warnings were meant for the really fat – not for a slight chubbinski like myself. So I didn’t go on a diet, change my eating habits, exercise – nor did I test my blood sugars after about the first month. I think my ‘needlephobia’ played a part in that. The idea of poking myself till I bled was not at all appealing.
Fast-forward to 2009 when I met my (second and last) husband. He doesn’t eat fast food and makes meals from scratch – rarely does a processed food cross his lips. Throughout our courtship, he convinced me to stop eating fast food (though I will admit to appeasing the occasional craving for Taco Time), we eat meals made from scratch, and I cut white flour from my diet, and cut back some on my sugar consumption.
These little changes, combined with good brisk walks with my dogs several times a week, helped me lose 25 lbs in about about 9 months (these are the 25 lbs I gained back since I’ve been couch-bound).
However, these little changes had a big impact on my Type 2 Diabetes. About 8 months or so had passed since my previous medical checkup because I no longer had medical insurance. I went in for a check up, and the doctor called me himself with the test results. Usually, I’d just receive the results in the mail, so his call was unnerving. My blood sugars had dropped into the ‘normal’ range – I was no longer a Type 2 Diabetic. But he was concerned because a significant blood sugar drop in such a short time frame normally causes serious health issues, yet I was fine. He wanted to know what I had done – he was concerned I’d done something drastic and was surprised the small steps I’d taken made such an impact.
For all of you who are Type 2 Diabetics, or for those who were told you are ‘on the road towards diabetes’, following the simple steps I took may help you manage your blood sugars:
1. Cut out fast food and limit eating at out at restaurants. Choose restaurants that cook ‘from scratch’.
2. Cut processed foods out of your diet. Make meals from scratch, and use fresh fruits and vegetables. Home-cooked meals didn’t take as much time to prepare as I thought.
3. Cut out the white flour – eat multi-grain or whole wheat breads, pastas, cereals, etc.
4. Cut back on your sugar consumption. I try not to eat foods where any type of sugar/corn syrups are listed within the first 3 ingredients. If I am craving desserts or a home made muffin, I use sugar substitutes like Stevia or Agave.
I am so happy that I am now ‘normal’ – well, my blood sugars are anyway. I encourage you to try these easy steps to better health. Good luck – let me know if you have success!
Does a Healthy, Low-Cal Lasagna Recipe Exist?
27 Jan 2011 8 Comments
in General Conversations, Healthy Eating - Nutrition and Recipes Tags: dieting, healthy eating, healthy recipes, low calorie lasagna, Mario Batali Lasagna, reduced calorie lasagna
While Mario Batali’s Lasagna Bolognese I made on Tuesday was very tasty indeed, it really didn’t satisfy my need for melty, gooey, cheesy goodness. While assembling the ingredients, I kept wondering ‘where’s the cheese?’. I haven’t made lasagna in about two years, but even so, the recipe did not call for the amount of cheese I recalled using when making a home-made lasagna in the past.
My husband mentioned that Mario’s ancestry is Northern Italian that maybe the use of a bechamel sauce rather than various cheeses was a northern Italian version of lasagna. Now, I must say that Mario’s recipe was excellent – as you chewed each bite you actually tasted different levels of flavors. However, for cheese fiends out there, this recipe was severely lacking.
Since part of the reason I wanted lasagna was because I was craving the combination of meat, pasta and melty cheese, Mario’s lasagna didn’t satisfy my craving. However, my portion control plate is here and the diet is on.
So, I am seeking a healthy, low-cal/reduced cal lasagna recipe if such thing exists. Yes, I could go search online, but I would prefer a proven, taste tested and spouse approved version. Lasagna, low cal or not, takes time to make, and I’d hate to make the effort and my husband and I be disappointed by the result.
If you have a recipe that meets the criteria above – healthy, cheesy, taste tested and spouse approved – please send it my way! My taste buds will love you forever!
Generic ‘DONUTS’ – A Gourmet Food?
25 Jan 2011 2 Comments
in General Conversations Tags: apple fritter, donuts, Mario Batali Lasagna, portion control, weight control
In tracking the order, it appears my portion control plate will arrive this Thursday. I decided that while managing portion control is a great first step, I should make the additional effort to eat foods much lower in calories and sugars as well. I mean, why go half way, right? If I’m going to watch portions, I might as well also pay closer attention to the types of foods I’m eating as well.
So I’ve decided to have one last hoorah this next couple of days, enjoying some favorite foods that I won’t be eating for many, many months. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not going to sit here all day and stuff my face with crap I shouldn’t be eating. But I am going to enjoy a few meals that certainly aren’t conducive to calorie counting.
Today, although I’m supposed to limit walking around, I absolutely had to go to the bank. At least I could complete my transaction in the drive through. If anyone were to see me trying to walk right now, I walk like a decrepit 90-year old with a stick up their backside – very humiliating. So I grabbed my walker (a device I didn’t picture myself being dependent upon until I was a blue-haired, wrinkled old lady) and headed to the car.
On my way home, I spied my favorite doughnut place a block ahead of me. I have no idea what the name of the business is, and I’ve purchased their mouth-watering treats (usually a raised with chocolate icing) once every two weeks for a year now. They are so outstanding they could be considered a gourmet food. The enormous red neon sign out front brightly announces “DONUTS” – that’s it. No other name is on the building. But I guess when you have the greatest doughnuts in the USA, a sign that reads “DONUTS” says it all. Ok, I admit I stopped … OK OK, I admit I bought a doughnut. A warm, gooey fritter with generous amounts of apple chunks and cinnamon.
My dogs were jealous. They patiently sat next to me on the couch, alternating between giving me the ‘don’t-we-have-such-good-manners-we’re-not-begging-and-deserve-a-treat’ look and following the doughnut as I brought it to my mouth and savored every deep-fried, apple-icious bite. And no, I did not share. And I don’t feel the least bit guilty about that.
Tonight I am making Iron Chef Mario Batali’s Lasagna Bolanaise. I wanted lasagna, and I figured if I was going to really treat my husband and I, the Italian Iron Chef’s recipe is bound to be outstanding. Tomorrow’s dinner TBD. Maybe we’ll go out to eat — at a restaurant with an actual name. I’ll eat a doughnut from a “generic” establishment, but I wouldn’t trust the origin of the meat from a restaurant named “DINNER”.
I made my last lasagna for a while - and it tasted as great as it looked!
Thoughts from the Couch – A Dieting Epiphany
20 Jan 2011 3 Comments
in Cool Tools for a Healthy You Tags: dieting, nutrition, portion control, portion control plates, weight management, weight management tools
While I took guilty pleasure in watching Swift Justice with Nancy Grace and Steve Wilkos today (couch-bound – what a great excuse to watch trash tv!), my mind repeatedly wandered back to my early morning weigh-in. Reality check would be a better descriptor.
While trying to sleep last night, I noticed my pajamas just didn’t feel like they fit right – they felt a little snug. I was sure my husband, who has been helping with the laundry since my latest round of knee-snapping, had shrunk my favorite PJs. He’s a prime example of the stereotypical male – open the hamper, grab up its contents, and stuff the washer full like you would cannelloni. When finished – toss all contents in the dryer on high.
Brushing my teeth this morning, I noticed the bathroom scale sitting in the corner gathering dust. Thoughts of snug PJs prompted me to step on. The scale screamed at me, “Get the hell off me you 250 lb tub-o”. I wasn’t imagining it. My PJs indeed didn’t fit right, but not from shrinkage. The bright red LED ’250′ said it all. The jammies weren’t smaller – my thighs were bigger. I had gained 25 pounds during this past six months of inactivity. I was already a chubbo…didn’t need those extra 25! Ugh!!
I have to admit that I haven’t been much of a fashionista, wearing primarily sweats and slip on tennis shoes since I first injured myself in July – clothes easy to take on and off when you can barely bend your knees. Wearing the baggy sweats hid my weight gain – or maybe I just didn’t want to see it. Who knows…but the 25 pounds I’d worked to lose last year was back.
I had an epiphany on the couch today. I need to do something to help manage my weight, but I can’t really exercise…so the only alternative is to limit my food intake. My husband does most of the cooking – he LOVES to cook. After Deadliest Catch, North to Alaska, Hawq Quest and Mystery at the Museum, his TV watching is primarily limited to cooking shows. To him, butter and cheese are main ingredients – his cooking is not diet-friendly. Neither are his portions – he takes even more pleasure in eating than he does cooking. While I don’t eat all the food he scoops onto my plate, I’m obviously eating far more calories than I am burning off. Let’s face it – couch sitting isn’t exactly a sweat-producing, calorie-burning activity.
I needed something to help me – and my husband – manage portion control. So I went on to Amazon.com, my favorite one-stop online shopping site (what CAN’T you find on Amazon??) and found the Meal Measure Portion Control Plate, which features divided sections labeled vegetable or fruit, starch, and protein. Fill each section and that’s your meal. Customer reviews were great. $16.95 plus shipping later, my Meal Measure is on its way. Hopefully, with the assistance of this weight management tool, the next time I get on the scale it won’t be so insulting. Stay tuned…
Meal Measure Portion Control Plate - My First Weight Management Tool
My Journey to “Fat”
14 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in General Conversations Tags: blogs about weight, dieting, emotional eating, exercising, fat, healthy eating, obese, overweight, road to better health
Looking back now, I realize that during my disastrous 13-year (first) marriage, I lost myself – . My husband was a verbally and emotionally abusive alcoholic. I totally devoted myself to trying to create a happy home environment and being the ‘perfect’ parent. I quit doing the things that made me happy and healthy, including exercising. I had played on co-ed adult softball and tennis teams and loved taking aerobics classes. I ‘didn’t have time’ and started putting on weight, which my ex loved to point out yet would sabotage every effort I made to lose weight, things like eating chips and cookies in front of me – even in bed.
Divorced in 2003, the reality that I was now the sole provider for my household and daughter put my career goals into over-drive. I was in marketing, and climbing the corporate ladder lead me further away from home – and the higher I climbed directly correlated with the length of my commute to work (and unfortunately the size of my growing backside).
Eventually, my 4.5+ hour a day round-trip commute and a demanding job left me even less free time. To ensure maximum time for my responsibilities at home, we ate out more, I made fewer home-cooked meals and transgressed into the realm of consuming primarily quick-to-prepare processed foods. I particularly favored frozen lasagna’s and frozen pasta stir-frys, Costco pre-made deli items and dinners out.
My lifestyle completely changed – and not in a good way. I was already overweight, my poor eating habits lead me to gain even more weight – and those pesky 10 pounds a year really add up!
My life this past year drastically changed once again. I was laid off from my job, my daughter is in Idaho attending Boise State, and I got married to a very sweet man. With time to spare, I decided to get my health back on track, and I signed up for a health and wellness class and several exercise programs to start on July 7th. But two days before the programs started, life side-tracked me again – my knee “snapped” when I was lifting something heavy.
I didn’t have medical insurance and couldn’t afford an MRI to confirm if I tore or just bruised the meniscus. Either way, I couldn’t even touch my toes to the ground the pain was so bad, so my doctor told me to sit on the couch, with my knee elevated, and let my knee heal, which he said could take “many months.” I’m not good at sitting – I sat for a month, then “mostly” sat for the next 4 months, but did hobble around more than I’ve discovered I should have. My right knee, which I blew out playing college-level competitive tennis and had surgery on years ago, took the brunt of my weight and was the main leg used in climbing the stairs in my two-level house, and I re-injured it. At Christmas, it went “snap”!
So now I am 80 lbs overweight, with two severely injured knees, and am basically laid up on a couch for months per doctor’s orders to let my knees heal.
My emotional and physical journey back to health will be the primary focus of Diary of a Chunky Chick. My hopes are that blogging and interacting with my readers will help get me through my period of solitude and immobility and give me the strength to put down that chocolate fudge brownie and, when I’m more mobile, go do a sit up or two. 
Recent Comments