After a month off.....

....... I've only gained back .5 pounds.  Still down 30 pounds from my originally April 11th start date.  I'm extremely happy with that.  We did all of our Summer vacationing at once.  MN/WI for 8 days, TX for 5 days, and then Lake of the Ozarks for 3 days.  We've been gone more than we've been home the last month and we've eaten out a lot.  If I never see a french fry again, I think I'll be okay with that.  Well, for a month or so at least.  Anyway, back to the weight loss plan and so excited about it.  I've got a wedding to attend in 3 weeks and I'd like to lose another 10 pounds before that.  I'm back to work - and to working out!!!!

Walking with Bugs

I'm on vacay but I'm still getting my exercise in.  Going for long walks with the misquitos of Wisconsin every morning.  Kinda afraid of the weigh in when I get home from back to back trips.  We're cooking our own food on this one, so we're being somewhat healthy - much better than if we went to a restaurant - but we've made chocolate chip cookies and drank a massive amount of wine.  Hmmmmm.....  Well, we did do our longest walk yet 2 days ago.  Almost 4 miles.  We'll see how it goes.

Awesome Website

Hey walkers (and runners), there's this awesome site out there that we just played with called MapMyWalk.com.  You can pre-set up a walk to make sure you get your distance in for the day or you can track how far you went after a walk.  It even works on nature trails.  Just have to click where you turn.  Today's nature trail and neighborhood walk ended up being 3.17 miles.  Did it with the dogs (including a couple of potty breaks and one lay down break when the dogs just didn't want to go anymore) in an hour and 12 minutes.  Not great - but not bad.  And definitely better than I would have been 30 pounds ago.

Walking Buddy

I want to send a quick shout out to my husband Rick.  Man does he push me.  It seems he always wants to walk a little further than I do.  And at a faster pace.  And I keep pushing myself to keep up with him.  Gonna shed some extra pounds just because I'm walking with him and not alone!

Walking the Dogs

Want to know the best part about being 30 pounds lighter???  It doesn't hurt to walk the dogs.  I can go on a 30 minute walk, even a 60 minute walk, with my dogs now and my knees and ankles don't hurt at night like they used to.  It's so awesome.  I'm getting healthy and my puppies are loving me for it!!!

Big Cheesy Grin

So I hit the 30 pound mark today.  Doing the happy dance.  2 days shy of 3 months.  Right on track in my opinion.  Healthy and thin - here I come!!!

Noodles & Company

So, I've decided to figure out the points of some of my favorite Weight Watcher friendly restaurants.  I'm starting with Noodles & Co.  When we go out to eat, we try to keep our meals between 10-15 points.  Or occassionally save up my points for the day or my bonus points for the week, and go for a 20-25 point restaurant meal.

So here are some meal examples from Noodles & Company.

#1 - Small Japanese Pan Noodles with Chicken Breasts and a Tossed Green Salad w/Fat Free Asian Dressing - combined total 13 points.

#2 - Regular Med Sandwich with Small Tomato Bisque Soup - combined total 14 points

#3 - Small Spaghetti with Sauteed Shrimp and a Cucumber Tomato Salad - combined total 12 points.

Here's the entire menu:

Noodles & Company Menu turned converted to Weight Watchers Points

Salads:

Backyard Barbeque Salad (includes Chicken)– Regular 14 points

Very Berry Spinach Salad (includes Bacon)– Regular 18 points

Chinese Chop Salad (no meat) – Regular 8 points

The Med Salad (no meat) – Regular 8 points

Cesear Salad  (no meat) – Regular 9 points

Noodles:

Asian:

Japanese Pan Noodles – Regular 18 points, Small 9 points

Pad Thai – Regular 18 points, Small 9 points

Bangkok Curry – Regular 13 points, Small 6 points

Indonesian Peanut Saute – Regular 25 points, Small 12 points

Mediterranean:

Penne Rosa – Regular 21 points, Small 10 points

Pesto Cavatappi – Regular 24 points, Small 13 points

Pasta Fresca – Regular 20 points, Small 10 points

Whole Grain Tuscan Linguine – Regular 19 points, Small 12 points

American:

Spaghetti – Regular 17 points, Small 9 points

Wisconsin Mac & Cheese – Regular 23 points, Small 12 points

Mushroom Stroganoff – Regular 21 points, Small 10 points

Buttered Noodles – Regular 16 points, Small 8 points

Meats (for salads and pastas):

Chicken Breast – 3 points

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast – 4 points

Sauteed Beef – 5 points

Braised Beef – 5 points

Sauteed Shrimp – 1 point

Meatballs – 6 points

Organic Tofu – 5 points

Sandwiches:

The Med – Regular 9 points, All Veggie 8 points

Spicy Chicken Ceasar - WITHOUT DRESSING 8 points, WITH DRESSING 13 points

Wisconsin Cheesesteak on Flatbread or on Ciabetta Roll – 16 points

Mmmeatball – 16 points

Sides:

Cucumber Tomato Salad – 2 points

Tossed Green Salad - w/Fat Free Asian Dressing 1 point, w/Balsamic Dressing 2 points

Tomato Bisque Soup – Regular 10 points, Small 5 points

Chicken Noodle Soup – Regular 7 points, Small 3 points

Thai Curry Soup – Regular 12 points, Small 6 points

Potstickers – Regular 9 points, Small 5 points

July 4th Weekend

Well, I made it thru the holiday weekend okay.  Had several picnics to attend and a bunch of beer to drink. There's this thing called the 3 bite rule.  Basically, you can put any of those pot luck dishes on your plate that you want to try, but only have 3 SMALL bites of them.  That way you get the flavor and you don't feel like you're getting cheated from the holiday experience, but you also don't feel guilty or sick afterwards.  It worked great for me.  Hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July!!!

6/14/11 - Just past 2 months in and 20 pounds down. People have just started to tell me they can see a difference in my face. And I can feel a difference in my body and my clothes. No longer wearing 26's. Now comfortably in 24's. Actually lost another 2 pounds while at Disney because we planned ahead and ate decently healthy and we walked, Walked, WALKED everything off.

These pictures were taken April 18th and 19th. Just one week into my weight loss journey. At this point I had lost 2.5 pounds, but this will give you an idea of what I looked like at the start. I'm happy - oh yes, I'm a very happy person. But I definitley do not enjoy the way I look in these pictures! So, here's where we start. Still not ready to reveal my weights. Let's just call it 2.5 pounds down.

2 1/2 months and 25 pounds!!!

So, I started my weight loss journey on April 11th, 2011. I'm not quite ready to share with the world what my starting weight was, but I will say, it is the most I've ever weighed in my life. And it's not a weight I will ever weigh again. I've tried all the diets out there, but this time I'm going with Weight Watchers. My husband and I are doing it together. That's the only way it would work for us. It's not really a diet. It's a lifestyle change, that is taught through counting points. What they're really teaching you to do is to make healthy choices and to learn portions and which foods to avoid. It's working. I'm at 25 pounds and he's about to hit 30. I'm already down a jeans, t-shirt, and bra (#, not cup) size. I'm so excited.

We got started because I won a trip from Scentsy to Disney World and my biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to fit in the rides. I didn't want to go thru that embarrassment. And trying to cut calories and workout on our own just wasn't working. We needed a structured plan. So I asked my mom for Weight Watchers for my birthday present, and she said of course. I love you mom. And even though my birthday was in Feb., we didn't get started until April. I think it was the whole fear of failing thing. We had so much going on in March that I knew we would be cheating the plan the entire time and I didn't want to start out with negative results. So, finally, on April 11th, we went to our first, scary meeting. And it wasn't that scary. And we've been doing great ever since.

Our goal was 20 pounds by Disney. I hit it and Rick hit 25. I was jealous and proud of him at the same time. And we went and we fit and it was the most amazing trip ever. Thank you Scentsy. And now we're continuing the journey to be healthy and fit and to look good in our clothes. Not only are we eating healthy, but we've started exercising (sometimes together, sometimes solo) and it's going great. The clothes I bought for this Summer are already too big! I'm wearing shorts from 2 Summers ago and loving every minute of it.

It's a fact - NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS!!!