The 49-day "Goblin to Gobbling" challenge

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Forty-nine days.  Seven weeks.  That's how long I have before I leave on my trip to the UK for Christmas.  For those of you not looking at a calendar, this also brings us to the last weekend before Christmas.

I've always said in the past that the holidays do not bother me (food-wise).  And this was true.  Until lately.  Since I stopped trick-or-treating myself (many, many years ago), my exposure to Halloween festivities has been somewhat limited - I have no children of my own and for many years now I have lived in an apartment building where here has never been trick-or-treating permitted.  For me, this was good for two reasons: a) I don't have to spend money on treats and b) I don't have to HAVE the treats in my house.  This year, however, I was tasked with two things at work - helping one of my bosses get ready for his Halloween open house (to which I was invited) and getting the Halloween candy for my office.  I loved this - got myself a cute Halloween head-band from the dollar store, filled a pumpkin bucket with great candy and "reverse" trick-or-treated in my office (gave out rather than collected)... but there were leftovers.  Those leftovers sat on my desk.  Not good.  I seem to be unable to resist the lure of the chocolate/candy this year for some reason!  This entire week has been so food-focused (starting with the Halloween open house...gumbo, cake, lobster dip, oh my!) that I had to go to a mid-week Weight Watchers meeting on Halloween night just to get myself back on track.  It did help.  But I also realized that I need to re-evaluate things.

Last week at WW I was free for the first time since the summer.  For those of you not familiar with the WW plan, once you reach your goal weight, so long as you are not more than 2 pounds over goal, you attend meetings for free.  Last week I was finally back in the safe zone.  My meeting on Wednesday night was free for me, but I fear (with justification) that this upcoming weigh in will NOT be free.  I know that this is my own fault.  I accept that and acknowledge that only I can change this train-wreck :)  The leader at the mid-week meeting said that we should take 5 minutes per day to reflect on our food.  While I did not exactly do that yesterday, I was more aware of what I was doing than I had been the day before.

So here is my 49-day plan...nothing outrageous or scary...just simple, yet (hopefully) effective!

For the next 49 days I will do a MINIMUM of 10 minutes of activity each day.  I know, I know, that doesn't sound like much.  BUT I will continue to do my bootcamp 2x per week and Zumba 2 x per week.  So that still works out to about 4 1/2 hours of activity per week.

For the next 7 weeks I will evaluate my upcoming week for "danger zones" (aka treat opps) and determine which (if any) are with it and I will plan accordingly.  The only major events I can foresee in the next 7 weeks are my nieces birthday and my Christmas party for work (which falls on DAY 49!).  Halloween is over...Thanksgiving is over... no other birthdays or anniversaries (that I'm aware of).

For the next 1,176 hours I will limit (not eliminate) my sugary-treat intake.  Currently the only "bad" treats in my house are the Girl Guide thin mint cookies in my freezer (yes, I love them frozen!).  These are a 10/10 treat for me and on the WW program are 4 cookies for 4 pts+ (bargain!).  I only have half a box left, so I must ration these.  Maybe just 2 per week... :)  I will avoid picking at silly things that I don't even care for (that spoonful of chocolate chips from the baking cupboard, the chocolate covered raisins...I HATE raisins...but will eat anything covered in chocolate!).  I used to say I would limit myself to treats that were worth a 10/10, but not everything in life is perfect, so I'll reduce that to a 9/10 rating.

For the next 70,560 minutes I will track 100% (been slipping to about 95% lately).  I will also plan my lunches and suppers better (doing more cooking on the weekends in preparation for the upcoming week).

What are your plans for the Goblin to Gobbling season? (aka Halloween to Christmas)  Will you join me in becoming more aware and intentional about healthy eating and physical fitness?

Oh...I also want to blog more than once every few weeks...that's been slipping too!!

Ready?  Set?  Go!!!!!!!!!!

Gobble, gobble

Pin It Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I have so much to be thankful for - an amazing family, wonderful friends and a great bunch of co-workers and work for a great company.  I've also recently joined another great company (Epicure Selections) as an independent consultant.  I won't be talking Epicure on this blog (well, no more than talking about using Epicure in my recipes like I've always done!) - to keep up with my Epicure life, you can visit me The Spice of Life. 

I know it's been a LONG time since I've blogged.  I admit - I've been struggling with this journey since I returned from vacation (in August!!)  I lose a pound, I gain a pound....grrrrr  I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. 

Yesterday was my 3 year anniversary of joining Weight Watchers.  I'm thankful for where I am today vs where I was 3 years ago, that's for sure - I'm smaller (currently just over 120 pounds smaller), I'm healthier, I can cross my legs (both ways!), I can run up a flight (or two!) of steps without feeling like I might die, I can comfortably sit in any seat (except maybe a kiddie one!) and have "leftover" chair on either side of me, I am not afraid to try new things - whether that be tasting new things or moving my body in new ways, I'm more confident and I think I'm even happier with life in general.  I would not change the journey I've gone through over the past 3 years as I think this journey has made me who I am today.  All that being said, I need to get my head back in the game.  I still follow program and I track my food - don't get me wrong, I don't do it because anyone makes me - it's become such a habit for me...plus my Type A personality likes to check those boxes in my online tracker (when you check all the healthy guidelines you get a smiley face :) and to see the numbers...I'm such a charts and graphs kinda girl!!  BUT...clearly I'm slacking in some area...perhaps I'm eyeballing too many things that I used to weigh/measure... this week I take stock and get serious again.  I don't really mind if I don't reach my Christmas goal - but I would like to be a FREE at-goal Weight Watchers Lifetime Member once again.... and that only takes 1.8 pounds :) 

Ok, turkey is done, enjoyed myself, but am moving on.  No special events (that I can recall) coming up this week, so I have no excuses!  Back on track... here we go!

Oh, did I mention that I'm going to the UK for Christmas????  Hoping to plan a side trip to Paris for a few days too :)  I am SO excited!  In 11 weeks, I will be there!!!  Can you believe Christmas is only just over 11 weeks away?! 

Sometimes it feels like a lifetime

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But it's only been just over 2 1/2 years since I started Weight Watchers.  Yesterday I finally received my golden key, telling the world that I am now an official Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers!  My final total loss is 126.4 pounds.  I think part of me never thought I'd actually make it to lifetime status.  Before I got to goal I used to doubt I'd make it that far and then even once I made it to goal, I doubted I'd reach lifetime.  I'm not sure why I had such doubts.  I think part of it was because I have had a tenancy in the past to self-sabotage when I got close to any major milestone.  At the very least, I thought I'd have to extend my maintenance by a week.  Boy was I shocked to be 1.8 pounds under my goal weigh yesterday morning!  Had I lost another .3 pounds I would have been too far under goal and would have had to extend maintenance for that reason...ironic really :) 


Not much else to add here today - it's been a whirlwind of a weekend...week...month...hmm, let's just say things have been a bit nutty lately.  Unfortunately this means I have not had as much time to devote to my blog or to cooking...I'm flying but the seat of my pants in the kitchen lately!  Hopefully once June is over things will calm down a bit and I'll be able to get a bit more organized.  By then I should have my new Epicure products from my party, so I'll have lots to play with :)

Off to do some laundry before meeting a friend for coffee later.  Happy weekend everyone!

Is it really all about losing?

Pin It For nearly three years now I've been solely focused on weight loss (in case you're new here and just catching up ;-).  My blog has been about weight loss, the blogs I follow are about weight loss and even the daytime talk shows that I DVR are about weight loss.  My question now is... is that all that's out there?  Is the entire weight-related world wide web and daytime talk show circuit only focused on losing weight?  I just realized this today.  I was flipping through my Dr Oz shows and The Doctors that I had on my DVR and I realized that the shows I had recorded were still all about weight loss!  I think sometimes I forget that I'm no longer in "losing" mode, but am now in maintenance mode.  I need to find some shows and blogs that focus more on maintenance than losing.  It's hard to make the shift.  Just when I think I've made it, I realize that there is still a part of my brain that searches out weight loss tips, books, magazines, TV shows, podcasts and blogs.  Now that I've become aware of my tendency to veer towards that genre, I will be curious to see what's out there for maintenance.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Maintenance seems so much less dramatic/interesting than losing... ;-)

A new twist on an old favorite

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I've been craving salt this week...specifically my chicken fried "rice"...you know the one...loaded with veggies....and soy sauce and fish sauce ;-)  I had to (obviously) wait until after weigh-in to have this...thankfully I did given this week's gain (again!!!).  More on the gain later in this post.

Earlier in the week I posted about my grilled baby bok choy.  I still have a ton of bok choy left, so I decided I would throw some in my fried "rice" (for those of you who are new here, I typically use quinoa instead of rice - tonight I used a quinoa/bulger mix).  I also used sesame oil instead of olive oil (yes, I realize sesame does not qualify as a healthy oil...but it's SO darn good!!).  I added my usual peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, onions and celery, and then tossed in some yellow summer squash (I call 'em yellow zucchini) and cabbage.  When almost ready, I added my fish sauce (oops, I forgot to measure, so I added a bit more than usual) and soy sauce, as well as one egg white to bind it all together.  As always, I tossed in some spices.

This was the BEST version of my fried "rice" that I've made to date!  I'm not sure if it was the extra fish sauce or the sesame oil.  I suspect it was the oil :)  I did not want this supper to end!!

Maintenance Week 5:

Today: +1.3lbs
Total: -123.5lbs
Difference to goal: +1.1lbs


I am one week away from lifetime status.  While I will be fine if I stay the same, ideally I would like to get back under my goal weight (rather than being 1.1 over as I am right now).  Not sure why the gains two weeks in a row - perhaps it's all part of the maintenance process, or perhaps I've gotten slack these past couple of weeks.  Either way, I am dropping my daily points to 29 for the week and am going to be super careful about sodium starting earlier in the week than usual.  I have a couple of challenges coming up this week - one being a retirement party for a co-worker that is out of town - not only do I have no idea what they are serving (other than it'll be finger foods), but I'll also be out of town and eating on the road for 24 hours.  I don't do well with eating in restaurants...but I do find them easier than stand-up reception-type events... 

Stay tuned!

I've been bok choyed!

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Found these baby bok choys at No Frills, of all places!  I am sure I've tried it before, but I've never cooked with it before.  Tonight's supper was going to be a plain salad (well, as plain as my salads ever are!) with BBQ chicken on top.  At the last minute I decided to BBQ-grill my veggies (other than the lettuce, tomato and cukes!) to go on top of my salad.  I BBQ-grilled peppers, broccoli, onion, zucchini, bok choy and celery which I had tossed with a couple teaspoons of safflower oil and a tablespoon of raspberry balsamic vinegar, some garlic and some Epicure Cinco Pepper Blend.    It was SO yummy!  I only used one of my baby bok choys, but wished I'd used two!  I am SO addicted to my BBQ grill pan...I want to grill EVERYTHING...think I could have grilled my lettuce and cukes too?  I know tomatoes would have been fine... lol  I used to roast any veggie...now it'll be grilling for the supper I guess :)


Week 5 of maintenance almost over.  I am feeling very bloated this week, so hoping I don't have another gain tomorrow :(  Time will tell..stay tuned!

The great spice challenge!

Pin It This week's topic at Weight Watchers was about spicing things up...in the kitchen :)  Our leader challenged us to try something new/creative using various spices.  I have no idea what I'm going to do...I NEVER use any spices... haha, yeah right!  I think I'm the Queen of Spices.  I don't tend to use "regular" spices (oregano, "regular" garlic, etc.) though.  I like to buy blends of spices, like the ones from Epicure.  I tend to buy the Epicure dips quite a bit and use them as spices rather than fattening dips.  My favorite dip has to be the guacamole one.  Love this on roasted potatoes and other roasted veggies.  My favorite "regular" spice has to be Chipotle Chili Powder, which I put on just about anything!

I am going to try and post a new photo each day this week showing a different idea using spices.  Today I made some rhubarb apple sauce and used the Epicure Apple Pie Spice.  This is great over Greek yogurt, ice cream or frozen yogurt or just on its own.  You could add some jell-o powder mix and turn it into jam and, depending on your Weight Watchers theory of using the recipe builder for fruit-only based recipes, you might call this zero points (some folks believe in putting all recipes in the recipe builder, resulting in fruit and veggies "costing" points; others believe that if they are using all zero point foods, the recipe should be zero points...I will let you decide which school of thought you subscribe to).

Maintenance Week 3 Update:

Today concluded my third week of maintenance.  I actually had trouble eating all of my points this week.  My aim was to stick with the 4 extra daily points, but some days it ended up being only 3. I also only used about 18 of my weekly points when I usually use almost all of them.  The result of these circumstances was a 2 pound loss!  I am now 1.3 pounds under my goal weight.  This week was an extremely stressful/emotional week (all will be fine, I'm sure) and I had less appetite than usual.  I'm sure that contributed to my 2 pound loss this week :)

My two girlies are coming for a sleepover tonight (nieces), so I must go get ready for them.  I'm wondering where one might find a movie rental place these days???

Maintenance: Week 2 and my WW Article

Pin It Yesterday concluded my second week of maintenance.  For week two I only added four extra points+ vs the six I added in week one.  Thankfully I was down 0.3lbs of the 1.5lbs that I gained last week.  I am still 0.7lbs over goal (but well within the 2lb radius).  I think this week I will try only three extra points+ and see if I can get that 0.7lbs off.  It's been a rough several days lately, but I did manage to keep on track and not turn to food when I was stressed (which was most of the week), so that's an improvement over my "old life".

I know I mentioned briefly (eons ago) that I was considering submitting my weight loss story to the Weight Watchers magazine.  I decided last week, after some coaxing from my fellow WW-ers, that I will do this.  I did start writing the story several months ago, but of course it did not have a conclusion until just recently :)  I have a couple of great friends who are going to review it for me (I tend to ramble...and then forget important details!) before I submit it.  Not sure if it will ever get published, but hey...at least I tried, right?  I think there are two ways to get your story published - on the Weight Watchers website or in the magazine itself.  How cool would that be to get in the real magazine?!  Just think...you could say you "knew me when..." haha.  I'll keep you posted if I hear anything back from them.

Shameful to say, I've been up for 2 hours and all I've done is drink coffee and play on the computer.  Must go get ready to meet some fabulous ladies for brunch at Cora's :)