Changes Continued
With the encouragement of a very supportive friend I joined weight watchers in the Fall of 2011. She had seen results with Weight Watchers in the past and wanted to get back on the program. At this time, my weight was out of control, and I didn’t think it was something within my power to do anything about. About two years after I graduated college I went down about 2 clothing sizes due to working out regularly, and basically eating the same thing every day during the work week. Then I fell off the workout wagon, got bored of my repetitive meal plan, and got busy, stressed, lazy, etc. All the usual excuses. Then my weight steadily climbed up and up and up. I never weighed myself during this time, and exercised on and off, and eventually went up about 5 clothing sizes before my friend encouraged me to join her at weight watchers.
Fast forward about 18 months, and I have slowly lost about 38 pounds (give or take a couple), got back into a good workout routine, built up my strength, and dropped down a couple of clothing sizes.
During this journey, I’ve been experimenting, reading, and understanding how I can achieve my weight loss goals and set myself up for a lifetime of health. The most important thing I’ve learned is that there is no one size (no pun intended) fits all solution. But I do want to document my successes, failures setbacks, and what I’ve learned both for my benefit and anyone else who may learn something from my journey.
Print by Jess Lively via Ampersand Design Studio | Shop
This blog will continue to be all over the place about food, exercise, photography, shopping, and lots of other random things because that’s what I’m into, but the further along I get in my weight loss, the harder it gets. So I want to make myself more accountable for my choices, and really examine my relationship with food and exercise. Writing helps me make sense of my world, so my recent redesign applies both to the look and feel and content of this blog.
I’m looking forward to collecting my favorite recipes, formally documenting my workouts, tracking my progress more closely, and creating a living record of where I am in my life. Hopefully you’ll join me!
New to Me: Baklava Greek Frozen Yogurt
The packaging on this limited edition Baklava Greek Frozen Yogurt from Turkey Hill caught my eye at the grocery store this week, and I had to give it a try. Greek frozen yogurt is a new trend, and this variety was really good. It was creamy and tasted more like ice cream than yogurt, and the baklava pieces tasted pretty close to the real thing (at least to my palate; I’ve probably only had like 5 pieces of baklava in my lifetime). The carton proudly proclaims “67% more protein than our regular frozen yogurt”; the greek frozen yogurt has 5 grams per serving to the regular’s 3 grams. However, this flavor of greek yogurt also boasts 2.5 grams of fat, including 1.5 grams of saturated fat; the regular is fat free. I know that fat free choices aren’t always the best, and it’s important to look at the what types of fats are in foods, the calorie count, and overall nutritional information. But saturated fat is not a healthy fat.
So the Turkey Hill Baklava Greek Frozen Yogurt probably won’t make it until my regular shopping list, but it could make a nice treat from time to time. One 1/2 cup serving is 4 weight watchers points plus.
Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes
I was much improved last week in the meal planning and cooking department and tried a few new recipes. The best of the bunch was from Real Simple magazine for Spicy Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes. I followed this recipe to the letter, and the result pretty yummy. My pork was a little dried out, which happens frequently in my kitchen. What’s the key to knowing when pork is cooked all the way through, but not over cooking it? Next time, I’ll take the pork out to rest and let the potatoes look a little longer because they definitely needed more time than the tenderloin.
Using the nutrition facts from the Real Simple website, this works out to 7 weight watchers plus points per serving, and makes 4 servings. Served it with a side of your favorite veggies, and it’s a delicious dinner.
Pineapple Blueberry Coconut Smoothie
I discovered my new favorite smoothie today…. 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks + handful frozen blueberries + 1/2 tbsp flax + 1/2 cup coconut water+ 1 cup ice
Super, super awesome, any only 1 weight watchers plus point (I think).
Easy Breakfast Sandwhiches
I usually have some variation of an egg/egg white, english muffin/toast/bagel thin for breakfast, and every morning I’m always running around like a whirlwind doing 20 things at once like making breakfast, getting my lunch ready, finding my keys, putting on lip gloss, and vacillating between heels or flats. So to slow down my morning run around and maybe get a few extra minutes of sleep, I made some make ahead breakfast sandwiches and froze them. They weren’t too bad, but don’t make the mistake I did and over microwave them to warm them up.
Weight Watchers Points Breakdown:
- Light English Muffin: 3 points
- Egg: 3 points
- Cheese: 1 point
You can lighten them up by swapping a whole egg for some egg whites, and I think they’d be great with some diced veggies thrown in. Also, next time I make them, I’ll have to pick up some english muffins from Trader Joe’s which only have 2 points.
