28 March 2011

Weigh in Monday!


I feel like I did good this week, considering it was Chandler's big birthday weekend (yes, they tend to last more than one day). I did my mid week weigh in and was down unofficially 2.8 as of Friday. The official weigh in is today, and that number is.... Loss of 3.4!!!!! Which means total weight loss of 19 lb, which means 5% lost! Can I get a woot woot?

I am still shocked how awesome I did for Chandler's birthday! But I need to step it up even more! I would love to get a trainer just to push myself a bit more... But they are way to expensive. Maybe that would be a good b-day present! ;-) I have a goal of 20 lb down by Easter/33rd Birthday (April 24) and I think I will hit that next week, 3 weeks early!

Bodybugg output for the week March 21-27:
Calories Burned: Average 3129 (Goal 2800)
Calories Consumed: Average 1920 (Goal 1800)
Meals logged: 5.1 a day
Calorie Balance: Average 1209 (goal 1000, to equal 2 lb loss)
Physical Activity: Average 37 minutes (Goal 45 minutes)
Steps: Average 4465 (Goal 8000)
Sleep Duration: 5hr 11min (Goal 8 hrs-can you tell 1: I have kids & 2: it was spring break? LOL)

I think the bodybugg is really helping me hit my weigh in goals! I plan on doing another mid week weigh in this week, but I don't expect a big number since I had such a big one this week. But I'd be happy with 1.5 lb next week! Until then, have a great week!

25 March 2011

Diet Soda Cupcakes

Yes, you did read that right. I promise it's not as odd as it sounds! It was super easy too! Thanks to Skinny Taste for this awesome low calorie/fat recipe. Since it was Chandler's birthday this week, I was trying to plan/figure out what I would do for his birthday. Obviously we'd have cake from the store, but I wanted something I could eat and not feel guilty about. I am telling you you'd have no clue the soda I used was Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper in a German Chocolate Cake! We topped the cupcakes with light cool whip and 1/4 of a dark chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Be creative!

So I looked at Gina's Skinny Recipes and found Diet Soda Cake, omitting all oil and egg yolks and subbing in diet soda. Sounds easy enough and it was, give it a shot. Oh and the kids loved them, and so did the adults!

Diet Soda Cupcakes
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 24 Serving Size: 2 cupcakes Calories: 173 • Fat: 3 • Carbohydrates: 36 • Protein: 2.6
  • 1 dry box cake, any flavor (For the calorie info above I used a German Chocolate cake with 170 calories per serving in the mix)
  • 10 oz diet soda, any flavor
  • 2 egg whites
  • Cupcake Liners
Preheat oven according to box directions. Insert the liners into the pan.

Beat cake mix, diet soda and egg whites. Pour into liners, filing half full.

Bake as directed on box, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 24 min

Let cupcakes cool.

Top
with fat free whipped cream if you wish, maybe even a Reese's PB Cup (not included in calorie info). Enjoy!

Apple Bread Review


So I mentioned on facebook that I was making Apple Bread this week. It was delish! I got the recipe from the blog My Kitchen Adventures. Renee does an amazing job taking pictures of her yummy creations and well she make it very hard *not* to try this Apple Bread. This was so heavenly smelling in the oven. Lincoln loved it. You cannot tell you used grated apple (food processor is the best for this, FYI), it was very soft and moist. It was gone in one day. It was very hard not to eat just 1 slice. I dare you to try.

I made a few changes to her recipe to adjust for what I had in the house. But for the most part it was the same.
Apple Bread

Servings - 12 Serving size- 1/12th Calories - 152 Fat- 5.2 Carbohydrate- 24 Protein- 3.5

2 C. bleached all purpose flour
1/2 C. white sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg + 2 egg whites
1.5 C. grated fresh apple
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. fresh, grated ginger root
1/4 C canola oil
3 TBS. 1% milk
1/3 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the egg and egg whites, applesauce, oil and milk. Add the grated apple and ginger and combine. Add the "wet" ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, test at 50 though, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on rack and slice into 12 pieces.

Thanks Renee for such a great recipe!!! And for proof that kids do like this, here's Lincoln itching to get to the bread!

A great surprise!

Besides today being Chandler's 6th birthday, I had a great surprise! I decided to go weigh in mid week (today) to see how I was doing before the cake tomorrow for his party. So I went in, actually say my leader, and jumped (figuratively of course) on the scale. Boy was I shocked when it showed me DOWN 2.8 since Monday!

Just to show how shocked I was, last night I was *bad* and had a whole CPK BBQ Chicken pizza. Yeah, 1100 calories, bad! And I was still down.

So today, Chandler has requested, for dinner, steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots. But we cannot forget the cake! So I am going to be doing a diet chocolate cake made with diet soda!

I'll be posting about it as well as the apple bread this afternoon. I need to get work done first, and work out. I really want to maintain that 2.8 for Monday's official weigh in!

22 March 2011

Granny Square bag!

My latest (completed) craft project is my granny square purse! Yes, an actual bag that I am actually using!

I got the pattern from Crochet Me. It's free, just have to sign up for their newsletter, which is actually pretty good! It's about 12x12 and the strap you can make as long as you want. I am still playing with the length. But so far so good.


I used Vanna's Choice in black, white and a variegated black/gray. Then I used Stitch N Bitch's Wool for the Aqua/Teal. Both worked up really nicely, and since I've never used either, it was a "gamble" on a project this intense.

I went to the local fabric store and got some sassy fabric that was light in color, so I could see the contents of my bag with our a flashlight. I used some biased tape to create a nice clean edge for the top. This step was the most intensive, and was not a part of the pattern. I just wanted something to keep my stuff inside, if I didn't do it I'd probably loose my $100 bluetooth. And that would cause Rob to be very mad at me. :)


I did each panel differently, so 4 squares in 3 different motifs. I made 9 out of the 12 squares in one night! So this whole project took maybe 5 nights. One thing I would change is getting 1 1/4" D rings versus the 2" D ring. I used the 2" and it didn't hold the strap. So I fixed it and it's much better. Also since I was already sewing the liner to the bag (which worked really well to my surprise), I made a narrow strip, hemmed it and sewed that to the strap to help strengthen the strap and small strap that holds the D rings. I know I tend to over load my bag (ask any friend), so this was important.

Over all, I'd say this was an easy beginner crochet project, the sewing part would add to the difficulty but you can omit that part. I see myself making another one of these for the summer in some bright colors!

Weigh in Day (a day late)!


This is the first post in what will be a few this week (most having to do with crafting or Chandler's birthday or both). :)

Yesterday I did my Monday weigh in, and I was down .8 lb! Woo. I was very happy with that. I officially hit 15 lb down, so here's my awesome new star!

I was having issues with my hip, and so I had that adjusted today, go figure, my pelvis was rotated and some bone in my butt was out of whack. So now my hip shouldn't bother me when I do the elliptical! That will be great.Hector was thrilled with my weight loss, and he even could tell I was toning up (under the jiggly tummy)! Makes me happy since I can't tell, LOL.

Anyway, back to this weeks weigh in: I missed tracking for 2.5 days, so I know that was part of the "low" number. But I spoke to my leader and asked if I could weigh in on Thursday or Friday in prep for my Chandler's 6th (gasp) b-day party on Saturday.

I am going to attempt to do the cauliflower mashed potatoes this week. And I have a stack of recipes that I'd like to try. I am going to make a soda cake (well cupcakes), which should make cake a bit easier to swallow (calorie and points+ wise). Also next week I am going to try Jicama, at the suggestion of a woman in my meeting. Little steps. Until next time (which won't be long)!
Mel

14 March 2011

Weigh in Monday!

Today's weight in was a bit of a surprise. I was bad over the weekend, and was dreading Monday morning. But I went, needing to be accountable for my actions, no matter how bad they could have been. This week I was down 1.8; total loss of 14.8! I am .2 from the 15 lb mark and 2.4 from my 5% goal!

So this was a good morning! Plus I didn't have to bring Lincoln with me, which was a HUGE bonus. Next week is spring break, Chandler will be coming along, which is fun since I know there is another woman who has kids the same age as mine, and they'll be there! :)

I need to work on getting into the gym more, I was only in twice last week, and that's not ok. Plus I was really bad about tracking my food. I know in my head I was close to the 1800 calories I aim for, but I know I blew it when I caved and hit Sonic with the family. So other goal is to get better at tracking the food. I am still wearing the Bodybugg so there isn't a reason NOT to track.

Also a goal is to try 2 new things this week.

I'll be posting later this week about Chandler's room renovation. It's been a fun project. Oh and speaking about project, I have a new crochet project to post on! It's been a fun project too.

07 March 2011

Weekly weigh in!

After some thought and determination, I decided I needed to do some adjustments. I got my Bodybugg out and started using it to see how many calories I am actually burning. I love WW, but I am thinking that it's a great guideline, but not "fast enough" for my taste. I'd like to loose 2-3 lb a week, not their recommended 1-2 lb a week. Sorry, but when you have this much to loose, 1 lb a week is 52 lb a year... Much better. Does that mean I am going to hit 2-3 every week, NO (look below)! But I can work toward that goal and feel like I am doing a bit better. I am going to keep going to meetings, since I get a lot out of the meetings right now. It's nice to have the "official weigh in day/time" that's not at home. :)

Now I am going to start posting my weekly calorie burn and intake instead of points. It's a much better gauge to see how many lbs I should be loosing. Math Alert: For every lb of fat it takes 3,500 calories to burn. So if you are in a 3,500 calorie deficit (500 a day), you should loose 1 lb. For me, my goal is to be in a 1,000-1,500 calorie deficit a day. I am eating about 1,800 calories, so I need to burn 2,800-3,300 a day. I didn't enter points this week, but I logged all my food in the Body Media site, so I will be going back to see how many points I did eat. And since I didn't really start this until Tuesday afternoon, I think some of my data below could be skewed a bit. But it's worth looking at. :)

Week of: March 1 (Tues)-March 6 (Sun)
Calories Burned (Avg): 3778
Calories Consumed (Avg): 1908
Calorie Balance (Avg): -1870 a day (woo!)
Physical Activity (Avg): 1 hr 6 min
Steps (Avg): 7504

Weight Lost: 1.6 lb
Total Lost: 13.0 lb

Conclusion for the week: Keep it up! 1.6 is great, it's a loss! Goal is to get back into the gym. I burn a lot more calories doing the elliptical than lifting weights, but I love both. Going to hit Zumba tomorrow to see what kind of burn Gina can give me!