Weight Watchers Weigh In Week 2

Good news and bad news. The good news: I didn't gain any weight!! The bad news: I didn't lose any weight. However, I am TOTALLY OK with this because from last Saturday until today I've been out of town all last weekend eating very little food that was good for me (biscuit with jelly, pork sausage, chicken wrap, wedding cake, pizza, an all-you-can-eat buffet which consisted of chicken fried steak and fried chicken and dessert). Oh, and we bought some fudge from Buc-ees (to die for!!). Then it was back to school this week where we were fed sandwiches, pizza on two different days, chocolate chip cookies almost every day that we were there....so really it's amazing that I didn't gain 50 pounds! I wasn't upset at all by the non-moving scale numbers, and am just looking forward to really getting my focus back this week :)

Meal Planning Monday

OK, scratch what I said last week about planning my meals Saturday - Friday, rather than Monday - Sunday. Weight Watchers' online e-tools tracks points values Monday - Sunday, so I will too so that it's in line with what I'm eating that week. Also, I have no idea what lunch will look like for me since this week is all about eating out. I'm planning on eating out with my friends and co-workers, just making as healthy a choice as possible :)

Monday:

Breakfast: Pick-me-up smoothie (this turned out to be SOOO delicious when I tried it last week, and it really filled me up!)

Dinner: Homemade hamburgers and French fries (Michel said he would cook me ANYTHING I wanted in celebration of my first day back at work - sweet, huh?? :)

 Tuesday:
Breakfast: Coffee, banana, scrambled egg breakfast burrito TO GO forgot to buy tortillas! Going to McDonads for fruit and maple oatmeal and a non-fat vanilla iced coffee

Dinner: Tuna salad sandwich, chips

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Granola, coffee, banana
Dinner: Hamburger Helper, green beans, applesauce

Thursday:
Breakfast: Healthy Aveena shake
Dinner: Hamburger Helper leftovers, salad

Friday:
Breakfast: 1 c. Cheerios, coffee, banana
Dinner: Chick-Fil-A and shopping with former roommate :)

Saturday and Sunday are yet to come....maybe something with fish?? We have nineteen pounds of it in our freezer :-/ I don't even like fish that much.... 

Weight Watchers Weigh In Week 1

My first week of doing Weight Watchers was a HUGE success! I'm down 3 full pounds! Btw...I had to weigh in today rather than my usual meeting, Saturday morning, because we'll be out of town all weekend. But back to WW...I love the new Points Plus program! I feel like I get to eat so much food whereas on the old Points program I felt like I ate next to nothing!

I know I posted my meal plan, but here's some of the food that I ate this week that was NOT on my meal plan. Last Sunday we went to Jason's Deli for lunch and I ate fairly healthy. I stuck to the salad bar (which I actually really like, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on the "good" food), then we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner where I had a biscuit with jelly (however, my 3-year-old niece was sitting next to me and kept asking me "May I have bite please?" which of course I said "yes" every time she asked!) and I had a steak with green beans, corn, and apple sauce, and a Dairy Queen blizzard for dessert. Does it sound like I deprived myself of food?? I love how Weight Watchers is a  non-restrictive diet...I ate foods that I loved this week (including some junk food) and still lost 3 whole pounds! This is very encouraging, and I can't wait for next week's meeting :)

CVS Savings!

I went to CVS today to take advantage of some great deals and I am pretty happy with what I got for the money that I spent! I bought 2 Herbal Essences conditioners and 2 Cover Girl mascaras, and a birthday card (not pictured):

I did my deal in 2 transactions. 

Transaction #1:

Herbal Essences 2/$4.97 = $1 ECB

- Used FREE Herbal Essence product coupon

- Used $1/1 Herbal Essences coupon

Birthday card = $3.49

Total after coupons = $4.99

- Used $5 ECB that I already had

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET = $0.00!!!!

Earned $1 ECB

Transaction #2:

Cover Girl Lash Blast mascara 2/$14  =$4 ECB

- Used 2 $1/1 CG product coupons

= $12

- Used $2 ECB that I already had

- Used $1 ECB from transaction #1

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET = $9.74!

So for $9.74 I walked away with 2 Herbal Essences conditioners, 2 Cover Girl mascaras, and a birthday card. Without coupons or Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) I should have paid: $22.14! That's a savings of 56%!

Meal Scheduling Saturday

Now that I'm back at Weight Watchers, I plan my meals to be Saturday - Friday (because the meeting that I most frequently attend is on Saturdays) rather than Monday - Sunday. Therefore, I can't use the title "Meal Planning Monday" as my weekly meal planning, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the name "Meal Scheduling Saturday." I like the semi-alliteration of Meal Planning Monday, and tried re-creating that using Saturday as the day of the week, but I can't decide if I love it or not, so if anyone has any great ideas I'm definitely open to them!

Also...I'm trying a TON of new recipes! I'll let you know if they turned out good or not :)

 Saturday:
Breakfast: NutriGrain cereal bar, banana, chocolate milk
Lunch: Whole bologna sandwich, apple, carrot sticks
Snack: Skinny Cow candy (it's really good btw!)
Dinner: Tuna Helper, broccoli w/cheese, yogurt, Weight Watchers giant fudge bar

Sunday:
Breakfast: Cheerios, coffee w/milk and creamer, banana
Lunch: Jason's Deli with the in-laws! 1/2 Club Lite Sandwich w/strawberries; frozen yogurt
Dinner: Cracker Barrel to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday!

Monday:
Breakfast: Pick-Me-Up Smoothie
Lunch: Pizza w/Julie Gober
Dinner: Tuna Helper leftovers, salad

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Nutri Grain waffle w/peanut butter and lite syrup, coffee, banana
Mid-Morning snack: Yogurt
Lunch: Leftover Jason's Deli Club Lite Sandwich
Dinner: Pineapple Shrimp fried rice and salad

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Chocoalte peanut butter banana smoothie
Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich, grapes, carrot sticks
Dinner: Grilled Chicken and avacado sandwich, baked chips

Thursday:
Breakfast: Cheerios, coffee, banana
Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich, grapes, carrot sticks
Dinner: Leftover Shrimp fried rice

Friday:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs w/ham and cheese, coffee, banana
Lunch: Sandwich and apple
Dinner: KITCHEN CLOSED!

Saturday:
KITCHEN CLOSED!

We'll be traveling to Madisonville on Friday afternoon (near College Station) for my cousin's wedding!! We're not coming back until Sunday afternoon! Our last vacation before the start of school :(

Weight Watchers!!

I am so excited to start Weight Watchers again today! I will be attending 10:30 meetings every Saturday morning, and am so ready for it! I watched my weight go up 10 lbs this year. While that's not a lot, it's uncomfortable in my clothes. I tried losing weight on my own, and though I know the original Points Program from when I joined it in 2004, I felt like I really needed the accountability of going, weighing in, and the benefits of going to the meetings. I can't wait to share my progress! My goal is to lose about 12-14 pounds :)

No-Bake Cookies!

NO-BAKE COOKIES!!

I LOVE chocolate! And I LOVE desserts! I like cookies, cake (sometimes), brownies, but I really LOVE ice cream! I can easily pass up cookies, cake, or brownies for a bowl of ice cream...

....unless that cookie happens to be the no-bake cookies pictured above. These are my all-time, most favorite cookie in the whole world! They're like a drug to me! I find it hard to stop at just 1...or 2....or even 5! Yeah, they're that amazing! 

For the last 3 days, Michel and I took a mini-vacation to Broken Bow Lake in Oklahoma. We rented a cabin so that we could make our own food, and just enjoy some time away without breaking the bank. We took hamburgers and hot dogs for our meals, and I knew that we needed something sweet to eat, so I whipped up a batch of these decadent cookies the day before we left. 

Sadly, they're all gone. But I know I'll whip them up again - usually around Christmas. I love them so much that I can't keep them around very much or I would devour them every couple days. But I wanted to share the recipe. Many people make these, and have their own variations of the recipe, but this is my all-time favorite (what's sad is I have this recipe MEMORIZED!!):

In a medium-sized sauce pan on the stove, put in: 

2 c. sugar

4 T. cocoa powder

1-1/8 stick butter/margarine

1/2 c. milk

In a large mixing bowl, have ready to go: 

3 c. quick oats

2/3 c. peanut butter (you can do this as all crunchy or creamy, but I like doing 1/3 crunchy and 1/3 creamy)

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Turn heat on under saucepan to medium/medium-high, stirring constantly! Bring ingredients to a FULL, ROLLING BOIL!

Pour ingredients from saucepan into mixing bowl and mix everything together. Drop by spoonful onto wax paper, or aluminum foil. Let cookies stand for approx. 1-2 hours to harden before transferring them to refrigerator. Let cookies refrigerate approximately 2 hours, or overnight before eating for best results! 

Take little bites to fully enjoy the deliciousness of these oh-so-amazing cookies!