Party hearty

Last night was my BFF's birthday party and my first real test since starting Weigh Watchers. I went into the soiree with 13 points left in my daily allotment but I knew those wouldn't last long. Before going, I checked into the points values of white wine, as that's what I'd planned to drink. The result: 5 points for a 5 oz pour. And I had two glasses, so those 10 points pretty much wiped out my remaining allotment.

Over the course of the evening, I consumed a lot of veggies (hurrah broccoli, carrots and edamame!) but I also indulged in some cheese, a few crackers with prosciutto, some hummus and spinach dip for the veggies, a couple of shrimp and, of course, birthday cake. The grand total? 41 points of party fun (including the 10 points on wine).

My grand total on the day was 60, almost double my daily allotment and I burned through 28 of my weekly bonus points. I'm not beating myself up or anything as this is a learning experience (and also the reason for those extra weekly points). But it's helped me realize just how bad my choices were before. I always knew wine was loaded with sugar but thought that a couple of glasses couldn't be that bad. And birthday cake - 9 points! - wasn't something I ate regularly but it was something I didn't exactly restrain myself from when the opportunity presented itself. I also learned that 2 oz of brie rings in at a hefty 5 points. That's lotsa points for a wee bit o' cheese.

Of course I don't want to spend every party eating only the carrot sticks but fortunately my social calendar just busy enough to allow me to save my weekly points for indulgences. And if I go over, so what? I do want to lose weight and I'm serious about it but not to the point where I stop having fun. It will be hard to give up cheese but I can cut back on that; and I can easily cut down how much alcohol I drink. But I'm still going to have fun!

This coming weekend presents the next challenge: dinner with the Beau's siblings/siblings-in-law which will include baked brie; cornish hens; cornbread stuffing; a chocolate fondue; and ample wine. Again, I'll make the best choices I can but I won't let those points stop me from enjoying the evening.

I'll just have to add another workout or two!

Up-Down Challenge Weigh-in #19 and dinner tonight

Golden delicious polenta

We didn't publish an issue of the magazine last night, so I went to work today.  Because of that, the Beau took on dinner-making duties tonight and made an amazing dinner of polenta topped with a spicy chicken and mushroom tomato sauce - so good!  Polenta is one of our favourite carb substitutes; we buy it by the tube, slice it into thick disks and roast it in the oven so it's crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.  Polenta is made of cornmeal so it's not white-flour heavy like pasta or bread, but it's still delicious and really filling.  We've also started buying dried mushrooms because we both love mushrooms but can never cook the fresh ones quickly enough.  The dried mushrooms work really well in a sauce and added a nice touch to tonight's dinner.

But on to the weigh-in.  I didn't make it to the gym today, not because I didn't want to go but because it was so busy at work today that I didn't even get a break.  I probably could have stayed a bit later than I did, but not getting a lunch break meant after-work errands and I wanted to get home in good time.  Though I think a break from the gym was good for me; my muscles are a bit sore from weights yesterday and my shins were a bit achy (I've been stretching a lot because I really want to keep my running up!).

Tonight, the scale looked up at me and said 193.6 lb.  That's 0.8 lb down from last week (yay!) but still not the 190.2 lb that will get me a book (boo).  It's also not where I wanted to be but at least the number is going the right way. 

I know I can do this and I have to really work at not getting frustrated.  I also have to really work at making better choices and - this is most important - watching my portion sizes.  I've mentioned this before and I'm still not doing what I need to do.  But I am getting more vegetables and I've actually discovered I enjoy some fruit! 

So I'll keep trying. 

(Hm...can I blame the not-much weight loss on weight gain due to muscle gain?  Somehow I think that's wishful thinking!)

Yummy Wednesday dinner

It's not quite as pretty as the picture from the recipe but still...

I made jambalaya for dinner tonight and it smells AMAZING.  I had to look up the recipe and, oddly enough, jambalaya recipes are very complicated.  Here I thought it was just sausage, shrimp, veggies, tomatoes and rice - but most recipes also call for chicken, which I added.  Although the most complicated part was the spices; I never would have been able to spice the dish from scratch.  And even without the Creole seasoning that the recipe called for, I think it turned out pretty awesome.

And to keep it healthy, I used turkey sausage instead of pork sausage.  Turkey sausage is quickly becoming my favourite meat.  I find I can't tell the difference between turkey and pork sausage, which is great because it tastes delicious but is still good for me.  In fact, I quickly discovered that jambalaya is a pretty healthy meal. 

Since it's Wednesday, I also wanted something delicious for dessert, so I picked up some vanilla ice cream (vanilla is the Beau's favourite sweets flavour) and some fresh peaches to serve on top. 

I'm really excited for dinner tonight!

Another awesome Wednesday dinner

Today has been a great day.  I weighed myself and had a great workout (but I'll post on that later) and I made a wonderful dinner (if I may say so myself).


So what did I make?  I made fish tacos topped with mango salsa, served with garden salad on the side and cupcakes for dessert.  Although I confess - I bought the cupcakes.  We're trying to be healthy and having a couple dozen cupcakes around the house would be all kinds of bad news.

I also discovered how much I love my little juicer; it's not electric or big or anything, it's just one of those little ones that you squish the fruit on.  But I used it to get fresh lime juice for the fish marinade and for fresh lime juice and orange juice for the mango salsa and it was awesome.  I've been on this kick lately to make from scratch as much as I can and the whole juice thing works for me.

And now I am really REALLY full and we have leftovers for dinner tomorrow night, so all in all, a big dinner WIN.

Dinner tonight

It's Wednesday so it's special dinner night for the Beau and I.  We have some whole wheat tortillas that need eating, so tonight we're having chicken quesadillas and Mexican rice, with salsa and homemade guacamole on the side.  Yum!

Oh, and I picked up Oreo ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Not the healthiest thing, but it's special dinner night, you know?

I'm going to weigh in shortly - I'll do it before dinner, methinks.