What I'm Loving: WW Edition!

As I've mentioned before, some friends of mine have started up with WW again, and I'm doing the same. But this week I've started up for reals this time. I'm really sticking to counting my points and so far so good.

For me personally, WW has worked out great. I've lost 20 pounds so far and I didn't do any exercising AT ALL. Now, I know that's not really a good thing and it's definitely something that WW doesn't recommend - and I'm not recommending that either. But I just wanted to share that because it's obviously my eating habits that have prevented me from losing my unwanted weight in the past. And for others it may be more about exercise. And I plan to rectify this non-exercising-habit today, after work. I will be doing Pilates. Thankyouverymuch! :) And I hope to continue with the exercising from here on out!

I wanted to share some tips that I've found while doing WW that have helped with staying on track and such.

1. Right now I'm not a paying WW member. I was a paying member for about 3 1/2 months. Then decided that the monthly fee wasn't something I could afford with a wedding coming up and all. So I stopped the membership, but continued on with the counting on my own. The way I did this was by using the iTracker app on my iPhone. It's free and it works pretty well. It is in no way affiliated with WW and it does not calculate your calories, fat and fiber into points. But it's just a way for you to keep track of your points each day. It also accounts for your extra weekly points. I'm using the "old" points system and not the new points system that I've heard WW has now. But the old system worked just fine for me, so I'm sticking with it.

Keeps track of each day. As you can see, I had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory yesterday and went over my points a bit. Ha!

Keeps track of your points as well as water, oil, veggies, fruit and dairy.

2. My co-worker told me about this recipe blog (Skinny Taste) last year. This woman takes your normal, everyday recipes and converts them into WW friendly recipes. She also does the points thing for you too. I love it! She also takes really good pictures of the food. Yum! :)

3. I don't know if you all have heard about these, but they should be in most grocery stores by now. They're the Oroweat Sandwich Thins. LOVE. THESE!

They are only one point and the sandwich you make with these is the perfect amount of food. When we run out, I'll usually buy two packs and put one in the freezer and take it out to thaw when I use up the first pack. Kevin and I only use these now when we want to make a sandwich.

4. I love me some breakfast! And I need some sort of carb in the morning to jump-start my day. Sometimes I'll make myself an egg sandwich using either Thomas' Triple Health English Muffin or Thomas' Bagel Thins. Each is just one point!

5. Kevin bought some Diet Green Tea when he went grocery shopping last week and it's zero points. It's nice to have something other than water every now and then. However, this particular brand has aspartame in it. And aspartame (along with chocolate and caffeine) can cause migraines. So I don't think I'll be drinking this too often. But the zero points thing is a plus!

6. My week turns over on every Thursday. So I weigh myself each Thursday morning and my points start over each Thursday. It also helps because I tend to eat the most over the weekends, and I'm really good on the weekdays. So I can enjoy my food (to an extent) on Friday-Sunday, then I don't worry too much about going over my points during the weekdays because I pretty much stay on track for that. That's just what works for me.


That's all I have for now. I'm sure as soon as I post this I'll think of something that I forgot to include here. Again, this is all stuff that works for me and it may not work for everyone - I just thought I'd share.

If you have any good WW tips that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment! I love new tips. :)

PS: I was not compensated in any way for this WW post or the foods I shared.

Trying to stay healthy,

Sunday Stuff

Happy Sunday, everyone!

• I cannot believe that it's already March! And now, a little less than five months until our wedding! Eeek!

• I hate worrying about money. I just have to keep telling myself that God will provide and that things will work out. But still...no fun.

• A couple friends of mine have made some very brave posts recently about their weight loss goals and I am so proud of them. Their posts have actually helped me get serious about these last pounds I have to lose before the wedding (and hopefully for good). I'm kind of thinking that to keep me accountable I might journal my meals here, on my sidebar. Still thinking about it...

• I met up with my friend, Erica, for breakfast yesterday. It's always so great to see her and catch up. She's got a little bun in the oven so I wanted to give her a gift. I made this bib (it was a cross-stitch pattern) a while ago and I've held on to it ever since. So I thought it'd be perfect for her little one. She loved it. :)
  

• After breakfast with Erica, Kevin and I went to Kohls to find him a shirt for our engagement photos. We found one, but he said I was a little "pushy" with my opinions on what I thought he should and should not wear. Ha! Oops!

• While we were at Kohls I spotted this t-shirt. I busted up laughing because I thought it was so funny. It was only $5.00 so I went ahead and got it. I thought it'd be fun to wear around Easter-time.
  

• I spent the rest of yesterday cleaning the ENTIRE house. It desperately needed it. We've been out of town a lot and we'll be out of town some more and I just needed to get things back in order. That included figuring out how to display this amazing tray I won from Megan's giveaway!!

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and looks on our coffee table. :)

• Since I have the cleaning out of the way, I'm spending all of today working on a lot of projects. I'm hoping to share them with you soon!

• Later this week I'll be doing another little opinion / poll / advice about wedding music! So stay tuned. I love getting to hear your ideas and such about all things wedding! It makes this planning process that much more enjoyable.

• Now I'm just waiting for Kevin and his brother to wake up so we can go get some breakfast. I'm a starvin' marvin! ;)

Hugs,

So Far, So Good

Today is my fifth day on WW and I'm happy to report that so far, so good! When I was complaining on Friday about how hungry I was, it has to do mostly with the fact that I actually worked out that morning, so my metabolism was doing it's job. However, I have not worked out since then so I haven't been as hungry. Ha! Not working out has nothing to do with the fact that I'm just too lazy, but more to do with the fact that I mysteriously hurt my foot over the course of the weekend. I'm also going to bed WAY too late at night, which in turn makes me WAY too tired to get up early enough and make it to the gym. It's a vicious cycle, I tell you! ;)

As for my foot, I don't know what happened. It started hurting Saturday night out of nowhere and I didn't twist it or hit it and no one stepped on my foot. But I'm pretty sure I have a hairline fracture. It hurts to walk, it's swollen once I get home from work because I've been on it all day and it kept waking me up last night when I was trying to sleep. I think it's just from me being on my feet Friday/Saturday/Sunday getting ready for the party and cleaning up after it all. Who knows, but I sure hope it gets better because I've been having to wear flats to work all week and I feel so short and frumpy!

I'm pretty excited for tonight because Rescue Me comes back on! That's one of Kevin's and my favorite shows. It was such a cliff-hanger when the season ended last season, so I can't wait to see the first episode of the the season tonight. I also love the opening song to the show. The song is called "C'mon C'mon" by the Von Bondies. It gets stuck in my head every time!

On July 1st, starting at 12am, there will be a Blogging Day of Silence for Cohen. Click the link for more information about it if you'd like to link up and participate. I know I will be participating! :)

Also, please keep the Jones family (from Not So Bright and Shiny) in your prayers. Their first-born son, Conner, went to be with Jesus on Thursday the 24th at the age of seven. He can now breathe easy and no longer has to suffer at the awful hands of CF. Conner's story is truly amazing and the strength of his mother and family is something to be admired.