March 18, 2010 - Update

So I haven't posted in a while. On my last post, I discussed how I wasn't going to calculate WW points anymore. Apparently I meant that I wasn't going to calculate points, calories, or meticulously watch/post everything I ate. :/ Which is fine - the point of stopping was to see if I could continue to (a) lose weight and, more importantly, (b) make smart choices regarding food without doing all of the extra stuff.

So, today was the (a?) moment of truth - the first time I weighed myself since stopping. And my weight is .... (drum-roll please) .... 131.7 pounds. Yay! I lost about 2 pounds in a little over a week. Only about 6.5 pounds to go until I reach my goal weight! What's even more exciting is that I think I am now officially considered to be in a healthy weight range (i.e. I am not overweight anymore!).

So, I just thought I would share that with you. I'm still going to my fitness classes - Zumba about 3 times a week; Pilates/Yoga once a week; and sporadic times at university rec center when I want to do a little something. I've cut back on the ab workout at home - I get a great ab workout at the fitness classes. So, come bathing suit season, I hope to rock an amazing swimsuit (not that I go swimming ever - it's more just that I could if I wanted to).

March 11, 2010 - Day 66

I've decided that I'm going to stop calculating WW points and calories. Well, I'll probably still put the calories down if I know them, but I'm not going to go out of my way to calculate the calories for casseroles and the like. The point of stopping now is that I want to see how I do while I'm still weighing myself pretty regularly. Since I don't want to be calculating points for the rest of my life, I want to see if I can maintain making smart choices without the push of calculating the points. If it doesn't work (i.e. I start gaining weight), then I'll go back to the tracking them. But for now, I'm done. :)

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories)

1 Nutri-Grain strawberry cereal bar (130 calories)

For lunch

Water

1 turkey ham wrap w/cheddar cheese, mixed greens, fat-free mayo, and alfalfa sprouts (215 calories)

A handful of green seedless grapes (25 calories)

A handful of mixed nuts (85 calories)

For dinner

Water

1 chicken patty burger w/remulade sauce and lettuce on a bun

1 serving of chicken caesar pasta with chicken

Snacks

1 trail mix bar (140 calories)

1 tall mocha w/skim milk

Exercise

A little over 30 minutes on an elliptical machine

March 10, 2010 - Day 65

Wow, another hungry day for me. I tried to make smart choices and eat healthy through out the day. I wonder if my increase in working out and activity in general has something to do with it. Hopefully it's that and not that I'm just needlessly eating.

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

1 trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

Maple and brown sugar oatmeal (160 calories; 3 points)

1/2 a banana (45 calories; 0.5 points)

For lunch

Water

1 turkey ham wrap w/cheddar cheese, mixed greens, fat-free mayo, and alfalfa sprouts (215 calories; 3.5 points)

1/2 cup of green seedless grapes (55 calories; 1 point)

A handful of mixed nuts (85 calories; 2 points)

For dinner

Water

1 serving of angel hair w/shrimp and asparagus (390 calories; 7 points)

Snacks

A handful of Kashi Crunch! cereal (50 calories; 1 point)

1 Special K strawberry cereal bar (90 calories; 2 points)

Diet hot chocolate (25 calories; 0 points)

1 dark chocolate/oatmeal cookie (100 calories; 2.5 points)

Total Calories: 1325

Total WW Points: 25.5

Total flex points left: 30.5 of 35

Days left in flex points week: 5

Exercise

Zumba!

150 ab crunches

March 9, 2010 - Day 65

***** Weight update: 133.8 lbs *****
So, my weight loss rate is down since that number represents a little less than a pound in almost 2 weeks. But, really. I couldn't be any happier - I didn't gain anything b/c of my conference travels. Yay!

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

1 nutri-grain strawberry bar (130 calories; 2.5 points)

3/4 of a serving of shredded wheat w/skim milk (150 calories; 2 points)

For lunch

Water

Smart Ones 3-cheese ziti marinara (320 calories; 6 points)

For dinner

Water

1 serving of maple dijon chicken w/sweet potatoes (245 calories; 4.25 points)
* Score another for the crockpot! I love using one. It's so easy to throw something healthy together and forget about it, which is great on days that I am watching Riley. Then I can spend more time playing with her!

1 cup of steamed broccoli (54 calories; 0 points)

Snacks

1 Skinny Cow low-fat fudge bar (100 calories; 1 point)

1 Special K strawberry cereal bar (90 calories; 2 points)

A handful of Kashi Crunch! cereal (50 calories; 1 point)
* Sooo good! I love this Kashi brand. Everything so far has been yummy!

Total Calories: 1104

Total WW Points: 19.75

Total flex points left: 35 of 35

Days left in flex points week: 6

Exercise

A little over 45 minutes on an elliptical machine

150 ab crunches

March 8, 2010 - Day 64

I'm home!!! I tried to do well at the conference, and for the most part I think I succeeded. I didn't starve myself and didn't feel guilty when I ate some dessert or muffins. But I also didn't gorge myself. I'm going to the university rec center tomorrow which is where I weigh myself, so we'll see how I did. I'm not expecting to have lost weight this past week; just don't want to have put too much back on. :D

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

3/4 multi-grain english muffin w/margarine (100 calories; 2 points)

1 trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

1 banana (90 calories; 1 point)

For lunch

Water

1 turkey wrap w/cheddar cheese, mixed greens, fat-free mayo, and alfalfa sprouts (205 calories; 3.5 points)

For dinner

Water

1 fish fillet w/remulade sauce (150 calories; 3.75 points)

3/4 cup fried rice w/shrimp (120 calories; 2.5 points)

Snacks

Soy chocolate milk (140 calories; 2.75 points)

Mocha w/skim milk (175 calories; 3 points)

Total Calories: 1185

Total WW Points: 21.5

Exercise

Zumba!

150 ab crunches

March 7, 2010 - Day 63

Traveling day. This one's going to be tough. Sitting on the airplane all day after going out to breakfast w/my parents, who I know will not understand when I want to eat "lightly." At least tomorrow's back to normal - Zumba, healthier eating. Phew.

For breakfast

1 cup of coffee w/non-fat dairy creamer & minimal sugar

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

1 pancake w/sugar-free syrup

Various fruits (cantaloupe; grapes; orange)

1 sausage link

For dinner

Water

1 piece of lasagna

Mixed greens salad w/balsamic vinagrette

Snacks

Diet hot chocolate

Peanuts

Wheat thins

Oatmeal/dark chocolate cookies (2)

Exercise
Nothing

March 6, 2010 - Day 62

Conference day 3. Man they sure do pile on the food here. My weigh-in tomorrow is not going to go well I think. :D

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/non-fat dairy creamer & minimal sugar

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

1 clementine (40 calories; 0 points)

For lunch

3/4 of a turkey, cheese, and guacamole wrap
* I was so proud of myself - I ate most of it with the onions and tomatoes that came inside of it. For those who know me well, that's HUGE!
* I also skipped the apple pie for dessert.

Water

For dinner

1/2 of steak and black beans.

All of my rice and peppers

1/2 of flan

1/2 cup of decaf with just cream... no sugar!

Water

Snacks

1/2 of chocolate chip cookie

1 small bran muffin

1 kahluha and milk

1 Special K cereal bar

Exercise

About 35 minutes on a stationary bike

50 ab crunches

March 5, 2010 - Day 61

Conference day 2. I found the fitness center today. Can you believe that I woke up extra early (6am) to go there?! The conference started at 8:30 and went all day until 6pm. So, this was really the only time I could go if I was going to go.

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/non-fat dairy creamer & minimal sugar

1 Special K strawberry cereal bar (90 calories; 2 points)

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

For lunch

Water

Oh, this was a real mix. I had tofu; spinach salad w/oranges, dressing, and almonds; peppers; chicken; broccoli; and beef. This sounds like a lot and it probably was. But, there were little bits of everything. I think I was most impressed with the fact that I didn't take a roll, nor did I take dessert.

For dinner

Water

1/2 of a turkey, salami, prosciutto and cheese sandwich

1 small mocha gelato (132 calories; 3 points)
* This is compared to 280 calories and 14 g of fat in a small ice cream cone! And this was soooooo much tastier!!!

Snacks

A cup of mixed nuts

A half of banana muffin

2 bites of a banana

Guacamole and chips - probably should have skipped this one!

Exercise

About 35 minutes on an elliptical machine

Some free weights with the arms/legs

March 4, 2010 - Day 60

It's traveling day/conference day 1. This should be interesting as I'll have no idea what the caloric intake is. So, for the next few days I'll report what I ate, but not the total calories/points. I mean, I'll report the points/calories if I can, but I won't be making any guesses when I have no idea. I'm just going to try and make the best possible choices given the situation I'm in. At least I can go to the fitness center tomorrow. Yay!

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

1/2 of a banana (50 calories; 1 point)

For lunch

1/4 of a sandwich with roast turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and lettuce

Water

For dinner

An assortment of hors d'oeuvres (cantaloupe, watermelon, cheese, crackers, spinach wrap, berries, a piece of quesadilla)

A few sips of a margarita

Snacks

Diet hot chocolate (25 calories; 0 points)

1 oatmeal/dark chocolate cookie (100 calories; 2.5 points)

On the plane:

Peanuts

Pretzels

1 clementine (40 calories; 0 points)

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

Exercise

75 ab crunches

March 3, 2010 - Day 59

Wow, for some reason I was really hungry today. Nothing seemed to satisfy me, and I just kept wanting to eat. Hmph. :/

For breakfast

1 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (70 calories; 2 points)

3/4 multi-grain english muffin (110 calories; 2 points)

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)

For lunch

Water

Leftover penne w/peppers and sausage (250 calories; 5 points)
* I have to say that I love this meal more every time I eat it. So yummy!

For dinner

Water

Pasta w/marinara sauce, meatballs, peppers, and zucchini (500 calories; 9 points)
* This is a guess. I think it might be a little bit of an overestimate, but I'd rather go over in my estimates

Cabbage + 2 tsps of ceasar dressing (50 calories; 1 point)

Snacks

Diet hot chocolate (25 calories; 0 points)

1 bowl of cheerios in skim milk (140 calories; 3 points)

1 piece of dark chocolate (57 calories; 1 point)

So for today it's roughly:

Total Calories: 1342 - Wow, I sure ate a lot today. Like I said above, I was just so hungry today, and I'm not sure why.

Total WW Points: 25

Total flex points left for week: 31 of 35

Days left in flex points week (after today) : 5

Exercise

150 ab crunches

No Zumba today. :( I think this week is going to be bad (i.e. a few pounds will be added on to my weight instead of being subtracted). I'm off to a conference tomorrow until Sunday. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be difficult to eat low calories/low fat food. Oh well. At least there's a fitness room at the resort I'm going to, so that's something at least. :)

More on Sodium

Just as a follow-up to my tracking of daily sodium intake today. I came across a short article about sodium in one of my old Good Housekeeping magazines. Here's what it says:

"Nutrition guidelines say that we should get no more than 1500 to 2300 mg of sodium daily. Yet most of us consume up to double the recommended amount. Banishing the saltshaker can help, but only a little. The real villain is processed food. Here, some examples of how sodium levels can soar."

With these numbers, I definitely went over my daily sodium intake. Oops. At least I didn't double it!

The article then has a table which compares sodium levels in fresh, processed, and heavily processed foods. I can't reproduce the table here without a lot of work. But here's a link to the article: Sodium

One of the more interesting ones for me was that 2 slices of bacon had so much LESS sodium than 3 ounces of ham (370 vs 1128, respectively). Now I know that ham has a lot of sodium in it because of the curing process, but I thought 2 slices of bacon would have a lot too.

Anyway. It's an interesting read. Take a look.

March 2, 2010 - Day 58

They say sodium is the silent killer. So, ideally I should be watching out for that too (as well as the numerous other things like balancing out sugar, protein, fat, fruit/vegs, and grains). I think a person would go nuts if they tried to keep track of all of this stuff all the time. But just for today I wanted to see how much sodium I'm intaking while I watch my caloric intake. I'm not going to do this after today because I'll lose my mind if I do.

After doing some reading, it seems that we should absolutely not get more than 2400 mg of sodium per day (although there is some debate on that number). For those that have high blood pressure, it is recommended to be less than 1500 mg. For comparison, they say that average sodium consumption per person per day in the US is 3375 mg of sodium, with 75% of this coming from pre-packaged foods. So almost 1000 mg over the maximum. Yikes!

Oh, and one last thing on this subject. Table salt is not equal to sodium. Table salt is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. I should have paid more attention in chemistry class, since I had no idea!

For breakfast

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point; 50 mg)

High fiber oatmeal (160 calories; 2.5 points; 290 mg)
* I decided to use half WW points. I've seen many other people do it, so I guess it's okay. I don't think I'll do it all the time, but this is so close to 2.5 (it was like 2.57) that it seemed silly to round all the way up to 3 like I have been.

For lunch

Water

Leftover penne w/peppers and sausage (250 calories; 5 points; 400 mg)
* It was the sausage in this meal that really upped the sodium. It contributed 375 mg of the 400!

For dinner

Water

1 Subway Roast Beef on 9-grain bread (310 calories; 5.5 points; 840 mg)
* #1, O_o on the sodium! Crazy!
* #2, I was so proud of myself for this dinner. We decided to go to the mall and then check out the food court. All of my favorites were there. Orange chicken, baked ziti, pretzels... but I resisted and just had a few bites of Cam's sesame chicken and rice and instead opted for the much healthier sub. I gotta give it up to Subway. Not only is their nutritional information for each sub listed prominently right as you order (which I verified on-line when I got home), they also provide you with options if you are on a low-fat, low-calorie, or low-sodium diet. Guess which one I didn't look at? :)

A couple of bites of sesame chicken and rice (125 calories; 2 points; 350 mg)
* A guess based on what I read on-line.

Snacks

Some cantaloupe (30 calories; 0 points; 14 mg)

Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points; 105 mg)
* These are super low in sodium! Yay, because I love these soooo much! I think I'm going to have to try the cereal soon.

1/2 of WW strawberry yogurt (50 calories; 0.5 points; 55 mg)
* I didn't plan on having this, but Riley wanted yogurt sooooo badly and this was all we had in the house. She never finishes a whole yogurt, so I got half.

Diet hot chocolate (25 calories; 0 points; 140 mg)

1 oatmeal/dark chocolate cookie (100 calories; 2.5 points; 80 mg)

So for today it's roughly:

Total Sodium: 2344
* Wow, this would have been so much lower if I had cooked at home tonight as was the original plan. So, I guess that's the moral of the story. At least I'm under the 2400 maximum, albeit just barely. :/

Total Calories: 1205

Total WW Points: 21

Total flex points left for week: 35 of 35

Days left in flex points week (after today) : 6

Exercise

150 ab crunches
* This was all I could handle as my legs were like jelly today!

March 1, 2010 - Day 57

Overall today was such a satisfying food and exercise day. I felt like I got a really nice workout in at Zumba (I think knowing the routines helps me a lot), and the food I ate today was do delicious. I like days like this.

For breakfast

3/4 of a multi-grain english muffin w/smart balance (110 calories; 2 points)

1/2 cup of coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

For lunch

1 peanut butter and jelly on multi-grain bread (215 calories; 4 points)

Water

For dinner

Penne w/turkey sausage and peppers (275 calories; 6 points)
* This was so unbelievably good! Cam stuffed himself, declaring that he wouldn't be able to eat again until next Monday. Riley gobbled hers right up. And I am still feeling satisfied and happy after eating this meal. What a great recipe. Thanks, Parents magazine!

Water

Snacks

Garden Vegetable Wheat Thins (120 calories; 2 points)

1 Kashi trail mix bar (140 calories; 2 points)
* Both the Wheat Thins (which apparently is a new variety) and the trail mix are sooooo tasty!

1/2 cup coffee w/vanilla creamer (35 calories; 1 point)

1 chocolate donut hole (52 calories; 1 point)

So for today it's roughly:

Total Calories: 982

Total WW Points: 19

Total flex points left at the end of the week: 22.5 of 35

Exercise

Zumba!

200 ab crunches
* I'm trying out some new ab exercises. In addition to the ab lounger, which I'm still using, I'm trying to work on my side abs as well as my lower abs by doing some ab exercises I found in Shape magazine. Hard, hard, hard. :)