Panda Express: Before and After

Last night I didn't know what to cook for dinner. Maybe it's because I desperately needed to go food shopping and my options were very slim. After discussing with Drew, we decided to have Panda Express for dinner. Yum! But before we ate, I decided to take pictures so that I could showcase a before and after of what I used to order and what I order now, and their point values.

Why?

Because when I talk to friends about Weight Watchers (and they are considering joining or struggling with following it) it seems like many people have a hard time giving up their favorite food items. Which I totally understand. Trust me, I do. But is it really worth eating an entire days worth of points in just one meal? Really?? Not so much. In fact, when i look at it that way, the food generally becomes very unattractive.

Presenting: Drew's dinner (this is what I used to order as well).

Mandarin Chicken: 6 points
Sauce on it: 1 point
Orange Chicken: 13 points
Chow Main: 4 points
Fried Rice: 5 points

Grand Total: 29 points
(my daily point total is currently 26-28)

My dinner:

Mushroom Chicken: 3 points
Broccoli Beef: 3 points
Veggies: 2 points
Steamed Rice: 2 points (aprox.)

Grand Total: 10 points

BUT! Because my portion sizing has gone down, I wasn't able to even finish it all. That is a LOT of food!! So what I actually ate was less than that.

And as a side note, the rice is actually a lot less than what the picture looks like.. there were veggies under it. It measured out to be about 1/3 of a cup. You know you can ask for that, right? Mostly veggies and a little rice? I love rice so I ordered just enough to be satisfied. Sometimes I get just the veggies though and that's 3 points total.

If you feel like you need something greasy, again, just check out your options before you order. Turns out the veggie spring rolls aren't nearly as high in points as one would think.

One of them, is ONE point. That's all! Or two of them is three points. It's a little better than one potsticker which was 2 points or an order of 3 is five points. I did eat one egg roll (they ran out and I didn't want to wait for more so they gave me a potsticker, which Drew ate a little of.. he didn't really like it). Just be careful of the sauces.. if you were to eat the entire container of sweet and sour sauce, that's 2 points. The potsticker sauce is 1.

After looking at all of that, it's so eye opening at what I used to eat and why I weighed what I did. I knew what I ordered wasn't so great for me (hello, fantastically delicious orange chicken!!) but realizing that was just my dinner... yeah.

I hope this was a little helpful for some. Again, my biggest advice when you're going to eat out is check out the nutritional information BEFORE you go. Then if you still choose to eat more points than you should, you can at least hold yourself accountable for it and not play it off as "I had no idea...".

THIRTY!!

I just realized I never blogged this past monday.. I know I was busy with the holiday and just life in general (what is with the last weeks of school??) but sheesh!

Especially because... I finally hit THIRTY POUNDS! Yay!!!!!!!

I've been really close for awhile now and have had a few mid-week weigh ins where I got that low but never on weigh-in day.

I think I'm going to have to bump up the exercise thing (ok, maybe just start at all... lol). Just eating right doesn't seem to be quite enough.

Which really, is ok.. I really want to be healthy and not just weigh less. Now I just need to figure out how to get it in and get the motivation. I'm always motivated when I blog but by the afternoon or evening I'm just too tired. Or maybe it's that I'm lazy. Hmmm... lol

I have to say that I'm feeling really great overall. I'm in such a great place right now.. life is fantastic! I can definiltey feel a difference in how my body moves with being thirty pounds lighter. For example, last night I was at the school behind my house watching the kids play and I was by the swings.. well Carson managed to almost fall off of the playground and was screaming and holding onto dear life and I was able to run up the hill (not huge but good enough for sledding) and run to the playground and grab him before he let go. I never run!! And I wasn't even out of breath!-

My pants are getting looser too.. I find that when I'm walking around a lot that I have to grab at the waste and pull them up a little. And when I went and bought some pants to work out in (lol- see? the intentions are there..) I was able to get the size that I am. I have such a big (huge?) rear end that I almost always get a size up if it's tighter fitting. But not now! :o)

Things I'm going to work on this week:
-Eating breakfast (I'm not hungry in the morning so I've been slacking.. but weight loss is slowing down so maybe this will help)
-Tracking points better
-at least make a plan about exercising

Zumba!

I tried out Zumba today at the local fitness center.

Wait, back up, I woke up at FIVE this morning so that I could try out Zumba today.

Those of you that know me or are aware of my genetic disposition know that I stay up late and waking up early just doesn't happen. Of course I kept waking up during the night because I was afraid I'd sleep though my cell phone (set on vibrate, right by my pillow- yes that wakes me up). That alone was an accomplishment!!

Back to Zumba.. it was nice that the class had a large variety of people in it. Some skinny.. some not (whew!). And I was so happy that I had a friend that went just so that I knew someone.

It was definitely high impact. We were all over the place! I am not one to sweat a lot (even when I was in high school and went to the gym twice a day) but fifteen minutes in, there I was sweating. Oh and bright faced. If I do almost any activity my face turns bright red (sometimes purple) or even if it's just hot outside. It's super attractive. ;o)

Anyway, my only complaint was that by the time I actually figured out how to move, twist, hop, shake and repeat, the instructor moved onto something else. In all fairness I'm not coordinated so it takes me a bit.. but still! I might give it a few more tries.. I'll have to see how I survive waking up so early.

I still can't believe I made it through an entire hour!! Yay!

Well that went horribly wrong.

So, the scale is up .8 today.

What is up with that????

I have been so good this past week. When we went to the zoo w/ my side of the family I did have an obligatory ice cream cone but I threw the cone and it's contents away (I was full at that point). I was mindful of the snacks I ate and I packed an appropriate lunch. And while I was there I even raced my sister up TWO of the hills. One being the one from the giraffes to the tiger exhibit. Actually it's not really a hill.. it's more of a mini mountain. Yes, I ran up a mini mountain thankyouverymuch. While pushing a stroller. And I never run! Seriously, if a 'bad guy' ever pointed a gun at me and I had the chance to turn and run but it was uphill? Yeah, I'd be like Not worth it. Just shoot me. lol But there I went.. and I even won the first time. The second time my sister took me out with her stroller. At that point I was just glad I didn't pee my pants from laughing so hard.

Oh! Can I tell you how fantastic my sister looks? She's lost 17 pounds (I think?) and started WW the same time I did.. She's a few pounds away from her goal weight and will be switching to lifetime at that point. Want to see what an improvement she's made?

This is just because I have the pic and we're both chunky so it makes us look even better now. Shallow, I know! ;o) This is just after her first baby (she has two). I was newly pregnant with Hayden. (look how cute Aubrey is!)

This was at Kaitlyn's first birthday party- she started WW a few days before (I waited until after the party so I could enjoy it all lol). I thought she looked great then..
.. but look at her now!!! She looks sooooo good!

And here's both of us together. Feel free to scroll back up to that first picture and compare our faces. Nice, right???


Anyway, back to me. I haven't been tracking my points through WW the last little bit but I'm so comfortable with knowing what I can/can't eat that I don't feel that I need to use that.

But maybe I'm wrong.

Obviously I'm wrong. Because just a few days ago I was down 1 1/2 pounds from last week's weigh in. I'm seriously baffled that it's gone up! I even sent my sister a text saying :-O

So here are my goals for the week:
-track my points daily
-drink more water
-start walking in the evenings
-start lifting weights (we have one of those 3 station things in our basement- Drew and I don't remember when we last used it- nice.)
-try Zumba at a gym with my friend Janae (super excited for this- I keep laughing at how goofy I'm going to look- sooooo uncoordinated)

And that's it. :o) Here's to a really fun week!!

Helpful Blog & Chicken Stuffed Shells

One of my friends is an amazing cook. She loves flavors and isn't afraid to try new recipes which is something I really, really struggle with. She is also successfully doing Weight Watchers (she looks fantastic!!) and she blogs about the recipes she uses, the point value and her reviews (including her kids) with pictures!! Amazing, right??? And if that's not enough, she's currently also posting the approximate cost of the meal- everything is under $10.

I can't even begin to tell you how much her blog has helped our family.. I'm willing to try something if I know that it will be good. LOL Plus she answers my silly cooking questions! Really, she's just fabulous.


Anyway, last night I tried the Chicken Stuffed Shells. I was worried there wouldn't be enough plus I was trying to get my step-brother to join us for dinner so I made 1 1/2 of the recipe. The serving size of 3 shells turned out to be a LOT (they're stuffed so full!) and I probably would have been just fine eating two of them. Drew ate four and Aubrey had two.

Drew really enjoyed these and was surprised that they're WW friendly (well as long as you don't go crazy on them). Aubrey kept talking about how great they were and asked for more. I had her finish her veggies and roll and by then she wasn't hungry for more. Carson wouldn't touch his (I think it was the spinach that he was worried about- next time I might do one without it for him). Hayden wouldn't eat it either but that doesn't surprise me as he doesn't like food that's mixed together. I didn't give any to Kaitlyn since she's staying away from dairy. So those three had leftover cooked chicken, applesauce, veggies and a roll.

For our veggies I used a yellow squash, a zucchini and a handful of mushrooms and sliced it all up. Added a teaspoon of Olive Oil to the pan and cooked for two minutes or so and then I added some chicken broth and let them cook until tender (stirring occasionally). Yum!

The split-top potato rolls were from Walmart (ours had them right by the rotisserie chickens) and one of them is two points or two of them is three points (I only had one- I was seriously so full!!).

I'm looking forward to having the leftovers for my lunch today (so is Drew!!). This is definitely something I'll be making for company some time as well- very easy to serve a crowd.

Definitely give it a try!!

Love the inches.

So this week I only lost 0.6 pounds. Yes, I count every little bit (on Saturday it would have been a full pound, by the way). Know what's better than losing poundage though?? Losing INCHES!! Everything is a half inch smaller. Going from the arms, chest, waist, hips and thighs, that's 3 1/2" total. NICE.

I'm certain I could have lost more weight this week but I attended two weddings over the weekend which means food and drink that I would normally not even eat (consider, yes.. eat, no). I sipped punch and flavored lemonade (I'm still trying not to cringe at the calories in the lemonade and the flavoring). I enjoyed a small piece of cake at each one.. and I shared half of a brownie and half of a pudding tart thing with Kaitlyn. I passed on the other desserts that called to me.

So I guess this is the part where I'll go ahead and admit that I hoarded a cream cheese brownie into the diaper bag so that I could eat it after we got home. Because then I wouldn't have to share with the kids. Come on, admit you've done it too!! However, there was no shame as I ate it slowly and fully enjoyed it.. and I actually threw the last of it away because it was so rich. I can live with that. Really, if you can't make this "lifestyle change" work with you, you'll never keep it off, right?

And who knows, maybe walking around for a few hours, in heels, counted as some activity points too. (Oh, I didn't fall!!)

I also enjoyed seeing family members that I haven't seen since Christmas.. nothing like being almost 30 pounds lighter to make a girl feel great! My dress was two sizes smaller than what I would have purchased back in December.

And this was something fabulous.. Marci (the bride), because she's the BEST, had the photographer take some pictures of Drew and I. When he was done, I went up to him and asked if he got any good ones of me because I either take good pictures or BAD ones (you know, where suddenly you have a fifty foot double chin, etc.). He laughed and said, "It would be pretty hard for you to look bad in any of them when you look that good." hehehe I'm sure he says that to all the girls, but it was nice to hear!! I can't wait to see how they turn out.

In the meantime, here is one we took at the end of the night back at home (you can kind of tell we're tired and my hair isn't so great).. not the best angle because we put the camera on the piano but what do you do.


Just me.. you can see the design of the dress better (the torso is fitted and then it poofs out).

Yay for feeling great!!

Losing in the wrong places.

I bought a dress towards the middle of April to wear to my brother-in-law's upcoming wedding.

Last night I was talking to my sister and she asked if it still fit.. I told her I hadn't lost THAT much.. but figured I better try it on again just in case. Plus, I feel FABULOUS in it.

It slipped on much easier and still fits great (and is two sizes smaller than what I would have purchased pre-WW) except for.. the chest area. Yeah, I'm going to have to buy some double sided tape or something. :-S

Figures.

To be expected.

This past week I gained .4 and I'm ok with that. Really, I am. After two weeks of large losses I'm not surprised (even if the scale was down .8 two days ago.. grrr). It was also my friend's bachelorette party, which I hosted, which meant there was fresh chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chunk brownies, ghiardelli chocolate, hershey kisses and of course Mint Oreo truffles, all available at my finger tips.

Not being one to intentionally set myself up for failure, I also put together a veggie tray with low fat ranch dip (made with a tub of reduced fat sour cream and a fat free Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix). And I had regular chips and baked ones (I ate the baked). The brownies were cut small and the chocolate chip cookies (from pre-made cookie dough) were the Mini ones where there is 40 in a package.. making them 1 point each. And I figured if I made the Mint Oreo truffles small enough, they would be less points.. they ended up being the perfect size and 2 points each. And they were Fantastic!!!

While it wasn't the most healthy way to use my points (and use them, I did) I did stay with in my allotment and was conscious of what I ate. No throwing in the towel for a night and eating everything in sight. And you know what? It wasn't a big deal! I enjoyed great food and didn't go to bed with any regrets. This is definitely something I can live with long term and be happy.

I also went walking at the track behind my house yesterday (and managed to burn my arms and chest.. oops) and went 1 1/2 miles. Exercise is still something I struggle with.. I have attempted many times to use an exercise video, etc. only to have Kaitlyn (or sometimes Carson) want to be held or attach herself onto my legs, which makes things difficult. Even this morning, I pulled out my severely neglected wii fit and I only was able to spend 10 minutes on it before I was attacked by children. (and I'll have you know that wii fit says I weigh 3 pounds less than my upstairs scale) Anyway, now that the weather's a little better (minus the weird storm last night) I really hope to continue walking. Oh, Drew and I are also working on cleaning out and dusting off our weight system set thingy (it's a big one that has 3 stations). It's been awhile.

Hoping for more progress this next week!!