Week 5 update: Getting moving

Week 5: Another .6 pounds down!

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with my little weight loss this week.  I did follow plan but the scale only showed a
.6 loss.  But that's okay...it's going in the right direction, AND I'm appreciating every ounce lost this time around.  Still, it's natural to get a little disappointed when others are losing so much faster.  This time around, I'm understanding this a little better though.  Case in point, I am going to WW meetings with two of my coworkers.  My one friend started a full week after me and met her 10 pound mini-goal this week!  (in 4 weeks).  And that was after spending the weekend on vacation and eating.  But the reality is that no two people are alike.  There are other factors too:  the amount of muscle mass, age, height, metabolism.  We're all different, so why should our weight loss be the same?  6.2 pounds lost so far.  Woohoo.

On Wednesday (weigh in day), I completed the 7 day assessment wearing my ActiveLink monitor, and I've started this week, trying to meet my daily challenge of earning 2 activity points.  The way it works is this:  I wore it for a week and it assessed my activity (or lack of).  Now that I'm in the actual challenge portion, I wear the monitor every day and it counts all the activity I do.  I can check where I am throughout the day.  It lights up when I place it on the counter. Each light lit is 25% of my activity goal for the day.  So this has gotten to be "fun" for me as I try to make my monitor go up to 100%.  So I'm doing all sorts of things to up the activity. This evening, I was only at 75% of my goal.  So I asked Neddy if he'd like to play with me...and we hooked up the Wii and did Wii Fit for an hour. It was fun!  (Yep, you heard me!  Activity was fun.) I have surpassed my goal today...I'm at 111%

So that's it for this week.  I'm going to continue on with my activity and tracking and we'll see what Wednesday's weigh in brings.

Hope you're all having a great week!

Vegan Rice Pudding with Arborio Rice and Almond Milk

It's mid-lent.  If you've been following our Armenian Orthodox tradition of a vegan diet, having something creamy and sweet sounds pretty good about now.  Here's a spin on the traditional rice pudding.  I had some arborio rice (the rice you made risotto with), so I used that.  It tends to be a little sweeter and a little starchier than regular rice.  But you can use any kind of rice (even brown rice) for this recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

3/4 cup Arborio or regular rice

3 1/2 cups almond milk

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar (or less)

cinnamon for the top

Use a heavy pan.  Add the rice and one cup of water.  Cook under low heat for about 5 minutes or so until the rice "opens".  This was a tip from "Auntie Zarouhi" up at summer camp the year I worked in the kitchen.  You want the rice to still be crunchy inside, but be open to receiving the milk.  : )  Add the almond milk and stir to make sure there are no grains sticking to the bottom.  Turn the heat to low and allow it to cook until the rice is totally cooked.  Stir every 5 minutes or so to make sure it's not sticking.  

Once the rice is fully cooked, pour the pudding into a dish.  Top with cinnamon and allow to cool.  Store in the fridge covered.  You can garnish with slivered almonds, raisins, cranberries.  But if you do top it, then count those points (if you're following WW).  I didn't calculate the points for toppings.

Makes 5 - 3/4 cup servings = 3 points a serving

********************************************************************

Pudding is the perfect thing to make in those heavy enameled iron Le Crueset (or knock off) pans.  I'm talking about ones like these.  I'm lucky enough to have my grammas knock off....gramma gave it to mom, and mom passed it to me.  Martha Stewart makes her own brand of these which Macy's carries.  I'm just spouting off here..you don't need one, but if you have one, they're a pleasure to use.  I use mine for all sorts of things from pudding, to dolma, to making in.  : )  It's a good investment (tho pretty expensive).  Click for more info.

   

Checking In: Week 4 - Achieving My First Mini Goal

Ta-Da!  At 4 weeks, I reached my
first mini goal of 5 pounds and change!

At my four week weigh in, I reached my first little mini-goal, the 5 pound mark!  This week I lost 1.8 pounds! bringing my total weight loss to 5.6 pounds.  I tracked my food intake and tried to drink more water, cutting my coffee intake down to 1-2 cups a day.  The rest of the day I drank water and herbal tea.  I noticed a bigger change though.  I am actually happy with a 5 pound weight loss in 4 weeks.  In the past, I would have poo-poo'ed the slow loss.  But this time around, I've been watching the scale slowly and consistently move down an ounce at a time.  I am accepting of the fact that at this time in my life, my body is healthy after having been through a lot of trauma (cancer) and that's what the goal is.  To be healthy.  I am not seeing the weight fluctuation of 2-4 pounds a day that I used to see when I was doing severe dieting.

I am trying something new and I'm excited to see how it's going to work.  Weight Watchers came out with a new little gadget called ActiveLink. it's a small little thingee that you wear on your body, either in your pocket, around your neck or clipped to your bra.  I bought it 5 days ago.  For the first week, you must just wear it as it is establishing your level of "normal" activity.  This week, all I am doing is wearing it and plugging it into the computer to charge.  After a week, it will generate a report of my activity levels - and the it will make weekly challenges to help me increase my activity levels!  I'm not sure how it all works right now, but I'm ready for this preliminary week to be over and to give this a shot!  I'll let you know how it's working!

I hope you're all having a great week.  I'd love to hear from you.

Checking In: Getting Healthy One Ounce at a Time

Ta-Da!  Week 3 brings me a little
closer to my goal with a .8 pound loss

I realized that I reached the end of the work week and I never checked in.  So here I am.  I went to my weekly meeting with all these high hopes for a good weight loss, but alas, the scale went down only .8 ounces.  A half a pound.  Hey, at least it's movement in the right direction!  But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.  I have been tracking my intake, staying within my allotted points and trying to get "some" exercise by walking - but, I also have to be honest.  I did manage to lose a half pound while still having a normal life: "normal" meaning that I wasn't on some freaky fad diet.  I did enjoy going to happy hour with friends, I did cook for my family and enjoy eating the same food that they did (just not in large portions).  So I'm on the right track.  It's a lifestyle change.

But just to pump myself up a bit, I started thinking of all the times that I had started Weight Watchers in the past, and then got discouraged because I lost .4 ounces here, and .2 ounces there...and then "just 1 pound"...and then stay the same, and then .2 ounces.  Okay, well, y'know, if I'd have just stuck with it, I would have been at my ideal weight, right?  And so let's say that I continued to lose .8 ounces a week.  That would be a loss of 26 pounds in a year.  So you say, a whole year, to lose just 26 pounds?  Excuse me?  JUST 26 pound?  Losing 26 pounds without killing myself doing it would be pretty awesome.  And hopefully there will be weeks where I lose more :::HOPEFULLY:::  So anyways, you get the idea.  I'm keeping the bigger picture in mind.  This is not a race. This is my life here...my beautiful life that I intend to enjoy!

And.....I have lost now, a total of 4.2 pounds in 3 weeks.  YAY!!  Hopefully this week I will lose another .8 and hit 5 pounds in a month! (5 pounds in a month is 60 pounds in a year!) Wait, did I just say that?  (hoping for a .8 pound loss...hmmm, I must be learning something!)

I will get there!  Even if it's one ounce at a time!

Vegan Breakfast Idea: Tofu Scramble with Fresh Spinach and Sweet Peppers

Just because you can't eat eggs during lent, doesn't mean you can't enjoy a warm breakfast with your family. This is a simple recipe that everyone will enjoy.  You can change up the vegetables.  In the past I've used green onions to add a nice flavor.  Tomatoes are good, but they tend to add a little too much moisture...but they're good.  So are mushrooms.

I actually prefer my tofu scramble over traditional scrambled eggs.  It's a lot lighter than eggs, less fat, but more importantly, it doesn't have that funky egg smell.

This recipe serves 1 or 2.  If you eat it all, then it has a total of  4 Weight Watchers Points Plus.  If you share it with someone, you can count it as 2 points.

Here's what you'll need:

 8 oz of medium firm tofu, drained
2 sweet peppers, sliced
1 bunch of fresh spinach, washed well and chopped coarsely
1 tsp curry powder (for color and taste)
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder (optional)

Spray a nonstick pan with Pam (or the like).  Saute your sliced peppers and spinach until they're softened.  Put your tofu on a flat plate and gently break it up with a fork.  Add the tofu to the pan and stir, getting it all nice and warm.  Add the seasonings and the curry powder, stirring gently to mix thoroughly.  NOTE:  Because of tofu's texture, you don't want to aggressively "stir".  Instead, gently turn it over on itself with a spatula.  You may want to cover it and just steam it to get it nice and hot.  I like adding a little hot sauce.  Serve as you would scrambled eggs....with toast, fruit, coffee...etc.  Enjoy!


 I actually have these Orgreenic pans and love them.  They truly are nonstick and work really well.

Anush's Veggie Pasta "Sauce" (or side dish)

I concocted this recipe on Valentine's day.  I'm lucky to have an organic farmer's market in the plaza at my workplace every Thursday.  This week I bought cherry tomatoes, spinach, brussels sprouts and mushrooms I was making pasta for dinner, but didn't want the traditional red sauce but instead a chunky vegetable dish to serve on top.  Here's what I ended up with:

Ingredients:

1 pound brussels sprouts, washed, stems cut and cut in half

1 basket of cherry tomatoes, cut in half (about 2-3 cups)

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 TBSP Olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

Once bunch spinach (washed well), not shown in picture

salt to taste

pepper

Herbs d' Provence (or good Italian seasoning 

In a large wok, add olive oil and minced cloves of garlic.  Cook til fragrant.  Add brussels sprouts and cook, stirring every few minute until brussels sprouts soften and get tender.  Add tomatoes and mushrooms and allow it all to cook until the tomatoes start to soften.  The tomatoes will create their own "sauce" and the mushrooms will add to the flavor with their liquid.  Add herbs, salt, pepper, and continue to cook a few minutes more until all the flavors are married together.

At the end, add the spinach (not shown), stir in to cover, and put a lid on the pan and let the spinach steam until wilted.

Serve on top of pasta (which is really delish) or just as a side dish (which is equally as delish).  I made 4 servings out of this for 4 points using weight watchers points plus.  But I like a LOT of veggies.  The serving size was about 1 1/2 cups.

If you try it, let me know how you liked it...what you'd add or remove, and how you served it.

Checking in: Week 2

Ta-Da!!  Week 2 brings me .6 pounds
closer to my goal!

Happy Valentine's Day!  How is your week going?  Mine went really well....considering.  I had a lot of challenges this week.  Dinner out with my friend, out to lunch for business, and had a friend pass away unexpectedly, but through it all, I managed to track everything I ate for a second week.  Despite my successful tracking, today's weigh in showed only a .6 pound loss.  Yep, only a 1/2 pound.  BUT, I was okay with that.  I will tell you why.

1.  The night before weigh in, I met my friend for our annual bday dinner.  We have mutual birthdays and we always meet at PF Chang's.  So losing .8 pounds the day after you went to chinese, with all it's salt....not bad.

2.  I was honest.  It would be different if I didn't track, or tracked only SOME of what I ate.  But I was honest.  I tracked everything...good and bad.  So it's okay.

3.  It's more than a number.  Has it really taken me all these years to come to this revelation?  I am more than a number on the scale.  If you base your success solely on that scale number...then when your number isn't what you'd like it to be you're going to throw in the towel and get frustrated.  Nope.  Not this time.

So, 2.8 last week, and another .8 this week.  That's 3.6 pounds lost in two weeks.  I'm good with that.

So it's Valentine's day!  What's on the agenda for today?  Every Thursday at my work, we have a Farmer's Market that sells great produce.  Today I bought fresh brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and spinach.  My mom has been staying with us, so for Ned and mom I had cheese ravioli and for me, bow tie pasta.  I left the pasta plain and then I made this great "sauce" with the cherry tomatoes, brussels sprouts, mushrooms and spinach and served it over the pasta.  We had garlic bread (olive oil and crushed garlic), salad and grilled eggplant which I made on the Foreman grill.  The result was fantastic.

Here's a photo.  Tip:  I used my scale to measure out 2 oz of dry pasta to cook.  Once cooked it was about a cup and a half of pasta.  I piled the veggies on top and added the salad.  It was great.

That was it!  So what did you do this Valentine's day.  Whatver you did, I hope that you were good to yourself!

Here are links to some great Weight Watcher's Cookbook you might want to try out:

Beet and Black Bean Salad

This is just a quick, put-together recipe for a yummy beet and black bean salad.  It would be just as good with white beans, red beans, or garbanzos...but because of the color of the beets and the way they take over everything, I liked using the black beans.  I've calculated the WeightWatcher's points value on this and 1 cup = 4 points.  There's no oil in it.  (Woot!)

Ingredients:

3 large beets, fresh (boiled, cooled and cut into 1/2" cubes)

1 cup hearts of palm (1 can/4 stalks), rinsed and sliced

3 cups canned black beans

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup shredded carrots

6 medium green onions, chopped

3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Juice of one lemon

salt

pepper 

cumin (about a 1/2 tsp)

a little dash of garlic powder

 Boil the beets til tender, about 45 minutes.  Cool in cold water, peel and cut into 1/2" cubes.  Combine all the ingredients.  Add the balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.  Add seasonings and spices and tweak to your liking.

I ate this as a main dish with a 1/2 cup side of brown rice.  It would also be good on a bed of lettuce, or whatever.  It's good both at room temperature or served cold.  

The Never-Ending Journey

If you'd ever struggled with your weight, then you know where I'm coming from with the title of my post, right?  I have struggled with my weight my whole life.  I was a chubby little girl.  Throughout my life I must have tried every diet out there.  From full on fasting for weeks on end drinking nothing but tea, to cabbage soup, protein diets, and fruit diets.  You name it, I've tried it.  And they've all worked!!  Yep!  They've all worked, but they're not diets that are livable.  And so eventually, as time goes on and you get sick of eating only oatmeal or hard boiled eggs...the weight slowly creeps back on.  And that's what's been happening to me.

My kitty Zelda and Me

I have been heavier than I am now.  And I have been thinner than I am now.  Two years ago, I embarked on a giant weight loss journey...and then right in the middle of it, I got hit...hard.  I had emergency gall bladder surgery, and then two months later, I was diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery.  And then the day I got back to work after six weeks of medical leave, I got diagnosed with breast cancer (my second time...first time was 19 years ago).  I had to have a mastectomy and reconstruction.    Okay, three surgeries in less than 6 months.  And just like those infomercials, I'll add the famous tag line, "But wait!  There's more!"  After cancer, I started feeling better (that's when I was at my thinnest).  Then the following year, we planned my daughter's wedding and trained to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  It was crazy busy.  And then suddenly, it was all over.  We had the most beautiful wedding ever.  She moved out of our home and off to her honeymoon and settled into her new home.  And suddenly our home was empty.  And all the craziness subsided.  And I was faced with "The Empty Nest".

As happy as I was for my daughter and my new son-in-law (and truly, I am very happy), it was a huge change.  We are very close, and having her not around was...well....sad.  And an adjustment.  Enter emotional eating.  And factor in that the Avon walk and all the training was over...and there they came.  The pounds.  Again.    

Back in November, I changed my diet and became a vegetarian.  I decided to live this lifestyle because I wanted to live a more "peace" full life.  I didn't want something to die in order for me to live...not with all the great choices that we have.  Learning to balance my protein and carbs has been another challenge, and so last week, I decided that I was going to go back to Weight Watchers.  And here I am.

This blog is going to be about my journey on my lifestyle change.  Diet, exercise, motivation, vegetarian recipes, points values, and emotional eating.  It's my way of staying accountable to myself, and to you.  I look forward to sharing my journey with you.  Together we can help each other.