The day before...

Well, t'is the last day before the big weigh-in. I was up 2 weeks in a row (stupid me!)... but this week i'm hoping for a minus sign beside my weight change.

today was not unlike any other... i went to work, worked, went on facebook (which I hear they're planning on banning from work in the next few weeks - i guess we'll see if it happens!).... ate my lunch, went out for a walk for about a half an hour... then had a meeting ALLLLL afternoon (ugh!).

what did i eat today?

breakfast - oatmeal (2)
AM snack - cereal (1)
lunch - salad with feta (1), tuna (1), a bunch of fruit (2)
PM snack - carrots, red pepper, hummus (2)
Dinner - chicken breast (3), spicy peas (0), peach (1) and cottage cheese (2)
HS snack - I was HUNGRY... but I had the points for it, so it's okay... I ended up having 2 cups of cereal (2) and 1 cup of skim milk (2)

I REALLY REALLY want popcorn with becel spray and white cheddar seasoning... but tomorrow's weigh-in and I should be afraid of water retention.

ALSO - i was THIRSTY today. I ended up downing 3L of water (well... crystal light!)

now... just WHAT are spicy peas, you might ask? my mom thinks i'm crazy and eat like a pregnant lady when I tell her how I like to eat these peas.

Basically, I take the small sweet frozen president's choice peas (they sell them in a bag in the frozen vegetables isle... they have to be the SWEET peas). I put them in a microwavable container and mix in some FRANK'S HOT SAUCE... i cook them for a couple of minutes, then when they are done I put some ketchup in (blue menu ketchup with less calories of course!).... I know it's odd - but if you like peas and you like ketchup like i do - give it a try! the added kick of the frank's hot sauce is great (at least I think so!).

I've decided ONE of the things we're getting Michele and Jacob for the baby (when it arrives... I've made a rule for myself that I won't buy anything more until the baby gets here)... Alex wants to get them a gift certificate for The Children's Place (he did research and found out they're at the mall close to Michele and Jacob. yes folks - I do believe he may secretly be getting excited for this baby's arrival as well). I would like to (as per tradition in the family) get the baby its first winnie the pooh doll... but also get a bumbo seat. all the mom's on the weight loss board I read SWEAR by these seats....

here's a baby who is only just over a month old sitting in her bumbo. basically as soon as they can hold up their head they can sit in the seat... people seem to find them helpful for taking to restaurants or to people's homes...
Michele saw them and thought they looked too hard for a baby to sit in... and I kind of agreed... but when I went to look at one in person at Toys R Us... they're not actually plastic - they're foam! So i think I'll get one for her and give her a gift receipt (or keep it at my place or at mom and dad's!)... and she can decide if she really might like it. i just think they're cute!

Time to go watch "The real world Denver"... ahhh my trash TV before bed - I love my life!!!

The View from HERE

For anyone who hasn't been to my place... I think I have a pretty nice view from my balcony... don't get me wrong - I can't WAIT to have a yard and NOT a balcony... but for now, this is pretty nice. Here's some photos from a few minutes ago outside;

Chicklet on the balcony;



The view;

And here's a card I made for a coworker's birthday;

It's a beautiful day

well, the day is off to the right start. not only did anaheim win, but i'm staying on track!

there's really not much to report today... except what i've eaten so far (dinner isn't planned yet, so not sure what i'm having!).

breakfast = oatmeal (2)

snack = 1c cereal (1), 1/2 c cherries (0)

lunch = salad with 2 tbsp light feta (1), tuna (1), 2 c. fruit salad (2)

snack in PM = carrots and hummus (2)

dinner = unsure! any suggestions? I thought about eggs (I have to finish my eggs and egg whites i think).

I hope everyone has a great afternoon!

I'm BACK - adding my dinner here.

i decided to have eggs... i had 2 left to finish in the fridge... so dinner was 2 scrambled eggs (4) and 2 pieces of WW toast (1)

I was going to have a snack this evening but it's already 8:30 and I thought i'd try not eating after 8pm this week... we'll see if I cave... I'll keep you updated!

Also, on my lunch today I decided to go for a walk in a little park behind my office... it was quite nice and I have vowed to myself to do it Tues-Thurs while the weather permits (Fridays might be my day to still do errands on lunch).

Back to basics

when you want a child to change their behaviour you breakdown all of their behaviours and choose one to target at a time...

this is what i'm doing with myself this week on my quest to join TARA in being a SKINNY aunt.

This week - i'm perfecting my food choices and eating habits.

NEXT week I will focus on my running and get back on track there... I won't overwhelm myself - I will be realistic and set myself up for SUCCESS!

Today's menu:

breakfast - 1c corn bran cereal (1), 1/2 cup skim milk (1)

lunch - 14 FF fries (2), chicken salad (2), spicy peas (0), 1/2 cup FF cottage cheese (2) and 1/2 peach (0)

Snacks at work - 1/2 cup cherries (0), carrots (0) with 1/4cup WW recipe hummus (2)

Dinner - salad (0) with 2 tbsp light feta (1), 2 cups fruit salad (2), 1/2 tin tuna (1)

I realize I have points left over at the end of the day - but I will likely have a snack when I get home from work.

Hope everyone is having a happy MONDAY!!!

ETA: I've decided on my snack this evening - all bran guardian cereal (i think 1 cup is 1pt), and 1/2 cup skim milk. I do not know WHY but I can't seem to get enough cereal lately... especially the corn bran cereal!

The time has come...

... to say farewell.

no no, not farewell to my blog and my LOYAL readers...

farewell to my BAD HABITS.

since the new year i've been seriously slacking... that slacking has come to an end today. well - tomorrow for sure.

i'm sick of the yo-yo pattern my weight is taking on....

steph is coming over today for a girls' day... but i will try to be very good in my food choices. BUT - tomorrow i shall start referring to myself as SGT JEN. i'm going to be back to the strict person i was when i started WW almost TWO years ago.

I vow to treat every day like i'm being weighed in the next day.

I vow to get myself on the treadmill every morning again (i've been slacking sooo bad in that).

I vow to go back to making sure i MEASURE and WEIGH everything.

I vow to get in all my water, fruits/vegetables, and milk (not so much the oils necessarily).


Think I can do it? I hope so... and you can make me accountable, because lastly...

I vow to get back to posting my menus and exercise on here. Starting TOMORROW.



Also - only a month until I become an AUNT! This baby needs a SKINNY aunt - not a chubby one!!!!

MY version of the Easter Prayer...

Dear Weight Watcher Gods;

Grant me the serenity

to accept the things

I must not eat this Easter weekend,

The courage to change

the food I put on my plate for Easter dinner,

and the wisdom to

know the difference between point friendly food and NOT point friendly food

And may this little WW Easter prayer find its way into all of YOUR Easter meals!

These are a few of my favourite things...

First, confession time. I didn't get a chance to go on the treadmill yesterday... Stacey was here until 10am or so, then I was just too tired after our long day and late night (with wine) to get on the treadmill before i jetted off to work at sickkids... and today - lazy before alex got here, and too lazy again now (he's gone home)... i don't want to be on the treadmill at 9pm. i am LAZY. I'm actually just TIRED too.

So, my new plan? treadmill monday, tues, and wed (plus i went on friday) - that will still make 4 times this week... which is better than nothing. PLUS, then I can just relax during my sunday evening. yes... i AM LAZY. I hate that!

I discovered this weekend I actually LIKE cottage cheese with peaches. I was at lifefest with Stacey this weekened and I tried a little container of the cottage cheese with peaches and i LOVED it! I didn't think I was a cottage cheese with fruit kind of girl... I had never tried it and really didnt' want to... but I'm glad I did! That was lunch today!

So now i LOVE the tuna, the cottage cheese with fruit... AND the blue menu strawberry yogurt. Also, I still love popcorn. AND i love CHOCOLATE (since I'm confessing my favourites here!).

Gotta go take BORAT back to blockbuster...

Enjoy your week everyone! Tara - I'm still going to email you!!! But any weekend is good for me as long as I know in advance so I don't book myself with SickKids for a shift!!! You pick one (just not easter)! Maybe sometime around your birthday? Sometime when you're off... maybe a Saturday? Let me know!!!

It's TUNA time!

So, my most recent obsession is tuna. I'm lovin' it. So, it started with my love for the cloverleaf flavoured tunas... i enjoyed the garlic and hot pepper, the tomato and onion, and the spicy thai. Well, then TARA (yes, YOU Tara!) introduced me to the ocean's spicy thai tuna - only 2 points instead of 4 for the tin. BUT then my favourite has become the garlic and hot pepper... not sure why, I just love that flavour. SOOOO then I was at Costco with my mom on my VACATION (I had to use a week and a day before the end of March or I would have lost it, so I took March break off). I decided to buy the 6 pack of Ocean's chunk tuna. It's about the same cost as buying tuna individually at Loblaws... the no name tuna. But I decided to treat myself to the expensive tuna. Let me tell you - I'm NEVER going back. Ocean's tuna is the BEST! It's so light (in colour) and yummy! Soooo... what I do is divide the container in half into 2 tupperware containers and I add some tobasco sauce, some garlic, and some tex mex. HOLY YUMMY! And it smells soooo good! I've had so many people comment at work on how good my lunch smells!



Here was my lunch yesterday:

* my tuna recipe (1 pt)

*a salad containing: lettuce, grape tomato, cucumber, a few chick peas, a few black olives, sliced egg and feta cheese. I also used the spritz salad dressing (hellman's balsamic flavour one).

*unsweetened applesauce



It was the best freaking lunch ever! That salad and the tuna on the side - so good!!!



Dinner was also yummy yesterday. I had 1 cup of WW pasta, took 1 pt worth of the canned chicken breast (blue menu kind) and grape tomatoes... i added some cottage cheese and garlic and some EVOO and cooked it a bit longer to melt the cottage cheese. It works like a creamy cheese sauce once the cottage cheese melts... it was so good!



Oh dear, it's 10pm and i'm hungry... but I'm trying the whole 'don't eat past 8pm' thing... except on Friday and Saturdays.



Working an extra shift at sickkids this weekend... yay! good for the bank account... I'm working Saturday evening which is fine. I had no plans and Alex is going to the leafs game (without me) anyway.



Almost time for the Real World:Denver!! Must scoot!!



Here's me on the weekend with my hair and make up done for going out Saturday. I just got my hair cut, but then a MAC make up artist offered to do my make up for FREE! It was awesome!



at the beginning of the night:

At the end of the night

I've returned!

Well, it certainly has been a while since I posted! A few weeks ago I didn't make it to my weigh-in, thanks to the HUGE snow storm that we all remember very well (especially if we were DRIVING in it!). but the following week i was down 3.8lbs - officially losing my christmas weight! (yay - only took 2 months, but at least it's GONE!). Note to self: next year, don't go so crazy over the holidays thinking it will be easy to lose the weight I gain!

I had a week off from work and went home to Pontypool... which can be a challenge sometimes... so luckily I was only up 0.4lbs this week... now i just need to make sure I lose that (and more) this coming week, which might be difficult because for some reason i'm very tired the last couple of days... i had a THREE hour nap yesterday and still slept 10hrs last night!

I'm still trying to stick to some core principles... limiting my carbs (haven't had pasta in WEEKS and have had very little bread)... i went shopping yesterday and bought fresh chicken breasts... which i baked in the oven with some cajun seasoning and have in the fridge ready to put on salads... i've also taken to the new hellman's salad spritzers... 10 spritzs just nicely coats a salad and is 15 calories (0 POINTS!!).

today's plan... had cheerios and milk and a grapefruit for breakfast... lunch will be salad and maybe tuna... and dinner is undecided at this point! I'm open to suggestions from anyone!!

Alex is off giving a talk to seniors today... teaching them about wills... hopefully he scores some new clients!!

Happy day after st patrick's day, everyone!

Still on Core?

i can't even tell you if i'm really doing core anymore! i know last week i was only down 0.2lbs - very disheartening! my leader said i should just keep up the exercise because it will eventually pay off. it better!





i decided to stick with core principals mostly... but without totally doing core (i still count all my points is the only difference i suppose). i haven't had any bread still or any pasta even... EXCEPT on the weekend. if i gain this week, it's my own fault for how i behate on the weekend. i went home for saturday and sunday for my mom and michele's birthdays, and we also had a family gathering up in Fenelon at my aunt Faye's. alex even made it to that one! not only did he come - but he liked the country! he liked aunt faye's being out in the middle of nowhere. he even took part in roasting weenies on the fire and loved that! i think i have a country boy at heart there.

Raven on the weekend:



anyway, back to my eating on the weekend... i did okay at aunt faye's. i didn't eat any of the yummy looking doritos on the coffee table right in front of me... nor did i eat any of the cheesies! for dinner i ate some of my mom's chickin chili (because i know the points for it), some ceasar salad (without the heavy dressing... the dressing didn't seem to be too thick or heavy), 2 chicken hot dogs (without the buns), AND i ate a bun... a big old white bun fresh from the bakery. then after that - i ate a piece of cake. it was a small one, but i ate it. all in all... i could have done much worse.



then comes sunday... ever have those days where you're just hungry ALL flippin' day? that was me on sunday... i munched on food all day long and THEN ate dinner on top of that... i had leftover chicken chili and had some of my mom's macaroni dish (cooked macaroni with canned tomatoes and cheese melted on top -mmmmm comfort food from childhood). after dinner i had officially eaten all of my daily points. THEN comes dessert... i had made the biggest cake for mom and michele for their birthday... butter pecan cake with a caramel filling and thick buttercream icing... it looked so good. at first when michele was cutting the cake i told her to only cut me a small piece... then when i saw everyone else's pieces being cut, i gave in and had a huge piece with them... the biggest piece of cake i've probably ever eaten! but it was so good.

the cake:



so, if i gain tonight... that is why. wish me luck everyone!!!