Taking the LiveLife Active Plunge

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liveLife ActiveWeight Watchers just announced its new LiveLife Active Challenge and I’ve signed up.

The challenge lasts through June 1. Each week I’ll kick my workouts up a notch and keep track of all my activities via eTools.

Since I’ve been focused much more heavily on exercise the last couple of months, I’m very excited about participating in my very first challenge. So what’s on tap this week?

Week 1 Daily Workout Plan
Monday – 45 Minute Power Walk (3 miles)
Tuesday – Body Sculpting
Wednesday – 45 Min Power Walk (3 miles)
Thursday – Body Sculpting
Friday – 45 Minute Power Walk (3 miles)
Saturday – Brambleton Ribbon 5K (walk)
Sunday – Day Hike at Great Falls

Brambleton will be my first 5k in about 10 years and my first 5k this year. Can’t wait to start.

Weekly Weigh in – April 6

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With this weeks weight loss, Dot to Trot has lost more than 20% of her total body weight.

With this week’s weight loss, Dot to Trot has lost more than 20% of her total body weight.

Despite battling an infection this week, I ended up losing 1.8 lbs. So it looks like the new trainer is paying off. That makes the total weight loss 66.4 lbs which means I’ve officially lost 20% of my body weight!

Alcohol, Homer J. Simpson & Weight Loss

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Trust the Tao of Homer!

Trust the Tao of Homer! Image courtesy of Simpson Crazy

I had dinner last night with my good friend Elizabeth. We went to the Dogfish Head AleHouse. What a difference a year makes. Miss E and I both worked together at a hellacious office. It was very common for us to visit the local watering hole after work and consume about 10-15 Weight Watchers points in our favorite wines or brews.

So last night after being seated Elizabeth asked if I wanted the beer menu. “Nope,” I replied. Without skipping a beat, she put it aside and we both opted for water and unsweetened ice tea. Then I thought of something that great philosopher Homer J. Simpson said:

“…Alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.”

He is so right.

Yes, alcohol may have helped in commiserating about the job, but it came at a cost.

A chunk of my weight gain came from drinking wine. I do love the nectar of the gods (Hell, I still want to open my own wine store). And Miss E knows her good brews. The difference today? Both of us are focused like frickin’ laser beams on our health (oh, and we both have quit our jobs).

During the last year, I really have limited my alcohol. I’m probably down to twice a month and when I do drink, it’s about 2 4-ounce glasses at the most now.

Never doubt the Tao of Homer.

Loving My Weight Watchers eTools & Mobile App

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Weight Watchers' food tracker via mobile app.

Weight Watchers’ food tracker via mobile app.

I’ve been playing with my Weight Watchers mobile app and eTools website. Here are my initial thoughts.

I have to say I’m enjoying using them. They really do a great job at making it easy for me to find the points value of foods when I’m on the go. The food tracker is very nice. Its library of foods is excellent and does the calculations for you. Not a whole lot of typing like other tracking apps. It also does a very nice job of storing foods I put in – I can recall them very easily.

There is also a spot to track my activities and the intensity. With Weight Watchers, you can earn activity points for working out. Those points can be turned into food points for the day – something I don’t do. But I do like that I can track my activities. I just wish the activity tracker could do more. I love my MapMyWalks app. I can actually see the progress. Now Weight Watchers has rolled out ActiveLink which closely monitors your activities. There is a $5 monthly fee plus the cost of the device. I haven’t signed up. I tend to skip the first generation of these types of roll outs to get all the bugs out. Plus I’d like to hear from other WW members using ActiveLink to see if it is worth it.

Dot to Trot's applesauce meatloaf recipe - 6 points per serving!

Dot to Trot’s applesauce meatloaf recipe – 6 points per serving!

This morning on eTools I tested their recipe builder. I keyed in just a couple of my standard meals I make weekly. The points are calculated for me. Awesome! I would suggest that WW look into creating shopping lists from the recipes. Since there are a few meals I make regularly, and I plan out our menu for the entire week, it would be great if I could just click on the recipes and poof – instant grocery list. So please get on that now!

One minor hitch with the recipe builder – it’s buried. I went the the recipe section at first and found lots of nice recipes and good info from Hungry Girl. I finally found it under My Tools area. I think an easy to find link in the general recipe section would be nice. It might be there, but I didn’t see it.

Weight Watchers' cocktail cheat sheet via its mobile app.

Weight Watchers’ cocktail cheat sheet via its mobile app.

While eTools has a ton of good info, I have to say I really enjoyed the cheat sheets. One of the hardest things to do is guestamate the points value of food when eating out. I’m not in control of how it was prepared. I’m not measuring or weighing everything. So there is a lot of guess work. The cheat sheet is a nice idea to give you a general idea of how many points you might be consuming. From a breakfast builder to happy hour foods, the cheat sheet is perfect for folks on the go. However, the mobile app version is lacking. Right now it’s limited to pizza, cockktails, pasta and salads. And some of those are limited too. I’m optimistic that WW can improve the app version.

Overall, well done Weight Watchers. There is so much on eTools that I still haven’t explored – especially the social component (which I’m looking forward too). The mobile app gets the job done. I have a few minor quibbles, but they are minor. The food tracking piece is excellence, and that is the heart of the program. If you do Weight Watchers and are not on eTools or the mobile app, I suggest you give it a try.

Easter Weekend – No Weigh In, Renewed Commitment

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Thanks to how busy I was Easter weekend, I didn’t go to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting to weigh in. That’s probably a good thing. Saturday night we visited friends and dinner was delicious home made pizza and wine. I did a pretty good job of not chowing on everything in sight, but clearly it was very carb heavy. I did count my Weight Watcher’s points and ended up dipping into my weekly allowance points. So overall, I think I did OK.

I did step on the home scale this morning and showed no loss or gain for the week. I’m not recording that. I only record the official weigh in’s at Weight Watchers.

So that gives me 5 days of going hard core low carb, daily walks and 2 days of doing weight machines (something I’m adding this week) before stepping on the scale. I’m hopeful I’ll see continued progress in the right direction.

Cooking Day! Prepping For The Week

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food prepWhen I go to my Weight Watcher meetings, I always hear people talk about how they don’t have the time to plan ahead and that causes them to make bad food choices.  Well, I use to think like that too.  I did the 16-hour daily grind. Sat in traffic for an hour to get home. Did drive thru or order pizza for dinner because my day was grueling.   I use to tell myself I just don’t have the time. But that was really a lie.  I just wanted easy…and I got fatter.

Anyone who tells you they don’t have minutes to spare for their own health is fooling themselves. They just haven’t made themselves a priority.

And in fact, planning for the week only takes minutes. Every Saturday I do a weekly menu-10 minutes tops! Then on Sunday I cook a few items for the week. Not only is this a time saver, it takes the guess work our of what I’m eating each day and ensures that I eat healthy, low carb foods. Today, I’m whipping up:

Cream of Broccoli Soup
Grilled Chicken Breasts
Lime Chili Wings
Curried Egg Salad
Lots O’Chopped Veggies (snacks!)

Just try starting off prepping a few items, like chopping veggies for snacks or grab and go lunches. It will make your life easier and healthier.

Recipes will be posted after I do some chopping. But here is the cream of broccoli soup:

Low Carb Cream of Broccoli Soup
Makes 6 1-Cup Servings
Carb Count: 4g (if you make it without cheese, 3g)
Ingredients
1 lbs Broccoli, cut into florets, stems trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 C Chicken broth (can substitute veggie broth)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 C Heavy Cream
1 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese (optional, buy why leave tastiness out?)

Directions
Combine broth, salt and pepper in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat; bring to boil. Add broccoli, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until broccoli is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer soup to a blender. Blend at low speed to puree soup. You’ll want to do this in batches. Place pureed soup into a sauce pan. Stir in cheese. Bring back to simmer over medium-high. Whisk in heavy cream; simmer and whisk occasionally until thick, about 5 minutes. Serve.  This can store in the fridge for up to 3 days.