Day 2 Of Simple Start

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simple start veggie omelet

My veggie omelet turned was very tasty, despite the fat-free cheddar.

I’m on Day 2 of Weight Watchers’ Simple Start plan and so far so good. The recipes are super easy to make and fill you up. I’ve kept on track with my net carb count fairly easily, and I’m enjoying the program so far.

I made two of the recommended meals today – a veggie omelet with a lite English muffin for breakfast and chicken Parmesan with a side salad for dinner. Both were excellent.

I did tweak the chicken Parmesan by adding spinach to the sauce. Yum.

As much as I worried about the amount of carbs in the food offerings, I ended up creating my own lunch (with power foods, of course!) because I needed more carbs.

After an hour of yoga, followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill, my trainer put the hammer to me with a very intense muscle workout. I needed my mid morning protein shake and 30 minutes later I gobbled up a chicken quinoa salad.

That hit the spot.

Keeping Score Of What I Eat
I admit I am still tracking. I know…I know you only eat power foods so there is no need to track.

Well I’m tracking for 2 very good reasons.

First, I need to track my net carbs. Yes I’m doing Weight Watchers but I’m doing a low carb version. Ever since my doctor told me 2 years ago I need to change my diet or become a diabetic, I’ve tracked carbs.

Second, tracking food is not second nature to me. I worked hard to create this good habit and it doesn’t take much to break it. Sure tracking is annoying, but if it helps me shed pounds, I can put up with it.

Today's indulgence: homemade vanilla ice cream buried under a mountain of berries.

Today’s indulgence: homemade vanilla ice cream buried under a mountain of berries.

Day 2 Indulgence
I’m about to enjoy a half a cup of homemade vanilla ice cream loaded with blueberries and strawberries. So, the same indulgence as last night.

I have to admit, I do enjoy the ice cream. It’s a rare treat these days. It’s something I’d pass on simply because of the amount of sugar. But with my carbs in check I can indulge a little.

But I think homemade frozen custard is on the horizon.

Weekly Weigh In: Got a Surprise When I Stepped On That Scale

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Thanks to very sore leg muscles I'm retaining water and up just a pound the week after Christmas.

Thanks to very sore leg muscles I’m retaining water and up just a pound the week after Christmas.

I weighed in this morning and expected to see a 5-pound gain (although 10 pounds was in the realm of possibility).  Turns out I’m only up 1 pound and all of that is water weight thanks to my very sore glutes, hamstrings, calves and adductor muscles.

So with my trainer’s killer workout and those blasted awesome burpees I probably lost weight this week but my body hasn’t recovered yet.

Looks like I didn’t go insane over Christmas after all. Yes I ate cookies. But unlike someone who will remain nameless (“cough” husband “cough”), I can count on one hand how many I ate.

Weight Loss Doesn’t Equal Perfection
We talked about perfection in my Weight Watchers meeting today. If a person fears they didn’t do the program perfectly, they tend to skip the meetings because they can’t face the scale.

It is easy to tell yourself, “One small cookie and the week is shot.”

I think I had my own bout with “perfection” in Texas and it lasted until I got on that scale this morning. For a moment I thought about not weighing in today. Oh, I’d go to the meeting but WW does allow you to skip a weigh in during the year.

Thankfully I came to my senses and know where I’m at after the holidays. I wanted to lose another 5 pounds by December 31st. Instead I lost a total of 2.4 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Not perfect, but I’ll take it!

Is Eating Low Carb On Simple Start Possible?

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Simple Start

Good news! Simple Start is flexible enough even for a low carb gal like me. I’m giving it a spin for the next two weeks.

The plan was simple — test Weight Watchers’ new Simple Start program over Christmas.  Well a big old monkey wrench called emotional eating was tossed into the works and my plan fell by the wayside.

So what’s a girl to do? Get back on that weight loss horse with Simple Start!

My next Weight Watchers meeting is Saturday morning and right after Simple Start begins. Today I hit the grocery store so I’m working on my new weekly menu.

Breads and Grains and Pastas, Oh My!
At first glance Simple Start doesn’t seem very low carb friendly. In reviewing the meal choices, I noticed that except for 3 salads, every dish includes whole grains. Yikes!

On days without my muscle workouts, I only eat 50g of carbs — the bulk of which are veggies. For strength training days I up my carbs to 100g.

My menu for the 2 weeks I try Simple Start needs to closely follow my workout routine. I started plugging the menus into My Fitness Pal. Sure enough, it will be tough keeping me at 50g of carbs on non-weight training days.

Egads! It Is Low Carb Friendly
Feeling frustrated, I stopped looking at the food photos in my little Simple Start booklet and actually started reading it.

Turns out, it’s pretty low carb friendly after all.

I can make my own meals provided I stick to the Weight Watcher power food list. Power foods fill you up faster, help you stay full and prevent overeating.  As long as I stick to the list, I can stick to my daily carb count and easily do the program.

So What’s My Menu Looking Like?
Since my workouts are in the morning, I’ll need foods higher in carbs for fuel. So I’ll choose from the Weight Watchers suggested breakfast and lunch meals.

Dinner is another story.

I’ll need to come up with my own meals pulling only from the power food list. I’ll just skip the grains section and pick from the veggies (carbs), protein, dairy and healthy fats on the list.

Considering my workout schedule, my first week’s meal plan looks like this:

Day

Workout Routine

Meals
Saturday (50g) Rest day Yogurt, Fruit & Cereal
Cobb Salad
Chicken Parmesan
Sunday(50g) Spin class (60 min) Breakfast pizza
Grilled Cheese & Vegetable Soup
Chili
Monday (100g) Weight training, interval run (35 min), walk (30 min) Oatmeal with Berries
Burger & Sweet Potato Fries
Pork Tenderloin, spinach & roasted vegetables
Tuesday (50g) Spin class (45 min), Yoga (60 min) Yogurt, Fruit & Cereal
Cobb Salad
Cheese Burger (no bun) with side salad
Wednesday (100g) Weight training, interval run (35 min), walk (30 min) Oatmeal with Berries
Burger & Sweet Potato Fries
Chicken breast,  asparagus & side salad
Thursday (50g) Spin class (45 min), Yoga (60 min) Breakfast pizza
Cobb Salad
Couscous with chicken & vegetables
Friday (100g) weight training, yoga (60 min) Oatmeal with Berries
Loaded baked potato & vegetable soup
Cobb Salad

Vegetables with hummus, vegetable soup and Greek yogurt with berries make up my snacks.

It may not look like a lot of variety, but I mix it up with the types of veggies and berries I use in dishes. Chicken breasts and ground beef are staples in our home and I tend to cook the meat on the weekend to save time during the week.

Plus my husband is kick starting his weight loss by going super low carb (20g/day). A limited menu makes it easier for me to change the meals to keep him on track.

Thankfully there is a lot of wiggle room with Simple Start that gives me the flexibility to keep up my low carb lifestyle. I’m looking forward to testing out the meal options and pairing the food choices with my workout routines.

Time to start making the grocery list.

Testing Weight Watcher’s Simple Start Over The Holidays

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Simple Start

Weight Watchers just rolled out its new Simple Start program. I’m giving it a spin for the next two weeks.

I’m convinced that eating healthy on the road is possible. It just takes a bit of effort and planning. To help me out, I decided to give Weight Watcher’s new Simple Start program a try over the holidays.

It’s a 2-week starter plan where you choose from a list of meals and snacks suggested by Weight Watchers. The meals focus on power foods – vegetables, veggies, and lean meats.  Power foods fill you up faster and help you stay full over time. So the program doesn’t focus too much on tracking or portions (except for healthy oils and the indulgence foods that made the list).

Minor Concerns With Simple Start
As for portions, the program is geared towards a 10-inch plate, 12-oz bowl and a 12-oz glass. These are your guides and not the standard measuring.

Hmmmm…that’s nice, but I’m going to stick to measuring. It’s a good habit I got into and I don’t want to break it after two weeks of this program.

Simple Start meals

Simple Start provide meal and snack options to choose from. I plan to avoid the high carb meals.

The other area I’m concerned with is amount of high-carb whole grains, pastas and breads in many of the meal options. Yes, I’m doing Weight Watchers, but I’m also counting my carbs. Carbs trigger a rise in insulin, which in turn stores the fat in cells. Since pasta, breads and most grains are trigger foods for me, I’m avoiding them, unless I eat them right after a muscle workout.

Even then, I’m limiting my choices to steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa, bulgur or barley. No rice. And absolutely no pasta.

Indulgence Points
The only points I’ll track are the “indulgence” foods. Little things like chocolate or wine. On Simple Start you’re allowed just 7 points of indulgence foods. Any extra food I eat or if I swap out ingredients in the recipes for items not on the approved list are counted towards those 7 points.

Basically Weight Watchers took the 49 weekly allowance points and broke them up across a week.

This is a toughy!  I use regular cheese and butter on the PointsPlus plan. I’d rather spend my points on the real stuff. It helps me feel satiated. Low fat foods, loaded with carbs, don’t fill me up. A big no-no for me.

I’ll need to watch my cheese intake for the next couple of weeks.

Simple Start App
The program includes an app. While I’ve set up my log in, I haven’t explored it just yet. I begin Simple Start on Saturday so I’ll start playing with the app later in the week. I’ve got too many things to do before our trip and getting sidetracked by another app won’t help.

Initial Thoughts
After sitting through the meeting where our leader went over the new program, I must admit I had serious misgivings about it.

I get the need to make a weight loss program as easy as possible for people, but not so easy that it requires no thought.

Losing weight is hard work. If it wasn’t no one would talk about an obesity epidemic in our country.

But weight loss is 95% mental. I don’t mean will power (there is no such thing). There is a huge learning curve to losing weight. You need to know why portion control is important, recognize that not all calories are equal, and grasp why we get fat in the first place.

Tracking what you eat is a big part of that earning curve.

Since I’ve had a few days to look over the Simple Start materials, I’m a little more open to the idea.

  • It’s designed as a starter program. If it helps someone take those first steps on their weight loss journey, that’s a very good thing.
  • If you’re stuck on a plateau, this is a great little shock to the system to give your body the push it needs.
  • If you are looking for a super easy program to help you drop the pounds, I’m sure this fits the bill. But will you keep it off? Hmmmm.

I’m giving Simple Start a try. I’ll post reviews of the recipes as I go along and of the program at the end of my 2-weeks.

Who knows, Simple Start might make me a believer.

 

Holiday Cheer: Down 1.2 Pounds This Week

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Even with the holidays, I'm still losing weight. I need to continue with the food and exercise plan for December.

Even with the holidays, I’m still losing weight. I need to continue with the food and exercise plan for December.

Woohoo! My weight loss this holiday season continues. I dropped 1.2 pounds this week. That puts my total weight loss at 87.2 pounds.

So far this holiday season, I’ve lost 3.4 pounds and I’d love to lose 5 more to hit my revised 3-month goal. Tomorrow’s spin class can’t get here soon enough!

My Body Mass Index went from 52.5 two years ago to 38.4 today. And my makeover clothes are fitting a little looser.  Sweet!

On Monday I take new body measurements. While I love seeing smaller numbers for my hips and waist, I really want movement in my legs and arms.

Today is a great day!

 

Crock-pot Lamb Roast & Asparagus with Dijon Vinaigrette

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crockpot lamb roast

My first time cooking a lamb roast in a slow cooker. It’s super easy and tastes wonderful!

Settling in for the snow and sleet heading our way, last night I made a healthy lamb roast and a side of asparagus with Dijon vinaigrette. The dish is low carb and great for those on Weight Watchers (10 point dinner).

It’s my first time attempting a lamb in a crock-pot but it turned out lovely. The recipe is easy to make and delicious – my kind of cooking!  The directions below call for cooking potatoes in the crock-pot with the lamb. I did this, but if you are low carb like me, just don’t eat them.

Leg of Lamb Roast
Net Carbs: 0
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 8 (4-oz. serving size; does not include potato)
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

  • Leg of lamb roast, boneless (2.5-3 pounds)
  • 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
  • Sprig of rosemary, woody stems removed
  • Sea salt and fresh crack pepper
  • 1 potato per person, peeled
  • ½ C beef stock
  • 4 bay leaves

Directions

  • Score the lamb, diamond pattern (see video below)
  • Combine the minced garlic, rosemary salt and pepper; rub the mix all over the lamb, making sure to press in.
  • Roll the lamb and use butcher’s twine to tie it together.
  • Toss the potatoes into the crock-pot
  • Place your lamb on top of the potatoes.
  • Add the stock and bay leaves to the crock-pot. The roast should not sit in the liquids.
  • Cover the crock-pot and cook on high for 4-6 hours. Check on the lamb near the 4 hour mark by inserting a meat thermometer in the center. Medium-rare is 145 F.
  • When the thermometer reads 135-140 F, turn off the crock-pot, remove the lamb and let it rest for about 15 minutes on a cutting board. I wrapped my lamb in foil. It will continue to cook on the cutting board.*
  • After 15 minutes, slice lamb into ¼-inch thick slices and place on a serving platter.

 Scoring Meet

medium rare lamb roast

Medium-rare (145 F) lamb roast. Cook yours longer for less red meat.

*Note: I cooked my lamb to medium-rare. The lamb is very tender. It’s also, as you see from my photo, red too.

If you don’t like seeing as much red or any red in your meat fear not. Simply cook your longer if you prefer.

For medium, the internal temperature for the lamb roast should be 160 F. And 170 F for well done.

However, you’ll need to check your temperature regularly or you run the risk of drying out the lamb in your crock-pot. I do recommend taking the lamb out of the crock-pot about 5-10 degrees below your desired temperature as the lamb still cooks while its resting on the cutting board.

Dijon vinaigrette

A very simple and wonderful vinaigrette. Use it on salads or asparagus!

Asparagus with Dijon Vinaigrette
Net Carbs: 3.1
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 2
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 Pound thin asparagus, tough ends snapped off
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tsp for every six spears of asparagus
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1.5 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 425 F.
  • Place asparagus on a baking pan.
  • Drizzle oil over the asparagus, then lightly season with salt and pepper.
  • Place the asparagus in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until tender.
  • Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together mustard, vinegar, oil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Remove asparagus from serving dish, drizzle with vinaigrette and serve.

Water Weight Vanquished; Finally Below 240 Pounds

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The water weight is gone and I'm now officially below 240 pounds!

I controlled my eating on Thanksgiving and my water weight is gone. I’m now officially below 240 pounds!

While I attended my Weight Watchers meeting last week, I decided to use my free pass and not officially weigh-in. While I didn’t over do it on Thanksgiving, I suspected I’d show a lot of water retention with all that tasty turkey day sodium. Sure enough, when I got home from that meeting, I stepped on my home scale and saw a 6 pound gain.

No one gains 6 pounds in one day. More water weight. Basically I needed to flush the excess water and salt out of my system before getting a more accurate weigh-in.

I worked hard this week to stay on my food and exercise program.

The result? I’m down 2.2 pounds from my earlier weigh-in.  Awesome! That damn water weight is finally gone (for now).

What makes me happy is that I’m finally below 240 pounds. Woohoo!

I know I dropped below 240 a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I just couldn’t let myself get too excited until that holiday was firmly in my rear view mirror.  I needed a post holiday weigh-in for confirmation.

Missing My 3-Month Goal
I’m not going to reach my 3-month goal of dropping about 20 pounds before the end of the year. I’m not being  pessimistic, just realistic. I’d have to lose 14 pounds in 3 weeks. That’s nearly 5 pounds a week…not very healthy (or smart!).

Am I disappointed? Sure, but I was overly aggressive in setting that goal mid way through October. But I’m not beating myself up over it.

Besides, I’m happy I controlled myself over Thanksgiving.  That gives me a lot of optimism for the rest of December.

I’m revamping my expectations and shooting for 6 more pounds by the end of the year. Still a tall order considering 2 pounds a week is at the top of the range for healthy weight loss.

I think an extra spin class can help.

Damn You Water Retention

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water retention and weight gain

Swollen feet, knees, hands and face means I’m retaining water. Just in time for my weekly weigh in!

I knew going into my Weight Watchers meeting that I’d show a gain. Not only were my hands, feet and knees swollen, but my face was puffy too. Great! Nothing like water retention on weigh-in day.

The old me would skip the meeting.  I never wanted to step on the scale if I had a bad week or knew I gained weight. I didn’t get that stepping on that scale week after week makes you accountable to yourself. Without accountability, I’d fail…and I did.

I must admit the thought of skipping yesterday’s meeting did cross my mind…for about half a second. I can no longer fear the scale. The scale is just a snap shot in time and doesn’t tell the full story. Sure Weight Watchers will officially record a gain.  But the difference is I know that it’s water weight and it will fall off in a day or so. The new me knows weight loss is about baby steps and I’m not going to always have the losses I’ve had the last few weeks.

I also know if I want to reach my 3-month goal of losing 19.5 pounds by year’s end, this was the one Weight Watchers meeting I’d be foolish to miss. Thanksgiving is this week and I need all the good karma I can get before Thursday.

This week I’m up 2.8 pounds. I’m less puffy today than yesterday, so I know I’ve lost a chunk of the water. The real test is coming up — no, not Thanksgiving. I’m talking about making it to the post-Thanksgiving weigh-in.

 

 

Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Vinaigrette Recipe

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I enjoyed seared ahi tuna for my fish challenge last night. It was delicious. Is sushi in my future?

I enjoyed seared ahi tuna for my fish challenge last night. It was delicious. Is sushi in my future?

My fish food challenge continued last night with a delightful Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer. My husband took pity on my sore legs and treated me to a date night at the Outback Steakhouse.

I noticed the tuna on the menu and decided to try it.

It was yummy! The tuna tasted amazing. Seared perfectly, the fish and had the right amount of seasoning – it didn’t over power the taste of the tuna.

After I ate the tuna, my husband pointed out that I essentially had sushi. He wants me to visit a sushi bar next week. Not sure if I’m ready for that adventure yet.

If I had a complaint about the dish it was the choice of lettuce for the “salad.” Ice burg…really? Why bother?  I skipped the lettuce and devoured the tuna.

The wasabi sauce was nice, although I wanted more heat. I only tried a small amount – I have no idea what’s in it but assumed it would do nothing to help me lose weight.

This is something I need to try at home, but as a proper salad. I found this little recipe on The Food Network. It had me at the mixed greens!  The recipe calls for using all the vinaigrette on the salad. That’s actually too much for my taste.  I recommend making the dressing as the recipe calls for, but using only one tablespoon on the mixed greens. You can use the rest of the dressing over a couple of days before trashing it.

Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Vinaigrette
Net Carbs: 2
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 6
Single serving

Ingredients

  • 1 Ahi tuna steak
  • 1 Tsp. coarse salt and coarse black pepper
  • Cooking spray or olive oil
  • 2 C mixed greens
  • ½ Tsp. wasabi paste
  • 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp. virgin olive oil

Directions

  • Season your tuna with salt and pepper.
  • Spray grill pan or lightly oil with olive oil and then heat grill pan on grill
  • Add tuna steak on to the hot surface and sear tuna for 2 minutes on each side. Remove tuna from heat.
  • In a small bowl, whisk wasabi, vinegar and soy sauce. Whisk in oil to combine dressing. Drizzle 1 tbsp. of dressing over your salad and toss to coat evenly.
  • Slice Tuna on an angle and arrange on the salad.
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I’m Down 3 Pounds And Closing In On Year-End Goal

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weight loss, weekly weigh-in

With my 3 pound weight loss this week, I’m now down a total of 86.6 pounds!

Woo hoo! I lost 3 more pounds this week, bringing my total weight loss to 86.6 pounds. Back in October I set a year-end goal of dropping about 20 pounds by December 31. As of today, I’m about half way there with 10.9 pounds to go in just a little over 6 weeks.

Clearly I didn’t do much math when I set the goal, because I’m just 13.4 pounds away from losing 100 pounds since this little journey began. Holy cow!

Well with Thanksgiving on the horizon, I’m not changing my 3-month goal now. Instead, I think hitting 100 pounds lost on my birthday (early January) is an awesome bonus!

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