Slow Healthy Weight Loss

I really love hearing from my blog readers/followers!! I appreciate your blog comments. I enjoy reading emails from you with your comments, questions, concerns, and encouragement! Your emails and comments inspire me to blog more, so please keep them coming!

Thank you Alicia for your email and inspiring this blog post!!

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Do any of you watch The Biggest Loser? I really love that show!!

If you do not know anything about the Biggest Loser that is okay, because I will give you the highlights that you need to know.

The contestants workout all week with their trainers and participate in weekly weigh-ins. The first week that these contestants are on the Biggest Loser ranch is always amazing! Most of them manage to lose insanely large amounts of weight in just one week! Monday night, I watched episode one from the most recent season 12. One man lost 34 lbs in one week!! Holy Cow!!

Week one at the Biggest Loser ranch might be awesome, but the second week is always the worst!! Some people even say it's cursed, because anything can happen. In the past contestants have lost very small amounts of weight in week two and some people even gained weight!

I realize that this is only a reality TV show, but it happens in real life as well. At my Weight Watchers meeting last week I had a member who was extremely upset about her lack of weight loss. You see her first week on plan she lost 9.6 lbs. WOW!! What a great way to jump start your weight loss. However, the next week she came in and had gained 3.4 lbs. See, this is what I am talking about!? My member was frustrated and rightly so. She had done the same thing she did the week before only to gain. How was that possible?

The first few weeks that you are losing weight, you lose a lot of water weight which explains the incredible weight loss that takes place at the beginning of your weight loss journey. This does not happen for everyone, but it tends to be the norm. After losing a large amount of weight like that your body needs a week or two to level out, before it is ready to lose weight again.

I know that many people have done a lot of extreme dieting in the past and you are used to more rapid weight loss. No one likes to hear this, but I will tell it to you anyway, Weight Watchers believes in slow healthy weight loss. What this means is that by the end of your plan your average weight loss per week should be anywhere from 1-2 lbs.

When I lost my weight, I would lose a lot of weight one week out of the month and the other three weeks I would gain or only lose a little bit of weight. I learned that about myself, but it took time. I had to study my body in order to learn more about myself and you have to do the same.

You might be struggling like Alicia and my other Weight Watchers member and that is okay! You are not alone. It’s okay to be frustrated, but it is my prayer that you will not stay in that place of frustration. Try to become a student of your body and learn from setbacks like this! Just do not give up!! Stick with it and it will pay off!!

Recipe Review: Soda Cupcakes

Last night I was baking up a storm! It was funny, because I was watching The Biggest Loser on Hulu at the same time as I was baking such yummy treats.

You see tonight we are having friends over for dinner and I was trying to make dessert ahead of time, so that I am not running around like a crazy person today. I really baking a lot and I wanted to try and make a Weight Watchers friendly dessert to share with our friends. I found just what I was looking for right here on my blog in My Recipe Collection!

Without further ado here is today's recipe review for Soda Cupcakes!

Ingredients

Pour the dry cake mix in a large bowl.

Add one can of diet soda.

Thoroughly whisk the two ingredients together.

Make sure to get all the lumps out.

I used a measuring cup to transfer the batter into cupcake liners.

WARNING: These cupcakes are very sticky. If you are not going to use cupcake liners make sure that you use nonstick spray on whatever pan you choose to bake this in.

This recipe said that it only made 12 cupcakes. However, I had so much batter that I probably could have gotten 24 cupcakes instead. Bake the cupcakes at 350 degree and refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.

The cupcakes right after I took them out of the oven.

Yummy!

I took the cupcakes out of the pan and let them cool.

These cupcakes are sweet enough that you might not need anything on top.

I put Cool Whip Free on top of my cupcake.

The final product!

These were so good! Enjoy!!

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Soda Cupcakes
Source: Hungry Girl

Ingredients
1 Boxed Cake Mix (any flavor)
12 fl oz Diet Soda (any flavor)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor Combo
Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda. Runners-up include lemon cake mix + diet lemon-lime soda and devil's food cake mix + diet cherry cola.

The Texture
Moist and light.

The Taste
Pretty darn impressive! However, if you're sensitive to the sweetener in diet soda, you may notice a slight aftertaste... especially if you use cola of any kind.

Icing Options
Cupcakes can be frosted with 2 tablespoons of low fat whipped topping without affecting its point total. Also, to offer a richer flavor, one might try combining 1 1/2 cups of fat free vanilla yogurt with one package of Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Cheesecake Pudding. Mix thoroughly and top with 2 tablespoons per cupcake just before serving.

Choosing the Right Cake Flavor and Diet Soda
Pairing the cake mix and soda is crucial to flavor, but is not rocket science. For those hankering a lemon cake, the choice is obvious - lemon lime soda. Chocolate cake taste bests if a diet chocolate soda can be found (check out Waist Watchers Soda brand). If this somewhat elusive flavor cannot be found, opt for a diet cola or cream soda instead. Yellow and white cake mixes work well with lemon lime or cream sodas.

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 171 calories, 3.25g fat, 301mg sodium, 34g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 19g sugars, 1.5g protein --PointsPlus® value 5*

Wordless Wednesday: Quality Time

Maximize the Minutes

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Here is the Meeting Summary from Saturday 24th, 2011.

In the meeting room last week we talked about different ways that we can maximize our minutes. We started by looking at what we are already doing to make it easier for us to stay on plan. We are not able to create more time, but we are able to plan and prioritize so that we can stick to the plan.

Gayle Reading, a time management consultant from Miami, who runs private and corporate workshops and for the last ten years has specialized in streamlining work schedules for women juggling careers and family. "Unfortunately, being chronically busy is a fast track to burn-out. That's why people come to me - to have someone give them permission to make simple lifestyle changes to get more time to themselves."

Sound appealing? Here are some of Reading's tips that will help you add an hour to every day:

In the morning:
- Get up earlier and go for a walk, so your evening is free to relax after work.
Buy groceries for tonight's dinner on your way to work, rather than on the way home - the store will be less crowded.
- Put in a load of wash and get your partner to help you hang it out. When you get home, it will be done.
- Clean one room before you go to work - by the weekend the housework will be done.
- Spend fifteen minutes soaking in an aromatherapy bath before the kids are awake. "You won't oversleep any more because you'll look forward to getting out of bed," says Reading.

In transit (on the bus or train):
- Write birthday cards or letters.
- Read the newspaper (and skim the headlines) or listen to a talking book.
- Work out your day's schedule.

At work:
- Take breaks - go for a walk or head to the park for lunch - you'll work far more effectively all afternoon.
- Ring ahead to check whether your doctor is running on time.
- Make a "to do" list: "Then number each task in order of importance," says Reading. "Tackle the biggest most taxing job first and you'll feel more energized all day."
- Stop being a perfectionist. "Learn where to cut corners and set times within which to complete tasks," Reading advises.

At night:
- Grab your cordless phone and pay bills by credit card while you stir the minestrone.
- Use your answering machine to screen calls and avoid unnecessary interruptions that eat into your night.
- Get a friend or relative to pick up the kids from baseball practice. Then do the same for them next week.
- While cooking, clean as you go.
- Let it go. "Remember, nobody has ever died from an untidy house," says Reading. "Whereas overwork has been proven to lead to chronic fatigue, cancer, ulcers and heart attacks."

On weekends:
- Delegate jobs like unloading the dishwasher to your partner and kids.
- Food shop outside peak-hours so you don't waste time in lines. Reading suggests you: "Organize a buddy system with a friend, where you buy her groceries one week and she gets yours the next."
- Cook in bulk and freeze the leftovers.
- Say no to social engagements every Friday night. "Then make a date with your partner, even if you just dress up and enjoy a candlelit dinner at home - you'll feel like you've pampered yourself," says Reading.

In summary....
Analyze your day. (Look for pockets of time)
Set priorities. (What would help you be successful today?)
Enlist help from others (Ask for help!).
Have a plan for the entire day.
Use the Plan-Friendly Shopping List on e Tools
Make an “appointment” for exercise or look for opportunities to move more.
Prepare additional food while cooking for future meals or freezing.

My Weekend Report

How was your weekend!? On Friday, I blogged about how we can Avoid Weekend Struggles. I asked you to choose one of three game plans for your weekend. Many of you commented and told me what you were planning to do, but I really want to know how it went.

Now, you are probably wondering how I did this weekend. On Friday, I told you that I was going to follow #2, "a Relaxed Version of the Plan". More specifically I said,

"I am going to choose #2 and follow a more relaxed version of the plan this weekend. I am going to track what I eat even if I go overboard, but allow myself to freedom to use my weekly PointsPlus allowance. On Saturday, we have an event at church and I do not know what kind of food they will be serving, so I will bring a snack for myself. On Sunday, Jon is going to make his famous Chinese food and I want to be able to enjoy more of it then I normally do when I am on plan."

Overall, my weekend was better than I expected. On Saturday, I stayed on plan all day until dinner where we went out to eat. I ate a larger meal and used some of my weekly PointsPlus allowance. The biggest success is that I was able to track everything I ate on Saturday! Sunday was a different story. I did not track anything after lunch and just ate what I wanted. Bummer!

I am being positive and trying to learn from my experience instead of just getting down on myself, because I threw the plan out the window on Sunday. It is not going to do any good to just focus on what I did not do.

This next weekend, I will have to look at what we have planned and maybe I could eat what I want on Sunday as long as I write it down. If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them!!


BIG NEWS...
Weight Watchers announced that they have teamed up with Dr. Oz and together they are going to help transform America in a BIG way! You’ll have to tune in to the Dr. Oz show TODAY on Monday, September 26 for the official kickoff and to hear all the details!

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For now, I’ll just say there a million reasons to join this revolution, and the biggest one of all is your health.

Visit www.doctoroz.com for showtimes!

Avoiding Weekend Struggles

In my opinion, Friday is one of the best days of the week. It always feels like no matter what happens I can handle it. Why? Because it is Friday! If you survive Friday you have made it to the weekend which is my favorite part of any week. Friday may be the doorway to the weekend, however it is not as carefree as it is cracked up to be!

Chrissy from Doing the Weight Watchers Thang! asked:

How can I better prepare my weekends for a healthier but relaxed approach? The weekends are veg time or really busy and stressful. We tend to eat out junk on the weekends.

I really struggle to stay on plan during the weekends. I hope that this is not a surprise to you, because I have tried to be honest about this constant struggle. I even changed my weigh in day to Saturday, because I have had such a problem with weekends! Read more about how I am Changing It Up.

I might be alone in this, but I feel like I have earned the right to enjoy my weekend. Is anyone else with me!? However, I believe that we need to consider the consequences of completely letting go of the Weight Watchers plan and binge eating, because we "deserve it". Weight Watchers teaches us to make lifestyle changes and that includes what we eat on the weekends. Do you trust the Weight Watchers plan enough to follow it every day of the week?

The way I see it, each of us are going to do one of three things with our weekends: #1 stay on plan, #2 follow a relaxed version of the plan and #3 throw the plan out the window and start again on Monday. I am not saying that one choice is better than the other. However, I believe that you need to know what version you are choosing to follow each weekend, so that you are prepared.

#1: Stay on Plan
You know the Weight Watchers plan and what it requires. If you have the discipline to stick to the plan, even on the weekend do it!! I have so much respect for those of you who can do this.

#2: Follow a Relaxed Version of the Plan
To me, this is the perfect happy medium. You have worked too hard during the week to undo all of it in one weekend. However, you have worked hard and might just need a break. That’s okay! Don’t throw the entire plan out at once. Maybe you can decide not to do part of the plan, but stick to the rest of it.

For example: Go out to eat and choose someone on the menu that might be higher in PointsPlus value, but make sure that you count your PointsPlus. See! You do not have to relax everything you have learned at once! Be careful not to throw too much away at the same time otherwise it might start looking like #3.

#3: Throw the Plan out the Window and Start again on Monday
The thing that scares me most about choice #3 is that I know how much damage I can do in two days. I know how easy it can be to NOT start again on Monday. If you choose #3, please do so with caution. Make sure that you have saved up your weekly PointsPlus allowance to compensate for your over eating. I hope that some of the principles that Weight Watchers has taught you will influence the choices you make on the weekend even if you are not following the plan exactly.

What number are you going to choose this weekend?

I am going to choose #2 and follow a more relaxed version of the plan this weekend. I am going to track what I eat even if I go overboard, but allow myself to freedom to use my weekly PointsPlus allowance. On Saturday, we have an event at church and I do not know what kind of food they will be serving, so I will bring a snack for myself. On Sunday, Jon is going to make his famous Chinese food and I want to be able to enjoy more of it then I normally do when I am on plan.

It did not take very long for me to come up with this plan. The best part is that I made this plan during my normal week! When the weekend arrives I do not have to work at planning what I am going to do, because I already did it earlier in the week. Now I just relax and enjoy my weekend!

Remember

Please let me know what number you choose and why! On Monday, we can review our weekend and see how it went!

Recipe Review: Broccoli Cheese Chicken

I want to thank all of you what have given me such great topics to blog about! One of the best ideas someone gave me is that I should write more Recipe Reviews. Well, I completely agree!

Cindy from Cindy and John's Life emailed me a recipe that she wanted me to do a recipe review on. I had every intention of posting that recipe review this week! However, I did not have all the ingredients to make it. Sad day!

So, I went to Cindy's blog looking for another recipe that I would have all the the ingredients to make. I found a recipe for Broccoli Cheese Chicken. Yum! There are few combination's in this world that taste as good as broccoli and cheese together!

It's slow cooker season and I hope that you will add this recipe to your menu this next month!

Ingredients.
Please note: the ingredients call for frozen broccoli, but all I had on had was a broccoli and cheese steamer bag.
I used what I had and it turned out good!

I only used two chicken breasts, because that's all I had.

Melt margarine or butter

Combine Cream of Broccoli soup and melted margarine

Add milk to soup mixture

Stir everything together

Spoon soup mixture over chicken

Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Remove cooker lid and place broccoli over chicken. Cover and cook one more hour.

I served this over rice for dinner. This was good, however I would have added some salt and pepper to give it a little more flavor.

We ate this meal with our friends Michael & Becky!

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Broccoli Cheese Chicken
Source: Cindy and John's Life

Ingredients
4 breast(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast
2 Tbsp margarine, melted
10 oz Campbell's 98% Fat-Free Cream of Broccoli
1/4 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli

Instructions
Place boneless chicken breasts in oblong slow cooker.

In bowl, combine melted butter, soup and milk. Spoon over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Remove cooker lid and place broccoli over chicken. Cover and cook 1 more hour. Serve over noodles or rice.

Servings 8; PointsPlus 5