Wordless Wednesday: Go Workout

More Snack Options

This past weekend turned out to be a very busy for me. As a result, this morning I am experiencing major writer's block! So, I have decided that today is the perfect day to share with you some of my most recent food finds!!

I have posted some of these pictures on my Facebook page and Twitter, because this is the fastest way for me to share new ideas with you. I often post pictures of new foods that I find throughout the week. If you would like to follow me on Twitter, click here. If you want to join my Facebook page, click here.

{Archer Farms Indulgent Granola Bites}

Serving Size: 1 bar
  2 pointsplus+

One of our Tuesday night Weight Watchers members introduced me to these Archer Farms Indulgent Granola Bites. These bars can be found at Target. I found four different flavors of these bars at my local Target: Sea Salt Caramel Almond, White Chocolate Lemon Berry, Banana Split, and Dark Chocolate Hazelnut. These Bites are great to keep in your purse and I even snacked on one while I was at the movie theater. They are great to have around instead of candy bars!

{Laughing Cow Cream Cheese Spread}

Serving Size: 1 wedge
  1 pointsplus+

I had no idea that The Laughing Cow made it's own cream cheese spread until I found it at my local Wal-Mart!! I found four different flavors of Laughing Cow Cream Cheese Spread: Classic Cream, Strawberries and Cream, Garden Vegetable, and Cinnamon Cream. I bought Nature's Own Cinnamon Raisins Thin-Sliced Bagels (1 bagel, 3 pointsplus) and ate it with the Cinnamon Cream flavored Laughing Cow Cream Cheese Spread for just 4 pointsplus! It was delicious and the perfect snack for me!!

{Weight Watchers Popped Zesty Cheese Crisps}

Serving Size: 1 bag
  2 pointsplus+

Just last week Weight Watchers offered its members a free sample of their new snack, Popped Zesty Cheese Crisps. These are so flavorful! If you like eating chips, this is a great snack option for you. These come in individual packages and are just 2 pointsplus per bag. If you have not tried them, go down to your local Weight Watchers meeting or center and check them out!

Walking a 5K

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A decision that I made early on in my pregnancy, is that I would exercise for 30 minutes every day. My exercise of choice has been walking. I came to this conclusion after reading several articles about the benefits of exercise during pregnancy. One of the articles that I read was called, “Seven great benefits of pregnancy exercise”, please click here to read it.

In January, I was thrilled when the Vice President of our school asked my co-workers and I to consider participating in a 5K here in town. She explained that we could walk or run, but that we would be doing it as a group. I knew immediately that this would be the perfect activity for me to do during my pregnancy!! I am excited to say that on Saturday, March 24th I will be walking in a 5K!! At the time of my 5K I will be about 17 1/2 weeks pregnant. I also spoke with my doctor and he confirmed that I am healthy enough to participate in this 5K.

With a grow baby in my belly and my 5K coming up quickly, I have made an effort to go walking at least 3 or 4 times a week. I like to go walking on my lunch break for anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes at a time. I have been parking my car farther away at the store, because I feel like every step counts...even the steps I take while I am out shopping.

I want to have the healthiest pregnancy that I can and if that means walking for 30 minutes every day, I am willing to do that.

What about you? Do you want to begin to experience the benefits of exercise in your life?

The Weight Watchers Walk-!t Challenge is just around the corner. If you have never participated in a 5K before I would recommend that you consider doing that this Spring/Summer. You do not have to run a 5K if that is not your thing. However, being to talk to your friends and see if you can find a walking buddy. Trust me the benefits of exercise far outweigh the alternative!!

Recipe Review: Laughing Cow Alfredo Sauce

I have been meaning to make this sauce for a while, but I have never gotten around to it until now. I'm sad that it took me this long to make this recipe, because it is so good!! I tweaked the recipe a little bit and added salt and pepper. I also used the garlic and herb Laughing Cow cheese, which made this an incredibly flavorful sauce. It turned out way better than I thought it would. Jon enjoyed it too and said that I could make it again!

Ingredients

First, I added the milk and 6 wedges of Laughing Cow cheese to my saucepan.

Next, I added garlic (I did not have garlic powder, so I used minced garlic).

Finally, I added the Parmesan cheese and butter. I also added salt and pepper to the sauce as well.

Then, I put the saucepan on the burner to begin melting all my ingredients together

until the sauce is velvety smooth, about 20 minutes.

I put about 1/4 cup of the sauce on my noodles.

. . . . . . . . . .
Laughing Cow Alfredo Sauce
Source: SparkPeople

Ingredients
1 cup fat free milk
6 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp reduced fat parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp butter
A little salt & pepper to taste

Instructions
In a medium-sized saucepan, combine all the ingredients until everything is melted and the sauce is velvety smooth, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 4; 3 PointsPlus+

Wordless Wednesday: Never Too Slow

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Dining Out Wisely

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This morning, I want to give you the meeting summary from my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, February 18, 2012.

The average person dines out 4.2 times a week!

Use these great tips to help you do so and still stay on plan and in control!

Dining Out Dos and Don’ts
Simple strategies and tools to help you make wise choices.
Article By: Leslie Fink, MS, RD

Some people trying to lose weight steer clear of restaurants to avoid the large portion sizes, bottomless bread baskets and all those high-calorie entrées. But shunning restaurants altogether isn't a realistic approach to weight loss — and it's unnecessary. You can eat out and lose weight. When possible, it's best to plan ahead and account for the occasion. But even eating on the go doesn't have to derail your day. Use these 10 tips to navigate the menus at sit-down restaurants and fast-food joints.

1. Set a budget
Determine how much you're willing to eat before looking at the menu. Remember, you can save your weekly PointsPlus® Allowance for indulgences. For even more flexibility, you can earn activity PointsPlus values that can be swapped for food. And as long as you eat carefully most of the time, you can loosen up a bit on special occasions. (Just don't let every day become a special occasion).

2. Put on your game face
Decide on some guidelines before you go to a restaurant, and stick to them. For instance:
• Skip the all-inclusive (prix fixe) menu and opt for à la carte selections.
• Take one piece of bread, then ask your server to remove the basket from the table.

3. Make special requests
You're paying good money for that meal, so you're entitled to make special requests or slight modifications. Why not say:
• Can I have that without butter? Grilled? With the sauce on the side?
• I'd like mixed greens instead of fries with my sandwich.

4. Practice portion control
Some restaurant portions can be two, three, even four times the "normal" size — especially super-sized fast food meals. Keep your portions in check by:
• Ordering a salad as a starter and then splitting a main entrée with a friend.
• Creating your own scaled-down meal from a couple of appetizers and/or side dishes.
• Ask for the waiter to go ahead and put half of your meal in a to go box before you get your meal. That way what is on your plate is what you get, you can clean the whole thing and still make another meal out of it too!

5. Break down (language) barriers
If you don't know what a preparation term means, ask. In general, though, the following words translate into high-fat, high-calorie dishes:
• Au gratin, scalloped, hollandaise.
• Parmigiana, scampi, Bolognese.

6. Downsize the super-size
Super-sized fast food meal options can be loaded with calories. Either:
• Order something small, like a basic burger. After all, the first bite tastes the same as the last.
• Order yourself a children's meal.

7. Watch out for extras
The average burger with ketchup, lettuce and tomato isn't so bad. But one with "the works" is usually a caloric nightmare. Skip:
• Bacon, cheese and mayonnaise.
• Double-burger patties and extra pieces of bread.

8. Don't go top heavy
Salad bars and garden salads grace menus across the country. But those extra toppings can sabotage your seemingly diet-conscious choices:
• Go light on croutons, grated cheese and bacon.
• Opt for small amounts of low-fat or nonfat dressings on the side.

9. Don't drink away your progress
A drink with dinner is fine, but too many sugary margaritas may wreak havoc on your PointsPlus budget — and your resolve. Keep your appetite under control by:
• Alternating alcoholic beverages with noncaloric sodas or sparkling water.
• Not drinking alcoholic beverages on an empty stomach.

10. Resign from the "clean plate club"
You paid for it so you have to eat it all now, right? Wrong. Downsize by:
• Enjoying half the meal and doggie-bagging the rest.
• Pushing your plate away when you're full.
• Eating slowly. Remember, it takes 20 minutes for your body to recognize that it's full

Weight Watchers and My Pregnancy

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This blog post has been in the works for a while. I knew that I would need to write a post about this, but honestly I have not been able to organize my thoughts until now.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post called, Pregnancy Highlights: 11 weeks. Helen left me a comment on that blog post that I have thinking about ever since. Helen's comment said, “Do you think you could do a post on how pregnancy and WW work together? I know you cannot officially follow the plan when pregnant, but maybe you could also explain the rules - like what if you are LT, then become pregnant, how does payment work after baby until you get back to goal?” Today, I want to focus on the first question in Helen's comment and come back to the other ones another time.

. . . . . . . . . .

Before I begin, I want to make it very clear that what I am going to write is my opinion. It is NOT the opinion of Weight Watchers or anyone else. I am writing from my own personal perspective and opinion. I am not a professional nutritionist, just a woman trying to lead the healthiest lifestyle possible while I am pregnant.

With that being said, I think I should share with you that OFFICIALLY you cannot follow the Weight Watchers program while you are pregnant. A portion of the Weight Watchers health notice states, "Weight Watchers prohibits participation in its weight loss plan for children under the age of 10, those individuals with an active medical diagnosis of bulimia nervosa, those whose weight is less than 5 pounds above the minimum weight of the Weight Watchers Weight Ranges, and during pregnancy." To read the entire Weight Watchers health notice, please click here.

. . . . . . . . . .

All of that being said, for the last 12 weeks of my pregnancy, I have still been following Weight Watchers. Over the last 3 years, I have faithfully followed the Weight Watchers program and it is a way of life for me. I've tracked my PointsPlus each day for years, even as a Lifetime member. I knew that one day I would get pregnant and I would continue to follow the Weight Watchers program.

I have still tracked my PointsPlus each day or my pregnancy. Right now, it is early in my pregnancy and I do not need to gain very much weight. So, I have continued to eat the same amount of PointsPlus values that I did when I was trying to maintain my weight as a lifetime member. I have gained weight during this time, because of different cravings that I have experienced.

I know that in my second and third trimester, I am supposed to gain more weight and eat about 300 extra calories a day. I want to gain this weight for my baby. My plan is to add 300 calories worth of PointsPlus to my daily budget so that I will be gaining weight at a healthy rate.

I know that this is not "official", but this is what I've decided to do during my pregnancy to give my baby the best and healthiest start possible. Also, I am going to remain a Weight Watchers leader throughout my pregnancy. I want to continue to be a good example to my members as they learn to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Personally, I wish that Weight Watchers had a program for pregnant woman, especially considering that they are not a "diet", but they do not offer anything like that at this time. So, I am going to apply the principles that I have learned about healthy eating throughout my pregnancy.

Many of the articles that I have read from What to Expect and Baby Center want me to eat the same foods that Weight Watchers has encouraged me to eat. I've already been leading a healthy lifestyle, I am just going to continue to do it while I am pregnant.