Roni got the WeightWatchen blogs back up, so I’ve moved back over there.

 Check it out! 

http://blogs.weightwatchen.com/grancanon

I did my weekly “official” weigh-in this morning (my goal is to do it Monday mornings, but with my friend here it didn’t happen, and how official can it be since I’m not on weight watchers (yet… I keep leaning that way..after the move and after my first paycheck we’ll see)?

But for all the bitching I’ve been doing lately, as my title implies, I must be doing something right…

I’m down 2.5 pounds. Yeah!  That means that in three (?) weeks I’m almost ten pounds down!  Not quite to my 10%… but another 13 and I’m there.  Whee!!

BTW: As soon as I find the recipe for the cookies I made for my friend again, I’ll post it, though I don’t know if it was the use of the splenda or if I mismeasured something, but they tasted a little floury. 

Ok, my friend is here so I’m going to make this brief… I just have to admit it’s not all her fault:

Saturday:  

Breakfast: none

Lunch: BBQ beef sandwhich (Ok, so I drove to Kansas City because I needed to get something at Bass Pro, and I sorta smelled BBQ which made me realize that this was going to be my last chance to go to my all time favorite BBQ place which exists no where except the KC metro area and Las Vegas, for who knows how long. So I did it)

Dinner: Half a shrimp quesadilla, chips, queso

Sunday:

Brunch: other half a quesadilla

Dinner: Half a bowl of glass noodle soup

Inbetween: A brownie, piece of cake, two chocolate-marshmellow eggs, some cookies (That I made, so they were actually like 45 cals each, made with apple sauce and splenda) and a lot of  low-fat tortillas and cheese.  Oh, and a lot of jaw breakers (they were sitting right next to me… And I just kept mindlessly eating them.)

Three weeks in and I’m already wavering… Some days, like today, I just want to eat what I want and not have to worry about how much it is.  I was looking through recipes today (I’m in a discussion with my best friend about who’s going to make the snacks for the next couple of days - I’m pulling for me so I can control what goes into them), and looking through Aimee’s cookbook (link provided in a comment by Dizzy), “Aimee” made the comment that her nutritional information is based on certain brands (all not being created equal), and then looking at everything that she listed that I guess must be taken into consideration.. there was stuff about exchange units and others that I don’t even remember that made me tired just looking at, not to mention trying to adjust it and figure out everything again.

Even the way I’ve been going about it… Taking the ADA guidelines and trying to meet them has proven to be troublesome.  I’ve started estimating, and not writing stuff down in their proper categories, so I doubt I’ve been meeting to quotas of fruits,. veggies, grain, etc.  And there’s some meals that I wouldn’t know how to go about it…

 Take today for example… dinner was chicken and noods over mash potatoes.   Ok- the potatoes were easy.  I didn’t use milk (when I opened my thign of milk I could smell it, so I through it away), and didn’t use butter (used a powder substitute instead).  But then the chicken and noodles….  I cooked the noodles in chicken broth and added the chicken for seasoning.  Bad on me, I didn’t measure anything (which was probably the firs mistake), but I estimate that I ate probably about a cup or cup and a half of the chicken and noodles… But what the hell does that mean??   I don’t know exactly how much of the broth, of the egg noods, or of the chicken ended up on my bowl. How the hell would I count that, even if I were on WW, let alone trying to determine fat and calories?

This has been a rough day overall, and that’s probably what’s fueling this….  My scooter is running too low on fuel, so it died on me when I was on a downhill stop, and I had to get off and walk it to an uphill sidewalk to get it started again (fortunately, I was able to get it the rest of the way home), which was actually a little frusterating, because I thought I should have had enough to get to a gas station on my way back to work. That meant that I then had to go to Wal-Mart for a fuel container (my car doesn’t have a parking permit for where I work(ed) ) and who woudl have thought that in the middle of a work day Wal-mart woudl have been busy??  It took me half and hour, probably fifteen minutes of which was spent in line!   Well, then, when I was there, I realized that the $20 bucks that I stuck in my pocket to pay for the stuff at Wal-Mart and for fuel was no longer in my pocket (that’s a lot of money to lose like that!) and then, when I was getting ready to head back to work (about fifteen minutes late – it’s ok, my boss has been gone all week), I realized that I left my lunch at Wal-Mart!  I paid for a sandwhich and potato salad (really fighting the McD’s urge – I really really wanted a cheeseburger and fries), and left it there! (I claim partial innocence - the cashier put a bag on top of the rotating thing, which when they do that I assume that it’s only the one bag… I was a little miffed that she put my food in with everythign else, but I guess I shouldn’t have been because it didn’t happen).  And so I ended up with Subway – it’s actually the closest fastfood place to where I work(ed).

Sorry… Had to rant….. But I am a duck, and all this is water rolling off my back.

In case you’re wondering about the -ed on “work,”  today was my last day! Two weeks from today and tomorrow, I will be moving and starting my life as a grad student…. I’ll just have to avoid stress eating during the move…

Menu time:

Breakfast: cup yogurt, cup grapes

Lunch: Subway, baked BBQ lays

Dinner: cup or so chicken and noodles, cup of mashed potatos, cup salad.

You guys had better be glad I love you all, I just want to take my shower and go to bed (there’s something about writing about a topic you know nothing about that just takes it all out of you), and here I am, posting a recipe. Just for you.

• 3/4 dry bread crumps
• 1 tsp dried leaf oregano
• 1 tsp dried leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 3 to 4 medium-size zucchini, cut in 1/4-inch slices
• 3 egg whites, beat until foamy
• Dash of pepper

Preheat oven to 325F.  Mix bread crumbs, organo, parsley and cheese in a flat dish.  Dip zucchini slices in egg whites, then in bread crumbs; spray with No Stick cooking spray.  Spray a baking shet with No Stick cooking spray.   Arrange coated zucchini on sprayed baking sheet.  Bake 5 to 7 minutes; turn.  Spray zucchini again, bake another 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve hot.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional: (serving is 3 or 4 pieces)

Calories…71

Protein…4g

Carbs… 11g

Fat… tr (?)

Sodium…137mg

Cholesteral…1mg

Points… 1.7?  (using Roni’s calculator)

My boss dropped a manuscript on me today that has some sections that need to be rewritten by tomorrow, so I’m just going to post menu, and then if I have time (which partly depends on how long it takes me to dig out my other computer which has already been packed), talk about something that’s been on my mind.

Breakfast: omelet, mushrooms, cheese

Lunch: beef ramen, couple slices of peach

Dinner: Pork chop, baked potato with cheese, half a cup of cucumber

So… My pork chop (which I did eat all of it), ended up being 6 oz… so yeah, I ODed on meat for today, but oh well. It’s one day, and I have a feeling that calorie wise (while I didn’t count today) I am probably ok.  I’m still feeling hungry, so I may end up snacking on grapes later.

 For those who are eagerly awaiting my baked zuccini recipe…(yes, Janet nedes to lern how two spel), I’ll get that done tonight, if I can.

Pasta Cheese Bake

Ask and ye shall receive.

For two servings:

• 4 oz cooked pasta of your choice
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce*
• 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix pasta, marinara, and cottage cheese in a bowl. Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray, and transfer ingredients into dish. Sprinkle Parmesan on top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until bubbling. Enjoy!

Pasta Cheese BakeRecipe makes: 2 servings Calories: 244 Calories from Fat Total Fat g 2.5 Saturated Fat g Cholesterol mg 2 Sodium mg 130 Total Carbohydrate g 4.5 Dietary Fiber g Sugars g Protein g 11 Points:  5.1

Nutrition Template provided by:
Chipotle Fan.com
*The original recipe called for a marinara sauce that was included in the cookbook. I don’t have the funds or the time (most of the time) to cook something like that from scratch, so I substituted a jar version and adjusted the calories.  There was a 40 calorie difference between what I made and the cookbook version.

The Zucchini recipe will have to wait until probably this evening, though if I have extra time at lunch, I’ll look it up and get it typed up.

P.S. Thanks for the link, Dizzy!

Not really a whole lot to add to what I’ve already said..

 Tried two new recipes: Pasta cheese bake and breaded zuchini.  I got them a “healthy cooking” cookbook I bought last week…Unfortunately a lot of the stuff in there looks expensive.

Breakfast: Cup of yogurt, cup of grapes

Lunch: 1 serving of pasta cheese bake, wheat bread with 1/2 tbsp butter

Dinner: 1 serving pasta cheese bake (What I made at lunch was two servings, so I split it in half); 1/2 cup of peaches, 1 serving baked zuchini.

It came out at just under 1000 calories, so I’ll probably end up with 1/2 cup light icecream, which is 120 calories.

So, with the help of a friend text messaging me about this guy we knew in high school this morning (ok, so I texted her about him last night, and she was just now responding at 7:15 in the morning…), I managed to get up and do some pilates before coming to work. It was supposed to be a 20 minute workout, but it was 8:20 when I finished it, and I went straight to it after crawling out of bed at 7:30, so I suspect I unwittingly did both workouts on the DVD instead of just one.. (I swear, there was no indication of a break, and there’s actually not two listed on the menu…hmm…). So, anyone, I come to work and log onto AIM, which automatically takes me to this homepage. Well for kicks and giggles (cause I believe that they’re self-fullfilling), I click on my horoscope and it said:

Creating a healthy balance between your emotional needs and what you must do at work seems difficult now.  With the Moon in your 6th House of Healthy Living, it’s crucial that you stick to your workout regimen today. If you haven’t been exercising, it’s a perfect time to start a new program. You will have more energy if you spend more time on yourself.

How ironic is that?

Talk at ya tonight! (I’m actually gonna work today).

Geez, I’m posting a lot today.  As a quick side note… I’ve gone back to WordPress because I think I like it a little better than blogspot.  However; if I find that blogspot is the WeightWatchen crowd’s preferred forum for commenting and the like, then I’ll gladly switch back.  Just leave me notes or send me an email grancanon@hotmail.com.

So.. the point of this post: I never thought I would have a hard time getting calories.  Today after dinner, I counted and I came up with roughly 800 in food… though I didn’t finish my dinner; I got full before I got there.  My food log for the day:

Breakfast: cup of yogurt

Lunch: 2 servings fake mac and cheese

Dinner: Tacos (4 oz hamburger, 1.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 teaspoon seasoning, lettuce, tomato, cheese sauce) 1/2 cup of cheesy rice (I’m a cheese person).

Because I was under 1000 calories yesterday, I allowed myself a non-fat white chocolate mocha (tall, no whipped cream) which was 270 cals.  So, I figure I probably came in at 1100 today, tops.  Not bad, but definately would have been under without the treat.

I did invest in cucumber (about the only veggie I can eat raw) and some grapes for snacks to help solve the problem for the next week, and I’m sure with my friends and roommates being around I’ll go back to being over calories in no time.