Sorry guys, I have to go to bed early tonight (have weigh in tomorrow morning) and I still have some stuff I need to get done before I head for bed. I'm going to leave you with a video of this girl I found yesterday who hit her WW goal. I thought she was rather entertaining (we all know we'll act like this when we hit our goals) LOL! See you tomorrow (hopefully with some good news after my weigh in).
Ok, I have a few things for you tonight...
First, if you're one of my many visitors from the UK, be sure to check out Groovybabe's Weight Loss Forum that she started. It's a good place to connect with some people from your area and perhaps find a weight loss or exercise buddy. :)
Next, Peggy sent me an email telling me about a neat website. It's called Healthy Dining Finder. You can search for restaurants according to city, price range, or if they have take out and delivery. If you'd like to see a list of restaurants in alphabetical order, click here. I haven't had time to play around with all of the website, but from what I can tell so far, it looks pretty useful. :)
Ok, the last thing is sort of a public service announcement on a great way to identify someone having a stroke (also sent to me by Peggy). Please take the time to read this, you could save someone's life...
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE(Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
Remember the “3″ steps, STR … Smile, Talk, Raise… Smile, Talk, Raise… Smile, Talk, Raise.
I missed my Wednesday meeting this past week because I wasn't feeling well. I decided to go and weigh in on Friday instead. I was down 1 pound. My weight loss seems to be slowing down (which I expected it would after the past 6 weeks or so of bigger losses). I know with weight loss, there will be weeks where I'll have a great week, then I could have a week where I stay the same or even gain. It's all part of the journey (for me anyway).
I was reading Krissie's Blog today and she mentioned the Facebook website. I honestly forgot I even had a Facebook account until I went there to check it out. LOL! I must have signed up for it awhile back and forgot about it. Duh! Either that or I discovered it the same time I discovered MySpace and I ditched it for MySpace because I knew more people there. :) Anyway, I figured while I was there, I should go ahead and update it. :) I found Krissie and added her as a friend. Turns out, we have the exact same birthday (November 3rd) except I'm 4 years older. It must explain why she's so cool. LOL!
I decided to take the day off today and just pretty much do nothing (I don't get many of those days). Well, I did post some stuff on Ebay, but that didn't take long and I don't really consider that work. :) Rick and I went to Traders World (flea market) early this morning and walked around, then we stopped off and picked up some videos at Blockbuster. We got: The Last Mimzy (it was good), Premonition (it was ok but a bit odd), The Number 23 (we stopped watching it after about 30 minutes because it was boring, either that or I just wasn't in the mood to watch it), and Zodiac (we haven't watched this one yet). The first two movies were my pick and the 2nd two were Rick's picks. LOL!
I was looking for a certain time zone today and came across ZebraMap.com. I thought it was kind of neat, so I'm passing it on in case anyone is interested. :)
Ok, I'm off to bed. Oh, I finally finished the last Harry Potter book last night. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't finished it yet, but I liked it. It wasn't my favorite HP book in the series, but it's good.
I've been staying in Dayton since Sunday afternoon to house/cat sit (5 cats and a kitten) for my parents while they're in TN visiting my brother and his family. I came downstairs to let my dog Riley out this morning and the first thing I did was set the alarm off (he really had to go and I wasn't awake enough yet to remember my parents had an alarm installed since the last time I stayed here). I was awake when that alarm went off though (so was the rest of the neighborhood probably) LOL! Within a minute, Brinks was on the phone wanting the secret word (in case someone had broken in). Luckily I was smart enough to ask my parents what that word was before they left or I would have probably had police knocking on the door next. Great way to get the day started. :)
So after I cleaned all of the litter boxes, fed the one cat and guarded him so the others couldn't eat his food (he has to eat every few hours or he gets sick), filled the food and water bowls, took care of the new kitten, checked on the 3 legged cat that roams the neighborhood (my parents feed him), and watered the plants outside, my mom called. She and my dad had taken my 7 year old nephew back to their hotel for breakfast (he thinks that's fun). I talked to my nephew for awhile (he wanted to hear Riley bark and the cats meow, which Riley just licked the phone and one of the cats hissed). He said my parents were taking him to Target to get a toy and then to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch (fun).
After breakfast, I took Riley to PetSmart to walk around and get some food (he loves going there). On the way home, we stopped off at the park and took a walk. It's only 1:30 and I'm tired already. LOL! The cats and Riley seem to be napping right now, so maybe I'll go and grab my Harry Potter book and try to get some more reading done. :) Normally I'd be working on the website and answering emails, but all of that is on my desktop computer at home. I just brought my laptop with me so I could get online and check my message board and blog. TTYL!
I got up at 8:00 this morning, drove down to Super Walmart and got a copy of the new Harry Potter book. Woohoo!!! So, you guys won't be hearing from me for a couple of days. Just kidding. LOL! Well, maybe. I'll be gone tomorrow through Friday evening to house/cat sit in Dayton, but I'll try to get on the internet when I can.
Rick and I went and saw a movie last night. We saw "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". It's with Adam Sandler and Kevin James (the guy from the King of Queens show). I wasn't sure what to expect since it's about 2 guys pretending to be gay and married, but it was really funny! Here's a clip if you haven't seen it yet...
I was asked earlier today about what I was doing to lose weight since my weight loss has accelerated over the past couple of weeks. I figured instead of just answering in the comments, I'd make it an actual post since I'm sure more than 1 person is curious. :)
Well, for starters, I don't take any enhancers (I don't believe in popping pills and such just to lose weight, not to mention, I hate taking any pills, even aspirin. A multi vitamin is hard enough for me to get down). The only thing I've done differently is I've stopped eating all the junk and unhealthy stuff I was eating before. I switched from Flex to Core, then I modified the Core program just a little bit. I cut out all of the stuff I can't handle when it comes to portions... bread, potatoes, sweets (I still eat Jello because I'm not a huge fan, therefore I won't eat more than 1 serving), no more chips, etc. I've also stopped going out to eat. Every meal is prepared by me now, and I make sure I eat 3 meals a day (before I would skip breakfast most of the time). I don't use any of the 35 extra flex points I get unless it's just 1 or 2 here or there (like for my laughing cow cheese on my egg beaters omelet for breakfast). I refuse to use my flex points on junk, even though I know we can use them any way we'd like. It just defeats the purpose of eating healthier to me.
When I was on Flex, counting points gave me an excuse to eat unhealthy food "Just because I had the points". I was spending a minimum of half my points each day on junk food. I was also cheating and going over my daily points target at least once a week. I just wasn't very serious about losing weight.
One day, I found fitday.com and inserted a few of my daily food journals into it just to see how my food broke down. Imagine my surprise when the pie chart showed me that the majority of my day was carbs (and I had very little protein). I knew exactly where all of those carbs were coming from too. Bread, pizza, sweets, especially ice cream, etc. It was a real eye opener for me. No wonder I was tired ALL the time! I just never made the connection until that moment. Something just kind of switched in me and I decided I was tired of screwing around. I was ready to get serious and get this weight off.
I sat down that night and read up on Core. I honestly never wanted to do Core because it just looked "too healthy" for me. LOL! I know, kinda dumb thinking there huh? I went out to my kitchen, threw away any and all junk food. Made myself a list and hit the grocery store (yep, I was grocery shopping at midnight because I was determined to start that very next day. I was afraid if I didn't start then, I might talk myself out of it). I did start that next day, and I've been going strong ever since. I haven't cheated once. :)
Since I cut out all of the junk, I'm now eating more protein. I make sure I have some kind of protein at each meal. And, since I'm not snacking on junk such as bars, ice cream cones from McDonald's, etc., I now have room for things like apples, yogurt, and healthier things (many of you know I'm not a fan of fruits and veggies, but I'm really trying to add more when I can). Here's an example of one of my menus from my journal last week:
Breakfast
(I pretty much eat the same thing for breakfast each day)
Egg beaters with onions and peppers made into an omelet with laughing cow cheese in the middle. I'll either add a tablespoon of bacon bits to my omelet, or I'll have a serving of canadian bacon on the side.
Snack
1 piece of Light String Cheese (I only do this like once or twice a week) It just depends on what time I ate breakfast. It holds me over until lunch.
Lunch
1 grilled chicken breast cut up over a huge salad with a sprinkle of cheese, sometimes bacon bits, black pepper, chives, and light ranch dressing.
Snack
Apple sliced and dipped in fat free vanilla yogurt
Dinner
Chicken Broccoli Roll (see recipe below)
Green beans (I'm loving green beans right now)
Salad on the side
Snack
Sugar Free Jello
Since I've added more protein and better foods into my diet, I'm not nearly as hungry as I was before when I was junking myself up. I'm satisfied at each meal, I'm not constantly looking for something else to snack on, I have A LOT more energy, and as you've noticed I'm losing weight better than before. I don't expect the pounds to drip off of me like this forever. I know there will eventually be a slow down. I also won't go without bread and potatoes for the rest of my life, but for now, I'm learning to get my portion sizes in control and those things I'm not ready for yet. Eventually I will slowly start adding 1 slice of whole wheat bread into my daily food. Then eventually I'll slowly add a serving of potatoes once a week and go from there. I just know that I can't go hog wild when I do, or I'll start gaining again. Right now, I am in control and it's going to stay that way if I can help it. It's up to me.
Chicken Broccoli Roll
4 (4 oz.) Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Cooked Finely Chopped Broccoli
4 Wedges Light Laughing Cow Cheese
Black Pepper
Other Seasoning of Your Choice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray. For each chicken broccoli roll do the following: Place one chicken breast between plastic wrap and pound it out until it's thin, but don't rip holes in it. Mix 1 laughing cow cheese wedge with 1/8 cup broccoli and place it onto the chicken on the side closest to you. Sprinkle with black pepper. Bring in the sides of the chicken, then roll the chicken up starting with the side closest to you. Place into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the top of each roll with any seasonings you like. I used thyme, rosemary, paprika, black pepper and a tiny bit of garlic powder. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
Note: The picture is from the first time I made it. I didn't mix the broccoli and the cheese. Since then I've mixed them and it's better. I just need to take another picture. :)
Serves: 4
Per Serving: 172 Calories; 5g Fat (27.4% calories from fat); 28g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 79mg Cholesterol; 323mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable. WWP: 4 (www.AimeesAdventures.com)
Woohoo! I lost another 3.8 pounds this week. Pretty exciting stuff. :) Rick is down almost 40 pounds now. We're on a roll and I'm not talking about the kind you eat either. :)
I started a challenge for myself a couple of weeks ago. This evening, I decided to invite others to join me over at my message board. It's a Christmas challenge. Anyone can join in and you can challenge yourself to anything you'd like. The challenge will end on Christmas day. My own personal challenge is to hit "One"derland. I'd have to lose 51 pounds between now and then, but if I really work at it, I can make it. Even if I don't make it exactly, I'll have at least tried. What a great gift to give myself this Christmas... the gift of good health and weight loss. Who will join me? This is the weight ticker I made to track my progress. Every time I lose weight, the ball moves closer to the hole.
By the way, if you haven't checked out ExtraPounds.com, you really should. It's free and there are all kinds of cool things to help you track and lose weight.
I went golfing with Rick and two of his friends from work yesterday (they needed a 4th person, so I went). It was pretty fun, but we got rained on half of the time. I didn't do too bad on some holes, then there were a few holes when I wished I'd just stayed in the golf cart. LOL! There was this one par 3 hole where we had to hit over water (the picture below is the hole I'm talking about). I usually choke when there's any kind of water. Doesn't matter how big or how small either. I've hit my ball into a tiny creek before. Heck, my ball has landed in puddles as a matter of fact. LOL! Anyway, this hole not only had water, but a freakin' water fountain to hit over too. The pin position was directly behind the water fountain. I could have tried to hit to the left or right, but I decided what the heck, I should go for it. LOL! I put my good pink ball away (the picture to the left are the balls I use. Aren't they pretty?) and I got what I call a "water ball" out. This would be a ball that if it lands in the water, no big deal. LOL! I don't hit my irons very far usually, so I had the bright idea to use my 3 wood (it's a bigger club that hits further for those of you who don't golf). I hit that sucker and watched my ball fly through the air. Here are the thoughts that were going through my head as soon as I hit it.... "oh I hope that makes it over the water..... cool, I think I'm going to clear the water.... crap slow down.... oh no". LOL! That ball not only got over the fountain and the rest of the water, but it also hit the green and kept going. Dang it! So I go over to see where it ended up (I could tell exactly when I was on the tee box). It was on a hill. Hills and I have a love/hate relationship. If I hit the ball well from the hill, I love it. If I don't hit the ball well, I hate it. LOL! Lucky for both me and the hill, I hit it good and put it right up near the flag. I made my putt and that was the only par 3 I actually made par on yesterday. LOL! I just had to share that story. Aren't you glad you stuck around long enough to get through it? :) Ok, I'm off to bed. TTYL!
I just looked at my calendar and noticed today is Friday the 13th. I'm not a superstitious person, so it's not really a big deal to me, I just thought it was kinda cool. Hopefully for those of you who are superstitious, my black cat doesn't bother you too much. LOL!!!!
I'm writing my blog early today because I won't be getting home until late tonight, and I know I'll be too tired to write anything. Rick and I are going to play golf (I haven't played in awhile, so hopefully I won't suck too bad. LOL). After golf, we're going to my parents house for dinner and to play cards. I actually have to leave here in about 40 minutes and I still need to hop into the shower, so I'll leave you with a new recipe I tried this week. :) Have a great weekend!
Southwest Grilled Chicken
1.5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Pound Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast
Combine oil, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt in a small bowl; brush over both sides of the chicken to coat. Grill chicken over medium-hot heat for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turing once. Place chicken onto a plate, cover with foil and let sit for 5 minutes. Note: This chicken is great on salad.
Serves: 4
Per Serving: 176 Calories; 7g Fat (35.5% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 66mg Cholesterol; 348mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fat. WWP: 4 (www.AimeesAdventures.com)
Well I weighed in this morning. I lost another 4 pounds. :) Yippee!!!! I got my 25 pound award and my 10% award. Next week, if all goes well, I should get my 30 pound star.
After my WW meeting, Rick and I had lunch with my parents and then we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie. It was good, but I feel like it was a bit rushed. I know, they can't go over every detail that the book does or it would be a really long movie, but the books are just so much better. I'm not saying I didn't like the movie, because I did. I just wish it had more detail in it. If you haven't seen the trailer (I'm sure everyone has, but just in case), here's a preview:
Sorry, I don't have anything for you tonight except for a new recipe I tried for dinner. I have weigh in tomorrow morning, so I'll come and tell you how that went tomorrow night. :) Here's the recipe...
Pecan Mustard Topped Tilapia
3 Tablespoons Light Mayonnaise (I used Kraft)
1.5 Tablespoons Brown Mustard (French's Bold 'N Spicy)
4 (3 oz.) Tilapia Fish Fillets
4 teaspoons Finely Chopped Pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet that has sides with butter flavored non-stick cooking spray. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place onto the baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the mayo and mustard. Spread the mixture evenly on top of each fish fillet (approx. 1 tablespoon each if you have 4 fillets). Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of pecans on top of each fillet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Don't worry about the topping getting a little brown. Serve immediately.
Per Piece: 134 Calories; 7g Fat (43.2% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 41mg Cholesterol; 282mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat. WWP: 3 (www.AimeesAdventures.com)
I should be done with the delays on my blog (even though I still have a lot of work to do) but I've finally finished the new message board for my website and so far it's running rather well. If you'd like to check it out, you can do so here (only registered users can post, but registration is free if you want to join in)... Aimee's New Message Board
My current adventure is to build a new shopping cart for my cookbooks. Then somewhere between now and next week I have to get my taxes together (dang if I didn't just pay stupid taxes last month, but that was federal and state. Now city and sales tax are due). Blah I hate taxes!
Anyway, other than working on the site, I haven't really been up to much. I did go and see the new Transformers movie on the 4th. It was good. I also saw Spiderman 3 yesterday. It wasn't bad. The movie I'm waiting for is Harry Potter. I'm going Wednesday right after my Weight Watchers class to see it. I'm going to see it on IMAX. I also can't wait for the final book, which comes out next week. :) I'll read it while I'm cat and house sitting the following week.
Speaking of cats, my parents have adopted a new kitten. They already have 5 cats and swore they weren't taking any more in (they're suckers for strays). Saturday morning, my mom was getting ready to leave for work and found this little baby kitten behind the tire of her car, meowing. It couldn't even stand up. I guess while she was looking at it, it had like a little convulsion and went limp. She tried to feed it, but she had to go to work, so she handed it over to my dad and went on to work. They really didn't think it would make it through the day. My dad found a little box to put it into and he kept trying to get it do drink, but it wouldn't. He called me and asked what he should try feeding it, so I told him to maybe try some kitten milk from the pet store. He went and got some of that, and the kitten drank it. It started perking up as the day went on. I went over that evening to take Riley's puppy cage over so that my parents could bring the kitten into the garage for the night. While I was there, my mom thought we should weigh it, so I went and got the food scale and a cereal bowl (that's how small it was). The little kitty only weighs 1 pound plus 1/2 ounce. We kept trying to figure out if it was a boy or a girl. I thought for sure it was a boy, but they took it to the vet this morning, and turns out it's a girl (hey, what do I know?). She got a clean bill of health, so they'll be keeping her and they've decided to call her Maggie. :)
Sorry I've been MIA since last Wednesday. I've been working hard on getting a new message board together for my site and doing my regular daily stuff along with it. I'm hoping to finish the message board in the next day or so, and then I'll be done with it. :)
I usually go to my Weight Watchers meeting on Wednesday mornings, but since tomorrow is a holiday, I decided to go and weigh in this morning. When I decided to get more serious about this, I made myself a commitment to not missing any meetings. It's not so much about the actual meeting for me, it's about going and being accountable for what I did that week. It just keeps me on track. Skipping a week in the past would have been like a free pass to eat whatever I wanted for a week, then I'd hurry up and try to lose before I had to get back to my meeting. I'm not doing that anymore. It's not healthy and I'm only cheating myself. There wasn't an actual meeting today anyway, just open weigh in for 3 hours. I lost another 2.6 pounds this week. I've never felt more motivated. The only difference I've been able to see physically is... one of my rolls of fat in my stomach area is getting smaller. LOL! I'll probably wait a couple of weeks before I take my measurements again though. I can be patient.
Ok, I'd better get back to work. I just wanted to stop in and let you guys know I'm still around. As soon as the message board is up, I'll get back to posting more on a regular basis. I hope everyone has a great Independence Day tomorrow (for those of you celebrating). TTYL!
Aimee's Adventures