Drumroll please........

-2 lbs!!!!

I had to get Scott out of bed to come and check and double check after I jumped on the scale this morning (honestly I was just really excited about the great loss and wanted someone to share it with!) What a great feeling. Do you want to know what the best part is? I deserve this loss, I did good last weekend saying no to some of my favorite trigger foods, I went to the gym and worked my butt for for 45 mins everyday Mon-Thurs, I ate great all week and got in lots of physical activity and was rarely found on the couch in front of the TV. I deserve this loss and that's what makes it so great. I know it's nice to see a loss when you're not expecting it or when you maybe went over in points but the scale is still being kind. But for me, the best losses, the ones that feel the greatest are the ones that I earn through portion control, saying no to high fat/calorie foods, through lots of time put in at the gym. Those ones feel great. I am now only 3 lbs away from my Christmas goal! So that means that I've shed 7 lbs since we started this challenge. Nice! which means I have 6 weeks to take off this last 3 lbs! Sweet! No time to slack though. Now is the time to really turn up the gym time and watch those daily points. Christmas is popping up everywhere, and with it comes chocolates, and baked goods, and gingerbread cookies. They seem to already be popping up everywhere so now more than ever is the time to really stay focused.

Last night I got off work and was tired and super cranky and tried to talk Scott out of the gym but thankfully he didn't let me and I ended up burning 400 cals on the elliptical! I felt great afterwards and then after that Scott and I spent another 2 hours grocery shopping and Christmas light shopping. Since it's our first winter in our new house, we have been searching for a good deal on Christmas lights. We decided to start off small this year since those darn things are expensive! We ended up getting white LED icicle lights for the house and I ordered a big wreath with a big red bow for the front door. Each year we'll add a little more but for this year, I think it should look great. Of course I'll have to take a picture and post it.

So my weekend plans....the long weekend is here! I really have to plan out my flex points this weekend because with an extra day off work, it's easy to go way overboard!

Friday night:
Shopping (doesn't it seem like I spent hours upon hours shopping?) I need a new pair of shoes/boots, Coffee at Java Moose (I like to treat myself to a little flavor shot on Friday nights, how lame am I?) Pretty low key night, we might grab a movie on the way home. I shouldn't have to use many flex unless I get a snack for the movie but I'll limit it to baked Doritos and maybe a 100 cal chocolate bar like Aero.

Saturday:
Christmas Craft Fair!! I've been looking forward to this one for weeks! There is this lady who makes her own fudge and she goes to every local craft show. Scott and I usually split a piece, last time we had the Turtle Fudge...OMG. So I will treat myself to that. I wonder how many points a half a piece of fudge is. Probably 3 or 4? They aren't huge pieces.
We might hit up a little skating after supper on Saturday as well and then we were hoping to go see American Gangster. I love Denzel Washington and I heard it was really good. Any of you ladies have a review for me?

Sunday:
Pretty low key, we have a course that we are doing together at 11:00 and then we are going to just do some things around the house (maybe put up the Christmas lights before the snow starts falling) and then Sunday night we are having my brother, his wife and my niece over for supper. Scott is making a huge pot of Chili and I'm making an attempt at homemade bread. I don't think my MIL could find the book so does anyone have a recipe for white homemade bread? I'm totally lost here. Points should stay pretty low as the Chili is low in points. I will limit myself to one piece of bread and for dessert I am going to make WW Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits. If any of you are WW Magazine subscribers, you'll find it in there this month. It looks yummy.

Monday:

Should be completely OP and by this day, I plan on having used all of my flex so it's back to my daily points. I think my best friend will be coming over for a little chick flick and scrapbooking action. Then Scott and I are going to visit freinds of ours who are doing major renos to their house so we are going to drive out to see how things are coming along.

That's it for my weekend. I find it helps so much for me to write out my weekend plans (especially plans that involve food) because I can see where I can and can't afford to use my flex points.

Anyway what do you guys have planned for this wonderful long weekend???

PS Randi mentioned on her blog about a Christmas recipe exchange for the Christmas Challengers (and of course anyone else who would like to contribute!) I think that is a great idea! Dust off your old cookbooks and start looking for your absolute favorite Christmas recipe! We'll give you more details in the next week or two, once everyone starts gearing up for Christmas and the Holiday season!

The 100 Calorie pack to rule them all!

I can't even believe that I didn't know about these little goldmines! They are amazing! AND only 1 point? That is insane is it not?? I haven't tried the Strawberry but I've had the Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. They are honestly just like little cookies! Sweet and crunchy and totally fills the hunger void. These will certainly be a staple in my cupboard from now on! Plus, who couldn't use a little extra fibre right?? If you haven't tried them, DO IT NOW! :) A co-worker introduced them to me yesterday and also said they were great crumbled up in yogurt. What a great idea!

So I made out well on the Dinner-at-MIL front last night. I had a half of a piece of Lasagna which I counted to be about 5 points. A small Roll - 3pts and I filled my late up with Salad before I put anything else on it. So all in all I think I did good. I even went back and got another small piece of lasagna, put it on my plate and then sat down at the table. When I got there, I actually took a minute to think about it and I ended up getting rid of it. Go me! I did top off the night with about 1/2 cup of apple crisp but I loaded up with apples and only added a little crisp (I know the apples are still all sugary and stuff but I'm doing the best I can!) I counted that as 4 points. I hit the gym before going so I felt pretty good about my decisions AND I went shopping for a solid 2 hours after supper so all that walking around helped to work off some of that apple crisp!

Hubby just went all out and had 2 HUGE pieces of Lasagna, a roll, salad and about1.5 cups of Apple crisp. (Not that I was counting..... ok I totally was.) doesn't it make you feel even better about your choices knowing that he person next to you is making really bad ones? Maybe that's just the competitiveness in me but when I'm with someone who I know is trying to eat healthy or is on WW and they make a bad decision while I'm sitting there with my veggies and small portions. I always feel that extra encouragement. Anyone know what I mean? I bet Randi would. :)

I just found out it's my bosses birthday today so every is chipping in to get her a card/cake/small present. Ugh. I hate office birthdays. They are a nightmare to any points-counter. It's cake. Tomorrow is Weigh in. Do I even have a choice? I'm going to say No. None for me thanks. I'm going to say it. I should practice the words on my lunch hour. Because there have been WAY too many times that I've made up my mind to say No and then I get in the situation and I say.... Oh just a small piece. Just a little one. Oh...maybe a little bigger than that. Just a little bigger. Oh that's fine, I just want a taste. I can do this, I just have to remember that tomorrow is WI and feel GREAT! I'm really hoping to see a loss tomorrow. But cake is evil and is makes losses go away and stay away! I may have to report back later in the afternoon for moral support ladies. How do you get through these little functions? Any tips?

Is the weekend almost here?? Long weekend ladies! What are your plans?

PS...the WW Cheeseburger Casserole Melt thing was AWESOME! I'll have to post the recipe! So yummy. It's 5 pts a cup but really filling, I don't think you'd even want more than that!

Get to know me!

Ok I've been tagged by a few lovely ladies now and it's about time I get to it.

Here's the Rules:
1-Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

My random facts that you may or may not know about me:

1. I hate the thought of anyone touching or even coming anywhere near my belly button. I can't even stand it! Scott is constantly mocking me by sticking his finger in his belly button and it totally grosses me out!

2. I constantly have dreams about chewing too much gum or candy especially when I have something really important to tell someone. Usually it's a life or death kind of important and I can't talk because there is too much gum or candy in my mouth. It's the worst feeling ever! I have this dream at least once a month for probably the past couple years.

3. I am totally neurotic when it comes to making lists, grocery lists, things-to-do lists. Any list. If I make a spelling mistake or need to rearrange the items, I'll start the list over on a new piece of paper. I can't cross out anything or it drives me insane. Also I hate it when Scott adds things to the list. I always get him to tell me what to add and then I'll add it.

4. I can't wait to meet Scott as a father. I think it will be like meeting him for the first time again and falling in love with him all over again. I know he is going to be a great father. Now I'm wondering if too many of my things about me are actually about Scott. What can I say, I guess I am still in the Honeymoon phase (even though we've been married for over 3 years, isn't that stage only supposed to last for a year??) You ladies are right though, I do have an amazing husband. He tells me everyday how lucky he is but I really think I'm the one that lucked out.

5. I feel like I have to shave my legs every Thursday night. Even if I just shaved them Wednesday night. I like the feeling of freshly shaved legs on Friday. If I don't, it can ruin my whole Friday. (I didn't shave them last Thursday for the first time in well over a year and it bothered me constantly on Friday, I learned my lesson)

6. It really bothers me when there are dishes in the sink. I would never go to bed and leave them in there. I always feel like everything needs to be tidied up before I hit the hay. Just me being neurotic again I guess.

7. I have had a really rocky relationship with my Dad. There were times when I would go without talking to him for 2 years at a time. I don't think things will ever be great between us and he is not someone I think I could count on. I always envy my friends who are "Daddy's Girls". I can see how much their Dads adore them. But after years and years of heartache I've realized that it's better to have him in my life than not. He's made too many mistakes but at the end of the day, he's still my father and I just have to accept that. You play the hand your dealt right?

Well there you go. Now you now all about me!
My week is going GREAT! I feel like I'm totally on plan and I have gotten to the gym twice this week so far for 2 major sweatfests! It's funny that the elliptical never really makes me breath heavy but I sweat like you wouldn't believe after I've been on it for about 25 mins. Last night I did 40 mins on the elliptical and burned 400 cals! Nice! I also spent about 2 hours cleaning and cooking last night. I tried a new WW recipe. It was in an old WW recipe book that my Mom gave me. I think it's called Cheeseburger Melt or something. It's basically just lean hamburger, pasta, tomatoes, and cheese with a few other things thrown in there. We'll test er out today at lunch and if it's great, I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

That's it for me today. We are ghoing to MIL for supper tonight. I think Lasagna is on the menu. I wonder how many points Lasagna is....any ideas??? It's basically your run of the mill lasagna only with no cottage cheese. I'm going to watch portion size and hopefully there will be a salad as well and NO garlic bread (HUGE weakness of mine!) But I'm planning on another date with the elliptical before dinner so that should keep me in line!

How is everyone making out this week?

Just Randomness

So I couldn't help it and jumped on the scale this morning just to see how I was doing. I'm at the same I was on Friday (Last week's WI) Which is great because I still have 3 more days to crank out a nice little loss for this week! YAY! I did get to the gym yesterday for 40 mins of cardio which felt great even thought I had a super headache which went away and then came back as a migraine later in the evening. Anyone who's suffered from migraines knows how absolutely dreadful they are! I ended up falling asleep in the tub and then waking up to an even worse one. I was severely sick to my stomach and was sweating and cold and felt so awful, I couldn't stand any lights at all being on at all and I couldn't even talk on the phone to Scott because it hurt so much. Finally at 7:30 after I popped a few pills I curled up in my room with the lights off and woke up an hour later and it had pretty much subsided. I was still a little dizzy and felt weak but the horrible pain was pretty much gone. Scott was at work, thankfully. I love the guy like noobody's business but when I have a migraine, I don't want anyone near me. I don't want to talk to anyone and I don't want anyone touching me. Poor Scott always tries to take care of me and wants to help but it's better if I'm just alone. Luckily when he came home I was getting better and he comforted me for a good hour on the couch :)

On top of all this, I was supposed to be preparing for an interview I had today. It was one of those darn situational interviews so they punch out the really hard questions. I work for the Province of New Brunswick but I am a casual employee so even though I work full time, I'm not permanent and my contract is up on January 2 so hopefully I can squeeze into a permanent job before then or I'll at least be able to get my term extended. We'll see. I'm pretty optimistic.

I have been doing great this week OP. I'm determined to get in 4 sessions at the gym this week. Tonight I am planning on another 40 mins of cardio. Tomorrow Scott and I are trying out a Body Ball class that sounds really interesting and I've heard that it's quite hard and very good for the abs so I'll keep you updated on that one.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend as it's a long weekend! YAY! I'm also planning on making a few WW recipes this weekend as I may have some time alone in the kitchen this weekend. I've found that time in the kitchen is SO relaxing and it's a lot of fun for me. Plus it keeps me on my feet and away from the TV too. This weekend Scott and I are going to a Christmas Craft fair on Saturday (You can imagine how excited he is eh??) I offered to go with a friend instead but he objected and said he wanted to spend time with me and that he doesn't mind going. I don't know if he's going just because he knows how much I want to go or if years of me dragging him to these Crafty/girly events has actually grown on him and now he actually enjoys them!! Who knows. AND I dug out all my Christmas CDs so I thought I'd do a little Saturday morning baking complete with Christmas music in the background. Does it get any better than this??

7 weeks from today until Christmas!!! YAY!

Weekend Recap and my New Toy!

So this weekend has probably my best yet but I still feel like I could have done better
I made out good on Friday. I ended up winning 50/50 at work and took home $50 so I decided to take Scott out to supper on Friday and we hit up Swiss Chalet. I ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich with a baked potato for a side. YUM! Have any of you Canadian gals tried this? So good! We also had Chicken Spring rolls for an appetizer but they were supper small and mostly had veggies in them. We skipped on dessert and opted for a flavored coffee at Java Moose instead. We almost talked ourselves into getting a brownie to split but ended up making the right decision and just took the coffees. That was basically our Friday night, we spent a few hours shopping so I was on my feet all night. I did have a small run in with Baked Doritos at the end of the night but only 4 pts worth so no big deal there!

Saturday was a bit of a different story. We had our usual breakfast and then decided to save up as many points as possible for the birthday party we were going to. It was our Goddaughter's birthday and pizza and cake was on the menu. Luckily I offered to bring Caesar salad with me so I heaped that on my plate before adding any pizza and I ended up only eating 1.5 pieces of pizza (compared to Scott's 6 pieces!!) I also used fat free Caesar dressing and no one even noticed the difference! Then came the cake.......Randi was right....I couldn't resist. BUT I didn't take a huge piece and I shared it with Scott so we did alright. The real kicker came when we got home and we decided it would be an AWESOME idea to make Nachos for supper! Not the best idea right but that's what flex points are for!! They were darn good too!

Sunday was a bit of a challenge but I was determined to pull through and stay OP. First up we had a course that we are taking together and someone decided to bring Chocolate chip cookies for a snack (instead of the veggie tray we had last week!) I totally wanted one but declined (TWICE!) when they came around to me. YAY for me! THEN after the course I was meeting my friend in town for a day of shopping and forgot to grab something at home for lunch. I was surrounded by fast food restaurants and decided to just get a small chili from Wendy's. Filling AND low in points. Another YAY for me! THEN after supper (Tomato Sup and grilled cheese sandwiches, my FAV) Scott wanted me to come with him to the store to get milk so I hoped in the car (Fully decked out in Christmas pajama bottoms, crocs, and Scott's Old Navy sweater) and once we got there Scott started in with the treats. But since I wasn't going in looking as ridiculous as I did, I said None for me!! I totally wanted a Mars bar but opted for a Banana-Vanilla milkshake at home instead! Nice! I ended up being under in points yesterday because the shake filled me up so much!

How was your weekend??

Now, on to my toy. I inherited a bread maker yesterday from my MIL. I've always wanted to try to make homemade bread but have always been WAY too scared to. My Mom isn't a huge bread maker so it's not something she ever really taught me to do (that and she lives 12 hours away from me so when we get together, making bread isn't a high priority). How hard can it be when you have a machine that does it all for you right? So if any of you ladies have any yummy recipes, bring em on!! I invited my brother and his wife over for supper on Saturday. Scott's making a pot of chili and I'm making homemade bread AND the Chocolate Peanut Butter parfaits that you'll find in this month's WW magazine!! Mmmmm

PS I've also heard that bread is easy to mess up, and if anyone's going to mess it up, it would be me. So any tips or tricks you ladies have would be great!

WI Results and Weekend plans

I couldn't even believe it when I jumped on the scale this morning....I woke up absolutely dreading the idea of getting on the scale this morning but I knew I had to face the music. I have had less than a steller week and I need to own up to it. Actually my week wasn't TOO bad (with the exception of my Halloween treats) but last weekend was pretty rough. I probably used at least 70 bonus points or MORE. Damn Pizza Shack. Damn Halloween party. Who brought those homemade peanut butter balls anyway??

Anyway so I got up and jumped on the scale this morning and closed my eyes. I got hubby to look at the number for me because I couldn't bring myself to do it. Then he said it. I was down 0.5 from last week. I made him check and recheck just to make sure it wasn't some kind of fluke. What?? I'm DOWN 0.5??? I'm trying to think of an explanation but then it came to me. I gave blood yesterday and although it was my first time giving....They take about a pint of blood from you so I imagine that is what I can accredit my weight loss to. How much does a pint of blood weight I wonder? Hmm Just looked it up, apparently it's one pound. So they took one pound of blood from me yesterday. I'm sure it will slowly come back on but in the meantime, I'm going to get my butt in gear and wipe out this last 5 pounds.

Hope all you Friday Weighers had some success this morning! don't forget to send Randi your WI results for this week.

My weekend plans are actually pretty laid back this week. It seems like this is the first weekend in a long time where were weren't booked up for every minute of the entire weekend. Tonight we are going to the gym after work (have to make up for missing yesterday) then we are hitting up Wendy's for supper (Suggestions ladies???) and then we are going to the mall to start a little Christmas shopping and hopefully get some lights for the outside of our house. I can't figure out what to go with but hopefully I'll get inspired tonight.

Saturday we have our Goddaughter's 2nd Birthday party. It's at 3:00 and I heard that pizza is on the menu and I offered to bring Caesar Salad. My plan for Saturday is to eat a nice filling lunch around 1:00 and hopefully just have a little Caesar salad at the party (of cours eI'm bringing light caesar dressing to go tiwht it!). I should have lots of flex points left over so I might take Randi's advice and have a half a piece of cake or I might just nibble off Scott's plate. Birthday cake is a hard one. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not even worth the points so I'll have to wait and see. If I see it getting rave reviews than I may indugle in a half a piece, I'll let Scott be my test monkey on that one. He could probably eat half the cake and still end up losing a pound...men!

Saturday after the party, Scott and I are going skating in the evening and then out for a hot chocolate and then heading home with a movie in hand. Kind of like a little date night. I love those nights. It's supposed to be miserable here too since we are getting the tail end of Hurricane Noel (which will be a tropical storm when it hits us) so it will be nice to get cozied up on the couch with a good movie.

Sunday we are going to a flea market in the afternoon and after that we are both free game so we'll probably get some things done around the house and I'd like to try out a new recipe for supper so if you've tried anything spectacular lately, let me know!

Have a great weekend ladies! (Why do I always feel like Bob Barker when I call you ladies??)

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween last night! How did everyone do with sticking to their plan and staying away from the candy? I definitely could have done better but all in all I wasn't that bad. Luckily, the Aero Car and Smarties were all only one point a piece and I did cut down on my supper to compensate for the treats so . Not too bad. I'm going to work it off at the gym today. This week has been so hectic and I have to admit (even though I don't want to) that I have been failing miserably at the Exercise Challenge with Kelly and Sarah. I've only gotten to the gym ONCE this week! Monday Scott didn't have his gym clothes so we skipped the gym (I know, I Should have went, afterall I did have MY clothes!)

We went on Tuesday and I tried out a new machine! The Stair master. I did it for about 12 mins and wow! That thing really works out your legs. I'm going to try it out tonight for a little longer and then hit up the elliptical again. What a great workout. AND my new Weight Watchers Magazine came in the mail yesterday so I can read that while I'm doing the elliptical, it looks like it has tons of recipes in it for the Holidays! Can't wait!

Last night was a bit of a mad dash since Scott had a meeting until 5:00 and we wanted to get home for the Trick or Treaters. All in all we got about 40 kids. They were so adorable! We would have had candy leftover if Scott and I didn't help ourselves throughout the night! I had about 5 mini chocolate bars but to my defense, I did pick the lowest point ones! We bought a variety pack that had Smarties, Aero, Coffee Crisp and KitKat. The last two were 2 points each so I gave away all of those ones first! Then I had 2 boxes of smarties, 1 Aero and 1 Coffee Crisp. So about 5 points in all which wasn't too bad and I had 6 points leftover after supper just for this reason so I'd say I broke even throughout the night. Although I still feel like I cheated and I can feel a a gain coming for tomorrow morning. Last weekend was NOT good and I can still feel the effects of it in the way my clothes are fitting. Ugh.

This weekend is it. I'm NOT going over my flex points even if it kills me. We have a pretty low key weekend planned. A little Christmas shopping on Friday night and then our Goddaughter's 2nd birthday on Saturday (NO cake for me!) Saturday night we are going skating and Sunday we are going to the local Flea Market and just spending the rest of the day catching up on things around the house and relaxing. 35 flex points is MORE than enough for this weekend! I can do this! It's been an absolute roller coaster when it comes to these flex points and for the most part, I've been going WAY over. Not this weekend. I can so do this!

What are your weekend plans??

Update later in the day.....

I just went to give Blood on my lunch hour and apparently I can't do any physical exercise for at least 8 hours!!!! How frustrating is that? I REALLY wanted to hit up the gym after work! Grrr. Guess I'll be a Friday night gymer this week. I need to get in a least 1 more and then it's hours upon hours of raking this weekend to get our lawn in shape!