Monday, February 20, 2012

Simply...Spectacular!

Last week, I conducted an experiment of trying the Simply Filling technique for 7 days. I was nervous - afraid I might gain because I wasn't to track and weigh all my food, which I've been doing for 2 years now, however, to switch things up, I gave it a try. 


Check out the progress report...




I lost 3.8 pounds in one week! I weighed in this morning at 126.2 lbs from my 130.0 last week! I have 1.2 lbs left until I hit my personal goal of 125. So I am going to continue the Simply Filling technique this week. 


Looking back at last week you can see that I tracked on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Those days I had foods that were not "Power Foods" and I had 49 weekly points plus values to use for non-power foods.   In fact, I exceeded the 49 by 17 and I still lost 3.8 lbs. Unbelievable! 


As far as the food health guidelines go - I got liquids, daily and fruit/veggie every day. I'm out of my multivitamin and haven't pick up another bottle yet, so I didn't get that in. There is no excuse not to get in my 2 tsp. of EVOO everyday because although it's not a "power food", I don't have to track up to 2 tsp. of a healthy oil. Sometimes it just skips my mind. 


Exercising - I haven't been tracking anything other than when I run outdoors. Last week, I was able to handle the chill twice. Wednesday, I when for a 1.98 mile run (21:53) and Friday, I went for a 3.5 mile run (36:29) for 8 activity points plus values. 


A lot of people have been interested in what I ate all week because I had mentioned that it was a lot of food and so strange not to track these items! So - here was my weekly menu!


Monday Feb. 13th
Day 1


Breakfast:
Coffee, black, no sugar
1 Hard-boiled egg
1 Weight Watchers Maple Oatmeal
8 oz. of Skim Milk

Lunch:
Weight Watchers Creme Brulee Smoothie with Strawberries - 1 small clementine

Dinner:

Venison roast - Brussel Sprouts - Sm. Sweet Potato

Dessert:
Tall glass of skim milk - Strawberries w/Splenda



Tuesday Feb. 14th
Day 2


Breakfast: 
Coffee, black, no sugar - 3 poached eggs - 3 slices of Pepperidge Farm light style wheat toast

Lunch: 

Bag of steamed edamame - clementine

Dinner: 

Barilla Whole Grain pasta with green peppers, tomatoes, half chicken breast, & EVOO

Snack/Desserts: 

half chicken breast, Starbucks Skinny Caramel Macchiato (SIMPLY FILLING!!!!!), Strawberries & Splenda. 


Wednesday Feb 15th
Day 3


Breakfast: 
Coffee, black, no sugar - 3 eggs - 3 slices of Pepperidge Farm Light Wheat Bread - Banana

Lunch: 
Leftover whole grain penne with chicken breast, green peppers, tomato and EVOO

Dinner: 
Bowl of Chicken enchiladas soup (I counted as 6p+)

Other/Snack:
2 beers (Counted as 10p+), strawberries with splenda, 3 clementines


Thursday Feb 16th
Day 4

Breakfast:
Banana - Clementine - Coffee, black, no sugar -  Hard-boiled egg

Lunch: 
Steamed edamame - WW yogurt

Dinner:
Venison sandwich (triple decker y'all!): 3 pieces of pepperidge farm light wheat bread, onion, tomato, venison, 1 tbsp light miracle whip (1p+) , vension, 1 small sweet potato

Other: Starbucks grande skinny caramel macchiato


Friday Feb 17th
Day 5

Breakfast:
Coffee, black, no sugar - 2 bananas - 16 oz fat free milk - 2 sm. clementines

Lunch:
3 slices Pepperidge Farm Light Style Wheat bread - 3 eggs - WW yogurt

Dinner: I met my aunt for happy hour/dinner Friday evening...we went to two places.
@Kona Grill - Edamame, 2 glasses of red wine that I counted as 16.5 oz (I'm sure it was less but I'd rather over track than under) for 14 p+
@Redstone - Spinach Salad with grapes & apples, dressing on the side (barely used) and 2 Blue Moons for 11 p+

Saturday Feb 18th
Day 6

Breakfast:
Coffee, black, no sugar - 1 banana - WW Oatmeal - WW smoothie

Lunch:
Steamed Lima Beans - Poached Chicken Breast - Activia light FF yogurt

Dinner: Went to a Mardi Gras party @6pm
Crab legs - 2 crab cakes for 5p+
27 p+ worth of alcohol

Sunday Feb 19th
Day 7

Breakfast:
3 sm. clementines - 2 eggs - 2 slices of Pepperidge Farm Light Style Wheat bread - WW Oatmeal

Lunch: 
Steamed Lima Beans (big breakfast, wasn't too hungry for lunch)

Dinner:
2 sm grilled sweet potatoes - grilled asparagus - grilled chicken breast

So what do you think? That's a lot of food to eat and lose 3.8 lbs in one week, isn't it!? I'm sure you can't blame me for doing it again this week. Also, we've only plan on Saturday so I won't drink as much as I did between Friday and Saturday and it's suppose to be nice this week so hopefully I'll get out running more!


Meanwhile - here is a photo of me at the Mardi Gras party!

I'm looking forward to this next week and hitting my goal, finally. Maybe if I get really good at Simply Filling I can try for 120 lbs...?? 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Simply...Experimenting

If you are a regular reader of mine, you know that I have been struggling to get to my personal goal weight. If you are a Weight Watcher member that has been in some of the same meetings as I have, you know that I'm terrified of trying the Simply Filling technique. This week I'm taking a leap of faith and trying it out.

Yesterday I weighed in at 130.0 - and while that's 2.4lbs more than I weighed in two weeks ago, I wasn't really upset about it. I know that I had been tracking very inconsistently over the past two weeks - and that's why I hadn't even weighed in the week before. So, I take accountability for it and I own my 130.0lbs. It's still a healthy weight for me so I'm not worried about it - but I'd like to sit comfortably in the 120's.

I am all about changing things up when it comes to my weight loss. I look forward to winter when I switch from running everyday to indoor workouts, and now I'm looking forward to spring to continue my running again. I was talking yesterday with my husband how for me, no other workout compares to running. When I consistently run throughout the week I have flat, defined abs. Once I stop running, while my stomach stayed flat it isn't as defined, even though I still workout. I missing running. I also like to change things up when it comes to what I eat. When we switched over from the Momentum plan to the PointsPlus plan, a lot of people were hesitant. Like them, I had lost most of my weight on the Momentum and it's difficult for some people to abandon something that worked for them. I saw it as a change in the right direction - a kick start for our bodies. And of course, it was. My first week on PointsPlus I had lost something like 4 pounds which is an insane amount of weight for me.

While we've always had the Simply Filling option, it's something that I was very scared of. There is little tracking involved and you don't have to weigh out your portions. Simply Filling is a technique used when you eat only Power Foods, or, whole grains, lean proteins, low fat dairy, etc. The only thing you track are any foods that are not Power Foods and you have 49 PointsPlus to use for those. On this technique, you can eat until you are satisfied. That is the part that scared me - do I know when I'm really satisfied? I know that I can eat and eat and eat, that's how I got here in the first place. However, looking at this as a change, I'm going to try this for a week and see how it reflects on the scale. If it goes down, perhaps I'll continue this into next week. If it goes up, I won't be upset, as I'm just simply experimenting.

Yesterday was my first day trying Simply Filling and my verdict so far....I love it!

Here was my intake yesterday:

Breakfast:
Coffee, black, no sugar
1 Hard-boiled egg
1 Weight Watchers Maple Oatmeal
8 oz. of Skim Milk

Lunch:
Weight Watchers Creme Brulee Smoothie with Strawberries
1 small clementine

Dinner:
Venison roast
Brussel Sprouts
Sm. Sweet Potato

Dessert:
Tall glass of skim milk
Strawberries w/Splenda

It was completely foreign to not weigh out my protein or potato, but liberating at the same time. While I didn't "track" my foods, I still kind of did. While they aren't worth and PointsPlus values, I still tracked them so I could review my food intake at the end of the week. My lunch would typically be larger, but I had been running around and didn't get home until 3pm and didn't want to eat a larger lunch that close to dinner.

I'm excited to see the outcome of this and I'm keeping it positive. Hopefully my experience will encourage others who have wanted to try Simply Filling but just aren't sure about it. I can report, although I don't count it because it's Tuesday, not Monday, but I weighed myself this morning, with sweatpants on and I weighed in at 128.5lbs. I know you can't rely on an accurate weight throughout the week, and only rely on the one weigh-in that is the same time and day each week, so I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch.

That being said, if this is what 130.0 lbs looks like that I am a happy lady!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Penance

At this point, I am not on schedule to hit goal by my anniversary next week. While I'm disappointed, I did it to myself. My plan was that I needed to lose 1.8lb in two weeks, or .9lb each week. At weigh-in on Monday I was up .8lb. If I want to hit goal this Monday, I would need to lose 2.6lbs in one week. That's a lot of weight.

Here is what I am accountable for last week:

Since I weigh-in on Monday evenings, I eat less during the day and then have a larger dinner. Since I was down so much I treated us to dinner with gyros. I love gyros. I figured I have a week to work it off, no big deal. We sometimes will do this on Mondays. Although I didn't plan for the rest of my week. Thursday night, my friend came over to watch American Idol like we typically would do. I normally make dinner for us but she wanted to treat us to pizza since we always provide dinner. Then on Sunday, we had my family's annual Fish Fry dinner with my uncle's home craft beers. Had I planned properly, I would have not participated Monday or Thursday evening in the meals and had something different. Secondly, the workout program that I use on the PlayStation comes with sensors that you wear on both arms and one around the leg. The leg sensor stopped working and because I was upset about that I didn't change my workouts to anything else. When one sensor doesn't work you can't perform the workouts because it can't properly gauge your moves. Makes sense. However, it's been beautiful, unseasonably warm weather and I could have ran outside. I was being stubborn.

Last week is over. It's a new week.

I've taken advantage of the fitness center at my school. 4th period I have a plan period and I've been getting into the fitness center and running on the treadmill. Monday I ran a mile and a half on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical, Tuesday I ran a 5k in just over 30 minutes, Wednesday I ran on the treadmill for 25 minutes and did about 5 minutes on a bike and today I ran another 5k in 29:51. My 6th graders have gym 4th period so they have been cheering me on and running near me. It's really cute! I have been nearly perfect with tracking this week and staying within my DPT each day. I have been making good choices both physically and mentally this week.

Friday is my last day at the school I'm currently subbing at. Some of the ladies I work with and I are going out after school Friday for some drinks. I am prepared for that. I had plans to meet a friend Thursday evening as well but I didn't want to be in the situation two nights in a row, so I've rescheduled Thursday night for next week. Saturday is a very busy day - I was offered a new Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday mornings at 8am in LaGrange. I'm excited to be in a new meeting and meet new people - I'm also glad that it's at 8am and I need to be up by 6am - since this will keep me in check on Friday nights. This Saturday after the meeting, we are heading out to Pingree Grove for a good friends son's 2nd birthday party. This particular friend is always very conscious when I come over and makes WW friendly things. Do I expect this to be the case at her son's party...no...however, I do know her father has done WW and she is aware and tries to cook in a healthy way. Sunday, I work in the afternoon before the Super Bowl game. Afterwards, we are heading to the neighbors house for Super Bowl. She has already told me that she's making a bunch of junk and I'm not sure I'm going to have time to make something healthy to bring - but I am going to plan on eating before hand and not eat there. Since I weigh-in on Monday morning now that I won't be working for a while, I want to have the best possible weight loss, even if it isn't the 2.6 lbs I need to hit goal.

I'm ready to go back to a flexible schedule for a while. I'm off steady work until April when I take over another long term substitute position at the high school. When I have a flexible schedule I eat later in the day and am not as hungry come dinner, unlike now when I eat breakfast at 6:30am and lunch at 11:15am.

In a way, for the sake of this blog, I'm happy I had a set-back this week. You don't hear about the set-backs as often as the successes. However, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I give into temptation. Just like you. Now that I've made those mistakes I am accountable for them and have to work extra hard this week. I know that if I had stayed on track last week I wouldn't have to work so darn hard this week. That puts things into perspective for the weeks ahead. It's not worth the pizza overload or extra drinks to have to work out so hard and eat so perfect. Everything in moderation, right? Well, last week I had EVERYTHING in moderation! Now I pay my penance this week.