Sunday- cookoff

Recipe- chicken with asparagus and red potatoes


My new Calphalon dutch oven


Yeah so today I needed to make something to tide me over this week for lunch or dinner. If I don't plan out my meals I will fail, this is one thing that I know for SURE.

Problem is, I didn't feel like going out to the grocery story today. I threw together some chicken which I bought at Costo yesterday with some asparagus and red potatoes. I added some red pepper and some rosemary and a touch of olive oil, plus sea salt and pepper of course, and voila, a w.w. friendly dish for this week. I also took out some frozen pasta that I made a few weeks ago and I think I am set for the week. Just need some soy milk to make my morning smoothies.

Week 2 weigh in

So last week I was away for 3 days shopping in Michigan. I met a group of friends for dinner on Tuesday night and it was TOM starting on thursday, so I was a little worried about weigh in Thursday night.

I am very happy and excited to report that I was down 1.4lbs. While that doesn't seem like much after my 8lb first week weigh in, I will take it an run.

So after two weeks my total loss is 9.4lbs. I guess that is my total for the month of September as well as next weeks weigh in will fall in October. I am very happy with that. Last night I drank 1/2 bottle of wine. I totally enjoyed it and I'm ready to move forward today. Back OP and back to basics. I have to go out for dinner tonight and then again on Tuesday night, but I will make good choices.

Weekly highlights include:
-making healthier choices at restaurants on the weekend
-NOT making food and eating the priority while I was away
-staying away from Tim Hortons coffee in the morning. I have made my own all week.

Weigh in number 1

Woot Woot. My first weigh in tonight and I am down a staggering 8lbs. Yeah me. I totally needed to see a good number on that scale, it was sooooo motivating for me.

then I went to my first yoga class and guess what I discovered....... Yoga just isn't in the cards for me! lol When I joined I envisioned stretching - like standing and stretching, doing poses and stuff. I told Merlyn that as long as we didn't have to sit on the floor I was good! The whole fricken class was sitting down on the floor!!!!! My back was killing me and my arms were killing me from trying to hold myself upright, and I didn't even do any of the poses, I just couldn't. Halfway through the class I put my shoes on and came home :( No worries, at least I tried it, and I am proud of myself for that. On to the next form of exercise.

So tomorrow I work a half day and then I'm off to Frankenmuth, Michigan to do a little shopping. Should be a fun weekened , I just have to stay away from the good German food! One of the lawyers at work keeps telling me about all the wonderful food, beer battered onion rings, roast beef dinner, all you can eat chicken and mashed potato dinners...... I didn't have the heart to tell him I just joined weight watchers and probably wouldn't be partaking in too much of this stuff. Please God, give me the strength to get through mealtimes over the next few days. On a good note I will be walking constantly, so that has to count for something, doesn't it.

Recipe for today

So here is recipe number 1: Chicken and Penne Casserole with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
(w.w. Best Eats, page 100)

3 stars (out of 5)

So today started with grocery shopping. I emptied my fridge and cupboards of stuff yesterday and managed to do pretty well. Used only 4 flex and drank 2l of water.
Today, I am making a couple of new recipes and will try to drink 2L of water again.

So I thought I should take a couple of official before pics. You can see how twisted I am because of the back issues I am having at the moment. The pic's aren't pretty, but they are reality:

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

So I re-joined weight watchers last night. Met the two gals from on line at the centre, they both seem like nice gals. So I was surprised by my start weight which was 272.6lbs. This is about 10 lbs lighter then my home scale weighs me. Yeah. Plus I was wearing a back brace for my back problems and I had on my jacket so I am looking for a good loss next week when I weigh in normal clothes.

So today, I didn't have time to grocery shop etc so it has not been a great day, but I knew that going in. I just wanted to get the re-joining done. Looking forward to shopping and meal planning for next week over the next few days.

I also spoke to Fran tonight and her surgery went well and she is recouperating nicely. I am so happy and so relieved that it is done. Look forward to seeing her next week when she is home from the hospital.

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GOALS

I just realized that I am posting about new beginnings on September 11. That is a day that EVERYTHING changed for us all. I know that watching the events unfold on that day changed something in the core of my being and today my heart goes out to all the people who were lost in the attacks and all the people who are still suffering. Today is also the day after surgery for my dear friend Francis. She had her 2nd knee replacement surgery yesterday after years of suffering. Fran, you are in my thoughts today for a speedy recovery. This is a new beginning for you to and we are both going to make it this time! Love ya.

So I think this is a good place to post my September Monthly Goals which I plan to do for each month going forward.

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GOALS
1. Quit smoking by the end of the month
2. lose 10lbs - Goal weight 270lbs
3. exercise minimum 2 nights per week

So I am in great shape with the quitting smoking, but the other too may be difficult to accomplish with only a couple of weeks left this month. Anyway it's something to strive for I guess.

New Beginnins Part II

Well the last time I posted was June 1 and the title was New beginning. As is the norm for me, I never really started anything.

So since June, I have been meaning to do two things: re-start w.w. meetings, and quit smoking. As of yesterday while I hadn't done anything about either, I did look into quit smoking aids.

I have been feeling down and out for the last few days, My weight is at the highest ever and I am smoking like a chimney, and I am off work with a slipped disc in my back that is soooooo painful. But yesterday it seems that the planets aligned or something cause here is the deal:

1. On the w.w. ca board I noticed a message asking if anyone attends w.w. meeting in my hometown. wtf, the posters on this board are from all over Canada and there are actually 2 people joining w.w. tonight here where I live, so I asked if I could join them tonight and voila, I am re-joining w.w.

2. I had been looking into hypnotherapy as a cessation method to quit smoking and last night I received an email from the hypnotherapist in my town advising the rates etc for hypnotherapy to quit smoking. There are two packages one costs $200.00 and is a two day plan and the other costs $500.00 and is a longer program that also deals with other issues like weight gain from stopping smoking.

Yeah, I feel like this may very well be the new beginnings of a brand spankin' new me. See this is what I was thinking of when I chopped my hair off a few weeks ago. Ya gotta love the thrill of new beginnings.