no matter what

i need to have an intervention.

with myself.

i am at the point in my diet where i would normally quit. i had a bad week last week, which i had attributed at the time to the fact that i was weighing in at a different location. then i went to my normal burnsville weight watchers store this morning and was up again. up 1.2 lb, to be exact.

UGH.

this is so frustrating.

now, i know why it happened. i have not been tracking as closely as should be and i know i ate out too much. in particular, i ate more than i should have at buffalo wild wings last night.

i also have not been exercising.

so. what now?

i have a couple of things in mind.

(1) track. everything. no matter what.
(2) exercise. three days a week. no matter what.
(3) cook. five or six days a week. no matter what.

i guess that is the new motto - "no matter what."

i am done making excuses. i need to keep going with this journey. as jacob pointed out this morning, i still have lost around 25 lb even with the bad two weeks.

on a TOTALLY different note, this weekend has been quite enjoyable.

i went to dinner at buffalo wild wings with some co-workers and then we went to see "the hunger games." i liked the movie but i will say that i prefer the books. i guess that is what tends to happen when books become movies, right?

jacob and i went to a visitation this morning for a student's father this morning. as expected, it was very sad but very interesting. the student's family is cambodian and practicing buddhists. though we could not speak to the student directly, i hope my presence, along with a few other teachers, shows how much we care.

i took jacob to breakfast at perkin's afterwards. i was definitely more careful about what i ordered for breakfast. impulsively, jacob decided that we should go to the sprint store when we finished and we got new iphones!!!!!!!!!!!! i am soooooooooooooo excited. i feel like a member of the cool kids club.

a long nap later...i tested another pinterest recipe for dinner and it was a success!

spicy thai noodles

1 package, angel hair or linguini noodles

1-2 tablespoons, crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup sesame oil

6 tablespoons, low sodium soy sauce

6 tablespoons, honey

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1-2 green onions, chopped

optional: chopped cilantro, to taste

directions: (i used a modified version from the blogger and made some other changes too.) cook pasta to desired "noodle-y-ness." : ) in sauce pan, put sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes. if you do not like spicy...DO NOT USE THE AMOUNT ABOVE!!! this turned out SUPER spicy, which is what we like, but it could be too much for your taste. heat the mixture at a medium-high heat for two minutes. run this through a strainer to remove as much of the flakes as you can. to the leftover oil, add the soy sauce and honey; mix. i decided to use red pepper, green onions, and cilantro as the add-ins. the blogger suggested carrots, green onions, cilantro, and crushed peanuts. i say use what you like! once the pasta is cooked and drained, mix in the sauce. add the vegetables. 

per weight watchers, i can only have about a cup of pasta at a time (5 points). i measured that out first and then searched around for the vegetables. i might add more vegetables next time, like broccoli, bean sprouts, or pea pods.

it was great! jacob approved. i also bought some frozen pork dumplings for him, knowing that he was going to work later and could use some extra protein. chicken or shrimp would also be good in the pasta.

here is to a new start! wish me luck.

long time, no post!

hello, followers! haha, who am i kidding, hardly anyone reads this!

i spent the last week on spring break and it definitely showed at my weigh-in. i was up 0.6 lb. i went to a weight watchers near my parents' house so i am considering the fact that it was obviously a different scale...maybe that is why it was off? i certainly did not go over my points last week. oh well, i will be more careful this time around!

photos (though they really look the same as last week's shots, in my opinion):

you may have noticed that i am sporting a shorter 'do. decided to chop a couple of inches off and add some highlights. it was nice to  be a little pampered. not so nice that my contact popped out during the middle of the haircut and i drove home with one eye closed. safest decision? probably not. : )

it was nice to spend more than two hours at a time with jacob. we went to the auto show, mall of america, ikea, his mom's house for dinner, home goods...all over the place! and we tried one of my pinterest recipe finds:

penne a la vodka from rachael ray, of all people. it was delish! only adjustment we made was to add some protein in the form of chicken.

nine weeks of school left! hunger games with some folks on friday! good times ahead. : )

nostalgia

hello, all!

after saturday's weigh-in, i was down 4.6 lb! this brought the total to 17.2 lb (27.2 lb overall). go me!

photos...

 

with that good news, i thought i would sport my amazing "saved by the bell" t-shirt. i remember buying it with my mom at the gap outlet in albertville. i have been waiting to wear it since it looked a little small when first purchased...

i decided to celebrate this recent milestone with an "adult" haircut and color appointment made for thursday. i have not really gotten my hair done, outside a trim at great clips, in probably almost a year. it will be nice to get a little pampered. when the receptionist asked about my hair type, "ridiculously curly" was the best i could do. i thought it sounded accurate, right? : )

avoidance is not the answer

i have been trying not to write this because last saturday, i only lost 0.4 lb. i was super disappointed. and i did not think that my pictures showed much of a difference.

 i spent the majority of last weekend finishing up grades for trimester 2 report cards. i thought i would capture it for you all.

at our last weight watchers meeting, we discussed the importance of portion size. i went out to buy some new measuring cups and spoons right after i left. i decided that i needed to encourage myself to eat more vegetables. i went home and immediately split up the food into containers. i used red peppers, carrots, string beans and snow peas (snap peas? not sure which it is but i think they are essentially the same).

i have also fallen in love with pinterest. it is completely addicting. i have pinned a ton of recipes to my board "betty crocker?" and actually tried to make one of them on thursday night. i went with a lemon garlic chicken with string beans and red potatoes. 

 as i read in the comment section of the post, it did turn out to be too lemony for my taste (that was even with making half the recipe AND still lessening the amount of lemon juice!). i might not line the bottom of the baking dish with the lemon slices next time and just use the juice in the evoo/garlic/salt/pepper mix.

i am hoping that tomorrow's weigh-in goes better. at least with the warm weather, i can wear less clothing! 

happy (almost) birthday to me!

picture time!

 probably should have taken the sweater off, but oh well! the belly over the jeans is slowly disappearing.

on a completely different note, since jacob works most of this week, i got my birthday present tonight!

yup, i am so old that i get a keurig for a birthday present. : ) i also think it was just an excuse so he could use it too... i am enjoying a gloria jean's butter toffee k-cup. we also had dinner earlier in the evening at buffalo wild wings. it is definitely hard to order 8 boneless hot bbq wings and only eat half of them. UGH. 

you can also see in the new pictures of me that the kitchen is now a fabulous RED. yeah!!! only took six months...we are now in the process of "accessorizing." i have been getting LOTS of great ideas from pinterest. it is so addicting!

happy weekend

had a nice little weekend...started with chaperoning the middle school dance friday night. as i mentioned in my earlier status, i think i danced more than the kids. oh well! i guess that is what happens when you only have 50 kids total between sixth and eighth grade and not all of them decide to attend. but, it was a good workout!

weight watchers meeting started saturday. after last week's big drop, i was not expecting much of anything so i was happy with -1.0 this time around. that brings the total to 12.2 lb (since 1/14/12)/22.2 lb (since whenever the heck i first registered online).

after a long afternoon of errands, plus an amazing nap, i met up with some folks for dinner at the tavern on france. it was SO good. i opted to make my own flatbread pizza:

that would be a picture of the leftovers...garlic aioli sauce, shrimp scampi, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, fresh basil, and roma tomatoes. YUM. it was hard not to devour the whole thing, but ordering a side salad to start definitely helped.

today, i made it my mission to do a little baking:

i started with the fiber one apple cinnamon muffins. it was my intention to make the "healthy" version using less water, applesauce, and egg whites, but i realized a little too late that i only had the ingredients for the regular version. oh well. even at 5 points a piece, they're pretty tasty. i'll save the healthy version for the other box in the pantry.

later in the afternoon, i proceeded to the brownies. again, i went with the "healthy"-er version, that involves just using the brownie mix with a can of diet coke. 

they turn out a little more cake-like this way, but when one is in need of a 3-point chocolate fix, does it really matter? 

so, pictures of me tomorrow. no one is around right now to help take them anyhow. : )