This & That

So the carnival last night didn't go quite as planned..... I had a hamburger, fries and popcorn!  I did have the points for it, but it wasn't the best choice.  We didn't really stay long; the band was great...but there was a group of people standing (blocking some people's view - not ours fortunately) that were acting out the songs.  Not just dancing, but acting out the songs.  It was extremely annoying and I'm pretty sure they were friends of the band.

 I have baked oatmeal in the oven right now to have at work later for breakfast.  I'm still deciding on lunch.

I definitely know when my WW membership runs out in September; that I won't be renewing.  There really isn't a point (for lack of a better word) since I don't have access to meetings anymore.  A co-worker is seeing a nutritionist and they have her using the Lose-It app.

I've used Lose-It many times over the years; it's my favorite of the calorie counting apps.  There is a free version.  I normally sign up for that and at some point they'll offer me their premium version at a discount - the last time it was $9.99 for the year.  The app was still on my phone and when I opened it, I found that my premium membership was still good for a few more months (and as long as I didn't cancel, it would continue yearly at $9.99); last night when I opened the app a pop-up was offering me premium for a lifetime at 74% off.  So I got that at $50 for lifetime.  I'm not sure what the actual prices are for it - but always hold out and see what offer they are willing to give you!

So I'm going to give Lose-It a whirl - maybe not right away; but that's what I'm going to migrate too.

A Quick One

 Today's breakfast will be baked blueberry oatmeal again; this time with a banana.  Lunch yesterday, though good, didn't keep me full and I finished off the chips when I got home.  I've opted for rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes for lunch today.  We're suppose to be going to the carnival tonight (weather pending) to hear a band.  If we get there, I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich (no bread) and some chicken corn soup. If not, I'll do something with the rotisserie chicken!

I'll also take something for a snack, to avoid those hunger signals if lunch isn't enough!

I hate trying to lose weight as the focus is always on food.

Rotisserie Chicken

 May seem like a weird topic, but rotisserie chicken became a huge discussion on one of the FB groups.

A person posted they had called Weight Watchers wondering how to count skinned rotisserie chicken they were going to buy at Costco.  The answer?  Throw that away, Weight Watchers doesn't want you eating that - make your own. (not exact words, but very close)

I really find it hard to believe that a WW rep responded that way; and even with the wrong information!

However.....you couldn't tell this person that because "I'm paying for WW and they are the experts and this is what I was told by an expert."

Yeah, you read that right.  I was able to go right to the WW website and find a snippet about rotiesserie chicken.  With the exception of the wing, any part of the chicken, as long as you remove the skin, is zero points.  Now I realize the person was asking about skinned chicken, which would have points; but the person didn't want to hear about it in any way.  We were all doing it wrong; and she was trying to pass on the expert information.

All she had to do was call again, ask the same question and she'd find out she'd get an entirely different answer.  So they really aren't trained well, nor are they experts.

The snippet from the website didn't matter, others called or chatted online and got different information - but that didn't matter.  Only her so called expert was correct.

After awhile I was thinking we were dealing with a spammer; mostly because she started with Costco, then Sam's, then chicken breasts that weren't even rotisserie.  The influencer had to shut the conversation down.

For one; I buy a rotisserie chicken weekly and eat off of it all week.  Sometimes with rice or make soup or make pot pie or just pull it off and eat it as a snack.  Rotisserie chicken from the store is not the reason I'm fat - potato chips are!

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Meal Prep - I can't do a whole week of meal prep; but yesterday, I did prepare for today!

Breakfast was baked oatmeal.  I use a very basic recipe for this and it makes one serving:  1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 pack sweetener and 1 tsp baking powder.  I then throw in any fruit I want, in this case it was blueberries.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  I'll eat this with a side of strawberries all for 0 pts.

For lunch I chose a throw together:

This one comes to 7 pts. due to the crackers, babybel cheese and green olives; but that's okay! It will still be yummy!

I'll probably have the same thing for breakfast and lunch on Tuesday with the exception of the shrimp - I'll replace that with that rotiesserie chicken that caused so much conversation, lol!

Dinner this evening will be steak and corn on the cob.  Tuesday probably pork chop and corn on the cob!

And I want to get my walks started again and some other type of exercise!

A Great Weekend

 I had the best time last weekend at The Living Dead Weekend in Monroeville, PA!  It was an extremely busy weekend though.

Friday I did the 3 hour drive to Monroeville arriving way before I needed to.  Standing in line I was able to get this:

That's Greg Nicotero and Tom Savini!  I just love Greg Nicotero!  He is so very nice.  You can read about last year's event here:  2024 Continues.  After everything opened and Greg finally showed up at his table I took my stuffed Greg Nicotero from The Cuddle Cult to have him sign:

He told me a story of how he gave one of these in a Christmas gift exchange at work and that the guy who got it, put it on his Christmas tree!  I also bought a large coin he designed with his 13 favorite horror movies on it (I've yet to identify all of them).  We did a selfie - for some reason he has to do the selfies - anyway he took my phone and then told me he couldn't get it to open; I rattled off the code to him and he said "You do realize you just gave me your phone code."  I told him all that that would get him is about 600 photos of Duran Duran.  He shook his head and said "You and my wife....."   LOL!!  Totally made my weekend!  Though I did get more photos of him from a distance; I didn't get the opportunity to talk to him again.  It was very crowded and he had people around all the time, even at the VIP event on Saturday evening.  And though being a fangirl, I didn't want to come across as stalkish either.

Friday evening I saw the original b/w version of Night of the Living Dead on the big screen finally!  Some of the cast was there to watch it with us.  It was great!  It was in line waiting to get into the theater that I met Dave.  Dave is a school teacher from New York; he's married with a 6 year old son.  He was also at the event by himself.  We would run into each other several times during the weekend - the Dawn of the Dead mall tour, various discussion panels and the Day of the Dead brunch.  The majority of the people at the event were very nice.

I also met Alice B. Sullivan, an author of apocalyptic novels.  I had downloaded one of her books but never read it due to the dog on the cover.  She assured me the dog doesn't die in her books - LOL!!  I bought some books from her - go check her out!

From the hotel to the event - everything was great!  I think they are planning another one in October.  Walmart has bought the mall and it is expected that it will probably be torn down and replaced with a Walmart; because that's the crap that Walmart does!  So they are trying to get another one in.  Will I go?  Not sure, it takes a lot of money for that!  But we will see.

The worst part of the weekend was the drive home in all the rain and fog; but it was worth it.

Update

 Last week...I was sick all week with a virus going around.  I didn't even work.  Fortunately, I'm feeling better, not perfect but better and my Living Dead Weekend is this weekend.  I, of course, never made it to the 10 lb loss I wanted by now...I did lose about 5 being sick but as I've started to eat...they've come back on.

Not A Weight Post

 Sorry that my posts have been few.  Kickstart kind of has gone to the side as I'm dealing with a dog with a neck injury and it's just been way too stressful.

But with this post, I want to discuss the Bay City Rollers.  Yeah, you heard that correctly, the band from the 1970's famous for the song Saturday Night and causing young girls to run around in plaid and scream their heads off.

I was one of those girls:

Yep, that's me in my Roller Gear too many years ago! 😁 Eric was my favorite.

When I first got the internet, the Rollers were something I looked up.  There were many fan sites and I was able to reconnect with a few penpals.  When FB rolled around, I found some more, connected with new ones and rehashed my Roller days.

I became a fan during what is known as the "classic" line-up:  Eric, Les, Woody, Alan & Derek.  I am very much aware that Les replaced the original lead singer Nobby Clark and that fans in the U.K. are very familiar with him.  Though Nobby was with the band since the start and recorded songs with them, he left before the really big break and the worldwide Rollermania (I'm not saying there wasn't any when he was in the band, but the classic line-up is what most remember).  Nobby sometimes comes to fan fests held throughout the world and it is my understanding that some of the early recordings are actually his voice and not Les' as there wasn't time to dub them over.  I don't know if that's true or not.  What I do know is that Nobby wrote a book, Nobby comes to fanfests and Nobby, in my opinion, has never gotten over not being part of the big break.  He's a little quieter these days but it was there for a long time.

The fan pages these days, for some reason, are in competition with each other.  Keep in mind this is a band from the 70's that hasn't been together in quite a long time.  Of the classic line-up only Eric, Woody and Derek are still alive.  Both Alan & Les passed a few years back as well as Ian (who replaced Alan for a short period).  I must mention Ian as he and his wife Wendy were always very nice to fans on FB.  Wendy still shares pictures (and stories) from her private collection.

Anyhow, there's bullying, there's threats, there's accusations......and I can't help but wonder; why?  Why is it so important for one group of people to try to be named "The Only True Bay City Roller Fans"?  And these groups join with the band member's wives/significant others/children, who apparently don't really get along that well with each other.  So it's a divided group.  There doesn't seem to be any middle ground and for some reason I can't enjoy my band from my childhood because of it.  I can't understand why grown women behave like that!!  I can't really understand why anyone would behave like that over anything.

Grow Up People!

Kickstart, Walking & Exercise

The only exercise I enjoy is walking.  I'm not a speed walker; just a casual walk.

The first time I did Kickstart, one of my commitments was to walk one mile each day.  I can do that; I've done it....but sometime during that period, I missed some and gave up.

This time around my commitment is to walk each day.  I didn't set a walk length; I just put to take a walk.  This is much more doable.   If it gets too late...a simple walk down the block and back will do.

On the norm, I do walk a mile; but this way...I don't have to if I can't.

Another commitment is to do an exercise besides walking.  I often do wall arm push-ups, increasing as the days go by.  I aim for leg exercises as well.

Jean-Luc and Nick offer step classes (I did that years ago at the YMCA) but haven't tried that.  They also have daily exercises for you to try with instructions.  YouTube is another place to look for different exercises.

Kickstart & Breakfast

 Another one of my commitments is to eat breakfast everyday.  That may seem like a no brainer, but I often skip breakfast!

One of the things I know is that it is very rare I can eat breakfast close to when I get out of bed.  I need a grab and carry to take to work with me.

I can make single servings of baked oatmeal and heat up at work.  If I'm not too lazy to make it.  Monday I had baked oatmeal; but Tuesday I just didn't want to make it in the morning and on day 2 of Kickstart, I certainly didn't want to screw up 😂!  So I improvised; I toasted 2 slices of 647 bread and sprayed them with spray butter, topped a Dannon Light & Fit yogurt with 1 tbsp of granola and added a banana.  That was actually a very filling breakfast!  So far this morning, I've had toast.

Breakfast doesn't have to be a huge meal.  You don't want to force yourself to eat.  I try to keep it simple.

Kickstart & Water

I'm sitting here waiting for Glo-fiber, so I thought I'd at least start a post 😊.

Starting out pretty easily - already have half my water complete!  My water goal is six 8 ounce servings a day.  Why 6?  When I started WW back in 2010 one of the healthy guidelines was to have 6 servings of a liquid a day.  "Six" servings of a "liquid".  I don't know why "six" was the chosen number but back then, WW allowed you to count any liquid towards that goal.  Liquid?  It could be water, soup broth, milk, coffee, tea, soda...etc...  The only catch was some of those liquids may come with a point value, so you would have to count that!  Anyway, I've stuck with the six servings but all mine are plain old water - I've never had an issue drinking water, though I know a lot do.  So I've been up 2 hours and already have 3 servings in, how?

Well.... a serving is 8 ounces (1 cup).  I have an old tupperware cup that I've measured 8 ounces to.  I fill to that line and drink it.  Once you see what 8 ounces looks like.....you'll realize it isn't that much. 

That ridge on the cup is the 8 oz. line.

I know that many fill those HUGE cups with the whole days water in it - if that works for you, go for it.  For me though, those huge cups are way too overwhelming, I'll stick to the little servings sizes.  Once I have my six servings in, I drink whatever I want!   And that's something to work towards.....drink water, then whatever you want!  It's like a little prize at the end.  In case you're wondering; yes, I do have coffee in the morning, I drink that along with my water.

And in case you are wondering.....the fiber internet is worth it and much cheaper than cable.

And We're Off.....

In no way was I happy with my start weight yesterday.......no, no, no!!!

This morning was a little better 😁.  Shapa still has me in the green zone.  I really shouldn't be weighing myself daily...I mean, the purpose of Shapa is to prevent that.

As far as food wise, I tracked everything, made some better choices, read a chapter of a book (Atomic Habits), got a walk in, water and another exercise.  All my commitments were complete!  Aiming for the same today and so far, I have my water in, my walk complete and my meals prepped - off to a good start!

Yesterday I found out that The Living Dead Weekend will be showing the original black & white version of Night of the Living Dead at the mall theater.  I'm so excited as I've always wanted to see it on the big screen!  So I quickly bought a ticket for that!  I feel a little bad that CC can't attend with me this year (we did it last year together) as seeing this movie on the big screen is on her bucket list as well; but she has another obligation and with the huge amount of actors from these movies being there - I just couldn't pass it up!

Tomorrow I have Glo-Fiber coming to hook up new internet.  I've had all I can take of Comcast/Xfinity's increasing prices and not willing to offer a good deal to long standing customers.  Glo-Fiber is offering the first month free to test it and I can cancel anytime - no contracts!  And it's half the price of Comcast with no price increases.

And today is ending with all my commitments complete!

The Start of a New Start (again)

Kickstart starts tomorrow, so I am off to a new start.

My main goal right now is to be down at least 10 lbs by June 6th.  That's when I leave to go to Monroeville for the The Living Dead Weekend.  It's honoring 40 years since Day of the Dead came out and a lot of the actors from that movie as well as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead are being there.  The mall (where Dawn was filmed) was recently sold to Wal-mart, so it may be the last time the festival will be there.  I'm very excited to meet Judith O'Dea who played Barbara in Night of the Living Dead (I met Russ Steiner (aka: Johnny) last year, but look forward to seeing him again) and Sherman Howard who played Zombie Bub in Day of the Dead!

But honestly, I have a big fan girl crush on Greg Nicotero since meeting him last year!  And he'll be there again this year!  I was just too fat in the photo with him last year....so the 10 lbs is the goal - oh, I'd prefer it to be more...but I'll settle for 10! And though you may know Greg as the special effects expert on The Walking Dead, he was an actor in the movie Day of the Dead.  Anyway looking for a photo, autograph and whatever else he has at his booth!

BUT, enough about that festival after it actually happens!  I've got my Kickstart Commitments set and they are pretty much the same as last time:

I have been doing #5 Shapa since the last time and want to continue on with that.  I know #2 says WW Tracking - I will be doing a Weight Watchers program, it's irrelevent which app I'm using.  

So that's where I am right now and hopefully, I'll be doing daily or semi-daily updates.  Hmmmm.... maybe next time that can be a commitment 😊.

Kickstart Is Starting Soon!

Loving the new stove!!  Still learning the ends and outs but everything has been great so far!

KICKSTART starts on Monday, April 28th!  It's FREE, so come join us!  If you want to purchase the Kickstart journal it is available in book form or PDF; however, it is not necessary to have the journal to follow along - a regular old notebook will work!  I've purchased the journal in the past and it does have a lot of useful and helpful information in it AND they keep improving on it; but I found I kind of stopped using it less than halfway through.  Why? I have an app to track my food, I have a picture of my 10 Commitments on my phone and I can add notes and such on the Healthi app but I do find journals useful so I'm going to use this journal this time around.  By all means though - YOU DO YOU!  Find your nitch and go with it!

I am going to do the current Weight Watcher program on the Healthi app though.  I started that way last time and it went well; then I went back to the WW app and it threw me all off course.  Check my post HERE on how I do the current program on Healthi.  It won't be exact; but it will be close.

I am trying to come up with some easy meals to get me through at least the first week.  For breakfast I'm thinking Baked Oatmeal and a Protein Shake.

My stand by recipe for baked oatmeal is: 

1/3 cup uncooked oatmeal  (regular or instant works; but not steel cut)

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice, count points if necessary)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sweetener of choice to taste

Then any fruit you happen to have on hand (frozen or fresh)

For lunch I'm thinking of doing a turkey, ham, provolone, bacon sandwich with mayo, lettuce and tomato.  I'll toast the bread and use light bread, thin sliced provolone cheese (or reduced fat), the Oscar Mayer fully cooked bacon and light mayo.  I'll have a pickle and  fruit on the side.

Just trying to think ahead!

A Quick Update

Today I got a new stove!

That may seem like such a small thing to most; but it's a big deal to me.

Many years ago, when the 2 oven stove came out, I purchased a Maytag Gemini. I LOVED that stove and had it for many many years.  When we did a cheap upgrade in the kitchen, I wanted stainless steel appliances.  We got a refrigerator and dishwasher and I held out on the stove, because I loved mine so much. Eventually though, I broke down and got a stainless steel one - just one oven - in a price range I could afford.  It worked, but it just wasn't what I wanted.

***I was unaware that there a people that can wrap appliances to the color you want. Had I known that, that's what I would have done with my Gemini."

Anyway....I finally bought a new two oven (they no longer make the Gemini).  It's a Samsung this time.  It has an air fryer mode and actually connects to wifi and my phone.

Rather than pay Lowe's to take away the old one, we sold it on FB.  I kid you not - the person that bought it was pulling away as Lowe's delivery was pulling in!!  Perfect timing!

I haven't used it yet, but obviously I will.

My Shapa has had me in the light gray for a while and now has me in green, which is good. I did get a walk in today, the weather was so beautiful!