Let's Chat

 I got back from vacation Friday morning.  It was an uneventful trip; it's more a visit to my sister than an actual beach vacation.  Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my family and we did do the beach one day, shopping one day, pool one day, etc...  I just really am ready for an actual beach vacation where I can sit on a balcony and see the beach, do a morning beach walk and an evening one, go out and eat for breakfast..... next year maybe.

Anyway, I've been in the light gray on Shapa for at least 2 weeks but finally today made it back to green!  YAY ME!  I kind of maintained during vacation, which is good.

I started my weight loss over today on the Lose It app.  It didn't really change anything but I always like fresh starts.

I'm a HUGE movie buff and really like going to the theater to see a movie whenever possible.  Our local theaters have been doing "Mystery Movies".  You basically pay $5 to go to the movies and have no clue what movie your going to see - they are new movies that aren't out yet.  I saw the new Jurassic World movie this way.  The only thing you know is the rating of the movie (obviously that helps families).  The theaters claim they don't know the movie until it starts; I've looked it up online and that seems to be true.

The first Mystery Movie we saw was "The Last Rodeo", the second was "Jurassic World:Rebirth", the next was "Oh Hi" and more recently "Sketch".   I actually guessed right the first two; but not the last two.  I enjoyed all of them.  I had never heard of "Oh Hi" - it was R rated and therefore not family friendly (it really wasn't) but I don't remember seeing any children there.

"Sketch" is rated PG-13 and is kind of like a scary form of movie for younger kids (think Goose Bumps) - the rating definitely says PG-13, so that pretty much should tell you that younger than 13 it may not be appropriate for.  

I found it funny that under the theater FB page; some parent stating she wished they gave more information so she'd know whether she could bring her child; another said she had taken an 8 year old to see what turned out to be "Sketch" and parts frighened the child.  

"Give more information"?  How much more can they give?  It's a Mystery Movie!  

"8 year old"?  It was rated PG-13, certainly that should of been your warning!

I mean, I get it; but don't ruin the fun for everyone else.  I enjoy these and I don't want to see so many complaints that they stop showing them.  You want to take your children to the movies, go to one that you know what it is.  Yeah, I know...the Mystery Movie is only $5.00.  Well this particular movie theater offers $7.00 for all their movies on Tuesdays - go then.

Sunday Update

 I leave for Myrtle Beach next Sunday, getting excited but vacation means all types of eating.

I didn't want to just give up until after vacation, so I decided to keep things simple for this week.  I'm going with a Nutrigrain bar, Dannon Light & Fit yogurt and a fruit for breakfast.  Grab & Go is what is Simple.   I found cherry nutrigrain bars - excited to try them!

I bought some streamed shrimp to eat for lunch one day; I know we have pizza coming tomorrow - I need something to go with that as I don't want to overeat pizza.  I'm going to make sloppy joes for dinner tomorrow and that will give me a day or two of leftovers for lunch.  Lunch is the hard one for me!

Quick Update

Things are still moving forward.  Haven't gotten any walks in due to the heat; but I'm still moving forward.

Trying to figure out next week's breakfasts.  I'm thinking either frozen waffles or cereal.  

I did go a little over in calories today, but not by much and I didn't use all the calories yesterday.  For the record, unlike WW, nothing carries over to the next day or gets added to the week - use them or lose them.  Honestly though, I think it all works out in the end regardless.

Shapa has me in the Teal, which is a step down from Blue - but it's still a good place to be!

Something I've Come To Realize

 This past week on Lose-It, I've discovered my main focus is on correct portions.  Guess what?  That's what the original Weight Watchers points plan was - portion control.  It seems odd they chose to move away from that.

I get it - not all calories and foods are created equal.  I understand what WW has tried to do with all the plan changes - steer you towards the healthy foods; well sort of - I don't consider fat free and sugar free foods healthy at all.

I'm a person that overeats.  So portion control is good for me.  I know what foods are healthy and what aren't.  Though WW claims you can do the plan and still eat all your favorite foods, you really can't - their zero food list and points don't allow it; but on that original plan, you could.

Anyway, my official weight loss since the start using Lose-It is:  3.2 lbs

YAY ME!!   

Also, my Shapa scale has me in the BLUE, which is the best you can get!

Now I do realize it was the first week (well actually 10 days) and I shouldn't expect a loss like that every week, but I'm off to a good start and am so very happy for it!

Sunday

 Sundays are sort of my lazy day, to an extent.

Years ago, Sundays were my family day.  I'd go to my parents house, Mom always made a big Sunday dinner.  She did that for as long as she could.  Eventually my parents went to live with my one sister and Sunday dinners became only birthdays and holidays.  Both my parents passed last year; but even prior to that, Sunday dinner hadn't happened in a long time.

So Sundays became my lazy day.

I've started the day with 1 slice of 647 bread, 1 egg and a banana.  Shapa has had me in Teal for the past two days, which means I'm losing weight.  Official weigh-in tomorrow.

I'm thinking of making my breakfasts for this work week.  Maybe 3 baked oats and 2 french toast bakes from Dish With Dee. The recipe calls for a Laughing Cow cheese wedge, but I have never used that in it; you could also leave out the pudding mix if you don't have it on hand. Also, you can use any type of fruit you have on hand.  I'll probably end up using up what's left of my blueberries.

I'm also making chicken, potatoes and bows for today and I'll have it for lunch a day or two:

Pretty easy to make and makes a lot.  Sometimes I'll use pot pie squares or even egg noodles but I like the bows best.

I can also use the fish sticks and fries for lunch as well.  So I think I'm pretty set for breakfast and lunch this week.  Dinners will be on a day to day basis.

Still doing Kickstart and getting my commitments in and definitely loving the Lose-It app.  So happy to be away from points!

Later......

Hubby stopped at a take out seafood place on his way home from dog sitting and picked us up crabcakes.  They were very good.  I paired them with some crinkle cut fries!  That made a nice dinner.

I just realized that Lose It is giving me more calories on the weekends, which is great.  I kind of do remember that being a question when setting the app up.  Somedays, I'm not even hitting the regular goal.  We'll see how I did on the first week with Lose-it tomorrow!

Saturday!

 I like Saturdays because I'm off work....I hate Saturdays because I normally overeat!

CC is in Niagra Falls with her hubby, son and his partner this weekend so I'm kind of on my own.  We would normally be at yard sales and eating out.  I could yard sale myself but it's so hot & humid out and well, yard sales are just more fun with her!  However, I will have a little more control over my eating since I won't be eating out today! Not blaming CC, I'm totally responsible for what goes in my mouth!

Hubby is still dog sitting as well.

This morning I opted for a Big A** Waffle from the Mudhustler website.  I've made this before but haven't in quite a long time.  It was okay, I mean they are good, it just wasn't quite what I wanted though!

It does make a good waffle though.  The above picture is an older photo, I didn't have the banana on top this morning (and forgot to take a picture). And it is filling, banana or not!

I haven't decided on lunch or dinner yet.  It's Saturday and I kind of don't want to cook!

Later.....

I've decided on Gorton's Haddock Fish Sticks, Crinkle Cut Fries and Watermelon for lunch. Some comfort food seemed to be in order: 4 sticks, 20 fries and 1/2 cup watermelon comes to 459 calories; and though that may be higher in the carb department.....I'm only looking at calories at this point.  My breakfast was only 281 calories and I still have 801 to use for dinner and snacks.  I'm thinking that dinner will be bbq chicken tenders with 1/2 cup baked beans.

A Quickie!

 So rather than baked oatmeal this morning, I had one scrambled egg on one slice of 647 bread with 2 slice of Oscar Mayer fully cooked bacon.  For lunch I had leftovers from last nights dinner (beef, carrots and potatoes) and for dinner I'm having a pork chop and corn on cob.  That still left me with plenty of calories left to have a piece of birthday cake at work for a co-worker.  I actually put the cake in the tracker first and worked the rest of the day around it.  It worked out well and I still have calories left.

I also got a 1 mile walk in before the heat became to unbearable!  YAY ME!

All my Kickstart commitments are complete, other than reading a chapter of a book...and I'll be doing that very soon!

Still Moving Forward

 Today I have off work due to the holiday!  So I'm just relaxing at the house (hubby is dog sitting).

Since I am home, I opted to change things around and have this for breakfast:

It was a very filling breakfast ( 2 eggs, 2 slice Oscar Mayer fully cooked bacon; 3 cherry tomatoes, 4 strawberry slices and 2 slices of light Italian bread)!  4 pts on Weight Watchers; 312 calories on Lose It!

You're going to stop seeing point values on here soon...I'm really enjoying the Lose It app and getting away from points.

Right now, I'm only looking at calories - not anything else.  As I need to switch things up on my weight loss journey; I'll look at other things.

I'm thinking a protein smoothie for lunch and I have a beef roast with carrots and potatoes in the slow cooker for dinner.  I'm still under in calories, but that leaves room for some healthy snacks.

Lose It says I will reach my goal weight by October 1st.  The goal I set isn't where I want to be; but I can be satisfied there while moving towards the next goal.  I will not be going to where Weight Watchers wants me.  I could never maintain that, but did have an area I could maintain.  I realize Weight Watchers needed to set areas for Lifetimers to achieve; it was just never doable in the long term for me.

But any weight loss is putting me in the right direction.

Tomorrow I'm thinking baked oatmeal again for breakfast, leftovers from dinner for lunch and dinner is undecided.  It may be another pork chop with corn on cob or hubby and I may go out.  

Shapa has me in the green, so I'm pushing towards teal or even better blue!

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.