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!

Kickstart Ends and An Update!

The last post I made was actually the last day of Kickstart - I hadn't even realized it!  Put I did have 100% participation - it is never necessary to get all commitments in everyday; you just track what you did daily.

The next Kickstart starts April 28, 2025.  Come join us ***HERE***   Again, it is totally FREE and you do not need to purchase the Kickstart booklet if you don't want to; any journal or plain notebook will do!  I discovered that though I did start out with the booklet, over the weeks I stopped using it entirely.  I have an app to track my meals (WW) so it just seemed like work to write it all down; the app also tracks my weight and I took a photo of my commitments so it wasn't necessary to write them down for each upcoming week.  You may find the booklet useful (many do) but I think I'll just use **This One** next time around.

CC's mother passed this week unexpectedly.  She was in the hospital and had been in rehab prior to that, but we weren't expecting her to die!  A friend had visited her the night before and she was mad that they didn't bring her onion rings.  The next day, the hospital called CC and told her they felt she should come in because her Mom was not well.  She died that evening.  I hope 2024 isn't continuing into 2025!

Sickness and Something Funny

 I've been sick with a horrible viral head cold since Saturday and haven't been working.  I went to the doctor's today and they put me off work until Monday.  Feeling a little better but get tired very quickly.

When I got home from the doctor's, I grabbed the mail from the mailbox on my way into the house.  I notice a 8 x 10 envelope hand addressed to me with no return address and the stamp indicated it was mailed from overseas.

I began thinking if I had ordered anything; but couldn't remember and then questioned if I should even open it as it was flat and didn't feel like it had anything in it. But I opened it...

...and, out came two photographs of the actor Stellan Skargard autographed to me!!

I almost choked laughing....

Back in 2008, after the movie Mamma Mia came out; I became a fan of Stellan Skarsgard and found a small online group of women similar in age who were also fans.  Stellan didn't seem to have a website, fanclub or anything at that time and the one lady told each of us to send a photo or two of Stellan to her with our addresses on the back and she was going to mail them all in together to his management company hoping for autographs.  I sent my two, never heard anything, and lost contact with those ladies some time ago.

You caught that date, right?  2008 - SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO!  And my autographed photos arrived today!!!! 😂😂😂

It's not like they've been lost in the mail, it was postmarked February 11, 2025.  He's one busy man!

A Funny Tale....

 The funniest thing happened yesterday morning:

Dogs are still sleeping which means I'm getting to sleep in later than normal. HOWEVER, our cat Rooker wants to eat, so twice he walks up the side of the bed and sticks his butt in my face. I ignore him. So then he decides to start messing with things on the stand next to the bed. I swat him away. The next thing I know, there's a light on in the bedroom (it's still dark out). It's obviously not the overhead light, it's not the light on the stand and it's not my phone. I glance at the tv-nope, it didn't just come on. So I sit up (which, of course, wakes both dogs) and there is Rooker sitting on the Shapa scale (it lights up when you step on it). So I had to get up. After walks and feeding everyone, I'm telling hubby about it. His response? "I wonder what color he was."

LOL!!!!!

I also made this for breakfast this week:

It's Banana Oat Bake from Jean Luc & Nick's website. I hope it tastes as good as it smells!

And today's weight.......... down another 2.5 lbs!

A Bad Evening, But Not A Step Back

I had a bad evening.....

I went to the movies last night and CC wanted to eat dinner there.  There are no good food options there and though she would of ate elsewhere if I'd of asked; we just didn't have the time for that and would be eating during the movie.  I opted for their grilled cheese with tomato soup dipping with potato chips.  I figured since there was nothing healthy...get what you want.  I also had popcorn

The movie was last minute I didn't get my walk in; I didn't get to read a chapter of a book.  Three failed commitments:  Better dinner choices, walk, read.

Sigh.....

I got up this morning feeling rather blah and guilty.  How could I not?  The Shapa scale still has me in the "green" but it's rather early in that process for it to show anything else.  The regular scale was staring at me.  I had promised myself (not a commitment, a promise) that I'd weigh in only on Mondays.  I mean how could I ever be thinking to weigh now after a bad eating night?  Absolutely anytime I weigh after a movie night, I've gained.  Oh, it works its way out in a day or two; but there's always that gain.

But....I got on the scale anyway and I couldn't believe it - a small loss from my start date!  Even with movie food gain, I had a loss!  How exciting is that!

So now I'm determined to do well for the weekend so my official weigh-in will be great!

And thus this made me think of this:

Prepping Breakfast

 I decided to prep breakfast for the week and chose Two Point Cinnamon Muffins.

I've made these before and actually enjoy them.  If you choose to make them, I must let you know that they are not sweet.  They are more like a bread.  You can pair them with spray butter, sugar free jam/jelly, peanut butter or sugar free syrup.  

I got blueberries at a cheap price last week and decided to add that to the recipe:

I put the mix into the wells (1/4 cup per well) and then pushed 4 blueberries into each.  Yes, you may use a regular cupcake pan or you can pour the whole mix into a 9 x 13 pan and then cut it into 12 pieces.  I'll eat this along with a banana.  I'll probably heat it up and then use spray butter.  They are 2 bites each; and I'll have two each morning for a 4 bite breakfast.

And breakfast is complete for the week other than buying some bananas.

Hubby and I went to the Bonanza Steakhouse last night for dinner and I got their pork chop dinner.  You get THREE rather nice size pork chop loins with the dinner.  I ate one and the other two will become lunch for Monday & Tuesday.  I'll probably make a baked potato (topped with spray butter) to go with it.  That gives me a 0 bite lunch those days.

The other days?  Well if I don't have leftovers from my unplanned, as of yet, dinners; I do have individually wrapped chicken breasts in the freezer.

And in the amount of time it took me to write this post?  The muffins are done:

***I'm trying to get into the habit of using the word bite(s) instead of point(s) as the Healthi app calls their units "bites". It's a learning curve for sure!***

Healthi App

 I'd thought I'd spend a post discussing the Healthi App.

Healthi was formally itrackbites.

Healthi is an app that offers older Weight Watchers plans.  They do not offer the current plan.  They do not use the term "points"; instead they are called "bites".

I've heard some people say that the points are off from the calculations in WW.  Let me repeat to you... Healthi does not offer the current WW plan.

A lot of people prefer the older plans.  

The plans offered through Healthi are:

Conquer Cravings.  This is the closest you'll get to the original points plan offered by WW.  There were different versions of this program and this particular plan in Healthi follows the last version, where everyone had 35 weeklies (instead of banking points or such).  If you need to learn portion control, this is a good program to get started with.

Carb Conscious.  This particular one is a favorite of many.  It mimics the Points Plus program.  It is not a low carb plan despite its name.  It's just the first time that WW looked at the carb count of a food item in it's calculation.  

Sugar Smart.  Sugar Smart is the original smart points plan and was referred to as the Green plan as well.  If you have an issue with sweets, this is the plan for you.  It also encourages protein.  

Better Balance.  This one is the Freestyle, later called the Blue plan.  This is one of the plans where offering a zero point food list came into play.  It's the closest you will get to the current WW plan - HOWEVER, how foods are calculated is different - which is why people complain that the calculations are off...again, this is an older plan - not the current one!

Calorie Command.  Pretty self explanatory - this is counting calories - no bites/points.

Keeping Keto.  This is a Keto plan.  I know very little about Keto plans.

FYI:  Better Balance and Keto are only available with the Pro version of the plan.  To see the differences between the Free version and the Pro version:  Plan Differences.  Trust me, the Pro version is worth it!!  Don't join pro right away; as you're learning the app, they will offer you deals.  Also look for codes from their coaches.  

With the Pro version you can also track a secondary measurement with your bite plan:  calories, macros or both.  This is helpful to some, but I find too many numbers just throws me off!

If you're disgruntled with WW...Healthi is the place to go!!

Happy New Year!

 

2024 In Review

 I am so happy to be saying GOOD-BYE to 2024.  It has been the worst year ever - even worse than covid.

Here's 10 things that happened:

1.    On January 17th, my cousin-in-law Paul passed.

2.     On January 24th, my Aunt Wilda passed.

3.     On March 7th, my Mom passed.  I never thought I'd be living without my Mom!

4.    On August 29th, my Dad passed.  I really miss my Dad!

5.    On October 26th, my long time friend Suzy passed.

6.    We lost our Dexter.

7.    My long time co-worker retired December 1st.  I've worked with Brenda for 26-1/2 years and learned so much from her.  We'll stay in touch, but I'll miss the day-to-day interactions!              

Some Happy Things:

8.    CC and I went to Monroeville Mall for the Living Dead Weekend and got to meet Greg

Nicotero. (I have such a fangirl crush on him now).

9.    Got to see Duran Duran from the THIRD row.

I've always had the fangirl crush for them!!

10.    I was hoping to find another happy thing...but it looks like I'm ending the year with a 

bad cold and cough virus!

Shall I add more:

11.    My cousin-in-law Greg just passed away - December 23rd.

GOOD-BYE 2024!

Merry Christmas!

 

REMINDER

 Don't forget that Jean-Luc & Nick have another Kickstart staring January 13th.  This is a fun supportive group to help with your weight loss journey.  It costs nothing to join and there's no judging on your success rate.  They do have a journal available to buy in either booklet or PDF form to go with the program, however, you do not need it to do the program - a plain old notebook will do! It's FREE, so what do you have to lose???

You may purchase the journal here:  Kickstart Journal or as a downloaded PDF version here:  Kickstart PDF

Again....there is no requirement to purchase the journal to do the program.  You can choose any journal you want or even a plain old notebook will do.  Just have something to write on!  Check out the journal I posted about available at Walmart:  Walmart Journal or create your own!