birthday aftermath....

Not too bad, actually!

Diana had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon, so after dropping her off, Jay, Nickle and I headed to Pulp Comics in Niagara Falls. On our way to the store, we noticed one of the little pubs had a sign out front "Pizza slice $2" ....so we went there on our way back from the store. I had a piece of Canadian (pepperoni, mushrooms and bacon) and it was tasty! Really good crust, random store on Queen Street! lol

We had the show last night too....and then I didn't know what to make for dinner. I looked thru my Kraft food magazines and found a recipe for creamy chicken and broccoli with pasta. I re-did it for ww.....a very filling portion 14 points later, I was satisfied! I waited a bit and had a 4-point piece of birthday cake. Good day!! :)

No work again today...awwwww shucks 3-day weekend! :) But, tomorrow, back to the grind. At least I have some leftovers from last night's dinner in the fridge, ready to take for lunch with me (in 9-point portions)

Now.....about that excercise..... (o_O) (~_<)

week 2....

Sorry I haven't written in a few days! I've been good though, honest!

Thursday and Friday I worked day shifts (9-5:30) because Jay has those days off, so I totally take advantage of the situation and work days if I can. He walks her to school and picks her up, and then I actually get to spend some time with the both of them in the evening. Who'da thunk it? lol

But, my plan was foiled on Thursday when I fell asleep around 8:00 on the couch :( What the? Guess I needed some sleep! Really didn't feel sleep-deprived or anything, but I was o-u-t. So much for starting my work-out regimen!

Yea, it didn't happen Friday either :( Or this morning :( I'm so freakin' lazy! But, I am going to get some meals planned/packaged over the weekend to grab for lunches this week. Thank goodness for long weekends! I can't believe I have 3 days off! Over my birthday weekend even!

That reminds me...I have to find a points-friendly cake recipe. I'm going to make the low-points ice cream recipe I found in my new ice cream maker and I want some cake or something to go with it! I used to make a cake with angel food mix and pineapple, but Jay's not a pineapple fan. I suppose I should make a cake to share with the fam! lol :)

Ok, gonna make some lunch

Til later...
Kath :)

FIVE pounds!

w00t w00t!!

So, at weight in today, I was down FIVE pounds. Yes, not biggest loser numbers, but I'm pretty freakin' psyched!! Jay's calling me "skinny" and that he can see I've lost weight. Bless his heart. Liar...lol

This week at the meeting, we talked about getting active...so, that activity thing starts tomorrow! That was quick!

Also, because I lost enough, I'm down another point. Every 10-lb incriment in your weight, you lose a point of food. And, that's today :( 'Tis ok though cuz I was struggling to get all my points in for the day. I counted up on my journal and for the week, I was short a total of 24 points, but I used 15 of my extra points, so I actually had a nine-point deficit. Not too shabby :)

Ok, off to have supper of whole-wheat pasta with meat sauce! Yummo!

recap of Day 6 and excitement for Day 7!

Day 6 was pretty good....I had leftover deep dish pizza for my lunch at work! How can you go wrong with that? Well, you just can't, so don't even try!! :)

Then Jay and I had beef and bean burritos for dinner. It's an older ww recipe made with ground beef and a can of white beans....pretty tasty. Jay really loves them. So, we get 4 each for 13 total points. Not too shabby. Only, Jay hadn't eaten for most of the day, so he was starved, and I was pretty full after eating 2. So, he finished mine (staying in his points) and I came up 6 points short for the day. Darn it!

My appetite has really curbed this past week. I'm excited, but concerned at the same time cuz I'm not hitting my points target. I'll see how I do this week on the scales (first week...it's gotta be a good week) and then see what I can do about my points next week. I know I need the points to fuel myself, but I have a hard time making myself eat if I'm not hungry. But, like I said yesterday, maybe I'll look into some juices to up my points, the healthy way :)

Nickle and Rob headed over to the states yesterday and picked up a panini press and ice cream machine for me. I saw them last week when I was with Nickle, but I didn't have the cash at the time. So, gave her some of my leftover money and she picked 'em up for me while she was there. I've been researching some ww-friendly ice cream recipes and I'm looking forward to making sorbet as well. That'll help with the extra points at the end of the day!

Ok, gotta go get my chicken off the grill, pack my lunch and go to work. I wish it was 3:00 already so I can just weigh in!! So excited to see a SMALLER number on the scale!!

Days four and five

Sunday was a day of running around and lazing around, all at the same time. Jay and I usually spend Sundays getting ready for the radio show, so that's what I started to do when I woke up at 10:30. Jay and Diana were still asleep, after being at the drive-in til 3:00, so I had a silent house to "myself" and read the three comic books for the show. I had a bowl of measured raisin bran for breakfast. So yummy. When the troops finally awoke, we had to run to Toys R Us to get a birthdy present for one of Diana's classmates and the grocery store. I was a bit hungry, so before we went out, I grabbed a burger for a quick lunch. 4 points including the bun. Love the Wegmans light buns! :) And, this meant I wasn't starving when we went to the grocery store! Bonus win!

Pretty proud of myself at the grocery store....bought a lot of veggies. I found a recipe for "inside out egg rolls" which is pretty much sauteed cabbage with other add-ins. I think I'll make it today while Diana's at school.

Then Sunday night was the show, and then the finale of LOST. I had some leftover pasta salad from Diana's birthday, but I wasn't uber-hungry. I think I actually had some points left at the end of the day. I really have to work on that!!

Monday, I had a day shift at work and packed my lunch! Yay me!! I brought a yogurt, fresh strawberries, 2 burgers (only ended up eating one though) and a 3-point bag of pretzels. Dave got a bunch of stuff from the vending machine for his "snack" and offered me a peanut butter cup. After figuring out the points, and seeing that the whole package was 6 points....I enjoyed a 2-point peanut butter cup. So delicious. Yes, I would have loved to scarf down the other 2 and would have done it in a heartbeat just a week before. But, that one was SOOO satisfying. Seriously. I journaled it, counted my points for it and enjoyed it to no end!

We made deep-dish pizzas to eat while watching the finale of 24. Old recipe from when I was on WW before, but I re-calculated the points to make sure I was on the up-and-up. It really is so filling. I wrote down the points as I was figuring them (mine was more points than Jay's because I added pineapple and olives) but I forgot how many points a slice was when I was plating them. I actually shorted myself 4 points for the day. I figured I'd have a snack while we were watching the rest of our shows, but I really wasn't hungry.

I think I'm going to have to get some fruit juice just to keep on hand so I can drink the final points of the day. If I get the 100% fruit juice, it'll count as a fruit serving....it's just going to be a matter of keeping the husband and 5-year old out of "mommy's juice" lol

Woke up this morning to get Diana off to school and realized it's Tuesday. Tomorrow's weigh-in! Not that I'm nervous, I just can't believe it's here already!! Kinda excited to see what kind of number I post! I haven't started excercising yet. Not that I'm making excuses, but I really want to get the journalling and food prep under my extremely large belt before I start adding something else to the routine.

Having a cold piece of deep dish pizza for breakfast. Mmmmmm, so good.

Day three

I was extremely nervous about day three, not gonna lie. It made me nervous because it was my first day off since starting this, and a day off usually means a day of stuffing my face.

I'm happy to report that I did not stuff my face :) I had breakfast and a light lunch because the weather held out and we were going to the drive-in!! Since it's a holiday weekend, there were three movies playing, so I needed some food! Decided on a Little Caesars hot 'n ready pizza. Did my homework; traditional pepperoni is 5 points a slice but Hawaiian is 4 points a slice! Bonus! I also got a salad
from Wendy's and even counted on having my little bag of m-n-m's :). I dipped into my extra 35 points for the week, but I knew I would, and it was planned. I even made myself a quick tomato salad. Usually with tomato salad, you dip bread into the juice because it's just so tasty. Well, I really didn't want to add even more points to my total, so I used my pizza crusts to dip! Yum!

I haven't done a day without fast-food yet. Maybe, probably, today. I also have to get some lunches planned for work this week. Of course, it's not a slow day around here. The last movie ended around 3 am, so it's a sleep-in day here in the Stewart household, we need to get some shopping done for fresh produce and a birthday present for a party Diana is attending next week. Oh, and we have to do a little radio show that we do every Sunday night. :)

Ok, gonna go figure out what I'm making for those lunches ...

In health,
Kath :)


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Day two

Hahaha .... On day two and I didn't blog! Rofl!!

Anyway, I didn't get to blogging because I had a hyper-busy day. I had to work a day shift, then right after work we had to run to the comic book store to get this week's books, then Nickle and I headed over to the States to get some grocery shopping done. We literally got home with 20 minutes left to the day. Phew!

So, what did I learn from the day? It's extremely important to be prepared! I hadn't made myself a breakfast or a lunch, so I figured I'd just grab something quick and cheap at mcdonalds ... Had to be mcd's cuz I didn't have time to stop at the bank and they take debit. I chose the sausage mcmuffin sandwich. How bad can it be, right? A sausage patty, a slice of cheese and an English muffin. Well, it's a whopping NINE ponts for one sandwich. Of course, I'm not able to check the points value til I get to work, so I ordered a few to cover breakfast and lunch. I also got a yogurt parfait because I forgot to grab my yogurt on the way out the door. When all was said-and-done, I left work at 5:30 with 7 points left for the day. Luckily Jay had grilled some burgers, so I had a 3-point burger on a 3-point bun. One point left! Surprisingly though, I wasn't starved!

Nickle hadn't really eaten for the day, so when we stopped at Wegmans, she ordered a sub and had a segment before we started our shopping. I had one point left...what was I going to do? I ordered a sub for Jay's lunch on Saturday, and by some miracle, they had big kosher dills, packaged individually, for sale! Um, yum!! Pickles are zero points! There was a nutrition label on it, so I checked just to be sure ... 1/5 of the pickle was 5 calories and 1 gram of fiber. That means that whole thing was 25 calories and a whopping five grams of fiber! Wow! Talk about a free food! Yes, the sodium is high in pickles, but it's not like I'm eating one every day. But sitting across from Nickle while she was enjoying that delicious sub, I didn't feel deprived in the least because that pickle was good ... And filling!

I didn't finish my bottle of water at work. My bottle holds 30 ounces, which is equivalent to 5 six-ounce glasses of water. I brought my bottle home and finished it while we were out. Yay for a water victory!!

I know it was only day two, but I feel seriously committed to this. Did I make the best food decisions? Probably not, but I didn't let it derail me eiher. This is all about fitting it into my lifestyle. I will learn to prepare in advance, someday ... lol :)

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Day One

So, I finally bit the bullet and joined Weight Watchers, again. Luckily for me, my day-job started a Weight Watchers at Work program, and subsidized half the cost! So, with a few friends, one of my besties included, we attended our first meeting yesterday to learn the basics and have our first weigh in.

Now, the weigh in. I'm not happy wih the number at all. But, thankfully, our awesome leader pit it into perspective. "That's the last time you'll ever have to see that number." I believe it and I'm pretty stoked to give 'er another whirl.

Today was the first day I followed the program. It's not difficult by any means. It just takes an adjustment to be conscious of everything you put in your mouth. I'm vowing now to journal EVERYTHING I eat. Mentally, I know how important the journalling is, and like everything else, I start with the best of intentions. This time, success is the only option.

I named the blog Fit Before Forty because, shockingly, I will be forty in just two years (and ten days). I've lived at least 30 of these years overweight. Thirty years. I was 6 pounds 12 ounces when I was born. I joke that its the only time in my life that I was a normal, acceptable weight. I was always the big kid. Being half-Italian added to my appetite (seriously? Is there even such a thing as yucky Italian food? Well, besides cardone?)

I've witnessed my grandfather inject insulin daily for diabetes. I was in college when my mother was diagnosed with diabetes. I've sat in countless hospital rooms with her for her various ailments, most of which can be traced back to diabetes. I was by her side when she passed away last November at the age of 64. I really don't want that future for myself or Diana. I don't want the embarrassment for her because she's the kid with the fat mom.

What so I want? I joke around and say that I just want to be skinny. Yea, skinny would be nice. But what I really want is health. I want to be able to take a walk without feeling like my back will snap in two or my knee will just give-way. I want to walk up a flight of stairs and be able to carry on a conversation when I get to the top, not clutch my chest and gasp for air. I want to shop in the "normal" size section and buy the cute little shirts I see on the Internet.

I want to be a positive role model in Diana's life. I want her to make positive choices, and how can I ask that of her if I can't do that myself? I don't want her to remember having a fat mom. Yes, she's at an age that she might remember things; I remember a lot about being 4-6 years old. And there's always the photographs to keep memories of fat-mommy alive, but I'm ok with that. At the end of this journey, I will still have to make decisions that impact me daily. I want my daughter to learn how to make the same decisions and show her the consequences of bad decision-making. Can I spare her from making mistakes? No, just like my mother couldn't, although God knows she tried. I just hope I can be some sort of role-model that my daughter can be proud of.

This is going to be a very slow journey. I'm really hoping to blog everyday, but I'm not promising a daily update. I'll do my best to blog regulary though.

So, come along for the journey. Grab a bottle of water and join me along the way!

Here's to health ...
Kath :)