I'm Feeling Good :).

I had another successful weekend. I didn't cheat once. I was chill on the booze and never felt like I was breaking the rules. All in all, I think I'm 100% on track for this diet.

Friday night I stayed in. I made soup for dinner and had a cup of my favorite couscous.

Saturday am, I meant to work out, but I got an earlier start on a friend's fashion show for an upcoming trip to the Bahamas(pray for no hurricane!!) Breakfast was 2 pieces of the Sara Lee toast with a soy sausage and reduced fat slice of pepperjack cheese.

For lunch I had a Chicken Up-Town salad with out the walnuts and light on the blue cheese from PotBelly's. I also got a bag of baked lays. This was meant to eat be my snack, but I was too hungry to wait.

Dinner was at Benchmark. I had a turkey burger sans bun, bacon and cheese. I also ordered sweet potato fries and had about half of the order. I had 2 - MGD 64's with dinner and about 3 vodka soda's as the night went on. I didn't do the drink package which helped me stick to the diet. Saturday was a late night though. I missed out on some good sleep.

Sunday, I had lunch with a few girlfriends at Kirkwood. We had hummus as an appetizer and then I ordered their home-made bean burger sans cheese on a toasted multi-grain bread. It came with a salad, but I only had a bite or 2. I was stuffed from the burger.

Around 5, we walked to Dairy Queen and I had about a 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream with a bit of the crunchy good stuff. It has sprinkles and butterscotch. Probably didn't need it, but I wanted a treat. We had a later dinner since I was full from lunch and ice cream, but decided to eat soup vs thai food. Thai is my favorite! I miss it, so hopefully I will order it soon and eat a smaller portion than usual.

I packed my gym clothes and hit it this morning bright and early. I did 45 minutes of cardio and scrambled to get ready for work. Pub Trans really screws up my arrival time at the gym. Sometimes I have enough time, but mostly I don't. Whoops!

Breakfast was another whole wheat english muffin with egg white and turkey bacon from Starbucks. Lunch was subway with apples and I had baked lays for my snack.

TBD on dinner. I am thinking some spinach pasta...I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

Have a good night!
PK

27.2

I lost 2.8 lbs and couldn't be happier. I went to Weight Watchers this morning with a positive attitude. Standing on the scale you never know what to expect. I started regretting my dinner last night and Schwa from Tuesday and then decided let's just go with it. You can't change the past. So the 2.8lbs made me very happy. 27.2 more to go for my goal! Doesn't this seem so much less than 30lbs??

This weekend we have Monster's b'day party on Saturday night which will be my only night to cheat this upcoming week. I will be going to WW while I am in Des Moines next weekend and hoping for another 2lbs. This process is not going to be quick and i have to understand that. Patience patience patience.

Last night for dinner I had my left over low fat clam chowder soup (1 cup or so)with a few oyster crackers. I also made my favorite couscous dish. The recipe is as follows:

1 cup couscous
1 cup water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
handful of chopped walnuts
1 cup purple grapes cut in half
3 splashes of OVOO
1/2 cup of feta cheese
salt and pepper

This is super easy to make, maybe takes 10 - 15 minutes. I had about a cup for dinner last night and packed a cup for lunch today. Def try it friends. You won't be disappointed!

I also forgot to mention I got in 40 minutes of cardio last night too. I plan to get in atleast 1 work out this weekend as well.

For breakfast today I made low fat frech toast. I took 3 pieces of the Sara Lee bread which is only 45 calories p/piece (1 pt on WW), 1 egg and 2 egg whites and low fat syrup. It was a yummy change and pretty easy to make. I burnt the last piece so the smoke alarm went off for a few minutes. Haha. I had no idea what to do. So I opened the windows and let the fire alarm blast away.

For my mid-morning snack I went with a choco chip granola bar. This is only 2 points and filling for a snack.

Lunch and dinner plans will be posted later. I have zero plans tonight and looking forward to it. I may order Pockets, rent a movie, go for a walk or just be a bum.

Talk to you soon!
PK

Schwa Schwa Schwa!! Everybody Schwa!!

BEST DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE! Ok so I cheated. But it was Monster's b'day and I have done awesome all week so I deserved it. Also, after spending 30 days calling Schwa for a reservation, I had to dive in and try everything! I left satisfied and praying I can go back to Schwa while I am still in Chicago or better yet while I am alive. I don't have words to describe it. Best courses were the amuse which was a bloody mary shot, the corn chowder with popcorn and corn salad and my favorite was the smores with beef mole and camp fire.

So yesterday was my recovery day. I spent the day nursing a wine hangover and trying to focus on my side job (wedding planning.) Plan from yesterday is listed below:
Breakfast - Egg sandwich (standard)
Lunch - Turkey sw with hummus and cup of low fat clam chowder soup
Snack - grapes
Dinner - grilled chicken 6 in. sub from Subway with baked lays

Today I am noticing that my groceries are looking pretty sad. I made an egg sandwich for breakfast and subbed 98% ff turkey for my soy sausage.

My snack was a choco chip granola bar, 2 points - bam!

Lunch was a turkey wrap with a sprinkle of feta cheese and dijon mustard with minestone soup. I also added a few oyster crackers to my minestrone soup. I love oyster crackers.

Afternoon snack will be watermelon and dinner is TBD. I need something light since I have my first weigh in tomorrow. I am praying for 2 or 3lbs!!

PK

Official Birthday Celebration!

Happy Birthday Monster!! Big 29 today. So excited and can't wait to celebrate tonight.

Last night I stopped by Racine Plumbing to check out the space for my joint birthday party in a few weeks and was delighted to see their food specials. $3 burgers and $3blue moons on Monday. What a steal! Too bad I didn't have either. Haha. SO much for a cheap night! I went with the turkey burger and subbed a side salad to avoid the fries (my fave...) Both were fine, nothing special. Loved the space for the party though!!

Today I started my day with a work out. Gosh it's nice to get it out of the way. After 50 minutes of cardio, I showered, got ready for work and headed to starbucks for their whole wheat english muffin with egg white and turkey bacon sandwich. I love this sandwich! It's surprisingly the best breakfast sandwich I can think of at a "fast food" sort of restaurant. Only 6 points too.

For my mid morning snack I went with a peanut butter choc chip granola bar. This is a perfect snack. Fills me up and I love the taste.

Lunch was kind of boring. I had a pizza pocket from Aldi. These are one of their fit and active items that I just love. I also had about 1/2 a cup of my couscous that was remaining from my side dish on Saturday. This may be my new #1 go to dish. It's so good.

I was hungry around 3 for a snack so I went for a banana and a 1/2 cup of purple grapes.

This should leave me full until we had to the most amazing Schwa for dinner. I will be sending an update tomorrow or Thursday on this ridic place.

Have a great night!

This weekend was easy peasy.

I had to give myself a pat on the back after this past weekend. I survived my first weekend on weight watchers and feel awesome!!! That is adjusting to dinner with my best friends, a drink package at a bar and skipping out on some great meals in the city. Tough!

After Friday I was kind of in a mood. I wish I could fast forward life 6 months and accomplish my goal by then. I'm just anxious to see results and feel nervous that it is going to be hard. I decided to drink a Bud 55 and get over it. Patience is a virtue!

I experienced my first night of cooking for him and her. Monster was being picky about dinner and wanting me to cook something we both could eat. I was in the mood for some whole wheat pasta with my Boca meatless crumbles, veggies and a tad of pasta sauce. He wasn't feeling it, so I made him whole wheat gnocchi with butter and parmesan for him. We laughed about this yesterday because one pack of ghocchi should feed 3 to 4 and he usually eats the whole thing himself. Oh well. He can run 16 miles so I think one pack wouldn't kill him.

Saturday I made my egg wrap (egg beaters, giard, laughing cow, wrap and soy sausage) and coffee before hitting the gym for 50 minutes of cardio. I decided to run errands after the gym and walked all around the city for about 2 hours! I couldn't get enough of the sun. For lunch I made a salad and soy nuggets from Trader Joes. I had a few bites of couscous as I was making our side for dinner as well. Couscous is a filling food that is supposed to be a good thing in my diet.

Monster heated up the grill and made chicken for dinner. I brought an Earth Grains thin bun and wedge of laughing cow to put on my sandwich with just a dab of bbq sauce. The couscous I made was excellent! I will have to post the recipe. It had grapes, feta, lemon juice, parsley...gosh it was good! My favorite recipe yet.

We met up with some friend at a pizza place in Lincoln Park before going to a birthday party. I didn't eat the pizza and stuck with 2 Bud Lights. Beer is not the best thing on this diet, but I am not willing to give up alcohol quite yet. The pizza looked very good and something that I could get away with eating. It wasn't the pan pizza, just thin crust.

We had a surprise birthday party for another friend down the street after dinner. I decided not to do the all you can drink - drink special for $30. I had 2 vodka sodas and cut myself off for the night. Monster's b'day celebration next weekend will have one of these drink deals and I am considering treating myself to this if I lose on Friday morning. We will just wait and see.

We called it an early night and headed home around midnight to save our energy for Sunday. Tuesday is Monster's b'day so we decided to start the celebration yesterday. I started the day off with french toast for him and an egg wrap for her. We skipped lunch b/c we walked around Michigan Ave. so I just got a jalapeno pretzel from Auntie Anne's sans butter. We walked so much and were just beat!!

For dinner I made ribs in the crock pot. Very simple recipe that cooked all day! I only had 3 ones, but they were delish. The sauce had ketchup, brown sugar, chili powder, worsterchire sauce, salt, pepper and an onion. So easy and so good! We also made baked potatoes and a side salad to go with the ribs. I enjoyed a Bud 55 as well with dinner.

I am pretty proud of myself. I also told Monster about my plan and he is extremely supportive and excited for me. I feel very lucky.

Let's hope for a good week!
PK

Ok...now i'm really back! Thanks WW.

Good afternoon! Gosh it's been a long time. A lot has been going on since I posted last. Let's just say that I have gotten my life in order and excited to be back on track.

This morning I joined weight watchers. I was hesitant to do it, but I feel like this will be a really good plan for me. If I go Friday mornings before work, I can walk to the meetings, get weighed in, listen to the leaders for 30 minutes on motivation and new ideas and then start my weekend off right. Also, Paige and my mom joined this morning as well. Talk about a motivator! There is no reason since we are doing this together why we can't all be successful. We speak enough each day to talk through this, so it should be a really good situation.

The new Momentum Program seems interesting. It reminds me of the Core Foods plan they used to do. The main key here is Stay Fuller Longer with delicious filling foods. So I will do that!

Another huge motivator is my girl J Hudson. Damm she looks amazing! Size 6! Dear Lord she has dropped 2 people!

I will be tracking my food on my blog along with a note pad I will carry with me. Fortunately I don't have to change a lot of what I eat. It's mostly changing portion size. I suck at this. This will help me though:

The bread, cereal, rice and pasta group
1 cup of potatoes, rice, pasta - is a tennis ball, ice cream scoop
1 pancake - is a compact disc (CD)
1/2 cup cooked rice - is a cupcake wrapper full
1 piece of cornbread - is a bar of soap
1 slice of bread - is an audiocassette tape
1 cup of pasta, spaghetti, cereal - is a fist
2 cups of cooked pasta - is a full outstretched hand

The vegetable group
1 cup of green salad - is a baseball or a fist
1 baked potato - is a fist
3/4 cup tomato juice - is a small Styrofoam cup
1/2 cup cooked broccoli - is a scoop of ice cream, a light bulb
1/2 cup serving - is 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots or carrot sticks; 1 ear of corn on the cob

The fruit group
1/2 cup grapes (15 grapes) - is a light bulb
1/2 cup of fresh fruit - is 7 cotton balls
1 medium size fruit - is a tennis ball or a fist
1 cup of cut-up fruit - is a fist
1/4 cup raisins - is a large egg

The milk, yogurt and cheese group
1-1/2ounces of cheese - is a 9-volt battery, 3 dominoes or your index and middle fingers
1 ounce of cheese - is a pair of dice or your thumb
1 cup of ice cream - is a large scoop the size of a baseball

The meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nut group
2 tablespoons of peanut butter - is a ping-pong ball
1 teaspoon of peanut butter - is a fingertip
1 tablespoon of peanut butter - is a thumb tip
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry - is a palm, deck of cards, cassette tape
3 ounces grilled/baked fish - is a checkbook
3 ounces cooked chicken - is a chicken leg and thigh or breast

Fats, oils and sweets
1 teaspoon butter, margarine - is the size of a stamp as thick as your finger or thumb tip
2 tablespoons salad dressing - is a ping-pong ball

Snack foods
1 ounce of nuts or small candies - is one handful
1 ounce of chips or pretzels - is two handfuls
1/2 cup of potato chips, crackers or popcorn - is one man's handful
1/3 cup of potato chips, crackers or popcorn - is one woman's handful

Serving dishes/utensils
1/2 cup - is a small fruit bowl, a custard cup or mashed potato scoop
1-1/2 cups - is a large cereal/soup bowl
1-1/2 cups of pasta, noodles - is a dinner plate, not heaped
1/2 cup of pasta, noodles - is a cafeteria vegetable dish

Stick with me all! My official birthday isn't until mid-September and that is when I originally wanted to track the 30 x 30, but I feel crazy and will be starting this today!

It's nice to be back :).
PK

I'm Back!

Goodness gracious! This break has been much longer than expected, but I am so happy to be back and full swing with 30 x 30.

The past few weekends and last week were insane. Entertaining friends, trying new restaurants, drinking too much...damper on the diet.

Working out when I travel is always much tougher than it should be too. Quick trips never make sense for me to bring my gym stuff especially since I pack a carry on and bring as little as possible. I should just wear my gym shoes on the plane so it doesn't take space in my bag...ding ding ding! Great idea. Wow, why didn't I think of this before! So stupid.

Yesterday I started back on my diet 100%. I also got in an hour of yoga which felt amazing! I am def feeling it today all over.

My breakfast was an Earthgrains Multi-Grain Flat Bun. At only 100 calories and 4G of fiber it is a great bun for my egg white and soy sausage sandwich I make.

I had a South Beach granola bar that I split in half. I had half for my mid-morning snack and the other half for my afternoon snack. These are filling!

Lunch was a grilled chicken salad with strawberries, onions and goat cheese on spinach from Yolk. I used the dip the fork in the dressing technique with my honey dijon dressing. Just enough in each bite.

Dinner I made whole wheat pasta with grilled shrimp. I took plain tomato sauce and added red pepper flakes, italian seasoning, basil and grilled zucchini. It was an amazing dinner! I had just enough to keep me full. No late snacks either :).

Today I had copied my brekafst from yesterday. I actually get excited for breakfast since these sandwiches are so easy and tasty!

For a snack I had grapes that I picked up at Whole Foods earlier this week. I ate half of the grapes on Monday and the other half today.

Lunch was a Thin Bun sandwich with 99% ff turkey, spinach and a laughing cow wedge. I also had a few pieces of watermelon and pita chips with hummus (favorite snack.)

I had the whole wheat braided twists pretzels for my afternoon snack. The pack they sell in the vending machine at work are just enough pretzels to tie me over.

Monster and I are bbqing tonight. I think the menu is cous-cous and grilled chicken. i may bring spinach over too. Yummy! I love cooking vs going to eat sometimes!

Have a good rest of the day and I will be back tomorrow,
PK

Tougher than I thought

Well it's almost Friday and I can't wait! I have a jam packed weekend full of fun, friends and the sun!

I have had a rough couple of days since i posted last. It all started with my work outing last Friday. I think the booze and food provided caused me to go down hill on my diet. Saturday wasn't any better, but I did hit the gym for about an hour which I was happy about. Sunday, I had a baby shower and didn't do my best there.

Then came San Francisco...It was tough to be on a diet in this amazing city!!

Let's just say I started fresh today and I am ok with it. I didn't go overboard while in San Fran, but we had long days which led to meals at awkward times.

So this morning I made a egg white wrap which was awesome! I used a Flat top Flat bread and spread some shredded pepper jack, soy sausage and egg whites. I added a tad of giardinera and it kept me full until lunch! I could eat this wrap for every meal. It has so much flavor!

For lunch I brought some morningstar buffalo wings and side salad. I also had some wheat pretzels to add to it.

I don't have much for dinner, so I may pick up something cheap around my place. The grocery store is calling my name!

I have another nutty weekend ahead, so I hope to be on my best behavior, not eat a ton or drink a ton and hit the gym at least once. Wish me luck!

PK

Sorry!

Weekend was nuts. In San Fran for work until Wed. Hoping to catch up on Thursday when I am back!