Journey to a Healthier Me

Yesterday at my weigh in, I was down 1.2 lb!   That is 2 decent losses in a row.

Also, this week I received the book I won in a give-away on Danica’s Daily blog. It is called America Grills! and has lots of delicious sounding recipes.  Thanks Danica!

A couple of the recipes that caught my eye:

Here are a few random eats from the past week:

A Dr. Praegar Tex Mex Veggie Burger

Breakfast for dinner

steak salad

steak sandwich

egg and spinach wrap

Yesterday at my weigh in I was a down 5.2 lbs.  That is not as impressive as it sounds.  I had big water retention gains in the past few weeks so the 5.2 lbs was the loss of all that water weight plus one additional lb. So my net loss was one pound.

Yesterday’s topic was about exercise.  We talked about all the different excuses we make to avoid exercise.  Or as my leader called it: “exer-cuses”.  I am pretty bad about making excuses.  I will do well for a few weeks and then something will happen to derail me (sick, too busy, going out of town) and then it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things.  This time around it was bronchitis.  I haven’t exercised in 2 weeks.  Just walking across the house makes me start coughing and wheezing for breath. But I did attempt a walk.  It was more of a 30 minute stroll but at least I got out there!  I didn’t cough too much but it was so humid out that it was hard to breathe. The Activity Tracker on the Weight Watchers site said I earned 3 Activity Points, but I think it was  probably more like 2.

My breakfast was a wrap and cucumber slices I wrapped up and ate during my meeting. The wrap was a whole wheat tortilla (2 P+) with Laughing Cow (1 P+), mustard, spinach and ham (1 P+). Plus 2 P+ for my daily supplements.

After my meeting I went through the Starbucks drive-thru and got a venti iced decaf Americano.  I like lattes but all that milk hurts my stomach.  And Americanos are cheaper!  I took it home and added my own cream (2 P+)

For a mid-morning snack I had a hunk of bread (4 P+) and 1/2 oz of baby Swiss (1 P+)  This was Asiago cheese bread from Fresh Market.  It was really good.  I don’t need it in my house any more, too dangerous to have around!

Lunch was a bed of lettuce with a serving of bean salad (3 P+), 2 oz of shrimp (1 P+), 1 oz of feta (2 P+) and some light Balsamic vinaigrette (1 P+)

For dinner we ordered in Chinese. We tried a restaurant that just opened a month ago.  I really liked them.  Their food wasn’t quite as greasy or overpoweringly sweet like the place we usually go to.

I had a cup of Chicken in Black Bean Sauce (8 P+), a shrimp egg roll with hot mustard (4 P+).  An egg roll isn’t an egg roll without hot mustard! I also had 4 oz of white rice (3 P+) and some steamed veggies with a little brown (very little) sauce on the side (1 P+)  and a fortune cookie (1 P+).

It was delicious and I was stuffed afterward.  So much so that I ended  up with 5 Daily Points leftover that I didn’t use! That never happens! I always eat all my points.

Do you make excuses to avoid exercise?

I saw this recipe on this blog. It looks so good I had to make it.  It makes a nice summer side dish.  I’ve included the recipe below with my changes.

Bean Salad

makes 6 servings – about 3/4 cup or  4.5 oz

2 cups (10 oz) cucumbers, halved and sliced
1 cup (5 oz) grape tomatoes, halved
1 14 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbs garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Add everything to large bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss together.  Refrigerate and serve chilled.

3 PointsPlus per serving