Water Party Diet - week 3

Hi guys, it's time for another update with Liz, on her Water Diet. Hop on over to Savvy Seasons and watch her video, she has lost a total of 17lbs now. Congratulations Liz, you're looking great :-) And thanks for keeping me motivated! 

I wish I could say I was losing weight too, but I'm not. I'm only 1lb down since I joined WW which was on January 16th! My downfall is the weekends when I just stop tracking! I lost over 2lb but last week gained it back again because I had wine at the weekend and ate an Indian meal (store bought) - at least I think that's why I gained it back?!! 

With WW you are allowed extra weekly points and if you exercise you can 'eat' your activity points too, which I never do, but I think by not tracking I obviously am eating those extra points, I just don't know it!!! SO, this week I'm making a bigger effort and I MUST track what I eat on Saturday and Sunday. 

On a more positive note, even though I'm not losing much, my eating and exercising are on the right track. I am having a ton of fruits and veggies AND managing to drink more than 64 oz water every day. Have you heard of Sassy Water? I first heard of this from the 'Flat Belly Diet' book. It's basically just water, with slices of lemon, cucumber and fresh ginger in it. I LOVE IT!

Here's what I've started to do, that's helping me drink my 64oz (and more). This water jug is exactly 64 oz when I fill it to the top line. At night I fill it and pop in some slices of cucumber and ginger and put it in the fridge.  I didn't have lemons this week so I just add a splash of lemon juice to my glass when I drink it. I will get some fresh lemons this week and add a few slices of them at night too. The flavors really blend together over night. The hint of cucumber you get is so refreshing. I have to be honest and say I don't really taste the ginger, you probably would need to grate the ginger in it or squash it to release the oils? I just slice it and throw it in there!I drank this entire jug yesterday then filled it with 32oz of water and by the end of the night had drank that as well :-) SO, drinking lots every day is my goal for this next week.

This was my breakfast this morning . . .

Fiber One (80cal) cereal. Their usual cereal I think has more calories in it. I found this at Costco this week, only 80 cals for 3/4 cup. I have 1 cup of fat free milk with it. Most of the milk goes on the cereal and I drink the rest. I also had a slice of 'light bread' toast, and a banana. As you can see some of the banana goes on the cereal, and the other half I like on top of my warm toast :-)

Also this week, I am putting some menu plans together for myself. I did this before with WW, but some of their points have changed (again) so I'm updating my menus and adding some new ones too. Next week I'll try to remember to share a 'typical' day or two with you. I'm also going to plan my gym sessions. The gym plan I was doing with Cheryl is coming to the end of it's 6 weeks. I want to only go to the gym 3 times a week (not 4 or 5, because it just made me feel like I had no time to do anything else), so I will plan on doubling up my weight workouts like biceps and triceps in one day, back and chest etc. I'm going to go through my fitness magazines and try to do some of the workouts they suggest.  On the alternate days I've decided to do Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred again!

I did day one yesterday, and OH MY GOSH! That girl can really kick some butt - mine to be precise!! It's a killer workout and only takes 20 minutes, although with warm up and warm down it's nearly 30 minutes really! I did see an improvement to when I last tried it, in that I could actually do all the jumping jacks this time :-)

So, that's my update . . .  how are you doing? Got any healthy goals planned for this month? Share with me if you do.

Knitting - Gym - Housework . . .

 . . . that's all that's going on around here, and it's basically in that order too!! Hi everyone, not much going on around here at the minute so I'm slowly running out of bloggy material! At this rate I'll be lucky if I post twice a week. 

So, what have I been up to? I'm still enjoying my knitting, been putting off going to the gym some days because, well, I just haven't been in the mood for it :-/  and just doing housework as and when I feel like it too! To be honest I think I've come down with a case of the winter blahs, which I don't know how because it feels nothing like Winter here in TX. Yesterday was a high of 77!!!! Yes, I'm complaining! It's only February for crying out loud!  I know most people if asked would love 70 degree weather in January and February, but when you get triple digit days for months in the summer, I for one would like to see a couple of months of just 50 or 60 degree weather. I think next week will be back in the 60's so I'll stop complaining now ;-)

I was trying to be productive last week and changed this . . . 

 to this . . . . .

 

Remember I wanted to clear my storage room out months ago to make a craft room for myself? Well I cleared the room somewhat but never actually did anything after that. This time I've moved a desk in there and moved my yarn boxes that were in my bedroom closet to this room. It's not perfect (I'm not even thinking of painting in here yet) but it will do for now. It means I can sew whenever I want, and although I don't sit in here to knit, all my yarn is at least in one place, or it will be once I finish organizing it!

Kristen is off school again today, she's been suffering with a sore throat for a couple of days and getting headaches. I'm hoping it's just allergies but yesterday she was miserable at school so I thought I'd give her a day off to see if she feels better. Even if it is just allergies, they're no fun either, as I can attest to! She was hoping to have a couple of friends over on Friday to have a sleepover, but if she doesn't feel better we'll have to reschedule for next week instead.

I've been doing well with my eating, and getting back to the gym too after a few days off, so I'll post again tomorrow with an update and join in with Liz's Water Party :-) I managed to drink over 64oz water yesterday - Sassy Water that is!! I'll share more about that tomorrow ;-)

It's Friday - Water Party Diet!

How did Friday get here so fast? Wow, can't believe I haven't posted here since Monday, but there's not been that much going on to post about. All I've done this week is go to the gym and housework (oh and knitting!).

So here we are, week 2 of Liz's Water Party Diet. I have been trying to drink lots of water, but not actually drinking 3 glasses with my meals like Liz does. Still, I'm happy to report that after counting my WW points this week and getting to the gym 3 times, I have lost 1lb :-) 

I wanted to share with you a recipe I tried this week. Cheryl made it up and it's a quick and easy Black Bean and Corn Salsa! I tried this last week when she made it, and oh my, it was so good I had to make a batch for myself. I've been using it all week, sprinkled on my salad, or just as a side with grilled chicken. It is fresh and delicious.

The recipe is simple: One can of black beans (rinsed) 2 fresh corn on the cob grilled, half a cup of red onion, 3 roma tomatoes diced, and hand full of cilantro chopped, juice from one lime and a tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar). Just grill your corn then cut off the cob, mix it with all the other ingredients and you have a fresh and tasty salsa. This is great with tortilla scoops, but I've not been eating those this week. The points for it is very low. I got six servings out of this (about 3/4cup each) and calculated the points at about 1 (but don't quote me on that!!). ;-)

Also this week I've been having this every afternoon  . . .

I love this Tazo Passion tea. I was drinking it last year as iced tea (and buying one from Starbucks every chance I got!). The lemongrass flavor is really refreshing, and the fruity passionfruit and hibiscus flavors are just YUMMY. I don't really drink tea (you know, the English kind with milk), I've never really liked the taste, but I've been trying fruit teas for a while now. This is my favorite by far. I did try the Tazo Orange spice one this week, but it's not as good as the Passion. I've got a whole box of it now though, so I'll have to alternate and drink it sometimes!

And finally, here's a 2pt dessert I made this week for after my dinner . . . .

Instead of just having a WW yogurt, sugar free jello and fruit, I made it look all pretty like this - after all, we do eat with our eyes! ;-)  There's half a banana, 2 strawberries and a few blackberries in this. I actually couldn't get it all in the glass, and I couldn't eat it all in one sitting either! I ate half as an afteroon snack, then finished the rest off just after dinner. I added a squirt of cream on top just for show, but Kristen got that spoonful :-)

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm headed off to the gym, then it's Indian food tonight and date on the sofa with hubby, catching up with all the tv shows we've missed this week!

Lucky Me!

Well, considering this year got off to a rough start for me what with allergies and just not feeling 100%, it looks like January is turning out to be a great month :-) I recently won a giveaway over at Stephanie's La Dolce Vita blog, when she was celebrating 3 years of blogging! My prize arrived just before last weekend . . .

Stephanie had chosen a few books in different categories (house, cooking, photography) and the winner got to pick which one they wanted. I already had the Pioneer Woman cook book that Stephanie had chosen, so I picked this sweet home book 'The Perfectly Imperfect Home'.

 It's filled with water colored pictures that I just love. I haven't had a minute to sit and read it yet, but I certainly will find the time this week. I would think this book will sit on my bedside table for a while too, so I can browse it at bed time ;-)

Thank you again Stephanie, and here's to many more years of blogging for you. If you haven't visited Stephanie's blog before HOP ON OVER and say hi. Her photography skills are amazing.

And if that wasn't lucky enough, I also learned last week that I'd won another giveaway on a knitting blog :-) I'm waiting for my package which is being shipped from the UK. I'll post about it when it arrives. Speaking of knitting, it's taking up all my spare time at the minute, I just LOVE IT.  I knit this hat last week for Kristen, it only took me a day!

Isn't it cute :-) I just love it, and I learned something new this week - I don't mind knitting fairisle!!! I always thought I hated it cos it was too messy twisting the yarns, but you don't actually have to. It knit up much faster than I thought it would because of that. 

 The pattern calls for bulky yarn, but I didn't have any. I decided to use a different yarn but knit the larger adult size, giving me a 'young girl' size when it was finished :-) The yarn is 100% wool from Hobby Lobby.

I'm just thrilled with how this turned out, I am thinking of buying the bulky yarn and knitting one that will fit me. There is also a pattern for matching mittens that I might make us. Sad thing is we probably won't get to wear any of these til next winter. The weather here in TX has been positively Spring like this week!!!

Back to WW!

 

Liz over at Savvy Seasons has been posting this past week about her 'water diet' progress! I'd never heard of the water diet until she mentioned it. The concept is that you drink a glass of water before, during and after EVERY meal. So far Liz has lost 13lb!  To keep herself motivated she has decided to host a 'Water Diet Party' each week where we can all join in and post not just about diets, but healthier living in general. This is the perfect party for me to join each week as I like all the motivation I can get when it comes to living a healthier lifestyle. And as most of you know, that's what I've been striving to do these past few years or so.

Like most things though, I'm not consistent, and I find myself once again in January with a few extra 'Christmas' pounds to lose, and needing to get back to a regular exercise schedule. It didn't help that for the first 2 or 3 weeks of this month I've felt under the weather with really bad allergies. But I feel like I'm finally turning that corner.

I still found myself eating all the wrong things though after Christmas and on Monday I got on the scale to see I'd gained yet another 2lb - a total of nearly 7lb since early December! That was it, I decided to join Weight Watchers online again! 

 

So, although I'm not following Liz's water diet, I am trying to drink more water, and I've discovered that it's much easier to do when I fill an 8oz glass every hour and drink it. I mark down in my notebook too when I've finished the glass, and I seem to easily be getting in those 8 glasses every day. 

It will be good to join in the party every week and give an update about how I'm doing. Right now my goal is to get these extra 10lbs off and get to the gym at least 4 times per week. I'm often told I don't look like I need to lose weight, but really, who wants to WAIT until they look like they need to lose weight before doing so? Not me, I like to nip things in the bud. I know myself when my jeans feel tight or I feel bloated from eating too many salty snacks, that is when I take action - not when someone says "you look like you've gained a few pound"!!!!!

This week has been good, I am counting my points on the WW plan and still enjoying all the foods I like. This has been my breakfast a few days this week . . .

A taste of home! Heinz baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, egg, bacon and toast :-)

For Nenna!

I was talking to my sister last week and mentioned the chair Kristen bought with her Christmas and Birthday money the family sent her. I put a picture on Facebook when she bought it just after Christmas but didn't post pictures here, so these are for you Nenna :-)

Kristen fell in love with this when we were out shopping just after Christmas. She used all of her birthday and Christmas money to just buy the chair! I had to buy the cushion for her, which I said was a little extra Christmas gift from me ;-) She wanted to sleep in it the first day she got it, but she didn't! She sits in this every day though to play her wii games.

Papasan Chair from Pier 1 Imports!

What Lies Beneath!

Hi guys, hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was uneventful (and rather lazy) which I didn't mind at all. I am feeling much better, but sometimes my head still feels kinda dizzy and light, I'm assuming from the sinus pressure still?! Not much I can do about it, so I'm trying to just ignore it and do the best I can.

I had to share this with you all . . . remember this:

Hmm, actually, now that I think about it, I'm not even sure I shared it with you? This is a cauliflower plant that I put in the garden back in September, when the weather started cooling down! I don't even think I've taken any more pictures of it since then . . . until this week that is.

This is how it looked over the weekend! It's huge and it's been huge for some weeks now. We've had wind and rain and frost, and this thing was looking pretty pathetic, as you can see (and yes, those are weeds in our lovely crushed granite paths that need dealing with!)

 A couple of weeks ago I went out there to see if anything was happening under all those sorry looking leaves, and I was pleasantly surprised, because I think I saw a 'white head' starting to grow! So, this past weekend I went out there again wondering how things had been developing, and look what I found . . . 

  

  Is there anyone home?

Yes! Lil ole me is home!!

I was AMAZED, look at this thing, he's so pretty :-)  I can't believe I just planted a tiny little thing a few months ago, left it all alone out there and he grew! Now that's the kind of gardening I like!

Now, what to make with him? How about cauliflower cheese! I decided to make some cheese sauce, and what better recipe to follow than the wonderful PW's, and while I'm at it why not make her delicious mac and cheese too!  So, that's exactly what I did on Saturday . . . .

 I've made PW's mac and cheese recipe before, you can find it online HERE. I just boiled the cauliflower and added some of the cheese sauce to it then put it under the broiler (grill) to brown. I took the photo before I browned it though, and boy does there seem a lot of cheese on top of it!

I must say it doesn't look very appetizing here, but it was yummy! Certainly not something I'll be eating again any time soon though. I've started back on Weight Watchers today! More about that next time.