Among the missing!

Pin It I can't believe it's been two weeks since I reached Lifetime at Weight Watchers (and two weeks since my last blog post)! 

It's been a hectic two weeks and I have to say I've enjoyed the fact that I have not been required to weigh in these past two Saturdays :)  I ate breakfast at home both days, wore my JEANS in the door (vs my "weigh in dress" that I usually wear) and walked right past those scales!  The first weekend I actually went out for dinner on Friday night!!!  I can't remember the last time I did that :)  Next weekend we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming - as the first Saturday in July, I will be required to weigh in and be no more than two pounds over my goal weight.  I think I'll be fine, but just to be sure, this week I will be 110% on track :)  Unfortunately this past week I have been slack with my working out, but it was due to a bad muscle spasm in my back/neck.  It's starting to get better (after two intense massage therapy sessions on Thurs and Fri), so hopefully I'll be back to the gym on Monday for step class. 

Happy Canada Day to all of my friends and family in Canada and Happy 4th of July to all my American family and friends "South of the border" - cant' wait to see you all in August!!!

Sometimes it feels like a lifetime

Pin It

But it's only been just over 2 1/2 years since I started Weight Watchers.  Yesterday I finally received my golden key, telling the world that I am now an official Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers!  My final total loss is 126.4 pounds.  I think part of me never thought I'd actually make it to lifetime status.  Before I got to goal I used to doubt I'd make it that far and then even once I made it to goal, I doubted I'd reach lifetime.  I'm not sure why I had such doubts.  I think part of it was because I have had a tenancy in the past to self-sabotage when I got close to any major milestone.  At the very least, I thought I'd have to extend my maintenance by a week.  Boy was I shocked to be 1.8 pounds under my goal weigh yesterday morning!  Had I lost another .3 pounds I would have been too far under goal and would have had to extend maintenance for that reason...ironic really :) 


Not much else to add here today - it's been a whirlwind of a weekend...week...month...hmm, let's just say things have been a bit nutty lately.  Unfortunately this means I have not had as much time to devote to my blog or to cooking...I'm flying but the seat of my pants in the kitchen lately!  Hopefully once June is over things will calm down a bit and I'll be able to get a bit more organized.  By then I should have my new Epicure products from my party, so I'll have lots to play with :)

Off to do some laundry before meeting a friend for coffee later.  Happy weekend everyone!

Is it really all about losing?

Pin It For nearly three years now I've been solely focused on weight loss (in case you're new here and just catching up ;-).  My blog has been about weight loss, the blogs I follow are about weight loss and even the daytime talk shows that I DVR are about weight loss.  My question now is... is that all that's out there?  Is the entire weight-related world wide web and daytime talk show circuit only focused on losing weight?  I just realized this today.  I was flipping through my Dr Oz shows and The Doctors that I had on my DVR and I realized that the shows I had recorded were still all about weight loss!  I think sometimes I forget that I'm no longer in "losing" mode, but am now in maintenance mode.  I need to find some shows and blogs that focus more on maintenance than losing.  It's hard to make the shift.  Just when I think I've made it, I realize that there is still a part of my brain that searches out weight loss tips, books, magazines, TV shows, podcasts and blogs.  Now that I've become aware of my tendency to veer towards that genre, I will be curious to see what's out there for maintenance.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Maintenance seems so much less dramatic/interesting than losing... ;-)

A new twist on an old favorite

Pin It

I've been craving salt this week...specifically my chicken fried "rice"...you know the one...loaded with veggies....and soy sauce and fish sauce ;-)  I had to (obviously) wait until after weigh-in to have this...thankfully I did given this week's gain (again!!!).  More on the gain later in this post.

Earlier in the week I posted about my grilled baby bok choy.  I still have a ton of bok choy left, so I decided I would throw some in my fried "rice" (for those of you who are new here, I typically use quinoa instead of rice - tonight I used a quinoa/bulger mix).  I also used sesame oil instead of olive oil (yes, I realize sesame does not qualify as a healthy oil...but it's SO darn good!!).  I added my usual peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, onions and celery, and then tossed in some yellow summer squash (I call 'em yellow zucchini) and cabbage.  When almost ready, I added my fish sauce (oops, I forgot to measure, so I added a bit more than usual) and soy sauce, as well as one egg white to bind it all together.  As always, I tossed in some spices.

This was the BEST version of my fried "rice" that I've made to date!  I'm not sure if it was the extra fish sauce or the sesame oil.  I suspect it was the oil :)  I did not want this supper to end!!

Maintenance Week 5:

Today: +1.3lbs
Total: -123.5lbs
Difference to goal: +1.1lbs


I am one week away from lifetime status.  While I will be fine if I stay the same, ideally I would like to get back under my goal weight (rather than being 1.1 over as I am right now).  Not sure why the gains two weeks in a row - perhaps it's all part of the maintenance process, or perhaps I've gotten slack these past couple of weeks.  Either way, I am dropping my daily points to 29 for the week and am going to be super careful about sodium starting earlier in the week than usual.  I have a couple of challenges coming up this week - one being a retirement party for a co-worker that is out of town - not only do I have no idea what they are serving (other than it'll be finger foods), but I'll also be out of town and eating on the road for 24 hours.  I don't do well with eating in restaurants...but I do find them easier than stand-up reception-type events... 

Stay tuned!

I've been bok choyed!

Pin It

Found these baby bok choys at No Frills, of all places!  I am sure I've tried it before, but I've never cooked with it before.  Tonight's supper was going to be a plain salad (well, as plain as my salads ever are!) with BBQ chicken on top.  At the last minute I decided to BBQ-grill my veggies (other than the lettuce, tomato and cukes!) to go on top of my salad.  I BBQ-grilled peppers, broccoli, onion, zucchini, bok choy and celery which I had tossed with a couple teaspoons of safflower oil and a tablespoon of raspberry balsamic vinegar, some garlic and some Epicure Cinco Pepper Blend.    It was SO yummy!  I only used one of my baby bok choys, but wished I'd used two!  I am SO addicted to my BBQ grill pan...I want to grill EVERYTHING...think I could have grilled my lettuce and cukes too?  I know tomatoes would have been fine... lol  I used to roast any veggie...now it'll be grilling for the supper I guess :)


Week 5 of maintenance almost over.  I am feeling very bloated this week, so hoping I don't have another gain tomorrow :(  Time will tell..stay tuned!

Let's talk turkey

Pin It Burgers, that is!  One of the girls at Weight Watchers told us about her turkey burgers she made this week using garam masala spice.  They sounded so yummy!  I've been searching for a good turkey burger recipe for a long time.  I've found that using ground turkey rarely works as a substitute for ground beef, except in chili...I think I'm not crazy for the actual flavour of ground turkey and have to hide the taste with tomato sauce ;-)

Here is what I used (as always no exact measurements...sorry):

1 pound extra lean minced turkey
finely diced veggies: yellow pepper, onion, mushroom and zucchini
1 large egg
2 tbsp cooked quinoa and bulger (leftovers from the other night)
2 tbsp bread crumbs
Indian Masala seasoning (could not get garam masala at the Superstore...not sure if it's the same or not)
Chipotle Mango seasoning (new from Clubhouse!)
Salt and pepper
mix together and form into one big ball.  Score the meat into four equal parts and form your BIG burgers (about 1/2 " thick).

I grilled mine in my new grill pan on the BBQ.  I didn't time them, so am not sure how long it took - maybe 5 mins per side?  Top with BBQ sauce if you like.  My burgers were 5 points+ each and I ate mine on a PC Thins Red Pepper Round Bun.  They are 4 points+ each...I think I'll just use a regular bun next time as I think there are regular hamburger buns that are 3 points+ each.  I've never hopped on board the "thin bun" train...they are usually more dense than a regular bun and end up being the same or more points :)  I topped my burger with some Frank's hot sauce, mustard and sliced tomatoes.


THESE BURGERS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Served with a small sweet potato (pre-cook in the microwave for a few minutes and then put in foil on the grill) and mixed veggies.  Great supper tonight!