Day 4 back on

Breakfast:

• 1 egg sunny side up and 1 pc. Canadian bacon, on a crrrrrrumpet! You need to stretch out the "r" to sound more British :) (1 WPA)
• 1/2 avocado with lemon pepper

Snack:

• Sunshine salad (already counted the WPA yesterday for whole recipe)
• Green tea w/ ff milk
• Marshmallow chocolate egg and bunny (4 WPA... higher than I thought...oops)
• 2 Whopper eggs (1 WPA)
• 1 pc. caramel (1 WPA)
• 2 pc. Nestle crunch type eggs (2 WPA)
• Jelly beans and bunnies (5 WPA)

Lunch:

• 1/2 c. garbanzo beans with salt and pepper
• orange

Snack:

• Diet pepsi

Dinner:

• Veg soup (1 WPA)
• Grape and mango salad (delish and fresh)

Snack:

• 94% ff popcorn
• Asparagus with 2 t. olive oil and salt and pepper

Another long walk/run with the sweet/adorable puppy that the Hungry Hubs and I can't get enough of :)

Here are some easy and quick reminders of how many POINTS are in CANDY:

http://www.weightdebate.com/weight-watchers/how-many-points-candy-t244.html

http://www.waynewatcher.com/index_EasterCandy.html

I think I am going to make some Core sweet-ish food tonight. Definitely going to make a sf/ff chocolate pudding and a Core carrot cake (recipe linked a few days ago) to keep me away from the candy I have left from Easter in my closet! I am going to get rid of that ASAP!!

Daily WPA used: 15

Weekly WPA used: 39 (okay that means that I need to up the exercise big time, make MUCH better choices, AND be good this weekend... I can do it, I can do it... repeat after me! lol)

Chugging along on Core :)

Breakfast:

• Bob's Red Mill oat bran hot cereal with banana and ff milk

Lunch:

• Curry chicken salad

Snack:

• Diet green tea drink

Dinner:

• Veg soup (1 WPA)
• ff feta
• 1/2 avocado with lemon pepper
• Sunshine salad (3 WPA- I am counting ALL the points for this salad today because I don't want to forget to count them later... the RECIPE IS HERE and it is delish! I did the ff/sf banana pudding modification and I really like this!)

Dessert/Snack:

• 94% ff kettlecorn popcorn
• 3 Nestle Crunch chocoloate easter eggs (3 WPA- I'm estimating the WPA off the fun sized bars so this might be slightly high)
• 2 Whopper eggs-big ones (1 WPA)
• FF Oikos Greek yogurt with 1 T. honey (1 WPA)

I took my brand new 4 mo. old PUPPY on a walk/run today for 1 hr. and 15 min. It was a beautiful day and a pretty nice workout :)

Daily WPA used: 9

Weekly WPA used: ouch...24

Keep it goin!

Breakfast:

• Oat bran (Bob's Red Mill brand) hot cereal with 1/2 banana and topped with a bit of ff milk

Lunch:

• 1 Crumpet (Wow! I feel like an English(wo)man already!! haha) with 1 egg over easy and 1 piece of Canadian bacon (1 WPA for the Duffy's Brand Crumpet)
• 1 piece caramel candy (1 WPA)
• ff Greek yogurt (Oikos brand) with 1 T. honey (1 WPA, but SOOO worth it for this wonderful snack!)

Snack:

• Diet Pepsi

Dinner:

• Curry chicken salad - delish! I made this with baked chicken, ff mayo mixed with curry powder, grapes and chickpeas! I would add some onion and celery if I had it on hand next time too

Snack:

• Apple
• 2 beef jerkey (1.5 WPA)
• Cofffee w/ ff milk
• 4 glazed donut holes/munchkins (3.5 WPA- I was surprised that it was this low!!!)

Daily WPA used: 8

Weekly WPA used: 15

Back in Action!

Okay! I'm back... and no! I didn't weigh myself this morning, but I will certainly weigh myself next Monday morning after a full week "on" Core again. I'm excited to be back.

Breakfast:

• 2 eggs sunny side-up
• Canadian bacon (3 pc.)
• 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch:

• Veggie soup (recipe referenced last post) (1 WPA- I put in tomato soup b/c I didn't buy V8 juice AND I found out that veggie juices are NOT on CORE so you have to count point anyways...so for this serving of the veg soup with the tomato soup in it I have to count WPA...that makes me sad :( lol)
• Piece of banana
• 1/2 c. caramel corn (3 WPA)

Dinner:

• Cucumber, ff feta, & vinegar salad with lemon pepper
• FF Chocolate yogurt (3 WPA!!! Ouch)
• 1/2 grapefruit
• 1/2 avocado

Daily WPA used: 7

Weekly WPA used: 7

Preparing to Come Back to Core! (After a one week hiatus!)

Okay, so I'm almost ready to come back after my one week off and I wanted to tell you a little bit about how I prepare. I love to eat, so I like to know that I have yummy recipes and food waiting for me at my next meal.

Meal planning is fun on Core, because it is such an adventure of finding new things that fit in to the plan, while also finding unique things that you love.

There is this great charming little diner outside my old apartment in this pretty city that is run by people of Eastern European descent. They have this wonderful cabbage soup, and I have always wanted my 0 point cabbage soup to be more like theirs. So after doing some research, I will be upgrading my standard recipe to be more Russian/Ukrainian. If I have any readers who know how to make this recipe even better, I welcome suggestions.

I am also going to be trying a new dinner recipe that I just found on this interesting blog. Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas. I love the sound of this recipe, and although it involves brown rice AND sweet potato, I think it's still okay to have this at one meal per day because you won't be eating huge quantities of either since it will be inside an enchilada. Of course there will be some WPAs to count for the corn tortilla that serves as the "wrapper."

So here is my meal plan starting on Monday:

Breakfast:

• Eggs (scrambled or sunny-side-up) with Canadian bacon and/or fruit
• OR
• Bob's 10 grain hot cereal with a dash of FF milk and fruit

Snack:

• Fruit
• Veggies with dip (and possibly a Core homemade hummus! yummm I will keep you posted)

Lunch:

• Ukrainian style cabbage soup (adding lemon juice and dill to the regular cabbage soup recipe I make, found here)...check out CordyC's comment from 01-01-2003- she suggests the EE way to make it! I'm going to try the V8 Base!

Snack:

• Fruit
• Veggies with dip

Dinner:

• Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Dessert:

• Grapefruit
• Popcorn

*All the snacks and dessert are on as as needed basis and I might eat only part of the things on the list or all of them.

Most importantly though, over the last week, I have decided that I really LIKE the Core lifestyle! I actually MISS it! And to say that you miss healthy eating over junk food for me is a REALLY REALLY big deal...like REALLY big. Granted, I have enjoyed eating the junk food, but now quality matters. Scotcharoos will always be a weak spot, but when I have them literally once every two years (I don't often bake sweets) I don't see it being a big problem. Sour Patch K*ds used to be the epitome of a great snack, now they've lost their luster. I'm not swearing off sweets altogether or anything, but I don't see them as using up a big portion of my WPAs, which I was afraid would be a big obstacle to getting back on track. I'm really happy about this :) My stomach doesn't feel good (even after eating only a little bit junk food) and I'm sick of the "rumbly" feeling going on because my stomach doesn't know what the heck just hit it!

Additionally, I can literally see the difference between working out and not working out while on Core within about 3 days. I can see it in my arms, legs and abs especially and I am going to be making a much bigger effort to get it at LEAST 15 min. cardio plus arm weights and ab exercise in per day. It's not that much, but with such a low amount (its about a mile or 1.5 miles running at 5.5 mi. pace on the treadmill) it's pretty hard to rationalize that you "don't have time." If you have time to sit down in front of the TV, you can get in a quick work out before you even blink an eye. Do it with me- c'mon now!

Don't Worry!

Don't worry- I will be back posting again on Monday. I have given myself a week "breather" to get all these pent-up candy and junk food cravings out of my system and I also have a couple of events this weekend that I know will be very difficult to count points for.

BUT on Monday I will be back and better than ever! I have some new recipes, new ideas and a new blog design in the works! Pictures will be making a come-back too :)

I'm excited to see more red dots poking up over on the reader counter on the right! Please share comments and/or questions and let me know if you also have a site that I can follow!

Day 24

Breakfast:

• 2 eggs- sunny side up :)
• 2 pieces Canadian bacon
• 1 Blanca's tortilla (1 WPA)

Snack:

• Strawberries
• Piece Carrot Cake

Lunch:

• Mediterranean pasta salad w/ ff feta
• Banana

Snack:

• ff feta
• carrots
• Bob's 10 grain hot cereal with sauteed (in Pam) banana
• Tons of edamame- steamed and salted

Dinner:

• 4 (FOUR!!!) packs of Austin's cheese on cheese crackers (12 WPA)
• Panera Garden Veggie Soup (prob. 1 WPA for any oil...couldn't see any on the surface tho, so it had to have been a small amount)
• Panera multi grain baguette (2.5 WPA)

Snack:

• Grapefruit

Workout: 10 min. elliptical, 1 mile on treadmill (5.5 speed), 200 crunches, and various 10 lb. exercises with arms

I'm not sure what my problem is this week so far, but I have been feeling insatiable! Honestly, I think that this week is one of the hardest of Lent, and if I could just have a little of the sweet stuff, I would be better off. I can't WAIT until Sunday...but in the meantime, I WILL do better and not eat ANY WPA from right this second until I am (at the very least) in the car for the road trip home. I have healthy snacks in mind that I will be taking for the Hungry Hubs and I, and I will continue to work out every day.

By the way, it's not very fun to come on here and report when you aren't doing so hot about controlling yourself. Just a thought...

Daily WPA used: 15.5

Weekly WPA used: 31.5

Day 23

Breakfast:

• Hot tea
• Carrot Oat Cake

Snack:

• 1/2 avocado with salt and lemon pepper

Lunch:

• 1/2 avocado with salt and lemon pepper
• cucomber with ff feta, white vinegar, and lemon pepper (Sounds weird but soooooooo yummy- CYE for sure!)
• Mediterranean pasta salad with ff feta

Snack:

• Strawberries
• Piece carrot cake

Dinner:

• 4 servings Wheat Thin Garden Chips (I think that was the name).... aka I demolished most of the bag and the Hungry Hubs happily gobbled up the rest of the bag when I got home and said no less than 4 times how good they were... Yep, you got that right handsome! (12 WPA- ouch...)

Snack:

• Grapefruit
• 3 pieces Canadian bacon

Clearly this day brings this lesson, and this lesson only: PLAN ahead Ashley! When are you going to learn already? When I don't bring adequate snacks/meals along and I'm going to be out all day, I tend to end up using too many WPAs (for my liking) in one fell swoop!

My only saving grace (hopefully it will help big time) is that I have kept up with my workouts this week. I worked out 10 min on the elliptical, ran 1 mi., did 200 situps and various 10 lb. weight lifts with arms.

Daily WPA used: 12

Weekly WPA used: 16

Day 22- Begining of Week 4!

I can't believe this is already the beginning of my 4th week on Core! The adjustment is getting easier, its just that I am having some trouble staying within the 35 allotted WPA points each week.

I'm just going to warn you ahead of time- this weekend I'm not going to be strictly following the plan, nor will I be counting WPA. Why you ask? WELLLLL.... I have a SERIOUS sweet tooth, but I bet you couldn't tell if you've been reading along. I gave up junk food (including cookies, candy, sweets of all types, and pop/soda) for Lent. And Easter is the end of Lent. And Easter is this weekend :) {I'm just a little excited} So I will have some delish and (horribly) fattening treats waiting for me. Since I haven't had any of that stuff in over 46 days (by Easter, that is), the only limit I am placing on myself is that I won't eat past the point of being satisfied. I'm not going to write anything down, because it would be too embarrassing eeerrrrr....I'm going out of town and am going to enjoy myself. I will be working out every day this week and weekend though in an effort to at least not gain this week.

However, until the weekend I will be on my best behavior. Even during the road trip :)

Breakfast:

• Banana
• Strawberries
• 3 pieces Canadian bacon (SO excited that I just found out these were on Core- I'm still learning!)

Lunch:

• Mediterranean style pasta salad (made with red cabbage, shallot, cucumber, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and whole wheat pasta)

Dinner:

• White wine chicken (2 WPA)
• Green beans with spray butter and garlic

Snack:

• Core Carrot Cake (no sugar added, but I did put in about 2 WPA of raisins to the whole thing and I am going to count them both today so I don't forget....but, honestly....it NEEDS the sugar-maybe even brown sugar...mmmmm)
• Small glass ff skim milk to wash down the carrot "cake" of course
• Grapefruit
• 94% ff popcorn

The white wine chicken had a total of 1 T. olive oil used to cook the chicken, and I had about half the recipe, so I would say that is about 1.5 t. The Med. pasta salad had 2 T. olive oil in it (and even that is a reduction from what the recipe said). That 2 T =6 t. for the whole recipe, but I only had about 1/4 if that. So that is about 1.5 t. as well.

That means that I am 1 t. olive oil over the daily allotment, but again I will try to even it out by having less tomorrow. If that doesn't work... I will be honest and tell you about it. Promise. :o)

Workout: 1 mile on the treadmill, 15 min. on elliptical, 200 crunches, 10 lb. weight exercises with arms.

Daily WPA used: 4

Weekly WPA used: 4

Day 21

Breakfast:

• Bob's 10 Grain hot cereal with banana and ff milk

Late Lunch:

• Egg omelet with onions, tomato, avocado (no cheese) (2 WPA for extra oil)
• 3 pieces bacon (3 WPA according to this list)
• Potatoes with katsup (1 WPA for extra oil)
• Piece sour dough toast with small bit of melted butter (4 WPA- maybe an over-estimate...probably not darn bread)

Snack-ish Dinner:

• Glass ff milk
• Piece Core Carrot Cake
• 1/2 grapefruit

I worked out by running 1 mile, did 10 minutes on the elliptical machine, and lifted some weights. I don't want to be skinny and flabby!

Still showing a loss though! Great news! :o)

Daily WPA used: 10

Weekly WPA used: 63 (I know- that's bad, but somehow I still lost weight this week! Still need to do better though)

Day 20- Progress Feels Good!

So, I woke up this morning and decided to check out the old scale. MORE weight gone! I KNEW it! I have to confess that for a few days in a row last week (well like 5), I saw no movement on the scale and I was a bit afraid that I had hit a plateau and/or Core/Simply Filling wasn't going to do the trick for me. I'm so happy I was wrong :) This is the lightest I have been in MONTHS! I have about 10 pounds to go until I am at my goal weight.

Breakfast:

• Scrambled eggs with 1/2 piece American cheese and ff milk, roasted potatoes (with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper), 1/2 sliced banana (0.5 WPA for the cheese)

Lunch:

• Piece of green pepper

Snack:

• Edamame with salt

Dinner:

• 2.5 glasses red wine (5 WPA)
• Sushi (12 WPA- I'm guessing here)
• Miso soup (1.5 WPA)

Later that night:

• 2 light beers (4 WPA)

So, it's safe to say that I used over my WPAs for the week, again. But hopefully the progress the rest of the week won't be completely over-run by having a little fun on the weekends.

The weekends are hard for me, because when you are out with a group of people and you are sharing (like at sushi) it's hard to eat only the healthy things. I haven't figured out exactly how to deal with this yet, but I like to enjoy my weekends and when that means going out to eat with friends, I am not going to stress out over it. That's one of the reasons I switched to Core/Simply Filling in the first place. I didn't like the stressing out over points and obsessing over food choices. It made eating not so fun. And I like eating :)

Daily WPA used: 23 (yeah that's a lot- I'm really hoping I am way over w/ my estimation on the sushi)

Weekly WPA used: 53 (umm 18 over what I was supposed to have)

Day 19- Doing Pretty Good :)

Breakfast:

• Oat bran hot cereal with banana and ff milk (I always top it with ff milk...I think some days I forget to mention that because it seems like such an integral ingredient- sorry!)

Snack:

• Kiwi

Lunch:

• Whole wheat couscous with roasted grape tomatoes (look at yesterday's post for how-to details) and garlic- so simple, so delicious a total CYE recipe!

Snack:

• Kiwi

Dinner:

• Whole wheat pasta with diced green pepper topped with Kraft Lite Asian Sesame Dressing and Sambal (hot chili sauce)
• Glass of ff milk

Later that night:

• 4 Vodka Tonics- but they were kinda bit so I am calling it 12 WPA

I'm finding it easier to be satisfied with only Core/Simply Filling items as long as I plan ahead and make sure that I have enough stuff around to make yummy things. I feel healthier because I'm eating a lot more stuff that is actually "from the earth" versus straight off the grocery store shelves.

I like cooking more too :) It's fun to experiment and see what works out. I'm pretty open to trying all different kinds of stuff, but if you aren't- please take a look around here and see what you might like. I try to lay out the instructions on how I made things for that reason, and also so I can go back and see how I made something. It's hard to remember sometimes when you make lots of things up as you go along. :o)

Daily WPA used: 12

Weekly WPA used: 30

Day 18

Breakfast:

• Grapes

Snack:

• 94% ff popcorn

Lunch:

• Whole wheat couscous with roasted grape tomatoes (2 t. olive oil w/ salt and pepper over package grape tomatoes under broiler on 4 mins. on high)

Snack:

• Kiwi
• Oat Bran hot cereal with banana

Dinner:

• Cheesy taco/burritos (Made using 94% ff beef with cheesy taco seasoning package mix including ff milk...0.5 WPA) with avocado and 2 Blanca's tortillas (2 WPAs)

Snack:

• Kiwi
• 94% ff popcorn

Daily WPA used: 2.5

Weekly WPA used: 18

Day 17

Breakfast:

• Bob's 10 Grain hot cereal with ff milk and bananas

Lunch:

• Whole wheat couscous with garlic

Snack:

• Soy Crisps BBQ flavored- I was skeptical, but they did not disappoint! (17= 2 WPA, but I had about 2 servings so that's 4 WPAs used)
• Medium coffee with skim milk

Dinner:

• Whole wheat couscous (using 1 t. olive oil per serving), with peas, and 1 breakfast sausage (Al Fresco brand- 1.5 WPA)

Snack:

• Salad with ff italian dressing

I only used 1 t. of olive oil today, so I am back on track after yesterday and don't have have to count the points. :) This week I am not doing so great on planning ahead with snacks and meals when I am on the go. I need to figure out some snacks and portable meals I can make up in advance. Let me know if you have any good ideas- I would love some input!

Daily WPA used: 5.5

Weekly WPA used: 15.5 (ouch- since it's only Wed.)

Day 16- A Good, Totally On Core Day!

I didn't use any WPAs today! Go me! :)

Breakfast:

• 1/2 Grapefruit
• 1 Square Carol's Core Baked Oatmeal (with my addition of bananas)

Snack:

• Another square of Carol's Core Baked Oatmeal

Lunch:

• Chicken Tortilla Soup with avocado and ff cheese
• Few bites ff feta with barley and ff raspberry vinaigrette

Dinner:

• Whole wheat couscous with garlic
• Broiled asparagus with oil 1 t. oil, salt and pepper
• Sweet and spicy sweet potato (2 t. oil with lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper, and fresh cilantro)

I used 3 t. olive oil today, and that is technically 1 t. over, but I am not going to count the WPA today because I plan to cut back tomorrow to even it out (aka I'll only have 1 t. oil tomorrow). If that doesn't work out I will add in the WPA.

Daily WPA used: 0

Weekly WPA used: 10

Day 15- Note to Self: Don't Use So Many WPAs on Monday!

So I used a few too many WPAs today, because I was on the go all day and didn't have time to pack Core snacks. I still ate pretty healthy, but there was some definite usage of the WPAs.

Breakfast:

• 2 Blanca's tortillas with guacamole (made by mashing avocados and mixing with store-bought guac. mix) (2 WPAs)

Lunch:

• Subway 6 in. wheat sub with ham, provolone, herbs, veggies, oil & vinegar dressing (7 WPAs), Lays Light chips (1 WPA) and light lemonade (0)

Dinner:

• Large coffee with skim milk
• Chicken tortilla soup topped with half avocado and ff cheddar cheese (delicious and filling and I am FINALLY about to reach the bottom of my huge pot)

Snack:

• 1/2 grapefruit

Daily WPA used: 10

Weekly WPA used: 10