Fast Food Nutritionals

Hey guys! How's it going?  Things are good here.  I just thought I would let yall know of a new resource I am working on!!  I am working on a database of fast food restaurants with their calorie counts, fat totals and fiber grams (which of course will calculate the WW points)!!

I have found that most fast food restaurants have this information on their websites.  I have been wanting to do this for a while.  My hubby was asking me this morning about breakfast items at McDonald's and it triggered my memory on wanting to do this and I have decided to just get it done!

So be on the look out!  As soon as I have it done I will make it available to you :-)!!

Have a great day!

Kellie

I know it's been a while

Hey guys!  I know it has been a while!  Life around my house is just very crazy right now!  I am happy to report that even with all the chaos of my son's birthday and a week with family and totally NOT on my diet that I did maintain my weight without gaining and have gotten back on course this week and have already lost 2 lbs!  Maybe I threw my body into shock to start losing again :-)

I did want to share something today.  I am doing a wonderful bible study right now with some other women at church and we are looking at women of the bible that made a difference.  This week we are focusing on Sarah.  There is so much to learn from her!  I do want to share a couple of verses that was in my study today that I thought also apply to weight loss and maybe they will be an encouragement for you in your weight loss journey.

Genesis 18:14(a) says "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?..." 

Mark 9:23 says "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

I firmly believe both of these verses can be applied to your weight loss journey.  You may think it is impossible to lose the weight but is anything too hard for the Lord?  NO!  Have you taken the time to ask him for his help in this.  He said if you just believe all things are possible.  Have you put your faith in him to help make it possible for you to lose the weight?

And don't think for one second that God is not interested in such "minor" affairs of our lives as weight loss.  Last night at church my pastor was continuing his sermon series on the Lord's prayer.  Last night he focused on Matt 6:11 "Give us this day our daily bread".  God wants us to ask him provide our physical needs.  Why not start your day asking God to give you wisdom to know what foods to eat that day.  Ask God to help you with your weight loss and then have faith and believe that all things are possible through him because there is NOTHING that is too hard for God!

With God's help you can do it!

I hope you are doing well and again apologize for being absent.  Life around here is just so busy!

Let me know how you are doing.  I pray that you are being successful on your weight loss journey! 

I am fixing to go enjoy me some bean and cheese nachos for lunch...a new favorite of mine.  I bake my whole wheat tortilla to make it crispy then spread it with fat free refried beans and fat free cheese and put it in the microwave to melt the cheese.  Then I cut it into nacho shapes and top each one with a jalepeno and some fat free sour cream!  YUM! YUM!  I feel like I am getting my "junk food" but I don't have to feel guilty about it :-)

Kellie

Recipes and Recipe Book Deal

Hey guys!  Just thought I would let you know that I have published a few recipes on my recipe blog.  (my baby is sick tonight so the grandparents took the boys to church and I have a nice quiet house.  I am able to get caught up on some things!)

Anyways…most of them are Hungry Girl recipes!  Speaking of Hungry Girl…have you heard about her new book that is set to hit the book stands on March 30th!!  It has a bunch of new recipes in it!  I can’t wait!  In fact I pre-ordered my copy, and so can you.  Click the image below to go to the pre-order page on her website.  You can pre-order it for 50% of the retail price of the book!!  You can’t beat that!!!   I can’t wait until mine gets here.  It has a whole section devoted to crock pot recipes!!!

Exercising

Well yesterday I bought me some ankle/wrist weights.  I ended up getting the ones from Wal-Mart because that is where I went due to grocery shopping.  They had the Gold’s Gym brand set of 2 (1.5 pounds for each weight) for $12.97.  I went ahead and got two sets so that I could have them on my wrists and my ankles during my workout.

They also had a Gold’s Gym waist trimmer belt for $5.  I thought, hey for $5 I will try this!!  I came home and read reviews on it and was VERY pleased with the reviews I read.  This thing is getting good reviews and people are saying that it really does work!!  The idea is that it makes your waist area sweat to help you loose water weight in that area!  One girl wrote that she lost 1 inch in her waist in 4 days!!!

Today was the first day I tried out my new “toys”.  I can say that the wrist and ankle weights worked real well for exercising with the Wii.  With them strapped to your wrist and ankles they stayed out of the way…you didn’t have to worry about holding them or figuring out how to told them while holding your remote. You just strap tihem on and exercise as normal.  I really felt the difference after the work out.  I could tell that they provided another level of working out my leg and arm muscles.

And I wore my waist trimmer belt and YES my belly area sweated a bunch!!  The cool thing is that during the exercise I was unaware of it.  The belt felt very comfortable…did not constrict…in fact I think it helped me keep the right posture during my yoga exercises.  When I took it off my waist was drenched.  I thankfully followed advice that I read online and wore it under my clothes so that my worked out clothes didn’t get completely drenched in that area.   I am really excited about this thing and hope to see results that I read about others getting!!  And to think – it only cost $5!!!!  What a deal!!!

Kellie

Make Your Own 100 Calorie Packs

I don’t know about you but those little 100 calorie packs are LIFESAVERS on a lot of days for me.  They help to satisfy my munchie craving without ruining my diet!

But lately I have been thinking about all the money that I have been spending on those 100 calorie packs and the fact that some of them really don’t even taste like the real thing (for instance the Oreo crisps!) and I have been wondering why in the world can’t I make my own 100 calorie packs.

Well that is exactly what I have done this week.  I went to the store and bought those little snack size ziploc bags and bought me some yummy treats to make into 100 calorie packs.  I came home and spent a little bit of time figuring out how many of each treat would equal 100 calories and made my little 100 calorie packs.  I put them all in a plastic tub and put in the pantry so that I can grab them as needed.  I was able to make about 92 100-calorie packs and I only spent $15 to do so!  If I would have purchased that many pre-made 100 calorie packs it would have been almost $40!!  That is what I call a real savings! 

Here are the packs that I made!  (note that all 100 cal packs were all under 2.5 points approximately)

Mini Nutter Butters (they come in a snack bag for $1.98 at my Wal-Mart).  7 of those minis would equal about 100 calories and I was able to make 10 100-cal sets from that bag. 

Mini Oreos (they come in a snack bag for $1.98 at my Wal-Mart).  7 of these minis would equal about 100 calories and I was able to make 10 sets from that bag.

Mini Chip Ahoys (they come in a snack back for $1.98 at my Wal-Mart). 3 of those (they are bigger) equal about 100 calories and I was able  to make 12 sets from the bag.

Reduced Fat Cheez-It crackers (I got a box that cost $2.50 at my Wal-Mart).  You get 14 of those for each 100 calorie set and I was able to make 14 sets from that box.

Mini Pretzels (I got a bag of these for $2.15 at my Wal-Mart).  18 of those make a 100 calorie set and I was ablez to make 17 sets from the bag I bought.

Hershey’s Kisses with Almonds (I got a bag for $3.97 at my Wal-Mart).  4 of those equal about 100 calories and you can get 29 100-cal sets from that bag (I got the ones with almonds at my hubby’s request…the amount will probably vary with the different types of kisses you get.  I realize this is a very small treat but sometimes those 4 little kisses can curb your chocolate craving!  I would rather have 4 than none at all :-) )

Have you made any 100 calorie treats?? If so please share!  I hope to continue to explore this with different snacks!

Weigh In Monday

Hey guys!  How was your weekend?  Were you really good and stayed on your diet…or were you like me and had fun eating and are ready now to get back on course :-) 

Don’t forget to weigh in and get your measurements.  I am happy to say I had a good week last week and lost 3 pounds!!  My first loss in a few weeks!!  So I am pretty happy!

I have gotten pretty consistent in my exercise routine!  In fact I am fixing to purchase a set of ankle/wrist weights.  Target has a set of 2 (either in 2 lb or 3 lb) for $9.99.  I think I am going to go ahead and pick up two sets – one 2 lb and one 3 lb.  These will work very well with the Wii fit (just don’t weigh yourself with them on – HA!) because they velcro around your wrists and ankles so you can still hold the remote!  This will just step up the exercise a bit…especially the yoga and strength training!  I really am seeing results from the exercising!  And when you can see results it sure helps to motivate you to keep going doesn’t it?!?!

I am praying for all of you in this group…that you will have a successful week this week in your journey for a healthier lifestyle!

Have a great week!  I am hoping to converse with you a bit more this week :-)

Kellie

Resourceful Tuesday – On Thursday!

HA!!  Maybe I should just do away with the daily themes and just post each of those topics when I can :-)  I think seeing those on the left hand column are what make me feel like a failure more than just not getting to the posts!  So how about that…how about we scrap trying to have a certain theme each day and I just post what is on my heart when it is on my heart??

I have received some encouragement from yall and I thank you!  Thank you Mom and thank you Keri!  It feels good to know yall are liking this site and liking the posts!  I will keep going with it – I promise!  Just have some patience with me when I am running around rugged trying to keep up with 3 little ones!

The only weekly theme we will keep on a certain day is our Weigh In…we will still have Weigh In Monday.  I still want to hear from you on how you are doing (if you want to share!).  Even if you don’t share it is a very good habit to have to weigh yourself once a week at the same time, same day…so you can keep up with your progress.

So – for this resourceful post (that will no longer have to be just on Tuesdays – ha!) I thought I would share step 2 from my Light and Delish magazine (if you need to refresh your memory on step 1 click here for that post).  Side note – I am loving this magazine!!  If you haven’t yet you need to see if you can find a copy of it at the store – it is called Light and Delish.  It is a magazine created from the website delish.com.   The recipes in there are WONDERFUL and very healthy and very diet friendly!  I wish they would make this magazine an on-going subscription!!

Step 2 To Losing Weight Without Even Trying

Pile On The Produce

How It Helps You Lose

To speed up weight loss, consider doubling, if not tripling, your intake of fruits and vegetables every day.  Less than 2 percent of Americans eat the recommended nine daily servings, which is a major missed opportunity for shedding weight.  Produce is made up mostly of water, so it’s low in calories (meaning you can eat a lot without putting on pounds) and high in fiber, which helps curb hunger.  Bonus: Numerous studies have shown that fruits and veggies are also great disease fighters.

I know I am personally trying to do this…making the veggies the biggest portion of our meal – how about you?

In fact Seth and I are making a Broccoli Mac and Cheese tonight!  We got the recipe from Rachel Ray’s show today…but you know me…I am going to make a few changes to make it even more healthy and hopefully very tasty!!  If it is I will make sure to post it to the recipe blog (which I know…I am behind on as well…but I have posted a few recipes this week if you haven’t gotten a chance to check them out!)

Until next time,

Kellie

Get Your Subscription Today

I thought I would share something I ran across today!  I am taking advantage of this deal!!  You should too!!

Would you like a year’s subscription to Weight Watcher’s Magazine for only $3.75 for the whole year!!

Go to this link - http://www.bestdealmagazines.com/title.asp?title=WEIGHT+WATCHERS and choose the 1 year subscription. When it is added to your cart and you continue to check out you can enter WKLYSPEC for the coupon cod and get 20% off the price – which makes it $3.75 for the years subscription (that is 6 issues for $3.75)  You really can’t beat that!  The magazine will provide you with all kinds of weight loss tips, advice, recipes, etc!   So go get your subscription today!!  And you better hurry because I have no idea how long this coupon code is good for!

Kellie

Weigh In Monday

Ok – so I owe you all an apology…I was completely missing from this blog last week and I am soooo sorry!  It was just not a good week for me to have time to get on here and make my posts!  But I did personally hear from my mom and my aunt that they missed me on here and that made me feel good and gave me motivation to come back…you see when everyone is quiet I do wonder if I am just writing these posts for myself or if anyone is actually reading these and looking forward to the next post!  So if you really do read these and find them helpful and look forward to the next post please let me know!!!  It would make my day and it would give me the motivation I need to keep going!  :-)

So how are you doing on your diet?  Are you being successful?  I am hitting my plateau and it is becoming harder and harder to lose those last 10 to 15 pounds that I want to!  The good news is that I am not gaining any…and I have gotten into a very steady, very consistent exercise routine.  And I feel great and have good energy so I guess that is what matters.  There are still a couple of areas, mainly my c-section belly, that I still want to see some major improvement on…but I know it will slowly come if I remain consistent.

So let me hear from you!  If you are enjoying these post and if they are helping you then I will find the time to keep making the posts!  Let me know what you are getting the most out of so I know what posts to concentrate the most on making sure I get up!!

Kellie

Resourceful Tuesday

I came across a really good magazine in the check out line at Wal-Mart today.  It is called Light & Delish!  It is FULL of yummy recipes – 138 to be exact – that are 400 calories or less!!!  That even includes some dessert recipes!!! YUM!!! 

But what I thought I would share on here were the 7 tips it gave for losing weight without even trying!  (I KNOW you are on the edge of your seat now!!)  I thought I would share one tip each week for the next 7 weeks.  I think they are all awesome and as I was reading the article was thinking that I so needed to make sure that follow each step in my lifestyle…and that I needed to concentrate on one new one at a time so that I can work them all into my lifestyle with ease…learn one and then add another one.  And then it hit me!  Yall probably would love these tips as well…and if we introduced one a week we could all work on working these into our healthy lifestyle!

So here it goes with Step 1:

Step 1: Build a Better Breakfast

How it helps you lose

A well-balanced meal at the start of the day is a key part of any stay-slim plan.  Research shows that breakfast eaters typically consume about 100 few calories per day and weigh less than those who forgo food in the morning.  This strategy works long-term, too.  Nearly 80 percent of participants in the National Weight Control Registry, which charts dieters who have kept off 30 pounds f

I know that I need to still work on a better breakfast routine.  I am getting a lot better than I used to be.  Reading this today has motivated me to do even better.

How about you?  Are you one that forgos breakfast?  If so, has this motivated you to do better about eating breakfast?  Or are you already good about eating a good breakfast every day?  If so, do you have any tips to share with us people that have stuggled in this area?

Let me hear your comments!  I love your feedback.  And as always be sure to let me know whether to keep it between us or share it with the group :-)

Good luck this week on eating your breakfast!

Oh!  Here is a recipe they gave with this point.  It is a recipe for Granola-Yogurt Parfait (originally from Good Housekeeping).  This recipe is, per serving, 255 calories, 3 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber (4.35 ww points)

Serves: 1 Yields: 1 parfait Total Time: 5 min Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients

1/2 cup(s) fresh or frozen (partially thawed) raspberries or other favorite berry

3/4 cup(s) vanilla low-fat yogurt

2 tablespoon(s) low-fat granola

Directions

1. Into parfait glass or wineglass, spoon some raspberries, vanilla yogurt, and granola. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used.

Kellie

Motivational Tuesday

Ok – so I figured out I had some water weight on me.  I increased my water intake yesterday and I was 1 1/2 lbs lighter this morning!  WHOO HOO!!  I figured it was water weight!

I heard from a couple of you!  One of you lost a pound last week (way to go) and another has lost 10 pounds so far (began the diet about the same time I began this blog)!!  YEAH!!!  Keep up the good work!  It will pay off.

Please bear with me as I seem to get very busy and forget to make posts here…I am going to try my best not to forget to posts on here!  In fact I am fixing to write a good Resourceful Tuesday post!  It will be up as soon as I finish typing it!  :-)

Weekly Weigh In

Oh boy…It is hard for me to write this post this morning.  It seems your motivator needs some motivation herself today!  I am up 2 pounds from last week :-(  But I wasn’t very good this weekend…plus I am a woman…it could be water retention!

I can say on a positive note that in all measurement areas I stayed the same except for the waist…which I went down 1/2 inch!!

Of course it could also be the fact that I did work out EVERY DAY last week so I could have some muscle build up happening…which muscle does weigh more than fat!

I just need to not focus so much on the scales!

Can you tell I am trying to motivate myself?!?!  (it doesn’t help either that it is such a dreary, cold, wet, rainy day today!)

So have you weighed in this morning?  Were you pleased with your results?  Please share…remember you can email me or you can leave a comment on this post…you can even leave an anonymous comment!

Have a great day!  I will be focusing on keeping my points low this week!!

Kellie

Scripture Blessings

I thought for today’s scripture blessings we would concentrate on why we should concentrate on our health.  Here is the scripture I want us to look at.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

If you are a Christian than your body is not yours.  Christ is living inside of you.  He has taken permanent residence in your body.  And yes, this body is temporary (THANK GOD) and it will fail you in the end. But while it is still living it is used as God’s vessel.  A picture of a boat at sea just came to mind as I am writing this.  That ship would not be able to successfully carry the passenger(s) on board if it was beat up with holes, or if the motor was sluggish due to crud built up on it or yucky dirty oil in it due to lack of someone caring for it and taking the responsibility to do the upkeep required.  And why am I thinking of a boat as the vessel? Probably because if that boat fails…not only would it not be able to carry the passengers…the passengers would drown!

Our bodies are the vessels to carry God’s light.  We need our bodies to be healthy in order to be able to fulfill the purpose that God has for each of us on this earth. 

So maybe this will give you motivation to lose your weight, or get in shape.  You are the vessel that is carrying Jesus.  You are the vessel…but He will get you through the turbulent storms!

Take care of your body – you owe it to God to do so!

Have a great day!

Resourceful Tuesday

For today’s resourceful Tuesday post I thought I would inform everyone that I made some adjustments to the recipe calculator.  Click here to access the calculator.  You can also access any time you need to.  There is a permanent link to the calculator in the left hand column of the blog!

What I did was put in the formula the 10 grams of fiber per serving cap.  Remember that you are not suppose to calculate more than 10 grams of fiber per serving when calculating your WW points (and some people don’t calculate more than 4 grams per serving).

I hope you are finding this resource useful!

Kellie

Weigh In Monday

Hey guys!  It’s that day again…time to weigh in.  How did you do last week?  I lost almost a pound!  But considering that I had kind of a heavy weekend as far as food I was very pleased with the results.

How did you do last week?  Let me know!

I am so sorry I haven’t been getting all the posts up for the week.  I seem to run out of time in the day!  Be patient with me as I try to figure out how to fit it all in!  It doesn’t help when I have sick kids to deal with as well!  But hopefully everyone is on the mend now! I have a whole bunch of recipes that I want to get up on the recipe blog as well.

As always…if you would like to contribute and do a guest post for one the theme posts (btw – they are all listed on the left hand column on the blog) please feel free to send me the post.  :-)  I know some of you who are regular readers of this blog have some great insight you could share with the group as well :-)

Have a great week!

Kellie

Snack Attack

I asked for readers to respond with snacks that they enjoy and I did get a response :-).  Here is what one reader likes to snack on.

sugar free chocolate pudding snack pack 1 pt

Fiber one oats and strawberry bars 2pts

Peppercorn ranch sun chips  3 pts for 15 chips

Those sound yummy to me!

Tip for your snacks…to help you stay within your serving size (and a lot of times help you on your grocery budget as well) why not buy big boxes of your favorite snacks and snack size zip loc bags.  Put one serving size in each baggie so you have a quick grab and go snack bag!  If you are not snacking from the big box then you are not tempted to eat more than you need :-)

Have a great day today!

Weekly Weigh In

Good morning and Happy Monday!!  Have you weighed yet this morning?  Are you pleased with the results?

I have to say I am very pleased with my results.  I had a good week last week.  My effort to work on toning my abs and working out paid off!  I lost 3 pounds.  I also lost 2 inches in my waist and 1 1/2 inches in my mid-belly and hips!!  WHOO HOO!!!  That has given me the motivation to continue working out this week!

So did you do well?  Let us know so we can celebrate with you!!  Did you not do as good as you wanted?  That’s ok…let us know so we can encourage you and pray for you to do better this week!!

Speaking of prayer…please say a special prayer for my brother in law this morning.  He is having back surgery this morning.

Have a great day!

Kellie

Weekend Survival Guide

Earlier this week I was asked what was the best fast food hamburger so I thought it might be fun for this edition of the weekend survival guide to show the nutritional information and points for the different popular fast food hamburgers.  You know there are times when you are just in the mood for a good ol hamburger!  And that is not a bad thing…but it is good to be educated so that you can make the smart choice!

Here is what I found in my research on the hamburger!

Burger King

• WHOPPER Sandwich (670 cal/39 g fat/3 g fiber/51 g carbs) 16.5 points
• WHOPPER Sandwich (w/o Mayo) (510 cal/22 g fat/3 g fiber/51 g carbs) 11.5 points
• WHOPPER Sandwich with Cheese (760 cal/47 g fat/3 g fiber/52 g carbs) 19 points
• WHOPPER Sandwich with Cheese (w/o Mayo) (600 cal/30 g fat/3 g fiber/52 g carbs) 14 points
• WHOPPER JR. Sandwich (370 cal/21 g fat/2 g fiber/31 g carbs) 9 points
• WHOPPER JR. Sandwich (w/o Mayo) (290 cal/12 g fat/2 g fiber/31 g carbs) 6.5 points
• WHOPPER JR. Sandwich with Cheese (410 cal/24 g fat/2 g fiber/32 g carbs) 10 points
• WHOPPER JR. Sandwich with Cheese (w/o Mayo) (330 cal/16 g fat/2 g fiber/31 g carbs) 8 points

Jack In The Box

• Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger (1090 cal/77g fat/2g fiber/53g carbs/46g protein/2040mg sodium) 28 points  (OUCH!!!!)
• Hamburger (310 cal/14g fat/1g fiber/30g carbs/16g protein/600mg sodium) 7.5 points
• Hamburger with Cheese (350 cal/17g fat/1g fiber/31g carbs/18g protein/790mg sodium) 8.5 points
• Hamburger Deluxe (370 cal/21g fat/2g fiber/31g carbs/17g protein/560mg sodium) 9 points
• Hamburger Deluxe with Cheese (460 cal/28g fat/2g fiber/33g carbs/21g protein/930mg sodium) 11.5 points
• Junior Bacon Cheeseburger (430 cal/25g fat/1g fiber/30g carbs/20g protein/820mg sodium) 10.5 points
• Sirloin Cheese Burger (real swiss & grilled onions) (1070 cal/71g fat/4g fiber/61g carbs/53g protein/1850mg sodium) 27 points
• Sirloin Bacon 'n' Cheese Burger (american cheese & red onions) (1120 cal/73g fat/4g fiber/63g carbs/54g protein/2620mg sodium) 28 points
• Sourdough Jack (710 cal/51g fat/3g fiber/36g carbs/27g protein/1230mg sodium) 18 points
• Sourdough Ultimate Cheeseburger (950 cal/73g fat/2g fiber/36g carbs/38g protein/1360mg sodium) 25 points
• Ultimate Cheeseburger (1010 cal/71g fat/2g fiber/53g carbs/40g protein/1580mg sodium) 26 points

McDonald’s

• Hamburger [3.7 oz] (260 cal/9 g fat/1 g fiber/33 g carbs) 6 points
• Cheeseburger [4.2 oz] (310 cal/12 g fat/1 g fiber/35 g carbs) 7 points
• Double Cheeseburger [6.1 oz] (460 cal/23 g fat/1 g fiber/37 g carbs) 11 points
• Quarter Pounder [6.1 oz] (420 cal/18 g fat/3 g fiber/40 g carbs) 9.5 points
• Quarter Pounder w/Cheese [7 oz] (510 cal/25 g fat/3 g fiber/43 g carbs) 11.5 points
• Big Mac [7.8 oz] (560 cal/30 g fat/3 g fiber/47 g carbs) 13 points

Sonic

• Sonic Burger w/mayonnaise (630 cal/37 g fat/4 g fiber/53 g carbs) 15 points
• Sonic Burger w/mustard (540 cal/25 g fat/4 g fiber/52 g carbs) 12.5 points
• Sonic Burger w/ketchup (540 cal/25 g fat/4 g fiber/54 g carbs) 12.5 points
• Sonic Cheeseburger w/mayonnaise (700 cal/42 g fat/4 g fiber/55 g carbs) 17 points
• Sonic Cheeseburger w/mustard (600 cal/31 g fat/4 g fiber/54 g carbs) 14 points
• Sonic Cheeseburger w/ketchup (610 cal/31 g fat/4 g fiber/57 g carbs) 14 points
• Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger (770 cal/47 g fat/4 g fiber/55 g carbs) 19 points
• Jr. Burger (320 cal/16 g fat/2 g fiber/29 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Jr. Cheeseburger (380 cal/21 g fat/2 g fiber/30 g carbs) 9 points
• Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster Sandwich (690 cal/37 g fat/3 g fiber/58 g carbs) 16.5 points

Wendy’s

• Jr. Hamburger [2 oz. Patty/Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Onion/Sandwich Bun] (280 cal/9 g fat/1 g fiber/34 g carbs) 6 points
• Jr. Cheeseburger [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Onion/Sandwich Bun] (320 cal/13 g fat/1 g fiber/34 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Mayonnaise/Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Onion/Tomato/Lettuce/Sandwich Bun] (360 cal/16 g fat/2 g fiber/37 g carbs) 8 points
• Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe w/o mayo [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Onion/Tomato/Lettuce/Sandwich Bun] (330 cal/13 g fat/2 g fiber/36 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Jr. BBQ Cheeseburger [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./BBQ Sauce/Pickles/Onions/Sandwich Bun] (330 cal/13 g fat/1 g fiber/36 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Bacon/Mayonnaise/Tomato/Lettuce/Sandwich Bun] (370 cal/17 g fat/2 g fiber/34 g carbs) 8.5 points
• Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger w/o mayo [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Bacon/Tomato/Lettuce/Sandwich Bun] (330 cal/14 g fat/2 g fiber/33 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Hamburger: Kids' Meal [2 oz. Patty/Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Sandwich Bun] (270 cal/9 g fat/1 g fiber/33 g carbs) 6 points
• Cheeseburger: Kids' Meal [2 oz. Patty/American Cheese Jr./Ketchup/Mustard/Dill Pickles/Sandwich Bun] (320 cal/13 g fat/1 g fiber/34 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Big Bacon Classic [1/4 lb. Patty/American Cheese/Bacon/Mayonnaise/Ketchup/Dill Pickles/Onion/Tomato/Lettuce/Kaiser Roll] (580 cal/29 g fat/3 g fiber/46 g carbs) 13.5 points
• Big Bacon Classic w/o mayo [1/4 lb. Patty/American Cheese/Bacon/Ketchup/Dill Pickles/Onion/Tomato/Lettuce/Kaiser Roll] (530 cal/25 g fat/3 g fiber/45 g carbs) 12 points

Whataburger

• Justaburger (308.96 cal/15.4 g fat/1.31 g fiber/27.94 g carbs) 7 points
• Whataburger Jr. (314.93 cal/15.59 g fat/1.73 g fiber/29.15 g carbs) 7.5 points
• Whataburger (607.01 cal/29.93 g fat/3.33 g fiber/53.28 g carbs) 14 points
• Whataburger w/Bacon & Cheese (809.51 cal/45.33 g fat/3.33 g fiber/53.54 g carbs) 19.5 points
• Whataburger w/Bacon & Cheese: Special Request - NO BUN (472.71 cal/33.58 g fat/1.3 g fiber/4.55 g carbs) 12 points

And for no extra cost I thought I could throw in the information for the fries at these places.  I have only included the small sizes (as you will see, you won’t want any bigger size than the small).

Burger King

• French Fries (small, salted) (230 cal/13 g fat/2 g fiber/26 g carbs) 5.5 points

Jack In The Box

• Natural Cut Fries: small (270 cal/12 g fat/3 g fiber/35 g carbs) 6 points
• Seasoned Curly Fries: small (270 cal/15 g fat/3 g fiber/30 g carbs) 6 points

McDonald’s

• French Fries: Small [2.6 oz] (250 cal/13 g fat/3 g fiber/30 g carbs) 5.5 points

Sonic

• French Fries - Regular (210 cal/10 g fat/4 g fiber/28 g carbs) 4.5 points

Wendy’s

• Medium French Fries [5.0 oz] (440 cal/21 g fat/5 g fiber/58 g carbs) 9.5 points

Whataburger

• French Fries: small (257 cal/13 g fat/2.6 g fiber/33 g carbs) 5.5 points

Now I have only highlighted the burgers and fries from these fast food joints.  All of these have other menu items available and some of the items aren’t as heavy on the calories and points.  I encourage you to educate yourself, you might find an alternative that you may end up loving better than the burger!  :-)  I know that I really love the grilled chicken sandwich at Sonic.  It is on a wheat bun and I get it with mustard instead of mayo and it is only 5.5 points (274 calories, 5.1 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber). 

The good thing about a lifestyle change over a diet is the fact that you can eat out and eat what you want!  But you are going to do much better if you keep yourself educated as to how good or how bad those foods are out there.  I challenge you to learn the nutritional information for your favorite eating establishments.  Click here for a pretty extensive list of restaurants with nutritional information for their menu items.  As I have said before I challenge you to write them down and keep them with you, either in your purse or the glove compartment of your car, so that you will be able to make the best decision when you are out!  (hmm….I am thinking of a new resource…I have been wanting to make a master list for my hubby to keep in his car b/c he eats lunch out almost every day…I will just have to share it if/when I can get it together!)

Have fun this weekend!!!  Reward yourself for a good week!

Kellie

Resourceful Tuesday (on Thursday)

I realized that I forgot to do a Resourceful Tuesday post this week.  I am so sorry!  

For this week’s resourceful Tuesday post I am going to go back to the recipe calculator that I shared a couple of weeks ago.  You can click here to get the calculator.  There is also a link on the left hand column of the blog.

I just posted a recipe today on my recipe blog for Pasta Shells Casserole.  I got this recipe from the Rachel Ray Show!  (I love this show by the way!!)

I thought that I could make a couple of changes to the recipe to make it even healthier and lower the points some more as well.  I changed the pasta to whole wheat pasta, used part skim ricotta cheese, reduced fat parmesan, and egg beaters instead of egg yolks.

For all of the ingredients that were not free (your spices are free) I used the recipe calculator to calculate my points for the recipe (which by the way came out to about 10 points a serving – not bad for a pasta dish!)

I have a print out of the recipe with my ingredient changes and my calculated points value and have put the recipe in my recipe binder (I keep a big binder for print out recipes that I have tried and will definitely want to make again).

It was super yummy!  You have to try it!

Have you used the recipe calculator yet?  Did it work ok for you or did you find it difficult to figure out?  Do you have any questions about it?

Even if you are not following the WW points system the recipe calculator could still work for you if you are counting calories, fat and/or fiber since all 3 of those are included in the calculation. 

Is there anything that the calculator is missing for you that you would like to see added to it…or is there any way that you think the calculator needs to be changed to work better for you?  Let me know and I will see what I can do :-)

Kellie

Scripture Blessings

I would like to take the next few weeks of this weekly post theme and think further on the verses that were mentioned in last week’s scripture post.  Click here if you want to refresh your memory on that post.

The first point of the post was that you can lose weight with God’s help. Here is what Proverbs 3;5-6 says:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Have you taken time to talk to God and ask Him to help you in your weight loss?  The verse says in all thy ways acknowledge Him… I believe this to mean that we are suppose to bring every life question to him and involve him in everything in our life.  This includes our weight loss journey.  He shall direct thy paths  I believe that he can show us what we need to do to have a healthier body if we just trust him and lean on him to help us.

Are you stumped as to how to do this?  Here is what I do…I start my day in prayer and reading the bible.  And before I get up to go do anything else I ask God to help me through my day, to help me make the right decisions in every aspect of my day.  I ask him to direct my thoughts and control my mind so that I may live my day in His will. 

During the day there are times when all of a sudden I have an idea pop in my head that is so very helpful and is so what I need…I know that idea has to have come from God.  There are other times when I go to make a decision about something and I get a feeling of hesitation…I have found if I heed to that hesitation and slow down and think it through, most of the time changing the decision, that everything works smooth.  I also find when I don’t heed to that hesitation that things will get hectic. 

Unfortunately there are a lot of times when I don’t even realize there was a feeling of hesitation until afterwards when everything has gone to chaos.  And I have to admit there are times when selfishness overtakes me and I ignore the “still small voice” and think my way has to be better…and of course it is not.

But that is all part of the process of learning to trust in the Lord with all thine heart.  It is a forever learning process.

So I challenge you to start your day by asking God to direct your paths, to control your mind, and to help you make the right weight loss choices for you!

I would love any feedback or additional thoughts that you have on this verse or this post!

Kellie

Exercising Tips

Well I have decided to concentrate my work outs on my ab area…since this is the area that I still am not happy about at all…if I can get this area toned then I will be doing really good!!

I discovered on my Wii game – EA Sports Active – that they have a specific abs workout…it is only 15 minutes!  I am going to set a goal to do 15 minutes a day of ab workout (which they work in to make sure your heartrate does get up so that you have some good cardio work out as well) and see if I can see some results!  If I can’t spare 15 minutes a day for this then I must not really want to make a change – and I DO!! 

What are you doing to get active?  Do you have a fun work out?  Do you walk?  Do you have a bike?  Please share!  I would love for next weeks Exercising Tips post to be sharing what others are doing!  You never know when it may help someone else :-)

Kellie

Snack Attack

I want to hear from you guys!  What snacks do you enjoy?  Have you found any snacks that help ease your hunger pains and get you through the day??

I have found that the little 100 calorie snack packs are a lifesaver!!  Especially the ones that have a bit of chocolate (like the Keebler fudge round minis or grasshopper minis).  They help satisfy that chocolate attack!!

So please share what snacks you like!!

Kellie

Motivational Tuesday

Yes I know it is already Wednesday!  I am so sorry I didn’t get this posted yesterday!  I just never found the time.  It was one of those days!!

Anyways, it looks like we had some good weigh ins!  I lost 2 lbs and 1/2 in in my mid-section and hips!

We had another participant who lost 2 lbs,  another one is down 5 pounds since she started trying to lose weight.  Another person lost 1 pound.  And another didn’t lose any weight but lost 1 1/2 inches!!

As always – remember slow and steady wins the race!  :-)

I read a good suggestion this morning.  If you are counting calories round up your calories…for example if the serving is 280 calories round it up to 300.  This will help make up for “hidden calories” that don’t get counted.

Have a great day and keep it up!!  As I have been told several times before…you didn’t gain the weight all at once so you can’t expect it to come off all at once!

Kellie

Weekly Weigh-In

Ok – it’s that time again…time to weigh in to see how you did last week.  I am happy to say that I lost 1 pound last week :-)  (slow and steady wins the race!)

Were you successful?  Please share only if you want to.  If you weren’t that’s ok too…just keep at it…you will be successful.  Maybe you need to tweak things a bit more.  (note – I fixed the problem of the blog not allowing anonymous comments…so you can now make an anonymous comment if you would like)

Also – keep in mind, if you are working out make sure you are taking your measurements as well!  Remember that muscle weighs more than fat so if you are building your muscle as well as losing the fat then the weight scales may show an increase…but your body measurements will show a decrease.  I lost 1/2 inch in my waist and hips last week!!  :-)

Another good reason to take the body measurements is because there are times when you feel like the weight scales just are showing that big of a difference…but if you can see the inches that you are losing that will make you feel so much better!  Because frankly when it gets right down to it…the number on the scale doesn’t matter as much as the size of those clothes…am I right??

It’s going to be a great week!

Kellie

Weekend Survival Guide

veFor some reason pizza has been on my brain alot lately!!  And pizza can ruin a diet really quickly!  But if you are careful you can enjoy your pizza without ruining your diet!!

Here is what I have found concerning Pizza.

First off go thin crust!!  The thicker crusts add on points!

My favorite pizza is supreme pizza.  Here are some points I found on Pizza Hut’s supreme pizza.   These points are all for 1 slice from a large pizza.

1 piece supreme pan pizza – 10.5 points

1 piece supreme thin crust – 7.5 points

1 piece supreme hand tossed pizza – 9 points

Even though I love supreme I am finding that a veggie pizza is good too and it will save you even more points.  1 piece of large veggie lover’s thin crust pizza is only 5.5 points (saving 2 points by not having the meat on the pizza!)

So you can have 2 pieces of veggie thin crust pizza for 11 points!  That’s not a bad dinner!  Make sure that you either drink unsweet tea with our without artificial sweetner, or a diet soda, so that you make sure you don’t add extra points in your drink!

Be careful when if you decide on any of the add on appitizers to go with your pizza.  You can really add on points if you are not careful.

Breadsticks – 1 is 3.5 points.

Cheese Breadsticks - 1 is 4.5 points

Cheese Garlic Bread -1 piece is 6 points

Garlic Bread - 1 piece is 4 points

Mozzarella Sticks  - 2 sticks are 3.5 points

Be careful about those dressings on your salad too!  (all of these point values are for 2 tbsp)

Ranch Dressing – 3 points 
Thousand Island Dressing - 3.5 points 
French Dressing – 4 points 
Italian Dressing – 4 points 
Lite Ranch Dressing - 1.5 points 
Lite Italian Dressing – 2 points 
Caesar Dressing - 4.5 points

Are you looking at eat some of that dessert pizza too?  Here is some information you need to know.

Cinnamon Sticks -2 pieces are 3.5 points 
White Icing Dipping Cup - 4 points
Apple Dessert Pizza - 1 slice is 5.5  points 
Cherry Dessert Pizza  - 1 slice is 5.5 points

Hopefully this information will help you the next time you are in the mood for some pizza!!  And remember you can enjoy a night out with pizza!  Remember you have your 35 flex points during the week.  My husband and I have just decided that if we are good all week and stay where we should during the week then we can enjoy a night on the town on the weekend! We look at it as a way to reward ourselves for being good all week!!

If you are wanting other information other than the ww points on restaurants let me know.  I am doing the ww points because the ww system is what I follow but I know that doesn’t work for everyone…so if you specifically ask for me to provide other information besides ww points I will do my best to do so to help you out!

Also let me know what restaurants you would like to see featured on this weekly post and I will do some research and do a post for you!  So bring on the restaurants!!

(as always you can contact me with all of this information either by commenting on this post or emailing me!)

Have a great weekend!!  And don’t forget to weigh in on Monday morning!

Kellie

Exercising Tips

I am so excited!!  I am finally getting into a work out routine!!  I am getting up now 2 hours before my kids so that I have time to do my personal bible study time, then my work out and then time to get showered and dressed and ready for the day!  This is working out WONDERFULLY!  And I can’t believe the energy I have the rest of the day!!

I encourage you, if you can, to start your day with your work out and see what energy it gives you!  I know not everyone’s schedule allows them to work out first thing in the morning…and that’s ok…find the time of day that is right for you!

The key is to just get moving!!  Burn those calories!

(If you have any thoughts or comments or suggestions on exercising please, please, please share!! )

Kellie

Scripture Blessings

I found an article today that had some good scriptures for motivation on weight loss.  I thought I would share those scriptures today for our scripture blessings post.

People have always used the Bible for guidance in their life. Your faith can be of great help when you are struggling in life. People who have developed a relationship with God know which Bible scripture to turn to for every problem in their life. In this article I will give you some Bible scriptures that have helped people lose weight fast.

These 2 verses will confirm that you can lose weight with God’s help!

Phillippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Motivation, encouragement and support from others can help you achieve your weight loss goals.  That is why this blog was started so that we could motivate, encourage and support one another.  These scriptures confirm that we need to encourage, motivate and support one another!

Proverbs 3:28 Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

You do not have to do it alone. These scriptures will help you ask for the help you need.

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Psalms 16:7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

We have an obligation to God, to ourselves and our loved ones, to take care of our health and our body. And losing weight is one way to do so.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

There is no need to wait any longer to start losing weight. These scripture will help you to stop procrastinating and ask God for help.

Proverbs 6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Phillippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Throughout your journey to lose weight this scripture will help you to stop eating junk.

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

These Bible scriptures combined with your self-discipline and a good weight loss program is a guarantee for success.

 

If you have any continued thoughts on any of these verses please share and let me know if it is ok to share your thoughts in an upcoming Scripture Blessings posts.  I think it would be good to explore each section of these verses further so we can have a good understanding of the scriptures and how we can use the scriptures to help us with our weight loss.  I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!  I have a feeling there are at least one of you out there that could share a whole post or posts of thoughts on this subject…and I would more than glad to let you do so!!

Kellie

Question And Answer Session

I got a good question this week.  I wasn’t able to respond directly to the person as I had hoped so I thought I would share the answer here.  There are probably others with the same question.

How much fiber are you suppose to have in a day?  Is there such thing as too much fiber?

I did some research on the internet and here is what I have found.

Here is a quote from the American Heart Association.  “Dietary fiber intake among adults in the United States averages about 15 grams. The Institute of Medicine recommends consuming 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you need. That means a person who eats 2,500 calories each day should get at least 35 grams of fiber daily, while a person who eats 1,700 calories each day needs somewhat less fiber—about 24 grams. A toddler who eats only 1,300 calories each day needs about 18 grams of fiber.”

The AHA also states:

“When eaten regularly as part of a diet low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol, soluble fiber has been associated with increased diet quality and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Soluble or viscous fibers modestly reduce LDL cholesterol beyond levels achieved by a diet low in saturated and trans fatty acids and cholesterol alone. Oats have the highest proportion of soluble fiber of any grain. Foods high in soluble fiber include oat bran, oatmeal, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, citrus fruits, strawberries and apple pulp.

Insoluble fiber has been associated with decreased cardiovascular risk and slower progression of cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals. Dietary fiber may promote satiety by slowing gastric emptying, leading to an overall decrease in calorie intake. Foods high in insoluble fiber include whole-wheat breads, wheat cereals, wheat bran, rye, rice, barley, most other grains, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, cauliflower and apple skin.”

I found this information on a site talking about high fiber diets and the risks of a high fiber diet.

“Including fiber in one's daily diet has definite benefits. However, although very uncommon, fiber has the potential to cause harm if taken in excess of 60 or 70 grams daily. "Since fiber carries water out of the body, taking too much can cause dehydration and intestinal discomfort or gas," (Boyle, p. 84). Large amounts of fiber require a high fluid intake. Therefore, as one increases fiber in the diet, water intake must also be increased. If one does not consume enough fluid, then one's stool could become very hard, resulting in difficult and painful elimination.

Fiber speeds the movement of foods through the digestive system. Since iron is mainly absorbed early during digestion, high amounts of fiber may limit the opportunity for the absorption of iron, calcium , and other nutrients. Finally, large amounts of fiber can also cause deficiencies of nutrients and energy by causing one to feel full before enough nutrients have been consumed. Children and elderly persons are especially vulnerable to these concerns, since they eat smaller portion sizes.

In conclusion, fiber is an important element of the diet and provides several health benefits. Eating balanced meals containing whole grain and fresh fruits and vegetables will ensure meeting the proper recommended allowances. “

 

I found many websites that stressed if you are increasing your fiber intake in your diet you also need to increase your water intake.

You also need to remember for the weight watchers diet that the fiber has a limit to the benefits of getting your points down.   You should NEVER include more than 10 grams of fiber per serving when determining the number of points for that serving – even if the fiber content per serving is more than 10 grams.  Some will even argue and say that you should  not include more than 4 grams of fiber per serving.  Click here to read the post I already wrote discussing that topic.

I hope that answers your question. 

Here is one more question that I have gotten a couple of times and thought I would address on here in case there is anyone else with the same question.

What is the best way to leave my weight on the blog?

There are a couple of ways you can do this.  You can just simply send me an email when you do your weight in.  Or, if you are subscribing to the blog by email you can just reply to the email that contains the weekly weigh-in post with your information.  You can also leave a comment on the weigh in post on the blog.   I noticed today that the blog was set up to not accept anonymous comments but that has been changed so you can leave an anonymous comment on the weigh-in post if you would like to do it that way. 

Any time that I post weigh-in tallies that have been reported for the week I will not include names so that everyone feels comfortable.   Like I have said several times people get motivated when they hear of the success of other people (which is why this blog even got started, am I right?!?!).

Even so there are some that are just not comfortable at all with sharing their weight with anyone and that is ok too.  Providing your weekly weigh in information is not a requirement to be involved with this blog!  Everything on this blog is strictly voluntary!

As always, send me your questions and I will do my best to try to find answers for you.l

Snack Attack

It’s time again for Snack Attack!!  We are mid way into the week…are you finding it difficult to make it through the day?  Are you needing some more snack ideas? Here is what I have run across this week :-)

Here are some zero point snacks!! 

• 1 cup cucumbers
• 1 cup tomatoes
• Hey why not mix the  above two items with 2 tbsp of fat free italian salad dressing for a healthy zero point salad to fill you up!
• 1 medium kiwi
• 1 small orange
• 1 small peach
• 3 passion fruits

Here are some other snacks to note this week (points listed after item):

• Fat Free Fig Newtons, 2 bars (2 points)
• Jell-O Sugar Free Low Calorie Gelatin Snacks, 1 snack (0.5 points)
• 20 small (or 12 large) grapes (1 point)
• 45 pretzel sticks (2 points)
• 12 tortilla chips (3 points) – eat with  2 tbsp of salsa w/o adding any more points!
• 3 Dum Dum lollipops (1.5 points)
• Hot Tamales, 1 snack box (1 point)
• 35 Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (3 points)
• 3 Jolly Ranchers (1 point)
• Werther’s Original, 3 pieces (1 point)

Have you found any great snack ideas to share??

Happy Snacking!

Kellie

Motivational Tuesday

How did you do at weigh in yesterday?  Were you pleased?  I hope so!  If not keep at it – you will get there!

Here is what I heard from the group this week!!  I know of 2 people that lost 2 pounds last week and one person who lost 9 pounds and one who lost 10 pounds! 

I have heard from several that they are enjoying the ww points system and are surprised at how easy it is to follow!!  Are you doing something besides WW points that is working for you?  If so would you mind sharing with the group?  It may be helpful for someone else!

Have you discovered any new recipes that you just fell in love with? If so please share!  I had a new recipe every day last week I think and we enjoyed all of them.  I am going to get them posted on the recipe blog.  I just haven’t sat down to do it yet (did I tell you it is a bit hectic week :-)??? )

If you have good news to share please do!!  We all get motivated by good news of others!! 

Kellie

Resourceful Tuesday

I thought I would share today a website that I have found myself using a lot lately.  The website is www.thedailyplate.com.  I came across it when I was doing a google search to find the nutritional information for certain foods so that I could get my point value.

So far I have NOT found a food that they do not have the nutritional information for!!!  I am to the point now that instead of going to Google to search for the nutritional information I just come here.  They have nutritional information for anything from 1 med sized apple to 1 serving of Kraft shredded non fat cheddar cheese.  If you have a food item that you need the nutritional information for they probably have it.

They also offer a free account that you can set up and track your calorie intake.  If you are one that would rather be a calorie counter than a ww points tracker (or because of physical needs or demands calorie counting would work better for you) then this is a good site to use.  You can set a weight loss goal.  You enter the foods you have eaten and what time of day you have eaten them.  It will show you how many calories you have consumed (it also gives you the fat and fiber you have consumed as well).  You can also enter exercise information and find out how many calories you have burned.  And it is all free! 

So if the ww system is not working for you for one reason or another…you might want to try this out and see how it works for you! 

Kellie

Menu Planning Monday

Time again for the menu planning Monday.  Did you like the breakfast ideas last week?  Did you get any good ideas for breakfast?

This week’s focus is lunch.  Our lives vary so much.  Some of us eat most of our lunches out.  If you are one that eats lunch out alot I would suggest doing what I have suggested before and keeping a notebook with you of good menu items with point values at various restaurants that  you eat at so you will know the best decisions to make.

For those who can take a lunch to work good options would be to get the little frozen meals made by Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, etc.  Most of those will have the point value on the box.  If they don’t then you can just use your calculator to figure out the points.

Here are some ideas for lunches you can put together at home or put together to take with you to work.

Here are some quick lunch recipes I got from Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone.

Cranberry-Chicken Salad, (Combine 1 tbsp each of dried cranberries, chopped celery, light mayonnaise, and plain fat-free yogurt with 2 oz drained,  canned chunk white chicken in water; spoon onto a bed of mixed greens.)  (4 points)

Tuna-Stuffed Tomato, (Combine 2 oz. drained canned tuna, 2 tbsp. chopped carrot, 2 tsp. fat-free mayonnaise, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard and a dash of celery seeds; stir well. Cut a tomato into 4 wedges, cutting to, but not through, bottom of tomato; stuff with tuna salad.) (3 points)

Egg Salad in Tomato, (Combine 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped, 1 tablespoon fat-free mayonnaise, and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard; stir well. Cut a medium tomato into 4 wedges, cutting to, but not through, bottom. Spoon egg salad into tomato.) (2 Points)

Macaroni and Cheese, (Combine 1 cup hot cooked macaroni, 1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese, 3 tbsp each of shredded cheddar cheese and skim milk, and a dash each of salt and pepper in a small baking dish; stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until bubbly.) (6 Points)

Egg & Cheese Sandwich, (Combine 1 large egg and 3 tbsp shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese; stir well. Cook in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until set, stirring occasionally. Spread between 2 slices high-fiber whole-wheat bread.) (4 Points)

Here are a couple more lunches that I have put together:

Baked Potato – 1 medium baked potato with 1 tbsp light butter spread, 2 tbsp fat free sour cream, and 1/4 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese – 5 points

Turkey sandwich (2 slices fat free turkey breast, 1 slice fat free cheese, dijon mustard on Orowheat sandwich thins), 16 pringles, 100 calorie pack cookies – 9.5 points

So what lunches pave you put together?

(sorry this may seem a bit short today…it is a hectic week this week!)

Kellie

Weekly Weigh In And Goals

Ok – it’s that time again…time to weigh in to see how you did last week.  I am happy to say that I lost 2 pounds last week :-)

Were you successful?  Please share only if you want to.  If you weren’t that’s ok too…just keep at it…you will be successful.  Maybe you need to tweak things a bit more.

Also – keep in mind, if you are working out make sure you are taking your measurements as well!  Remember that muscle weighs more than fat so if you are building your muscle as well as losing the fat then the weight scales may show an increase…but your body measurements will show a decrease.

Another good reason to take the body measurements is because there are times when you feel like the weight scales just are showing that big of a difference…but if you can see the inches that you are losing that will make you feel so much better!  Because frankly when it gets right down to it…the number on the scale doesn’t matter as much as the size of those clothes…am I right??

I forgot to get my measurements last week so I don’t have anything to report as far as that…but maybe next week :-)

side note:   this is going to be an extremely hectic and busy week for me…we are having a prophecy conference at church this week which will throw our daily schedule off a bit.  I am going to try my best to get all the posts done this week…but please just bear with me if I don’t.  If you have any personal thoughts or ideas that you would like to share for any of the posts feel free to email me ahead of time and I will put your thoughts and ideas in the posts…that will help me out…plus it always helps the group to have thoughts and ideas from multiple participants :-)

It’s going to be a great week!

Kellie

Recipes

Hey!  I just wanted you to know if you haven’t checked out my recipe blog you need to.  I feature healthy, low ww point recipes that I have personally tried!

I just put a post on there about some good chili!  Get this, you can have a serving of chili, brown rice and 2 cheesy good cornbread muffins for 8 points!!  Now if that can’t get you through this cold weather I don’t know what will.  :-)

So click here to head on over to that blog!!!

Kellie

Have Your Pasta and Eat It Too

I thought I would share with everyone what one of the followers of the group shared with me last night!

Are you one that LOVES pasta???  I know I am.  But a lot of pastas out there are not good if you are watching your calories and fat!

This member found a very good pasta and sauce! 

  Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta is a white pasta that is enriched with fiber and calcium (in fact, 3 times the fiber of traditional pasta and calcium equivelant to an 8 oz cup of milk!)  It is also lower in fat and calories than traditional pasta.   One serving of the spaghetti noodles is 180 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 6 grams of fiber – that is 2.5 ww points people!!!)  

This pasta was paired with Newman’s Own Sockarooni Pasta Sauce.  One 1/2 cup serving of this sauce is 70 calories and 2 grams of fat – that is 1.5 WW points people!)

The awesome thing is that one serving of pasta and sauce (and a good size serving at that) is only 4 points!  Add 3/4 cup of steamed green beans (which are 0 points)

And if you are one that just has to have garlic bread with your pasta meal I would suggest making garlic toast using light bread or whole wheat bread.  You can mix some garlic salt with some light melted butter to brush on your bread slice.   Your points will vary depending on what type of bread and butter you use.  But if you use 1 slice of the light bread (that is 40 to 50 calories a slice) and 1 tbsp of light butter spread you are only at 1 WW point.  If you use whole wheat bread  it is 2 WW points for 1 slice of garlic toast.

So yes you can have your pasta and not feel guilty!!!

Enjoy!

Kellie

Exercising Tips

I know this is a dreaded subject for some, but if you really want to be successful in your weight loss exercising is a big plus!  Our body needs exercise.

I know that for a lot of us finding the time or means to exercising is difficult to do!  That is why I am hoping this post helps.  But I am by no means a fitness expert…and will probably be able to cover all I know about exercising in one post!  This is where I need your help.  If you have found a way to put in a few minutes a day of exercise will you please share what you are doing.  You can either comment on this post or email me.  I can then feature your suggestions in on of these exercising tips posts and together we can hopefully learn some new, fun ways to exercise.  What do you say?!?  Can you help me out?!?!

I thought for this first post I would share what I am doing as far as exercise.  Right before Christmas my hubby was so nice to me and bought me a Nintendo Wii!!!  He bought the Wii Fit game and EA Sports Active More Workouts game for me!!

We figured with my schedule as a stay at home mom with 3 little ones, and the fact that we live out in the country away from everything, that something like the Wii would be a good solution to help me work out.

  I really like the EA Sports Active game.  It has a 6 week challenge on it where you tell the game what days you want to work out (it has you working out 4 days a week) and what impact level you would like and it sets up your workout routines for you.  What I like about it is that you don’t choose what games you want to play…it lines them all out for you.  It starts you with a warm up and ends you with a cool down.  The exercises are not hard to do and some of them are actually quite fun to do!  I started the challenge before Christmas but with the holidays and being out of town and sick this week I have decided that come Monday I am just going to start the challenge over.

   Wii Fit is the other game that I got.  It is really cool too…it actually weighs you and determines your BMI (body mass index) and has you set a goal of how much weight you want to lose in what time period you choose to do it.  But it doesn’t set up any routines for you.  It  does have a huge variety of strength training, aerobic, balance and yoga exercises to choose from.  I have decided on the days that I am not doing the EA active routine I am going to try to do some of the yoga and strength training exercises on here, especially the ones that target the ab area since that is the area I really want to work on toning! 

A fun side note – since I am homeschooling the boys will be doing some of the Wii Fit exercises for their PE time of school!  How fun will that be!!!  And since I will be doing them along side of them that will just give me that much more exercise so we will all benefit!!

The downside of the Wii is the cost up front for it!  I know not everyone has the money to do that.  But it is certainly not the only option for exercising out there!

So please share your ideas for exercising so that we can all benefit of different ways to get our body in shape and burn some calories!!

Kellie

Scripture Blessings

I thought it would be cool to have a post on scriptural motivation to get us through!  But I will be honest – I may need some help with this one :-).  Please share any verses that you think would be good to use one these posts!!  I am starting the Beth Moore Esther  bible study on Monday so I am hoping I will be able to take some tidbits from that study to help us :-)

I thought a good verse to start us off on these posts would be Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which stengtheneth me!

When you just don’t think you can accomplish your weight loss goals remember this verse and take a moment to pray and ask God to help you!

Kellie

Question And Answer Session

I thought another good weekly post would be a Question and Answer Session.  I am getting asked a lot of questions.  A lot of times it is the same question by multiple people.  I figured there are probably others out there who have the same questions but just have not asked for one reason or another.

So please feel free to ask any questions at any time.  I will do my best to answer your question when you ask so that you don’t have to wait for the weekly post for your answer…but I will probably include your question in the weekly post (I promise no names will be attached…but if you still don’t want it included just let me know) in case there are others with the same question.

I thought I would start the first post with a few questions that have already been asked multiple times.  I hope this doesn’t bore you if you have already asked the question and I have answered it for you.  Maybe if nothing else it will put it in your mind that the answer to that question is now on a post that you can access at any time by clicking the Question and Answer Session link in the left hand column.

Now to the questions.

1.  How do I handle eating out at restaurants?  Some people think that a “diet” means a no-no to eating out.  This is simply not the case.  You just have to be wise in the choices you make.  Here is what I did when I first started.  I first got a little notebook that could fit in my purse and a pen.  I then when to this website and for each restaurant that would be a restaurant that was in my area that I would eat at I would click on.  (Here is another website of restaurant listings as well) I would then look through the list of menu items and points and would find a few items that I would eat and would write them down in my notebook with the points value.  When I finished all the restaurants I stuck the notebook in my purse.  That way whenever I was out at a restaurant I just had to refer to my notebook for the best menu item to make.  I would also know my points for that meal to add to my daily journal.

2. Are there any foods off limit? No!  That’s what’s good about a lifestyle change over a diet.  A diet will limit you to what you can eat…a diet is full of rules – don’t eat this, eat lot's of this that don’t have any taste, etc…  With a lifestyle change you are just changing the way you eat.   You do want to strive to eat more healthy foods of course…but if you want a piece of chocolate pie by all means get you a piece – but keep your portions under control and don’t have it as part of every night’s meal :-)  Use it as a reward!

Please send me your questions!  I will see if I can answer them :-)

Kellie

Snack Attack

Am I the only one that gets hit with snack attacks?  Snacks are what get you by when you are dieting…but you have to be very careful in choosing the right snacks so that you don’t blow your diet!! 

I thought each week we could share different snacks that have worked for us!!  Notice that I have once again said we – because this is a collective group!  I would love for you to share different snack choices that you have found!  We can all benefit from each other that way!

I thought for the first snack attack post I would post a list of some good, healthy 1 point snacks!! 

1 apple (about 4 oz)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce (add in a bit of cinnamon for good flavor but no added points!)

3 apricots

1 cup of berries (blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, rasberries, strawberries)

1/2 of a cantaloupe (about 1 cup)

1 peach

1 pear

1 cup of watermelon

Del Monte Citrus Salad or Tropical Fruit Salad (1/2 cup)

7 Quaker Quakes (rice snacks) chocolate or caramel

4 oz Danon Light and Fit Yogurt

Jello Sugar Free Pudding Cup

1/2 cup Breyer’s Double Churned, Extra Creamy 98% fat free ice cream

Campbell’s Soup At Hand Chicken with Stars or Chicken with Mini Noodle

14 Pepperidge Farms Baked Goldfish crackers

15 Pringles fat-free potato chips (different varieties)

Vitalicious Vitamuffin or Vitatop  (haven’t tried these yet but have heard so many good things about them!)

1 Weight Watchers Giant Fudge Bar

6 oz Weight Watchers yogurt

Please feel free to share what snacks you have found!!

Happy Snacking!

Kellie

Resourceful Tuesday

I thought we could have a post every week where we could give resources that we have found – whether they be websites, journals, books, etc…anything that we think could help others in their weight loss journey.

And notice that I said “we”.  Please feel free to let me know when you find helpful resources and I will share them with the group.  I like to know of good resources as well :-)  Part of “losing weight together” is sharing our ideas and resources with others.  It is funner if everyone is involved.

I thought the resource I would share today would be my Wal-Mart shopping list since I did have someone specifically ask for it.  Click here to download the list (it is a Microsoft Excel file).  Please note I have a blank column for prices.  On my actual list I have prices so that I can have an estimate of what I am spending.  But I have not done a good job lately of updating the prices so they are a bit behind.  Also the prices vary in different Wal-Mart stores.  But everything is sorted by aisle number (which varies in the different stores as well just so you know). 

When it is time to prepare my shopping list I will print off this list and mark the items that I need.  I personally then go back in Excel and make a list of just the items I need so it is all typed up and pretty.  For some that may be too much of an extra step…you do what works for you. 

For those that may not shop at Wal-Mart you could use this as a template to develop your master shopping list for wherever you do your shopping.  Of course my list is also changing now that I am making some big changes in the way I eat.  Once I get mine updated I will give you a new template with the updated items.

But hopefully you will find this to be helpful in some way for you!

Also – I have also added a section to the left hand column of the blog where I am listing all of the resources.  The link to this shopping list is there, as well as the link to the recipe calculator that I shared yesterday, a link to the Hungry Girl website, Dotti’s weight loss zone (which I mentioned before has a bunch of great information for weight watchers) and a link to Dotti’s comprehensive restaurant list.  As we share resources I will add the links to that list so that you can refer back to them as needed.

Let me know of any resources you have that are helpful for you and could be helpful for others!

Kellie

Motivational Tuesday

Well I did receive some response yesterday to the weekly weigh in post!  Hopefully we will have more response as we go along and people see how it works :-)

I will first share mine.  I weighed in yesterday morning at 161 pounds.  (this is 35 lbs from when I started this lifestyle change back in August!) My goal is to be 145 pounds in 3 months and to have my body (especially my mid-section) smaller and more toned!

Here is what we had in responses.

We have one participant who is currently 189 pounds and starting the “lifestyle change” today! 

We have a participant who is 227 pounds and has a first goal to be under 200 pounds!

We have a participant who is 238 pounds and also has a first goal to be under 200 pounds!

I am hoping that once we start hearing about how much weight people are losing it will give us all motivation to keep going!

If you have visited the blog today you may have noticed that the background has changed.  I decided to put up a Valentine’s background.  I think having a goal for Valentine’s day would be good!  Valentine’s Day is 2 days shy of being 6 weeks away.  How about setting a goal of being 10 to 15 pounds lighter by Valentine’s Day.  I think that is a very achievable goal!   How fun would it be to go on a Valentine’s date with your clothes fitting looser!!

You can do it!!

Kellie

The Weekly Posts Have Been Figured Out

Well our household is sick today so we are not getting much done today!!  So I have a little bit more time to work on this blog.

I think I have figured out what the weekly posts will be. 

Here is what I have come up with (I welcome any feedback you have on these).

Monday
- Meal Plan Monday
- Weekly Weigh In And Goals

Tuesday
   - Motivational Tuesday (sharing weigh ins and goals and other motivational tips)
   - Resourceful Tuesday (websites, points calculators, etc...)

Wednesday
   - Snack Attack 
   - Question and Answer Session

Thursday
   - Scripture blessings
   - Exercising Tips

Friday
   - Weekend Survival Tips

I have added a column to the left of the blog where I have these listed.  Each one is a link.  When you click the link it will bring up all posts related to that theme so that you can easily refer back to these as needed.

In just a few moments I will do the Tuesday posts :-)

Kellie

Menu Plan Monday

Thank you so very much for your responses today on your preferences on how to do the menu planning posts!  Suprisingly everyone that responded wanted the option of a very generic menu plan post…one post focusing on breakfast items, another one on lunch items, etc…since we all live such different lives!

So I am going to kick us off with a breakfast post for our first menu plan Monday!!  We got to get the day started off good, right?!?!

For those who are needing a quick breakfast to fix at home or grab as you are running out the door:

- Fiber One Breakfast bars – these are not only GOOD they are good for you!!!  I really feel like I am getting a good chocolate fix with one of these as well!!  I have tried several different brands and I personally like the Fiber One brand the best.  These babies are only 1 point each!!  (if you follow the 4 gram fiber cap – they are 2 points)

- Fiber One Yogurt – I haven’t tried this yogurt yet but I am sure it is really good – Hungry Girl has given it her seal of approval!!  You can have 1 container for 0 points!!  (this would also make a great snack!)  Pair it with a banana and you are still only at 1.5 points!!

- Dannon Light And Fit Yogurt – Now I did pick these up this week to try!  I am going to try them after my morning work out!  They are only 1 point per container!  Once again, pair it with a banana for a 2.5 point breakfast!

-1 Cup Honey Nut Cheerios with 1/2 cup skim milk is only 2.5 points – slice a banana and mix in it and you have a 4 point breakfast!  (If you are having to watch your carbs you may not want to choose this option).

- Quaker Simple Harvest All Natural Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal – I haven’t tried them yet but they look really good…and are only about 3 points per serving!

For those of you who may have a bit more time to fix your breakfast:

- Hungry Girl’s Choco Monkey Oatmeal – takes less than 5 minutes to prepare and is less than 3 points!

- Hungry Girl’s Egg Muffin Sandwich – can’t wait to try this one – and it is only 2 points!  All it takes is a few minutes to cook your egg white and then assemble your sandwich! (an egg mcMuffin from McDonald’s is 6.5 points!)

-Hungry Girl’s Bueno Breakfast Burrito – this looks AWESOME!!  And it is only 2 points – YUM!  Once again it only takes you about the time of scrambling an egg!

Good Fast Food Choices for Breakfast on the Go

Not easy to find good breakfast choices at restaurants…please share if you do find some good ones!!

Subway actually has some ok choices for breakfast…I have never had breakfast at Subway but I found this information online.

Cheese Sandwich on Deli Round (270 cal/9 g fat/3 g fiber/35 g carbs) 5.5 points

Cheese Breakfast Wrap (220 cal/10 g fat/8 g fiber/16 g carbs) 3.5 points

Honey Mustard Ham & Egg Breakfast Wrap (230 cal/7 g fat/8 g fiber/23 g carbs) 3.5 points

Western w/Cheese Breakfast Wrap (210 cal/16 g fat/8 g fiber/19 g carbs) 4 points

Please give feedback…was this helpful?

Kellie

How Do I Calculate My Points?

I have gotten the question a couple of times now of how do you calculate your points for a meal you are fixing.  Here is how I calculate my points:

Let’s say you want to fix spaghetti for supper.  You start off with using 1 lb of meat.  You will need to look on your container of meat to find the calories, fat and fiber (this info will vary depending on what type of meat you get).  Usually the packaging will give the counts per serving…so you will need to find the number of servings per container (assuming you have a 1 lb container) and multiply your calories, fat and fiber content by that number to get the total number for that full container of meat.

Then let’s say you use a full box of spaghetti noodles.  You will want to do the same thing with this…find the nutritional information on the box…find the magical # of servings per container on the box and multiply the calorie, fat and fiber content by that number. 

Then you would do the same thing for your sauce.

Then you would add all those numbers together to get your total number of calories, fat and fiber for your dish.  If you are going to divide your dish into 4 servings then you can divide those numbers by 4 to get your amount per serving.  Then you can calculate your points per servings.

Clear as mud??  How about I help you out!  Here is a link to an Excel file that has a calculator that I have set up for you to enter your information!  I have set it up for a recipe that has up to 8 items in the recipe!!  (the first sheet is just the simple calculator and the second sheet is the recipe calculator). Hopefully if you have more items than that you can figure out what to do from there.

Please let me know if you have any questions on the calculator!

Remember, if you are wanting points for restaurant menu items click here for a pretty extensive list of different restaurants!!

Menu Plan Question

I am trying to figure out how to post the menu plans.  I am having trouble figuring out how to do it so I thought I would ask you guys.

Here are some of the different ways it could be done…let me know what would work best for you and the majority will win (so you have to speak up if you have a preference!)

1) I could post what we are planning on having for the week.  The only problem I see with this is that it will not have my total points for the day because I don’t have all my snacks and sides figured it all the times.  Also I won’t post a recipe on my recipe blog until I have tried it and it is good…so some of the recipes may not be available at the time of the menu plan post.

2) I could post what we did the previous week.  This would allow for all of the meals to have links to recipes.  It would also have listed all the snacks and sides to show my total point value for each day (even though everyone’s point values are different…you could tweak as needed)

3) I could do generic meal plan posts…maybe one post of a bunch of breakfast recipes and another of a bunch of lunch recipes, etc…  Everyone’s lives are so different that one person may be able to cook a good breakfast while another needs a breakfast on the go, for example.

So what do you think would be the best way to do it?  Do you have any other ideas?  Let me know!

Kellie

Weekly Weigh-In and Goals

I am so excited about this blog starting and I am so excited to see such a good response to people who want to be involved!!

I am still trying to figure out what are going to be the “theme” posts each day (still open to ideas if you have any) but i know for sure that we will have a weekly weigh in post every Monday.  Please don’t jump ship if you are not comfortable with this.  It is strictly voluntary.  I will explain.

Face it.  If you want to lose weight then you really need to know how much you weigh and a goal of how much you want to lose.  You may be one who wants to keep this very private or you may be one who wants to share it with at least one person to act as an accountability partner.

I have found that it is best to only weigh yourself once a week…preferably the same time of day each week.  As women our weight is constantly fluctuating to some degree due to our monthly cycles, stress, water intake, etc…  You may find yourself getting frustrated if you try to weigh more than once a week because of  these fluctuations.

Since I am doing this post on Mondays then that may be the best day for you to weigh.  Monday mornings are my days to weigh.

As far as this post is concerned, you can simply use it as your reminder to weigh in, or you could take it a step further and share your weigh in with the group (info only, no names).  A lot of times people, especially women, can get good motivation if they hear of the success of other women.

And you only have to share with what you are comfortable sharing.  You may want to share your current weight and your target weight that you are striving to achieve.  Or you may only want to share how much weight you lost the past week.  It is strictly up to you how much you would like to share.

Also it’s a good idea to also do your body measurements at the same time this week as well.  Sometimes it seems that the weight loss may not be happening like you think…but there are changes going on in the inches…they are getting smaller! 

So the next thing to tackle is how do you share…here is what I think the best way to handle this will be…

First – if you are a subscriber to this blog and you are reading the posts through email then you just have to reply to the email with your information.  (if you are not a subscriber and would like to be just simply enter your email address in the top of the right hand column and click submit and follow the simple instructions to confirm your subscription – totally free if you are unfamiliar with blog subscriptions).   Yes I will know it is from you but I promise I will be the only one.  I will not share your name when sharing your response.

Another way you could respond with your information is to leave a comment on this blog post (if you are reading this post in Blogger).  Please know that you can leave an anonymous comment.  No one, including myself, will know your name on the comment.

On Tuesday mornings I will do a post that will list all of our weigh-ins from Monday. There will be no names mentioned on that post, just the statistics.  I have thought about this and was at first going to give the option of letting you leave your name if you wanted but I really thought that might hinder some people and I want everyone to be comfortable.  But, like I mentioned before, I really think we can be motivated if we can see the success of others so I would like to be able to encourage people to share their goals and successes!

I will tell you about my personal weight loss experience over the past 4 1/2 months.  As of the first of August 2009 I weighed in at 194 lbs.  This is the heaviest non-pregnancy weight I have ever been!  I knew something needed to be done so I got serious!  I am now at 160 lbs and 4 dress sizes smaller (went from a size 16 to a size 8)!!  I still have about 20 lbs I need to lose and am working now to really tone my body and get rid of my c-section belly!

So I am asking you now – what is your current weight and/or measurements  (if you want to share) and what is your goal you are wanting to achieve?  If you have already started your “diet” also feel free to share how many pounds you have lost so far.

Kellie

note: if you need to know how to get started with a diet then click here.

Getting Started

Hey Everyone!!  Are yall ready to start this journey of losing weight together?!?! 

Some of you may not know exactly where to start.  I will share with you how I have achieved losing 35 lbs in 4 months.  But please know that everyone is different.   What has worked for me may not work just the same for you.  But hopefully it will help you and hopefully you can have success!!

Let me first start by saying that I believe the biggest key to succeeding in losing weight is to have the right mindset!  Do not tell yourself you are on a diet – you are setting yourself up to fail from the get-go.  The word diet brings to most people minds other words like restrictions, limitations, bland food, etc…  Tell yourself that you are making a lifestyle change.  I have changed the way that I am eating…it has not only helped me to lose the weight but it is going to help me keep it off.  A diet is temporary.  You go on the diet and lose the weight and then you end the diet.  But what happens most of the time when you end the diet?  The weight starts coming back on.  Who wants to yo-yo in their weight the rest of their lives?  I know I don’t!!  So I figured if I can eat healthy to get the weight off then I continue to eat healthy to keep the weight off!

Also you need to remove the word can’t from your vocabulary!  You will not exceed with an I can’t attitude!  Just remember Phillipians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”  Christ wants you to be healthy!  You can do it!

I personally follow the weight watchers point system.  Do you have to follow that diet to be part of this group? No, of course.  There are many healthy diets out there.  You do what is comfortable with you.  But if you are lost as to what to do to follow then I will share how I follow this system and by all means follow along.  The weight watchers system looks at calories, fat and fiber.  You want to have low calories and low fat, and fiber is a big plus!  You have a daily point value.  I have already written a post on how to determine that point value.  Click here to read the post.

Once you have determined your daily point value then you need to know how to calculate the point values for food items.  Click here to go to an online calculator tool.  I personally took the formula (Points = (Calories / 50) - (Fiber * 0.2) + (Fat * 0.083)) and put it in an Excel spreadsheet so that I could have it even when I am not online.

You will need a way of journaling what you eat every day.  You can use a journal where you write it down everyday…or have a file on your computer where you type it in.  This is extremely important, especially at the beginning, so that you can know how many points you have had that day, and most importantly, how many points you have left.

Now this formula goes with the flex plan…which allows an extra 35 points per week on top of your daily point allowance.  Some people like to spread that out throughout the week so if one day they go over their point limit they can just pull from their 35 flex point bank.  The way my hubby and I have done it is we strive to stay within our daily point values on the weekdays and if we do that then we can splurge on the weekends with the flex points :-).  The important thing is that you find what works for you.

Here is a website that has some awesome information on point values for different foods, point values for restaurants, recipes, menu plans and more.  Click here to access that website. 

Speaking of restaurants…what I did when I began is went to the website above and went through the restaurant list and for restaurants that are in my area that I eat at I got me a little notebook and wrote down some of the menu items that I would order and the point values.  I keep that notebook in my purse so that when I go to these restaurants I can refer to it to know what the best menu choice would be.

I will be posting menu plans on this blog (looking at doing that on Mondays).  I will also be making posts about low point snacks, restaurant deals I have found, etc.  I have another blog where I post recipes with point values.  I will continue to post all my recipes there but will have links to specific recipes on posts on this site.  Click here to check out that blog and see some of the recipes I have already posted.

I have already gotten a suggestion to post recipes that are easy enough for people who do not cook at all to be able to fix.  I will be striving to meet that request when I can.

Please feel free to let me know of any other requests that you have that you would like to see on this blog as well.

I hope this post helps you to get started in your diet journey.  Please feel free to let me know of any questions you may have at this point and I will do my best to answer them!

Look out for weekly theme posts on different days of the week.  I am still trying to get all that figured out…hopefully we will get it all figured out soon!

Please know that this post will be under the Getting Started category on the right hand column of the blog if you need to refer to it in the future.

So – are you ready to lose weight together?!?!

Kellie