Weekly Wednesday Weigh In

Date	Change	Total	Work Outs in Week
2/24/2010	-1	-1	2
3/3/2010	0	-1	4
3/10/2010	-3.6	-4.6	5
3/17/2010	-1.8	-6.4	4
3/24/2010	1.4	-5	5
3/31/2010	-1.8	-6.8	5

This week I lost 1.8 lbs! :) As much as I am happy I can't help but still be frustrated since that means in the last two weeks I have lost 0.4 lbs.  This week is my dreaded week of the month so I really should be ecstatic for any loss. And I am I really am. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is going to be a slow process.  They say when you loose a lot of weight fast it's not healthy and you are likely to gain it back. I'll take slow if it means it's healthy and if it means I won't gain it back.

I worked out 5 times this week. I did 3 Couch to 5k workouts, 1 Cardio Dance workout, and 1 Wii Active Sports workout. I know you are thinking my goal was to workout 6 times right? Well that was the plan but then last night some family stuff came up and family comes first. So even though I did not get my 6th workout in I did get to see my adorable niece and my self proclaimed jokester of a nephew.  My 2 year old nephew's best joke is "I ate a garbage truck for dinner" and then he cracks up.  I wonder how many WW points a garbage truck would be?

Monday Night Check In

I had a major case of the Mondays today.  Last night I had a hard time falling asleep with the threat of tornados headed my way.  It did not help that just as I was about to fall asleep the TV's emergency boardcast system went off.  It definently alerted me as I flew up in the bed to see if I needed to head to the basement.  Luckily it was not my county that needed "to seek shelter immediately".  Waking up to the rain did not help my case of the Mondays either.  I had a nice little surprise though at lunch time when the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day.  It really is silly that being Monday and bad weather can make me grumpy.   Next Monday I'm going to stare the morning in the face and tell it to bring it!

This past weekend was really good overall.  Saturday Matt and I went to my sister's and spent some time with her, my brother in law, nephew, and niece.  We had a full day of an Easter Egg Hunt, 2 trips to 2 different playgrounds, and out to dinner.  Also while my nephew napped my sister and I went for workout #1 of the 5th week of the Couch to 5k Program. As usual the workout was hard but it helped that the sun was shinning, there was a breeze, and I had my sister by my side.  Last week we registered for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 5k that is in June. I am super excited but also a tiny bit nervous to be honest. I'll power through it though.

Yesterday I ran errands, cleaned up around the house some, did a Wii Active Sports wokout, and I went to a friend's house to watch the NCAA tournament. The Duke game was a little nerve wrecking at times but that's okay because my Blue Devils won and are going to the Final Four! Not only are they going to the Final Four but Matt and I are going to be there cheering them on!  So this weekend is going to be another weekend of eating out. My plan is to make good choices, eat smart, and to workout extra hard. 

Cardio Dance and Turkey Meatballs

I belong to the gym at the local university where I work. It's super convenient because I can just walk over after work. Today I decided I was going to go to the Cardio Dance class. The class is really popular and you have to get there early to get a spot. I barely made it in time. Well I actually didn't make it in time but the instructor was nice and let me in anyway. There are spots for 50 people and I was the 51st person to arrive and I got there at a 5:05 for a 5:30 class!

The reason the class is so hard to get into is because the undergrads love it, especially the sorority girls. I mean I can see why. You get to listen to upbeat music, shake your butt, and get a workout at the same time. Did I mention that I probably have the same amount as rhythm as Steve Urkel? Okay so maybe I'm a tiny bit better than him but not by much. The thing is I just don't care. I keep up with the dance moves as much as I can, laugh at myself, and just make sure that I keep moving. It's a really good workout. I was disgustingly sweaty after the workout and completly exhausted.

I came home from work to find Matt in the kitchen making me dinner. I could really get use to that sight. Matt was making one of our favorite healthy meals of turkey meatballs with pasta. All you have to do is heat up precooked frozen turkey meatballs (Trader Joe's are my favorite), cook some whole wheat pasta, and add some spaghetti sauce (I use Barilla Mushroom and Garlic). It's a total of 7 WW pts and very filling. The WW points is based on using 1 cup of pasta, 3 meatballs (I cut them up to make them go further), and 1/4 a cup of spaghetti sauce. Bon Appetit!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh In

Date	Change	Total	Work Outs in Week
2/24/2010	-1	-1	2
3/3/2010	0	-1	4
3/10/2010	-3.6	-4.6	5
3/17/2010	-1.8	-6.4	4
3/24/2010	+1.4	-5	5

Grrr! I am really frustrated. I gained 1.4lbs this week and I do not understand why. I stayed on points and I worked out 5 times. My dreaded week of the month isn't until next week. So I'm a little puzzled at why I gained. Maybe my bad weekend that was 2 weekends ago took longer to catch up with me? I should definitely be doing measurements to see if I'm loosing inches but I'm not so tonight I will take my measurements.

I guess all I can is not over think it and stay on track this week so I will hopefully see better results next week. My workouts this week were 3 Couch to 5k workouts, 30 Day Shred DVD, and a crazy aerobics show that I DVRed off of FitTv. It was crazy because this women was bouncing all over the place and I could barely get the steps down to keep up. I have never seen someone with so much pep and energy. My goal for this coming week is to workout 6 days a week and to stay on track with WW points.

I am still really frustrated!!!

JMJE's Mini Meatloaves

So my good friend asked if she could do a guest blog on here about her recipe for Mini Meatloaves. I told her she definitely could if she came and and cooked it for me. Well, she didn't cook it for me but she did make it for her and her husband. Even though I didn't get to taste these yummy looking delights, I decided to still let her do the guest post because that's the kind of friend I am.

Hi! I'm JMJE from Making Stuff is Fun. Since I like to make things and Jenni likes to eat healthy, I decided to try to take a stab at a decently healthy meal. Back in the day, (like when I was trying to lose a couple pounds before my wedding) I used to try to make 400-600 calorie meals for dinner. So I got kind of good at coming up with low-cal stuff. So here is a recipe that I "invented" last week. By invented, I really mean stole different parts of other recipes I had made before and mixed them together. So now I present to you...mini meatloaves.

Mini Meatloaves
spray butter
1/3 cup diced green peppers
1/3 cup diced mushrooms
1/3 cup diced onions
1 lb lean ground beef (93% lean)
1/2 of a 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons mustard
2 teaspoons brown sugar

1-Chop up your veggies and saute them in a little butter spray until they get tender. You can add in or sub veggies however you want to.
2-Let the veggies cool a little bit and mix the beef, tomato paste, egg and breadcrumbs together, and then eventually add the veggies in to that. You don't want to put them in too hot b/c you will burn yourself (like I did) and possible start accidentally cooking the egg.
3-Spray the muffin tin with Pam
4-Divide this mixture evenly into a muffin tin so you have 12 individual meat loaves.
5-Mix the ketchup, mustard and sugar together in a bowl and brush/spoon a little on top of each loaf for a glaze.
6-Bake this for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Or until done.

Ok I thought this tasted pretty good. We ate 3 apiece and served them with some of those frozen veggies that Jenni talked about in one of her other posts. Overall it was a pretty good meal. The next day my husband used the leftovers to make a meat loaf wrap, which he also said was pretty good. Now I will let Jenni give you the weight watchers specs on this recipe.


Thanks JMJE! From my calculations 3 of the mini meatloaves would be 5 WW pts. Those look really good and now you really should come make them for the boyfriend and me. I'll buy the ingredients, provide the kitchen, do the dishes, and you cook? I also obviously need to take food photography lessons from JMJE. It would probably also help if I took my food pictures with my digital camera instead of my iPhone.

Weekend Fun

The boyfriend has been out of town since Tuesday traveling for business. Being home alone definitely has it ups and downs. I get to watch all the bad tv I want without feeling guilty for subjecting him to shows like 16 and Pregnant. For meals I just have to worry about myself and I can do laps around the kitchen table when I'm doing the Wii Active Sports workouts without getting weird looks. On the other hand coming home to an empty house and eating dinner by myself is lonely and boring.

This weekend has been one of the first in months that was not planned from start to finish before it began. And so far it has been great full of family and friends. The beautiful Spring weather has been the icing on the cake. Last night my friend Amanda came over and we went to Local Yogurt where I got a small chocolate low fat frozen yogurt (3 WW pts). They have delicious yogurt made with natural foods from local farms.

Saturday I went to see my sister and her family. I played trucks, dinosaurs, and ran around a tennis court chasing balls with my 2 1/2 year nephew. I also got some good snuggles and smiles from my 4 month old niece. My sister's mother in law made yummy mango salsa chicken tacos for lunch (7 WW pts).

While the kids napped my sister Kelly and I also did the first workout of Week 4 of the Couch to 5k program. It was nice having her there for support and it worked out well since we run at a similar pace (ie slow). Week 4 of the program definitely is a lot harder. The week 4 workouts look like this:

5 minute brisk warm up walk
3 minute jog
90 second walk
5 minute jog
2 1/2 minute walk
Repeat the whole cycle again without the warm up walk and then end with a 5 minute cool down brisk walk.

The 5 minute jogs were the hardest part. I have a problem of looking down at how much time I have left too often. It's mentally psyching me out. I try hard to not think about the running and focus on something else but my mind always comes back to the running. I think because I am trying so hard not think about it that it's the only thing I can think about. I also run slow very slow. I don't care that I run slow though. Right now I'm just focused on finishing the workouts and later the speed will come.

Weekly Wednesday Weigh In

Date	Change	Total	Work Outs in Week
2/24/2010	-1	-1	2
3/3/2010	0	-1	4
3/10/2010	-3.6	-4.6	5
3/17/2010	-1.8	-6.4	4

Yay! I'm so excited that I lost 1.8 lbs. That puts me at an average of 1.6 lbs a week which is right on target. I must admit I was nervous about getting on the scale this morning after this weekend, but I guess I didn't need to worry. So now when I stay on track next weekend I hope I can see even better results. I worked out 4 times last week which included 3 Couch to 5k workouts and pilates. My goal for this coming week is to workout at least 5 times.