Nervous, Pasta Pig Out Results, and Some New Recipes

Well, this week has been kinda a struggle.  But ultimately, TOTALLY SUCCESSFUL!!!  However, I am VERYYYYYYYY nervous about the weigh-in tomorrow.  I know I am going to go down and I know that I should not focus only on scale victories, but I was SO close to the 150s and I want to be back there.  I want to have worked off most, if not all, of the Thanksgiving weight I put on.  I was super good.  I followed my plan, I only used 26 points each day, I didn't go over my flex AT ALL!!!  Seriously... I was awesome!

But truthfully, I didn't do it on my own.  I had friends help.

First of all, Friday night was Culture Fest at school.  Egg Rolls, Hmong noodles, enchiladas, scones... It was a nightmare for a Weight Watcher.  Old Emily would have eaten McDonalds before AND at Culture Fest.  I only ate 2 egg rolls... and my dear friend Mary W. helped me the whole time! :-)  Nothing to eat at McDs, just a Diet Coke.

Saturday afternoon I went to Subway and then a play where there were cookies and candy galore.  I ate a healthy turkey sandwich, no cheese.  My friends Jeff, Peg, and Emily were SUPER supportive the whole time!  Jeff didn't get cheese on his sandwich.  And Peg kept asking about foods, whether I wanted them or whether I wanted to save my points for our Pasta Pig Out.

Saturday night, my FANTASTIC Children of Eden friends had a party which was called PASTA PIG OUT!  AS you can WELL imagine, this had been a source of GREAT stress in my life.  When I mentioned it in my Weight Watchers meeting there were a lot of deep breaths in through gritted teeth and, "Good lucks!"   A scary idea for a Weight Watcher.  PASTA PIG OUT!!!! Delicious sounding right.  Pasta.  Cheese.  Carbs.  Breadsticks.

Yup.. I said NO to all of this!

  Deliciousness... there is nothing bad about it... YUM YUM YUM!  Regardless, I knew that the old Emily would really struggle with this event.  I really tried to focus on the idea that it was about the people and not the food.  And it was SO successful!!!  The AMAZING hostess Rachel made weight watchers friendly pasta and had the nutrition facts right there.  I measured out how much I took and then ate some asparagus.  She may not know how appreciative I was, but it relieved ALL my stress.  Seriously.  That is the mark of a true friend.  Someone who makes food JUST for you!

AMAZING Hostess Rachel!!

Additionally, before the meal, I had emailed my friends telling them  what was acceptable for me to eat.  Every single person there was AWESOME at keeping me on track, being firm but nice, and being complimentary on how well I was staying in my plan.  I was SUPER thankful for ALL of them!!  And it was more fun than I have had in a LONG while.  

The other FANTASTIC part of the evening was that I got 2 EXCELLENT recipes from the party!!!  One for FANTASTICALLY DELICIOUS pasta and an interesting, yet tasty chick pea cookie dough dip! :-)  If you don't want to read the recipes, you can stop here and just be excited for my awesome and successful week.  If you are interested in 2 delicious recipes... Keep on reading!

Rotini and Sweet Pepper Primavera

Ingredients

• 14 ounces asparagus spears  
• 2 1/2 cups dried rotini or gemelli (8 ounces) 
• 1 large red or yellow sweet pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 cup sliced zucchini or yellow summer squash  
• 1 10 ounce container refrigerated light Alfredo sauce 
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh tarragon or thyme  1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

1. Snap off and discard woody bases from asparagus spears. Bias-slice asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding asparagus, sweet pepper, and squash to pasta the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain. Return pasta and vegetable mixture to hot saucepan.

3. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a small saucepan combine Alfredo sauce, the 2 tablespoons tarragon, and crushed red pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat about 5 minutes or until mixture is heated through. Pour sauce over pasta and vegetable mixture; stir gently to coat. If desired, garnish with fresh tarragon. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts (Rotini and Sweet Pepper Primavera)
Servings Per Recipe 4,

• Calories, 353
• Protein, 11
• Carbohydrate, 55
• Fat,  9
• Dietary Fiber, 4 

Chickpea Chocolate Cookie Dough Dip

Shared to me by my friend Kris.
• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained) (250g)
... • 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
• tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup nut butter (You can get away with using only 3 T. If you use peanut butter, it’ll have a very-slight “pb cookie dough” taste, so if you don’t want this, you can sub oil.)
• up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
• Sweetener (see note below, for amount)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 to 3 T oats (or flaxmeal) (You can omit, but also omit the milk if you do)

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.
See the following link for a Sugar-Free Version.
Sweetener Notes: I used 2/3 cup brown sugar when I first made this for the party. Liquid sweeteners (agave, maple, etc.) are fine as well. You can easily get away with less sugar– some people will be perfectly fine with just 3 T for the whole recipe! And if you don’t want any sugar, be sure to check out the “no-sugar” version linked above. (You can also use stevia, if you like the taste of stevia-sweetened desserts. Try 2-3 packets of NuNaturals stevia, and add more sweetener if needed. I wouldn’t recommend serving an all-stevia version to party guests, though.)

Back on the Wagon in Pictures

Last week did not go well.  I went up almost 4 pounds and felt AWFUL all week!  After our WW meeting on Tuesday and dinner with Shelby (we talked shop a lot!  she gave me a lot of ideas!), I decided I wanted to seriously get back on the wagon this week.  So, as of today, I am back on!  I am showing you proof in pics!  Enjoy!!

Planning for the week.  Obstacles, workouts, and my grocery list. 

Today's Tracker. 

My groceries!!!

Chobani Yogurt!  3 or 4 points! 

Annie's Dressing.  2 tbsp=1 point OR 2 tbsp=4 points

MorningStar sausages!  Some good protein for only 2 points! 

Prepping for my salads!

3 salads for 3 days!  With the tbsp of dressing it's only 1 point! 

Salads ready!

Bags of peppers!

Bags of grapes! 

My sweet boyfriend helping count out crackers!! Gotta <3 a supportive boyfriend. 

Crackers-- Each bag only 3 points a piece.

Pirates Booty-- Each bag only 3 points a piece.

My Weight Watcher shelf ready to go for the upcoming weeks!  

Tomorrow all planned!  Dinner at Olive Garden Included! 

Super excited for the week ahead!  I WILL stay on plan!  I CAN do this!

What I Am Thankful For

So, around this time of year I get super stressed.  Every holiday has a focus on food.  Cookies, cakes, potatoes, pies, Thai food... Yes, it's that time... Where food is everywhere you look!

However, instead of writing about food on this Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I thought I would write about what I am thankful for.   As my students were writing about what they are thankful for, it really made me think about my life, what I have, and how lucky I am!

On a big scale I am thankful for:

• My Family 
• My boyfriend 
• The Children of Eden experience and the people I met
• One Voice Mixed Chorus 
• My weight watchers friends 
• My work friends 
• My Team 3/4 family 
• My healthiness journey
• My passion for working with children 
• My Teach For America/Institute friends 
• The friends who I have stayed in touch with since high school and college 

As far as my healthiness journey.  I am thankful that:

• I wear size 8 or 10 pants 
• I don't loath clothing shopping 
• I can wear more form fitting outfits 
• I can run a 5K
• I can do zumba without a struggle 
• I can get ready to go out with out crying 
• I feel confident in how I look 

Last year at this time I was feeling super great about how I look.  However, looking back, I have come a long way even since then!  :-)  For that I am also thankful.  My belief in myself and the change in my eating patterns! 

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving-ish 2011

This Thanksgiving I am going to try and focus on my family, spending quality time with them, and not on the food... :-)  This Holiday time I want to think about the things that I am thankful for and make choices so that this time next year I continue to be thankful for these things (and my healthiness)!! 

Changing Behaviors and My Choir Tour

The past couple weeks have been pretty terrible as far as eating is concerned.  I have been going through some mid-life "crisis" type feelings, despite the fact that I am not really in the middle of my life and it's not really a crisis.  Nonetheless, the uncertainty of my life path and the ending of a life-changing experience has caused my eating patterns to go wacky.  I still lost .6 pounds last week, but I truly think it was a fluke.  My eating habits have been just awful.

Needless to say, I was very nervous about the eating habits on my choir tour this weekend!  Choir tour is one of my favorite parts of the fall.  We get to shove on a two buses, ride to some city in far away Minnesota, sing for audiences, and hang with amazing people.  As you can well imagine, a bus ride warrants TONS of snacks!  My favorites in the past have included twizzlers, combos, chex mix, muffins.  Those sorts of foods. 

This year I went in prepared.  I packed only weight watchers snacks or snacks that I had counted the point value.  I went with the intention that I might go over my points a bit, but my goal was to be a better eater than I was in the past.  To not snack or purposely pick the most unhealthy food because of the f* it mentality.  That has been my big downfall lately.  Just saying f* it when the going is getting tough. 

My snacks!

Giving people cheese but not eating ANY!

However, I did an amazingly good job!  I did go over points, but I feel really good about the choices I made.  I DIDN'T snack AT ALL on the bus today and on the way up I did very little snacking!  Today I took all the bread off of my turkey club and made it into a lettuce wrap.  And I chose to make the whole weekend about the people and the music, and NOT about the food like I have in the past. 

Note the bread on the side that was NOT eaten!

I had an amazing weekend.  Was I perfect with my eating?  No.  Am I starting to figure out that this is a marathon and not a sprint?  Yes. 

I am proud of myself for this weekend and I know that as we head into Thanksgiving I am giving myself the tools for success!  And additionally, I am beginning to really realize how lucky I am for the experiences and people in my life.  :-)  More posts this week. 

My new HOT dress!

Happy Sunday!