DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS.....

As many of you know last Tuesday my brother Joe had invasive neck surgery, and I flew out to Houston to help him as he went home from the hospital. ( Praise God his healing is progressing nicely)

So I was able to tackle the challenge of "traveling" while on WW....now with me being gone you would think it would have been a challenge for Tom too....before I left we hit the market and stocked him up (Thomas too) on a lot of fruits and veggies and Smart Ones.  He survived just fine...

Now it was a bit of challenge for me: flights, layovers, time change....thank goodness for some Special K bars and a banana my loving husband threw in my purse.  I survived travel day.

The next day I headed out to trusty ol" Wal-Mart and got some food for my brother and some stuff for me.  I think I did good tracking at his house.  I know Tommy did his walking and tracking this week....

...so tonight we will see where we are at.

ANY LOSS IS A GOOD LOSS!!!

Drum Roll Please....

Today is day number 21 on WW, and we have been faithful and attend out weekly weigh-in meeting. 

So without further adieu I am happy to announce that Tommy has lost another 5 pounds which put him at a total of 19.4 pounds in 21days! He is well on his way to reaching his 10% loss very soon....Congrats to him!

I am happy to say that I also continue to lose and lost additional 3 pounds this pass week, which makes my total 13.4 pounds and have also reached my 5% loss goal too!

The biggest challenge is the weekends and/or practice nights for us.  No really time to cook, so having to look for alternative healthy choices, in the past we would automatically headed to P&G's for a steak sandwich and chili cheese fries....but now we might head over to Subway Club which is just as filling and only cost us 7 points.  I can't even imagine the points it would cost me for the steak sandwich and he chili cheese fries.

I have yet to start my walking program, which I was hoping to do this week, but it will have to wait for next Sunday to start ( out of town this week) We have found some delicious recipes to try and we even went out for sushi this past Friday.....it can be done.  

They told us tonight that we both continue to be losers......now that a loser I can live with!

(sorry for the delay this week, it's been a busy one)

Now don't get me wrong there are those tough days that i feel like I want a god ol' fashion burger and fries, but then I look at my weight loss and know if I continue on this road, I will reach my goal.  Tommy is a great tracker, it tracks everything he eats and has even been able to still conquer his sweet attack at night with several different options. 

Tommy has fit 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill at work before he leaves.  I believe that has helped him a lot.  I recently sent Laraine a picture and she said you can see a difference in both of us, especially her dad. 

February 2nd will be our 30th day on WW, I will post a picture of us then.  Thanks for all the encouraging words and support.  Thanks for following us as we travel the road to .....

"50 and Fabulous!!"

Here is a picture of us from Christmas Eve, the girls said to put a picture that you can see us better.

After 14days....

I am proud to say that Tom has reached his 5 % goal loss and with the loss this past week, he lost an additional 5.6 pounds he has loss a total of 14 pounds to date  There was a moment of recognition for him by our group.  I am happy to say with the 4.4 pounds I lost this past week, my total weight loss  to date is 10.4 pounds.  I was also recognized by our group.

We were asked to share how we are staying on track, we told her our commitment to support each other through this and all the people who havewritten nice comments on our blog.


I am definitely gonna increase my activities this week, with a walking program in WW magazine.

thank everyone

Weekend Wrap-Up

How was everyone's weekend? Our was full of fun and exciting things......I heard lots of things about our blog and from those who have been encouraged by our story.  Some will be joining us weekly at WW so we can encourage each other, others will be following along on this blog, and some will be learning from what we learn....its gonna be a great year for us all!!! You just have to BELIEVE!

and BELIEVE is just what we continued to do this past weekend.

I have mentioned before that eating out wasn't too much of a problem (especially restaurants) but eating out at say............ a sandwich counter who doesn't have a nutritional list, is a bit of a challenge but it can be done. 

Take Friday afternoon for instance, Tom and I both had taken the day off to spend some time together (along with Thomas and Jackie too) and where we were had lots of the foods stands but with a lot of greasy fried food, but there was this ONE stand serving hand carved turkey breast sandwiches.....JACKPOT!  Tom and I were able to have an amazing turkey sandwich on a cibata roll, with mustard and dill pickles without going overboard on out points.  Thank goodness for our pocket guide and trusty calculator.  Sharing the sandwich was perfect for us and it only cost each of us 6 POINTS!

The rest of the weekend didn't pose too much of a problem with choices to eat....there wasn't even a moment of temptation when I baked 2 DOZEN CUPCAKES for Tom's basketball team on Sunday. And I made sure I passed them ALL out...none were going to make it back to our house.  (side-note: gonna try red velvet cupcakes soon that equal  12 point each)

The most AMAZING discovery this weekend was "DREAM CLUSTERS" by Skinny Cow....OMG, if you want a bit of chocolate to help satisfy your sweet addiction...then these are a MUST have! 

Now WW is not depriving yourself what you like to eat BUT learning how to eat it.

Today is day 14 on WW, and we will weigh tonight...hope it was a good week!

Remember " Any loss is a good loss"

Dinner Dilema

Ok, so we are all pumped about out losses and also want to give a big THANK YOU to all of you who wrote wonderful supportive messages. We know we can do this as long as we stick to it, don't quit and support each other ...and continue to read all of your wonderful messages of encouragement.

So now this week has been a little more challenging with the cooking of dinner.  Shopping alone was a job this week.  You see I want to get the right things that are within our daily points and gives satisfying taste...

As I get better at knowing what is worth using our points on, planning our meals will be easier. 

So this week, I tried a NEW recipe that Tommy found in a WW Cookbook some loaned him at work,  so on Monday night we had TEX Mex Meatloaf.  Now I was concerned it wouldn't be enough, cause if you have ever been to my house you know I love to cook and I cook for an army...which in reality is gotten so much smaller over the years, but once you cook like that, it just comes naturally.

It was actually really good, we also had green beans (zero points) and a green salad(zero points until you add your dressing)  It was a very filling and satisfying .  The meatloaf was 3 points for every 2 slices.  Now don't get crazy, you were to cut 12 slices from you loaf, but with it only being 3 points, if you had still had daily points to use, you could have seconds. 

Thomas, our son, who isn't on WW, kind of you are is what I told him.....since that's how I am cooking now, and if he eats at home, well then its going to happen.  He doesn't care, a home cooked FREE meal are his favorite!

Here is the recipe, hope you like it.  I made two loaves, since a bought ground turkey in a 3 pound package

Tex-Mex Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground skinless turkey breast

1 Cup fat free mild chunky salsa

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 Cup frozen corn kernels

1/3Cup instant mashed potato flakes

1 egg white

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper


1. Preheat the oven to 400* degrees, Spray a baking sheet with fat free nonstick spray

2. Combine the turkey, 1/2 Cup of the salsa, the onion, the corn, the potato flakes, egg white, garlic, oregano and pepper in a large bowl.  Transfer the mixture to the sheet and form into a loaf ( I cheated, I happen to have a loaf pan for my breads I make; which some of you have had; so i put the mixture in there to form it,then I flipped over onto the baking sheet) Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of salsa over the top.

3. Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes.  Let Stand for 10 minutes before slicing.  Cut into 12 slices ( yes, it can be done)

4. ENJOY!!!

Points Value: 3 per serving (serving is 2 slices of meatloaf)

I will try and take a picture of what I make next time...pictures seems to help with food. Now if we can get the smell to cover through the computer....we would be set!!

Let me know if you tried it, and what you thought.  I will for sure be making this again for us.

The Moment of TRUTH......

So yesterday was one week on WW for me and Tom.  The moment of truth of what we had done the past week was about to be revealed.  We knew we had stayed within our daily points, even the eating out we did.  Tom had even started walking on the treadmill at work, where as I have not started any form of really exercise regimine as of yet.

So we had dinner prior to going to our meeting, which I was like we shouldn't eat first, it will be worse in the long run.  But we did, and actually had a great diiner.  I made TEX MEX Meatloaf, from a recipe Tom had found in a WW cookbook someone at work had.  (side note to self: Put recipe on this blog)

I am happy to report it was a SUCCESSFUL week for both Tom and I.  He lost 8.4 pounds and I lost 6 pounds.  We were so surprised at the numbers...but very proud of what we has accomplished in such a short time....only a week.

We are on our way to "50 and FABULOUS".....

Eating Out + Points Plus =SUCCESS

So a challegne this first week for us, was going out.  We were invited out to El Torito on Friday for a going away party for one of the van poolers from JPL.  We both knew it would propose a small  problem with all the delicious appetizers they have to offer, but we discussed we would order from the regular menu and from "the lighter side", and for Mexican food that is pretty difficult.  But we did it and had a good time with our friends. So don't be worried if you get invited out, you don't have to turn down the invitation just cause you are on WW Points Plus, you just have to look at the other options they have to offer and choose wisely.....   now if we would have turned down the invite, we would have missed Maggie sing karaoke, which by the way she did really good. It was nice to go home after and not feel bloated, and Tom was still able to have his dessert, a Skinny Cow.

Our next challenge wold be WCYBL Opening Day on Saturday.  There was to be vendors selling all kinds of good food..nachos, burritos, bacon wrapped hot dogs, pizza and the ultimate best thing to have funnel cake. 

Thank God for Tom, we were able to support each other during the long day, with a break for lunch to Applebees, where they have WW meals on their menus with the points plus value right on the menu.  How awesome is that.....

Now don't get me wrong a big part of me REALLY would have loved to have that funnel cake with the strawberry's and whip cream, but after I probably would have hated myself for using SO MANY of my daily points plus my extra weekly points all for ONE funnel cake.  Maybe one day i will have it again but for now I am being disciplined and using my points wisely, thanks to Tom.

How many POINTS is that?

So after the first meeting, we were both given a daily amount of points that we were allowed to eat everyday.  Tom gets 52 and I get 32...I said hello, how is that fair...lol  The lady explained it like this "Imagine a big SUV and a smaller car, the SUV needs more gas to run than the little car" I said "Hey, this little car needs a lot of gas to keep up with this SUV"

So needless to say I didn't get any extra points. They base the points on your age, your gender, your weight and height. 

So we were ready to go......with calculator in hand, we can do this!

Everthing has a point value, nowadays some foods you find in the store have the point value on the box or package, its a great helping tool.  Otherwise you get the following information off the package; you get how much fat, carbs, fiber and protein and the handy WW calculator will tell how many points that item is per serving.  Let me tell you, you will be surprised at what has A LOT of points and what doesn't.  You ask yourself do i really want that and use all those points? Tom and I asked that question a lot to each other this past week.  On a BRIGHTER note ALL fruits and veggies are ZERO POINTS...so you know what that means....you can eat til your hearts content on that stuff!!!

I think we did a pretty awesome job of tracking our points this week. Tom was actually very good at that aspect of that for everything he made sure he knew the points. 

So we will continue to count and see how we do when we weigh in once a week.

So we begin...

Here we are; Tom and Paula; on The Cruise of Lights at Huntington Harbor this past December.

Tom and I will both be turning 50 this year (I in March, Tom in June) and we both had decided we wanted to work on getting healthier, eating better, and losing our 'food baby' as Jailene and Lil Alex loving call our tummies.

Now we could quietly go about our 'plan' and not share with anyone what we are doing, but if you know us, we like to help people and if sharing this journey helps even ONE person, then it was worth it.  Plus it will help us keep ourselves in check and accountable to stay focused on our goal....

being "50 and Fabulous"

So I am a week behind in starting this, so we play catch up really quick this week and be back on track.

Tom and I had both put a little extra weight over the past couple of years, but we were both happy and content, so a little extra fluff was ok...

So come 2012 Tom said were starting Weight Watchers and we were sticking to it. No quitting.  

So on January 2nd,2012 Tom and I went to Weight Watchers, weighed in, joined and attended our first meeting together.  There is something to be said about doing this with someone with the same goal in mind.  We keep each other accountable to the program and to our goal...50 and FABULOUS!!!!