My Typical Day - Snacks

This is a follow up to my last post. Hopefully this will give some of you some good ideas about some yummy things to look for at the grocery store.

I don't buy a lot of Weight Watcher's food products, but these coffee flavored ice cream bars are one thing that I keep in my freezer. They are 2PP for one bar, and they are so good.  

 I like peanut butter, but one serving of regular peanut butter is 5 PP - that is more points than what I usually have for breakfast. PB2 is what I have replaced peanut butter with, and it doesn't have a bunch of weird ingredients. All it contains are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt. It comes in a dry powder & you add water to it. I add about 1 tablespoon of water to 1/8 cup of powder for one serving, which is only 1 PP. I get this from Amazon, but I think Trader Joe's sells it.  You can cook with it too.  This is a good source of protein, 5 grams per 1/8 cup.

 These Laughing Cow cheese wedges are 1 PP each. I don't eat these a lot, but they are nice to have with crackers.

 This hot chocolate is one of my favorite things to have for dessert at night. Two packets of it mixed with water are just 1 PP. I add one jet puffed marshmallow, which add one more PP.

 For a chocolate fix, I keep some kind of little chocolates around. Everything in the photo is 1 PP for one piece, except for the Rolo - two Rolos are 1 PP.

 I really like these Kettle Brand Baked Chips. They are made with a whole potato that has been sliced very thinly. They come in several flavors, and I like all of the ones that I've tried. Two flavors what aren't pictured that I like are Sour Cream & Onion and Cheddar & Roasted Tomato. These taste so much better than the standard baked chip.

 This fruit dip is yummy, and 1/8 of a cup is 2 PP. This plus a sliced Granny Smith apple makes for a nice snack.

 Edy's makes these fruit bars in a lot of different flavors, and I usually keep a box of them around. Most of the flavors are 2 PP per bar.

I like to eat frozen cherries. They are naturally sweet, and they have kept me from eating junk food. I don't defrost them.

My Typical Day - Breakfast

Thank you to all of you for your kind words regarding my last post!  I had a few people ask for some tips, so I'm going to do a few posts on what I typically eat on a daily basis.

 This instant oatmeal is my favorite thing to have on a cold morning. It is 3 Points Plus (PP) for one serving. I usually add a sliced banana and some chopped up apple to it. I also add extra cinnamon.

I really like Kashi cereal, but it is a little on the pricey side. Luckily, Sam's Club sells this flavor, and it's a little cheaper to buy it in bulk.  It is 5 PP for one serving, which is one cup.  I've been eating this for over a year, and I still measure it out every single time I eat it. I don't trust myself to estimate portion sizes. I have to do a little guesswork when I'm at a restaurant, and I'm bound to make mistakes sometimes. So, I would rather measure when I'm at home and take the guesswork out of things.  I have all but quit drinking cow's milk because of the sugar content in it. One cup of skim milk has 11 grams of sugar and it is 2 PP. I switched to almond milk months ago, and I love it. We even cook with it. One cup of unsweetened almond milk has 0 grams of sugar, and it is 1 PP.  I use just half a cup of almond milk on my cereal, and I don't have to count the one point.  Fresh fruit is zero points on Weight Watchers, so I try to have some with every meal. I usually have a banana and sliced peaches or berries with my cereal.  If you use frozen fruits, make sure to buy unsweetened fruit. The only thing that should be listed as ingredients in the fruit is the fruit itself.

 These Kashi granola bars are great for a quick breakfast. I'll eat these on hectic Sunday mornings with a banana and coffee. These come in a number of different flavors, and most of them are either 3 or 4 PP. This one pictured is my favorite, and it is 3 PP. My grocery store doesn't always have it in stock, so I set it up as a subscribe & save order with Amazon. I get six boxes of it every 6 months.

This is what I put in my coffee. Note that it is sugar free. One serving (1 tablespoon) is 0 PP. I also put a packet or two of Splenda in my coffee.  This comes in several flavors, and as far as I know, all of the sugar free flavors are 0 PP.

I don't have a photo of this last item, but I really like Chobani Fat Free Greek Yogurt. It is available in a variety of flavors, most of which are either 3 or 4 PP per 6 oz. Sometimes I will add a banana and 1/4 cup of the Kashi cereal pictured above to the yogurt. Adding the 1/4 cup of cereal adds 1 PP.

Weight Loss Goal Met!

Today is a day that I have been waiting for and working towards for 17 and a half months. I stepped on the scale this morning and I saw this :

I weighed myself like four times to make sure it wasn't a fluke! Same exact number all four times!  I entered my weight into my Weight Watchers app, and I finally got to see this screen: 

I asked James to take a few photos of me when he got home from work today., but before we get to those I have a "before" photo to share with you from 2011.

I'm note sure what I weighed in that photo, but I think it was between 245 and 250 lbs.

And today:

 These boot used to be so tight that I could barely get the sides of them zipped up. Now there is room to spare.

 Those are an old pair of my jeans. They used to fit comfortably. They are a size 20.  I am going to save these as a reminder of how far I've come.

James watched the kids for me this evening so I could got clothes shopping. I've been putting up with jeans that are so loose I can take them off without unbuttoning them, and I was itching to get some that fit.  The clerk at the store asked me what size I wanted to try on. I told her maybe and 8 or a 10. I hadn't bought pants in a while, so I didn't know what size I would need.  I was surprised when the size 8's were too big. I wear a size 6! I've never worn a size 6 in my life!  The last time I bought jeans at that store I was in a size 16.  I bought a few shirts, some were small, some were extra small.  I also went to Victoria's Secret and got some much need things there, which were also way smaller, but that's a bit much to share. Some of my flats are too loose to stay on my foot now, but that isn't an urgent need - so no shoe shopping today.

Here's a breakdown of how my sizes have changed:

pants: from a 20/22 to a 6

shirts: from a 2x to a small

ring fingers: left hand size 8 to 6, right hand hand 8.5 to a 6.5

Thank you to all of you who have been such an encouragement to me these past months! And a big thank you to Gina at Skinnytaste! It was her delicious Weight Watchers recipes that convinced me to give the program a try. If you are struggling on the same kind of journey, do not give up. There were days when it was hard. There were times when I prayed for self control. God heard. If I can do this, so can you. You might find that a different program suits your needs better, but find something that you like and stick with it. When you fall of the wagon, get right back on it the next day. 

Mardi Gras 2014

On Saturday, we hosted our annual Mardi Gras party.  We both really enjoy hosting this party. By the time Mardi Gras rolls around, I am fed up with winter and homesick for Baton Rouge. This party takes the edge off my homesickness. I didn't get any pics from the party because I was too busy talking, but I did get some pics of the decorations and the kids before the party started.

 I embroidered the kids' shirts and James' shirt. The design for James' shirt was my favorite of the two. The kids' shirts came out cute, but the design was hard for the machine to handle. I threw one shirt away because the machine chewed the fabric up when it got to the Mardi Gras beads. I left the beads off of Samuel's shirt because I was afraid of the same thing happening.

 We took our baby gates down for the party and Samuel had a blast getting to run around where ever he wanted. He fully embraced the spirit of Mardi Gras and dumped a cupful of Hurricane on himself.  He is also ready for a parade now. His daddy taught him how to throw doubloons.

I got my mask at a local costume/party supply store called Johnny Brock's. We took the kids in there with us. It is big store. James says it is like the Wal-Mart of costumes. They have a huge assortment of merchandise, some of which nice and some of which is, well, just party junk. When we walked out of the store, Samuel said, "Junk, junk, junk." He was polite about it though. He waited until we were out of earshot of the employees. Haha. We got a big laugh out of that.

I made jambalaya for the first time in a couple of years. It came out pretty well, except that the rice was a little gummy. James made some delicious red beans & rice, but I didn't get a photo of that either.

We had a great time catching up with our friends, some of whom we had not seen in quite some time. Thanks to everyone to joined us!

A note to your protestant self: today marks the first day of Lent. Do not try to eat at a seafood restaurant on a Friday night until *after* Easter. There will be a two hour wait for a table. We seem to forget that every year.

Weight Watchers and Diabetes

Most of you who know me in real life know that I've had diabetes since I was a kid. This is something I rarely write about, but it has been a major source of frustration for me this week. I decided to share what I've been dealing with in hopes of helping others who are dealing with something similar & maybe get some advice.

On Monday, there was only one thing that I *had* to get done. I needed to take Eva to see her pediatrician, which meant toting Samuel along. Sounds simple enough, but I got up with my blood sugar low & battled it all day long. Getting the kids to and from that doctor's appointment was about all I got done. I felt awful all day. I had a super bad headache. I went back to bed after I got the kids down for their afternoon nap. I'm still following Weight Watchers, so I didn't want to just eat a bunch of carbs. Usually I can treat low blood sugar with a banana or two & it's fine. That just didn't work on Monday. I think I had a banana, cereal, chocolate, ice cream, yogurt, oranges, apples, grapes, and I don't know what else before I went to bed Monday night. I didn't enjoy having to eat it. After that carb feast I would have expected my blood sugar to be pretty high the next morning. But no, it wasn't even 90. Ugh. That tells me that it is time to reduce my insulin dose. (Normal fasting blood sugar range is 80-120)

I've had to make reductions in my dose as I've lost weight, and it always takes a few days to figure out how much insulin I need to take to keep my blood sugar within a normal range. And it is frustrating. It means checking my blood sugar more often than usual & making sure I have snacks stashed everywhere. I try to keep granola bars in the diaper bag, the console of my car, the saddle bag on my bike, both of my purses, my camera bag, and my nightstand. I don't like eating when I'm not hungry, but I simply don't have a choice when my blood sugar is low.  My doctor has asked me to come in for lab work every three months since I've been on Weight Watchers and making adjustments to my insulin, and I go faithfully. We've agreed on what my goal weight should be, and I'm almost there. I've been *almost there* since Christmas, which is another point of frustration. I'm running out of clothes that are not too big for me, but I don't want to buy anything else until I get these last 8 pounds off. I'm down to two pairs of jeans that fit OK, no dress pants, 4 bras, 3 skirts, and well, even my shoes are loose. I've bought some things for the springtime that fit, but since it looks like winter is never going to end here in St. Louis, I don't know when I'll be able to wear them. It was 10 F, when I got up this morning.

One thing that I love about Weight Watchers is that fresh fruit is zero points, so I don't have to count it when I have to eat a banana to treat low blood sugar. This is what has made the program sustainable for me. Getting past the hurdle of a dose reduction just makes for a few rough days. Hopefully, this is the last dose adjustment that I will have to make.

Hanging up my White Coat

At least for a little while that is.  Today was my last day at work. I had been working full time, dealing with a rather grueling schedule. My hours were usually something like 2 AM to 10 AM, and I had a broken sleep pattern. I felt like a zombie most of the time, and it was rough on the four of us.  We tried to streamline things as much as we could. We bowed out of extra activities at church & hired a house cleaning service, but it still left us precariously juggling our time. I missed the kids, and I felt consumed. I have worked with, trained, and taught a lot of pharmacy students over the years, and I always tell them to reconsider a job if the paycheck is the only thing that they find rewarding about it. I was beginning to hear my own advice ring in my ears, so I gave my notice in early January and agreed to stay on part time until my replacement was hired. My replacement started on Monday. She's a single mom of two who needs the jobs worse than I do. I am not envious of her position.

If I decide to look for another job, I'm not going to try to find one until after Eva's birthday, which is in about 2 months.  I worked a little for the local college of pharmacy during the fall semester, and I've been invited back to teach the same lab in the fall this year. I'll probably do that again.

I'm thankful that this is a choice that I have the freedom to make, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was a little nervous about staying home with the kids. It's hard work, and it's unpredictable. I am looking forward to seeing the kids more, and I'm relieved to be able to spend the nights in my own house instead of at the pharmacy. The kids will be little only once. I won't ever get a "do-over" of Samuel's toddlerhood because I was too consumed with work to soak in his two-year-old-ness. Work can wait. I get one shot at serving my kids well as they grow up. I've already had a lot of years to serve my patients well, and those opportunities will still be there when my kids are not. I've had a lot of patients who left an endearing imprint in my memory, but the best week of my career was spent serving in Haiti. I didn't get paid anything for that work, but it fed my heart in a way that my regular job did not. I hope I can say the same things about staying home with my kids that I say about Haiti - It was hard, emotional work that I had the honor of doing, and I got to witness Jesus do some amazing things in the hearts of people He created.

Happy Valentine's Day

Photo by Donna Harris

Happy Valentine's Day to my dear James. I'm so thankful for you and everything that you do for our family.  This past year, it has warmed my heart watching you be a daddy to a little girl.  I love watching you play with both our kids, and it's been fun seeing you dote on your little girl.

I'm thankful for the things that you teach Samuel.  I think you've had more success showing him how to operate his "motorcycle" than I've had. 

I've really enjoyed our cycling dates. Sometimes they include dinner, sometimes not, but they are always fun. 

You are a blessing to the three of us!

Photo by Anitra K Photography