The Journey Continues

Last September I joined Weight Watchers because I had plateaued in losing weight on my own after only losing five pounds. From the time I joined to when I stopped going in May I lost an additional six pounds.

To be fair, that's after losing eighteen pounds and then gaining back twelve over the past few months. Those eighteen came off fairly painlessly in the first four months. But then they changed the way they do things. Now, I'm not going to bash Weight Watchers or their system because I think they are really a very good program that works for a lot of people. Besides, I loved our group leader. Seriously, there should have been a two drink minimum to go see her perform every week, she's just that entertaining. But, somewhere between the Points System and the Points Plus plan, I got lost. Either it got too complicated for my little brain to handle or I'm just so stubborn that I can't ever change direction (Mister C, you just shush!) It doesn't matter the why, it just matters that I could no longer successfully work the program.

So after gaining back almost all of what I had lost, I decided to try something else. Two weeks ago, I started keeping track of what I ate every day. Nothing fancy, nothing revolutionary, just keep track of it on a spreadsheet of sorts on my Mac. After doing that for a week, I looked over the results and said "hmmm, no wonder I'm fat." Big surprise that my caloric intact was higher than I expected and not conducive to weight loss.

After figuring this out I did a little research to try and pinpoint what my caloric intact should be on any given day. And then I tried to stick to that amount, within reason. That was really the only rule I had for this past week. I didn't make any foods off limits. If I wanted to eat something, I just had to fit whatever I was eating into my daily calories. I've even eaten french fries and a milkshake. Additionally, I wanted to have some exercise during the week. I didn't set out to run a marathon or climb a mountain, just to add in some form of exercise a few times a week.

Sounds pretty simple, no? I was really hoping that by doing these few things I would be able t lose two pounds in the week. I would have even taken a one pound loss since I knew I was really doing the bare minimum of what I needed to do. Well, I didn't lose two pounds, or even one. I lost four and a half. Guess I'll do it for one more week.

Spaghetti Squash

There was a spaghetti squash amongst my fruit and vegetables this morning. I've never tried this particular vegetable, nor had any desire to do so. I dislike squash in general. But, since it showed up in my basket, I thought I should at least give it a try. At first I thought I would try it "later in the week" but I know me too well. I know that I would keep putting it off until the undesired item finally started to go bad and then throw it out. I decided to dive in and serve it tonight with some baked chicken.

I had to read and re-read the directions several times to "get it". They're not difficult, I was just sort of distracted and hungry. Once I figured that part out, the biggest problem I had is that it took a little longer than I expected to cut the squash in half lengthwise. I almost cut my left hand off with the first knife I tried. Eventually, and several knives later, I got it cut in half and the seeds removed so I could toss it into the oven. After rotating it once and letting it cook for an hour, the skin softened and I took it out. Taking the fork to the insides was kind of fun in a "Cool, I'm creating something!" way. I tossed in a little sea salt, pepper and a few tablespoons of Parmesan and tossed it together. I put some on Mister C's plate as is. For myself, I cut my chicken up and threw it into the squash and mixed it up some more.

Now came the test. Mister C looked suspiciously at the squash and announced that it smelled funny. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for. But he tried it. As did I. And guess what? It's really good. We both really liked it. Even Master J gave it a try and said it was good. He had already eaten earlier so he didn't want any more than a bite but at least he tried it. I'm never going to mistake it for actual pasta of any shape, but it's really tasty. The texture is fairly al dente and the flavor is pretty mild. While it doesn't taste like pasta, more importantly to me is that it doesn't taste like squash. I think I can add this one to the grocery list.

Weight Loss Continues

I somehow managed to lose a pound and a half over the Thanksgiving holiday. Never felt hungry and even ate pie with homemade whipped cream for several days. That's something worth being thankful for.