Monthly Archives: January 2009

work out diary

Today I watched our next door neighbors kids after school. Since I don’t cook much anymore with the Weight Watchers diet, there’s usually not a lot of food around here that teens want. So when we do have kids over, we usually get a pizza. Especially since we can use Anthony’s discount and get it dirt cheep.

Add to that, the girl from next door likes to bake cookies when she’s here  (and she’s a lot of fun to bake with, so of course I was going to say yes).  I knew early on that I was going to be eating quite a few points today and a work out was a must. I didn’t do too badly with the pizza, we always get thin crust with veggies, so that’s about 7 points a slice.  I had about a slice and a half. It was the baking that about did me in. We wanted to do something different than regular chocolate chip cookies, so we went through my cookbooks until we found something that I had all the ingredients for, didn’t have to go in the fridge for hours before baking, and sounded yummy. We ended up finding blondies that were topped with chocolate chips & pecans. (Only half was topped with pecans, but all of it was topped with chocolate chips) I couldn’t even begin to calculate the points on those, so I guessed and tried to guess high just to make sure.

I knew I had eaten too much junk food because I started to get that really tired and sleeping feeling that I usually get after eating like that. So before I could talk myself out of it I went upstairs and had a really good work out. 35 minutes on the elliptical and 35 minutes (a bit over 2 miles) on the treadmill. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked out three days in a row. I don’t know that I’ll do anything tomorrow since Saturday morning I have a feeling Dad is going to put me through some kind of racquetball boot camp. (Dad, don’t take that as a challenge!)

“cheap” foods

I think I’ve blogged before about doing the point system with Weight Watchers and viewing my daily points as if they were money. Some foods are cheap or even free, while others are just too expensive. So I thought I’d give a few examples in case anyone else out there is doing this too.

Natures Own, double fiber bread – It’s 50 calories a slice, but has 5 grams of fiber, so it’s 0 points, yep, it’s free.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray – 0 points, free

Reduced fat sliced cheese – most is only one point, so with the bread and “butter” spray I just mentioned, you can have a yummy grilled cheese sandwich for 1 or 2 points, depending on how much cheese you want. Another treat we discovered tonight was cinnamon toast made with the high fiber bread, “butter” spray, Splenda, and cinnamon – 0 points.

Progresso soups – some of the Progresso soups actually have the Weight Watchers points calculated and labeled on the can, some are 0 points, others are 1.  Zale and I have been doing a lot of grilled cheese & soup. It’s amazing how filling it is, and great for these cold days!

Carrots, celery, raw onion – 0 points (I’m sure there are many other veggies that are 0, but these are the ones I remember.

10 calorie jello – 0 points

Low Fat Jello Pudding - 1 point (I’m not sure if it’s the 100 calorie or the reduced sugar, it may be both)

Fat Free Cool Whip – 0 points (If you mix the pudding and cool whip it taste like pie filling, dip a few Nilla wafers in it and you’ve got yourself a mini chocolate pie for 2 points..yum!)

4 low fat Nilla Wafers – 1 point

4 low fat Club crackers – 1 point

Weight Watchers snack cakes, cookies, muffins & brownies – 1 to 3 points, depending on which snack you choose

some of the Hostess 100 calorie snack cakes – 1 point (not everything that’s 100 calories is 1 point, it  depends on the amount of fiber and fat grams. The strawberry, chocolate cupcake, and cinnamon coffee cakes are 1 point per 3 pack. Don’t know about the others.

94% fat free popcorn – 5 cups = 1 point. This is great if your craving something crunchy and salty. It’s replaced my chip craving many times.

So these are some of the foods that help keep Zale and I on track without feeling deprived. If you’re dieting, I hope it helps you too!

work out diary

I noticed a little surge in energy today, probably from working out last night, so I figured I’d try it again tonight. I was actually able to get quite a few things accomplished around here, even with the kids all over me. It would be great to get even more accomplished tomorrow!

Tonight I was able to make it upstairs for 30 minutes on the elliptical. I would have liked to do a couple of miles on the treadmill too, but it was getting late. I’m grateful for the 30 minutes though! And I have to say, after losing this 30 pounds, or almost 30 pounds, the elliptical isn’t as much of a torture machine as it use to be!

work out diary…this one’s for you Dad

Dad and I were supposed to play racquetball yesterday, but that ended up not working out. As he and I were on the phone I mentioned I might try to work out at home on the elliptical and/or treadmill. The coach in him came out and I was given an assignment to do both the elliptical and treadmill for a total of 30 minutes. I figured I’d just see how long I could go.

So I started out on the elliptical and did 30 minutes or so. Then on to the treadmill for over 35 minutes and just a bit over 2 miles. Total work out time of 65 minutes. It felt really good, although I was completely worn out!

Only missed once

This morning (at the CRACK OF DAWN) Dad, Zale, and I went to Guns & Leather to take the TN handgun carry permit class. It’s 4 hours in the classroom and a written test, then 4 hours on the shooting range to qualify. I was a little nervous when I heard “written test”, since I haven’t taken a test in years. But I did pretty well, only missed one.

Then off to the shooting range. Once again, I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t even be able to hit the target, especially once I found out I’d be shooting a semi-automatic. I’ve shot guns before (a few times), but always revolvers. As it turned out, I didn’t have anything to be nervous about. The instructors were great, put me at ease right away, and out of 48 rounds I only missed the target once. That was just because it was my last shot so I thought I’d try for a head shot. Now I understand why I’ve always been told to shoot for the middle, much easier to hit! (Unless you’re Zale and can shoot a smiley face in the target!)

I’m sure I’ll probably never be in a situation where I would have to defend myself (or the kids), but it’s nice to know that I can if I need to. And truth be told, today was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to going back to the range!

weigh in – ugh

I said I’d update my weigh ins for better or worse, this week it’s worse. But at least I know why. It was an unusual week for me. We had our LifeGroup on Monday night, I went a little crazy with the chocolate chip cookie bars. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I had lunch out with friends. That would have been fine if I had looked up the nutritional value for those restaurants and figured out the points of what I was eating. Then we had people over again Wednesday night. I need to do better sticking to my points when we’re entertaining.

So, this week I went a little backwards and gained back 1.4 pounds. I’m not going to get discouraged this time, it’s just extra motivation to get back on track. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to report a loss.

“Old” friends

Through the “magic” of Facebook I have been able to reconnect with people I haven’t seen or talked to since high school. It’s been so great catching up with them! Here’s a couple of videos from one of the guys I went to school with, I never knew he had so much talent! If you’re ever in central Arkansas you should check out one of his shows!

& Hannah’s favorite…

Enjoy!!

lunch with the girls

Today I took Hannah and Reagan to eat lunch with some ladies from church. It was going great until Reagan dumped my drink out in the booth, where I was sitting. For some reason she’s never really taken to sitting in a high chair, but Hannah has started wanting to sit in a high chair. I guess because she thinks Reagan is going to sit there, so she wants in it first.

Anyway, I couldn’t move faster than the Diet Pepsi, so by the time I was able to get up from the table my pants were soaked. And of course it was like 14 degrees outside. Somehow Reagan didn’t get a drop on herself, just me. A bit embarrassing, but I guess stuff like that just happens. :) At least I didn’t have anywhere else to go after lunch. And it was still a great time!

jog-a-thon sponsorship

I’ve blogged about my Step Mom (Bonnie Blackard) before, she’s been a missionary in Cambodia for the past 10 years or so. She has an adopted Cambodian child, Luka. He is participating in a jog -a-thon their school is having to raise money to fund the facilities at their school (Logo’s International).

Here’s the e mail from Luka with instructions in case anyone wants to give.

Hi,

This is Luka.  My school, Logos International School, is having a jog-a-thon where we run around the school and try to raise money for the new school building.  I am trying to raise money by asking people to sponsor me.  If you want to sponsor me, you can read the information below and donate to our school’s website until January 16.

Thank you,

Luka Blackard

Logos Jog-A-Thon

Those sponsors can go to the Asian Hope website at www.asianhope.org (Asian Hope is the parent organization of Logos), and click on “DONATE”. The sponsor can then use a credit card, and state who they are sponsoring (Luka Blackard). This amount will be added to the donations that your child has collected in Cambodia.

Remember, all donations go towards helping fund the facilities at the new school. Thank you so much for your support.

I assure you, this is a very worthy cause! Thanks for reading!


Priceless

Yesterday while Zale and I were in the car talking, we got on the subject of my high school church youth group. Which is how we met. He was one on the youth leaders (we were just friends at the time). I was reminded of a lesson that the other youth leader, Bob, told us one night that I’ve never forgotten.

Those meetings were very informal, more like group discussions. During one of those discussions, Bob made a point to look each of us in the eyes and tell us that because we are children of God, we are priceless. Imagine that, a teenager being told they were priceless in the eyes of God.

So often, kids these days (and then too), don’t get encouragement. They can be treated as non people who aren’t important or don’t really count. As Zale gets more involved in the juvenile court, I’m seeing more and more of these priceless children who aren’t taken care of, aren’t loved, and aren’t valued.

I don’t know that I could really grasp the concept of priceless until I had children of my own. It’s amazing to think that as strong as our love is for our children, it pales in comparassion to the love God has for us. We are Priceless, each and every one of us. No matter what we’ve done or will do, we’re still Priceless to Him. Just as our children are, or should be to us.