Coughs, Colds, Sinus Infections, oh my!

Yeah. That title pretty much sums up the past two weeks. haha.

To say the past few weeks have been challenging would be an understatement. They've been next to impossible. But the Holy Spirit is faithful to give us power beyond our natural ability.... and that's the only reason I survived with any semblance of sanity. ha! Three weeks ago my husband had his second vasectomy. (I'll tell you that story later) In the middle of taking care of all four kids and one husband, we all start to cough. Cough turns to fever and congestion..... everyone else progressively gets better: I get a sinus infection. Boo. But, praise God, we're all finally healthy. Even little Mary had a cough and is now pretty much over it.

The past three weigh in's produced losses of 2.6 and 2.2.... then a gain of 1lb this last week. I wasn't surprised at the gain.... there was lots of access to delicious baked goods that week. mmmm.
So I have a new bread fact, thanks to my friend Brandy. Nature's Own makes a 40cal bread that is 2 points for 2 slices. All other breads I've seen are 3 points for 2 slices. Granted, this bread is pretty airy. But it works for sandwiches and makes decent toast. :)

So my victory over the past couple of weeks has come in eating out, of all the unlikely places. I have successfully gone to restaurants and been able to prepare ahead of time. I went to the websites, checked the nutrition of the food and made a plan for exactly what I would eat and how many points it would be. And, wonder of wonders, I've stuck to the plan I made! It was great. My failures... or "feedback" opportunities (our meeting this week was about how we don't have failures... we have feedback :) ) this week were definitely controlling those urges when something unexpected ended up in my kitchen..... like brownies my husband brought home from work. I tried to stay out of them. Brownies are the one dessert I can't stop myself with just a little. mmm.

Anyway. The lesson from this week: prepare for the unexpected. I have to be resolved and ready for something unexpected to come into my sight. For example, I could have had some Weight Watcher cookies in the cabinet. Then when the brownies were here, I could have eaten a cookie. It would be less points, and it would satisfy that craving. Something to remember.

Tonight we're going to Chick-fil-a. It's kid's eat free night! I have already been to the website: The Chargrilled Southwest Chicken Salad is 6 points. I'm gonna eat it with their honey mustard dressing (1 pt) and some buffalo sauce (0pts). The challenge of the night: not eating the kids' leftovers. I might need to go back to the website and work out the points for chicken nuggets and waffle fries just so I know what I'm dealing with. :)

Week One!

Well, week one wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped. I'm doing the Weight Watchers for nursing moms and they suggest I eat 48 points a day. HOLY COW! That's a lot of points. So, in an effort to not end up gaining 10lbs my first week... I started at 40 points instead of 48. The results: I gained 0.6lbs. ugh. So I've bumped it down to 38 points. We'll see how that goes.

Struggles for the week: Girl Scout cookes! Can I hear an "Amen?" Those things nearly killed me this weekend. And staying at my parents' for the weekend got me, too. Why is it always harder to eat healthy when you're at your parents'? My mom is even on Weight Watchers, too. But we had a birthday party for my brother. Spaghetti, garlic bread (that's the problem right there) and a yummy pumpkin cake. Whew. So I ate too much. But I've been doing ok since then. Every day is a new day, right?

Fun Points Plus fact for today: There is some bread that's still 1 point per slice. Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat bread is one point per slice. But all bread (that I've found so far) is 3 points for two slices. So there you go. Also, check those sandwich rounds that are so popular right now.... many of them are still 3 points for the two pieces.

Here's what I've found out about bread (and really, anything else): if you want to figure the points really quickly without getting out the calculator, there are a few quick tricks. 1) 11 Carbohydrates is the 1 point cut off. The only way for something with more than 11 Carbs to be less than 2 points is for it to have 3 or more grams of Fiber. 2)Fat doesn't make as big a difference in points as Protein does. The more protein... the more points. BUT remember that protein is good! It's better to use points on protein than anything else. The big place protein gets you is in some of the breads. They may be good on carbs and fiber.... but the protein may take it up to more points that you'd like to use on bread.

Ok. So the goal for this week: lose 2 lbs. I figure this is a good goal because my weight loss timeline is 1 pound per week. So losing 2 lbs this week will put me at 2 lbs in 2 weeks :).
Also, drink more water!

Week two.... here we go!