El Bees’ Blog

here, fishy fishy fishy.

Mar 16, 2008
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so, i have been eating A LOT of fish. like, almost every meal has been some sort of sea creature. seared ahi tuna, salmon, icelandic char (say whaaaa?), king salmon, halibut. seriously folks. i've been gettin' my fish on. which is great, but i gotta watch those mercury levels because there's only so much fish you are supposed to consume, and i don't know offhand which ones are safe to eat any time you want and which ones you are supposed to eat sparingly. i have read this info before, but when i'm at a restaurant i don't recall the safe ones. ah well.

the past few days i've pretty much fallen off the points. shoot days are hard. no structure at all, and a snack table that's always close-by and stocked to the brim. although i have to say my choices continue to be good. edamame and carrots and just a few little bites of sweets as opposed to scarfing down the bowl of dark chocolate pretzels.

regardless, tomorrow is back on the points - counting them, logging them, and loving the process. back into the gym as well. i am determined to not go back to richmond heavier. not even a pound!

rollin' WW cali-style.

Mar 8, 2008
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greetings from sunny california.

so, i came here determined to stick with my WW program and so far, pretty good. restaurants are TOUGH because you can only make the best choices possible and hope for the best. we went to trader joe's (oh, how i love trader joe's) and stocked up on breakfast stuff, fruits and little things for the room. so breakfast will be kashi go lean crunch with fresh fruit. sure beats room service $20 omelettes. i figure if i can go as light as possible on lunch, then the majority of points can be used on dinner. i went to the gym today here at the hotel and it was good, although my right heel and foot is totally inflamed. i did something funky and now i am el limpy mc limpyton. not good. i might have to ice it.

so, dinnner. we went to this place called typhoon tonight – a pan asian place that was pretty cool. really interesting menu; they actually had bugs on the menu. like, BUGS. for novelty's sake, the table ordered the crickets. yes folks, i ate a lighty "fried" cricket. kind of tasted like those french's potato sticks that go on top of old school green bean casserole. not bad. for the main dish i ordered the prawns. people, these were prawnus giganticus. i have never seen shrimp this big. they were the size of lobsters. not very pretty to look at and ultimately not very satisfying. but low in points and that is satisfying.

i haven't had time to enter in all of my points since i've been out here. gotta do that now before i completely forget what i've had. i am proud of myself. i'm making good choices.

another one (+.02) bites the dust.

Mar 3, 2008
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it's been a few days since i've been able to blog – good lord things just get CRAZY at work. i really despise the fact that something i care so little about (wally world) can eat up so much of my life. gotta change that.

so back to the blogging. yeah blogging. this is my accountability forum so i gotta keep at it. i had another great week on WW although this week presented some challenges. on tuesday magoo and i joined some of his work associates out for a business dinner. the restaurant was this great little tapas place, which, yes ma'am, i do love tapas, but wow is that stuff hard to count points-wise. i did my best to account for what i was eating and showed some restraint with the bread basket (oh, the breeeead basket) so i felt pretty good, two glasses of delicious sangria included. (hello flex points.)

i've gotten in a nice little routine with my weekly routine. i've found some really awesome low-point snacks - fiber one bars, fruit crisps, pacific organic soups (best ever), etc. magoo has been really supportive at night which helps. we cooked tilapia tacos last night and they were fab. and on the exercise front we went for a walk down a the james river park system. i loved that - beautiful day to be outside. sunny and 60.

the weigh-in this morning, although not as much as last week, was still positive. another 1.2 lbs down for a total of 4 lbs over two weeks. if i can average 2 pounds a week every week that's good, consistent progress.

i am heading for LA for three weeks – pretty much the entire month of march – and am really committed to not gaining weight on production. that in itself is no small task: restaurants almost every night, food service tables everywhere, room service and just a general abundance of bad (but really good) stuff. yikes. good thing my writer and producer are both on WW as well and we are all counting points together. that should make things MUCH easier. if i can actually lose weight in LA, well, that will be a first.

wish me luck. woo wee.

2.8 might as well be 3, no?

Feb 26, 2008
2 comments

so, monday is weigh-in day and although i had a feeling how the week was progressing, i did due diligence and stepped on the scale yesterday morning.

2.8 lbs. down. YAY!

i have to admit i was a little disappointed. in the past, the first week or so on WW i typically lose more. 3-something or 4-something. but that's a really silly thing to think, because 2.8 (okay, let's just call it three) is a great start. when i started back on this my "goal" was 8 pounds a month, so that already puts me a bit ahead, and that's fab. now, if it's 10 lbs. a month, i won't complain, but that might be setting the bar too high. i'm not sure that's attainable. i would rather take off a steady 8 lbs. a month and feel good about that. i always get excited when i think of what that actually means. yeah, at times it seems slow going, but when i multiply that by 7 months (wedding) that's 56 pounds! and when i multiply that by the rest of the months in the year, well, that's 72 pounds. and that's a HUGE difference.

okay, back to the present, back to this week. one week at a time. one week at a time. one week at a time.

the most fattening veggie, EVER, EVER, EVER.

Feb 24, 2008
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so, magoo and i were running errands today and we stopped for a quick lunch at mountain man arby's. i would explain why we call it mountain man but that would take too long. anyway, i thought, okay - that's fine, i can make some good choices there. they have all kinds of veggie sides and rotisserie chicken. good choices amongst roast beef sammies and fries, right? wrong.

i ordered a 1/4 white meat chicken meal and picked sides to have along with it. green beans, carrots and some rosemary roasted potatoes. i actually only order the beans and potatoes but they screwed up and brought carrots. anyway. i ate my lunch, and it was good. but towards the end, after seeing the tray, commented to richard that there was quite a bit of butter and oil left. uh oh. on the way out i grabbed a nutritional sheet (good for them for having them available but it is a depressing read) and took it home to enter points.

those damn green beans had....are you ready?....22 grams of fat. 22 GRAMS OF FAT!!! just the beans, mind you. that doesn't count the other sides and well, the chicken. i was stunned. it ended up being a 26 point meal. that is ridiculous. and i have to say it's quite deceiving to offer "fresh veggie" sides that are more fattening than waffle fries. and here i was thinking i was making a good choice. i continued to look at the nutrition stats and turns out an entire roast beef sandwich is less fattening than one side of green beans. we are talking about a 1 point food had i prepared them at home. it's quite frustrating. the perils of eating outside of the house are many. you think you are making an educated, healthy choice and actually you're consuming more calories and fat than if you had ordered something "fattening". i ordered the side of rosemary potatoes thinking i was splurging a little - turns out they are the lowest item points wise on the sides menu.

i am disgusted. and as long as i am counting points on WW, i will never eat arby's green beans again. or any of the veggie sides for that matter. it's just not worth it. i'd rather have the roast beef and call it a day.

VEGGIE TRAITOR!

weekend.

Feb 24, 2008
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so, weekend are a little tougher because the routine of the week goes out the window a little bit. i am out and about more and magoo and i rarely eat at home during the day. so i have to really choose carefully at restaurants and even when i do the points values are so much higher than anything i would make at home. it's important for me to save my weekly extra flex points for the weekends, cause that's definitely where i will be using them!

so far all positive things to report. there have been a few moments of temptation, but i feel very good about how they have been handled. my weigh-in day is tomorrow and i have a feeling i'll be about 3 lbs. down. which is great for one week. just gotta keep that momentum going.

oh, by the way, discovered fiber one chewy bars. sounds gross right? "fiber one, yuuummm". but really. they are seriously delicious. just two points and lots of, ummm, well, fiber.

cha cha cha.

Feb 22, 2008
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oh thank you thank you it's friday. and i am thankful for another good day. i always feel like the first week on WW is the hardest – just getting back into the swing of counting points and just being mindful of what you're really eating. knowing magoo and i were most likely heading out for a bite to eat tonight, my strategy was to have a really low point day so i could have some freedom at dinner. the plan worked. i had some yogurt and apple for breakfast, then a kashi frozen meal at lunch (it was pretty good but not outstanding...but are any frozen meals outstanding?) and then a granola bar after lunch. by the time i got home i was STARVING. not good. i counted up and estimated i had only eaten about 500 calories so far for the day...no wonder i was ravenous. a half a bag of popcorn later i felt like we could go to dinner and i wouldn't claw the plate apart. again, good strategy. i was able to get something reasonable, points wise, and still very yummy. there are little things that i would have gotten in the past without thought – like cheese dip – but it's just too many points to feel good about. and now that i am home and feel full, i am not missing the fact that i didn't have it.

just have to stick to my guns and make good choices. and you know what? if i do slip every now and then, that's okay, too. i've got to be able to live with this plan and part of living is allowing room for, well, life.

snack attacks & scales

Feb 21, 2008
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happy to report another solid day today counting points. had a good breakfast of apple and english muffin, a salad with grilled chicken for lunch along with some fruit and for dinner, more chicken – baked this time – (bock! bock!) with broccoli and tomato and red pepper soup. what i have noticed is that when i get home from work i feel absolutely ravenous. it's like a learned behavior that when i come home i immediately go to the kitchen for a few nibbles of something before making dinner. i'm not eating anything all that unhealthy, but it's certainly points i am consuming that i could save for dinner or a sweet bite after dinner. (have i mentioned how much i love skinny cows? my fave.) or better yet, just get out of the habit of having a snack before dinner. even if it saves me 2 or 3 points, further down the line when i have less points in a day, i will really need those few points to feel like i can still eat what i choose.

i stepped on the scale this morning and was pleased that i am dropping pounds already. maybe it's water weight, maybe it's fat and water weight. but weight is weight and it is quite motivating to see a smaller number. makes me feel like my actions are paying off and keeps me focused. i am really going to try and avoid weighing every day. it's not good. twice a week should be sufficient for gut checks (forgive the pun) and won't get me into a pattern of getting too attached to the almighty number on the scale.

when you were thinking salad but pizza shows up.

Feb 20, 2008
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work has been really stressful and jam-packed lately. every day there is a new firedrill and often times i have to make a break for it just to get lunch in at a decent hour. well, today was no exception. noon came and went. then 12:30. then 1. considering i had a small breakfast of just an orange, i was approaching caveman status. to boot, some days i just don't feel like hoofing it down to the sandwich shop. it is cold and wet today and i am wearing a skirt and blah blah blah and hey!...ding! leftover pizza in the conference room? it's that email that stares you down. being that it was cold and wet and i was busy and hey free lunch, well, that pizza sounded pretty dang good.

so here's the good part: i had the pizza.

but, instead of hoovering down multiple slices and still feeling hungry later, i got two pieces of the spinach and feta. passed on the pepperoni. and even though those two pieces are considerable points, that's okay. because i counted them and have adjusted the rest of the day accordingly. extra bonus: there was a bowl of all kinds of chocolately goodness and i didn't succumb to it. we're talking raisinets, M&Ms, all sorts of point-busting evilness. what i did grab, however, were a couple chewy quaker granola bars for snacks. they are only two points and something sweet in the afternoon.

i have to re-learn that being on WW is not a pristine or perfect process and there are choices available. if i had wanted four slices, i could have had them. but i'd be eating carrots for dinner. and who wants carrots for dinner?

fresh mozzarella tastes really good.

Feb 19, 2008
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i love cheese. me and cheese get along. but man, cheese and WW points just don't see eye to eye. overall, i've had a good points day and have made some great choices. breakfast was yogurt and some dried apples - 2 pts. love me a low-point breakfast. lunch was one of those "healthy" meals that somehow ended up tallying up to more points than i would have imagined. tomato soup and a salad of mixed greens with mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh mozzarella and raspberry vinaigrette. those little mozzarella balls (they are tiny i tell you! the size of cherry tomatoes!) were 2 points for four of 'em. i could eat four of those in my sleep. good thing there were only about 5 in the salad, but man, that's 3 points. and the soup. THE SOUP. we ordered from a restaurant down the street because we've been in director calls all day so i didn't have a ton of control in the choices. well, the tomato was cream based and they sprinkled parm cheese and croutons in it. and the serving was about two cups. hello, eight points! EIGHT. it was delicious, but that hurt.

i like having lots of choices for dinner and having points to spare so if i get hungry i don't feel like i can't eat anything. richard was going to make his (famous) stuffed shells tonight and i am hoping to steer him to something else. i can eat them, but would prefer to have them when i have a lower point lunch. and then i run into saying "please don't make your yummy dinner that you are doing as something special for me". it gets complicated. having to think about just your own food is much simpler. there's no one to feel like they're not having what they want and you don't run into fixing separate meals, which is kind of a bummer and quite inefficient. i'm sure this will get easier and more fluid as things progress. and it also comes down to me making some yummy WW friendly meals that he will love too.

as the boy scouts say: be prepared.