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Giving Noom A Try

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For a long time, I’ve thought Weight Watchers was the only diet plan worth trying…until now. I’ve been seeing the Noom ads on my Facebook page, so I decided sign up for the 14-day free trial. Today is day 7, and I’m really loving it.

I’m a rule follower, so I enjoy the structure of Noom. I’m also a stress eater, and that’s where my diet attempts always fail. Noom has psychologists on staff to help with that.

I feel a little freer with Noom because I always know how many calories I’m eating and whether the foods I’m eating are “green,” “yellow,” or “red.” With just a glance at the Noom app, I can tell how healthy I’m eating.

The app also connects with my Fitbit and monitors my steps. As I exercise, it adds more calories to my daily intake level. For my age, height, and weight, it starts with 1200 calories per day, but as I exercise that number goes up.

I feel like I can be successful with Noom.

 

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Boston Market Turkey Breast Dinner

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The new Weight Watchers Freestyle program allows a lot more freedom than prior programs. Sometimes I want to eat out, as most of us do. Boston Market is the first restaurant I’ve tried since starting Weight Watchers Freestyle. I was pleasantly surprised by the turkey breast dinner. It was delicious, and these were the points:

  • Turkey breast – small or large     1
  • Poultry gravy                                  1
  • Rotisserie potatoes                        4
  • Steamed veggies                             1
  • Cornbread                                       7

Sure, that’s 14 points, but it was worth every wonderful bite. I still had 9 points left, and 4 rolled over to the next day.

I can’t wait to find other places to eat out. Oprah says you can eat anywhere. We’ll see!

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Holding Your Body Weight

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My daughter is a petite young woman. She can put one hand on each of the Body Rock Challenger Bars, bring both legs up to a mid-air squatting position, hold it, and then lower both legs. I tried that…and…um…well…let’s say my feet left the floor about an inch for a sliver of a second. I decided to work on that. Of course, I weigh significantly more than my daughter, so I’m lifting a lot more body weight. I’ve been attempting this exercise five times each day. Today, I actually lifted both legs and held them up for about two seconds. Progress. Whatever, I’m getting a little muscle definition in my upper arms.

The problem here is that my core is not strong enough to lift my legs. With the exercises I’m doing with the Body Rock Challenger Bars, my core is getting stronger. I’m just going to keep on keeping on.

The Weight Watchers Freestyle plan is going well. I haven’t had a single craving or been hungry since I started on December 31st. Yep, I started on New Year’s Eve instead of New Year’s Day. I couldn’t wait to start moving forward with my healthier plan.

I’ve been trying to get more steps in. I track them with my FitBit. I’m trying to make 10,000 steps more days each week. So far, so good. I’m seeing improvement. My clothes are starting to fit better.

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Yes, It Is Right

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The other day, I questioned in my blog post “Is This Right?” whether I could really eat bacon, eggs, toast, and butter for breakfast on the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program and still lose weight. Well, yes I can. On week one, I had this breakfast two days in a row and still lost 5.4 pounds.

This is the first time I’ve been on a diet and have not been hungry or had any cravings whatsoever. My daughter weighs 115 pounds, but she’s eating the same meals I’m eating – plus other things as well. She’s thoroughly enjoying the plan. We are eating great! There will be more recipes coming.

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Zero-Point Instant Pot Chili

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Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey, 99% lean

1 14-oz can pinto beans

1 14-oz can kidney beans

1 onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1-1/2 cups chicken broth (I use Kitchen Basics unsalted)

1 6-oz can tomato sauce

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes

1 small can green chilis

1 Tbsp cumin

2 Tbsp chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Spray Instant Pot with Pam spray. Brown ground turkey. Add all other ingredients. Cook 35 minutes on manual setting.

My whole family loves this, and it’s zero points on Weight Watchers Freestyle.

 

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I’m So Out Of Shape

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Since starting my doctorate in 2015, I’ve become quite sedentary. I’m no spring chicken either. Today, I started the 30-day free trial of BodyRock.TV. I attempted the beginner day 1 boot camp video. It said it’s for people who have never exercised, the elderly, after surgery, that type of thing. I’m both proud and disgusted to say I finished the first 100 seconds of the video. That’s like 1 minute 40 seconds.

I have visions dancing in my head of perky elderly people finishing the warm-up and the day 1 boot camp. Pft. It’s okay. I’m going to finish the whole video today…in 100 second sessions. I can do this. Oh yes I can! Just because the name of the video has day 1 boot camp in the title doesn’t mean I can’t just stay on day 1 until I ace it because I know I’m not going to work up to day 30 in 30 days.

To give myself a little credit, I’ve been trying to walk or cycle 10,000 steps per day and do a few body weight exercises on the Challenger Bars. It’s just that hopping around is a little out of my league right now.

Tonight, I’m making zero-point chili for dinner. It’s my own special concoction. I’ll post the recipe this evening or tomorrow. It’s a good dinner for these below-freezing temperatures we’re having.

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Is This Right?

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The Weight Watchers Freestyle program allows a lot of daily and weekly points, in addition to all the zero-point items. Since starting on December 31st, I’ve been eating a lot of the free items, so I have a lot of leftover and weekly points. I’ve been completely satisfied each day and have had no cravings whatsoever.

Since eggs are zero points now, I decided to make myself a special sandwich. It reminds me of the Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast sandwich. I used a whole-wheat sandwich round spread with one tablespoon of light I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. I cooked three slices of bacon on my indoor grill and two eggs cooked with Pam spray and a little salt and pepper.

Now don’t get me wrong…this is a high-point meal. I counted three points for the bread, five for the bacon, and two for the Light I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. That’s a grand total of ten points…ten extremely delicious points.

Here’s the thing…today is the point where I would normally be hungry, craving all kinds of things, and likely to cheat. That sandwich tasted like heaven. I’m completely satisfied, have no cravings, and as far as I can tell this is completely on the Weight Watchers Freestyle plan. I guess we’ll find out at weigh-in time Saturday.

Truly, if I can eat like I have been this week and see one to two pounds a week weight loss then this is something I can maintain for life. I had turkey breast and gravy last night. I’ve never had gravy on a diet before.

Is there a retro dietary shift going on?

When I was younger, I ate like this and weighed 115 pounds. Sure, things are different at my age, but I’m starting to think there’s a dietary shift back to the way we ate in the early 1960s. My parents always had a garden, and my mom worked in a grocery store produce department, so we had fresh fruits and vegetables all the time.

Am I misinterpreting the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program? Only time will tell. I can always readjust if I’m wrong.

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Taco Chicken Tenders

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Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken tenders

1 pkg Mrs Dash Taco Seasoning

1 T olive oil

Lime juice from 1 lime

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine taco seasoning, olive oil and lime juice in a large bowl. Toss the chicken tenders in the mixture. Arrange on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn over and bake for 10 additional minutes. Serve with yogurt dip, if desired.

6 ounces of tenders = 1 Weight Watchers Freestyle point

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BodyRock Challenger Bars

41HvCdSMFsL._SX425_After watching this video on a friend’s Facebook page, I decided I must have this. Body Rock Challenger Bars. It’s probably going to take a lot of work and patience for me to do this stuff at my age, but I’m going to give it my best shot. It will be several days before they come in. I ordered them from Amazon.

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Chicken Pozole

IMG_4096My daughter loves pozole. It’s usually made with pork, but she doesn’t eat pork, so I made some last night with chicken. It was out of this world delicious! I got the recipe from a friend, but tweaked it a little bit.

Since I’m gearing up for the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program starting January 1st, the good news is that this pozole is only two points. Those points are for the hominy and chicken broth. The chicken broth actually has zero points if you only eat one or two cups, so I’m a little iffy on whether this is one or two points…but it’s not much. I would have thought since hominy is corn that it would be free, but apparently it’s not.

This is good old comfort food. I would imagine it’s great for cold and flu season. I hear it’s also great for hangovers.

This recipe only makes about four servings. Next time I make it I will double the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients:

2 T pure ancho or Padilla chili powder
1 1/2 t salt
2 t dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
8 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb chicken – I used breast meat, but you can use whatever you want
1 (14 oz) can white or yellow hominy, rinsed and drained
1/2 medium white onion, chopped
5 cups unsalted chicken broth
1/8 t crushed red pepper
2 green onions, including 2 inches of green, chopped
1 T chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges

Instructions:

1. Bring chicken broth, chili powder, salt, oregano, and garlic to a boil. Add chicken, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is tender, about 1-1/2 hours

2. Remove chicken and shred.

3. Put shredded chicken into soup. Add the hominy, onion, and crushed pepper. Cook about 15 minutes to blend the flavored. Serve hot, sprinkled with green onions and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.