Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 271.4
This week's weight: 271.4
Change since last week: 0
Total pounds lost: 21.6

So no change is better than a bad change, right?

I've started to get that walking itch. As I've said before, I really haven't been doing any exercise at all. I've been focused on getting my food right for so long, plus work has just about consumed me. So exercise has been spotty, at best.

But now, I'm ready to walk and get moving again. It's almost beautiful outside, so why not? Maybe that'll help me push over this invisible barrier I seem to be battling.

TFF

Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 268.4
This week's weight: 271.4
Change since last week: +3.0
Total pounds lost: 21.6

I've been avoiding an update because I gained weight. I know that's wrong, but I was really upset. But I've convinced myself this is part of it. Up and down, up and down, up and up some more. Then back down.

I'm not happy, but I'm trying to use this encouragement as a reason to finally get back to working out - even if it's just walks around my neighborhood. But unfortunately, I'll be gone this week out of town, so unless I can find a gym or safe neighborhood, it'll have to wait.

But I'm ready. It's about to be spring. Gorgeous weather, calling my name.

On today's menu...

Kettle Cuisine Organic Mushroom and Potato Soup

Their site for this soup: here.

Their description: Savory mushrooms sautéed in butter, garlic and thyme are good. When combined with freshly peeled potatoes and finished with herbs and light cream, they become undeniably delicious.

Nutrition Facts
1 container has...
140 calories
8g of total fat
3.5g of sat fat
670mg of sodium
14g carbohydrates
4g dietary fiber
4g protein

First ingredient
Water

Ups
- It's a very nice-sized bowl of soup for only 140 calories.
- Very creamy texture. With lots of mushroom pieces.
- You get 10 percent of your daily calcium. And 8 percent of your iron!
- I can pronounce everything on the Ingredients list.
- It's gluten free (and vegetarian), which isn't important for me, but for some of you, it will be.

Downs
- It has 670mg of sodium. That's 28% of your daily value. But it's perfectly salted, so I didn't feel like I needed to add any for good flavor.
- I did feel like I needed something else simply because 140 calories isn't a lot in my diet plan. But a nice salad would have been perfect with this.
- 3.5g sat fat? Can't figure out where that's coming in. All the different oils, maybe? But 0g trans fat--that's good!

Taste
Excellent. Very hearty, earthy taste. Which is exactly what I want from a mushroom and potato soup.

Verdict
Try. Hands-down try! This is such a good soup!

Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 271.0
This week's weight: 268.4
Change since last week: -2.6
Total pounds lost: 24.6

I totally did a little dance when I got off the scale. My goal is to be to 265 by March.

I can do it!!!

Try. Don't try.

Lean Cuisine Macaroni & Cheese

Check out their site here.

Their description: Tender macaroni in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.

Nutrition Facts
1 package has...
290 calories
7g of total fat
4g of sat fat
630mg of sodium
41g carbohydrates
15g protein

First ingredient
Water

Ups
- For 290 calories, it's a lot of food - I couldn't finish it all.
- Very creamy texture.
- 15 grams of protein! Woohoo!
- I can pronounce just about everything on the Ingredients list. Except... phosphoric acid and disodium phosphate. And what's carrageenan?

Phosphoric acid - (info from wiki) Food-grade phosphoric acid is used to acidify foods and beverages such as various colas, but not without controversy regarding its health effects. It provides a tangy or sour taste and, being a mass-produced chemical, is available cheaply and in large quantities. The low cost and bulk availability is unlike more expensive seasonings that give comparable flavors, such as citric acid which is obtainable from lemons and limes. (However most citric acid in the food industry is not extracted from citrus fruit, but fermented by Aspergillus niger mold from scrap molasses, waste starch hydrolysates and phosphoric acid.)

Disodium phosphate - (info from wiki) Apparently it speeds up cook time???

Carrageenan - (info from wiki) Gelatinous extracts of the Chondrus crispus seaweed have been used as food additives for hundreds of years, though analysis of carrageenan safety as an additive continues. Since Carrageenans are extracted from plant matter, foods containing this additive are considered suitable for vegans. Also: Studies at the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, suggest that carrageenans might function as a topical microbicide.

Downs
- It has 560mg of sodium. That's 26% of your daily value, which... as I'm learning from research ...is an awful lot from one meal.
- One of the ingredients is being studied for its use as a sexual lubricant and microbicide. Really?

- Half of its fat content is from saturated fat.

Taste
It's a little underwhelming on the salt side, considering it has 630mg of sodium. But it has, overall, a good flavor. It's not a very sharp cheddar taste, but is instead a smooth cheesy flavor.

Verdict
Try.

If you like mac & cheese and want it fast or as a lunch option, why not? It's not terrible. Just... don't search wiki for the ingredients.

Try. Don't try.

In today's edition - Healthy Choice's All-Natural Entrees - Lobster Cheese Ravioli



Nutrition Facts
(for 1 meal)
250 calories
6g total fat
2.5g sat fat
0g trans fat
580mg sodium
37g total carbohydrate
4g dietary fiber
8g sugar
10g protein

First Ingredient
Semolina Wheat Flour

Ups
only 250 calories - a great lunch!
easy to cook, good instructions
for a packaged meal, the sodium isn't too high (580mg)

Downs
the vodka sauce was incredibly watered down
there weren't a lot of pieces of green and yellow zucchini

Taste
I know it says the ravioli is lobster, but it's more of a generic seafood taste, and not really a good one at that. The seafood taste is coming from lobster puree (lobster claw meat, corn starch, canola oil), lobster base {lobster meat, salt, maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, dried potato, corn oil, flavoring and space (paprika) extractive}, natural lobster flavor {yeast extract, maltodextrin, lobster meat, shrimp powder, pollock powder, whey powder, cream powder (cream, non fat milk, soy lecithin), salt, tapioca maltodextrin, potato maltodextrin, natural flavoring}.

What's pollock?
What's maltodextrin?

If not for the lobster part of this whole thing, it might actually be okay. But alas...

The verdict
Don't try.

It really wasn't satisfying, and I threw it away before I was finished. Nice try, Healthy Choice. I'm sure I'll find something I enjoy from you guys soon enough.

Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 273.0
This week's weight: 271.0
Change since last week: -2.0
Total pounds lost: 22

Yay! We're headed in the right direction again!

No thanks to the cupcakes and cake I made this weekend (of which I've had a total of two cupcakes in three days and I'm bringing the others to the office so other people suffer). :)

Dear colleagues, you're welcome. Love, TFF.

Also - New rule for February - Mountain Dew is a weekend-only thing in an effort to get to NO MOUNTAIN DEW!!!!!

I can do this, right?

Try. Don't try.

Lean Cuisine's Linguine Carbonara

Check out their site here.

Their description: Linguine pasta with savory bits of bacon, flavorful red and green peppers, peas and basil, all tossed in a creamy Parmesan sauce.

Nutrition Facts
1 package has...
300 calories
8g of total fat
2g of sat fat
590mg of sodium
43g carbohydrated
14g protein

First ingredient
Water

Ups
For 300 calories, it's a hefty meal
Only has 590mg of sodium, which is 25% of your daily value
Pasta isn't over done, has good texture

Downs
See below.

Taste
All I tasted was salt. The pieces of pepper didn't taste any different than the peas. It wasn't overly salty, as in I did finish the meal. But it was just one taste throughout.

Verdict
Neither up nor down.

I say - give it a try if you like quick meals that are still good. But if you're looking for big taste, let's find something else.

Try/Don't Try

I figured out a way I can share more of what I'm doing without weighing myself down with worry over letting you guys down if I don't update every single day.

Introducing - Try. Don't try.

I do tend to try a lot of new things as I'm looking to get away from my bad habits (spaghetti) and into newer ones (steamed veggies and lean proteins). I also try a lot of new products through my work.

So, during my lunch hours, I will update you guys on something new I've tried recently. It won't necessarily be every single day, but at least twice a week.

This way, I can share foods you should buy in the grocery and try (or not) and great recipes I've found (or ones to avoid).


So for the inaugural post of Try. Don't try.

Jell-O Mousse Temptations

Nutrition Facts (from Chocolate Indulgence)
1 snack has...
60 calories
3g of total fat
2g of sat fat
0g of sugar
2g protein

First ingredient
Water

Ups
Only 60 calories. Come on, how great!
Convenient and easy to carry in your lunch
Texture is very light, so those of you who are anti-pudding might still enjoy this

Downs
Sucralose - oy! how I hate artificial sweeteners.
Sat fat is kind of high for a product like this.

Taste
I tried all three flavors... Chocolate Indulgence, Dark Chocolate Decadence, and Caramel Creme ...and my favorite is hands down Dark Chocolate Decadence. But if you're not a dark chocolate fan, don't come near it. It speaks to my dark-chocolate-loving heart. Chocolate Indulgence is great, middle-of-the-road chocolate for everyone else. And while I don't like caramel as a rule, Caramel Creme wasn't all that bad. It is sweet, a little too sweet for me, but it was good.

Verdict
Try

Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 269.0
This week's weight: 273.0
Change since last week: +4.0
Total pounds lost: 20

We are NOT headed in the right direction. And I know what I did wrong. Last week was an incredibly, incredibly stressful week at work. Most nights I didn't leave until 8. So dinner was late, and when I get stressed, I eat. Eat whatever is in front of me. Last week it was nut mixes and lots and lots of Mountain Dew.

This week, I've made a vow to walk away form my desk no later than 5:30, go for a walk, decompress, eat well (no more late-night fast food), and get it back together as quickly as I can.

I can handle seeing that scale go up anymore.

Weigh-In Day

Last weigh-in: 266.2
This week's weight: 269.0
Change since last week: +2.8
Total pounds lost: 24


I promised myself I wouldn't be upset as long as I gained less than 5 pounds. Like I said last week, I had a stomach virus and hadn't eaten in several days when I weighed in. So to have lost almost 10 pounds and then only gain back 3? Well, I'll take it.

Here's to getting back to 266 very soon!

TFF

Small Victories

I think, in this battle, everything is about small victories.

One pound at a time.
One piece of cake turned down.
One extra set of stairs taken.

Today, I had a small victory.

I was able to put on my jeans without sucking in or doing that oh-so-familiar jean stretch dance.

Small victories.

TFF

Weigh-in Day

Last weigh-in: 275.8
This week's weight: 266.2
Change since last week: -9.6
Total pounds lost: 26.8

I wish I could say I worked for that almost-10 pound loss, but in reality, I had a stomach virus, and I haven't eaten in a few days (not to mention everything else that was in me coming out). So that 266 is almost certain to creep back up as soon as I'm able to eat again. But I guess, here's to hoping I'll return to it soon enough.

And if I don't creep up, YEAH GO ME!!!

I've spent the last few days thinking about my weight loss. I'm only sorta dedicated to it. I haven't seen a gym in a few months. I'm eating well, but not so well as to be honest enough about it. Yet, slowly and steadily I'm losing some weight.

Should I start updating more? Should I not? Should I keep track of my calories even though that tends to stress me out? How do I find the motivation to get into the gym? I've only been updating this once a week, to let you all know my weight. Should I do more? As a tool to keep me accountable?

Up until now, I haven't really had to give much up. I've just been chipping away at weight loss. But I'm wanting to get in charge of this. I want to be at the steering wheel, not just a passenger.

How do I do it?

TFF