I started the Challenge on Friday 1/1. Even though it's only been 5 days (I only weigh in once a week) I went ahead and weighed this morning for our weekly update.
I lost 2.8lbs in 5 days!!!!
The first few days were hard because I always seemed to be hungry even though I had just eaten. Then I decided I was eating the wrong things. I was eating what I would normally eat, just less of it because of the points value. So on Sunday I started looking for more filling foods and things with low point value so I could eat small "snack" meals throughout the day.
Here are a few things I have found that have helped me stay on my points:
Canned Chicken. The first time I saw it on the shelf I thought "Yuck! That can't be good!". But it is if you buy a good name brand and not the Wal*mart brand! Don't get me wrong. I love Wal*mart brand stuff, just not their canned chicken. I use Canned Chicken in many ways including Chicken Salad (2oz for 3 points because of the mayo) for sandwiches or on top of lettuce and many different Chicken Soups.
Bread. I buy Nature's Own Honey Wheat Lite. It's on the cheaper side for bread and it's only 1 point for 2 pieces!!! Ethan likes it too and that's one way I can get some wheat gran into his diet. I eat it sometimes for breakfast with 1T of low fat peanut butter (2 points).
Salads. Weather I have a salad as my main meal or as a side, I try to eat it at least once a day. I use a regular iceberg lettuce with some shredded cabbage added to it for filler and fiber. Elizabeth over at Baby Signs just wrote a post Top 10 Ways to get Fit after the Holidays and #9 is Focus on Fiber. Fiber does all kinds of thing good for your body including speeding up the transit time for food to go through your body. GoAskAlice goes into more detail about the benefits of fiber. The Weight Watcher Plan is based on getting lots of fiber in your diet. I use regular dressing because I hate most of the low fat stuff. I just put a little on and count it as 2 points.
Water. I have a hard time getting in all my water. I only drank one glass on the first day and two on the second. On the 3rd, I decided when I started getting hungry, I would grab a glass of water and drink it all before getting a snack. Most of the time when you feel hungry you are really just thirsty. It's not that I'm drinking other things besides water, I'm just not drinking anything.
Beans. Did you know that 1/2 cup of cooked beans is only 2 points? They are a filling food because of all the fiber. I made a bean chili (just beans and seasonings) in the crock pot and ate on these all week. I smushed them up and made bean burritos with salsa, ate them as dip with pita chip (homemade) and even ate them on top of my baked potatoes. You could use canned but it's so easy to make beans in the crock pot.
One of the soups I made was a Low Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup. I'm not sure where I found this at but I kinda made it up as I went along.
Low Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 cans Chicken Broth
1 can of water
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 can 12.5oz Chicken
1 can corn (I used frozen. Remember all that corn I cooked and froze (here and here)? I still have it, a lot of it! I don't think I'll have to buy corn until the summer when I can get the good deals on fresh corn again.)
1 can Black Beans (I cooked my own.)
1tsp cumin
1/2tsp chili powder
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp onion powder
salt and pepper
I was just thinking about it and you could also add a can of Rotel (tomatoes and chilies) to it.
Bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Add the rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover until rice is done. Add everything else and boil on med with lid off until the liquid has reduced a bit. This is really yummy! I counted it as 3 points for 1 1/2 cups.
The best thing about WW is that you don't have to deprive yourself of anything. Eli and I went to Sonic on Saturday and I got a Peppermint Blast and ate 1 cup (4 points) of it every day for 3 days! As long as you have the points you can eat what ever you want.
I hope you all had a good week on your Body After Baby Challenge! Don't forget to check out all the other Mama's @ Mama Notes.
10 comments:
Canned Chicken... I will have to look into that.. I also am finding it hard to drink lots of water.. Definately gotta work on that..
thanks for the soup recipe!! i was going to look for one today to use for some leftover chicken breasts. Great job this week!! look forward to more wt loss success!
Thanks for the great post!
Congratulations on the weight loss thats great for a week. Going to try the recipe thanks
I have a hard time drinking water, too. I try to put lemon, lime, or orange slices in it. Helps sometimes.
Congrats on the weight loss! You are doing great! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
;-)
Yea!!!!! WW is the only way to fly!! Ofcourse I would say that, seeing that I work for them!! I love the soup receipe. I will try it!!
Mom
I love the picture of our boy with all those teeth!!!
Girl, I LOVE canned chicken! It is such an easy, healthy, quick thing to add for protein!
Awesome job on the weight loss!
Ooooh good tip on drinking water before snacking when hungry! Will have to try that and pass it along to my MIL. I was trying to do something like that to eat healthier a while back- I'd eat something healthy before eating a cookie or whatever. =)
And YAYAYAYAY For the weight loss!
These are fantastic, yummy sounding food ideas. Thanks for sharing. (I've been cooking lots of beans this month, too, and they are so tasty, inexpensive, and satisfying!)
Congratulations on your initial weight loss! I'm working on that myself again; it's so much harder at 59!!
A salad dressing that isn't labeled low-calorie, but is, that I like is the dried tomato or roasted red pepper viniagrette by Kraft. You may remember we had some at the beach last year. It only has 60 cal./serving. I hate all low-fat dressings too, but I think this one is good bc it isn't made to taste like something else; it has its own flavor. Might be worth a try.
Vicki
Congrats on the wight loss, keep up the good work. I read that americans diets are seriously lacking fiber. I think it is extremely important to focus on fiber and non-processed foods. I have significanylt reduced the amount of processed foods I eat and by doing that alone, have lost weight. Of course, that means you have to do lots of cooking, but sounds like you have that covered!
Best of luck!
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