10 Things I Learned After 30 Days of Exercise and Our Menu Plan This Week

I stayed up late last night and didn’t want to get up early this morning. I knew that I would regret it and make myself do something later in the day. With yesterday’s storm it is hot and icky out, so out I went on a 75 minute walk.

Along the way I realized that I was at day 30 in my exercise program.

I MADE IT!

30 days ago I went on my first walk after setting an initial exercise goal that was based on a suggestion from Mike to walk 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week for 30 days.

What started off as a goal to walk 6 days a week for 30 minutes a day (equated to roughly 24 exercise days in a 30 day period) ended up being a huge transformation in my weight loss journey.

I did so much more than my initial goal. I walked (and ran a little) every single day of the last 30 days and averaged almost 50 minutes a day.

Who’s that girl????

I can’t believe she’s me!

Here are 10 things that I have learned about myself these past 30 days:

1. I look forward to getting out and moving everyday (even on the days when I am thinking that staying in bed sounds better). One day I did not get up, I thought about it all day long. It bugged me so much I walked when I got home that night even though it was 100 degrees.
2. I don’t just want to earn activity points so I can eat more. I haven’t even eaten any of my activity points. At this point in my weight loss and with as much as I have to lose, I don’t really need to eat the activity points. I have enough points to keep me satisfied.
3. I don’t just want to be thin. I want to be strong and dare I say it? Athletic.
4. I want to improve my pace and I focus on it almost everyday. Even though the road feels long  right now, I take the baby steps as victories.
5. I have experienced the result of something I ate or drink affecting my performance the following morning. I never paid attention to this before. It has made me drink a lot less alcohol, watch high sodium meals and eat less junk.
6. I know that exercise must be a top priority in my life, for the rest of my life. If I want to make the most of the rest of my life this is now a non-negotiable.
7. I want to run a 5K and I have signed up for one.
8. I want to run a half marathon (and who knows maybe even a full).
9. I want to do a triathlon.
10. I am not too busy to exercise. If I am committed to myself there is always time. It takes discipline to get to bed at night at a time that will make me pull myself out of bed in the morning. But, that is really the only best time to exercise for me to be consistent. If I am serious about losing weight (and I am) this is something I must make time for even if I have to ask for help with something to fit it in.

I am pretty proud of myself. I have never achieved any exercise related goal that I have set for myself in the past.

My next exercise goal is to incorporate strength training into my routine. I think I have finally figured out a plan and will start focusing on that this coming week. For me to be able to run, strength training will be very important. With the extra weight I am carrying right now, I can feel stress on my knees and hips when I run. In addition to dropping weight, I need to strengthen my body so it can handle the added stress running creates.

Transitioning from exercise now I am on to food. I thought I would start sharing our meal plan for the week.

On weekdays I keep breakfast, lunch and snacks pretty much the same for the week. It makes packing my food for work easier and I always have a good idea where I stand with points for the day that way.

We try to only cook once or twice Monday – Thursday and really try to keep it balanced between trying new things and eating our normal staples to keep it easy.

I shared links for recipes from other sites, and some meals are our own recipes. I will try to post some of those throughout the week.

BREAKFASTS

Sunday

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

Simply Potatoes Southwestern Hash Browns

Bacon

Wheat Toast

Orange Juice Spritzer

Monday

Breakfast date at Good Egg with Mike after dropping off the kids

Tuesday – Friday

Berry Yogurt Granola Crunch

LUNCHES

Sunday

Sourdough bread w/ Laughing Cow Lite Cheese Wedge

Monday – Friday

Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine Frozen Meal

Small Plum

Medium Peach

Grape Tomatoes

MID-DAY SNACK CHOICES

Hard boiled egg and fruit

Carrots with ranch flavored whipped cream dip

Weight Watchers string cheese and fruit

Light Wheat Toast with Laughing Cow Lite Cheese Wedge

DINNERS

Sunday

Grilled Cheesy Burgers with sautéed onions/mushrooms

Kale Chips

Grilled Corn on Cob

Monday

Grilled Salmon

Bacon Mashed Potatoes

Grilled Eggplant and Squash

Tuesday

Grilled Salmon

Bacon Mashed Potatoes

Grilled Corn on Cob

Salad w/ Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Wednesday

Crock Pot Beer Chicken

Brown Rice

Cheesy Broccoli

Salad w/ Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Thursday

Crock Pot Beer Chicken

Brown Rice

Cheesy Broccoli

Salad w/ Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Friday

Mexican Pita Pizza

DESSERT CHOICES

Cherry Lime Sherbet

Banana Pumpkin Smoothie

Skinny Cow Low Fat Ice Cream or Bars

I’ll be posting last week’s weigh-in results shortly.

What Happens When You Don't Get Up Early To Exercise?

This is what happens to you when you don’t get up to walk early in the morning when you live in the desert.

Monday morning I was tired and sore from a weekend of painting. We were sleeping on the family room couch while the paint smell dissipated from our room. When the alarm started going off at 5:00 a.m. I kept hitting snooze. Finally at 5:30, I decided that I could take one day off. That couldn’t be bad, right? It wouldn’t throw me off my routine. In my sleepy head it sounded good.

Nicholas woke us up 15 minutes later. So much for sleeping in. I should have went for a walk.

As the day went by, I was really mad at myself for not walking. I would have probably felt better and less tired if I had. By the afternoon I was looking at the weather and thinking it may not be too hot to go when I got home. I was even more mad at myself for not getting up that morning.

When I left work I called home; Mike was running behind after doing errands and shopping. He now had his hands full with the kids and getting a more involved dinner cooked (one that I had picked out to use up some of our veggies).  I felt really guilty for asking him because I knew he could use my help and I was leaving work later then I had planned. But I went ahead and asked him if he minded if I walked when I got home. I could tell he wanted my help, but he told me to go.

Even after I got home, I was feeling like I shouldn’t go, that I should stay and help him.

He told me to go. And I did, even though it was 100 degrees. I kept telling myself that the heat wasn’t really that bad by 7:00 p.m., and the air temperature really was not bad. What was worse was the heat coming off the asphalt in the streets. In the mornings the streets have cooled off and they don’t radiate heat. There were a few other people out in the neighborhood walking and running. If they can do it so can I.

At least Monday’s are my light day. Thirty minutes later I was done, and I could fill in that activity box again today. I didn’t have to look at the gaping hole in my workout tracker from a missed day.

I know that there will come a day where I will miss a workout. But I want that to be for a much better reason than not wanting to get up.

I have to admit that this is so out of character for me when it comes to exercise. Before, I would just blow it off and not think twice about it. Now, I thought about it all day long. I contemplated doing a video or riding the exercise bike instead where I could at least be comfortable in the air conditioned house. I guess there was a part of me that wanted to “punish” myself for not going in the morning when it was cooler outside.

Later that night, Mike admitted it wasn’t the best night for me to exercise after work. He said he was surprised but very proud of me that I wanted to go and followed through.

I was pretty proud of myself too.

Weekend Walking Cut Short By DIY Project and Ordering Take-out Twice In a Weekend

This past weekend we painted our bedroom. Since we wanted to get an early start, I did my normal neighborhood walks in lieu of the longer walks I have been doing on the weekends. Saturday I was out the door a little after 5 a.m. so I could get back home and pick up our veggies and fruit from Bountiful Baskets. This week I added the Italian vegetable basket for an additional $8.50. The fresh herbs alone would have cost a lot more than that.

I came home with all of this from our normal fruit and vegetable basket and the Italian veggies for a total of $25. Definitely not a bad deal at all, and it definitely tastes fresher than what we get at the store.

Saturday we started out with our bedroom looking like this:

We moved the furniture, prepped the room and painted for about 8-9 hours Saturday. I do all the cutting in and with 10 foot ceilings it is a lot of climbing up and down the ladder. The brown color is hard to cover and takes a coat of really good high hiding primer and 2 coats of high hiding paint to get it looking right. Saturday we primed and got a little over half of the room painted with the first coat. It poured rain in the afternoon, making the paint take longer to dry.

The alarm went off way too soon on Sunday morning after a night sleeping on the couch to avoid the paint smell. I was tired and sore from all the ladder climbing and furniture moving (we didn’t realize how heavy our bedroom furniture really was!)

As much as I didn’t want to, I dragged myself out of bed and headed out for a walk. The whole time telling myself I only had to do the short 30 minute walk. I was moving slower, and it was really sticky out from the rain on Saturday, but about 10 minutes in I decided to do the longer neighborhood walk. Although it was sticky, the sky and clouds were was beautiful and the neighborhood was blissfully quiet at 6:00 a.m.

We continued painting on Sunday and got the room put back together for another 7 hour marathon, finally finishing up around 5:00. I am sure I earned some activity points from all the work this weekend, but I didn’t track any of them.

After we were done our room was looking a lot closer to what I have envisioned. We still need to hang stuff back up and I have curtains to sew, but this will room will be one of the easier ones to finish.

We ordered take-out for dinner both Saturday and Sunday nights. I splurged on Saturday with Carrabba’s takeout having a Caesar salad and enjoying a little bread and olive oil along with the whole wheat seafood pasta with spicy marinara and some wine. I was glad I had saved my weekly points for this and that gave me room to splurge.

Sunday we ordered Jason’s Deli and they have a lot of lighter options so it was easy to stay within my points with a Mediterranean wrap and a cup of chicken noodle soup.

In the past I would not have made much of an effort to watch what I ordered on a weekend like this. Both nights when I was ordering I spent time looking over the menu and calculating points before I ordered. I was able to enjoy what I ordered guilt free, knowing I was staying on plan.

Now that’s a small victory worth smiling about!

Week 3 Results

Thursday, 7/12/2012 Before I get into this past weeks results, I want to talk about this morning. The alarm just came way too early. At 3 am I woke p to what sounded like Jackson playing with his alphabet toy. Then I realized he must have fell asleep with it in his bed and rolled on top of the buttons causing the toy to start talking. It was loud, but apparently he can sleep through anything and I can't. I didn't want to get out of bed and move it, so instead I listened to it and eventually fell back asleep.

It was enough to make the 5:00 am alarm way too early. I didn't want to get up. I was going to think about it through the 2nd snooze alarm. Then what do I do? I accidently turn it off when it starts buzzing. No snooze now. I have to get up. I don't want to get up. I finally make a deal with myself that I just have to go for 30 minutes today and not worry about how fast I go. Just go. Just get up.

Begrudgingly I did get up. I slowly made it out the door into the incredibly disgusting humid morning. And I walked, slow at first, but then picked up the pace some. I added an extra .25 mile to the walk but still kept it around 30 minutes.

I am so glad I didn't quit on myself and that I cut myself some slack. My workout plan is to walk everyday, with 1 or 2 light days. I had only had 1 light day each of the last 2 weeks. I needed to take the 2nd one this week. And that is okay.

Three weeks ago I would have slept in and said there is always tomorrow. Today I would not let myself quit, even for one day. And of course when I got back I felt good and was glad I went. Today was the first day since I started exercising that I didn't want to get up. I know it won't be the last, and that I will have this battle with my sleepy self again. But I need to keep fighting it.

I came into work this morning and committed to walk/run the 5K with some co-workers in November.

Now onto my weekly results and my ridiculous reaction.

I knew I should have a good weigh in this week. I had earned 58 activity points (yay me!) this week by adding a couple of longer walks and strength training to my normal walking schedule. I had been on vacation and ended the week within my points allowance, and I still did not use all my weekly points and did not exchange any activity points for food.

I felt good about my weighing in today, and expected a pretty good loss.

So why was I disappointed with a 2.2 loss? In the past when I have started a weight loss program within the first two weeks I would lose 4-8 pounds in a week. I have never incorporated exercise like I am doing now. And over the last 3 weeks I have lost 2.4, 1.8 and 2.2 pounds each week. Averaging slightly over 2 pounds a week.

That’s good right? So what is my problem. Why was I sitting there waiting for the meeting to start disappointed. Then I heard 2 ladies talking behind me. Both were really excited for their 2 pound losses for the week. And then it hit me how ridiculous I was being.

I should be happy with the loss. I didn’t starve myself to achieve it. I worked at it sure, but it wasn’t monumental effort. I know that a 1-2 pound average weekly loss is reasonable and healthy.

I got over myself by the afternoon and am now happy with my efforts. I just need to keep it all in perspective. If I keep doing what I am doing in a year from now I could be very close to my goal.

I took advantage of my vacation time and did a little more walking, racking up almost 21 miles this week. I also started my first day of working towards running and I got in a couple of resistance workouts.

Week 3 Goals:

Track my food and activity each day	Done
Beat the 18 activity point goal set for me by walking 7 days with at least 2 days at 60 minutes and 45 minutes on other days	Done
Manage my points for my long vacation weekend and more days of restaurant eating	Done

Week 4 Goals:

Track food and activity each day
Walk 7 days at least 45 minutes on 5 days
Manage points during painting days this weekend when we will order take out for dinner

Today I Ran and Plus Size Shopping Fun (Not)

Wednesday 7/11/2012

This was it. Today was as good of a day as any to start. I laced up my new running shoes from last nights shopping trip (more on that in a minute) and after 5 minutes of walking I ran my first interval.

I had read about the Couch to 5K training program and my plan is to ease into it. Today’s goal was to run 6 intervals. I didn’t have a watch to time myself, so I just did it based on running a block or to a distant light pole.

I ran 5 intervals for 30-60 seconds each. I will keep at this trying to increase the time and intervals to get to the week 1 starting point of the Couch to 5K  and then keep at it from there.

Now back to last nights shopping trip. After being completely ignored by the bored salesperson at The Walking Company I headed to Lady Foot Locker. They were helpful, but not I didn’t feel like they were super knowledgeable, making me regret not going to the New Balance store. They did indulge me at Lady Foot Locker in trying on several pairs of shoes until I found one that fit well and had the support I needed.

Next it was time to find an exercise bra. When you are plus size you don’t have many options for clothes, let alone specialty clothes that you can actually go to a store and try on. It’s pretty frustrating to walk by 10 stores that have what you need but not in your size. I pretty much hate clothes shopping and only do it a couple of times a year. I don’t really like to order clothes on the internet, because when you don’t like how they fit it is a hassle to return it and it can be expensive to ship.

I had checked Lane Bryant on line and saw they sold exercise bras. I had hoped that their specialty store, Cacique that specialized in bras would carry them.  But of course they did not. That would be too easy.

I had been to Target a few days ago and decided to take my chances with something there, until I could order something online.

I bought 4 different styles of exercise bras, hoping one would fit and have appropriate support. When I tried them on only 1 fit and provided enough support only if I wore it over my normal bra.

This is just further motivation to want to lose this weight. Never having to shop in the plus size section again is an experience I will not miss.

Tuesday 7/10/2012 Am I Too Fat To Run?

On my walks each morning I see several runners passing me by. Most of the blogs I read about health, weight loss and fitness, the authors are almost all runners. I enjoy my walks but I really have a desire to run. But, I have to wonder if at my weight is it too much on my body? One day last week I tried to run a very short distance to see if I even could. Well, I hadn’t contemplated that “the twin girls” were improperly supported. So I quickly stopped. I had the same experience when doing the 30 day shred video as well.

When I went back to work Monday, I found this e-mail in my inbox sent to several ladies in the office from my friend and co-worker, Christina, (who really inspires and motivates me to want to run):

You know you’re curious….can YOUrun a half marathon?  Last year at the women’s half marathon there were three women (from our office) who had never run a half marathon in their life and ran the race AND survived.  They didn’t have to be picked up by the street sweeper or carted off in an ambulance.  If they could do it so can you.

The race is November 4^thand starts in Scottsdale and finishes in Tempe.  Here are comments that I often get is

• “I can’t run that far”.  The good news is you don’t have to run the whole thing if you don’t want to.  You could run/walk the course and still enjoy yourself and get a finisher metal.
• “I can’t run even a mile”.  When anyone starts running they can’t run a mile either.  They run/walk and start to build up.  After a while one mile is easy and then three miles is easy.  With adding a little at a time, you build up so you can do the half marathon.
• “I’m not a runner”.  You don’t have to run the whole thing and can run/walk it.

Did you notice the “I can’t” and “I’m not’s” in the statements above?  You’ll surprise yourself when you say “I Can”.

If you want to participate but a half is too far, there is also  5K race (3.1 miles).

I love talking about running so if you’re considering it (even if you think it’s a super farfetched idea) talk to me or Trisha, Julie, Angelica, Jessie, Cheryl and Anne, all who ran a half marathon within the last year.

The seed was planted. But the question still remains, am I too fat to run? Will I do some kind of damage to my feet, knees, or other body parts. I don’t want to get hurt and be prevented from exercising.

So I did what I always do when I want to know more about something. I “googled” it:

I read several articles, blog posts and message boards. I found many people that had started running when they had about the same amount of weight to lose. So if they can do it, I can try it right? I know to start slow, stretch, give my body time to recover.

But I will never know if I don’t try. And if I have a 5K to shoot for, maybe that’s the push I need.

Lots to think about, but the wheels are spinning.

Monday 7/9/2012- Adding Strength Training

Today it was already time to get back to work, 5 days off were just not enough. It’s really heating up and getting humid too. It was 91 degrees when I left the house this morning at 5:30 a.m. I was really glad it was my light day.

I was at least rewarded with this beautiful sky. I am sure we are going to be getting some monsoon storms soon the way the weather has changed up in the past week.

I knew that I would need to add in some strength training into my exercise program eventually. When I started exercising again Mike and I talked about just easing into it the first month – walk 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. That lasted a week and my desire to exercise increased to a level I have never experienced. I wanted to do more, so I started walking longer and faster. It’s now time to add in some strength training to my routine.

I remembered my online friend Vanessa doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred so I checked into it. I liked that it had 3 levels, so I could have a beginner place to start. The workouts are 20 minutes so it should be easier to fit it in, too.

I can not remember the last time I really made any effort to do any type of strength training. Since the boys were born about the best I have done is walking, but without consistency. I never got into a groove long enough where I felt ready to add the next step.

Target had exercise stuff on sale this week so I headed over to see what they had and picked up Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and For Beginners DVD’s.

When I got home I thought I would watch the 1st level of the 30 Day Shred DVD and see what I was in for. Then I figured if I am going to watch it I may as well put my shoes on and try to do it. Jackson (my 3 year old) was there jumping on his trampoline in support of me  while I was doing attempting jumping jacks and jump rope.

I survived, had a good stretch after incorporating the foam roller. I missed using one of these things, it really helps ease tightness in the muscles.

I accepted that I have a long way to go to get through Level 1. But that’s okay. I have to start somewhere and if I keep at it, it will get easier.

Sunday 7/8/12–Road to Walking and Weight Watcher Friendly Butcher Cut Burgers with Garlic Herb Oven Fries

While on vacation these past few days I have taken advantage of the early morning time and done a few longer walks.  I try to get out early since it has been in the mid-80’s when I leave the house. It heats up fast in the desert and the morning sun is just as tough on you as later in the day. Saturday I went a longer way to and from the canal and walked north, that added distance made my longest distance since I started clocking in at 4.44 miles.

Saturday afternoon on my way back from the grocery store I drove by the canal south of us to see if it was paved. It looked like it was, so I headed that way on Sunday morning. Resulting in my longest and furthest walk at 5.57 miles.

Along the canal going south there were goats...

And golfers....

I was pretty tired when I got back. It was in the upper 80’s during my walk; it was cloudy, but that also brought more humidity. At least I remembered the water bottle today.

One area I feel like am struggling in is my walking pace.  Adding distance hasn’t been that hard to do, but getting myself to move faster has been a little bit of a struggle. I didn’t start using Runkeeper to track my walk time/pace until July 1, so I don’t know exactly what my pace was when I started in June. My guess is probably 21/22 minutes, but I also know I wasn’t really pushing myself.

When I started walking in June all I cared about was getting outside every morning and walking for 30 minutes. Then last Saturday I decided to walk the canal. I saw a lot of other walkers, runners, and bikers out on the trail and it changed something in me.  Every day since then, getting up has been easier. I am excited to exercise every morning. When I started tracking my time/distance/pace I wanted to push myself harder.

I’m not quite sure who this “want to exercise” woman is inside my brain, but I plan to keep her around.

I suddenly am looking for a bike on Craigslist and trying to figure out how much weight I need to lose before I can safely attempt running.

Right now making the lifestyle changes I need to by following Weight Watchers and being active is coming naturally. I plan to continue to build on that, as I intend for this to be a permanent change and a new way to live the rest of my life.

While I have been on vacation Mike and I have done a lot of cooking.  We tried 2 recipes from the July Cooking Light magazine on Friday night. We made Butcher’s Cut Burgers and Garlic Herb Oven Fries. Both were absolutely divine. We also grilled mango slices brushed with balsamic vinegar but that was a bit of a miss.

The burger was delicious with pickled onions, dressing for the lettuce and the little bit of bleu cheese that packed a lot of flavor.

Butcher’s Cut Sliders – Cooking Light – 5 WW PointsPlus per slider (8 servings)

The serving size per the recipe is 2 sliders, which would be 10 points. We made them as small hamburgers, so I adjusted the points accordingly (small bun and 2 1/2 oz. patty was 9 points).

The garlic fries reminded me of the ones we had at a San Francisco Giants game and the kind they serve at Gordon Biersch, but these are Weight Watcher friendly. They are definitely the best oven fries we have ever had and they were as close to the real thing as I have ever made. I think the trick was the size of the fries. They are about 1/4 inch slices. Also, high heat and turning them half way through the baking time. I do recommend spraying your baking sheet with cooking spray to minimize sticking at this point. We had a few burned fries that I threw out, but most of them came out perfect.

Garlic and Herb Oven Fries – Cooking Light – 4 WW PointsPlus (6 servings)

The meal felt like an indulgence, but for a lot less points than eating the same at a restaurant. It just proves to me that it isn’t hard to eat better, it just takes a little effort at times.

Saturday 7/7/2012 - My Favorite Banana Pancakes (and They Are Only 1 PointsPlus Each)

I was up early to pick up our produce from the Bountiful Basket co-op at 6:00 a.m.  After I got back home I headed out for a long walk. I walked the canal again this morning, but changed my route to and from the canal in order to increase my mileage. I ended up walking for 90 minutes and covering almost 4.5 miles.

While I was walking I was thinking about making a big fruit salad for us to munch on over the weekend from the fruit that we didn’t eat up from last weeks produce basket.

When I got home, Mike had put away this week’s produce and had just thrown most of last week’s leftover fruit in the trash. WHAT!!!

I rescued most of the fruit washed it up and got chopping and conned Mike into making pancakes for breakfast.  We still had a bunch of strawberries, some grapes, cherries, a cantaloupe, a mango and some nectarines left from last week.

It turned into this beautiful salad that we could munch on all weekend.

I skipped syrup on my pancakes and ate them with the fruit instead. I didn’t even miss the syrup.

A few years ago we used to make a version of these pancakes that came from a recipe on the Bisquick box called Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes. Somehow we lost the recipe and couldn’t find the same one on the internet and it was no longer on the box. Mike made several different kinds of pancakes until we finally hit on this one (recipe below).

Last weekend I had vetoed pancakes because I was sure they would be too many points; and I wouldn’t be able to stop eating them when I should. But, this morning I decided that pancakes too must be able to fit into my plan, so I asked Mike to make them.  Then I went to put them into e-tools; we counted how many pancakes the recipe makes and I was so happy to find out they were only 1 point each!

Yippee!

I love when that happens!

[gmc_recipe 418]

Friday 7/6/2012 - Dining Out When the PointsPlus Value is Not Available

We have been on a “stay-cation” since the 4th. Even though we are not traveling, we have gone out to eat far more than normal. I have spent time the last couple of days figuring out how to enjoy our meals out and stay on plan. I have increased the exercise each day, but I don’t want exercise to be an excuse to eat more. Instead, I am taking this opportunity to learn how I can make better choices when going out to restaurants where the PointsPlus value is not easily available.

Even though I am off of work, the boys still had summer camp in the morning. Mike and I took advantage of this and went out to breakfast at the Good Egg on Thursday morning. This restaurant at least makes it easier to make better choices by listing the calories on the menu and identifying Dr. Oz approved meals.

After settling on the Krabby One Crepes I snapped a picture of the menu so I could figure out the points when I got home. This also seems like a good deterrent even if you are not following an eating plan. They list the calories for every entrée and menu choice, not just the healthy options.

My meal also came with 1 slice of toast and a fruit cup, so I snapped a picture of the sides menu too.

My meal came and it was yummy and satisfying.

When I got home I estimated the points by using CalorieCount.About.com to plug in the crepe ingredients and get as close as possible to the calorie count on the menu. Then I used the resulting fat, fiber, protein and carbs to calculate the PointsPlus value.  The entire meal was 7 points including 1 teaspoon of butter for the toast.

That afternoon we took the boys to see Madagascar 3. I meant to make my own popcorn before we went, but completely forgot until I was in the car. I looked up the points for movie popcorn using the Weight Watcher mobile app and figured I could use some of my weekly allowance points for popcorn. I ended up eating more than I probably should have and spent 13 points for 10 cups.

For dinner that evening we went to BJ’s Brewhouse. We eat at this restaurant a lot, so a couple of weeks ago I sent an e-mail through their website and requested the nutritional information. I had to request the nutritional information for a California restaurant, because BJ’s only provides nutritional information in certain states, Arizona is not one of them.  I figured that it would be a close enough guide to help me make better choices when we eat there. The nutritional information only provides calories, saturated fat, sodium and carbs so I still didn’t have enough information to calculate the PointsPlus value without extra work.

I knew from the menu I had received that the calories in a flatbread pizzas were 100ish calories a slice. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Pesto Flatbread which had 94 calories a slice.

The flatbread was cut in 8 pieces, of which I had 4. This picture is of half of the flatbread.

Again when I got home I had to use CalorieCount.About.com to estimate the points. The flatbread and pesto sauce were the biggest point grabbers. For half of the flatbread my estimated PointsPlus value was 12 points, which based on the calories and the ingredients, seemed like a reasonably close estimate. I also had a BJ’s LightSwitch Lager which their menu said was 135 calories. I used another beer that I knew was similar in calories and style to estimate the BJ’s light beer at 4 PointsPlus.

At the end of the day I had used 4 points from my weekly allowance. I was very pleased with my choices, although I should have eaten less popcorn. Next time I will make Jackson and his popcorn sit on Mike’s lap instead of mine. Maybe that will make me less tempted to graze on popcorn through most of the movie.

On Friday, Mike and I decided to go out to breakfast again after we dropped the kids off at summer camp. We went to Paradise Bakery, again another restaurant with no nutritional information and in this case no calorie information anywhere that I could find.

This meal was pulled off by choosing wisely and modifying my order a little. I did check out the menu before we went so I could formulate a plan.

I ordered the Vegetarian Omelette and a nonfat sugar free iced latte. The only modification I made was ordering the omelette with egg whites. Based on the size of the omelette I estimated that it had 6 egg whites; after determining all the other ingredients my estimate for my meal was 8 PointsPlus. I used a similar Starbucks iced latte to estimate my drink points and plugged all the ingredients for my omelette into e-tools to estimate the PointsPlus values.

Dining out can definitely be more of a challenge if the restaurant is not listed on e-tools or in the Weight Watchers dining companion guide and if the nutritional information is not available or incomplete.  In preparing to go out this often in a short period of time, I followed the tips I talked about in my post about eating at Baja Fresh (Monday – 7/2/2012 – Baja Fresh Do-Over – My First Meal Out on Weight Watchers).

I knew I needed to figure out how to make it work, because this isn’t a temporary plan I am on it is something I will need to sustain for the rest of my life. Going out to eat with my family is part of that life, so the extra effort is definitely worth it.