I lost a pound today!

But I'll be gaining it back shortly.  I gave the gift of life today - I donated a pint of blood!  The last time I donated I brought my boys with me and they were so worried that I would die because of giving away my blood!  Now that they know I won't die they're all for it!  Grayson was even the little bird on my shoulder reminding me that I had mentioned doing that today.  Makes you feel good & I'm glad that my boys see me as being a role model - they're already asking when they can donate!

So, yesterday I brought my boys cross country skiing - and I've just got to say - it was not fun.  :(  I was really looking forward to it, but it was Preston's first time & Grayson's second time - so, the intense cardio workout I was looking for didn't really happen.  In fact, I just got cold!  :)  The boys did a really good job, but they were definitely ready to be done.  They wanted to go up hills & ski down them so bad - but they had a hard time climbing the hills so it just ended up being a bunch of yelling, screaming & complaining.  Not my idea of a fun afternoon!  I had packed a peanut butter & honey sandwich as a snack for after skiing. (Remember, I was supposed to burn all kinds of calories so the sammie was a treat!)  Well, I just ended up feeling guilty eating it!  But DAMN it was good!  This brings me to something I was thinking about the other day - activity points.

I don't keep track of them!

Why? You might ask!!!  Here's why.  First of all, I don't work out much at all.  Usually just dancing around the house with the boys, or taking a walk with the dogs.  So, the last 25 lbs of weight loss I've had has just been from diet - not exercise!  I think it's great that WW works without the exercise component.  My mom has bad knees & a relatively recently replaced hip.  It's painful to WATCH her walk around, and I can't even imagine how painful it is for her to walk.  She did a great job with WW when I first started.  We really helped each other a lot and she lost quite a bit of weight!  She totally fell off the wagon and has still managed to do a pretty good job of maintaining her loss.  She's gained a bit, but not much.  I'm hoping that she'll start doing WW again with me for a lot of the reasons that I'm doing it.  So she'll be around for her kids until a ripe old age!  Plus, it's wonderful to have the support of your family.  It's fun to swap recipes.  When she has her knee replaced this spring I'll be providing WW inspired meals for her to eat.  Since she'll be a captive hopefully I can get her started on counting her points again.  That is the biggest thing for me and why I think I'm able to lose weight - I've GOT to track my points!  Wow - I got totally off topic, eh?

Back to Activity Points....  My philosophy on Activity Points is this:  If you don't track them you'll lose more weight!  Unless you're some crazy marathon runner (and honestly - we wouldn't be doing Weight Watchers if we were, right???) I don't think you need to 'replenish' your burned activity points with food.  I think once I start back at the gym I'll definitely see a faster weight loss because of this.  I'm not gonna' track them at all!  I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and get to goal faster!  WOOT!

So, here are my food logs for the last two days.  I blasted through way too many points today using the excuse that I donated blood and I needed to eat.  BUT - I DIDN'T need to eat almost an entire package of Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies (LOVE THEM!) and an oreo! (And a turkey & mustard sandwich)  Oh well, I had the points and I used them.  I just hope that I didn't cause too much damage.  I'll jump back on the bandwagon tomorrow with oatmeal for breakfast, a homemade Weight Watchers pizza for lunch & cranberry pear chicken for dinner.  Clementines & grapes for a snack and I'll be good to go for weigh in on Saturday morning! <----- That looks suspiciously like a PLAN, doesn't it??!?!?


Wed 2/23  Total PP:  39
Breakfast:
     Jenn's Oatmeal w 1 c. raspberries (5 PP)
     Jenn's Coffee (2 PP)

Lunch:
     4 Tortilla Chips (2 PP + 10 squats)
     2 Small Clementines (0 PP)
     1 serving Mac 'n Cheese (8 PP)

Dinner:
     1 1/2 c. Arugula, 2 c Spring Mix (0 PP)
     3/4 oz. gouda (2 PP)
     1 T. maple syrup w/ balsamic vinaigrette glaze (1 PP)
     3 oz. pork loin (4 PP)

Snacks:
     1 T. organic peanut butter (3 PP)
     1 T. honey (2 PP)
     2 slices hearty oat nut bread (6 PP)
     1 1/4 oz. chocolate covered cherries (4 PP)

Thurs 2/24  Total PP:  40
Breakfast:
     Jenn's Oatmeal w/ 1 c. raspberries (5 PP)
     Jenn's Coffee (2 PP)

Lunch:
     1 c. Lamb Mango from Indian Restaurant (7 PP)
     1/2 c. basmati rice (3 PP)
     1 Naan bread (5 PP)

Dinner:
     2 c. spring mix, 1 c. arugula (0 PP)
     1/2 oz. gouda (1 PP)
     4 oz. pork loin (6 PP)
     1 c. blueberries (0 PP)
     1 T. maple syrup w/ balsamic vinaigrette glaze (1 PP)

Snacks:
     1 Oreo Cookie (1 PP)
     5 Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies (5 PP)
     2 slices turkey (1 PP)
     2 slices whole wheat bread (3 PP)
     4 clementines (0 PP)
     1 c. smart pop kettle corn (0 PP)

These 2 days leave me with 10 extra points to use for the week, so I shouldn't be freaking out at ALL about my last 2 days of eating - even though I went over my daily points by 10 & 11 points, respectively.  All in all I have eaten very healthy foods.  Having a peanut butter & honey sandwich on whole grain bread is NOT the end of the world - and it is actually a very healthy snack!  The cookies are totally an anomaly - not at all what I usually eat!  I also ate out for lunch today with Grayson.  That kid LOVES Indian food!  So we had a mother / son date today.  Lunch, Movie (Gnomeo & Juliet - very sweet!), Neat Repeats (second hand store), used book store, donated blood then picked up Preston from his play date.

We'll, I've got a wicked headache tonight (I hope it's not from donating blood) so I'm gonna' go.  PLUS - Scott just got home!  Looks like I'm getting to bed early tonight!  ;)