Year in Review

You know those letters people send to you in Christmas cards? The ones that tell you all about what happened that year? The ones that you can't stand? Well, this is my version.

At beginning of the year I was probably about 345. Here is a picture of me a month before I started Weight Watchers:

 

 And to think that I had lost about 45 pounds before this picture was taken!

This is me on Christmas Eve!

I've come a long way. I'm very happy with my progress and how great I feel!

This year I have accomplished the following things in regards to weight loss:

• I (of course) joined Weight Watchers
• I've lost 55 pounds 45.8 of them on Weight Watchers
• I'm able to sit on the floor indian style without having to support myself with my hands and need no help getting up.
• I am able to sit in the driver's seat of our vehicle exactly the way my 5'7" 175 lb husband left it.
• I am able to wear a winter coat and a seat belt at the same time.
• I went from a 30/32 to a 22/24
• I can bend over without having to spread my legs to make room for my gut
• My husband is having trouble identifying me when I walk out of work because I blend in so well
• I eat slower. It actually took me ten minutes to eat a Wendy's chicken sandwich once!
• I drink water all of the time.
• My skin looks great!
• I have so much more energy!
• I don't feel as crappy as I used to because I don't stuff myself so much
• I need a new belt because my 26/28 belt is as tight as it can go.
• I can sit in chairs more comfortably
• I'm no longer so self conscious in public
• Rode a roller coaster!<--- that's my favorite!
• I can fit in to almost every ride at Great Escape!
• I can put my laptop IN MY LAP!
• I can put my arms on the arm rests at the movies
• I can bend over from a seated position to pick up something off the floor.
• My wedding and engagement rings need resizing.
• I can slouch!
• I started this blog!
• I tightend the straps on my shoes

Looking forward to all of the milestones and changes to me in 2012! Thanks for reading! Looking forward to writing more in 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!

Weight Loss Tips

So since I have lost so much weight I seem to have become a weight loss guru to some people. Since the new year is coming I know a lot of people are going to be making resolutions to lose weight. So here are some weight loss tips.

First and foremost, know that I am not on a diet. I am changing my lifestyle. I am also changing old habits and how I look at food. I don't know why I all of a sudden snapped and decided to lose weight. I guess I just got sick of being so fat. Everyone has their own breaking point. You have to do this for yourself and your health. I do not believe in losing weight just to make someone happy or just to fit in to a wedding dress. You have to want this for YOU!

With that said, here you go:

1. Most of the time I drink nothing but water. I try to drink at least 64oz a day. If you don't like drinking tap water, there are plenty of drink mixes and flavored water out there. Make sure you get a zero calorie, sugar free or diet version. I don't waste a lot of points on sugary drinks, I can eat more that way. A large Wendy's Lemonade is enough points for a meal. I don't drink a lot of soda, even if it's diet
2. Eat small. As my leader says "Don't eat gobs, eat gobettes". You can always eat more if you're hungry. If you're putting food on a plate from a big serving spoon, use half of the serving.
3. Frozen meals can be great portion control. Meals like Healthy Choice and Smart Ones are great way to deal with portion control.
4. Get away from processed foods. If you eat something with little nutritional value you're bound to eat more of it. Here is a good article about processed foods.
5. Try new foods and experiment until you find foods that are good for you that you'd eat. I heart brussel sprouts and those are zero points on WW so I can eat lots of them.
6. Eat foods that are high in protein and fiber, they will leave you feeling fuller longer. My favorite way to get my fiber is Fiber One Chocolate and Oats bars. Fiber will actually reduce the amount of calories you absorb.
7. Portions portions portions! Here is a good article about portion control
8. Lower your carb (sugar, pasta, starchy veggies) and fat intake. On weight watchers one cup of regular spaghetti and a half a cup of sauce is a meal. I stopped going to Starbucks every Saturday to get a large hot chocolate. One of those is enough points for an entire meal and it's mostly sugar.
9. Take a daily vitamin.
10. If you are prone to emotional eating just keep telling yourself "Eating is not going to change anything or make anything better"
11. Make small changes, go from fried to grilled, regular to diet, normal cal to low cal, regular pasta to whole wheat, if you eat regular potato chips, switch to baked, etc. You'd be surprised how much of a difference that can make. One of the big changes I made was going from a foot long to six inch at Subway and not eating two cookies each time I ordered a sub. I still eat cookies from time to time. I can have an entire meal for the amount of points one Subway cookie is! 
12. Make changes slowly. One week you cut out fried chicken in favor of grilled. The next week you cut out regular soda. Keep on building until you change everything you can.
13. Learn to listen to your body and trust it when it tells you when you're hungry and full. Then, eat accordingly. You might be surprised how little food the body needs.
14. Eat as slowly as possible. It will make you feel more satisfied to enjoy and savor your food. The way I used to eat I barely tasted what I ate. It takes twenty minutes for your body to recognize it's full
15. Eat what you crave. I can eat anything on Weight Watchers. In fact, in the seven months I've been on the plan I have eaten four pints of ice cream and/or frozen yogurt. Each pint in one sitting. I still lost weight each week I did it. The last time I did that it was almost the only thing I ate all day because I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day and I didn't have a lot of  points left! One pint of Ben and Jerry's regular ice cream is a little more than three meals worth of points. Frozen yogurt can be half of that.
16. Follow the food pyramid, it's what Weight Watchers is based on:-)
17. Read labels! Sometimes it is surprising what is in food as far as fat, calories, carbs, etc. Servings is very important when you are reading labels too!
18. Eat on a smaller plate. Another thing you can do, if you can't get a smaller plate, is don't go over on to the outsides of the plate, that is the flat part on the outside of the plate that usually has decoration. Just keep it in the indentation in the center. For example, at a buffet leave spaces on your plate. If I get dumplings at a Chinese buffet, I put the dumpling sauce cup on my plate. I also like to leave a little air between my food
19. Downsize. If you get two or even three refills of a sugary drink at a restaurant just drink the first one and drink water the rest of the meal. If you go to a fast food restaurant and you HAVE to get fries, get a small. Etc.
20. Educate yourself. At one point in my 20's I lost a lot of weight after reading "Nutrition For Dummies" and changing what I ate. I also highly suggest "Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating" by Geneen Roth
21. Take stock of what you eat. Whenever I would go to an Italian restaurant I would gorge myself on bread, or worse, garlic bread, and even worse, garlic bread with cheese. I would also order Fettuccine Alfredo. Now, I will eat a few pieces of bread, equal to two slices of regular bread at max. I even dip it in oil! No more than a tablespoon though! I also eat spaghetti with marinara. If I get spaghetti with marinara I can eat more than if I could if I had Alfredo. One cup of Fettuccine Alfredo is equal to two cups of spaghetti with marinara when it comes to points.
22. Take really small bites. It will help slow you down.
23. Don't totally deprive yourself. Deprivation does not work! Just keep everything in moderation. If you eat a lot in one sitting then eat light the rest of the week or, god forbid, EXERCISE! People don't realize that skinny people can eat anything at any time. It's just a question of how much and how often they eat it and how they compensate for it the rest of the week.
24. Don't grocery shop when you're hungry. It's a money saving tip and a diet tip.
25. If you're hungry between meals, EAT! Just eat something small. If you go into a meal really hungry you'll eat more!
26. Eat your Veggies and fruits! They're high in fiber and *GASP* GOOD FOR YOU!
27. If you're at a buffet sit for a few minutes before you go back for more and I'm talking a good five minutes. Have a conversation or play with your cell phone if you have to keep yourself distracted.
28. At a sit down restaurant eat half of your food and bring the rest home
29. At a restaurant if you don't want to skip the appetizers, start with a salad or a brothy soup. They both can fill you up.
30. Underestimate when you're using things like butter, cream cheese and salad dressing. Think "use sparingly". Use the minimum! I used to glob on the cream cheese on bagels. Now I barely use any cream cheese. Start with a little bit and if you need more you can add it.
31. When you go out to eat, PLAN AHEAD! Most of the big chains have nutritional information on their websites. Menus are also available online for the big chains and even some mom and pop restaurants. For example, Panera has a meal planning gadget on their website.

I still eat fried food, I still eat ice cream, I still use regular butter and salad dressing. Just in moderation and not every day. My ultimate weight loss tip would be to join Weight Watchers. I can lose weight much faster with WW and my diet is more realistic than it would be when I was doing it by myself. The meetings are great support. too. I also love the tracking method. It's like a budget for what you eat! It really makes you think about what you eat. I suppose keeping a food diary can have similar results. You can still lose weight on your own! Good luck! Hope this helps.

Too fat for theater

I love theater. I have seen at least twelve productions on stage (professional, amateur, school, etc), that includes four on Broadway. I have participated in eleven different shows, either behind the scenes or on the stage. For 8 of them I was on the stage, I'm actually a retired community theater actress. Just can't handle the long hours and sleep deprivation that comes with doing theater anymore due to medical reasons. That might change when I lose all my weight but you never know. I do miss it. I've had the pleasure of working with many wonderful talented people over the years. That includes two people whom worked on the musical that Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman met at.

Anyway.

My headshot from the cast board in '06

I did some shows in Plattsburgh from 1987 - 1995 when I was younger, and thinner, and then I went on a unintentional theater hiatus. I really have no idea why.  My "Theater hiatus" lasted till 2006. In 2006 I was actually bigger then than I am now. Right now I'm 22/24 and back then I was a 26/28. The high end of a 26/28. That was when I landed the biggest role I have ever played. It was the lead female role in an Agatha Christie play and it was one of the villains. Boy, did I enjoy that! I had always wanted to be in an Agatha Christie play and I had always wanted a lead role. So, there I was playing a role of a lifetime. There was a part in the show where my character ran on to stage to have a conversation with her co-conspirator. Well, in the script it says that the character was supposed to kneel down next to the chair the co-conspirator was sitting in. Well. I couldn't do it. I could get down on my knee, but at my size, I couldn't promise the director that I could get back up without help. I thought making such an effort getting up would totally ruin the flow of the scene and even the character. Besides, the chair the co-conspirator in was a rocking chair. Kinda hard to pull yourself up on one of those. So, we decided to have me sit in the chair next to my conspirator. It was really embarrassing that I had to make that change and it was all because of my weight. I should have realized back then, but everyone has a different breaking point. Some never do.

Me in my costume for the last play I was in in 2007.
(I really don't like this picture.)

In the last production I was in it was requested that I skip.Well, more like a skip walk. That was near my highest weight of 385, probably about 360, in 2007. Yeah, you guessed it. I couldn't do it because of my size. It really shocked me that I couldn't do something as simple as skip! We worked that one out with the choreographer but it was still embarrassing.

Sadly enough, I know that after I lose the weight I will have better chances to get roles at a wider variety of places. Unfortunately that is how theater works.I know there are a lot of talented larger people out there, but thinner people usually get the better roles. I'm lucky to have performed with such a wonderful accepting, understanding group of  people. I hope to some day get back in to theater. I have few more dream roles I have yet to play! I think I'd make a great Miss Hannigan! ;)

Just a Note: Post Christmas Report and HELLO WORLD!

Before I start this post I wanted to say hello to all of my International readers! Hello to:  Russia, Germany, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Netherlands, New Zealand and Mexico!

So, I survived my first Christmas on WW. It wasn't easy. I felt like eating like crazy but I didn't give in. I'm sure once I get back in to the swing of the work week I'll be ok.  I did eat everything I wanted to eat!. I did not deprive myself in the least. I saved almost all of my weekly points for this weekend so I could eat my Mom's cooking when we went to Beekmantown. I even drank some alcohol

A few Christmas things you missed if you don't follow me on Twitter:

• I am now wearing a 22/24, the third size I have been in since I started WW in May. Also the same size I was when I was 22!
• I successfully sat comfortably on the floor(Didn't need to lean back to make room for my gut and support myself with my hands), even sat "Indian style". Also got up very easily with no help.

As a side note: I plan on writing at least one more blog post before the new year. Just not sure if it will be your run of the mill post or a "Year in Review"

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Reference Material

Partridge in a pear tree - Avocado because it is the "Alligator pear"
Two turtle doves - The Turtlezilla
Three french hens - French Canadian food.
Four calling birds  - Poultry
Five golden rings - Five Guys
Six geese a-laying - Eggs
Seven swans a-swimming  - Swimming
Eight maids a-milking - Milk
Nine ladies dancing - Dancing
Ten lords a-leaping - LOTR Recipes
Eleven pipers piping - Sanitary Processing Pipes (pipes for food processing)
Twelve drummers drumming  - Favorite foods of 12 famous drummers

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day: 12

I made it! I had intended to end on Christmas day, but found out halfway through that I was a day off. Oh well. Close enough

Anyway, "Twelve drummers drumming" was rather difficult. I considered doing something about durum wheat because that's close to the word "drum". Then, I was thrilled to find that Neil Peart the DRUMMER from the band RUSH had blog about FOOD! I was going to post a link to that and say Merry Christmas and leave it at that. Well, went to his official website Neilpeart.net and I've tried many times to find the "blog" but no luck. So....

Here are 12 famous drummers and their favorite Food and in some cases, drink.

• Rick Allen of Def Leppard : O'Douls; Diet Coke, Indian
• James Kottak of the Scorpions: Vegetable with Rice
• Tim Smith of the Killdares: Thai. He also loves his mom's gumbo which is made from his great grandma’s recipe
• Ringo Star (Do I really have to say "of the Beatles"?): Naan
• Tre Cool of Green Day : Sushi
• Steve Hewitt of Placebo : Italian
• Zak St John (who has played with the B-52's): Spaghetti and Meatballs.
• Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers(Hey, I'm equal opportunity) : Steak
• Roger Taylor of Queen : Japanese Food
• Don Henley of the Eagles: Can't find anything that is definitive but I did find a whole series of videos, 16 to be exact, based on making his favorite Fillet Mignon  
• Sean Drover of Megadeath - Japanese/Sushi
• Lars Ulrich of Metallica - Dry White Wine, Merlot Red Wine, Evian, tea. French food, tuna, sushi, frozen yogurt.

Well there ya go. I would have preferred to include other drummers but that is all I could find. I scoured the Internet for hours finding all of this. I hope you enjoyed my Twelve Days of Christmas series. Frankly I'm happy it's done. This writing everyday is for the birds even if this was written ahead of time and set to be published today. Well, if writing was my only job, I could live with that;-) However, I am looking forward to just going back to telling about my weight loss journey. I had to follow through because I'm so darned stubborn! Hahaha.

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve so...

Merry Christmas 
to all and to all a good night 

(or whatever you celebrate)

 

 

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day : 11

Only one more day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I hope you have enjoyed what I've written in the series so far. So, "Eleven Pipers Piping"...I thought this one was going to be easy. I was going to do cakes because icing can be used as "piping". I thought that might be rather difficult to write about. Thanks to Google, I love Google, I realized that pipes play an important part in food processing.

So, on the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...sanitary processing pipes. Yes it sounds boring but I've got video for you to watch because I'd probably bore you and myself writing about sanitary processing pipes. Enjoy.

Ice cream Factories:

I've been to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vermont many times, lots of pipes in the factory.  I couldn't find any footage inside the Ben and Jerry's factory so here is a video about how they make ice cream treats, which starts with making ice cream:

PS: I love "How It's Made"!

Milk processing plants:

Milk processing plants, lots of pipes. Note: this is an animation of milk processing that ultimately ends at "milk powder". If you want to covert Celsius to Fahrenheit just double the number and add 30. That will give you a rough estimation of temperature in Fahrenheit.

Beer breweries:

If you visit a brewery there are lots of pipes. Even microbreweries like Brown's in Troy NY have lots of pipes. Here is a tour of the Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware. Note: all the pipes. BTW, I'm a beer snob. I totally endorse Dogfish Head.

Cheese factories:

And cheese tanks use pipes.

It it weren't for pipes it would take forever to make our food. It would probably be pretty expensive too due to the supply and demand economic model. The more that is available the cheaper it is, the less the more expensive it is. It's the little things that we never think of that help make our food everyday like the farmers, drivers, factory workers, and even equipment. It it weren't for them our food would be pretty boring and hard to get.


Oh and BTW, since it is the "Twelve Days of Christmas", lets go back to my original idea. Here's a video about piping icing on gingerbread houses;-)

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day : 10

"Ten Lords a leaping"

Well, I had started a post about bread because when someone is leaping they RISE into the air. Then I got annoyed and quite bored with it. I needed to be more creative. However, I'm going to cop out and be creative at the same time.

Be warned what I'm about to say may offend many some people....

I'm not a big fan of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. I've tried watching all three and I just don't get it. I loved the movie "The Hobbit" when I was a kid. I even had the book and record but the LOTR movies I just don't get. My thoughts about those movies are best summed up with this quote from the movie "Clerks II".

"There is only one return, ok, and it ain't of the king it's of the Jedi"

I considered posting a video of the "LOTR scene" from Clerks II but I didn't want to offend anyone. If you'd like you can go to You Tube and look up "Clerks II LOTR scene" and it will come up. Beware, there is lots of swearing, some sexual references and vomiting. The vomiting grosses me out but it's still my favorite scene in the movie.I actually cheered during that scene in the movie theater. What can I say? I love Kevin Smith movies. He's a very funny and intelligent guy. Ok, now the offensive part is done.

With that said. I found some LOTR recipes online. So here ya go. Enjoy.

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day : 9

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Dancing, This one was easy too. "Nine ladies dancing"

Dancing is so much more than just something you do at a club, wedding reception or school dance.  It's been around since prehistoric times. Back then it was used as a part of ritual and storytelling. Today it is still used as self expression, art, tradition, worship and celebration. I'm sure there are some categories I may have left out. There is dance in just about every culture in the world. It can be as conservative as the geisha dancing in Japan all the way to exotic dancing in strip clubs. It is really one of the things that ties us together as humans.

Dance is of course a very good exercise.Many stars who have joined the cast of "Dancing With the Stars" have lost a lot of weight.

Kelly Osbourne - 40 pounds
Jane Seymour - 20 pounds
Jennie Garth - 10 pounds
Lil Kim - 20 pounds
Kristie Alley - 30 pounds
Marie Osmond - 31 pounds
Erin Andrews - 10 pounds

I love the show "Dancing With the Stars". I am so thrilled that ballroom dancing has come into the forefront of American culture. This is one of the best dances from this past season, they scored a nine and two tens:

Dancing was a big thing during the Golden Age of Hollywood.  Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, and Donald O'Connor come to mind. One of the most famous dance scenes from the golden age of Hollywood is of course "Singin' in the Rain" with Gene Kelly:

I love to dance. I used to take dance lessons. Here are pictures of me in two of my many costumes. The first one I posted before. Both are from the same show. The left one was "Just a Giggalo" by David Lee Roth and the second one is "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. You can tell the one of the left was before the show and the one on the right was after the show. I'm not smiling in the right one because I'm tired and my face is all sweaty and my make up is runny!  

I started off with tap and then moved on to Jazz. Both of the above pictures are from my Jazz days. One of the biggest regrets of my life was dropping out of dancing. That was about the time I started packing on pounds. As I got fatter it got more difficult to dance in public because at one point I couldn't move very well. I thought I looked like a total dork dancing at my highest weight. Now I can move quite well. I am not afraid to get on the dance floor now. Too bad my husband isn't a dancer.;)

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day: 8

On the eight day of Christmas my true love gave to me....Milk

Got milk?

I was totally offended by my public speaking professor when I was in my Freshman year in College in 1991 when said milk is bad for you. What?  I come from a rural part of New York where there are loads of dairy farms. I can't imagine how it could be bad for you. So I took on that argument for this blog post. I read a few articles and with exception of the antibiotics and the RGBH hormones I don't see what's so bad about Milk.

Heck, I've drunk unpasturized milk and lived to tell about it! Yes! When I was married to my first husband we'd go see his folks in Vermont, they had a dairy farm. They always had unpasturized milk in the fridge. It was all they had in the fridge for milk. I loved it! I actually miss that! Granted, there were times when you'd see stuff floating in the milk, but I drank it and lived to tell about it. There's nothing like fresh milk practically from the cow itself.

I used to work for Stewart's, it's a New York and Vermont Chain of gas stations/conveience stores/ice cream shops. Not to be confused with the Stewart's soda company or Stewart's drive ins that are very popular in New Jersey. Our Stewart's gets milk from local cows, they're based in Saratoga NY. According to their site's FAQs they test their milk for antibiotics. I didn't know that when I worked there. Then again I didn't work there very long. However, it's good to know. I like to support local before I support big conglomerations anyway. One thing I did learn working there is that they add non-fat milk solids to their skim milk so it looks and tastes more like higher fat milks. That would be why their skim milk is so awesome.

Speaking of  supporting local businesses, there's a legendary smokehouse in Warrensburg, NY. You could almost consider them in the capital region. They're just barely north of Lake George. They use nothing but New York milk. People drive from miles around just to get their cheese and meat. I haven't had their meat, but then again this is a post about milk. The cheese is amazing. Hubby and I love cheese and Oscar's is among the best. I recommend the smoked gouda. You can order online from their site here.


 Ben & Jerry's only use Vermont milk that is not treated with RGBH. They also only use fair trade ingredients and cage free eggs. Good to know that even though they are owned by a huge corporation now they still cary on the same traditions as the original founders Ben and Jerry themselves. As a side note I once saw Ben Cohen in Burlington Vermont on the Church Street Marketplace. I saw him walk into a bookstore. I had to meet him so went in the bookstore. I approached him and said "I love your Ice cream" and he totally didn't even acknowledge me. He walked right past me. Don't think Jerry Greenfield would have done that. Regardless. I still ate their ice cream and I still do to this day. My favorite flavor is Mood Theraphy which, thank god, is only available in scoop shops. 

For those of you who are lactose intolerant, there are many alternatives to cow's milk:
   

• Almond Milk
• Hemp Milk
• Oat Milk
• Rice Milk
• Soy Milk

I enjoy soy milk too and I've tried Almond and Hemp milk. They were all very delicious.

So there you have it. A little about Milk. 

A just a note: An error in calculation

So I've been saying I lost 50 pounds before I started WW. I looked at my "weight loss timeline" and realized something. My highest weight was 385. I started WW at 337. I'm sure you can do the math. So, gotta get used to the new numbers.Going to edit a few things to reflect the new numbers.

note: the changes have been made

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day: 7

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave me.... swimming.

Yes, getting away from the food thing.  Considered doing something about Schwan's. However, opted for the healthier option. Although they do deliver the frozen food for Nutrisystem but that's another post entirely.

According to a survey published by the American Red Cross, in May 2011, of the 1000 adults surveyed, 3% did not know how to swim. I can't image not knowing how to swim. I actually love to swim but I'm too afraid to be seen in a bathing suit at this time.  If anyone would like to learn how to swim and break a record at the same time you can attend the "World's Largest Swimming Lesson" Happening around the world, Thursday June 14, 2012. Sounds like fun to me. Might actually not be afraid to be in a bathing suit by then. Then again I have finished the highest level of swimming taught by the YMCA.

Swimming is a great aerobic exercise.The amount of of calories you burn are determined by your weight and how long you swim. Here is a gadget to figure yours out:

Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate the calories you burned swimming:
Pace:	swimming, treading water, moderate effort, generalswimming, lake, ocean, riverswimming, leisurely, not lap swimming, generalswimming laps, freestyle, slow, moderate or light effortswimming, backstroke, generalswimming, crawl, slow (50 yards/minute), moderate or light effortswimming, sidestroke, generalswimming, synchronizedswimming, treading water, fast vigorous effortswimming, breaststroke, generalswimming laps, freestyle, fast, vigorous effortswimming, butterfly, generalswimming, crawl, fast (75 yards/minute), vigorous effort
Weight:		PoundsKilograms
Time:		HoursMinutes

Powered by Everyday Health.



Swimming was an official competitive sport in the Olympics in the first modern Olympics in Athens Greece in 1896. I love the Olympics, mostly the Winter games because I grew up so close to Lake Placid where the '32 and '80 games here held. However, I have watched the summer games. A few famous American Olympic swimmers come to mind:

Mark Spitz -   Although I was too young, or not even born, to know who he was, Mark Spitz is a swimming legend. In the '68 Mexico City Olympics he won two team Gold Medals. At the '72 Munich games he won seven individual event gold medals, which at the time was a world record.

Janet Evans - At the '88 Seoul Olympics she won three gold medals. She was the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic titles, she won them at the '88 Seoul games and '92 Barcelona game. In June 2011, at the age of 39, it was announced she was training again and wishes to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Michael Phelps. - Of course he is a controversial character because of two separate incidents. However, that does not take away from what he has accomplished. Over all, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals. Eight of them were gold and won in the '08 games in Beijing which broke Mark Spitz's Gold Medal record.. Phelps has announced that he wants to participate in the 2012 Olympics in London. He plans on it being his last.

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day :6

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Eggs. That's an easy one.

Note: there are all kinds of eggs like fish eggs but I'm talking about bird eggs because the song lyric is "Six Geese a laying"

Eggs are the on again off again healthy food. There are of course many different kinds of eggs. Humans eat mostly chicken eggs, but according to Wikipedia:

Bird eggs are a common food and one of the most versatile ingredients used in cooking. They are important in many branches of the modern food industry. The most commonly used bird eggs are those from the chicken. Duck and goose eggs, and smaller eggs, such as quail eggs, are occasionally used as a gourmet ingredient, as are the largest bird eggs, from ostriches. Gull eggs are considered a delicacy in England, as well as in some Scandinavian countries, particularly in Norway. In some African countries, guineafowl eggs are commonly seen in marketplaces, especially in the spring of each year. Pheasant eggs and emu eggs are perfectly edible, but less widely available. Sometimes they are obtainable from farmers, poulterers, or luxury grocery stores. Most wild birds’ eggs are protected by laws in many countries, which prohibit collecting or selling them, or permit these only during specific periods of the year.

 My favorite way of making eggs is Eggs Benedict. It's a bit hard on points, but I love it. The origins of Eggs Benedict are unknown. There are conflicting reports as to where they come from. According to Wikipedia, there a three different stories. Although they may conflict, they all have something in common, they all have something to do with my home state and current home, New York State.

The components of Eggs Benedict are:

• Poached eggs- poaching is boiling the white and yolk in water.  I like my centers runny.
• English muffins - a common leavened bread and breakfast food in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States
• Ham. - An alternative to the ham is Canadian Bacon, which is basically the same consistency of ham. It comes from the back of the pig and is known as "Back bacon" in Canada. Traditional ham comes from the leg of the pig.
• Hollandaise sauce - a combination of  butter and yolk usually seasoned with lemon. It is also very good on Salmon.

I also enjoy deviled eggs. All you need is a hard boiled egg,  Remove the shells, cut it in two, scoop out the yolk, mix the yolk with mayonnaise and put it back in the the halves of the egg. Yum.


For more information about chicken eggs, here is a link to the "Official site" of the egg.

Eggs are not only for eating. The shells have many alternative uses. Easter is a holiday when eggs are traditionally decorated. Eggs can of course be blown out. This is when you poke a hole in the egg  with a pin on both sides, near the top and bottom, and you literally blow the yolk and white out of the egg. You can then rinse the egg and decorate it. More alternatives to recycling your egg shells are here.

Egg shells can also be used in Fashion

Of course there are non-egg eggs. Like Faberge Eggs and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a local landmark, The Egg Performing Arts Center

I've been three concerts there and it's a great venue. There even is a song by "They Might Be Giants" devoted to it

There ya go, all about eggs. You're a good egg for reading this. You do of course know that reading this will just egg me on to write more;)

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day : 5

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me : Five Guys

For those who don't know about Five Guys, it's a chain of restaurants that serve amazing burgers and amazing fries. The first time I went  to a Five Guys was in Baltimore Maryland, it was summer of 1991. They were still building Camden Yards back then. I was fresh out of High School. I thought I was a big deal. Funny how things change as you get older. Anyway, my Mom, and Maternal Grandparents were visiting a friend of my Grandmother's in Baltimore. My Grandmother's friend brought me to Five Guys because she wanted to do something special to include what I might like. It was delicious. I  figured it was a one time deal til many years ago they built the first one in the Capital Region. I was thrilled. I still do eat their burgers. They actually offer a wonderful array of  free toppings.  The burgers are a lot of points but worth it. Their "burger" is a double and the small burger is single. However, in my opinion, the best part is the fries.

I'm a bit of fry connoisseur, I mentioned "fresh cut fries, preferably with skins on" for Poutine here. Well, Five Guys fries would make amazing Poutine. They actually cut the fries themselves. There are bags of potatoes everywhere in the restaurant and they even tell you where the potatoes are from. They are the best fries ever and I'm not exaggerating. I haven't eaten one of their fries since I started WW.  Even if they list the nutritional information on their site I won't be having any soon because I would have to go with a big group of people. They just give you so damn many fries in a small. They sometimes give you even more than a small size too. I seem to only go with my husband and stepson. Hubby doesn't really like fries and I don't think there's any way my stepson could probably eat all of fries by himself that I'd leave behind.

If you live near a Five Guys and you haven't tried it yet, you don't know what you're missing. Regardless of the fat, cholesterol, and calories. I'm an advocate of eating what you want even if you're trying to lose weight. Just be careful with portion control and don't eat too much for the rest of the day or even week.

Here is a link to their official site: Five Guys

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day: 4

Note: I have been informed that the "Twelve Days of Christmas" are the days AFTER  Christmas. Gonna keep going. There's no going back now. BTW, this post was done while drinking strong belgian beer and I don't drink very often and can't really hold my liquor that well. As of posting time it looks fine to me. Forgive me if I left out words or have some letters missing, etc.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...poultry

Well, it's four calling birds. What else can I do really?

So here are the kinds of poultry I like with a little bit about each and some nutritional information.

Duck - It's a very versatile bird. As the movie "A Christmas Story" calls it "Chinese Turkey". They are even sometimes served at Chinese Buffets as chicken. There is at least one Chinese Buffet in the Capital Region that does that. I'm not going to name any names. I'm sure they know who they are.

Per one cup (chopped or diced):

Fat 4g

Cholesterol 239g (Yikes 85% of your daily Value. Do you really need that much?)

Sodium 183mg,

Carbs 0g, 

Fiber 0g

Protein 48g 

　
Goose - I had it once when I was in my tweens or early teens. I don't remember what it tasted like but I remember I really liked it.

Regular goose, not fat goose.

Per one cup (chopped or diced):

Fat 31g

Cholesterol 127g

Sodium 98g

Carbs: 0

Fiber: 0

Protein: 35g

Chicken - The world wide classic. You can barbecue it, fry it, bake it, broil it, etc. There are even restaurant chains devoted to just Chicken. I have actually avoided Popeye's since I started WW. Maybe there's a "I'm terrified of Popeye's" post in there somewhere;) Chicken would be my favorite meat, period. Pork comes a close second.

Per one cup (chopped or diced):

Fat: 5g

Cholesterol 119g

Sodium 104mg

Carbs 0

Protein: 43g

Turkey - Did you know that the turkey we Americans eat at Thanksgiving is not the iconic image of the traditional brown turkey? The turkeys we eat at Thanksgiving at white. Yes. White, just like the ones they pardon at the White House every year. Isn't that some kind of false advertising? 
 

Per one cup (chopped or diced)

Fat: 20g

Cholesterol: 127g

Sodium: 102g

Carbs: 0

Protein: 37g

Turducken - Ok, so I still have yet to try one. Been wanting to try one for a while. I recently saw a "Chopped" episode on Food Network where one was a "secret ingredient". It looked SO good. I merely thought it was just chicken, duck and turkey stuffed into each other. It's, according to DietFacts.com:

"a 14-pound turkey stuffed with a 5.5-pound duck stuffed with a 4-pound chicken and cornbread dressing between each bird"

Might want to tell the kids to leave the room before you read this one because of the language you might use while reading these stats.

For 1/12 of a Turducken:

Fat: 107.2g

Cholesterol 577mg

Sodium: 539g

Protein 156.9

Ok, now you can pick your jaw up off the floor. I don't think I'll be trying that one soon, but I guess once a year won't kill me.

There is so much you can do with poultry. I'm not a big red meat eater, so I love poultry. Don't know what else to say, I'm totally running out of  filler. That's all folks. Hmmmm, quoting a pig in a poultry post. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day: 3

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me....French Ancestry

Ok, sounds strange but stay with me! This is food related! I'm 40% French. Some of that came from France and through Canada. So, I'm French Canadian. Not sure what percentage I am Canadian but I know I'm about 40% French. Although I do get it on both sides of my family, I spent the most time with my maternal Grandparents. They spoke French, it was actually their first language. Their parents were from Canada and spoke French also. I actually learned French because my maternal Grandparents would argue about me in French, when I was in the room, so I didn't know what they were saying. Granted I learned Parisian French and they spoke Quebecois. However, I still could figure out what they were saying to a point, no matter how fast they spoke. You're probably wondering what the point is by now. Well, the point is French food. Particularly the food my Grandmother cooked and the food traditions in Quebec.


Two big things in Montreal, the second biggest French speaking city in the world, are Smoked Meat and Poutine.



Smoked Meat:


It looks like Pastrami but there is a difference. For the sake of time you can read it here. I've never had a Smoked Meat sandwich, but I have had Smoked Meat spaghetti in a restaurant called Nickels, which is a chain owned by Quebec native Celine Dion and her husband. To this day I still get cravings for Smoked Meat spaghetti and miss living so close to Canada.
 
Poutine

This is a term you may have heard before. It's almost the official dish of Quebec. You have to have French fries, preferably with skins on, fast food restaurant fries would not qualify. They also should big strong fries, nothing skinny and limp. You also, to be authentic, use Cheese curd. I know that can be hard to find. Last time I found some it was at an apple orchard and they were all different flavors. You need plain old cheese curd. I last time I made poutine with plain cheese curd I found them at a deli section of a grocery store in Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota. Not going into why I was there. I know that mozzarella would work just as well, but I believe in authenticity. I have real  poutine you need the real cheese curd. Also, you need gravy. Ok, so when I make it I use the packets and not real gravy. Well, I'm not a big cook and don't know the first thing about making real beef gravy. Or I'm just a hypocrite. You really don't need a recipe. It's all there for you. Not hard to make. Heck, I can even make it. Have yet to fail at making it.

A traditional French Canadian dish my Grandmother made is:


Sliders and no I'm not talking about little hamburgers. it's actually  flour noodles in a thick chicken gravy with pieces of chicken, Yum, I have my Grandmother's recipe somewhere but can't find it. I'll just link you here


I'm very proud of my French Canadian Heritage. I am blessed to have been able to have the experience of hearing my maternal Grandparents speak French. Whether it was to each other or to their siblings. I am also lucky to have grown up so close to Canada, 13 minutes away. It was really interesting to be in Montreal and read the French signs and be exposed to the different cultures that are up there. Yes, Canadians are like Americans because a majority of them speak English. However, there is a difference between all three cultures, The American, English Canadian and French Canadian. I really feel that living so close to Montreal really influenced my life. I still love to watch the Canadian television stations when I go home to visit. My favorite Montreal radio station is actually available online here: CHOM. In my opinion CHOM is the best radio station EVER.


I really haven't mentioned anything about losing weight or anything like that in my post. Well, this blog is about me. Yes, I write mostly about my weight loss journey, but I'm a lot more than just my weight loss;) I don't plan on sharing too much personal non-weight loss stuff on here, but hey, gotta stick to the Twelve Days of Christmas theme;-) Didn't want to write about French toast or French fries or even French's mustard. Would have been boring!

The Twelve Days of Christmas WAIWL Style - Day : 2

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a Turtlezilla.

I was debating whether I was going to write something about turtles, which is rather difficult, or dove chocolate. I decided on neither. I figured it would be more interesting to pay tribute to a legendary burger back home. The Turtlezilla at the Naked Turtle in Plattsburgh, NY..

The small bar on the front deck

The restaurant/bar is like Jimmy Buffet meets the Adirondacks. There are brightly colored tablecloths that kinda look like Hawaiian shirts. Wood frames the large mirror behind the main bar, which takes up the whole  wall on the right side as you enter. There are "naked turtles" painted on the walls on the inside.Along with their motto "A shady place for shady people". There's a sign above the bar that is painted in white paint on a piece of flat driftwood. that says "Frankly Scallop I don't give a damn". There are some small, light colored branches or trees resting on top of the rafters inside, gives it kinda a tropical look. If I remember correctly, they have a sail hanging from the ceiling and there is a fireplace. At one time they actually had underwear hanging from the ceiling. I can't remember anything else about the decor. Trust me, there's more. It's a really fun place to be at.

The View from the beach at the Naked Turtle. Not too far from the back deck

It's the place to see and be seen in Plattsburgh during the summer.  It's only open from late spring until late summer. It's on beautiful Lake Champlain right at the Plattsburgh boat basin aka Plattsburgh Marina. My mother calls it a "Meat market" but I don't care, it's my favorite place to be in the summer when I'm up visiting family in the area. There is a covered deck with a small square bar in the front and a uncovered deck in the back. I love to sit on the back deck for the sun and the view of the boats and the lake.

So you probably want to hear about the Turtlezilla.. Well, It's 32oz, yes you read that right, 32oz burger. You have 45 minutes to eat it and if you succeed you get a t-shirt and your picture on the wall. The picture wall is in the game room on the way to the bathroom. My husband attempted it a few years ago. He's a big eater. He ate more than I did at 385 and he's 5'7" and only has a gut. Damn him and his metabolism. Hahaha. Anyway, he couldn't finish it. They even gave him an extra 15 minutes. Nada. Oh and the burger and the bun are about the size of a regular dinner plate.

Before my husband started the Turtlezilla Challenge

The challenge consists of eating everything on the plate. pickles, fries, bun (which is about two inches thick at its highest point), tomatoes and lettuce. Getting cheese on it is also an option. I can feel my arteries clog as I write this! 

After my husband gave up on the Turtlezilla challenge about one hour later

So, let's look at the nutritional values of the Turtlezilla. 


The burger alone is 1888 calories, 117.3 grams of fat. The good news it has 192 grams of protein and  0 carbs.




I get 43 points a day. I could eat just the burger with the help of weekly points. The veggies would be zero of course, so no problem there. Don't even want to think about the fries and the humongous bun. I'm sure I would not be on the wall and get a t-shirt.


After doing some research I found out that they have now divided the turtlezilla into three burgers. Well, that's no fun! Nonetheless, you won't be seeing me eating it any time soon.


Naked Turtle official website is here They actually do have a menu on their site.

The Twleve Days of Christmas WAIWL style - Day:1

disclaimer:

This is an experiment. This was not very well thought out. I only got the idea yesterday and today would be "The first day of Christmas". Know that my posts can take a few days to write. I have many going at one time and whenever one is finished I post it. The "Donuts" post took me two days and it didn't take much thought to do that one. This will be done on the fly. So, I may fail. If I succeed it will be entertaining. If I fail it will be entertaining. Here goes.

So I had this idea driving home on Monday. Do something about the "12 Days of Christmas" on my blog. Every post has to interpret the actual line of the song. So I have decided to do a series of posts about food, weight loss, weight watchers, you get the idea. So...


On the first day of Christmas my true love gave me me an Avocado.

Yes, seems lame so far. However, I've never eaten partridge (is that even done?!) and I think writing about pears is boring, The avocado is something refered to as the "aligator pear" (see how this work?)

I love avocado. My favorite use of avocado is in Sushi. Either a Philadelphia Roll, California roll or a Eel and avocado hand roll. Yummy.  Another great use of avocado is guacamole. Yes "guac" (g-WOK) as my husband and I call it is bad bad bad. 1/4 cup of it has 8grams of fat. I tend to take it easy with guac, Actually, 3/4 cups of guac is enough points for an entire meal in WW. Hmm...after doing this reasearch maybe I won't hold back on the guac any more.

In an attempt the make writing this as easy and quick as possible I'm cutting and pasting. Here are some facts about the avocado from Wikipedia:

• The word "avocado" comes from the Spanish aguacate which through some kind of etemology, it is the word testicle
• Avocados were known by the Aztecs as 'the fertility fruit'. 
• They are high in fat. 75% of the calories of the avocado are from fat. 
• Per 100 grams avocados have 35% more potassium than bananas. 
• They are rich in the following vitamins: B,E and K. 
• Avocados are high in fiber too. 75% insoluble and 25% soluable.
• Studies have shown that avocados can lower blood cholesterol and raise good cholesterol when eaten daily. 
• They can actually be antibacterial! 
• There is even currently a study about avocado being helpful in curing cancer. 
• In  addition, they may also be used for treating high blood pressure and diabetes in the future..

 So it's getting late and I have to get to bed so this is the end of my post. Yes, it's rather a mess, but that's what I am doing for now. I plan on catching up this weekend and get a majority of these posts started. Hope you liked this! Eleven more coming your way before Christmas, but you probably knew that.

I'mTerrified of Donuts*

I brag about how I can eat anything on WW. However, there are some things I like but won't eat because of some kind of fear, one of those things is donuts.

Yes, it's true. I'm terrified of them. I've looked up the points and know they are enough points for an entire meal. I've eaten many horrible things that are enough points for an entire meal (or more) since I started WW. My birthday cupcake, that my wonderful friend made me was 20 points, but for some reason I am terrified of donuts.  I just can't bring myself to eat one and they are available at work all of the time. I mean those lovely little fluffy cakes covered in chocolate, glaze, powdered sugar call my name but I just can't seem to answer the call.

Makes me think "What would Doctor Freud think?" Here's the evidence:

Fact: They come in dozens. At least, that's how we usually get them. 

Fact: I live not too far from one of their bakeries and I can smell the donuts.  I mean I'm not having nightmares about them ganging up on me or anything. I'd think that would be enough to give me nightmares because they bake late at night until the early morning, aka while I'm sleeping

Fact: I know they are bad for me.

Fact: While I was employed by Dunkin Donuts, in Plattsburgh, a cruel joke was made that I was always eating. Story goes like this:

 At the annual Christmas party the manager would go to the microphone and give gag gifts. For example one of the assistant managers was always saying "I saw it on Oprah" so they gave her a book about Oprah. I got a stuffed "fat person" magnet because the manager always saw me eating. The stuffed "person" was wearing a shirt that said "eating is my life" and they all thought it was hilarious.

Keep in mind that was back when I was only about 210 at the most. Don't even get me started about the time I worked for Dunkin in the Capital Region in 2005 and I was 300.

Fact: I always like a large hot chocolate, with whipped cream of course, with my donut. If I get coffee, it's usually a large and I like it "light and sweet" which of course means lots of cream and sugar. When I drink coffee I like it to be the color of my skin, that's just enough cream;-)

Fact: I'm also afraid of hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is one of my favorite things on the planet. I usually drink it a lot in the winter time. I used to go to Starbucks every saturday for a while there and get a large complete with raspberry syrup. Needless to say, they haven't seen me in a while.

Fact: There's the possibility that I'm spoiled. I love Krispy Kreme donuts and I haven't really found a donut worth eating since they left the Capital Region. I have considered driving many miles just to get a fresh off the line KK donut.

Fact: Tim Hortons donuts are very good. Love their timbits. They have two of them within the Capital Region and I haven't been to either of them. They are in UAlbany and Albany College of Pharmacy  and I just don't feel right about going in there and getting Tim's

Fact: The last time I had something that was from Dunkin Donuts was this past summer. A small iced hot chocolate is enough points for two meals. Talk about sticker shock. I didn't plan ahead for that one. Thank god for weeklies!

Fact: Maybe it's just a reminder of my bad habits. I used to be able to finish off a half dozen donuts in two days. No matter the reason I'm not about to run to my counselor's office and ask to "work through it". This fear of Donuts is a good thing. I wish I could have that with other food too.

Fact: It could be Dunkin Donuts overload. There are eight of them within a ten minute drive of my house and I'm not exaggerating!

After that analysis I'd say being terrified of donuts isn't a bad thing. I mean did I make it sound like a bad thing?! Really??

*I am not a trained professional, but feel free to try this at home. This is written completely tongue in cheek. I guess I just don't like donuts anymore.

I'm still gonna be fat

Well, by some people's standards I will be.

Fat.

It's a simple three letter word and it has haunted me for most of my life.  I got to the point in my life where if someone was going to call me fat I'd come back with "Well yes I am, there's nothing like stating the obvious".

Fat is really subjective.

One day when I was in health class in High School my health teacher mentioned Marilyn Monroe. One of my classmates yelled out "She's fat". She has been a sex symbol for so many years, the epitome of Hollywood glamor and this guy is calling her fat!? Many people say that Marilyn Monroe would have been a 16 by today's standard and that makes her "fat". Well that is a misconception, she would not be a 16 today. According to Snopes.com Marilyn Monroe wasn't any bigger than a ten! She was 5'5" 1/2 and weighed 112 when she died and was about a size eight.

I just did a search with the terms "Marilyn Monroe is fat". I was shocked with the results. However, I see people who think she is fat are in the minority. I think she has a great body! I can only hope mine looks that good when I lose it all! I think we need to change labels. Instead of  "fat" and "skinny" it should be "healthy" and "unhealthy". I say that because skinny is not always healthy and overweight isn't always unhealthy. I know women who are plus sized that work out and look great and are in no doubt healthy. No matter how big I got I had good blood pressure and relatively low cholesterol. However, I was eating crap and not drinking enough water, etc. Now I'm getting healthy! I may not exercise as much as I should but I'm definitely making better choices when I eat and drink.

When I lose it all I plan on it being a healthy weight, 145. It is on the higher end of the weight spectrum for someone who is 5'5". I might even  be considered "fat" by some people. Well, I'll be a heck of a lot thinner and healthier than I was at 385. The whole obsession with weight thing seems to be an American thing. More specifically, Hollywood. I was just reading that some women in Hollywood that are under a size four are considered fat. Excuse me? I hate to see stories in the Hollywood media how so and so has slimmed down. Most of those people looked fine in the before pictures!

I used to know someone who is a recovering from anorexia. It has so many long term effects. I used to read her online journal and it was shocking how much we had in common. We both had distorted body images, I was in denial about being fat and she was in denial about being too skinny. We both had a horrible relationships with food. We both had deep psychological issues attached to our relationship with food. We were always battling with food. We were also putting ourselves in physical danger with our behavior.

On the other hand, I used to know someone on the web who was about 320 and 5'5". I actually read somewhere that she wanted to eat more and get to 400 pounds. If that makes her happy I'm happy for her.  Is it healthy? No. However, who am I to judge?

Actually some people don't have a choice. I was one of them. I am not really sure how I got to the point that I realized I had a choice, but here I am. Being on Weight Watchers has been one of the more amazing experiences in my life! It was only six years since I last was in the 200's. However, It's been about 20 years since I've been in the 100's. I don't remember what it feels like to be thin. Being overweight is all I have known for the last 20 or so years.

Here is a picture of me when I was dancing. It some time after 1985 and was a about 13. That was the year we danced to the cover of  "Just a Gigolo" by David Lee Roth. I was about 145 in this picture.

Now I realize that I won't have the same exact body, time and the fat has taken a bit of a toll on my body over the years. However, I do expect to be that weight and even that size when I lose it all.No matter what, even if I'm still considered "fat" by people when I'm down to 145 I don't care. I will be truly happy with myself for the first time in a long time and healthy.