MyFitnessPal

If you haven't heard of MyFitnessPal, you have to check it out!  If you have an iPhone/Android phone, it's a free app.  You can also go to the website http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.  Scott showed it to me when I was trying to find a free way to track my exercise and food.  I have been using it for a while now, though I was slacking for a bit, I'm back on board.  Check it out!  If you join, you can add me as a friend (just search for ashleynstevenson under user name).  And if you have been using it, but have slacked like me, come back and we can support each other!  I'm 5 pounds away from my goal weight and I decided I'm going to be serious to get the rest of it off.  I love when other people share things that they find and love, so I thought I would return the favor:)

Lunch Dilemma

Every morning when I pack my lunch I have a hard time deciding what to pack.  The problem is that lunch food never sounds good.  This is why I usually end up bringing to work cereal for my breakfast and lunch.
When we have dinner leftovers I usually pack them the night before to bring for lunch.  Then in the morning I decide that it doesn't sound good so I pack some sort of breakfast food. 

Monday night we had spaghetti so I packed up the leftovers and told Scott, "Now tomorrow when I said spaghetti doesn't sound good, tell me it will sound good at lunchtime."  He agreed.  The next morning I had a clothing fiasco*, so I didn't even go in the kitchen or have time to pack my lunch.  I had cereal in my desk at work so I didn't worry about it.   That afternoon Scott sent me this picture:

He wrote me a note on our whiteboard on our fridge since he wouldn't be there to remind me to take my spaghetti. I really laughed when I saw this picture! Too bad I missed the note because spaghetti really did sound good for lunch but I didn't have it with me. Then this morning the lunch dilemma started again. I looked at the spaghetti and thought oh I think I'll just pack some cereal.... and the cycle begins again!

*The clothing fiasco:  Picking out what to wear each morning takes me a really long time.  On Tuesday, I decided to wear a green dress and ironed it and everything.  I put it on and was all ready to leave the house when I remembered that I needed to put lotion on my legs.  I pushed the pump on the lotion to get some and it shot out all over my dress!  I thought there is no way that I'm going to be able to get this off of my dress without washing it completely.  So I grabbed the first thing I saw and put it on and left for work.

Side note:  I haven't given a Weight Watchers update in a while.  Here's a summary of my progress so far:

Week 1:  -1.8
Week 2:  0
Week 3:  +.20
Week 4:  +.60
Week 5:  -1.8

So overall in 5 weeks I have lost 2.8 pounds.  It's not a lot but I feel good about it because I've been having a hard time losing weight since we've gotten married.  I'm going to stick with this and get more serious to make it to my goal.  In Weight Watchers they talked about how sometimes weight fluctuates when we are trying to lose.  Sometimes is will go up a little in between the losses, the important part is that overall we are heading towards our goal.  So I am pretty happy that I have a loss overall so far.  Now I just have to work harder! 

P.S. Shyla and Liz do you see your announcements on our fridge?  So excited to see you both get married very soon:)

Weight Watchers Week 2

My parents and little sister came into town which included eating lots of yummy food.  You can't explore NYC without eating out at restaurants.  We tried to be really good and split meals, and walked a lot.  Still, I was very nervous going to Weight Watchers since I had eaten more than I usually do.  I was even tempted not to go.  That's the whole reason though to be accountable.

I'm happy to report that this week I did not gain any weight!  I didn't lose any either, I stayed the same.  I was completely expecting to gain so I was happy.  On a usual week I probably wouldn't be happy at staying the same weight but this week I was thrilled!  I'm still on track and will do much better this week. 

P.S.  Once I get pictures from my family, I will post all about their trip!

Weight Watchers Week 1

I went to my first meeting (this time around) this afternoon during lunch.

And.... drumroll... I lost...

1.8 pounds!

I'm excited that I'm actually seeing some progress and I'm hopefully I can keep it up!

This week I didn't eat different foods than I usually do, I just watched the portions and kept account of what I ate with the points.  It made all the difference.  My goal this week is to "Move More" like we talked about in the meeting, and to also do well in my eating.

P.S. I felt really young at the meeting, but that's okay:) 

Creamy Lemon Pie

I made this WeightWatchers lemon pie yesterday.  If you know WeightWatchers it's 4 points for 1/10 of the pie.  It's very rich I thought so you don't need a lot.  It was super easy to make and I thought it was good.  Here's the recipe: 

Creamy Lemon Pie

 6 whole reduced-fat cinnamon graham crackers
2 Tbsp butter
11 oz fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 large egg(s)
1/2 cup(s) fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Grind graham crackers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Or place crackers in a resealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Place crumbs in a small bowl.

Melt butter on stove top or in microwave and pour over graham cracker crumbs, mixing with a fork until completely moistened. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom of a 9-inch pie pan; place crust in refrigerator while preparing lemon filling.

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk and eggs; mix until smooth. Add lemon juice and zest; stir until incorporated and pour into prepared crust.

Bake pie for 15 minutes. Cool completely and for best flavor, serve chilled.

*This pie can be baked and frozen for up to two weeks. Defrost and serve chilled.

(Picture and recipe from www.weightwatchers.com)

Mid-Twenties Life Crisis at 24 (This is not an April Fool's joke)

Now that my birthday has happened this now feels stupid to even write about this but I'm going to anyways.  The day before my birthday I was having a major mid-twenties life crisis even though I was turning 24, not even 25.  It seems like this is happening every year lately. 

My thoughts: 

"I'm going to turn 24 I should be in the best shape of my life and happy with my body, but I'm not."

"Why don't I have a baby like everyone else?"

"When am I going to have a house?"

I started freaking out wondering what I have accomplished in my life and who I was.  Does anyone else do this?  I realized that some of these things I can't really have right now. 

Scott is going through medical school, and when he's done with that we'll move for residency.  This really isn't practical for wondering why I don't have a house right now.  First of all we are only in our 20's so I shouldn't even be thinking about a house until I'm 30. Secondly, we don't know when we will finally be settled and it's definitely not yet. 

I shouldn't be stressing about not having a baby because we aren't even trying to have one.  With our unstable life, and financial situation I shouldn't even be thinking about that right now.  It's just hard not to compare our "family status" to others my age and wonder when we will have that.  Right now is not the time, but I'm sure it's normal feeling this way, right?

There is one thing on this list that I can control and do something about it right now and that is my weight and health.  When I was thinking about my struggle with weight I was sitting at work and I decided that this is probably something that I will struggle with for my whole life.  Right then and there I decided that since it will be a struggle I should figure it out now while I'm young how to manage it and change my lifestyle.  So after I had this thought I decided that I would turn again to Weight Watchers.  It seems like the only times in my life where I could get back to a good weight in college was when I went to the meetings with my mom in the summers.  So I went to Weight Watchers by my work at lunch and signed up.  It was very scary for me to do this alone.  I had tried just doing the online tracking stuff but it didn't work for me.  I need accountability, which is why going to the meetings works. 

I am all signed up and am embarrassed to be posting this on our blog.  So why am I posting about this very personal stuff?  I'm posting because this is going to be accountability too.  I'm hoping to be able to share my progress and feelings along the way to keep me going.  My goal is to make a lifestyle change.  I'm only a few days into it but I'm feeling motivated.  I know I don't have a lot of weight to lose but it's more for me to learn to drop the weight I need to and then maintain.  The thing I like about Weight Watchers is that you don't feel like you are depriving yourself.  If you want a treat you can have it, you just have to budget your points for it.  This is why it's something that works for me.  I can't be one of those people with a lot of restrictions.

I'm probably going to be blogging more about other goals I have set for myself.  I hope you don't mind but this is mostly for me, but I hope that others can benefit as I know that all of us struggle with something.  Here's to goals and improving ourselves!