Creamy Spaghetti Squash and Spinach

Creamy Spaghetti Squash and Spinach

This literally took me 20 mins to cook and 5 mins to prepare.  I have to admit, I LOVE spinach, so I put it into most dishes.  I have to get my Vitamin K somehow, right?  Anyways, THIS WAS SIMPLE.  Here is what I did:

Ingredients

1 whole spaghetti squash

1 bag of steamfresh spinach-lightly sauced

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of powder garlic

1/4 teaspoon of Mrs. Dash

Dash of Italian seasoning.

1 tbls of grated Parmesan

1/4 cup of Water

So, if you don't know what the "steamfresh" bag of spinach looks like and what brand-- it's this:

HOW TO COOK SPAGHETTI SQUASH!!

Let me just say I have tried cooking it through the oven and it did not cook through and I ended up throwing it away.  My hair dresser told me to cook it this way and it actually turned out great!

• Cut your spaghetti squash in half LENGTH wise.
• Scrape out the seeds and strings-the loose area in the middle
• Put the squash face down in a microwavable dish in 1/4 cup of water
• Cover the dish with plastic wrap
• Microwave it for 15 mins on high
• Pull out and take a fork and scrape out the strands of squash
• If there are areas that look white and not cooked through, microwave it a couple more mins
• Strain excess water if needed out of the strands of squash

Directions for the meal:

• Cook your spinach per directions on the bag (microwave for 5 1/2-6 mins of so)
• Combine all ingredients--your cooked strings of squash (both halves), the entire bag of spinach, spices and top with Parmesan.

Nutrition: (This is based on 4 cups worth of spaghetti squash once it's stranded out) 2 cups per serving of meal- 207 Calories, 7.75g Fat, 6.7g Protein, 23.75g Carbs, 4.4g Fiber.  5 WW plus pts.  Should come out to 2 servings-4-5 cups

Weight Watchers Points Plus

Have you ever wanted to do Weight Watchers, but didn't have the money to do it? 

The great thing about technology these days is that you can essentially do Weight Watchers for free with all the information on the web that has leaked from the actual Weight Watchers website.   

Today I am going to provide all my little cheats that I have found over the past 6 months.

The best tool I have found to help me track everything is the App on my phone called Ultimate Weight Watchers Diary.  The icon for the app should look like this:

If you hate buying apps like I do, you might cringe at the $3.99 cost to purchase this tool.  This is a ONE time fee and it is the BEST purchase you will make if you want to be committed to doing the Weight Watchers plan. 

Here's what this nifty app does for you:

• It will calculate your daily allowance and provide you with the amount of points you need
• It has a diary to where you can keep track of your food intake and exercise routine
• It will calculate a food that you need to know the points for by inputting the fat grams, carb grams, protein grams, and fiber per serving
• It already has most foods in the search portion for the diary, so that you don't have to calculate them very often
• If you download the bar code scanner app, you can scan your label for quick input of foods
• It has a separate page where you can keep track of you daily intakes of water, fruits, vegetables, milk, and daily vitamins to help you strive for all your helpings in these areas
• You can keep track of you body measurements and weight to see your progress every week

It's pretty much flippin' amazing!!!!  I have an Android (I don't think that this is available for Iphone users), but I am sure there is one that is very similar to this one for the Iphone.

So, if you can't use an app to calculate your daily allowance, this would be your first step. 

You can calculate that here.

With the new Points Plus program, you are usually given an amount of DAILY points and 49 WEEKLY points just in case you go over your daily usage.  What I have noticed, is that the weeks I use only my daily allowance, I lose anywhere from 2-5lbs depending on my activity.  If I use all of my weekly and daily points I usually lose anywhere from 1-2lbs.  I am happy with ANY kind of loss, but I typically like seeing the 2+ weight loss for the week.  

If you don't have a nice little app to calculate your foods, then you would need to either calculate them yourself with this equation:  Points Plus =

(Fat (g) / 3.8889) + (Carbohydrate (g) / 9.2105) + (Protein (g) / 10.9375) - (Fiber (g) / 12.5)

OR visit the Weight Watcher's calculator page for FREE- here.

Now, if you don't have a diary app, then you would need to write your points down in some kind of journal OR find an app that has just the diary for free (there are several out there that you can choose from). 

I can now share with you all the websites I use for recipes and the points for fast foods and such.  My favorite website for looking up Plus Points on restaurants and fast food establishments is Dotti's Website.  She has dedicated an entire website to Weight Watcher's Points and has just about every national food establishment on there.  You can check out her website-here.

If you run into a restaurant that is not on her web page, then I usually resort to looking up the website to that particular restaurant and finding the nutritional info page and calculating out what I ate from there.

Lastly, here are my favorite sites for recipes:

Hungry-Girl

Eat Yourself Skinny

Food.com

Skinny Taste

Hopefully, this was helpful to the individuals looking to start dieting through Weight Watchers.  I did Weight Watchers the first part of the year and lost 20lbs and 17".  Since doing that I have done Beachbody and calorie counting and I have lost another 12lbs and 22".  Today I started doing both, so we'll see how the results go doing two awesome programs!!  

 

 

Porn Star Blond!

Woo!  TGIF!!  So, I have been wanting more blond in my hair every time I go in to get my hair done.  My hair stylist got it right this time!  Not that she isn't amazing (BECAUSE SHE IS THE BEST), I love my hair every time I get it foiled, but I especially love it this time.  :)  It is the perfect color for the summer.  I call it "porn star blond".  Here is what it looks like: 
 

The lighter blond always looks better with my light skin tone anyways and brings out my blue eyes more.  I LOVE IT!  

I have had no motivation on the weight loss front.  I have been so busy with my daughter lately that I haven't had time to get my workouts in as much as I was doing.  I also think I need to switch back to doing Weight Watchers points instead of doing calorie counting.  SO, that will start back up on Monday!!  I have been teeter tottering back and forth from 203-205 lbs for about 2 weeks now and it's so flippin' annoying.

Cheers to the weekend.  Guess what???  I have another kid's Birthday party on Sunday!  Yippeeeee!  These Birthday parties are killing me this year.  I need to start finding excuses, so that I don't have to visit the retirement home.  :)

P.S. for those that do not know, since I have active readers every day, you can follow my blog by clicking the blue button to the right that says "JOIN THIS SITE".  I'd love to match a face to my readers!  :)

Have a great weekend.

       

Memorial Day Festivities

Heellloooooooooo Bloggies!  It is Tuesday and who's excited to be back at work?  Not this gal, but I did have a VERY nice Holiday weekend, despite the fact that I had to work on Saturday.  Thank you to the soldiers for making it happen, we're very blessed to have your strength, support and our freedom in this Country! 

I really don't have weight loss news to post, because I didn't hit it as hard as I usually do this past week.  I only worked out 3 days and I didn't watch what I ate, but I'm definitely back at it today. 

Over the weekend, I went out and enjoyed myself with friends, went and saw The Avengers, drank $1 margaritas, primed/painted the cornhole boards that I have been making for my husband for his B-day that is in a week and a half, detailed my car (inside and out), and lounged in a pool.  It was good times!!

Here are some photos from this past weekend.

This is my friend Kerie and I after drinking some delicious margaritas. 

This was before I went out, I thought I'd get a decent pic of myself and the hair, AND look I am finally getting some color and by color I mean freckles.  LOL



Here is a fun fact-This is what happens to Brynn's hair when Daddy is in charge.  LMAO

Hah, what a hot mess!

Aw, that's better.  This is what she looks like under Mommy's supervision.  :)

Ugh, those big blue eyes just kill me!

And lastly, Brynnie out enjoying her first time in the pool.  This is her first bathing suit, it is blue with red cherries, ruffles, and a whole lot of cuteness!  I LOVE cherries and ladybugs on baby clothes.  The sun hat didn't match, but I had to protect her head somehow. 

Have a great week everyone!!!!

Mo-tiv-a-tion! TGIF

I am SO freakin' excited it's Friday! 

Not that I don't have to work tomorrow (because I DO), but at least management will be gone!  Ding-Dong the bitch is gone.  :) 

So, here's what has happened since Monday.  Really the most exciting portion is that I think I found a new job if they can pay me enough.  I had an interview yesterday and it sounded pretty promising, AND I have a second interview next week.  It will still be in sales and I will still have to work every other Saturday, but at least I would work 7-5pm and be at home M-F by 5:15pm!!!!  It would be the FIRST job that I have had where I would have that typical 8am-5pm type job and feel NORMAL.  I always get so jealous of people going home for the day when I am usually on my lunch break.

Any who, it will be a nice change!

Yesterday I had a day off and MOMMA AND BRYNNIE WENT SHOPPING!  I bought my first pair of SKINNY JEANS!  I tried them on just to see what they would look like and DAMN, I thought they looked good, so they were in my bag.  Skinny jeans for the aspiring Skinny Gal.  It definitely made my day!  Plus, I bought all size 16's.  When I started this journey in Feb I was a size 20-sometimes 22. 

I am ONE size from being the national average size for a female!  My ultimate goal is a size 8, so I have a ways to go still. 

The best things about this weekend:

1. IT'S FLIPPIN' PAY DAY!!!
2. Even though I have to work on Saturday, I get Sunday and Monday off.  WHOO-HOO-2 days off in a role.
3. Shawn and I are having a date night on Saturday and we talked like we were going to go see The Avengers (My inner nerd is dying to come out) and then we're going to have some adult time with friends at a bar somewheres.
4. I may end up at the KY lake this weekend with family on Sunday or Monday.
5. I am buying Brynn's first bathing suit today.
6. I'm buying a new bathing suit for myself...  EEEK!  My suit from last year is literally falling off my body.
7. I also got an invite to hang at my besties pool at some point if I don't plan on going to the lake.   

Let's share some motivation! 

I haven't done well with dieting, partially because I think my lady parts are taking over my cravings and such this week along with some bloating.  I have been so hungry this week.....  I am probably going to end up maintaining for the week.  Which is fine with me.  So, in light of the occasion, here is a funny photo I found.

And some hotness and the most motivating words I hear occasionally:

Have a GREAT Holiday weekend!



Monday Results

So it's Monday.  I didn't feel like I even remotely had a weekend, but I am here and functioning. 

Sunday is my weigh in and measurement day, so I weighed in and measured.  I may have gotten 1/2" off my tummy over the week, but given that I only lost 1/2", I really didn't see the point in posting ALL of my measurements this week.  Just know that I lost a 1/2" in my body.  I did move from 205 lbs to 203 lbs.  Another 2 lb loss this week which makes me smile.  I wanted 3-4lbs, but with all the stress eating I did last week, I will flippin' take a 2lb loss and run with it!!!! 

So, my totals from the beginning of the year are now at 31.4lbs and 38".  Not too bad, not too bad at all I say. 

AND DAMNIT, I am SO flippin' close to being under 200 lbs!

I CAN NOT WAIT!  This is the thinnest I have been in 5 years.  Once I hit 200 lbs my next goal is to hit 175 lbs, and then of course 150 lbs.  Ultimately, I'd love to be at 140lbs.  That's usually a size 8 for me.  In my mind, that is a healthy size for myself, even though my BMI size should be between 107-136lbs.

THERE'S NO WAY!  LOL

When I was 125 lbs in college, I was a size 3 and felt like I was skin and bones, but 107lbs????  I also did not eat hardly at all to maintain my 125 lbs....  That doesn't seem very healthy to me.  Those silly experts.....

THEEEEEEEERREEEE's my results!  Happy Funday-Monday.

 

    

Motivational Saturday?

Well, I usually don't wait this long to post things, but I have been so busy/frustrated this week that I haven't had time to hop in and type something up.

Let me just say that I despise my work even more now that my boss passed away.

They are enforcing rules on us that are just ridiculous.  One of the reasons I have stuck it out as long as I have with my current employment is because the hours are so flexible and it works with my mom watching Brynn.  So, on Tuesday, they lay down the rule that we have to work two nights which are now 12-9p a week, three days 9-6p, and we have mandatory every other weekends scheduled for us.  If we can not work that weekend, we can either take a vacation day or see if someone on the other weekend shift team will switch us.  IT SUCKS! 

So, that happened Tuesday.  On Wednesday I come in and receive an email that my Campus Director is going to possibly REJECT my already APPROVED vacation time in the last week of June, because it happens to fall on a "critical enrollment period" for the school.  Basically, I work for a college that will start students up to two weeks late into their classes and we're expected to encourage them to do so with a smile on our face.  :-S  <---There's my smiley face when I have to start students up that late!!  It literally makes me sick to my tummy. 

My time was approved by my boss that passed away and THANKFULLY I saved his approval email from last March, BUT apparently his approval was tossed out the door when he passed. 

Anyways, my director finally approved it since my "extenuating circumstance" was that I had a planned/paid family vacation.  Then he wanted me to commit to my goal for our June start and he reminded me that I still needed to make my planned goal even though I had a vacation planned.  SERIOUSLY?

He also sent this hateful email out to the entire recruitment team about how we shouldn't "inappropriately" request time off the 2 weeks before our starts and the 2 weeks after.  That's 4 weeks and we have 4 starts a year, which means we can not request time off without what they feel is a "valid" reason for 16 weeks out of 52 in a year.  We also have to be at every orientation which is another 4 weeks in the year, so 20 weeks out of 52 in a year are blocked off for us.  Isn't that great?

I think it's been the longest week I have ever had at work.  I am completely drained with hate and I am NOT a hateful person.  Every day I just feel SO tired.  It takes all I have to drag myself out of bed to come to work. 

I am trying ever so hard to make a change.  Work is a big part of life for me, and if it's not working for me, then I need to move on.  I hate being unhappy.  It's just not my character. 

Has anyone else ever experienced a bad manager or policy at work?  Please share and make me feel slightly better about where I am at.  :)

On to the great things about my bloggy.  :)  I unfortunately lost some focus through all the bullshit I have gone through this week, but I am still doing well toward my goals.  I'm probably not going to hit my 5 lbs loss, but I have lost about 3 so far this week.  So maybe 4 by Monday????  Hopefully??? 

Since I missed Motivational Friday, we'll have Motivational Saturday today.

What a great saying!!!!

Hotness!!  I want to look that good in a bikini, and heck, I probably would hula hoop too by the lake if I looked that smokin' hot!  LOL  Who does this?   

Happy Saturday everyone!  Think of me while I sit here at work and waste away.