Just keep tracking, just keep tracking...

Are you singing the song yet? 

Here are some tips for tracking that came out of the meeting room today. Please post a comment if you have any to add!

- bring your tracker with you wherever you go. You're more likely to track if it's with you rather than sitting on the kitchen counter 

- if you have a blackberry or cell phone, make a "note" for yourself with the date on it and write down the things you eat as you go through your day (if you can't have your tracker with you). If you track-as-you-go, you're less likely to miss something 

- one of my members suggested this really great tip today - if you're at work, compose an email at the beginning of the day. Write in the foods and Points as you go through the day and at the end of work press send and sent it to your home email. 

- if you bring your meals/snacks to work, track everything up to dinner in the morning. It's great for planning ahead and really helps you to see how many points you have left for the day

All-Day Breakfast

I've been eating breakfast foods all day.

Breakfast (8:00)

Smoothie made with 1 banana, Weight Watchers Vanila chai smoothie mix, 1 tsp. glutamine powder & 1 cup light soy milk

Gluten-free, sugar-free cereal bar

Lunch (1:00)

Fat Free plain organic yogurt, with 1 tbsp Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, and drizzle of agave syrup

Early Dinner (4:30)

Apple-Peachy Blended Grains a la Chocolate Covered Vegan.

I'm currently exhausted. My show has taken a lot out of me and this morning I did three WW meetings (which were fantastic! 4 10% goals reached! 1 75 lbs medal given out!! Plus some great habit building and other inspiration. Way to go members!!) Add all of this to my regular job and it makes for one very tired Ashley. Today I really didn't feel like cooking, hence the all-day breakfast. 

This was the first time I blended my grains and I have to say it was delightful. I brought 2/3 cup light soy milk and 1/3 cup water to a boil. I added 1/2 cup Eden Organic Oat Flakes and let them cook for 3 minutes as per the instructions. Once they were ready I transferred them to the blender and added 1/3 cup Apple and Peach AppleSnax no sugar added applesauce and gave it a whirl. Once blended I mixed in tsp. of flax oil (to help get in my GHG) and then I topped with an additional 1/3 cup of the applesauce and enjoyed my creamy appley-peachy goodness. It was so yummy and definitely hit the spot. 

I'm now off to do another show...

March Madness

February was a rough month for me activity wise. With my show, I found it incredibly challenging to fit in a workout or even my usual classes.

To my credit, I did get up early yesterday morning and did some yoga and I started back to my bellydancing class this week as well.

I am much more confident in my abilities to fill up my chart this month and I'm committing to posting a picture of my chart on March 31st.

Snack Attack

The first thing that my naturopath recommended to me was a probiotic (HMF Forte by Genestra). At the time my gastro had me on Metronidazole and my naturopath wanted to make sure that I was replenishing some good bacteria in my gut.


What does this have to do with snacks?


Well... I had to take my Flagyl with food 3 times per day. I had to take the probiotic with food 2 times per day, 2-3 hours apart from when I was taking the other pill.


Yah, it hurt my brain too.


As a result of this mess I learned to plan my snacks. I've found that this initiative has really helped me to plan my day and it ensures that I'm not going hungry! In the past I've been really good about planning my meals, but not so great about snacks. Incorporating them into my plan has really helped me. Here is a list of my favourite snacks:

• organic fruit (oranges, pears, cantaloupe, berries, apples)
• hummus with carrots or ryvita crackers
• dried apricots or cranberries
• gluten free sugar free cereal bars
• larabars (higher in Points, but so tasty and very filling and only a few ingredients)
• plain yogurt with agave nectar (and sometimes almond butter)
• No Pudge single brownies (with plain yogurt)
• almond butter on toast
• baked chips
• homemade muffins

What are some of your favourite snacks? Do you find planning your snacks helpful?

Speaking of snacks... be sure to check out Chocolate Covered Katie's giveaway! She's giving away a whole case of Jocolat bars (which are made by the yummy folks at larabar)

Tortilla and Muffin Goodness

This weekend was incredibly busy. Not only did I do shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I led three meetings on Saturday morning, took at WW conference call, did my meal planning and grocery shopping but also managed to make homemade tortillas and muffins. Even I'm amazed!

First let's talk about the highlight: homemade tortillas

In my opinion, making the tortillas was very easy, but when I tried to explain the process to my coworkers at lunch they gave up after step one - make the dough, cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Everyone is different I guess.

Here are my little spelt-y dough balls:

Sadly I didn't get a picture of me rolling them out. My countertop is a similar colour to the dough so I couldn't get it to work between rolling out each ball, placing it in the skillet and flipping. Here's one in my pan:

They were DELICIOUS! I tried to make the black bean burrito filling from Refresh, but sadly didn't have enough cooking time for the beans. My friend Lori said she enjoyed the crunchy texture but I didn't love it (neither did Joey) It had good flavor, but I'll have to try again with more bean cooking time. Luckily I had a variety of other toppings ready for our burritos including baby spinach, extra lean ground beef, red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa, low fat yogurt and shredded cheese.

I served our non-black bean burritos with steamed broccoli. Everyone really enjoyed the meal and we all went back for seconds.

Today I started off my day with one of the muffins I made following our burrito supper last night. I used a recipe from Refresh for banana muffins. I made a few substitutions (used spelt instead of durum flour, adding a bit more water and blueberries and made 36 instead of 24 to give them a lower Points value) There is no added sugar in the muffins - they get their sweetness from a date puree and the bananas. I enjoyed one of the muffins with a glass of orange juice and it kept me nice and full until lunch!

For lunch I filled one of my homemade tortillas with all the leftover veggies and some blue cheese dressing with corn and edamame on the side. I finished the meal with some spelt shasha ginger snaps.

It was a great Sunday of cooking and I will definitely be making the tortillas again. At only 110 calories and only two Points they are a great bang for your Points buck. They're very inexpensive to make and taste amazing (probably because they only have 5 ingredients vs. the many, many ingredients that can be found in commercially produced tortillas) And I'll be enjoying the muffins over the next few weeks! I packed most of them away in my freezer and will pull them out when needed.

Gluten Free Girl

This weekend I read "Gluten Free Girl" by Shauna James Ahern. I came across Shauna's blog a few months ago while adding a variety of gluten-free to my Google Reader account. While I am not employing a Gluten Free diet (yet), I am awaiting the test results from my food sensitivity testing. The gluten free blogs that I read have wonderful ideas for cooking and the authors have an amazing passion for food. They inspire me and I am actually excited to get the results for my tests because I feel like it will open the doors for a variety of foods that I can eat without worrying about the effects they have on my system. 

Shauna is no different. 

Prior to be diagnosed with Celiac Disease, Shauna ate a variety of bread, pastries and gluten-filled items and had no idea that those items were behind her constant and incurable sickness. Once a blood test confirmed her diagnosis she stopped eating gluten for good. Gluten is found in many foods including wheat, barley, rye. For people like Shauna, even a tiny amount of gluten (a contaminated utensil or kitchen surface for instance) can cause her to become incredibly sick. 

When faced with such an immense challenge, some would be fearful of food; instead Shauna embraces it. Her book and website include a wide variety of gluten free recipes, all of which could be enjoyed by people who normally eat gluten. Items like lemon olive oil cookies, chicken thighs with pomegranate molasses, and butternut squash soup with smoked paprika make my mouth water just thinking about them! Shauna prides herself on finding fantastic ingredients and she exudes incredible passion for food in her recipes, fabulous writing and beautiful photographs. 

Her book reads like a conversation with a great friend; you're always able to catch up where you left off, but stop along the way to tell stories from your life that have happened to get you to the present. She talks about her childhood and her family's affinity for all things processed (which I can completely relate to). The book covers her illness prior to diagnosis as well as the freedom she was granted once she knew that the gluten she was eating practically daily was the toxic substance that was making her so sick. 

It was great to read about her feelings before and after her diagnosis. While Celiac and Crohn's are very different, it was nice to read something I could relate to. While being diagnosed with a "disease" can be very scary (even the word disease carries such a negative tone) it also means answers. Answers lead to solutions. I have only a couple of people who I can talk to who understand what it's like to have a major condition and everything that comes with it - the doctor's appointments, tests, medications, restrictions etc - it was really nice to read about Shauna's perspective on the whole thing.

Shauna talks about how she met her husband just before she gave up on online dating. "The Chef" was a perfect match for her and even has turned his restaurant into a glorious gluten-free place where Shauna and anyone with a gluten intolerance can eat safely.

Shauna has the word YES tattooed on her wrist and I think that the tattoo in itself really exemplifies her attitude for food, writing and most of all her life. While she lives Gluten Free, her diet isn't free of much else and Shauna has really opened her eyes to the possibilities with food that await her. Gluten Free Girl is a wonderful book for anyone wanting to learn more about Celiac, gluten-free living, or for anyone who shares a passion for food and cooking. 

It is estimated that between 1/100 - 1/200 people have Celiac worldwide. You can read more about Celiac on the Canadian Celiac Association's website

Quote for the Week - Attitude

One of my lovely members (Mary ♥) sent this quote to me this morning. It is from the book "Extraordinary Circumstances" by Cynthia Cooper which talks about her experiences as former vice president of WorldCom's internal audit department (and later became a corporate whistleblower)

I love this quote and will probably use it in the meeting room some day.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”

Weekly Meal Plan - Week of February 22

Ahhh it feels nice to be back on the meal planning train. Last week was pretty crazy and over the last two weeks I made quite a few of the dishes I set out to make the week of the 8th Everything was good. I also created a stuffed sweet potato one night which I really enjoyed. Joey claimed that he wasn't hungry, but then he saw mine and wanted one!

Stuffed Sweet Potato

- 1 sweet potato (Mine was organic)

- 1/4 - 1/2 cup of corn

- shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

- 1/4 cup salsa

- 2 tbsp low fat sour cream

Cut slits in the sweet potato. Put on a plate and microwave for 8 - 12 minutes, until soft. Add corn and cheese on top of sweet potato and microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Add salsa and sour cream and enjoy! This would also be really yummy with black beans, but I didn't have any in the house that night.

We also remembered how much we love All You Need is Loaf from Eat Shrink and Be Merry. It's been awhile since I made it, and it was so delicious. I served it with some mashed potatoes and veggies and it was a great classic meal. If you don't own ESBM, you really need to get yourself a copy or a least borrow someone elses. Everything I've ever made from that book has been amazing and definite "keepers" in our house. I really appreciate that it's Canadian so the recipes never include items that we can't get here. Everything is WW friendly and the fact that the nutritional information is included at the bottom of each recipe makes calculating Points a breeze!

This week I'm doing my show, but I've got a couple of nights off which will be nice. I'm back in with my slow cooker after neglecting it for a week. I hope there are no hard feelings. Tonight I'll also be making some banana muffins from the Refresh cookbook that I picked up a couple of weeks ago in addition to the black bean burritos.

Sunday: Black Bean burritos (Refresh) with homemade spelt tortillas and broccoli

Monday: Better Butter Chicken with quinoa

Tuesday: Dining out

Wednesday: Taco Soup

Thursday: Slow Cooker Curry (WW Magazine recipe)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: TBD

Be sure to check out more meal plans over at Orgjunkie

I'm always amazed...

when the meeting topic is a perfect reminder of what I need to do that week as a member.

It has happened several times now, and I'm always thankful when it does happen. Even though I am a WW Leader, I will always be a member first. It's easy to forget sometimes, but it's so important to my journey.

Tomorrow we're talking about the 8 Helpful Habits and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'll write more about this later this weekend and I'll share with the meeting room tomorrow exactly what I needed to work on this week and why it was so important.

If you're reading this now (and want to be a keener for tomorrow's meeting), read through your Week 4 book - Habits of Successful Members --or-- peruse the list of habits below:

Ask for Help
Learn from Experience
Manage Your Environment
Manage Your Feelings
Manage Your Thoughts
Monitor Yourself
Prepare Yourself
Take Care of Yourself

and start to think about....

the Habit(s) you're already good at
the Habit(s) you find challenging
the Habit(s) you are focused on getting better at

and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning!

Sorry...

I've been MIA on my usual weekly menu post and recap this week. My show opens tonight and rehearsal has consumed my whole life. We didn't even go grocery shopping this week (luckily the house was fairly stocked) Joey was incredibly understanding but I've told him that I will be getting my act together this weekend! I have big plans for grocery shopping and some yummy things to make next week.

I have a lot to tell you about but don't have the time right now but in the next couple weeks there will be:

• Weekly menu recap for the last two weeks
• Weekly Menu Plans
• Book reviews (for this, this and this)
• Culinary experiments including making my own tortillas (I can't wait to try this!)

And much more. Life will be a bit easier once the show is open. Rehearsals are a pretty hectic time, especially once we're up at the theatre, but I'm confident that I'll be able to get my act together soon. I also start back at belly dancing class next week which makes me really happy because I feel like I've been lacking a whole lotta shimmying in my life as of late. You'll note that I've updated my Daily Reads and Links to include the things I've been reading lately. Check them out!

And if you're one of my members, I'm sorry that I wasn't there last week! I missed you guys a lot, but was physically unable to be in two places at once. I hope you had fun with Lindsay and you learned a lot about SetPoints. I'll be back on Saturday!

Until then, I hope to see you at the theatre!! The show begins tonight and runs until March 7. (For those of you who can't make it, I'll be sure to post some pictures very soon!!)

A few of my new favourite things

It's been a busy few weeks leading up to opening... I wanted to let you know about a few of the things that have helped me through!

Last week I discovered Ryvita high fibre snackbreads. With only 120 calories, 1 gram of fat and 5 grams of fibre per 6 slices, this is a great snack with incredible bang for your Points buck! I enjoyed mine with hummus, but they would be great with anything spreadable, cheese, with soup or just on their own. I also like that they only contain 3 ingredients - whole wheat flour, wheat bran and salt. I will definitely buy these again and I am looking forward to trying some more of the Ryvita product line.

I have a number of bloggers to thank for my introduction to the Larabar. These are amazing. They are full of fruits nuts and spices with no additional preservatives or sweeteners. They come in more than 10 flavors and range from 4 to 5 Points each. That's a little bit more than your average granola bar, but they're full of good stuff like a serving a fruit, fibre and omegas. I usually try to avoid whole nuts, but the larabars don't seem to irritate my tummy (so far - fingers crossed) These have been a great go-to snack for rehearsals as they are portable, have substance and leave me feeling satisified. I went nuts over the cherry pie flavor on Saturday and was actually sad when it was over. I look forward to trying some of the other flavors in the future!!

Weekly Menu - Week of February 8

Another busy week. Another meal plan. I picked up the Refresh cookbook on Friday so I'm trying a few recipes from it. Joey also requested that I get back to basics this week after last week's cholent disaster. So this week I'm branching out a little bit, but also getting back to some tried and true favourites.

Monday - whole wheat pasta with pesto, eggplant and red peppers

Tuesday - Ladle in Red Chili

Wednesday - Polynesian Slow Cooker Chicken

Thursday - Salsa Chicken w/ brown rice

Friday - Take out

Saturday - All you Need is Loaf w/ mashed sweet potatoes and baby carrots

I'll also be making Black Bean soup and chocolate spelt muffins from ReFresh for lunches

Check out some more menus at Org Junkie

Weekly Menu Recap - Week of February 1

Slow Cooker Curry from WW Magazine
This recipe was really easy and really tasty. I couldn't find the lemongrass but I think it would have made a great addition. It's in the current edition of the magazine which can be found on news stands or in WW Meeting rooms.

Pork chops, acorn squash and quinoa
I came home on Monday night to discover that the acorn squash that was in my fridge had gone to squash-y heaven and needed to put it in the green bin. I also found out that a friend of ours was coming over to work on some music with Joey. She's a vegetarian so the pork chops weren't going to cut it for her. So I made the pork chops for Joey and I (fast fry on the stove with 2 tsp of oil, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. I made Quinoa pilaf from Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health which was very simple, but very yummy. I also steamed some carrots and mixed in some Becel & a bit of honey. To make sure that Lori didn't go hungry I also microwaved a bit of corn. It was a good meal and everyone left happy and satisfied.

Indian Curry with brown rice
So far I have not been disappointed with anything I've made from A Year of Crockpotting and this was no exception! Both Joey and I really enjoyed this dish and it tasted even better the next day for lunch.

Mushroom Cholent
This was not a hit. It was gross and bland and just a big pile of mush. Joey tolerated it a little better than I did, but most of it went in the green bin. More spices could have made it better, but I really wasn't a fan.

The thai curry and the lentil sloppy joes didn't happen. Rehearsals got the best of me this week and on Thursday I had leftovers and Friday I went out for dinner.

Winterlicious
This meal was great! We went to Pan for their Winterlicious-type menu. It was a great night out and I truly enjoyed everything. I started with a selection of dips, followed by the chicken breast and then had the Galaktoboureko for dessert. Dessert sort of went against my no-sugar crucade, but I've been really good with that the last few weeks so I thought I would treat myself!

My Journey - in Pictures

I tried to add a slide show of these pictures, but I can't seem to make it happen... so here's a post with pictures of my weight loss journey!

This was taken in April 2006. This was taken at a fundraiser for the show I was doing at the time. It was around this time that a director had asked me to lose 15 lbs for a role. I was pretty upset about the request and wasn't in the frame of mind to lose weight - nor did I want to lose weight because someone had told me I should. I had wanted to buy that dress forever (had seen it in a showroom months before it was to come out) and I remember finally buying it and being concerned that I looked pregnant.

This was taken the week that I joined WW (It also happens to be the night that I met Joey - my now fiance) I was 160.8 here. The picture in my before & after shot on the sidebar is one of the pictures that prompted me to join WW because I wasn't feeling so great about the way I looked.

Those first couple weekends I spend a lot of my WPA on alcohol... but they were some extremely fun times!!

This was taken in October 2006. I was performing in the show "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever". This was the show that the director wanted me to lose weight for. At the time I was devasted but was not ready to deal with my weight and I needed to do it for me, not because a director wanted me to. This picture was taken pretty early, but I think by the end of the run of the show I think I had lost 9 or so lbs, so around 150...

I'm pretty sure this was around December 06/January 07. During Clear Day I hit a bit of a wall, but got the ball rolling again when I figured out my motivation and really kicked my butt into gear. I got to my 10% around December and started to talk to my Leader about my next goal.

I was really starting to notice a difference in the way I looked and felt. I knew I wasn't where I wanted to be but I was back within a healthy BMI and dropping in clothing sizes. Things really started moving following my 10% which I was really excited about.

The last couple years, my life has been defined by the shows that I was performing in. I got to goal while I was doing "Jerry's Girls"

Getting to goal was an amazing moment for me. There was another woman in the cast who was a Lifetime WW member and it was awesome to share my "moment" with her. She brought me a card and a gift the night I got to goal. It was really special.

This is me after I got to goal! I got really sick after I got to my WW goal (knowing what I know now, I think that was my first Crohn's flare-up) so I lost a bit more weight. I put a bit of it back on, but remained under my goal weight. I never would have set my goal at 127, but felt really good once I maintained it for awhile.

This photo was part of my headshot shoot, taken by the fabulous Ian Brown. I felt really good having my picture taken and was really happy with my shots. Besides Ian being an amazing photographer, I think it had a lot to do with where I was in my journey and how I felt about my new "at-goal" body. Seeing the pictures really helped me to see that I had lost weight and that I had come a long way from the pictures in Europe.

Here I am now, maintaining my weight nearly two years later. I feel good at this weight and it doesn't feel like a chore to keep it up. Obviously I'm still doing what I was doing to lose weight (because there is no save button at goal) but I don't worry about the scale as much as I used to. I want to tone my body more this year and as I outlined in my goals post the other day, I am well on my way to working towards that! (Special thanks to the amazing William Chrysler and Melissa Nicholl for this fun photo!)

Tell me what you want, what you really really want...

Goal Intention Objective Target Aspiration Aim Purpose Want Need

We can call them many things, but regardless of their name, it's incredibly important that you have goals. At my meetings on Saturday we talked about the importance of having goals, both long term and short term. You need to know what you're working towards and goals are a great way to do that.

Like I said on Saturday, your goals can be as simple as "I'm going to track everything today" or "I'm going to get up early and do my workout 3 times this week" or they can be bigger more long term goals like "I'm going to lose 40 lbs by my wedding" or "I want to be two dress sizes smaller by November".

Whatever your goals, make them specific, attainable, realistic and a good fit for your life. How are you going to achieve your goals? What are some strategies that are going to help you get there?

Here are my goals at the moment:

• Once my show is on, get back to bellydancing once per week and working out in other ways at least 2 times per week (I've already signed up for my new class and will start the last week of February. I'm also going to have my activity chart on the fridge and will work towards getting some stickers on there)
• I want to do a fitness bootcamp in the spring (I recieve the emails monthly and will sign up for the new session when it comes!)
• Cut out as much refined sugar as possible (I've been working on this goal this week. It involves a lot of label reading and unfortunately cutting out some of my favourite go-to foods, but I've been feeling really good lately!! I am going to continue with this and will be exploring the world of baking with agave nectar and stevia in the coming weeks)

Now that you know mine, what are your goals and how are you working on achieving them?

And if you're one of my meetings members get ready to answer this question on Saturday!

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination;
it is essentially a part of it. ~Charles DeLint

Recipe Recap - Week of January 25

Smackaroni & Cheese from ESBM - We always love this one. It is amazing. We had a vegetarian friend over for dinner and I dished out her bowl before I put the meat in and she still really enjoyed it. Also great for leftovers

Steak Fajitas on WW wraps - I used a new fajita seasoning mix that I got at The Big Carrot. I'll have to get the name of it, but I really liked it! It was much less salty than the usual commercial fajita seasonings. Very good! I had some corn and avocado on the side and made for a great tasting meal.

Slow Cooker Pork Teriyaki - this was a slow cooker failure. I think it just needed some more liquid. I didn't eat it. Joey had a bit, but later ordered pizza. It smelled good, but didn't work.

Cheesy White Chili w/ cauliflower (Slow Cooker) - This was from the Vegetarian Slow cooker book I mentioned last week. It was great! I cooked it overnight so it was ready for lunch in the morning. It was easy and very tasty. I used fat free cream cheese from my last trip to the US and it made it really creamy and delicious. Lots of cauliflower and beans made for a filling meal.

Slow Cooker Curry - After my last two Weight Watchers slow cooker recipes didn't turn out as planned, I was a little bit hesitant to try this one. But after having another look at the recipe it seemed like it would be a success and it was! Very easy to make and lots of flavor. I didn't use the lemongrass as I had trouble finding it, but overall really tasty and a great meal for a Sunday. We had some Fred's bread on the side with becel and it was a great meal. This recipe can be found in the latest edition of Weight Watchers magazine

Meal Plan - Week of February 1

Another week, another meal plan. It's curry week this week. Don't ask me why, but I'm just in the mood for trying a variety of curries. Lots of slow cooker goodness again this week because my show is opening in 15 days! Be sure to get your tickets soon! This week I picked up The Healthy Slow Cooker at the library this weekend and I'm looking forward to trying some of those recipes this week

Sunday - Slow Cooker Curry from WW Magazine (didn't get to it on Saturday)

Monday - Pork chops, acorn squash and quinoa

Tuesday - Indian Curry with brown rice

Wednesday - Mushroom Cholent from Vegetarian Slow Cooker book

Thursday - Thai Curry with brown rice

Friday - Lentil Sloppy Joes from Vegetarian Slow Cooker book

Saturday - Winterlicious!

Be sure to check out some more weekly menus at Orgjunkie.com

Fit in February

There are only 28 Days this month - let's get moving! Give yourself a sticker for every day that you exercise.

How many stickers did you get in January?