Trick-ie!

This morning I made Jesse another breakfast sandwich. I omitted his egg yolks without telling him.  I put the turkey ham on top of the 3 lovely egg whites, followed by a shredded up fat-free string cheese.  The turkey ham masked the egg flavor and he had no idea that the yolks were missing.  I saved him 3 points by doing this.  Also, because the breakfast was a sandwich we avoided the jam.  He asked for the jam actually… I informed him it was a sandwich… he asked “can’t I have an open-faced sandwich and put jam on one piece of toast?”, I just replied, “It’s a regular sandwich”… and I pointed out the blue berries with a teaspoon of sugar on them.  I discovered that 1 teaspoon of sugar actually equates to ZERO points, and all fruit is free… fabulous jam replacement.  As always, I set out a glass of ice water to help him avoid drinking milk or juice. 

After the food was gone Jesse asked how many points he had used.  He was surprised that today’s breakfast was just 7 points.  I informed him that yesterday’s was 13 points.  I showed him the food log from yesterday as I filled out todays.

Keep it going…

Jesse is doing great on day two of our second week of healthy efforts.  He  just left for the reserve center on his bike.  The center is about 5.5 miles from our house.  He has some paper work that needs to be done for a trip he is taking with the Navy at the end of July.  The sea bees will be going to West Virginia to build a boy scout camp for 2 weeks.  He is pretty excited about it.  He gets a hotel room with cable TV (we do not have T.V. at home) and he gets to play with heavy equipment to actually DO something. 

Breakfast for Jesse this morning cost him 13 points plus.  I made the mistake of asking how he wanted his eggs… scrambled, with ham in them.  He had 2 whole eggs (4 points) and 2 egg whites (0 points) , 2 oz of turkey ham (2 points), 2 slices of toast (2 points) which were smothered in butter (2 points) and lots of huckleberry jam (3 points).

For my breakfast I opted for 3 egg whites (1 point) and 2 slices of Sara lee delightful bread, toasted and plain (2 points).  I am going to head out to the garden and do some more weeding.  The sun is out, and with the way the weather has been acting I must jump on the opportunity to be outdoors before it leaves and the rain finds its way back! booo climate change.

Salad dressing trap

For lunch I made Jesse and myself salad, soup and cut up some fruit.  We ate pretty much the same meal, but with a few differences.  Jesse’s salad had 12 crutons which equate to 2 points plus and he had a different salad dressing.  Jesse’s dressing of choice was Spice Bacon Ranch made by Hidden Valley (4 table spoons worth) measured up to be 9 points plus.  I went with Newman’s Balsamic Vinegerette Light (4 table spoons worth) which was only 2 points.  I was honestly shocked at the difference between the dressings.  I measured out each of these two dressings, showed them to Jesse, told him how many points plus each were…. and he still chose the 9 points over the 2.  Later in the day he was disappointed in not having more to eat, I pointed out to him that the dressing is mostly to blame.  I am not sure if the message I wanted him to get was received. 

My meal (on the left) equaled 8 points plus with the soup. Jesse’s with soup (not shown in picture) ended up being 17 points plus.

I couldn’t finish my lunch.  This was just too much food for me!  Jesse finished his, all but the tomatoes and cucumber I put in the salads….

As for exercise yesterday; I gardened for about 4 hours fighting the weeds that have enjoyed the crappy wet weather we have had the last few weeks.  Then in the evening Jesse, Wiggles and I walked 2.75 miles.  I know the exact distance because I use Mapmyrun.com, if you don’t know already this is a FABULOUS site that lets you put your path into a map and calculates how far the distance is.  You can even make your path off-road!  Give it a try!

Breakfast Matters

So far we have had a great week.  This morning I am still 160.4 pounds, Jesse is 224.8 pounds.  We have worked out 4 days so far this week.  3 days in the gym.  I focus on cardio, Jesse splits his time there between cardio and weights.  Yesterday we ran 4 miles on the Centenial Trail.  Our dog Wiggles came along.  She loves out door runs!

To get us started on the right foot I am trying to fill our stomachs with something that is going to last a while.  Jesse NEEDS flavor and NEEDS to feel full.  Today We tried out these breakfast sandwiches. 

I used smaller plates, and left Jesse’s all spread out and let him put it together.  The presentation and set up of food did three things for him; slowed him down so he spent more time interacting witht he food, it visually appeared to be more due to plate size and also because the food was spread out and the most important thing! he couldn’t use jam on the bread!  Usually when there is toast involved it cues him to the jam… Which is just a sugary mess! The ingrediants for Jesse’s sandwich are Sara Lee Delightfull bread= (2 points plus), 3 slices of hickory smoked baccon=  (3 points plus), 1 fat free Cheese Head string cheese (1 point plus), 2 eggs=  (4 points plus), and 1 tbsp of butter (1 point plus).  I also included a little bowl of grapes and blueberries.  Fruits are free on the new weight watchers points plus program and makes us fuller!  Jesse doesn’t get enough fruit and veggies in his diet.  One last trick… I set out a BIG glass of ice water to avoid him helping himself to a big glass of milk or juice.  Jesse’s sandwich added up to 11 points plus.  After eating he asked why mine was so much less in points.  (YAY!) He decided that next time he could forgo 1 slice of baccon, and 1 egg white… but he is keeping his butter!

I made some changes for my sandwich, as I need less to lose weight.  My sandwich had 2 slices of baccon, 1 whole egg and 1 egg white (I had just wanted 2 egg whites, but I am not that talented witht he egg cracking thing…) and I did not use butter on my bread.  I included a tomato on my sandwich as well.  Jesse hates tomatoes… He is missing out! My sandwich totaled 7 points plus.  It would have been 6 had I not added the darn extra egg yolk.

After breakfast I got to thinking… I am on summer vacation and have plenty of time to make a yummy breakfast sandwich, but could I do this when I am back in school?  The answer is YES!  Baccon can be cooked ahead of time and re-heated (mcdonalds cooks their baccon 3 days ahead of time!!!) and I have also discovered that eggs can be prepared in the microwave with NO change to flavor.  These changes would make this breakfast food totally doable when pressed for a bit more time.  Waking up 10 minutes earlier would also help.