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Reporting in with Weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the TC Trimdown, the region-wide challenge where people form teams and lose weight together. The weeks are flying by! Just one week left to go in the 13-week challenge, with the big final weigh-in at the Hagerty Center next week.
In some ways, I find myself sort of going along on cruise control wtih the weight loss. I have a system now, and I’m following it pretty well. I know what I should and shouldn’t eat, and I’m logging in all my food on my handy Weight Watchers (WW) phone app. And the OMPers are helping me stay accountable at historical society meetings, book club, church potlucks, women’s club and so on and so forth.
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But I definitely have moments of “I’m sick of this, why can’t I just eat what I want?” And then I eat half a Little Caesar’s pizza and a bunch of breadsticks and gain two pounds overnight. Or like yesterday, I baked sourdough bread and ate half a loaf fresh out of the oven. Bread and pizza are my go-to comfort foods. Oh, who am I kidding, my go-to anytime foods.
So what DO I eat when I’m eating well and following the plan? Here’s a sample of how my days typically go – remember, I get 23 WW points every day. If I eat well, I usually have a handful of points leftover at the end of the day.
Breakfast: A bunch of sauteed veggies with a couple eggs tossed in and scrambled. Both eggs and veggies are zero points on WW, so that’s an awesome one-point meal (for the olive oil to saute the veggies).
My other go-to breakfast is steel-cut oats (my cherry-farmer dad had a bowl every morning – it’s in my DNA, and I love them), with a handful of chopped cashews and a sliced banana. Six WW points, but it fills me up til dinner.
Lunch: Usually just a bowl of fruit (zero WW points) or maybe a veggie salad (zero points) with a little reduced-fat feta (Treasure Cave brand, 1 point, I get this at Meijer in the deli section up by the meat counter) and reduced- or fat-free dressing (current favorite is Walden Farms Bleu Cheese, 0 points for 2 Tbsp., bought at Lucky’s Market in Traverse City).
Supper: Tim is the cook around here, and he’s very good at coming up with healthy, low-points meals. We might have baked chicken with salad or tacos with mostly veggies and beans (zero WW points), a little ground sirloin (2 to 3 WW points) from Maxbauer’s (we buy all our meat there) and reduced-fat shredded cheese (2 to 3 WW points). We like the Mission Carb Balance Flour Tortillas (2 points each). Another favorite meal is LightLife Smart Dogs (veggie hotdogs) with a little Amy’s Chili over the top. Unless otherwise noted, we buy most of our groceries at Lucky’s Market in Traverse City, with the occasional trip to Costco for bulk coffee, Morningstar Farms veggie sausage and such.
Snacks: For night-time snacking, I might have an apple (current fave is Pink Lady from Lucky’s Market – so good) or a couple Halo California Mandarins. I try to stick to fruit because it’s all zero WW points. I did bring home some mini-pretzels the other day (3 points for 19 pretzels), but for the most part, I try to stay away from salty snacks because they’re just gateway food to chocolate cake and late-night pizza. And I usually have a couple of bananas every day – the best fast food on the planet. Peel and eat.
A few nights this week, I tore through half a sleeve of Saltines along with a low-fat cheese stick (favorites are Sargento Light Mozzarella String Cheese, 1 WW point; or Sargento Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar, 2 WW points), which, ok, it’s not like I’m eating a chocolate cake or something, but it’s just not a good habit for me to get into. Again, gateway food.
For me, just making sure I track everything is so important. That helps me to make good choices and stay accountable.
Below is my current weight-loss rundown. My original (big, optimistic) goal was to lose 40 lbs. during the Trimdown Challenge. Then it went to 30 lbs., and now I’m shooting for 25 lbs. total. The weight-loss has slowed considerably in the past few weeks, partly because of those bread and pizza moments, but I think I can keep it together to lose another pound by next week and reach a goal of 25 lbs. total.
But! I don’t want to stop losing weight just because the Trimdown ends. I’m on a good roll, and will keep pressing forward to that original 40-lb. goal, and then we’ll take it from there.
I’ll map out a goal for losing those 15 lbs. going forward, and will keep writing about it here on the Gazette to stay accountable.
Also, the photo at the top is me going to yoga class with Sally Van Vleck at Neahtawanta Inn. We’re currently on a break, but the spring session begins April 9, 2019. Click here for more info. (If you sign up for the Wednesday night session, we can do yoga together!)
TC Trimdown: The Weigh-In
- Starting Weight: 196.0
- Week One: 189.6 (down 6.4 lbs.)
- Week Two: 186.6 (down 3 lbs.)
- Week Three: 183.8 (down 2.8 lbs.)
- Week Four: 182.6 (down 1.2 lbs.)
- Week Five: 180.6 (down 2 lbs.)
- Week Six: 178.0 (down 2.6 lbs.)
- Week Seven: 177.0 (down 1 lb.)
- Week Eight: 176.0 (down 1 lb.)
- Week Nine: 173.4 (down 2.6 lbs.)
- Week Ten: 173.0 (down 0.4 lbs.)
- Week 11: 172.6 (down 0.4 lbs.)
- Week 12: 172.0 (down 0.6 lbs.)
- Total Weight Loss So Far: 24.0 lbs.
Also Read…
- TC Trimdown: Week One Report
- TC Trimdown: Week Two Report
- TC Trimdown: Week Three Report
- TC Trimdown: Weeks Four & Five Report
- TC Trimdown: Weeks Six, Seven & Eight Report
Are you doing the TC Trimdown or otherwise on a weight-loss journey? Leave comments below on how you’re doing!
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You are doing GREAT Jane. Your numbers and mine are pretty close. I’m just doing it on my own here, and Terry is the cook too so that helps. Doing my exercise too but due to an emotional issue, I didn’t do well on that for a couple months so having to get myself going again so I’ve started. And of course my lovely asthma gets in the way too. Jackie Thomas is my “coach” and she is the only one who can ask if I’m exercising etc OR tell me what I should be doing. TERRY??? No way!!!!!!!! So congrats and just keep it up. Eat too much of something, there is always tomorrow to be good!!!!!!!!!!
As a note Jane, our meat from the market comes from the same place as Maxbauer’s and is ground and cut fresh daily. Please check it out and compare our prices! Mark is great and has helped the market out when we get cut from our meat supplier. I have lost 30 lbs in the last 10 months and attribute a lot of it to eliminating bread and pasta! Kudos to you for your weight loss as I know how difficult it is to do. Continue to reward yourself every couple of weeks to a pizza and other carb foods to keep you on track!!
Thanks, Sis! I will make sure our readers know that. I’m sure a lot of them aren’t aware that Peninsula Market gets meat from the same place as Maxbauer’s. And you guys are just a few minutes away from most of us, too!
Way to go on the weight loss! Bread and pasta are biggies for me, too.