How many points in wine?

Ok, I've been really good-spectacular even-all week with my exercise and points. My "evil" daughter (I really do love her skinny little gymnastics toned butt) made cookies this week and I've had 1/2 a cookie all week. Today we had friends over to swim in the pool we are babysitting (along with the puppy who lives there) and then had them over for dinner. I had a veggie burger for dinner while everyone else had burgers or hot dogs (which I LOVE). We broke out the wine. I think I've had 2 or 3 glasses (probably 3 with as buzzed as I am right now). I've now dipped into my 35 "bonus" points for the week (it is day 7). That's why we save them, right? Ever notice how you eat more when you've had alcohol? At least I do. I think it is the "oh well" attitude that comes with a good buzz. I came to blog to step away from the table. Only the red wine is left, which I didn't like as much, so I should be ok now. What sucks is that I have to put the wine points on my log. This goes back to my title question, how many points are in wine? I just looked it up. 2 points for 4 oz. I've had 6 points worth of wine! At least I didn't have a bun with my veggie burger!

I hope everyone else has had a successful, healthy week. I'm planning to run this wine off tomorrow! Wish me and my headache luck.

Longest run yet!

Today I managed to run for 20 consecutive minutes-about 2 miles! I'm feeling stronger and healthier than I have in quite a while. I've also been keeping within my points range. The exercise points certainly help.

Yummy Recipes

I have an old (2002) edition of the Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient/15 Minute Cookbook and made 2 yummy recipes for dinner tonight for a 6-point meal!

Tuscan Chicken and Beans

• Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into 1-in pieces
• 1 tsp dried rosemary (or use 2 tsp fresh)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16-oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 Tbsp minced sun-dried tomatoes

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium heat until hot. Add chicken; sprinkle with rosemary, salt, and pepper. Stir-fry 2 minutes.
2. Add broth, beans, and tomatoes to skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, if desired.

Makes 4 servings. Only 3 points each! 193 calories; 11g carbs; 1.9g fat; 3.8g fiber; 29.8g protein.

Garlic-Cheese Breadsticks

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (I used Garlic-Garlic from Tastefully Simple)
• 1 (11-oz) can refrigerated soft breadstick dough

1. Combine cheese and garlic on a plate. Prepare breadsticks according to package directions, pressing each stick into cheese mixture before baking.

Makes 6 servings or so (depends on the brand of breadsticks you get). I used Pilsbury and they ended up to be 3 points per serving (2 breadsticks). I would calculate your points based on the breadsticks. The cheese mix adds a negligible amt of points (probably less than 1).

I served both of these with some fresh zucchini from the farmer's market this morning, sauteed in a cooking spray with minced garlic and Italian seasoning.

Enjoy!

Whew!

Ok, I did a 45 minute strength/core class at the Y this morning and then swam 1/4 mile in my friend's pool this afternoon (it really isn't as far as it seems-took me 15 minutes-it just seemed like a lot longer). Now if the humidity around here would go away, I would feel a lot better. (Tomorrow is a running day and it is so blazing hot and humid here this week!) Hope everyone else is having a productive, healthy day!

Starting Weight - Go Team Peach!

My starting weight is 165.8 lbs. I'm so happy to be joining Team Peach. Let's kick some booty, ladies!

Hot Running

I ran my longest time today-two 8 minute runs with a 5 minute walk inbetween. Very hot out this morning. Already 82 degrees when I was out at 8:30! I think for my long run on Friday, I'm going to need to get up and run very early.

So it comes down to this.....

I can pinpoint exactly when my weight began to spin out of control. I was able to maintain my 50 lb weight loss (thanks to Weight Watchers and exercise) for over 6 years, but according to my old weight logs, my weight started creeping up in July 2007 after a wonderful vacation to St. Lucia (All inclusive resort-very dangerous. I think I drank my points everyday.) It's been nearly 2 years since that vacation and now I'm up to 165.8 lbs! I haven't been this heavy in about 8 years. Somehow I've managed to pack 25 lbs on my 5'3" frame, I look and feel terrible, and I have nothing to wear. Yikes!

When I was maintaining my weight loss (hovering around 139-140), I went to WW meetings every month for my Lifetime Member weigh-in. I even kept going for a while, though I wasn't staying at goal. I felt like a complete failure. I quit torturing myself in November 2008. When I left WW, I was 152.4 lbs. Now I'm nearly 15 lbs above that. Clearly, going it on my own was NOT the answer.

So what contributed to my weight gain?????? I think I can honestly say that life got in the way. This is where I began to go wrong:

1. Overactive Fork Disorder: I'm eating too much of the wrong kinds of food. I've relapsed into old, bad eating habits.
2. BLTs: Bites, Licks, and Tastes - a little here, a little there really adds up, especially the late night snacking or finishing the food on my kids' plates.
3. Not moving my a**: When I was staying thin, I was exercising at least 4 times per week. I was running (did three 5K races-slowly), plus group exercise classes at the YMCA. Lately, I've been shuttling my preteens to all their sports, instead of being active myself.

So, it comes down to this.....blogging about my weight issues for the world to read. Perhaps if I send my goals into cyberspace, and with the support of the Sisterhood, I'll start to have some success.

Here are my goals:

1. Move my butt: I plan to exercise at least 4 times per week. Right now, I'm walking/running 3 times per week and just started strength training. My schedule is to run M-W-F and lift T-TH. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm following the Couch to 5K podcast, with increases in running each week.
2. Complete a 5K: If my knee holds out (I stopped running due to injuries), I plan to run a 5K in mid-July. If my knee doesn't make it, I'll walk the course.
3. Put down the fork: I've started tracking my points again. I usually do pretty well tracking during the week, but fall apart on the weekends, so my goal is to track daily. I'm not ready to face WW yet. I have the tools, I just need to use them.
4. Quit the late-night snacking: I'm really bad about snacking out of a chip bag around 10 pm. That needs to stop. Water, fruit, veggies-make better choices.
5. Fit back into my "skinny" clothes: I'm not happy that my most forgiving size 12s are too tight, especially since I was holding at a solid 8 for so long. I know Stacey and Clinton (TLC's What Not To Wear) say "Don't get married to a size", but I have some really cute size 8's hanging in my closet mocking me right now.
6. A 10% weight loss - 16 lbs - would be a nice start. If I make it to 150, I'll see if I need to set a new loss goal.

So, help me out, send me encouragement, anything to keep me going.

Bari