It struck me the other day that I am within striking distance of my mini goal weight of 158.8 pounds. Seems a bit surreal. When I got back on track in June of last year, getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight seemed so far off. And now it's not. I'm really happy with my progress. I've lost over 30 pounds in 10 months. The time it's taken is not that important though, I'm just happy to be feeling better and stronger than before.
So today I made a real effort to stay within my daily points. I am hoping to get back to at least 167.6, the weight I was two weeks ago before my cycle started and before Easter struck. I had my normal breakfast and then for lunch I had some roasted veggies with a 5 point sandwich. Dinner was 1 cup of pasta with half of a Jennie-O italian sausage and sauteed veggies. I'm definitely going to bed hungry but I just needed to reign things in a bit.
So, on to coffee creamers. I use 4 points every morning on CoffeeMate French Vanilla creamer. That's got to stop. So Wednesday night I went to the grocery store to see what my (lower point) options are. I found Coffeemate Natural Bliss lowfat vanilla and it's only 2 points. I had it this morning and it was ok, not as rich tasting as the other stuff. I also noticed that if I use half-and-half it's 2 points as well, so I'm going to try that with flavored Splenda or sugar free Torani when the Natural Bliss runs out. Another option would be to do a flavored coffee and then skip the flavored creamer. It would be nice to go with something a little more natural, all these creamers and artificial sweeteners are probably giving me cancer. Though the Natural Bliss ingredients are nonfat milk, sugar, heavy cream, natural flavor (whatever that is), and carageenan (thickener) - that's
way better than the ingredient list in the regular CoffeeMate I'm drinking now. Ok, well, that's a whole lot of writing about coffee creamer but this is the kind of thing that WW leads to - the search for frivolous points that can be cut.
To go along with the good eating I also went to the gym today. This week I took Sunday off to recover from the 10k and then I've worked out every day since - Mon, Tue, Wed and Thur. Goes against my guideline to not exercise more than three days in a row but the 10k threw my schedule off. I'm on the fence about going to the gym tomorrow but I kind of want to so I can take Saturday off and then get back to my routine on Sunday. The other option would be to skip Fri
and Sat. My body feels like it needs a little recovery so maybe that's what I'll do. We'll see.
Anyway, at the gym I did a 25 minute run on the treadmill followed by back/biceps/core work. It was a quick workout, but a good one. And now I'm tired as heck. I'm going to curl up and watch a movie for a bit and then head to bed. Tomorrow is weigh-in Friday, very curious to see what the scale will have to say.
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i had the same issue a year ago. i cleaned up my food that contained artificial ingredients. i have found when i need some extra flavor i add a dash of cinnamon. i use stevia for sweetner (hard for me to get used to, but finally did) and fat free organic 1/2 & 1/2. you might give the cinnamon a try, something already in the pantry....:) keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThis post hit home today. I have French Vanilla coffee mate in my coffee every morning. Ugh, 4 points! I'll be looking for an alternative too.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite creamer is the non fat French vanilla half and half from trader joes. It truly is the best thing ever!
ReplyDeleteI was totally addicted to coffeemate French vanilla but went off it bc of all the artificial stuff. I will have to check out the Natural Bliss. I just use milk now & lately just coconut milk (unsweetened, full fat). No idea how many points that is, but I just count it as 2!
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the support! Misty, cinnamon in your coffee? Interesting idea. I've been toying with adding a drop of vanilla to see what that does. Nicole - I've decided FF is not the way to go so I'm doing regular half-and-half. We'll see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI am going to change your life... So Delicious Coconut Creamer - French Vanilla. Delicious, Natural and only 1 point for 3 T. It is delicious. I think it's just as good as Coffeemate.
ReplyDeletei use 1/2 and 1/2 and some syrups... at least i know whats in there.. vs the unknown ingrediants in the creamer.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that I was using so many points on creamer. I found one at Whole Foods that is 0 points for 1 TBS and 1 for 2 TBS. They have vanilla and Hazelnut, but they are more points. So, this has been the way I have tried to cut down. It is the 365 brand and it is an organic creamer. Just thought I would share.
ReplyDeleteI love all these recommendations! Thanks ladies, lots of new creamers for me to try. Hopefully one of them will hit that sweet spot of low points but good flavor. The Natural Bliss is not exactly blissful.
ReplyDeleteI found the SO Delicious brand of Coconut milk Creamer very good. when I did the math it came up 0 pts.
ReplyDelete1 T is 10 calories with 0 fat and 0 fiber. The taste is great with the richness I had with Coffee-mate or half n half.
I found this at a store called Fresh n Easy.