Yup, I like to eat.

One of my Instagram buddies asked me about creating a Weight Watchers friendly meal plan.  So for the past few days I've been thinking about it, and...well, basically I decided to just tell you a few things I eat a lot of because let's be honest, it's the easy way out.  Ha.  Just kidding.  But it is what's worked for me -- I mean, I've lost (or had lost before vacation) 90 pounds without exercising so it can't be that bad.

Breakfast

• Plain oatmeal (Quaker Oats) w/ 1 tsp brown sugar (or Splenda) and cinnamon (4 pp)
• Cheerios (1 cup), fat-free milk (3/4 cup), a banana slices (4 pp -- one of my faves!)
• Dannon Light & Fit vanilla greek yogurt with a banana and a toasted light english muffin with spray butter (5 pp)
• Sliced hard-boiled egg and light english muffin breakfast sandwich (5 pp)
• "Fried" egg sandwich -- egg cooked on top of stove with cooking spray, 2 pieces of Sara Lee 45-calorie whole wheat break, and 1 tbsp fat-free mayo (4 pp)

Lunch

• Salad (whatever veggies you like) with 2 chopped hardboiled eggs and a tablespoon of fat-free dressing (about 5 pp depending upon your dressing)
• Plain sweet potato (medium), sliced turkey breast (3 oz which, for me, is usually about 3 slices), Sargento ultra thin sliced provolone (3 slices), raw veggie (like baby carrots) or apple slices (8 pp)
• PB2 (2 servings) & banana sandwich made with Sara Lee 45 calorie bread and a Yoplait or  Dannon Light & Fit greek yogurt with a fruit or raw veggie (6 pp)
• Leftovers -- I usually just have what I ate for dinner but try not to exceed 8 or 9 pp 

Dinner

• Emily Bites Deep Dish Pizza Casserole (8 pp)
• Baked ziti -- pretty sure the recipe is on my IG, but I'll try to get it up on here soon...you basically just sub the pizza casserole dough for whole wheat pasta (9 pp for 1/4 of the whole thing)
• Chicken parmesan -- 1 Perdue lightly breaded chicken breast cutlet (cooked), then add a tablespoon of tomato sauce and 1/4 cup fat free mozzarella cheese and stick back in oven until melted; serve with veggies...I like green beans and broccoli (5 pp for 1 piece of chicken and toppings)
• Chicken taco bowl -- 3 oz crockpot salsa chicken (chicken, taco seasoning, salsa), 1 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup black beans, 1/4 cup fat free cheddar, 1 tbsp fat free sour cream (about 11 pp)
• Cheeseburger Macaroni (9 pp)
• Chicken Tetrazzini (8 pp)
• Chicken burger -- WW Chicken Burger, sandwich thin, 2 tbsp of goat cheese, lettuce, onion, pickles, Heinz 57 -- with sweet potato (10 pp)
• Emily Bites Pizza Logs (2 pp per log, but keep in mind it's one of those weird values where it's like 5 pp for 2 logs or something like that)

Snacks

• Kellogg's Fiber Plus antioxidants chewy bar with protein -- I like the mixed nut with chocolate (4 pp)
• Smart Pop mini popcorn bag (2 pp)
• Apple slices (0 pp)
• Grapes (0 pp)
• Sliced navel orange with salt (0 pp)
• South Beach Diet Good To Go bars with extra fiber -- I like the chocolate of course (3 pp)
• Popchips -- 1 serving (3 pp)
• Sliced strawberries, 2 tbsp of Hersey's sugar-free syrup, and 3 tbsp of fat free Cool Whip (0 pp)
• Unsweetened apple sauce with cinnamon (0 pp)
• Dannon Light & Fit or Yoplait greek yogurt (2 pp)

I get 26 points a day so whatever I have left over after I track my breakfast, lunch, and dinner (yup, I pre-track everything), I use on snacks.  I eat a lot of snacks.

Sooooo hope that helps!  :)

Yesterday.

You know what's great about my Weight Watchers leader?  She lets me cry.  Seriously.

I weighed in for the first time yesterday in 2 weeks (I was on Spring Break last week and there was no way I was going to face that scale after being on vacation).  I knew I was going to have a gain.  I expected maybe a pound at the most.  Never ever ever did I expect to stand on that scale and see that I was almost 3 pounds heavier.

To say I was devastated would be an understatement.  I had already cried that day (a couple of times, actually) for unrelated matters, so this was just the icing on the cake.

But you know what?  My leader let me cry, hugged me, and said "what can I help you with?"  And for that, I am so appreciative.  I love that she didn't try to tell me I had nothing to cry about because it was only 2.8 pounds.  She got it.  She understood.  She had been there before.

Seriously folks, where else can you get that kind of support?  If I were doing this online (like I have in the past), yesterday would have been it.  I would have quit.  Straight up quit.

And yes, I was still upset when I left.  In fact,  I went to Chickfila for dinner, fully prepared to get a delicious chicken sandwich and some good ole waffle fries, and eat every bit of my feelings away.  But I didn't.  Something came over me and before I knew it I had ordered a kids meal -- a 6 piece GRILLED (!!!) chicken nugget, a FRUIT CUP (what?!), and a refreshing Diet Coke.  That's 3 PP folks.  3 PP instead of 25ish PP.

It doesn't happen over night, but Weight Watchers is so much more than losing weight.  It's a lifestyle change.  It's getting rid of those bad habits (even though we will slip from time to time) for the most part, and learning how to really take control of our lives.  Even though I can't say I'm down 90 pounds right now, I know that I will get back there soon.

No Box Cheeseburger Macaroni

So with it being the end of the month (and payday doesn't come until the last day of the month aka I'm a poor teacher for real right now) I was trying to think of more budget friendly meals to have this week.  I was walking down the aisle at Wal-Mart last night and came upon the Hamburger Helper.  Now, I hadn't eaten HH in about 10 years (i.e. college) but I remembered looooving Cheeseburger Macaroni.  I picked up a box, thought about it, but decided I could probably make a much healthier version for about the same price.  So after a bit of googling what spices go into it (literally, in the middle of the aisle, blocking the boxes of mashed potatoes) -- thanks, Food.com -- that's what I did.  Oh, and it's totally Simply Filling friendly for those of you on that train.

No Box Cheeseburger Macaroni

Servings: 4

Serving Size: 1 cup

Weight Watchers: 9 PP / serving

Ingredients

1 pound 93% ground beef

1 1/2 cups (or 6 oz) uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni

1 cup of hot water

2 cups of fat free milk

1 cup of fat free shredded cheddar cheese

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

Brown the hamburger meat in a really large pot.  Drain the grease when cooked, then throw it back in the large pot and add all the spices (including the cornstarch and sugar), water, milk, and pasta.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Lower the heat so it is simmering.  Cook until the pasta is done.  Add the cheese and stir until melted.  Makes about 4 servings if you dish out 1 cup per serving.  And it's delish!

Skinny Chicken Tetrazzini

You know what I love?  My mama's cooking...more specifically, my mom's chicken tetrazzini, which is definitely not Weight Watchers friendly.  Good news though -- my mom and I revamped the recipe this past weekend to make it skinnier and ALMOST Simple Start friendly.

Skinny Chicken Tetrazinni
Servings: 8
Weight Watchers: 8 PP / serving

Ingredients
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1 medium diced onion
1 small jar of mushrooms
1 small jar of pimento
1 cup of fat free chicken broth
2 cans of 98% fat free cream of mushroom
3 cups of diced chicken breast (cooked -- just boil it!)
1 small box of whole wheat spaghetti (cooked!)
8 oz fat free shredded cheddar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Saute onion and bell pepper in broth and simmer until tender.  Add the cans of cream of mushroom as well as the jar of mushrooms. Add the cooked chicken and pimento.  Fold in salt, pepper, cheese, and spaghetti.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The only thing not Simply Filling friendly is the cream of mushroom -- I'm doing SF right now and gave myself 1 point per serving when I had this earlier today.

Moment of truth.

True story...I'm really bad at keeping up with this blogging thing. It's not that I don't want to, I just never know what to say.  So I deleted all of the old posts and decided to start fresh. Sounds logical right?

What to say, what to say... Ok, how about I start by talking about me? At least that's something I know a little about.

1. I'm Kristen.
2. I'm 29 and not so sure how I feel about turning 30 this summer.
3. I teach middle school, which is probably why I feel like I'm going crazy at times.
4. I've lost 90 pounds thus far with Weight Watchers...I guess I know a little about that as well.
5. I have a really hard time seeing myself as 90 pounds thinner. More on that later?
6. I'm siiiiiingle. What's up boys?
7. I have a fear of dating, which makes #6 laughable.
8. Apparently I'm not that great at talking about myself because I've run out of things to say.

About this whole "seeing myself thinner" thing...anyone else have this issue? For years and years I was morbidly obese.  I remember wanting so desperately to fit into clothes at certain stores and couldn't...even at Target! Seriously. What's even worse is that now, even after losing all this weight, I still have a fear of going into a dressing room and the clothes not fitting. Even though I know all the clothes in my closet are a size 6, I still see that girl who wears a size 18 or 20 in the mirror. It just doesn't click.  And if I'm being real honest, when I look in the mirror, I still see the same amount of stomach fat as always.

I know this is something I have to work through and I'm so thankful for my Instagram friends and their unwavering support. I literally blush when someone says I look thin because I've never thought of myself as a thin person.  So if any of you are reading this -- <3 p="">
And if you're not my IG friend, what's wrong with you?! Just kidding -- follow me @krisnichgill  -- and you can see what I ate for breakfast. No seriously, I'm one of those annoying people. You've been warned.