She's Home!!!!!! 
You know... this is like my 6th time I'm doing it over like 20 years so I'm pretty familiar with the system... once I got past the "I want to gnaw on your arm" hunger...it was pretty good...
I've saved some 1 & 2 point snacks for the night time and if you have the 100 calorie packs in your store...look for the Stella D'orro chocolate breakfast treats... they are richly chocolate... also.. the regular Jello pudding cups are 2 pts... (I don't use artificial sweetner)... I also do a veggie snack - this week it happens to be cauliflower with ranch dressing... it's crunchy - I pick up the ranchiness and it gives me that crunch.
AND apples... they're in season... not only have I been eating them regular... but I peel them and cut them up and have them with a little raw sugar and cinnamon and it tastes good...
Just to hear that you're willing to give it another go is the kind of encouragement I need. I'm one of those who made Liftetime first try (lost 90#), and then stupidly gained most of it back a few years later because I got bored with counting points, planning meals, and not being able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. I took off the weight the first time in a year and had the points burned in my brain as well. My problem when cutting back calories is extreme hunger to the point that I would be feeling faint, dizzy, violent headaches etc. when sticking to the plan. The doctor figured something is out of whack with the hormones that signal when you're hungry and full because mine definitely weren't doing their jobs. I'd eat a well-balanced meal, with a mountain of vegetables and a proper amount of protein and it would feel like I hadn't eaten at all.
Basically, I just got tired of feeling hungry all the time. Anyway, I know there's many worse conditions than that to have and I just have to accept that it's better to feel hungry than feel fat and unhealthy.
We don't have Stella D'orro in Canada and one thing I noticed in the USA, is how many more diet items there are then on the West Coast of Canada. It's almost impossible to find Weight Watchers items here where's, when you go to London they are everywhere.
Sorry guys, we're not going on a
Disney cruise...we're saving that for a trip with the kiddies. We're doing
Royal Caribbean.....they were offering some crazy deals, so as much as I wanted to do a Disney cruise, I just couldn't justify the extra cost. Either way, I'm just excited to have 16 meals in which I am not interrupted by having to get up get someone juice/milk/water or in which I am not having to shovel food into a 20 month's old mouth in order to keep the screaming at a minimum!
That's how I felt when I got on the cruise ship in August. (I spent two months on various ships this summer as an enrichment lecturer). I spent 1 month on RCI (Independence and Splendor) and the food was definitely better than Celebrity - something that surprised me.
It's a sad state of affairs when after nearly two weeks of late nights and boozie good times you come home only to end up with a wheezy, boombox cough that makes your chest ache. So instead of finishing the night with a drink I've got hot tea. We're hoping that it's just from traveling from one weather extreme to another ... otherwise I'm going to start calling WDW the Most Contagious Place on Earth.
You have my complete sympathy Bendy because I can't stop coughing either. I took one day off work because my throat was so bad, but felt guilty taking any more time off. As long as you don't have a high fever it's not H1N1 - if that helps!
With this being a food and drink thread, I'll get the ball rolling by adding the recipe I got from the only culinary demonstration I managed to attend at the Food and Wine Festival. My sister and I felt this was a little hot and I'd tone down the chili a bit. Hope to see some other new recipes and comments from the culinary demonstrations of anyone else managed to attend.
Grilled Pineapple Vanilla Gazpacho
Culinary Demo, Epcot F& W Festival 2009 by James Kleinschmidt, Disney's Contemporary Resort
Servings: 4
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup *vanilla infused pineapple juice
1/4 cup Spanish onion, chopped
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon habanero pepper, seeded and chopped (or Tabasco sauce)
1/8 teaspoon garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (1 1/2 - pound) pineapple, cored and peeled, cut into chunks, grilled and chilled
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and quartered
1/4 cup red pepper, diced
1/4 cup pineapple, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Place first 10 ingredients in a blender or food processor; process until minced. Pour into a bowl, cover and chill. Overnight is good.
Spoon 8 ounces of soup into bowls. Combine remaining diced ingredients; put 3 tablespoons into each cup.
* Take 1 fresh vanilla bean and cut down the center and place in 1/4 cup pineapple juice the day before.
Note: pineapple was grilled on an indoor grill - don't overdo it. Dish was served with yucca/plantain fries on the side.
) I can't wait to see everybody's pics!...I hope there are some from the Dis meet!
. Take care of yourself and feel better soon!
Overall we felt it was a great festival this year.
