WW Week 9

I’ve been following WW for 8 weeks and experienced 7 weeks of losses at the weekly weigh-in. At this week’s (week 8’s) weigh-in, I experienced my first gain, and while not significant, was super disappointing. I have to admit that I somewhat expected it, between taking time off from the gym and over-celebrating St. Pat’s, I was pretty sure I hadn’t lost. I had, however, hoped I’d at least maintained. I may be disappointed, but I’m not discouraged, and I’m looking forward to this week as a harder challenge: lose that pound I gained + lose another pound to get myself back on track! To do so, I’m taking myself back to how strict I was in the first few weeks; I’ll be sure to get at least 30-40min of exercise every single day and will be tracking every single sip and taste. I’m also refusing to tap into my activity points. I will definitely slip into my bonus points because I enjoy my weekend wine, but I plan not to use all 49 and those activity points are going to just sit there and remain completely unused. I’m also going back to something that worked well for me last summer when I noticed I felt super tired in the afternoons: instead of one normal lunch portion, I’m going to have two smaller lunch portions, one at 11am and the other around 230pm, with a very light snack of fruit & nuts just before heading to the gym at the end of the work day.

This week’s meal plan – breakfasts will be egg & sausage casserole; morning snacks are fiber one yogurts; early lunches will be ww-recipe corn chowder; late lunches will vary based upon leftovers. Here are the dinners I’ve planned for the week:
Monday – Chicken in a lemon/thyme marinade with grilled veggies (squash, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes)
Tuesday – Beef stew
Wednesday – Chicken fajitas (peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach) with black beans
Thursday – Tagliatelle Carbonara (without the alfredo-like sauce, can I still call it Carbonara??) – recipe below
Friday – Turkey burgers and roasted veggies (oven fries, baby carrots, broccoli)
--- made a deal with a coworker that if we both lose our goal at Thursday’s weigh in, we’re being bad for lunch (but still tracking) so I had to go with a super low points-value dinner to be safe ---

As a side note, I do try to get Dan’s input on the weekly meal plans but as usual, his response was “whatever” when I asked what he’d like for dinners this week. His only request was to pack him less citrus for his afternoon fruit because he bit his tongue and apparently the pineapple I gave him this morning really hurt that spot on his tongue so I picked him up a nectarine, gala apple, 2 pears and a red plum at the farmers’ market. OH I also checked out Colleyville farmers’ market this week; I’ve been a Bedford farmers’ market devotee for a long time but was disappointed last weekend when I learned they got their garlic from China!! I am a big believer in eating local produce and that just really didn’t sit well with me. Colleyville’s market is nice, and they have a pretty good selection, but some of their items seemed like they had been out a little too long; many of their red peppers were puckered and tomatoes bruised, which is fine for sauce but not so great for salad. I will be heading over to NRH’s market next week; haven’t been there in awhile since we switched dog parks but they had a fab selection last time I checked.

Tagliatelle Carbonara (without the alfredo-like sauce)
6 servings / 10 pts

1 lb / 16oz whole wheat fettuccine*
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (you can totally use less than this, but this is what I used for the points value since I learned I’m pretty heavy on the pour into a skillet)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp faux butter (I use smart balance)
5 oz light / low-sodium deli ham (about 6 slices)
1 c frozen peas, thawed
Salt & pepper to taste
Grated parmesan – optional but tasty, adds to points value

- Cook the pasta according to package instructions, drain but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water; return pasta to pot
- Heat olive oil in skillet, add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent and garlic is super fragrant, about 2-3 min
- Add butter to skillet and melt, add ham and peas, cook until peas are heated through, about 3-4min; reduce heat and simmer about 5min longer then add to pasta
- Toss pasta with sauce, add salt & pepper to taste, add enough reserved pasta water to make a light sauce (I usually end up using about half)
- Enjoy!!!

*tagliatelle is just a fancy word for fettuccine, I like using it because Dan can’t say it