Weight Watchers Freestyle | Chicken Taco Soup | Power Pressure Cooker XL

Wow!  It's really been a while since I posted.  I'm still plugging along with Weight Watchers but the new change to Freestyle has really infused me with renewed excitement so we shall see if that excitement finds its way on to the blog as well.  I'm having fun finding recipes and meal ideas that are zero (or close to it) points.  It's amazing the fun treats you can enjoy when the rest of your meals are zero points!!

I recently Frankensteined a taco soup recipe and I'm really enjoying it.  I read so many other recipes just to get an idea of what they do and then I pulled this and that into a pot to create my own version.  If you want to see an original version, just google "Zero Point Weight Watchers Taco Soup" and you can figure that I probably read the first six or so recipes to get the ideas flowing in my head.

My version comes out to zero points and the first time I ate it I added 4 points worth of shredded cheddar cheese (1/4 cup of the real stuff - life's too short to only eat fat free cheese!) but to tell you the truth the soup is so tasty that I really couldn't tell the cheese was in there.  I left it out when I had left overs and it was fantastic!  I also tried something new and topped it with plain fat free Greek yogurt and I did NOT miss the sour cream at all and I certainly didn't miss the points I would have had to count.

Here's my version:

No precooking, sautéing, blanking, or any of those other hoity-toity cooking methods needed - just dump all this stuff in your electric pressure cooker (I have the Power Pressure Cooker XL) and push the soup button (I'm pretty sure the Instant Pot also has a soup button that should work very similarly).  If you don't have an electric pressure cooker, I won't shame you (much) but I'm sure you could put this on the stove and cook it on medium until the chicken was fully cooked and tender.

• 2 chicken breasts - I used these monsters from Sams that I didn't trim but don't be like me - trim those girls of all visible fat (trust me you will be glad you did!)
• 1 sweet onion - diced
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can whole kernel corn - do not drain the juice just dump it all in the pot
• 2 cans diced tomatoes - again, no draining
• 1 can chopped green chilies - yep, broken record - do not drain these guys
• 1 can each black beans and kidney beans - these you want to drain and then rinse them really well
• 3 tablespoons taco seasoning (I love the Penzey's brand but any type will work or you can just dump in one of those packets of pre-made taco seasoning mix)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin (does anyone else think this smells like BO?  My hubby mentioned it one day and now its all I can smell but oh, it tastes so good!)

After your pressure cooker has finished cooking just let it do a natural release for about 15 minutes.  Pull your fully cooked chicken breasts out and shred them with two forks.  Put the chicken back in and give it a few stirs.  I ended up with six good size servings and the leftovers are even better than the first meal!  I put a couple dollops of the Greek yogurt on top and it was fabulous!  So filling and it's zero points!!!

Pizza, Wine, and Cake (oh, my!)

Well...I finally made it back to the gym and it was HARD!!  I was only able to stay on the elliptical for 10 minutes and every minute was a struggle.  I also did the leg and ab machines.  I did a weight that was a challenge and did as many reps as I could before becoming very tired.  Most machines I ended up with about 20 reps.  I'd really like to get to the gym five days a week but I know that in reality it will be great if I could make it at least twice in addition to my regular Wednesday night dance class.  Speaking of dance class - I really need to push myself more in class and stop phoning it in.  While it's a great social outlet for me I need to also dial in more to the physical aspect of the class.

I also started counting WW points again and yesterday was a perfect 30 day!  I tried a few new things and for the most part they were pretty good.  Brianna from Diva and the Divine raves about the Trader Joe's Guiltless Mac & Cheese so I tried one for lunch and I have to admit I wasn't too blown away with it - sorry Brianna :-(.  However, she doctors hers up with extra cheese, crab, and bacon bits.  Unfortunately all I had to use was the crab.  I might try it again with her additions before I make a final determination.  Mac & cheese is one of my all time favorite comfort foods (yep...the blue box stuff!!) so I think my psyche messes with my ability to enjoy other mac & cheese's when they don't taste like the blue box.

Last night we had pizzas made on Flat Out flatbread.  I liked it much more than my husband did but he was a really good sport about it.  I just brushed the flatbread with EVOO and then topped it with mostly zero point toppings (artichokes, basil, jalapeños, capers, and mushrooms) but also included black olives (1SP), jalapeño pepperoni (2SP), and shredded pizza cheese (2SP).  All in all the pizza cost me 8SP and it was very filling.

I also had 4SP worth of red wine (totally worth it!!) and ended the evening trying out the 3-2-1 Mug Cake.  I was quite impressed how good it was!  You take 3 tablespoons of any cake mix, add 2 tablespoons of water, and cook it on high in the microwave for 1 minute.  I used spice cake mix and drizzled 1SP worth of sugar free chocolate syrup on top.  It doesn't make a huge amount but the flavor is quite intensified due to only adding water.  I'm looking forward to trying some other flavors!

Tonight I am trying a new recipe from the WW site - Grilled Chicken with a Corn/Tomato Salsa.  I'll let you know how it is.  I also have dance class tonight so I don't have to wait long to push myself to be present in the dancing moment!!

A Couple Weeks In

Well...I'm doing pretty well with WW all things considered.  It took me about a week to figure stuff out what with the kitchen being out of commission.  I actually gained about 3# that first week but I've taken that off along with 1.3# more.  I'm down to 214.3 now so I'm pretty happy about that.  I'm figuring out some low point meals and snacks so that's helping quite a bit.  I really need to be careful about the sodium and I need to drink my water!!!  I'm shocked that the WW app doesn't give you a place to track your water.  Ideally I'd like to drink at least 100 oz a day.  I'd like to get myself a container that holds that much and I can use that to refill the water bottle I keep on my desk.  I think seeing the water visually will keep me on track.

I also joined Planet Fitness last week and I've worked out a couple times now.  I really want to meet with their personal trainer so I can get a good plan to follow and learn how to use some of the equipment that is foreign to me.  I also need to figure out a workout schedule.  I'd love for my husband to come along with me but that's really not his thing.  I hate being away from him but I really think I need to do some weight training to firm everything up as I lose the weight.  I've also been enjoying the red light therapy and the hydromassage.  I'm glad I went ahead and got the higher level membership so I can use the spa area of the club.

Another thing I need to work out is setting up a reward for myself when I finally make it to One-derland!!  I'm thinking a nice piece of jewelry since that is something I will be able to enjoy even when I get down to goal.  I've also wanted a nice pair of boots so maybe that might be a good reward.  While I would love to have a nice leather blazer/jacket I really don't want to invest in a piece like that and then not be able to wear it for the long term.  I am really motivated to get this weight off and get to a healthy place so that is the sort of thing that is in my head.

Bit the Weight Watchers Bullet

Well...I finally just went ahead and shelled out the money to join Weight Watchers officially.  I really want to get this weight off and see if I have less problems with my joints and if this plantar issue I have going on will clear up.  I signed up for the Online Plus program since I really don't want to add another evening away into my schedule.  I poked around the website and watched some of their videos but haven't really explored much further than that.  I was an online member years ago when they had the option to add the online option to your regular meeting membership.  One big thing I notice since that time is that the discussion boards are gone and have been replaced with their Connect part of the app.  I'm sort of missing the discussion board but I'll give it a few more days of trying to figure things out with the app before I put forth a final opinion.  I can always become more active on the WW boards on 3FatChicks.

I do like the way you log your food and since I have an AppleWatch I am able to link my steps directly with the app to get my FitPoints.  I have also linked my Withings scale so that will feed right in to the app as well.  I'm still exploring the website so I can't say 100% how it stacks up against iTrackBites (which is what I've been using to track my food) but I'm hoping that since it costs considerably more I will find some value for that money.  So far the items I've tracked have come up nearly identical on the WW app but it is much easier to use and search for items.  I also like that I can put information on either my computer or the iPhone app and it will sync to both places.  I did figure out that to get my steps to sync I have to do that on the app.

One thing I wasn't able to find was the weight chart.  I think I know what I want to weigh but I was curious how it lined up with their official chart.  I did a google search and found one on a third party site that stated it was the WW chart.  Looks like my range is 123-160.  My ultimate goal is to get into the 150's so I guess I'm shooting about right.

Now...to get some easy to grab snacks ready.  Our kitchen reno starts next week so between eating out and not having ready access to proper food I'm going to have to be careful!  I'll have access to the fridge and we are going to pick up a small microwave this weekend so we can heat up things.  I'm going to do some searching over the next few days for foods that will help during this difficult time.  Leave it to me to start something like this during a time like this!!

Losing DietBets and Trying New Things

This morning is a little sad because I've lost another round in my current Dietbet. I'm at 201.1 and I needed to be at 192.8 so it's not something I can hop on the treadmill and meet. This is my second 6 month diet bet and the first one I won every single round. This one I've really been struggling and it's caused me to obsess over the scale. I'm trying to move to a more healthy place with weight loss and just health in general.  Not 100% sure how that will look but I'll work my way through it.

I'm still fighting the foot thing and that has me down a little bit as well. I have been able to get in 30-40 minute walks each evening so I'm glad for that. It seems that my running shoes are really causing me problems but that when I put on my hiking boots I'm able to do more. I think I'm going to contact my doctor when we get back from vacation and see what can be done. I'm still doing the calf stretches on the stairs and the frozen golf ball massages but I can't tell if they are helping. No quick fix for this issue is what I've come to understand - ugh!

On the eating front we are transitioning out of juicing and I'm going to try using Weight Watchers SmartPoints program (on my own because they are wicked expensive). I know that I feel better when I eat a South Beach type of diet but SB is way too free flowing for me and I overdo it on portions. However, my research on the WW SP program looks like they are moving more toward a SB stance on sugars and their resulting carbs. They are still really low on the good fat side of the house but I can always use the extra points I earn for fitness (30 minutes of walking is 5 points) to incorporate more fat. I bought an inexpensive tracker app for my iPhone and I like it so far. It's called iTrackBites and it was $3.99. I haven't purchased any of the extra guides yet but I'm thinking about it. Last night I just went through my kitchen and scanned the barcodes of some of the items in my salad and it worked for all of them except the code on the avocado. It was 4 points for the half an avocado I put on my salad - yikes!! See what I mean about the good fats? I was surprised to see that my juices run about 10-12 points each. The fruit is free on the program but I guess when you juice out the pulp it increases the points value. It sort of makes sense that if you are throwing out all the insoluble fiber your body will use the energy quicker but it's still disheartening. I have a days worth of juice still in the fridge and a days worth of juicing produce on the counter. My original thought was to finish off the juices that are already made and then I will peel all the oranges we have left and freeze them - I love eating frozen orange slices on a hot day. However, when I shared that plan with my hubby he really wanted me to juice what's left and continue with juices for another day or so for breakfast and lunch. He really loves the juices and does really well with them. We will still eat a healthy dinner of solid food. Compromise is the name of the game! :-)

I would love to get to a place where I am eating a healthy diet, exercising by doing things I love, and maintaining a healthy weight. I know I will get there but the journey is really hard!