Jenny Craig: Day 1

I went to my Jenny Craig consultation last Wednesday. I really liked the woman I met with and she was not pushy at all about buying things or signing up for their most expensive programs. I told her I wanted to try the program for a week to see if I like the food before signing up for a membership. She completely understood so I paid $6 for the week, plus the cost of the food. I asked if she could be my consultant, but she was the centre director and only meets with people on their first day so she assigned me to someone she thought I would like. My plan was to get all the food and understand the program so I could start eating the food and following the plan on Sunday after coming back from being out of town for Thanksgiving. I chose a pre-planned menu, except I substituted out the macaroni & cheese since I cannot stand it, because it seemed too overwhelming my first week to choose food. So here is it Sunday and I was excited, but a little apprehensive, about trying the food. I wasn't sure if I was going to be hungry or not like the food or what. After one day I am quite pleased with the food.

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: French toast with berries
This was really good and surprisingly filling. I would eat this even if I wasn't on a diet.

Lunch: Beef chow mein
This was pretty good. The beef texture wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, and the noodles were good. The veggies were surprisingly fresh and crisp.

Dinner: Chicken carbonara
I was skeptical of this one because it's in a creamy sauce, which I normally do not like, but I gave it a try. It was fine, but I wasn't crazy about it since I'm not a cream sauce fan.

Dessert: S'mores bar
This was tasty, but mostly I just tasted marshmallow. I was told it was their version of a Snickers bar, which is my favorite candy bar. This is nothing like a Snickers so I was a bit disappointed only because I expected something else. This is also the first thing where I felt the cost ($1.99) was excessive for what I got.

I used my "milk" serving for a latte from Starbucks and I ate one of the Jenny Craig Anytime Bars as a snack. I was also supposed to also eat a salad, a piece of fruit and some veggies, but I didn't have any in the house since I cleaned out the fridge before leaving town for Thanksgiving.

Monday may be a little more challenging because I will work out in the morning and then be at work all day...both of which seem to increase my appetite.

Note: Pictures are from the Jenny Craig web site, not from my actual food

What Happened to My Cat???

My husband and I went away for a couple days for Thanksgiving. Our usual cat sitter, who we have nicknamed "Chicken Nugget Lady" since we usually come home to our cats having bad food habits and not wanting to eat their cat food, came by two times a day to take care of the kitties. We were only gone about 49 hours and I came home to one of my cats looking visibly fatter! He has been overweight since he was about 1 year old and has been looking quite a bit trimmer lately...but it was all undone somehow in a matter of 2 days. I really don't get it...poor Manny Bear seems to have put on a few pounds in 2 days!

Thursday Thirteen - Favorite Holiday Foods

Today begins the official holiday eating season. Here are my favorite foods for the holidays.

1. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream (cool whip is not acceptable)

2. Stuffing - made from white bread, not corn bread

3. Fudge

4. Jello cubes

5. Mashed potatoes with gravy - probably the only time of the year I eat them

6. Corn bread with butter and honey

7. Green beans with onions and bacon

8. Apple desserts - crumble, pie, turnover, etc...and always with vanilla ice cream

9. See's candy

10. Au gratin potatoes

11. Cranberry sauce

12. Champagne

13. Extra pie dough sprinked with cinnamon and sugar, then baked

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Wordless Wednesday - Happy Thanksgiving!

I Called Jenny

No, not 867-5309...Jenny Craig. I'm going to give it a try since one of my friends is doing really well on the plan. She is as picky as I am about food and she likes it. What I'm really looking for is some accountability so I hope I like the counselor I get. Tomorrow is my initial consultation.

Personal Chef To Go

I have been looking into meal delivery plans in my never ending quest to lose weight. I read up on Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Ediets (Deliciously Yours), Bistro MD (same as the Biggest Loser meal service), Personal Chef To Go, and some others. I had previously tried Diet to Go since I could pick up the food, but the food was hit or miss so I wanted to try something else.

I decided on Personal Chef To Go because the food is made fresh and shipped in a cooler. Nothing comes frozen or freeze dried so I thought the freshness and lack of preservatives would make it taste better than the others. Unlike other plans, it is not meant to be a "diet" program, but all the meals are low in calories, high in fiber, good carbs and protein and low in refined sugars. I ordered the "Busy Singles" plan which included 5 dinners and 3 lunches for a total of about $112, including tax and shipping. This works out to about $14 per meal, which seemed expensive, but worth it if the food is good. The food arrived on a Friday, but I did not plan on eating any of it until Monday since I wanted it for lunch at work and easy dinners after work.

I brought the 3 lunches with me to work on Monday. I ended up going out to lunch (had just soup and bread), but got out one of the salads in the late afternoon to eat as a snack. The salads were supposed to last until Wednesday, but all the lettuce was already turning brown. I decided on the teriyaki salmon salad with garlic soy ginger dressing. It was a large piece of salmon, lettuce, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers and the dressing. There was something weird about eating a big piece of cold fish you know was cooked many days prior. I had a hard time getting thru the fish and didn't eat much of it so I decided to focus on the salad part while pretending the lettuce wasn't brown. The dressing was just way way way too strong in flavor. I ended up throwing most of this away and I never even looked at the other salads except to throw them away. Monday night I was excited to try one of the dinners. I couldn't decide between the jambalaya with chicken, shrimp and chicken sausage or the crab cakes. I went with the jambalaya since I was pretty hungry and it looked like more food. It started out ok. Rice was fine, but reminded me of a frozen meal. Then the odd flavor hit me..maybe cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice? It got worse as the meal went on because this flavor built up in my mouth and I couldn't stand it anymore...and the chicken was weird. Way too much seasoning in this meal. I had to eat something else after to try to get the taste out of my mouth. Tuesday night I really didn't want to eat any of these meals, but felt I needed to give it one more try since I spent the money. I made the crab cakes which came with a side of green beans and carrots. Minky, my meat loving cat, got excited as soon as I took the package out of the fridge, so I thought this might be good. I first gave Minky a little bit before I tried it and he approved. The first few bites I had were good, but then that same spice hit me. Do they use it in everything??? I managed to eat the entire meal, but the spice built up my mouth again to the point where I decided I couldn't eat anymore of these meals. I left them in the fridge until Sunday when it was time to take the trash out to the curb.

Does Anybody Care?

Heidi and Spencer got married...does anybody care? I don't think so.

The Real Housewives of Orange County

TV is getting good again. Top Chef started again a couple weeks ago and The Real Housewives of Orange County starts on Tuesday. I admit it...I like this show. I tried watching the NY and Atlanta versions, but only got through part of an episode for each version. I love Jeana and Vicki from the Orange County show. They are strong women who have managed to raise a family with good kids and have successful businesses at the same time. All the others annoy me because they just want men to buy them stuff and have spoiled children with no ambition. I know life is not like this for everyone in Orange County since I grew up there, but I still like the show.

$1.99

I saw $1.99 gas today. It's nice to know that something is coming down in price since everything is going up. I think we are all still getting screwed at the pump though since at the height oil was $147 a barrel and now it's about $50 a barrel.

Funniest Show in a Long Time

My husband and I watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia the other night. This is seriously the funniest show I have seen in a long time. We were laughing out loud hysterically. It is so politically incorrect that you cannot even be offended since it is so extreme. I can't believe I haven't watched this before. If you haven't, check it out!

Thursday Thirteen - Famous Patrices

Patrice is not a common name here in the US. It is generally a female name in English and a male name in French. It peaked in popularity in 1958 at number 212 on the list of top baby names, but has fallen ever since 1987. The last time it made it on the top 1000 baby names list was in 1995 when it was ranked # 941. Here are 13 famous people with the first name Patrice.

1. Patrice Lumumba, 1st President of the Democratic Republic of Congo

2. Patrice Bergeron, notable for his ice-hockey career

3. Patrice de MacMahon, duc de Magenta, an ex president of the French Republic

4. Patrice Pike, notable for her music career

5. Patrice Hollis, Playboy Playmate Miss September 2007

6. Patrice Oneal, American stand-up comedian

7. Patrice Brisebois, notable for his ice-hockey career

8. Patrice Rushen, African-American R&B singer-songwriter

9. Patrice King Brown, television news anchor at KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh

10. Patrice Guers, French bassist, known for his work in Rhapsody of Fire

11. Patrice Evra, French-Senegalese football (soccer) player

12. Patrice Bart-Williams, notable for his reggae music career

13. Patrice Juah, Miss Liberia 2006

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Wordless Wednesday - Seen on Vacation in Florida

I'm Done with The Hills

I think I am finally done with The Hills. The show has just gotten too far away from the real lives of the people on the show. Since the "cast" also has their lives followed by the paparazzi in the gossip blogs, it's hard to reconcile the two.

Lauren - She had been going to school at FIDM on the show for about 5 years now. All the programs at the school are only 2 years and she has her own fashion line that is never shown on the show. So she is going to school forever for something she already does??? Also, she now has a boyfriend who is never on the show either...not even referenced. She bores me.






Heidi - First of all, someone needs to tell this girl to stop with all the plastic surgery. She is going to look worse than Pam Anderson by the age of 25. So she got fired from her fake job and then didn't know what to do with herself? Why didn't she just ask Spencer since he doesn't even pretend to have a job. I do think it's real that these two have no friends though. I bet that is why their sisters have shown up on the show so they don't become irrelevant to the "story".

Whitney - I always liked Whitney, but maybe that is just because they didn't show much of her since she didn't want her personal life on the show. Now that she has a spin off coming she is letting them show her dating, but who knows if those are real dates or casted actors. Now she keeps referencing a break up from a year ago...uh, we never saw your boyfriend so we can't really care about your break up. And please stop giggling and flirting with the models at "work"...it's quite unprofessional. On the recent "lost scenes" show, we learned that Whitney went on a date with Brody and kissed him. This didn't bother Lauren, but anytime anyone else dated a guy she did, it was a major scandal.

Audrina - Possibly the most savvy of the bunch. I used to think she was a dud, well I still do, but releasing the nude pictures of herself was the best thing she ever did for her career. It made her more interesting and now the show is focusing more on her. I feel another spin off! I wonder if they will show the feud between her and Lauren regarding the rumor that Lauren hooked up with Justin Bobby. This guy is just a loser media whore using the girls...can't they see this? Audrina needs to drop this guy for good and learn how to control the weird look in her eyes if she wants her own show.


Goodbye girls! I hope you are saving your money.

Worst Gift Ever

Soap on a rope. Who ever came up with the idea that this is a good gift? I was recently looking at holiday gift guides on the internet and this came up. I don't get why a man would need his soap on a rope, but even if he did, it's not a good Christmas gift.

Eek! Fire!

One of the major fires burning in California right now is in the city that my husband's parents live in. They are ok though. They said it turned dark as night in the middle of the day and outside it was glowing orange! Scary!

$10,000 to Witness History

My brother lives in Washington DC and said people are desperate to find a place to stay in DC for the inauguration events. He said people are paying up to $10,000 for a place to stay! He is considering renting out his house and staying with me for a few days. I just can't believe people are willing to pay so much. I know it's history in the making, but that is a lot money for a place to stay for 3 or 4 days. I hope he does it though because he may give me part of it.

Wordless Wednesday - Nap Time

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Veterans Day

Leaf Watch 2008

Fall is one of the most wonderful times of the year for my cat Manny. He LOVES watching the leaves fall. He will sit by the windows for hours looking straight up and follows the leaves all the way down to the ground. Then when they blow around on the deck, his tail gets all swishy like he is going to attack them. I realize this may sound stupid, but it is really one of the cutest things he does. He's not a smart cat, but he is endearing and he enjoys the little things in life.

Awwww

Let It Snow

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am ready for it to snow. Since we moved here the snow has caused me a lot of anxiety....mostly around driving in it and shoveling the driveway, both of which I hate. I've gotten used to driving in snow (4WD helps), but I still don't like shoveling the driveway. I wish there were some kids around here who wanted to make some money. I would gladly pay someone to do it. There are lots of kids...just none of them seem to need any money. I prefer it to snow on the weekends though so I can stay in my pajamas and eat pancakes all day.

Proposition 8

I am not one to talk to the masses, or even my co-workers, about my political views, but I feel like I need to speak up. I am greatly disappointed and saddened by California passing Proposition 8. I don't live there anymore, but plan on returning one day. I have always been proud to call California "home" and thought the people were more open in their thinking. Moving to Virginia has greatly opened my eyes to how closed minded some people are in this country. Someone very close to me is gay and I have met only 3 people in this state that I have felt comfortable enough to tell. I believe in equal rights and letting everyone live the life they want to live as long as they do not hurt anyone. I cannot believe the same people who voted for a minority president voted to ban gay marriage. Marriage gives two people certain rights that nothing else does. Telling a couple that because they are the same sex they cannot have these rights is discrimination. I expected the gay marriage ban to pass to other states, but not in California.

Get Out and VOTE!

The Vegas Bunch

Stop Calling!

I am so sick of the political phone calls. We don't answer our phone unless we are expecting a call since usually it is someone trying to sell something. We get 2 or 3 calls a day from political campaigns and I'm sick of it. I wish the do not call registry applied to political campaigns as well. At least it will be done in a few days.