February 17, 2013

Learning lessons the hard way

I learned a harsh lesson yesterday! Always calculate the nutritional info (or PointsPlus in my case) before eating a treat.

Noah has been begging me for months to make what we named "Sloppy Brownies". In the summer, amidst my marathon training and weight gain, the kids and I were inspired by Pinterest to make an insanely rich dessert. First we spread a layer of cookie dough in a 8x8 pan, then topped that with mini Reese's Cups, and then poured brownie batter over the whole thing and baked it. The result was a very rich, very messy brownie, and we called them Sloppy Brownies.

Noah hasn't stopped talking about them ever since. And the kids have all next week off of school, so I told him maybe we'd make them for a treat then. But yesterday, we had nothing going on, and he was begging, so we went to the store to get the ingredients.

Noah and I put the brownies together and threw them in the oven. When they were done, they looked really good, so I decided to have a small piece. It was extremely rich, and I didn't even want much more than that piece. I estimated it as 10 PP.

A few hours later, instead of making dinner like I'd planned, I had another small piece of the brownie mess. Again, I didn't eat a lot, but it was so rich--I almost immediately had a stomachache. I became extremely nauseous, and I thought for sure I was going to vomit. I laid on the floor for about 20 minutes, just feeling like crap.




I took this picture to remind myself in the future of how crappy I felt, so that I wouldn't make the mistake again--so flattering, right?!


I wanted nothing to do with food after that--I didn't eat dinner, or even have my nightly wine. I just felt sick. Before bed, I decided to see how accurate I was with estimating the PointsPlus. I laid out the ingredients, added up all the nutrition info, divided by the number of servings and all that to calculate how many PP I had actually eaten.

34.

I spent 34 goddamned PP on that crap!! No wonder I felt so sick! There was so much sugar and fat in that dessert, and I've been eating really well for months, that my body just couldn't take it.

So I wasted all of the rest of my weekly PP, and all but 4 of my activity PP for the week. (I was going to count it as 18 until I actually calculated it--I honestly didn't eat much!) I was bummed, but really glad I calculated the PP to see the accuracy. I'll never eat those things again! Totally not worth it, even if I hadn't felt sick from them. Lesson learned.


This morning was freezing cold outside. When I saw this...
...I decided that I was doing the treadmill. Feels like 1 degree? No thank you. But I started thinking, "It would be pretty cool to say I ran in it!" Hahaha, like anyone but ME really cares?!

I dressed warm--a turtleneck tech shirt underneath a fleece, with an actual hat (not just a headband), and MITTENS. I've never worn mittens on a run! But my fingers have been freezing lately when I run, so I opted for the mittens over gloves.

For the first mile, I thought maybe I made a mistake. My body felt great, but my face was so cold from the wind--I was actually worried about getting frostbite! But I knew once I turned around and had a tailwind, I'd be much better. The sun came out then, and that helped with my face a lot. It was still cold, but having the mittens helped tremendously. My hands were actually sweaty, which I normally can't stand, but I would choose that over frostbite any day. From my shadow, it looked like I was running with boxing gloves on, because my mittens were so huge.

I turned around two mile in, and headed home. The way home was much better than the way out. I finished in a little over 34 minutes and felt great!

Today I've been eating really well to make up for yesterday's disaster to my digestive system. I had bran flakes with blueberries and almond milk for breakfast, and leftover cabbage casserole for lunch. Not sure what I'm making for dinner, but I'm going to keep it light.

I'm a little annoyed with the ActiveLink already, because I discovered that I can't manually add my activity PointsPlus for the next seven days while it's "assessing" my activity. So even though I ran this morning, there is no way to add those PP earned to my total. I'm just going to add them to my paper journal, because there is no way that I'm not going to count them. I rely on the PP that I earn to get me through each week! Where I normally enter my activity on the website, is this message:
Weight Watchers really ought to give the option to add PP manually, even after the assessment phase is over--because what if I forget to wear the ActiveLink one day, and I run 10 miles?

I wish I could see my assessment so far, but it won't show me anything until after the assessment period is over.

28 comments:

  1. Hey Katie-
    ActiveLink will show you some updates a few days into it towards the end of the day. And you totally can add in activity after if you forget to wear it. I'm not totally sure how as I'm still new to it, and don't even wear it since I don't actually move or exercise (it sucks at motivating me! lol), but my leader mentioned it a week or 2 ago that it's possible to go in and add.

    And, after the assessment you can name your activities and it'll calculate points better and really get to know you. It might even figure out that you always run in the morning!

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  2. Great post. I've made the same mistake. You were smart to take the picture. A reminder of how bad it feels to have overindulged in fatty sugary goop. 34 PP. wow.

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  3. Hey Katie-

    Do you have etools? If so, the recipe builder is awesome! I use it if I am unsure of the PP in a recipe...

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  4. Thank-you for posting this. I had the same thing today...my daughter wanted to make cookies which are my weakness. Ate way too many and had a stomach ache all day. Not worth it! I'll have to remember next time!

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  5. I totally agree about not being able to manually track points with the Active Link! Heads up, you won't be able to manually enter them after the assessment phase either. It's all or nothing with the Active Link. But I've been using it since it first came out and I'm overall really satisfied.

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    Replies
    1. I agree about the active link...I think its a very cool tool although there are some activities, like a riding a stationary bike which do not give you the accurate pp for how active you actually are. It measure motion....overall, I like it but would rather manually add them.

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    2. Hello,

      You can put in what activity you do to help it gauge your points after the fact. It always kicks up my skiing and biking points when I go in and select the time and tell it what I was doing. It is a bummer that you cant tell it what you did if you forget. I had a bad week and left mine at home twice this week! Its like those runs didnt happen according to my AL!

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  6. I love that Detroit hat. Mind telling me where you bought it?

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    Replies
    1. Ha, I actually thought of you when I put it on that morning! As for where I got it, well, I found it when I was running one day! I thought it was really cool, so I took it home and washed it. Sorry I can't be of more help.

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  7. Running Diva Mom posted this morning that she ran in 0* weather in Wisconsin and within 1 mile she had ice crystals forming on her eyelashes. She posted a pic with her friend after the run and he had a snowy beard and eyebrows and she had what looked like diamonds on her eyes! Not for me!

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  8. I had one of those days today, we splurged on Taco Bell. I didn't go over my calorie intake or anything but it was just BAD FOOD and I ate to much at one time. I instantly had a stomach ache and my head started hurting I felt like I was going to puke. I guess I didn't realize how much my body was adjusting to eating better food.
    I'm glad we made up for it though by spending the rest of the day outdoors being active and enjoying the weather.

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  9. It must be "the weekend" for eating poorly. We made Moon Ball Cookies after church and I have eaten 6 of them!!! I "think" they are 5 points each but now I am way to afraid to actually figure it out for sure. I counted it as 5 points and with my other food for the day I still had to use 10 of my 49 allowance... Guess it's okay since this is my day 4 of the week.

    Here's to a good eating day tomorrow!

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  10. Err, girl I understand. The Puppy Chow and I became quite friendly yesterday. :( moving on!

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  11. Ouch, I feel your pain. I do that often when I go on one of my binges, and it's awful. It's like drinking too much and waking up with the worst hangover, except this is a sugar hangover. It really makes you remember not to eat it again. I can't believe you ran in that. I don't know how you do it. You are one determined lady! I just started running today. I ran for half a mile on the treadmill and thought I was going to die. I've been working my way up to it for the past few weeks by walking and then upping my walking speed. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, but I told myself I had to run half a mile today and I actually did it. I know it's not much, but I felt good that I did it, because I know it means I can do it again and I won't die LOL!

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  12. I'm impressed, Katie! That's -17C with the windchill!
    Layers help but I usually end up taking stuff off once I warm up. Lol

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  13. That damned Pinterest is going to be the death of me, or at least the death of my maintenance. I find all these yummy sounding desserts on there and plan not to PIN them, and then after I see them for like the third time, I think, "Oh maybe I could make that someday for a special treat," and Pin it. The whole site just makes me so darned hungry. I spend so much time on there Pinning, and very little time actually looking at any of the sites, but I have made a main dish or two from there, and have ideas for crafting that will outlive me I'm sure. Anyhow, I know I could find better ways to spend my time!

    Sorry for your sloppy brownie fiasco. A girl Scout came to my door yesterday. They normally never get out here to our house in the country, but maybe a Girl Scout moved into the neighborhood? So I caved and bought two boxes. The first box of Caramel Delites is about gone, and that was all hubby. Tonight I opened the box of Lemonades (MY FAVORITES!) just to put some in his lunch (since I'm retired now, I don't feel it necessary to get up in the morning before he goes to work just to make his lunch!), and of course I ate one. it was 75 calories. Not bad, but now the box is open, I sure hope I can stay out of them. One good thing--they come in very small amounts in each box. There's probably only about 12 cookies total. What is that? Like 900 calories? That's probably equivalent to 34 PP!! YIKES! NO MORE LEMONADES for me! I swear!

    On the positive side, I did very well at the pizza buffet restaurant tonight, which grandson picked for his birthday supper. I had about half a cup of spaghetti with marinara and one piece of garlic toast. Everything else I ate was either salad (with LOW fat ranch) or fruit. NO dessert, and they have GREAT desserts! I guess my Lemonade tonight was my dessert, eh?

    Nice Run Katie, in some cold weather. I don't know about Michigan, but Nebraska is predicted to get this HUGE snowstorm midweek. I am NOT looking forward to that. It was 60 degrees here today.

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  14. Feels like 1 degree? Yowser. It was 30 degrees when I ran yesterday, and with the wind it was fairly bitter... I can't imagine 1 degree!

    Some people I "know" online have a Winter Running game where you get points depending on how awful the conditions are that you run in. Pretty sure I'd lose handily. I am not a winter person! =)

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  15. Sorry about the PP thang.. sux... as for the activity link.. I'll be interested to hear if you like it.. me?? i HATED it.. it did not give me the same number of points as when they were manually calculated.. of course.. I'm still obese.. and when I called the customer support line to see why when I walked 10,000 steps I earned ZERO points .. they said that because of my weight I would have to work harder to earn activity points?? R U KIDDING ME?? Walking 10,000 steps IS working hard for me!! Anyhoo, it seems to work better for "normal" weight people but they have some kinks to work out for obese folks..

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  16. I dont know if I can run out in this cold as it bothers my eyes with contacts and I cant run with my glasses on. So uncomfortable lol. I cant wait for spring!

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  17. Oh wow - I hate when I eat something and then figure out it's a million (unworthy it) PPs! Boo!!

    Way to go getting out in that brutal cold - very, very impressive and you are getting so speedy!!

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  18. Yeah - I have a lot of the crazy desserts pinned, too. I have been afraid to make most of them for what happened to you!

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  19. Brrr! I thought of you when I put my two youngest boys in the double stoller and headed out. It was a numbing 42 degrees. LOL! I'm from the south... can you tell? We made it a short walk because we was all freezing our tails off. LOL!

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  20. I remember when I would binge I would get such a euphoric feeling, which was always followed by such a disgusting gross full feeling. But I NEVER remembered the disgusting feeling, just the euphoria of eating so much rich food. I guess the difference now is that I always remember that disgusting "pukey" feeling of eating too many rich treats. It makes me wonder what the heck I was thinking before!

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  21. Kudos for figuring out the PP for your brownie disaster. I tend to "forget" those sorts of foods and never track them. :(

    I am pretty sure when you are done with your assessment, if you forget to wear your AL chip one day, you can go on the Web site and "name your activity" for a time frame. It would be like entering it manually before AL - you can choose activity, length of time, and intensity.

    Be sure to ask your leader about it!

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  22. Your bad brownies experience reminds of what happened to me last week. My son was selling donuts for a baseball fundraiser. Normally, the only time I eat donuts is on the last day at the beach in the summer and we stop and get a couple donuts each. Anyway, these looked *really* good and I remember last time I looked one up at the store (and didn't buy it) it was 150 calories. While we were delivering them, I ate three. I shouldn't have, but I figured I could do enough extra exercise over the next few days to burn off the 450 extra calories. Well, when we got home, my husband noticed they actually had the calorie count on the bottom and they were each 280 calories for a total of 840 calories!!! ARGH!! Almost double. They *were* very yummy however. Thankfully, he took the rest we had left to work on Monday.

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  23. I LOVE the active link! When it's all setup, you can name activities and manually add if you forget to wear it, etc. I HATED the setup and then sometimes think that it isn't giving me the right amount, but you get used it and it does make it a LOT easier. Good luck...you only have a couple more days with a blind spot

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  24. I just discovered your blog from the Fitterati blog awards! You aren't the only one who runs in the cold just to say you did it-- I love knowing that I've run at a feels like of 0 and I will surely hit 100+ this summer. I think it's those little bonuses that keep me going some days :)

    Erin
    erinkaye.wordpress.com

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  25. Hey Katie,
    It's been awhile since i commented/emailed you last. I just wanted to let you know what an encouragement u r 2 me. I unfortunately fell off my dieting bandwagon months ago thanks to my impending divorce, but I am more determined than ever to re-lose what I have gained and continue on for my health. Heck, I did it once, I half as much to lose this time around. Thanks for your blog, and for living your life for the world to learn from. :)

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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