Changing It... But Not Without my Smoothie

Hi, Gang!  Well, it's sure great to see the sunshine this morning.  We had a day yesterday of heavy, heavy rain and lots of wind.  I'm up early for Sunday morning, but not as early as the weekdays.  Planning a long run this morning and then working the rest of the day.

So yesterday was my weigh-in and meeting.  Up another .5.  That's three weeks in a row of tiny gains.  Yes, I'm at goal, but I'm still trying to lose, and it is still frustrating.  Now, here's the deal.

Last week, I conducted a few experiments.  First, I ate all of my daily AND weekly points.  It was a "hungry week" for me.  Now, although I ate all 42 weekly points, I earned 40 activity points, so I thought I would still have a good weigh-in.   Well, then reality hit.

As I blogged about earlier in the week, I've been on a smoothie kick.   LOVE THEM!  They're a great afternoon snack for me, keep me strong through the afternoon until dinner.  And I feel really really good with the extra yogurt and fruit.  This new program, the Points Plus program, has been a 'Plus'  for me for sure because of all the fruit I'm eating now and not the "junk" like 2 points bars, and baked chips and stuff that really doesn't do anything nutritionally for me.

Anyway, I've been counting my smoothies as 2 points for the 1/2 cup of greek yogurt, but not counting the fruit, because "the fruit is free".  However, I know that if you put the smoothie recipe into the "Recipe Builder" on the WW site, it comes up with MORE POINTS than 2.  Is that what happened this week?

Well, at the meeting, I had a chance to speak with the leader, and she said all things considered, that might be the issue.  She explained it in a way that I think maybe I understand.  When you eat a piece of fruit or a bowl of fruit and a cup of greek yogurt on the side, yes, just count the yogurt.  But when you put those same ingredients in the blender, she's claiming it changes the whole consistency of the fruit and your body processes it differently.  Sort of like an orange versus a glass of juice, and that's why if you drink juice, you count the points, if you eat the fruit, you don't count the points.  Like it takes your body longer to break down the piece of fruit than it would the "blended" fruit.

So yesterday afternoon when I came home, I put my smoothie into the recipe builder, and it came up as....6 points!!!  I've been counting them as 2 points.  That's a HUGE difference for me.  4 points times....let's see.... I think I actually had 7 smoothies this week.  That's 42 points when I counted them as a total of (7 X 2) 14! 

So I've decided this week, I'm going to conduct another experiment.  I'm going to continue having my smoothies because I just love them and they make me feel good, but I'll count the points according to the Recipe Builder and maybe just drink half of it to cut back a little on the points.

I'm still going to try eating all my points and exercising to earn the same amount of activity points, because if I change that as well, I won't know whether the high point smoothies were the reason for the little gain.

Had a dream last night about the Atlantic City Marathon.  It was  a pre-race dream, that I was wandering around on the boardwalk and couldn't find anyone.  What's up with that? 

Heading out this morning for my long run, another 8 miles.  Having a "little" problem area in the bottom of my foot.  Feels like a tiny bruise, like when you've stepped on a pin.  But I haven't stepped on any pins, unless I was sleepwalking (just kidding).   Seems like it's more when I'm walking around in bare feet than when I have shoes on.  So we'll see how it goes this morning.  If need be, I'll stop and do the long run later in the week.

So what's everyone making for Sunday dinner?  I might bake some cod.  Hubby's going to the grocery store at some point today to finish up the shopping.  I know, I know, I actually let go of "my control thing" on grocery shopping and I'm giving him a list.  Hey, I've realized that I've got to let go of some things once in a while to get done what I need to do for myself.  And he's a good price shopper and basically sticks to the list.  Not me!  So anyway, I'm going to ask him to get a couple "fish dinners", one being cod.

I also have some beautiful broccoli rabe in the fridge and baking potatoes.   Sounds good to me!