I know I said I was recommitting to my WeightWatchers plan after a bad week. Well, I have to confess that the week after I said that was no bueno too, and that’s not even counting my Droolworthy Weekend! There seems to have been an epidemic among folks (including my WW Buddy) who fell off the wagon HARD. When I finally weighed in last Friday, after skipping a week, it was the single biggest gain I’ve had and a significant percentage of the total weight I’ve lost on the program since January. Facing it was hard, and I warned the receptionist, “This is not going to be pretty.”

(On Twitter, someone reported that their receptionist blurted out, “Oh my God, how could you have put on so much weight overnight?” At least my gal didn’t say that!)

The thing that bothered me and my Buddy the most was that it wasn’t like we’d spent the weekend in Paris eating fantastic creamy cheese along the Champs-Élysées. We’d just been eating crap in our own houses for no compelling reason. We know we are smarter than that.

www.popcornindiana.com

Not crap. Totally delicious. Bought with a coupon for killer deal, but I ate the whole bag. Wanh wanh.

The other thing was that I knew this weight gain wasn’t totally real. Some of it was, and I needed to own that, but I knew about half of it would be gone as soon as I flushed out the salt, etc. (Let’s just call it “etc.”) I’m guessing that half of my gain is real and will set me back a few weeks. I can recover from that. It actually motivates me just a little bit more to work harder.

This is when I really rely on the amazing bloggers who inspire me every day. Here are some of my new-to-me favorites:

Loser for Life – Marisa has been doing great on WeightWatchers, and she posts terrific photos and recipes. I cannot wait to make her Breakfast Bakes!

Shannon’s Kitchen Creations – Shannon posts the Points on her recipes and reminds me that I have to give Zumba another try.

Gina’s Skinny Recipes – Otherwise known as SkinnyTaste, Gina posts gorgeous, easy recipes and includes the Points count on each. I made her Chicken Divan, a dish I would never have thought of in a million years, and it was awesome!

These lovely ladies make cooking on WeightWatchers a no-brainer. Which is great when we’ve been acting, er, not so smart.

Have you discovered a new site recently that’s put an extra spring in your step?

Frankly, I haven’t been feeling too great lately. I’ve had a lingering migraine for a few days and have just felt icky. The worst part of migraines is that I’m also really nauseous and feel body achey all over. Blech.

Wouldn’t be no big thing except I had a Sustainability convention today that I won a free ticket to ($150 value, ka-ching). I went for a little while and made sure some honchos had my calling card in hopes of landing a job. Then I skedaddled home to rest.

(Ok, I did stop on the way home to buy sugar because a 4 lb. bag was $1.50 at Safeway today. I won’t bore you with my couponing since none of my five followers seems particularly interested. Anyway, Chris now has 8 lbs of sugar to get him through the rest of the year.)

I need to perk up by tomorrow because two of my favorite people are in Portland with their son, and I’m taking the train down at 7 am for a quick visit. I promise I’ll take lots of pics and get back into the blogging spirit!

Toodle loo!

Courtesy of Saags.com. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent photo of sausages? You're about to find out.

If you’re a meat eater, RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest deli or check out the website for Saag’s Specialty Meats & Sausages. Saag’s…it rhymes with Baa. Like the sheep.

I was first introduced to Saag’s at Foodbuzz Fest, and I was super excited to read the label and learn that Saag’s meats contain no nitrates and their Naturals Sausages also contain no nitrites. Now I’m no expert on food additives, but I do know that a mighty migraine is headed my way if I indulge in either nitrates or nitrites (much like my reaction to MSG). For more information, Google “food additives nitrates.”

With high hopes for creating a myriad of delicious, meaty recipes, I soon received a sampler pack from the kind folks at Saag’s. I had already become addicted to their salami on open-face sandwiches topped with Trader Joe’s Fancy shredded cheese. A little squirt of mustard, ten seconds in the microwave and voilá.

I was super excited to try their Naturals Chicken Asiago Fennel sausages in Roll-ups. You know, Roll-ups like your mom used to make when the babysitter was on her way over. (The foods I crave most are from my childhood, what can I say?)I used a package of low-fat crescent rolls and some mustard. Easy McPeasy. They just needed to be baked a little bit longer than the package directed.These were superb! Not super inventive, I know. But I’d been busy and hungry!

I used a number of sausages, like this Pork link, in breakfast dishes:It was almost impossible to pick a favorite!

And then something wonderful/terrible happened. The holidays started to ramp up, and I got super busy volunteering at the Food Bank and on some days lunch looked like this:That’s a Smoked Chicken Brat lounging in a Delicata Squash just before hopping into the microwave. (4 PointsPlus for those of us following WeightWatchers) I know it may not look glamorous but it was insanely delicious and kept me nice and full all afternoon. Because the sausages are pre-cooked, they are very easy and convenient to heat up and go.

It was so great to be able to enjoy sausages and cured meats again without an ill effects. I can’t wait to place an order this summer and grill away. Makes me glad I’m a carnivore!

What’s your favorite sausage recipe?

Disclaimer: Though I was provided with free product, this in no way affected my reviews. All opinions are my own.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, or so goes the tale,

and Carbzilla was grateful for a break at the scale.

This morning I went to my third Weight Watchers meeting with my WW buddy, Kristin. We had chatted during the week about how hard it is to eat right when you’re not feeling well (her) or when a net tonnage of cookies is crossing your path (me). I definitely indulged this week, but I tracked everything I ate. Every bite of fruitcake, ambrosia, snickerdoodle, homemade toffee…you get the picture. I ate EVERY single PointsPlus allotted to me for the week, including the four I earned from walking the lake.

Now on the old plan, a Point was equal to around 50 calories. It’s a little different now, but just out of curiosity I did the math to estimate how many calories I *may* have eaten this week. It averaged out to about 1830 calories per day.

So what happened when I stepped on the scale at the meeting? I was up a quarter of a pound. Not a Quarter Pounder, a quarter of a pound. Pffffft. I’m guessing if I hadn’t had that second cup of coffee this morning I might have broken even.

Now I do know that not every week of eating is *instantly* reflected on the scale. My old trainer used to say that it took 8 weeks for weight to reflect eating. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that I feel really great about staying on program and cleaning up my eats from here. I should be able to enjoy the most joyous time of the year, especially after the year we’ve had.

Of course, enjoying this time means much more than eating cookies. I’ve been enjoying friends, get togethers, helping others, and time with my husband. In the New Year, I’m looking forward to new work opportunities, getting my house in order, spending time with friends, training for a bike race, and following Weight Watchers more diligently with an eye toward their Good Health Guidelines.

So here’s wishing everyone the joys and blessings of the season. I am so blessed to have all of you reading, commenting, following, and supporting me. Here’s to a fabulous 2011!

Happy Holidays! Love, The Carbzillas