The WW Project

Like a lot of people, I've gained and lost weight several times in my life. For years, I've said that I want to be in the best shape of my life at age 40. I will be 40 this December.

Through Pinterest, I've discovered so many wonderful blogs by women that have succeeded at weight loss. Admittedly, I read some of them while eating Girl Scout cookies. Reading their stories made me start looking at my own life and what has got me here.

I don't have a sad story as to why I'm overweight. My short story is that for years, I've put everything else ahead of my health. Some of my family and friends would tell you that I'm a workaholic. Some would tell you I'm lazy and others may tell you that I'm my own worst enemy because I love to bake. Then there are the ones that would tell you that I lack willpower when it comes to things for me.

All the success stories and my own self reflection inspired to begin what I'm referring to as The WW Project. The project kicked off about 30 days ago and will wrap up around December 2013. Only a few people know about the project. The following for my blog is minimal, so I feel okay sharing the details of the project.

The WW Project is how I've chosen to look at my journey to a healthier me. The realization for me was that I need to look at achieving my weight loss goal as a project. I can manage a work project great, so I decided to apply my project management skills to becoming a healthier me.

Weight Watchers online is the program that I opted to use to get me to my goal. You guessed it the WW represents Weight Watchers. The online tools are great - the app for the iPhone is also great. There was still something missing for me, so I created an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has formulas, so it is easy to identify milestones and how long it will take me to get to my goal weight. It's a quick visual that makes sense to me because it's set up much like a work project plan.

I'm thrilled to share that I've lost 11.5 pounds since I signed up (April 22) for WW.

Key Takeaways for the First 30 Days

• A small scoop is a must have for things like peanut butter, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo etc. Get one that is 1 Tablespoon. It makes it so easy for portions.
• I can make a delicious PB&J sandwich for around 11 points.
• Adjusting to low sugar and natural sugar items is an acquired taste. These low sugar baked oatmeal cups from Sugar-Free Mom are okay with a little honey on them. You have to know going in they are low sugar and the texture is a little different. The win is that they are only 3 points (4 points with the honey) and they are extremely filling.
• The reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese is the tub is 2 points for 2 Tablespoons. A wedge of Laughing Cow Lite Swiss is 1 point - a wedge is about 1 Tablespoon.
• Thin Mints are 1 point each - Who can eat one cookie? One sleeve, yes ... one cookie, no.

Calling All Angels, Remembering Cole

Mother's Day 2008 - Cole, Drew and Clay.

Four years ago, my oldest nephew, Cole, passed away unexpectedly. I think about him more days than not, but this time of year he is in my thoughts more. He passed away on May 22, 2008. Our family has been blessed with wonderful friends that have been there for us in one way or another.

The song Calling All Angels by Train is my official Cole song. Anytime I hear or see Eminem, I think of him. He had discovered Eminem around the time of his death.

I often wonder what Cole's interests would be today. What music would he like - still Eminem? Through Facebook, I've watched his friends grow up. They are learning to drive, going to school dances, experience teenage love and having summer jobs. Here's an earlier entry about Cole,

Cole around the age of four.

I think he would have continued to be a great older brother to Clay. They would hunt and fish together. Maybe even chase girls. He would still make his parents proud. He would be a great cousin to Drew. He would have welcomed Corey and Joel into the family.

The picture to the right is one of my favorite pictures of Cole. One afternoon, he was at my parents house. I was messing around with my dad's old 35 mm Nikon, and Cole was my model. Most of my memories of Cole are around this age, I think it's because I was still living in Illinois at the time.

The loss of Cole so unexpectedly and at such a young age opened my eyes to a lot of things. My perspective on things definitely changed after his death. Somewhere I read, "Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about." So true! You also never totally know what is causing someone to feel the way they do.

Here's a link to an article that appeared in Buckmaster magazine about my brother Daryl - Cole's dad. It's a wonderful story about what an amazing hunter Daryl is and his real trophy. Click here to read - be sure to grab a tissue.

Update 5/21: My sister took the following picture. It's a memorial to Cole - it's located on my brother and sister-in-law's property. They created it with a lot of the plants and statues sent to the funeral. It overlooks their pond.

Chocolate Chip & Heath Cookies

Fancy grocery store inspired chocolate chip and toffee cookies.

My mom taught me how to bake, but the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever came from my friend Richalle. Richalle's mom makes amazing cookies - the secret ingredient is instant pudding.

About the same time she shared the recipe with me, there was a fancy local grocery store that sold chocolate chip and toffee cookies. So, my recipe was inspired by the fancy local grocery store.

Pudding and chocolate chunks
the key to awesome cookies.

Ingredients

• Nestle Chocolate Chip Chunks
• Heath Toffee Chips (I use half a bag)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup butter softened (not melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 sugar
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 package french vanilla pudding (dry)

In a bowl: mix flour, baking soda and pudding - set aside.

Mix the butter with a mixer for about a minute - I use a KitchenAid stand mixer. Then mix in the sugars. After the sugars and butter are mixed well, add the vanilla and the eggs. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. Add in the chips. Spoon/drop the cookie dough on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet while baking a second sheet ... cool the cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes. My preference is to make one tray at a time using a Pampered Chef stone, but I rarely have time to make them that way.

I use the 'base' of this recipe to make white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies in addition to other combinations. The pudding seems to help the cookies stay moist for several days.

I get about 50 two inch cookies out of this. According to the Weight Watchers recipe builder, they are 4 points each. You could reduce the points by using less chips and substituting for healthier flour and sugar alternative.