Anxiously Awaiting – A Journey Through Adoption

I’m such a stress eater.  You know you are in trouble when you are an adoptive mother, and at each doctor’s appointment you take your very pregnant birth mom to, YOU have gained more weight than she has.  Awesome.    The stress of the adoption packed a good ten pounds on me (making me a good 15 more than where I prefer to be).  So now that Gracie is sleeping well at night and I can’t use the constant fatigue as an excuse, it’s time to get that baby weight off.   After we first had Grace, people would tell me how great I looked, and than I’d mention we adopted.  About a month later I said screw it, and started accepting the compliments.  Gotta take what you can get!

So good old Weight Watchers.  Time to count the points.  I do the online program, and really have no excuse not to stay on top of it, with my handy dandy WW iPhone app and all.

I started a few weeks ago, and was picking up steam, and than the stress of Bella’s surgery.   I mentioned being a stress eater, didn’t I?   But now that she’s stuck on a terribly restrictive diet, the least I can do is stick to me measly 20 point a day WW diet.

I remember doing WW in my late 20′s – I’d have my points, eat all my flex points, and go a few over, and still lose, every week.  Yay me!   Yeah, well mid (late) 30′s is a whole different ball game.  Might as well throw those flex points in the trash.   Go over those 20 little points (about 1000 calories) and there’s no losing.   Good times!

I’ve found my few low point staples, the ones that keep me from running to my nearest Dairy Queen for a caramel chocolate chip Blizzard (well, at least on a good day they do).    My fabulous one point breakfast is a Deep Chocoalte Vitalicious Vitatop.

They are so good.  No, not exactly one of those giant 4826 calorie chocolate muffins from Costco, but first thing in the morning, they do just fine, and are 100 calories, full of fiber and ONE WW POINT!    Beats my 8 point bowl of cereal that I’d probably have otherwise.

And speaking of Costco, that’s where I’ve been getting them.   They aren’t exactly cheap, but the Costco price is completely fine with me.  I will cry when and if Costco stops carrying them.   I actually really want to try some other flavors – Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip, Triple Chocolate Chunk and Double Chocolate Dream are at the top of my list (do you get the chocolate theme?).  I’m just waiting for it to cool down, as I haven’t heard the greatest things about their summer shipping (and let’s be honest, it’s 115 here, nothing should ship here).

Second item that I must have in my freezer at all times – Hostess 100 Calorie Pack Chocolate Cupcakes.

Another chocolate fix, that thanks to the high fiver, comes in at 1 WW point.   I only like them in the freezer, not sure why.   And there’s something about getting to eat THREE chocolate things that makes me happier than eating one, larger chocolate thing.    The other packs look good as well, but I think the chocolate ones are the only ones with enough fiber to make them a 1 point snack.

Western Bagel’s Alternative Bagel is another staple.   A one point bagel, that is actually chewy and bagel-ish, compared to some of the other lighter bagels.

I don’t tend to eat them alone, but instead use them for a sandwich.   I love them with some egg-beaters and lowfat cheese for a breakfast bagel, or with turkey and lowfat cheese for lunch.    I usually get them at Super Walmart, but need to check some other places because I’d love to try the country white, and thus far have only been eating the sweet wheat (though cinnamon spice is quite yummy, just not the best partner for turkey, or cheese).

I also love Hungry Girl – her emails, website and books are great resources.

I’ll certainly be looking for more great finds.  Unfortunately I don’t eat terribly healthy on WW – I’m just not good at weighing and measuring every ingredient in something I make from scratch to calculate the points, but hey, I’m not standing in line at DQ.   Baby steps.

We are nine days out from Bella’s surgery.  Somehow they have been very long days, yet have gone by very quickly.   While she’s still eating less than a bird, she’s back to her normal self, which is such a giant relief.   I have to say, the past week, where we have been pretty much holed up in the house, has been nice in a few ways.  We’ve had no schedule to keep.  No school, no camp, no swim lessons, no dance classes, nothing.  Boy, can I just say I’m a lot less stressed that way, and I’ve gotten a lot done.   I love our life and all the things we do, and Bella is a very active child who needs a lot of outlets for her energy, but being hermits and never going anywhere has been a lovely break from it all.   Give me three more days and she’ll be driving me bonkers and I’ll be happy to get back to our normal, whatever that may be.    Two more days and Bella can move on from her full liquid diet to a soft diet, and she’s VERY excited about that.  Overcooked macaroni and cheese will be on the menu all day, every day.