FOUR WEEKS!!

Monday weigh-in --  down 2.2 lbs!!  

A look back at February . . . down 9 lbs.  Four solid weeks of tracking every single day.  I'm so proud of that and I can honestly say that in every weight loss effort in my past, this has never ever happened.  When I first decided to keep count of my consecutive days of tracking, I didn't say "I need to stay within my points every day", I just said "I need to track everything".  Staying within my points happened naturally.  I was surprised actually.  In the past, I'd fall off the wagon and then decide I wasn't tracking that day and once that decision was made, it was a free for all.  Now I know that no matter what I put in my mouth, it's going in the tracker.  I didn't think I'd make it to Day 28 and now I don't want to put that counter back to zero so I have to keep on going! Can I do two months?  Can I do three?  How about tracking every day till I leave on my trip to Vancouver?  That's 79 more days.  I'm going to try it!!

Also in February, I committed to go to my three classes per week and do 20 - 30 minutes on the treadmill before each class.  I went to EVERY SINGLE ONE.  I have no excuse not to. I stopped dreading the class and the workout because at the end of it, I have a good time, I have fun with the other women in the class, and I never ever say "gee, I wish I hadn't gone". For the treadmill workout, I walked briskly at an incline for the first two weeks.  For the last two weeks, I've been following Couch to 5K ever so loosely.  I will likely spend two weeks on each level until I start this running plan.

Here we are now at March 1st.  I'm so excited it's March.  It's getting closer to spring and oh do I need spring.  This winter feels like it's been longer, colder, and snowier than all the winters before it.  I'm not the only one that feels that way around here either!!  Anyhow, March 1st is a good time for a new goal.  I want to add one more gym day to my three classes.  I'm not sure yet if it will be another class or just another day when I use the treadmill or the elliptical or the bike, but one more workout for sure.

Enough rambling.  Next, do any of you have bikes and love it?  I'm in the market for a bike.  I think I've decided on a hybrid but where I hesitate is price.  This will be my first bike as an adult and I don't want to go and spend $300 - $500 at a bike shop for something I have no idea if I will get a lot of use out of.  Well, really, I don't have $300 - $500 to spend.  I am comfortable spending $100 - $200 at a department store.  So where do you fall?  Do you have a department store bike and are happy with the quality for recreational riding?  Any input would be great!

I also had a request for the Eggs Benedict recipe, my Saturday morning ritual.  I actually got this from Natasha at Girl Stuck in a Rut.  I kept seeing her pictures of Eggs Benedict and emailed her for a recipe. I've never made her exact recipe because while I like asparagus okay, it's not one of my favorites so I've substituted sauteed mushrooms (love), onions and spinach for the asparagus.  Also, you can use whatever you love and there can be so many variations on this.  The key is the sauce.  It is called Mayacamas and I found it in the gluten free/organic section of my grocery store.  It calls for 1 1/4 cups of milk and 2 tbsp of butter. It works out to 3 points per 1/4 cup of sauce.  While it doesn't taste exactly like restaurant-style Hollandaise sauce mix, it's not going to because it's not 90% butter!  :)  Thank goodness!  Okay, so how I make it:

1 WW english muffin or thin bun, toasted (3 pts)
piles of sauteed mushrooms, onions, spinach (0 pts)
2 poached eggs (4 pts)
1/4 of sauce (3 pts)
Couple of drops of tabasco

I did make this a couple of times just using microwaved egg whites because I realized too late I was out of eggs and it was still tasty and lower in points.  I've also spread a wedge of laughing cow cream cheese on the english muffin for a little extra richness and that was also very tasty.  You can't miss!!!