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Life, Uncategorized

The day I shared my food finds with you

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As always if you want to connect with me you can do it here:

Twitter, IG, YouTube, Snapchat, WW Connect: @KellyNDodds

Facebook: facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33

Shop Scentsy: www.kellydodds.com

I’m down 37 pounds since February 5th with Weight Watchers. I really took a week to ease into my journey- with my initial start date being 1/27. I had an event the weekend of February 3rd that I knew would be tricky so I allowed myself grace and really went hard starting the 5th. On June 27th it will be 5 months of counting points, learning portion sizes, measuring everything out, and doing cardio. Here are some of the foods that got me down 37 pounds (and hopefully 40 soon!). This is not NEARLY everything but what comes to mind

 

Morning Foods or as some call them “Breakfast”

Starbucks Blonde Roast Coffee:  0 points up to 3 cups. This is great for a coffee addict like me!

Torani Sugar Free Syrups : 0 points forever. As much as you want or need. My preference is Smores or French Vanilla currently. If you need creamer you can find sugar free ones which typically are 0-1 points per tablespoon. I personally do not point creamer since I use a splash and that’s it.

Aldi Fit & Active Turkey Polish Kielbasa: This brand is only 2 points for 2 oz. or 4 for 3 oz. It’s the lowest I’ve found but adding a little to egg cups goes a long way flavor wise and adds a protein.

Ore Ida Potatoes O’Brien: Again- Brand matters here. ¾ a cup is only 2 points. Serve with two eggs (0 points) and you have a super low breakkie.

Aldi Fit & Active Whole Grain Waffles: 2 waffles for 4pts or 1 for 2pts. These are a great way to get a carb in and feel good about it!

Canadian Bacon: 3 slices, 1 point. Great for omelets, pizzas, by itself!

Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Turkey Sausage Crumbles: ¼ cup 1 point, ½ cup 2 points.

 

 

Anytimers

Kraft Fat Free Shredded Cheddar/Mozzarella: 0 points for ¼ cup. Cheese and Weight Watchers are not the best of friends so to find something 0 points is a godsend.

Trader Joe’s Lite Shredded Cheeses: 1-2 points per ¼ cup or 0-1 for 1/8th . Mozzarella is lower than the other two blends (Mexican & 3 cheese) but we will mix these with the fat free to stretch and get more meltiness.

Frigo Cheese Heads Light String Mozzarella Cheese Sticks– 1pt per stick.

Opadipity Creamy Ranch Greek Yogurt Dip: 2 points per serving (2tbs) THIS is my replacement for ranch which has anywhere from 5-7 points per serving. They have other flavors as well. A little goes a long way for salads since it’s thicker like a dip. It’s super great to dip veggies in as well.

Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges: 1 pt per wedge, Pepper jack is our favorite but you can find 3-4 varieties of these in our fridge at all times. Spread them on wraps, add them to toast, dip chips and veggies in them. Love these.

Good Thins Corn Thins: 3 points for 41 chips and the closest low point tortilla substitute I’ve found. They are thin, crispy, and corny. Great for soup and salad toppers, or just eating with a cheese wedge.

 

Lunch

Aunt Millie’s Healthy Goodness Fiber for Life Breads: 1 point per slice. We love the Potato Bread. It’s soft and you don’t miss regular bread with this.

Joseph’s Pitas & Lavish Bread:  ½ lavish or 1 pita 1 point. We make pizza from the lavish and stuff the pitas with chicken, hummus, and veggies.

Ole Extreme Wellness High Fiber Low Carb Tortilla wrap 8in: 1 point. They change your taco/enchilada game sweetie. I’ve seen people make pizzas out of these as well.

Boar’s Head Chicken/Turkey deli meats: 0-1 point depending on seasoning per 2-3oz and worth the price.

Perdue Simply Smart Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Tenders: If you have an air fryer these are your new best friends. 4 pieces are 6 points. We actually use these for a chicken parm recipe! Cut them up for salads or a wrap too!

G Hughes Sugar Free BBQ sauces: 0 points for 3 tbsp. go to 4 and you hit a point.

 

 

Dinner

Trader Joe’s Shepard’s Pie: 4 points for the whole frozen meal. It’s great to pop into the microwave on a busy night. We serve it with a piece of Aunt Millie’s bread (above). You can split it in half for 2 points.

Creamette 150 calorie Thin Spaghetti or Penne: 3-4 points for ½ a cup this is so far the lowest full sized pasta we’ve found AND it tastes like REAL pasta and not a substitute! We’ve only found both options at Kroger.

Classico Light Asiago Romano Alfredo Sauce: Sauces can be tricky. 1/3 cup is 3 points but I don’t think I even use that for a serving. Add some peppers and turkey kielbasa your tummy will thank me.

Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde: 0 points forever. We pour this in the instant pot with Chicken breasts, squeeze in some lime juice, add seasonings and make shredded chicken for tacos, quesadillas, salads and more.

Trader Joe’s Vegetable Birds’ Nests: 1 for 2 points. We use lite soy sauce on ours. They make for an easy side.

Rotisserie Chicken: We rip off the breast meat, skin it, and cut it up and add it to soups, salads, tacos, and more.

 

Have on Hand

Spices: The lower in salt the better. Seasoning makes the dish let me tell you. We like Ms. Dash No Salt Table Seasoning on our eggs. We love Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute as well as Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning and Chef Paul Prudhommes Pizza & Pasta Magic.

Fat Free Greek Yogurt: You can do SO much with this stuff. 2 ingredient dough, PB2 dessert, Flummery, Thicken like Sour Cream, Dips, Dressings- too many things. It’s a STAPLE.

Eggs: If you aren’t allergic- get you some. We eat these so we can have some treats. 0 points, delish, and filling.

Fruits & Veggies: Lower sugar fruits and any non-starchy veggie is fair game!

Fat Free Refried Beans: Throw them in a 1 point tortilla, eat them as a side- 0 points!

Chicken Breasts/Tenders: Grill Em, Bake Em, Air Fry Em, Delish.

96% Fat Free Ground Beef: Lower fat alternative for anything you’d do with hamburger!

99% Fat Free Ground Turkey: 0 points. It is the lowest fat alternative for hamburger. We love it in Enchiladas.

 

Gadgets:

Instant Pot: We make SO many soups that help us stay on track using our fancy pressure cooker!

Air Fryer: Great for Chicken Nuggest/Tenders, Potatoes, anything that would be “fried” really!

Weight Watchers App: Specifically the bar code scanner because you can compare every brand to see which has the lowest points.

Apple Watch: Your friends can keep you accountable. You can see their activity and cheer them as well! Its’ so much easier to do this with friends!

 

I hope this helps. Again we shop around: Meijers (Midwest), Kroger (Also Fred Meyers), Walmart, Giant Eagle, and Aldi’s . ❤

Life, Uncategorized

The day I got lost, and what I found

As always if you want to connect with me you can do it here:

Twitter, IG, YouTube, Snapchat, WW Connect: @KellyNDodds

Facebook: facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33

Shop Scentsy: www.kellydodds.com

 

It’s a regular 9 hour work Wednesday. My day job does office hours so you work 9 hours Monday thru Thursday and then have a half day Friday. We get forced to take an hour lunch which in Ohio is typical. On this Wednesday I needed to drop off a check and application for a Vendor Festival. I’m working hard to earn a trip to Mexico with Scentsy (if you want to help check out the Shop Scentsy link above #shamelessplug) so I wanted to get my form in. On my way back to work I turned right instead of left. I ended up in a familiar territory that I had no clue was this close to my workplace. When you do not go somewhere for a long period of time it’s always crazy to see what they have built up.

 

GUYS THERE IS A DRIVE THRU STARBUCKS AT TUTTLE CROSSING THAT ISN’T INSIDE THE MALL!!!!!

 

Not that I went there. I went across the street to Boston Market after taking a gander at the Restaurant section of my Weight Watchers App. Never did I ever know it had such low point options. Turkey Breast 1pt! Roasted Potatoes 4pts! It was everything. Plus it’s not too far from my workplace.

 

Here’s my BAD news. Chili’s raised the points on it’s Margarita Grilled Chicken. The whole plate is now 10 pts instead of 8. I’ll still eat it. It’s a TON of food for 10 points.

 

  • This was actually awhile ago. I’m super behind on the blog and I’m sorry. My next post is going to be a meal plan/grocery list post – with points so it’ll be worth it!
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The day I missed my blue dot

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As always if you want to connect with me you can do it here:

Twitter, IG, YouTube, Snapchat, WW Connect: @KellyNDodds

Facebook: facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33

Shop Scentsy: www.kellydodds.com

Ohhh have mercy. It’s been a week. My sister has the sinus infection from hell, which means planning meals hasn’t been easy. I did have some finds this week though and I need to share them.

  1. Halo Top Seasonal Blueberry Crumble Ice Cream (3 points for ½ cup)
  2. ONE Maple Doughnut Protein Bar (6 points whole bar)
  3. Egg Roll in a Bowl (3 points per serving)

 

  1. I love blueberries. My family hates them. I got to eat this entire pint of ice cream myself without sharing. Yay! It’s delicious. It’s literally one of the only Halo Top flavors I like. I’ll be sad when its season is over.
  2. Amanda Cypert I believe gets credit for my ONE bar Maple Doughnut purchase. It was the perfect thing to throw in my bag for a busy day. I had to make some Scentsy deliveries Friday night. Dinner wasn’t until 8pm and this bar tasted like a dessert. I buy my One bars at Fresh Thyme market.
  3. I pinned Egg Roll in a Bowl via Pinterest. It was so simple to make and not a lot of ingredients. You simply throw a bag of coleslaw mix & ground turkey sausage, ginger, and soy sauce in a skillet. I like spice so I added some teriyaki sauce and some red chili flake. It called for sesame oil but I skipped it to cut the points from 3 per serving to 2. You can use ground 99% lean ground turkey and skip the oil and it would 1 point per serving with the teriyaki sauce. It wasn’t a hit with the whole family but I loved it and had 2 servings. Since it was so low I served it with Veetee Dine In Jasmine Rice with Herbs. It gave it a bright note and ½ the container is only 4 points.

 

So Saturday I missed my blue dot because I had 11 points left. I missed it by 1 point. I could not believe it when I realized it the next day. I skipped lunch because breakfast was so filling.

Breakfast: 6 points

2 pieces Aunt Millie’s Potato Bread (2 points)

2 eggs (0 points)

2 Jimmy Dean Fully cooked Turkey Sausage Patties (3 points)

1 tbsp Hellman’s Light Mayo with Hot Sauce mixed in (1 point)

 

Snack: 3 points

Enlightened Peanut Butter Chocolate chip ice cream bar (3 points)

 

Dinner: 10 points

Egg Roll in a bowl 2 servings (6 points)

½ cup VeeTee Dine In Rice (4 points)

 

Total 18/29

Have you ever come so close to a goal and missed it? Did you learn from it? Comment below ❤

— 

 – :¦:- Kelly N. Dodds- :¦:- 
Indpt. Scentsy Family Director
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The day I used 30 points exactly

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As always if you want to connect with me you can do it here:

Twitter, IG, YouTube, Snapchat: @KellyNDodds

Facebook: facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33

Shop Scentsy: www.kellydodds.com

 

A few Saturdays a year I attend a Crafting charity event put on by two friends. That day is full of fun, new friends, and food that the vendors provide. As a vendor ( I always bring Scentsy so the charity gets more money), I am often asked to bring what the crowd calls lovingly “Crack Chicken”. Now, I could have lightened the “Crack Chicken” up a smidge more than I did for weight watchers but it was already relatively low using Freestyle so I opted to not to change what they know and love so much. So I wanted to start this blog out by giving you that recipe. The whole crock pot came to 12 points. Note- I do not count seasonings as points. If you do- scan them.

Crack Chicken

50 oz Canned Chicken Breast- SCAN THESE! Some points exist depending on what kind you buy. Members Mark Premium does not. (0 POINTS)

10 Ritz Reduced Fat Crackers (add more or less depending on thickness wanted) (4 POINTS)

1 regular can Cream of Chicken with Herbs condensed soup (Getting the 98% fat free Cream of Chicken will cut your points by 1, and will NOT have the flavor this has) (8 POINTS)

2 Tbsp Aimee’s Blue Ribbon Spices Shredded Chicken Seasoning (See below for disclaimer)

1 Tbsp Trader Joe’s Everything but the bagel seasoning.

Cook in Slow cooker on High 4 hours or Low 6-8 hours stirring every few hours. I eat this on lettuce but you can add a bun if you have the points!

NOW if you aren’t in Ohio the Shredded Chicken Seasoning will have to be ordered and shipped to you. You can go to her Facebook Page for contact information: https://www.facebook.com/Aimees-Blue-Ribbon-Spices-193170657373653/

If you are in Ohio you can find her products at:

Der Dutchman Restaurant & Bakery

Der Dutchman Walnut Creek

Dutch Valley Restaurant

Hills Market

Jungle Jim’s International Market Eastgate

Jungle Jim’s International Market Fairfield

Kuhlwein’s Farm Market & Deli

Lannings Foods

Lynd Fruit Farm (Retail tent open August—November)

The Morgan House

Ross Granville IGA (in aisle 5)

Winerak Market

Yutzy’s Farm Market

 

I know what you are thinking. So Kelly- You didn’t eat THAT and get to 30 points that day so HOW did you do it? Welllllll there were walking tacos, and 20 point Italian sub to help with that hah ❤

I hope you enjoyed today’s Blog! What’s a craving you get with high points?! Comment below! ❤

Life, Uncategorized

The week we love(d) carbs…..

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AS per usual,

Follow me on social:
Twitter, IG, Snap Chat, YouTube – kellyndodds
Facebook- www.facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33
Scentsy Shop- www.kellydodds.com

Disclaimer- I’ve had a hate/hate relationship with carbohydrates my entire life. Sure they are tasty, but some bodies just do not break things down as they should. If you haven’t been here before:

Hi. My name is Kelly and I have PCOS. PCOS is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and I was diagnosed at 16 years old as post-menopausal. To save us all time if you are interested in more info I typically link people to the Mayo Clinic for understanding- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pcos/symptoms-causes/syc-20353439

Basically for me it’s hereditary. My two cousins on my father’s side also have it and it’s very possible my sister has it and hasn’t been diagnosed officially. One of the side effects of PCOS can be excess insulin. As I am well… let’s just say it’s been 15ish years of my life watching my carb intake so it’s become somewhat 2nd nature to me.  To say from Sunday to now has been carbolicious… would be an understatement. Here let me show you.

Monday- Well you read the seed in eyeball story last blog. I decided to treat myself to a Popeye’s biscuit after that traumatic experience. That and I had the points. I ate lots of white meat protein that day looking back. Trying to hit this blue dot has become a challenge for me. Had I not ate the biscuit I would have had 15 points left. I don’t know if I’m just not doing this correctly but 30 points is A LOT.

Tuesday- Work drama resulted in my team missing lunch and the company ordering us Domino’s pizza. Hello carbs. I didn’t just eat you Sunday or anything. Wellll 2 pieces of cheese pizza and 14 points later… Lucky for me dinner was soup and low points. We love our copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi soup. It is 4 points for a 1.5 cup serving so it’s a lot for little. It’s also 5$ movie night and we got amazing seats to Infinity War. No spoilers here folks. Members get free popcorn but they do not tell you how many cups it is. I believe it was approximately 2 cups so I pointed it as 3 points. Finished my day with 8 points left- AND I ATE PIZZA?!

Wednesday- A random fruit cup was on my desk because my boss brought the team in Breakfast pizza which he knew I wasn’t about to eat given I ate pizza yesterday. I threw out the melon (yuck), and ate the grapes and pineapple because I’m 5. I had another gnocchi (1 cup), a Laughing Cow pepper jack cheese wedge – kind of love them, and Boar’s Head Cracked Pepper Turkey (0 pts) for 5 points. My sister made BBQ Chicken Flatbreads using Joseph’s oat bran and whole wheat lavish bread, G Hughes hickory flavored bbq sauce, free mozzarella & fat free cheddar cheese from Kraft, bacon bits, and jalapenos. It was tasty. We had hummus with Joseph’s oat bran and whole wheat pita chips (we made them in our air fryer) so dinner was 10 points. I also had a light string cheese, flavored Greek yogurt and PB2 yogurt for snacks (3pt) so that brought me to 11 points left for the day and no blue dot. Sigh. I just WASN’T hungry and was 1 point off from a blue dot. I also hit my 47 fit points today.

Wednesday was gym night. High inclines, lower speeds this go round. 35 minutes was all I could squeeze in. It’s a busy weekend so going to be night hours for sure to get it in.

Here’s what the weekend looks like:

Thursday- Work, Scentsy Session, Event Prep – Gym Skip

Friday- Work, Scentsy Event Set Up, Grocery – Gym Night

Saturday- Event, Scentsy Meeting – Gym Skip

Sunday- Scentsy Drop, Scentsy Pickup, Scentsy Party- Gym Night

Saturday is pot luck day…. We’ll see how that ends up J

Question of the day-

What’s your favorite pot luck dish?

Life, Uncategorized

The day I tried to make low point cheesecake… and failed.

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Oh I should have seen THIS coming. My family has a weekend bonding ordeal that includes meal planning while watching Weight Watcher YouTube recipe videos. We stumbled upon Jess- Weight Watcher Journey to Healthy making a cheesecake and my mother’s eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. Since she is spending Mother’s Day in Georgia without me, I decided to give it a go. I’m pretty decent at baking, typically. I went to Jess’ channel to grab the recipe. The steps looked a little odd but I assumed it was because it had me mix pudding with eggs. Pudding clumps. Eggs aren’t really a great “blending” item. You’re also supposed to do this by hand and not mixer sooooooooo it’s even harder to get rid of clumps. Guess what my finished product tasted like? Eggs with lumps of cheesecake flavored pudding.

Verdict- I’m going to try this again, but my way. I’m going to mix the pudding with the yogurt first. I’m going to add the syrup to the yogurt mix. I’m going to beat the eggs with the stevia and THEN mix them together. I also plan to add a different flavoring, we used vanilla last time. I will do an update when I try this again so you can see the difference. It will have the fail and the (hopefully) correct photos side by side. Make sure you check out Weight Watcher Journey to Healthy on YouTube! I know this is different content than promised but I’ve not had any new foods introduced. I hope you liked it!

We all have fails with conversion recipes. It takes time and patience to get things right. What is one of your recipe disaster stories?

-Sorry this is short and sweet, it’s been a busy week.

As always follow me:

Twitter, Instagram, WW Connect: kellyndodds

Facebook: facebook.com/Kelly.Dodds.33

YouTube: Kelly Dodds

Shop Scentsy: http://www.kellydodds.com

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The day the post was late

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I know it’s been a minute. I have to try to figure out if I want to do these daily or weekly. Want to see updates more frequently? Find me on Social:

Twitter, Instagram, WW Connect: @kellyndodds

Facebook: The book of my face

YouTube: Kelly Dodds

Smell Goods: Shop Scentsy

So since today is Thursday I think I’ve bi- weekly. I’m going to do Monday-Wednesday post on Thursday (Which obviously I missed this week). Then Thursday through Sunday, post on Monday. So there you have it- decision made.

Ah Monday, the start of a new week. Most dread it. I’m okay with it.

Breakfast- Banana

Total Breakfast Points: 0

Lunch Time! I am living for wraps currently. I found super low carb Ole Mexican Foods Xtreme Wellness High Fiber, low carb wraps (1pt) and they make life easy peasy. I just fill em, put em in a baggie and out the door I go. Here’s what mine has today:

Boar’s Head Fully Cooked Bacon – 3 slices (2pt)

Boar’s Head Chipotle Chicken Breast slices – 2oz (0pt)

Trader Joe’s Lite shredded Mexican blend cheese- 1/8 cup (probably less but this is what I track) (1pt)

Total Points for wrap: 4

I added a side of Baked Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream chips (4pt)

Total Lunch Points: 8

Snack time- I’m mad at myself still for spending so much on Hormel Turkey Pepperoni sticks (1pt) but they are good, quick, and great for on the go. Same with Frigo Light String Cheese except those are cheap (1pt).

Total Snack points: 2

Dinner Time- This was a chore. We had plans but they got busted. The swister ended up cooking and it typically goes two ways: Asian or Mexican. This night it went Asian.

Trader Joe’s Kung pao chicken (1 cup prepared 6pt)

Veetee Dine In Long Grain Rice (1/4 cup 2pt)

Ikea Foods Vegetable balls (3 balls 2pt)

Total Dinner Points: 10

Ended my day with a blue dot and 10 points left.

 

Tuesday Try it out day

Ah new stuff try out day. I adopted this mindset. Every Tuesday I will try something new to me. Today it’s Kind Fruit Bites – Cherry & Apple are the only two ingredients. It’s a small bag and I added it with breakfast today with a banana.

Total Breakfast Points: 3

Lunch was 1/3 cup long grain white rice (2pt), bell peppers, grilled chicken breast chunks and a little bit of soy sauce.

Total Lunch Points: 2

Snack #1 was a Frigo light string cheese- are we surprised? Later I had ½ a cup of Halo Top Vanilla Bean Light Ice Cream with Walden farms 0 calorie Caramel Dip, and fat free Redi Whip and a Banana (2pt)

Total Snack Points: 3

DINNNNNNNNNNER TIIIIIIIIME and it’s close to Taco Tuesday lol Turkey Enchiladas. We put these in the recipe builder and it’s 1 for 3 or 2 for 7 pts and they are decently sized. We use the following items:

99% Lean ground Turkey 0

Diced Green Chiles 0

Corn- drained 0

Low Sodium Black Beans not in any sauce drained. 0

Seasoning Packet

Ole Wellness wraps (1pt each)

Red Enchilada Sauce (top) 0

Trader Joe’s Lite Blend Mexican cheese 2 for ¼ cup

Kraft Fat Free Mild Cheddar cheese 0

So good. So easy. Not a lot of points.

I was SO low in points that when we did our Popeyes Blackened Chicken Tender run for lunches the rest of the week I got their Cajun Mashed Potatoes and gravy (individual size ya’ll) for 4pt.

Dinner Total: 11pt

Ended the day with a blue dot and only 20 points consumed.

 

Wacky Wednesday

You’ll see that when we hit dinner time today there was a snafu. Failure to plan left us in a pickle.

Breakfast- I bet you already know what I had for breakfast.

Total Breakfast Points: 0

Lunch: Wrap Wrap Baby Same as Monday but substitute 2 Popeye’s blackened chicken tenders for the chipotle chicken and not enough bacon bits to hit points, plus a spicy pepperjack cheese wedge. 3pt and baked Cheetos 3pt. I had some fresh fruit as well for 0 points

Total Lunch Points: 6

Snack Time means string cheese time 1pt! I also had a Buddig Chicken pack for 2pt. To try to get my points higher (Two days at 10 points under typically leaves me without a loss) I ate a tbsp. of Jiff whipped peanut butter for 2 pt.

Total Snack Time Points: 5

The day we all were late for dinner…. My sister and I both got stuck in horrific traffic. Neither of us made it home until almost 7pm and at that point what we had planned for dinner would have taken too long to make, we would have eaten late as well. Kylie stopped at Wendy’s to grab her dinner while I headed to Taco Bell. What- I had 24 points left!

What I get at Taco Bell sometimes changes. Note there are lower point options. The Fresco style shredded chicken taco is only 3 points and the fresco style crunchy or soft beef tacos are 4 each. . I hate tomatoes and onions, so that option isn’t for me. A chicken taco is 5 points and when I eat chicken every day of the week it’s nice to get something “beef”. I urge you to go on the app and look at Taco bell because they have several items in the 3-7 pt range so you can actually splurge a little bit J

Doritos Nacho Cheese Locos Taco (5)

Pintos & Cheese (6)

Shredded Chicken Mini Quesadilla (6)

Total Dinner Points 17

I ended Wednesday with 2 points left.

Wait until you see Thursday’s randomness. I’ve been craving some weird combos (nope not pregnant) and things are getting creative to say the least. Saturday is Cinco De Mayo and will be the first time I’ve had alcohol since starting Weight Watchers at the end of January. My weeklies reset on Saturdays of course so we’ll see what happens hah. ❤

Again, if you want to see more of my life…

Twitter, Instagram, WW Connect: @kellyndodds

Facebook: The book of my face

YouTube: Kelly Dodds

Smell Goods: Shop Scentsy

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The day that just didn’t go right.

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Let’s start from the very beginning; it’s a very good place to start. (Who has this song stuck in your head now?) Hi friends. Today just… isn’t a glass half full day.

  1. I woke up late.
  2. We were out of coffee! (Insert scream face here)
  3. I was running late. (Which means no stopping to get coffee)
  4. My blog post about my day yesterday- gone. My system rebooted and I didn’t save it or send it to my phone.

So here’s how this is going to go. This post is going to be way less funny and cool than what I originally wrote.

Thursday

I closed ALL of my activity rings. This is an apple watch thing but I believe you can do this with your iPhone. Don’t shoot me if I’m incorrect there. I did 874/380 calories, 45/30 minutes of exercise, and 15/12 stand hours. I did 11,490 steps. I also got to try some more of the Weight Watcher branded snacks. Thursday it was Sea Salt & Hummus Chips and a Mocha Coffee Crunch mini bar.

0pt Breakfast: Boring today as it was just a banana.

2pt Mid-Morning Snack: Mocha Coffee Crunch mini bar by Weight Watchers. NOT.A.FAN. Cardboardy taste. Not getting this one again.

5pt Lunch: White Chicken Chili (1pt) which is only points because of seasonings. It’s a McCormick seasoning packet, water, chicken breast, and cans of white beans (make sure you scan yours).

Hormel Turkey Stick (1pt) Now I like these but a bag of 5 were over 5$ and so we won’t buy these again. Not unless we find a coupon or they are on sale. It can just eat 16 pieces of turkey pepperoni from the bag and call it a day.

Sea Salt & Hummus Chips by Weight Watchers (2pt) but 0 flavor. I ended up using a Spicy Pepper jack Laughing Cow Wedge (1pt) to make these edible.

1pt Afternoon Snack: Frigo Light String Cheese. We love a staple low point food.

14pt Dinner: Hear me out on this. You’re going to say “Kelly, how did you eat pizza for only 14 points?” Jet’s Thin Crust Pepperoni & Cheese Pizza. It’s only around 3pt per square. It’s in the tracker as 14 points for 5 squares. I also ended up eating 2 Popeye’s Blackened Chicken tenders after our walk which I counted as part of dinner. 2 is 0pts.

3pt Evening Snack: Maybe I bit unconventional- a Buddig Beef Packet. I wanted extra protein because of all the walking I did today and I needed to kill 3 more points. You can only roll over 4.

On our evening stroll my sister told me about a cult in Oregon that somehow flew under the radar called Rajneeshpuram. She apparently watched a Netflix documentary called Wild Wild Country. Let’s just say it’s pretty crazy to listen to. She went into how they picked up homeless people and brought them to their town in order to try to stay in control politically and sensing there was fraudulent behavior they stopped voter registration. That’s only happened twice ever to my knowledge. She saved me from having to tune in though. Check it out if you’re intrigued. If you prefer to read apparently there is a book called The New Republic and also The Oregonian’s 20 part investigation. The things you find out when you get outside.

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What I ate on Weight a Watchers: It’s a Monday!

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April 23rd, 2018

Let me preface. I’m a weird human. Most reading this already know this and I’m writing this for those just now dippin’ their toes in my realm. It feels like I always doing stuff and it’s never a dull moment.  I work full time as an Applications Engineer (Fancy IT title) as well as own and operate my Scentsy business full time with a team of over 60 people. I’m in an accelerated leadership program as well with Scentsy currently. I am on the go a lot. Things happen after 5 pm quickly and sometimes weird combos happen. 😉 Disclaimer over. Let’s go!

I drink a 32-ish oz coffee every morning throughout the duration of my work day. It’s Starbucks Blonde Roast Iced Coffee that you can purchase from the grocery aisle and it’s 0 points. I add 2 tbsp of Torani Sugar Free Smores Syrup (also 0 points), and 1 tbsp sugar free creamer or unsweetened almond milk for 0 points- because I personally do not like to drink calories or points. This is a personal preference. I drink a LOT of bean juice as I am in IT and it’s like a job requirement basically. Now let’s start the day!

0pt Breakfast: I eat around 9:30-10. I get to work between 7-8:30 am but I do not get hungry before then typically. I have a 9 am meeting daily so this works out.

2 cup fruit (mandarin orange segments, strawberry slices, red seedless grapes)

This gets me through to lunch. I switch my fruit up so some days it’s a banana. You’ll see as you read on.

8 pt Lunch: 4 oz Boar’s Head lemon pepper chicken breast lunch meat, 1 Laughing Cow cheese wedge Asiago flavor, Thomas Bagel Thins in Everything Bagel flavor, and PopChips BBQ flavor potato snack.

This was a new flavor we found at a supreme grocery store near Cincinnati, Ohio. It was super tasty with the Asiago cheese wedge so I hope I can find it somewhere in Columbus. I toasted my bagel thin the night before to keep it from getting soggy. I didn’t miss mayo or mustard because the cheese wedge was so creamy. The PopChips were a great swap for real potato chips. It’s 4 points though just for a serving.

7 pt Snack: So snack 1 while at work. That 3 pm need something to not crash snack was a Frigo Light Cheese Stick for 1 pt. It reminds me of my childhood and you basically get to play with your food. Nothing wrong with that.

I also had a guilty pleasure splurge snack. I do not typically eat a snack over 4 pts. The grocery in Cincinnati also has the most amazing Pepperoni & Cheese bread. I ate 1/8th of a serving which calculated to 6 pts. It was worth every.single.bite.

My life is semi crazy. You can plan and things go wrong. Tonight we were supposed to have black pepper chicken and peppers. Peppers were prepped however the chicken did not thaw. IN FACT- it was still frozen solid after being in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Lesson learned. This meant scrambling around. Which led me to this lovely dinner.

8 pt Dinner: Egg Whites, scrambled with Lite Trader Joe’s Mexican blend cheese. 2 oz Boar’s Head Cajun roast beef fried in a skillet with 1 slice thin sliced provolone cheese (we used Meijer brand). 1 piece Aunt Millie’s Lite potato bread spritzed with I Can’t Believe it’s not butter spray. 1/4 cup Bob Evans Mashed potatoes with 1/8 cup Heinz Fat Free Savory Beef gravy. Like a deconstructed Beef Hash with a different kind of potato. It was good contrary to being written on a screen. It was quick which was important because out the door I went to deliver Scentsy to a customer. I also was gifted some fun Weight Watcher branded snacks to try so stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog! ❤

**Eventually I will remember to take pictures of my food before devouring it.**

Life, travel, Uncategorized

Northwest kinda feeling – Part 1

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Welcome to the blog I’ve been ever promising. Seattle was an experience of 1st time things. It was my first long distance trip alone. It was my first flight with Frontier Airlines. It was suppose to be my first business class flight – more on that later. My first trip to the North West region of the United States.My first time using Air B&B. You  get it right? Lots of firsts. Let’s start with this randomness and how I came back an even mellower human being.

Painting the scene.

It’s mid July, humid, hazy, hot. We’re in  Nashville, TN and it’s  around 11:30 pm. We’re at Steak ‘N Shake with some of my FAVORITE Scentsy people. One being Heather M. Heather lives about an hour away from Seattle, where I have a high school friend named Stacey. Heather and I talked about her baby shower (oh- she’s pregnant and due 9/11 in this part of the story). I make a quick snap of a decision (after seeing how much money I had left over from this trip) that I would be going to this baby shower.

Preface*** I live outside of Columbus, Ohio.*** 

I booked a flight on an airline I’d never heard before through Priceline.com. I had no idea the ride I was in for. I scoured Air B&B until I found a room with hosts that I knew would have stories to tell. The wife an author/painter from Amsterdam and the husband a singer/stage production guy from Texas. The room was way cheaper than a hotel (we’re talking the whole stay was the cost of 1 night in a hotel!) so I wrote a message and they accepted my reservation. A jump into my generations culture- without shock. This was it. My flight booked. My room paid for. Research on car2go, Lyft, Uber, and Zipcar done. Heather was going to pick me up from the airport, I’d have a day with Stacey, then the Baby Shower, and then a flight home. Crafted and planned carefully with trips to Pike’s Place, The Space Needle, and fun food joints. A few days before my trip my phone pinged. An email from Frontier Airlines shown brightly. I had to pick a seat, and I had to let them know (and pay for) my baggage and said seat. Well if I have to pay for a seat I suppose I’ll pick business class… first 3 rows. Oh I didn’t know at the time… and what I would have killed for to have the knowledge I have now. These expenses caused this flight to be MORE expensive than other airlines. I justified the cost because of the business class seats- or so I thought.

Airport Time, Excellent!

I live about 30 minutes from John Glen International Airport, previously known as Port Columbus. I opt for early morning flights so I can clear TSA with plenty of time for coffee, breakfast, and a restroom trip. I love my routine so I stuck to it. 2 hours early- through the line quickly, and off I went in search of a Starbucks. I ordered my double shot on Ice which they had no clue how to ring up. After holding up the line, I finally got the correct drink. Everyone was super nice about it- I was just a little self conscious about it taking so long. It’s an airport and I know people are in a hurry. No one was mean to me though! Win! I grabbed a quick sandwich and found a seat with charger as one does- except none of the seat chargers worked. I remembered to pack and charge my extended battery pack though so another win! Ping- my Facebook Messenger goes off. It’s 5:45 am and not a soul I know is up at that time. It’s Heather. Why is she awake? Because she’s in labor so she cannot pick me up from the airport. Okay 1) Squeals of Delight because this baby knew I was coming and decided today is the day! 2) Worry because this baby is 3 weeks early and there could be issues. I quickly convinced her that I would be fine getting myself to my Air B&B, and not worry about me.

I had express boarding so I was on the plane quickly- however business class was no more than stretch seating. 3 extra inches of leg space. Let me paint another picture- I’m not towering tall. In fact I’m 5’5″. I didn’t need extra leg space. My personal items ended up having to be stowed 3 rows back which made me nervous the whole time. The icing on this Frontier Cake was when they offered the extra seats I was in to passengers for 15$ LESS than what I paid for it- when their site said it would be MORE expensive on the flight to upgrade. We landed in Denver and I had never been happier. We were released from the plane so it could gas up and be cleaned but we’d come back to it for our Seattle leg. Before I knew it I was collecting my personal items and requesting a Lyft.

Lyft vs. Uber

Columbus doesn’t have much of a Lyft following, but we have Uber. Fun Fact- I’ve never used Uber in my state. Only others. Which makes me familiar with it’s process. There were signs all over SeaTac Airport with Lyft codes so I decided to try it. A lesson I learned in the SeaTac airport- Lyft drivers are urged to purchase economical cars in Seattle. They get a bonus buying discount. Their car of choice: Prius. Their colors of choice: Grey, Black, and Midnight Blue. I’ll let you figure out how hard it was to find the actual Lyft I was suppose to be in. I learned this lesson chatting with an Uber driver with a Charger in red. I regretted my decision to Lyft because she was so fun! I got in my Lyft- asked about the area, thanked my driver and starred at the house I would be staying in. The notification came up with the 22$ car ride bill (after my 5$ discount). I pulled up Uber and the ride would have been 16$ with no discount. You got me Lyft! Props on that one- your marketing tactics at the airport worked well. I later Uber’d back to the airport to rent a car- turns out it was cheaper!

Air B & B not Air Conditioning….

The panoramic view of my Air B&B house was a lot to take in. There were compact discs on strings hanging in a tree. There were flowers and herbs everywhere. I approached the small stoop lined with shoes, rang the door bell and gazed fearfully at an orb spider in the middle of it’s web off to the left. I heard the clicking of the lock and found the Texan looking at me. I was welcomed, asked  to take my shoes off and it hit me. The day I arrived in Seattle the pilot announced it was unusually warm for the location and month. Unusually meant 25 degrees warmer than usual. It was 95. I must have removed my filter requiring AC when searching Air B&B, because my room only had a small personal fan. The room was butter yellow with paintings done by the owner. The bed was decorated with floral coverings. The pillows were memory foam. One of my favorite memories is of the sleep I got in that bed. I grew up in a house with window AC units in certain rooms only. There are a few combinations of tricks that help me sleep in the heat. 1st a cold shower- do not fully dry off. Putting on your pajamas while damp then putting a fan close to you will keep you cooler. I also got a glass of ice and put it in front of the fan. The ice melts and the fan throws teeny tiny water droplets at you until the ice gets too low in the glass. I also opened the window because it cooled down a little at night. It worked swimmingly. It’s a mistake I will never make again though!

img_4991 The Air B&B tree

 

Friday Night Skylights

I studied materials my hosts had in my room. It was a surplus of arts, travel, culture, and food magazines, cards, and paper menus. I found a punch card to a local burger joint and asked if it was any good. As I was walking out the door I ran into my other host who asked if they could join me. We all wanted out of the heated house. To our surprise the burger joint did not have AC either. Seattle has some pretty strict recycling rules that took me a day to get use to. Compost piles and Food Scraps, Paper, Plastic, Glass, it was all required. We have to pay for this in Ohio, it’s treated like something special you get to have- in Seattle it’s something you have to do and if you do it incorrectly you can be fined! It’s fascinating.

We decided to eat outside, I waited for my  milkshake, cheeseburger combo knowing the milkshake would make the heat so much better. Heather had warned me of the food prices but this ended up being my most expensive meal of the trip. As we finished up my hosts decided to take me on a driving tour of the city. We stopped so I could get some amazing pictures of the skyline and gardens. This city is gorgeous and surrounded by Glacier Lakes, the sound, and has amazing sunsets. My hosts were very impressed with my ability to bounce back from having a large chunk of my plans destroyed. I can honestly say I too was impressed with myself. We went back to the house and I was given Trader Joe chocolate bites and a glass bottle of water for my room. The little details were not missed and were appreciated.

Here are some pictures from my 1st night in Seattle. Look for Part 2 very soon!

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