Sew Craft N Bead
Sewing, Crafting, Beading and More!
How to Train Your Dragon: Standing Night & Light Fury Plushies
I had a special request to create a standing Night and Light fury plushie. I originally made laying down Night and Light Fury plush, here. I loved how both of those plushies came out! I knew one day I wanted to try to make a standing version, but I wasn’t sure when I would do it. Until now. 😁
I really had to get my thinking cap out. How did I want to make the standing version? Is there a pattern already in existence that I can use for the body? I knew I was going to stick with the same head style as the laying down Night and Light Fury plushies… Just like before, I combed through all the patterns I have to see what I can find. No point making a new pattern if there is another pattern out there I can modify to make the desired look I want. Makes sense, right?
After I searched through all the patterns I had, I found the perfect pattern I can modify to create the standing body shape I wanted for Night and Light Fury. Remember the Reindeer I made last year for Christmas for my family, here, I used that body. (Reindeer Pattern was made by Patchlins, you can get the pattern here if you like it.) This pattern was perfect, well not the length of the legs though… I made a Light Fury with the original leg length and it didn’t look right to me. My husband liked it, but I had to make another one with shorter legs to make sure. Guess what, I loved the shorter one better. Hehe. Husband, on the other hand, still liked the taller Light Fury. I even had to send pictures to my older sister who loves How to Train Your Dragon to see which one she likes better. Here are the pictures I sent:
Guess which one she choose?
She loved the shorter one. Hehe. Win for me. 😁
Let me know what you think, shorter or taller version better?
I did not make a tall version of Night Fury, since I liked the short version more.
Here are pictures of the standing Night and Light Fury Dragons:
So cute!!
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Custom Fox Plush
I had the opportunity to create an adorable custom fox plush for someone. Instead of the usual burnt orange and black color or gray and black color I use for my foxes, they wanted a brown, light blue and tan color fox. They also requested the eyes to be like my werewolf/husky plush. Easy peasy.
I drew a mockup to make sure they would like the color choices. Using my excellent Note 8 phone and stylest, I was able to sketch on top of my burnt orange fox picture on my phone to visually show them what the custom fox would look like. Here is the sketch:
They approved the design! Off to sewing, I went.
The hardest part about making this fox was aligning the wolf eyes for the fox. Don’t want it too high or too low or else it will make the fox look weird. After making a few adjustments, I was able to get everything aligned the way I wanted.
If you are wondering, I use Teacuplion’s Fox sewing pattern to make this fox. You can get it here if you want to make your cute fox. 😁
Do you want to see how the fox turned out?
Precious!
I loved how this custom fox turned out. I am inspired to create different types of foxes, like sewing a variety of colors or variations. Hehe. We shall see, it all depends on how much time I will have.
Thanks for stopping by!
How to Train Your Dragon: Stormfly Plushie
I received a special request to create a Stormfly dragon plush from How to Train Your Dragon movie. It is very fitting since I did make a night and light fury dragon plushies a few months ago. Plus, I love dragons so creating Stormfly was a definite must for me. Hehe.
I love sewing and creating, but the hardest part is figuring out if I need to make my sewing pattern or use an existing model to form the plush. For the Stormfly plush, it was hard to find good patterns that fit my vision of how I wanted the plush to look. I know with the night and light fury dragon plushies I used Sew Desu Ne’s Kirin pattern as a base and used the wings from her night fury pattern to help create the plushie look I wanted, which was in a laying down position. Unfortunately, the laying down position, in my mind, would not work very well for a Stormfly plushie. Stormfly has hind legs and wings as arms while night and light fury has front and back legs and wings. Trust me; it would look weird. Here are sketches I drew so you can see what I saw if I was to use the same pattern for Stormfly:
I know my drawings aren’t the best, but they do help me visualize. I like taking pictures of finished plushies I made, or I will screenshot a picture on my phone of a finished plushie from a pattern that I might want to buy or already have purchased so I can sketch on top of it with details or change colors to make sure it will look good. Most of the time I find the perfect pattern that will work, but there are times when I sketch it doesn’t seem right, so I search for another pattern. If I can’t find any patterns that I can modify, then I start designing my own sewing pattern. Why make a new pattern and spend so much time making it while someone else has created a pattern that will work? Right? Of course, I give credit to the designer of the pattern and link to their website and/or shop where you can buy the pattern.
After searching through patterns I have on hand, I found the perfect pattern! I decided to use Sew Desu Ne’s Floppy Dragon Plush pattern.
I saw the pictures of the different Floppy Dragons, and I just knew it had the shape/style I was looking for to make the Stormfly dragon plush. Here is a sketch I created to see if it would indeed work:
Yes, perfect! Now to sewing, well after I modified the pattern a little bit to make the desired look I want. Hehe.
Want to see how Stormfly turned out? Of course, you do! Here you go:
Adorable!
If you do decide to make your own dragon using Sew Desu Ne’s Floppy pattern, note that I did not add poly pellets for weights since I decided to hand sew the legs to be in the standing position I liked. When I initially finished it, the floppy dragon didn’t suit well for the look I was going for. The floppy look might look good for a different dragon but not Stormfly, in my opinion. Btw, Sew Desu Ne offers many patterns that are fantastic! She provides various types of free patterns on her website, here, plus she also sells some patterns on her Etsy shop, here. I have almost all her patterns since they are constructed beautifully. She is an amazing plushie designer!
Thanks for stopping by!
Don’t worry, if you don’t feel like making your own plushie, I definitely can. 😉
Browse through my Shop page for current stock of handmade items, special request an item through my Contact page, or check out my Etsy Shop for more options:
Small Projects: Embroidering & Hemming
When I returned from my two-week work trip, I had a couple of small and easy projects that required my assistance. One, my co-worker asked me if I could embroider numbers on thirteen youth baseball caps and three adult caps for the little league he coaches. Second, my husband just bought two new pairs of jeans that needed hemming. Sounds like manageable projects for me to complete. Hehe.
Baseball Caps
I was really excited about embroidering the numbers on the baseball caps since this gave me the opportunity to use my Husqvarna Viking small metal hoop. If you don’t know, the metal hoops that Husqvarna Viking make are super versatile and handy for embroidery projects, like this one I am doing!
The metal hoops come with four magnets that are used to hold down stabilizer and fabric still on the metal hoop. Makes it easier for odd shape items you are trying to embroider which can’t be easily done using a standard embroidery hoop.
My biggest struggle with embroidering numbers on the back of baseball caps was trying to align the caps perfectly on the hoop so it can stitch out numbers straight. Caps are stiff on the front so getting them to lay straight or not bunching up was difficult. Once I accomplished a few caps I was able to hoop them quicker.
In these pictures, most would probably think the stitch out location of this number is good, but for me, I had to redo this one since I figured it would look better closer to the middle seam.
I know I have said in past posts that I would try to be better at taking photos of my progress, well let’s say I am still epically failing at remembering to take pictures. Sorry. But, I did manage to snap a video of my embroidery machine stitching out the number 10 on one of the hats which you can see how I had to place the caps on the metal hoop. 🙂
When I had to embroider two numbers on the caps, it was even more challenging to make sure the numbers stitched out in the right spot. Luckily, the metal hoops have notches on the hoop to help me align easier plus it comes with a grid guide.
Easy peasy.
Hemming Jeans
My last little project was hemming my husband’s new pair of jeans. Unfortunately, my husband has a hard time finding jeans that can fit him lengthwise. He has to get jeans that are 40W, but shortest length we can find in stores are 30L, on rare occasions 28L (which I still have to hem a little). In his defense, he has a longer torso but shorter legs. I think he is happy I can hem his jeans for him. 😉
You can see in the pictures above; I rolled the jeans up to the length desired for my husband. I used a zipper foot to place the foot right next to the hemline and put the needle all the way to the left, this way we can keep the original jean hem. In the video below, you can see how I sewed next to the jean hem.
After I stitched next to the jean hemline, I used my serger machine to cut off the excess material/overlock stitched the edge. The overlock stitch will help prevent fraying, but if you don’t have a serger, you can cut off the excess and use a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine to prevent fraying. Below is a picture of the serged edge on the jeans.
After I serged the edge, I flipped the hem and used an iron to press the hemline of the jeans so it won’t turn out. Note, sometimes when I wash my husband’s jeans, I usually have to push or iron down the hemline.
In the picture below, you can see how it looks when you hem jeans with the original hem.
Pretty awesome. From a distance, you would never know I hemmed the jeans, but when you take a closer look you can tell, but who is going to look close up to see your jeans hemline? Not many people? Anyways, my husband is a happy camper and is ready to wear his newly hemmed jeans. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Spyro the Dragon Plushie
I love dragons. I am not a crazy super fan by any means, but I still enjoy looking at the beautiful dragon art, games and/or movies. After making the Light and Night Fury Dragons, I really wanted to create different types of dragons. One that comes to mind is Spyro the Dragon. I remember that I loved playing Spyro as a kid. When I found out that there was a Spyro game being released on November 13th, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, I knew it had to be fate that I need to make one. Wouldn’t you agree?
I started out by designing the Spyro dragon. Will the pattern I modified for the Night and Light Fury dragons actually work for Spyro? I mean, I loved how my Night & Light Fury plush dragons laid, so adjusting the Kirin base pattern, by Sew Desu Ne, once again to create Spyro plushie, should work in theory. I went ahead and designed the eyebrows, horns, spikes, tail, and wings of Spyro.
Surprisingly, my first drafts of everything worked. Nice! The Spyro turned out better then I thought. Maybe, I am actually getting really good at creating my own patterns. Yay! It is kind of exciting since this means I might be able to go to the next level of my skills, designing patterns from scratch instead of using other plush patterns from other designers. I will keep you posted on my advances to develop complete designs on my own. 🙂
You want to see how the Spyro turned out? Of course, you do, here it is:
Adorable!
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Available on my Etsy shop!
Disney Fish Extender – Reversable
I learned something new about Disney Cruises. In the past, I always wanted to go on a Disney Cruise and I am so envious of my husband since he went on a Disney cruise when he was a child. I found out recently that one of my colleages loves to take his family on Disney Cruises all the time and they discovered the magical world of fish extenders.
Fish extenders?? What is that? Fish that have long fins… No that doesn’t sound right. There is one way I can find out: Ok Google, tell me about Disney fish extenders…
This is how I understand what fish extenders are and what they are used for after researching on multiple sites that Google provided me:
About Fish Extenders
There are fish hooks that are installed next to each stateroom on the Disney Cruise ship that Cast Members leave you mail or messages. You can hang a fish extender on this fish to be part of the fish extender exchange and still use the fish for its intended use.
Fish extenders can come in all shapes, sizes, colors and designs. Some have multiple pockets with designs and/or names of family members on each while some might only be plan with just one pocket. No matter what it looks like, you can still have a blast and be part of the fish extender exchange.
Who arranges the fish extender exchange? Disney Groups arrange the exchanges. Anyone that wants to participate can sign up before a certain dealine date, about 2 to 3 weeks before the cruise sails away. The group ask for your info like your Stateroom number, Number of Participants and ages of each person involved (don’t worry adults can participate and have fun too even if they don’t have any kids!) Once you are signed up, you can buy or create your own items to exchange with others while you sail across the sea. Fun!
Now I really want to go on a Disney Cruise! Sounds like a lot of fun and my co-worker said they even have places on the Disney Cruise ship that is for adults only. Hmmm… might have to convence the hubby to take me on a Disney Cruise one day. 🙂
Well, my colleage’s wife knows I love to sew and create things so she asked me if I can make them a special fish extender for their family to take on their next Disney Cruise on Aug 17th. When she asked me, it was already the end of July. Yikes! Talk about cutting it close. No worries, I can make it in time for their cruise, challenge accepted! Time to start designing.
She asked me to make a fish extender with three pockets with Mickey ear designs for her husband and her grandson and a Minnie ear design for her. She also wanted their names stiched out underneath the designs. She told me that I can choose any disney fabric I find at the store and the colors to coordinate for the pockets. Bascially, she gave me free reign to design the fish extender and trust me in my creative judgement. Awesome!
Time to go shopping at Joann Fabrics!! While strolling around Joann Fabrics, trying really hard not to buy anything other then what I need for the project, I found two Disney Fabric designs that would be perfect for this fish extender. Which one to choose though? I figured that I would buy both and have one side one pattern then the back can have the other. Wait! I have a brilliant idea! How about I make a reversable Fish Extender! That way they can flip it back and forth to change the style everyday or keep one side the same the whole trip. It is amazing how creative I can get. Hehe.
Below is the fabric, interfacing and some fun disney buttons that I bought for this project (plus I bought a little extra of some fabrics so I can use for other projects down the road). Oh, I have to mention that I found this really neat sparkling red, blue and yellow cotton fabric. It is hard to tell in this picture but I think you might be able to see it sparkle in one of the videos I post later in this blog post. I thought this fabric would add more magic and wonder for this project especially since it’s Disney themed.
While on the topic of being creative, I had another idea. I figured that since I was making it revesable with different fabric designs I thought that I should also have different character designs on both sides. Even better, right? I thought of doing a pirate Mickey and Minnie on one side then a sailor Mickey and Minnie on the other. I informed them of my idea and they were super on-board with it. Now to designing my embroidery appliques!
Here is a video of my embroidery machine stitching out the last bit of the Sailor Mickey design:
Here is a video of my embroidery machine stitching out the last bit of the Pirate Mickey design:
Oh my goodness, it took about an hour or so to do each design. I spent about 8 hours total just doing the applique designs. Wow. I still had fun doing it though! Hehe. Totally worth it! The designs turned out better then I expected, especially since this is the second time ever doing an embroidery applique project (first time I did an embroidery applique was when I made a T-shirt while on travel here.)
Below are the end results of the Mickey and Minnie Pirate and Sailor designs.
Mickey & Minnie Pirates:
Mickey & Minnie Sailors:
They turned out great!
I forgot to take some progress pictures of me setting up the fish extender, creating the pockets and showing how I was assembling it, but in my defense I was trying to get this project completed in time for their family cruise. My time line was very short and I did not want to disappoint them and not have it done in time. I figured I will make it up to you someday by creating a DIY fish extender blog post so I can share how I made this reversable fish extender. For now, I will show you how it turned out.
I am so proud of myself. Surprisingly, this was a little difficult to make since I had to sew in a straight line and it was my first time using binding tape to make the edges and pockets look crisp and professional looking. Your probably thinking, isn’t sewing straight lines easy? Yes, they are but most of my projects I’ve been working on lately have been plushies which I am mostly sewing curves and a few straight lines. This project was all about long straight lines plus since it was reversable there where a lot more fabric layers that can shift while sewing (I used a walking foot to help prevent a lot of shifting). In the end the hard work paid off and this fish extender turned out amazing!!
I can’t wait to see their faces when they see the final project! Hehe.
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Traveling & Sewing
If you read some of my past blog posts you will know that this year I have been traveling quite a bit for work. This means I don’t have many opportunities to sew much between trips. For my final month trip down to Jacksonville, Florida one of my co-worker’s offered to drive down my sewing machine since he was planning to drive instead of fly. I was ecstatic! I can now create wonderful things on travel plus keep my Etsy shop open!
I may have sent more then just my sewing machine with my co-worker. I also sent a duffel bag full of fabric down with him and some sewing tools. Hehe. In my defense some of the fabric I can’t buy in any fabric store and can only get online plus there are certain sewing tools I didn’t want to buy again. My co-worker was a big sport and gladly took everything I needed to Florida. 😆
I might have felt like I was a crazy person having a sewing machine and fabric everywhere in my hotel room, but I can only imagine what other people have in there hotel rooms. Just saying. No matter what I was just happy that I could have a little piece of home while on travel.
You are probably curious to know what I ended up making while on this month long trip… Well…
I found that my Night & Light Fury Dragon Plushies were becoming a little popular so I decided to try and get ahead and make 5 of each. “Trying to get ahead” did not happen at all. I ended up making like 10 of each during my whole trip. Every time I thought I might be able to get ahead I end up getting another order. I am not complaining what so ever, but I definitly stayed busy on top of my long hours at work.
Surprisingly, I received quite a bit of orders requesting if I can embroider a small saying on the bellys of the dragons. After a few request, I updated my Etsy shop to include an option for some of my listing to have initials, date, or small message embroidered on customers plushies for an additional charge. Yay for new things!
One of the requesters wanted me to embroider a message on the Light and Night Fury Dragons for a special bond that she has with her best friend. She told me that both of them love dragons and she found out that she has to travel for a long period of time so she will be far distance from her friend. She thought it would be amazing if I could embroider the messages on the dragons so they both can remember each other while being apart for so long. Her plan was to give the light fury to her friend and keep the night fury dragon for herself. She told me the message she wanted on the light fury while her friend contacted me with the surprise message he wanted on the night fury for her to keep.
You want to know what the messages where??
Light Fury: “I am here for you. Indefinitely.”
Night Fury: “I am always with you.”
So heart felt. Awwww. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the light fury embroidery but if you see the night fury embroidery you can imagine what it looked like. I promise I will try and remember to take pictures after I complete projects. In my defense, I was super busy and I spaced. I am just happy I at least took a picture of one.
Next little project I did on the road was a cute Pokemon: Sylveon (an Evolution of Eevee). This customer selected my new embroidery option and had me embroider initials on the plushie for his girl friend.
Adorable!
My last and final project that I accomplished during my work travel was a sport team T-Shirt that I appliqued football team licensed fabric and embroidered on. This was a fun challenge since this person (the front desk clerk at my hotel who became a fan of my work) is attending the Cowboys VS Jaguars game in October and she cheers for both teams. (Oh man that must be fun to cheer for two teams that are going head to head… yikes….) This meant that she wanted me to design and embroider on a T-shirt showing both teams, their colors and have “I cheer for both” on the shirt. Hmmmm…. I like a challenge.
Below is my first design I showed her:
She liked this design but it seemed to small and her concern was that no one would be able to read it from a distance. I explained that this design will fit on the largest hoop I have for my machine. Then it hit me, I can design something bigger but make the design so I can hoop multiple times to get everything she wants. That is when I sketched this design for her on the spot using my phone:
When I showed her this sketch and explained it she was ecstatic. Before I actually embroidered on her T-shirt I showed her the separate designs I made using my embroidery program to get final approval and also purchased the licensed team fabric at the local fabric store.
She approved the designs and how she wanted the fabric placed on the applique embroidery. Here I go! I can tell you one thing, it is slightly difficult to embroider a huge design on a T-shirt. My big hoop had the tendency to slip or not line up when I was hooping the embroidery stabilizer with the T-shirt. I had to finagle with it for like 10 minutes or so just to get it hooped the way I wanted. Lol. Don’t worry it was so worth it in the end though.
Here is a little video I took while my embroider machine was stitching the design:
Neat, right? I kind of wish I took more videos during the process but I originally only did this video to show my husband what I was up to while I was on travel. Hehe. My husband loves to see my progress on my projects plus he is interested in the new creations I make. I love that my husband is so supportive in my hobbies. 😁
You want to know how it turned out in the end?? I can’t wait any longer to show you…. Here it is:
I am really proud of myself. This was my first big applique project that I have ever created plus this was my first time embroidering on a T-shirt too! Yay! I should give myself a big pat on the back for this accomplishment. *Pats my back* Hehe.
It was amazing that I was able to sew and create while I was on travel. Sewing was a great way to occupy my time at my hotel room plus I wasn’t bored at all during my trip. Maybe the next time I go on a long trip I might bring along my sewing/embroidery machine… if I have an opportunity too or if I purchase a good traveling case for it so it won’t get damaged when I take as a carry on possibly?? I don’t know, I have to some research but it is possible. I am not sure if I am always going to have a kind co-worker to drive my sewing machine to a travel destination. 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
Want to make a special request or purchase items I create? Visit my Etsy shop here:
How to Train Your Dragon: Night & Light Fury Plushies
My older sister loves How to Train Your Dragon movies. Her favorite character is Toothless (known as a Night Fury Dragon). When I discovered that there was going to be a third How to Train Your Dragon movie with a new character, Light Fury, I knew I had to make a plushie for her. Actually, I need to make two plushies. I was planning to make her Toothless for her Birthday present, but with me traveling for work I haven’t had the time. I’m making it up to her by creating Night and Light Fury dragons as a belated birthday present and an early Christmas present. 😉
At first, I thought I could easily find a Toothless pattern in a laying position that I had imagined in my head. Come to find out, that was not the case. Most are standing or in weird positions that I was not really interested in. The patterns didn’t intrigue my interest at all. Don’t get me wrong the patterns were cute and awesome but they didn’t fit with my imagination. I wanted something different. The next thing I could think is to look through patterns I already have and see if I can modify them to fit the creation I am imagining.
I found it! One of my favorite Plushie designers, Sew Desu Ne?, made a Kirin sewing pattern about a year ago (April 2017).
This is the laying down pattern I had imagined! All I have to do is create the tail, ears, horns/spikes and the eyes for the dragons. I also found in my search that the wings on Sew Desu Ne’s free Night Fury Pattern were wonderful. Hehe. No point in making my own wing pattern when there is already a great pattern already made (plus it is the right size too).
Aren’t those Fury Dragon wings adorable? I definitely think so! Hehe.
I have to say that Sew Desu Ne’s amazing patterns have inspired me to test my boundaries of creativity and also to design my own patterns (as of now just making small items or accents to add to existing patterns). I have also grown as a sewer too because of the patterns she creates and the helpful tips she includes in each pattern. The best part is she offers a variety of free patterns on her website (here) and she sells some awesome designs for a very reasonable low price on her Etsy store (here). You should definitely take a look if you enjoy sewing or creating plushies.
You want to see how the Night and Light Fury Dragons turned out?
***UPDATE 6/23/18***
I realized that I made a mistake with the Light Fury Plush. 🙁 My first Light Fury had too many spikes/nubs on her. I decided to make another Light Fury plush that represents her better. Here she is below:
If you are interested in having a night or light fury for yourself, you can take a look at my current stock in my Shop or visit my Etsy shop. If you want a custom item, you can request through my Contact page.
Standing Fox Plush
I think I’m on a fox craze. I made this standing gray fox about a year ago (here) and I just recently made this sitting fox (here). I have a little bit of time at home before I travel again for work so I figured I should combine the two foxes by using the colors from my recent fox and use the standing fox pattern, like I used to make the gray fox, to create this fox below:
So adorable!
If you are curious, here are the pictures of the standing gray fox and the sitting fox plushies I made:
Warning: Don’t be surprised if I create another type of fox in the near future. *whispers* I think I might use Soapy Bacon’s In-the-Hoop Fox embroidery pattern to make mini fox plushies. Hehe.
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Want your own custom color fox, check out my shop!
Lifestyle Changes: Healthier Me
There are moments in your life when you realize you have some major changes and modifications to do about your lifestyle. You know, those moments that finally snap you out of your daze and slam a harsh reality at you. The instances where your mind races to figure out what is going on and how did it get to this point?
My reality kicked in when I stepped on a weight scale a few weeks ago while I was on travel in Jacksonville, Florida. I was completely shocked to see what was displayed on the scale screen. I witnessed a bright 250 lbs blinking at me. What!? You got to be kidding me! How did this happen? I’m a large frame 28-year-old woman who is 5’7 feet tall and weighs 250 lbs, this is not healthy at all. Don’t get me wrong, I think I look great but deep down I know if I don’t work towards a healthy lifestyle I will fall victim to a variety of medical issues as I get older. I don’t want that!
I use to be so active and swim all the time. Of course, that was when I was in high school and while I was in the Navy. After I was honorably discharged from 6 years of service in the military 4 years ago, I slowly lessened my activity and ate unhealthy. These bad habits slowly reflected to my weight creeping up from 180lbs to 250lbs. That is 70 lbs over a course of 4 years which means on average I was gaining 17.5lbs a year! Not good!
I need to get myself back into a routine and create some goals. If there is something the military taught me is to never give up, get back up and make a difference. No matter how far you fall down you stand up, stop making excuses and make it happen. I’m the only one standing in my way towards success, no one else.
Let me start out with some goals that I believe are pretty straight forward and not outrageous.
Goals:
- Eat healthy
- More Fruits & Veggies
- More Lean Protein
- Less eating out at fast food and restaurants
- Meal Prep
- Workout
- Minimum of 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day
- Elliptical 2 or 3 times a week starting (eventually 5X a week)
- Start Lifting Weights to build muscle tone
- Continue Golfing with Hubby
- Maybe start Swimming again?
- Drink more Water
- Less Alcohol Consumption
- Ease out of drinking Soda (even diet soda!)
- Lose Weight
- Goal Weight: 165 lbs
Above are very reasonable goals I plan to transition into a healthy lifestyle for me but now I need some guidance to assist me through this journey. Next on my agenda: What kind of tools can I use to help me achieve these goals? After countless hours of research, I found something that might be the perfect fit for me. I found Weight Watchers (WW). I read so many testaments of people who have tried WW who actually lost weight and achieved a healthier lifestyle. This program is proven to work and my doctor even agrees.
I discovered that a couple of my co-workers used WW and they lost weight and they continually use it. This is awesome because they already know the program and are great supporters. They showed me different options I can choose for the program like: App/Online only, App/Online & meetings, and Personal Couching. I decided to sign up for WW app/online only option since I’m not too keen to do meetings every week when my work schedule is too busy and I travel a great deal. If I find myself struggling and the support from my peers is not enough, I might consider upgrading to meetings. Time will tell.
I like the structure of Weight Watchers. You receive a certain amount of points (Smart Points) each day which is dependent on your weight and eventually the number changes as you start losing weight. They display a healthy point zone to stay in but every so often if you need a few extra points you can use up some of your weekly points. The goal is to try and stay within your healthy point zone, which is between -10 of your daily smart point value through +5 of your daily Smart Points (i.e. mine is currently 30 pts so my healthy zone is between 20 pts to 35 pts daily). Best part is you aren’t constricted on the foods you can eat. You can still enjoy foods you love but you have to pay close attention to your portion size. They also have a list with over 200+ zero point foods which includes fruits, veggies and more. Awesome!
In this screenshot I took on my phone, you can see on the left shows my weekly Smart Points I have remaining, the center shows my Daily remaining points and the right displays the Smart Points I have used. You can see on the bottom I can select Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks and input what I eat.
Below is an example of me inserting my food for breakfast:
It is very simple to use. If you notice the barcode scanner icon on the upper right hand corner of the picture, this feature is amazing. I use it while I am shopping so I can scan items and see how many points it is per serving. It comes in handing when you are not sure about some foods. You can also use the search function and type in the food you are eating or drinking if you are unable to find a barcode for an item. Either way, it is easy to use the WW app for tracking.
You can also track your activities/workouts you do each day (Fit Points) using the WW app. I love this feature since I’m striving to be more active and the app allows me to set my weekly activity level goals to accomplish. Another option on the app, that I choose to opt out of, is you can swap earned Fit Points for more Smart Points. More ways that makes the Weight Watchers program more flexible and customizable.
In this screenshot you can see me tracking my daily activities and my Fit Points I earned so far this week. Neat right? If you have a fitness smartwatch that is compatible with the WW app you can sync your device and it will track for you. Unfortunately, my Samsung Gear Sport fitness smartwatch is not compatible with the app so I have to manually track my activities. No big deal. Maybe one day the app will be able to sync to my device. The only compatible devices that can sync are: Fitbit, Jawbone, Withings, Misfit, Garmin, Mapmyrun, and Daily Burn.
I struggled a little bit when I first started Weight Watchers. For one, I was on travel and living in a hotel for three weeks. Anyone who travels for work can probably relate that it can be difficult to not eat out at restaurants. There always seems to be so many restaurants and fast food places around hotels. Luckily, my hotel did have a stove top with all the necessary pots, pans and utensils, full size refrigerator, and two grills outside. This made it a little bit easier so I can lower my temptation of fast food and restaurants.
Fighting temptation is very difficult but manageable if you do it right. Any food that I know I have craving for a lot, I would research an alternative that was healthier or some other food that would equate to satisfy the craving that was way less points. For example, I love ice cream. I found that 1/2 cup of Breyer’s Vanilla Ice Cream is 7 points while the Breyer’s Delight Vanilla Bean Low Fat Ice Cream is only 3 points per 2/3 cups. This means I can still enjoy some ice cream every so often but I don’t have to use up a lot of points if I choose the low fat version. Yes, I can also use some of my weekly points to splurge a little but I am afraid if I splurge too much that I might fall back into my bad eating habits.
I was ecstatic that my hotel had a grill. I watched my husband cook on a grill for years but I never actually cooked on one. I may have called my husband a couple of times to make sure I set the temperature correctly and cooked them long enough. Hehe. I think I did great though. Below are some of the meals I made on the grill that are weight watchers friendly:
I grilled Boneless Skinless Chicken Tenderlions (0 pt), Squash (0 pt) and Zucchini (0 pt) which equaled 0 Smart Points! SCORE! I even had some left overs that I ended up packing for my lunches at work. Easy to reheat chicken but be warned, reheating zucchini and squash in microwave made them a little bit soggy but I stilled enjoyed eating them.
Next item I made on the grill:
I was so proud of myself when I grilled this 20 ounce steak. I was afraid that I was going to over cook it but I didn’t. I love my steak rare! The rib eye steak is 5 pts per 3 ounces so in the end I cut my steak into 4 sections (5 ounces each = 8 pts). It was difficult to have 4 separate meals of steak so the day I grilled it I ate two portions (16 pts total) but I had enough points since my breakfast and lunch were very low in points. The other two portions I did eat on separate days, one for breakfast omelet and the other for a dinner.
This next meal I didn’t use a grill at all. I made it on the hotel stove top. Guess what I made? Yummy and delicious tacos!
I figured out, while using the scan option on the WW app, that I can still enjoy yummy tacos if I select lower point ingredients out there to make them. Instead of getting ground beef, which can be between 3 to 6 points per 3 oz (dependent on if it is lean beef or not), I choose to get 99% fat-free ground turkey (0 pts per serving). Also, instead of flour tortillas (3 to 7 points per tortilla) I found these Ole Xtreme wellness tortillas that are only 1 point per tortilla.
These tacos I made in my hotel room ended up being only 4 points per taco! If I would have made the tacos like I did in the past they would each be 10 to 15 points each. Crazy, right? Best part is, these tacos tasted even better then how I use to make them. I thought that was weird but fantastic at the same time. I was so excited with this discovery that I made a Shrimp Taco version that was also only 4 points per taco:
Yummy! Another good thing is if you need the tacos to be less points you can minus the cheese (2pts per 1/8 cup) and the Taco sauce (1 pt per 2 tbsp) and make it only 1 point per taco! Hehe.
What about eating out in a restaurant? Can I still find foods that are Weight Watcher’s friendly? I enjoy making and creating foods that are healthy but sometimes I get so worn out from work I have no energy or drive to cook. Well, I am here to tell you that there are still restaurants that serve delicious foods that are still healthy and WW friendly.
There is a feature on the WW app that you can look up restaurants and fast food places that are the most common and use the app to look up foods on their menus or even search for the foods you want to eat.
Only draw back is not every restaurant is listed so sometimes you might have to ask the restaurant if they have a nutritional information on their food so you can manually insert it into the WW app Point Calculator (another awesome feature).
Here are just a couple of example places I visited to test out the WW app Restaurant feature:
Ruby Tuesday
Chick-fil-a
It was very exciting to find healthier choices and low point foods at a restaurant and a fast food place. It is eye opening to see that foods I would normally get would be so high in points, no wonder I was gaining weight. It is nice to see it and very motivating to select better foods. Don’t worry, there are other food places you can find that offer great food selections and are low in points. Keep in mind, you can always eat some higher point items but watch your portions. You can always split the meal in half to reduce the points and eat the other half another day.
My take after three weeks of using Weight Watchers:
- I have more energy.
This must be scary for my family and friends since I am usually hyper and talkative every day already. Sorry peeps! Looks like I will be super energetic at home and around the office. 😉
- I have less aches and pains.
My right knee use to constantly hurt and give out on me every so often when I climb stairs but after my first week of eating right I find that my knee does not hurt much anymore. While I think of it, my knee hasn’t ached this week. Amazing!
- Easy to track on App and follow program.
I love the features that the Weight Watcher app offers for tracking. Simple and easy to use.
- Discovered better food options.
It is very eye opening to see some of the foods I use to eat a lot of are super high in points. I can choose to eat them if I want too but I would have to eat a small portion to not go over my daily points. What is nice about WW is there are tons of recipes that they post online or on the app that you can choose from the give you an option or inspire you to select foods that are healthier. You can still enjoy the foods you love but are lower in point value. It is very motivating and fun for me to come up with my own unique recipes that end up being low in points. I even have my husband experimenting too. Hehe. Hubby is super supportive.
- Lost Weight!
I lost 12.2 lbs in 3 weeks! Eeekkk! I am thrilled that I am losing weight and that the program is working so far. I can even see a slight difference in my appearance. My stomach doesn’t look so bloated which means my size 18 pants aren’t constricting me anymore. Awesome, right?
My goal is to continue this program for a minimum of 6 months to verify it is truly the right plan for me. I have to admit though; this plan is starting out pretty well for me so far. Plus I feel like a new an improved person already. Woohoo!
I am super hesitant about posting pictures of me when I first started Weight Watchers but I figured that it would be super motivating to look back at these pictures and see my transformation unravel. Here it goes:
I can’t wait to compare this picture to what I will look like in 6 months. I have a feeling I will be very satisfied and happy to see the outcome.
Thanks for stopping by!
