Moving Day

Hey Everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend!  I spent most of it trying to get Christmas going in my house and also, setting up my new blog!  I’ve been working on it with the help of Blain at 13-infinite for couple months and I’m finally ready to move over to Wordpress and my new domain…www.loserforlife.com! 

I’ll explain more about it and the reason for the new name over on the new blog, but for now, please bear with me while I get everything up and rolling.  This blog will be completely transferred over to Loser for Life and I’ll no longer be updating here.  I hope you’ll join me in my new digs - please remember to update your Google Reader to still receive the feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/LoserForLife

See you on LFL!

Run, Forrest, Run!

With a morning like this…

you gotta Run, Forrest, Run!!!!

Even he had an “escort”.  See the resemblance…

Before heading out, I fueled up with some banana and 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter…

Looks kinda gross in this picture, but it was good!

Then I was off to the trail to pound the pavement.  I knew right from the start that it was going to be a good run.  My breathing synced up right away and I was able to get in a nice groove mainly because I brought my “old school” headphones and didn’t have to fiddle with my ear buds the whole time…

Excuse the bug-eye glasses and Bride of Frankenstein hair.  Scary.

I planned on doing 3 miles, but since my run was going so well, I wanted to see if I could make it to 4.  Answer:  hells to the yeah!  I can’t believe I did it!  I felt great!  I even felt like I could have done more, but didn’t want to be in a wheelchair later today, so I stopped at 4.  My longest run so far!  Coolness.

During my run, I observed some of the other runners as they sped by me like freight trains ran past me.  Did you ever notice that everyone has their own individual style of running?  Some seem to bounce, some run with their feet high off the ground like there are little wings on the back of their sneakers, others run without lifting their feet very high, but are fast as lightning.  Some run on their tippy toes and some run with a flatter foot. 

I thought about how I must look.  I’m definitely not light on my feet.  I have more of a clod, clod, stomp, stomp style similar to that of Godzilla crashing through a city….

Oh well.  Maybe one day, I’ll run like the wind!

I brought a dashboard breakfast (part 2) of light string cheese and Triscuits to get me through the rest of the morning…

After some errands and a good shower, I was ready for lunch.  I was in the mood for another tofu scramble.  In the mix…

• 1/2 block Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu
• 1 package of Green Giant Immune Blend Veggies
• 1/4 cup of Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds

Very delicious!  I’ve had some questions about this, so just to clarify, there are no eggs in the scramble.  I crumble the tofu and brown it before adding the veggies, so it looks and has the consistency of a scrambled egg.  It was a huge serving and filled me up for the afternoon!

I was looking forward to dinner – Philly Cheesesteaks and sweet potato fries!  I decided to make my cheesesteak into a wrap using a Joseph’s Lavash Bread with sauteed peppers, romaine lettuce, pickles, ketchup, 2% cheese and 2 slices of Landis sliced sirloin steaks.  Messy, but good!  My sweet potato fries, on the other hand, went over to the dark side…

I lost track of them and they torched up in the oven.  Boo!  I was so excited for those, too :(  I ate a couple but they were too “blackened” for my taste.

I have quite a bit going on for the coming weekend, so I may be MIA.  I have been working hard on my new blog and hope to have everything up and running for Monday!!!  I’m really excited about it and hope you guys will like it, too!

ONE GOOD THING:  I ran 4 miles today!!!!  Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp…

Have a great day, everyone!

To Stink Or Not To Stink

That was the question.  On my way to the gym in the morning, I remembered I forgot to put on deodorant!  I was more than halfway there and thought about turning back or trying to hit up the nearest supermarket, but I had limited time for my workout as I had to run a bazillion errands afterward.  Ugh.  My original plan was to set The Arc Trainer on fire, then do weights.  The Arc Trainer = sweatin’ and stinkin’ (if you didn’t wear deodorant!).  What to do, what to do?????  The real question should be why do I give a hoot, but I do and stinkin’ was not an option.   So my de-stinkified workout was…

• 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill
• hip strengthening workout (Tina has hip bursitis, too)
• lower-body circuit – leg curls, glutes, hip adductor and abductor
• ab crunches

It worked my legs good, I felt the burn and wasn’t stinky.  All is good :)

Breakfast was TJ’s High Fiber O’s with some Fiber One, strawberries and unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze…

I did stop home ,amidst the errands, and whipped up some lunch.  I was pretty hungry and ate a little earlier than normal, but I’m trying to eat when the hunger strikes!  Novel idea, huh?

Lunch was a wrap made with Joseph’s Lavash Bread, a few slices of turkey, Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge, a tbsp. of cranberry sauce and spinach.  It was a winning combo!  The cranberry and Laughing Cow were great together!  I added some carrots for crunch and had at it…

I still felt a little hungry, so I had a blueberry Chobani…

Then, errands, errands, errands.  :(

I’m trying to choose more wholesome foods for my snacks instead of grabbing  junkier (Cheez-its!) things.  A pear and almonds fit the bill…

Dinner had to be quick and easy since we got home late from little daughter’s religion class.  Nothing quicker than boxed soup and grilled cheese!  I decided to try out the Campbell’s V-8 Garden Vegetable that was sent to me last week…

I paired it with grilled cheeses on sourdough.  I made mine with asiago, baby spinach and Trader Joe’s roasted  red pepper and artichoke tapenade …

This soup was fairly good.  It was thick and reminded me a lot of split pea soup in texture.  It had a nice amount of vegetables in it and overall, was a pretty hearty bowl.

~~~

Brilliant Blogger:  I’ve been  a lurker on Joan The Weight Pilot for quite a while.  She is a Weight Watchers Lifetime Member and has some of the most inspirational posts that I have ever read.  She  begins her posts with some amazing quote that always seem to speak to me at the moment.  Her post today was especially meaningful to me.  As I have been on this journey, I have realized that I don’t need to beat myself up for the indulgences or going off track.  Every GOOD choice that I make in a day is a step in the right direction.  I encourage you to read her whole post, but it ends with…

''the little things we do add up; the small steps become giant steps."

Thanks for the reminder, Joan!

In other blog new, my friend Krittie at Healthy Living, One Day at a Time  is having a cool American Express Gift Card Giveaway – be sure to check it out!

Have a great day, everyone!

Fitting It All In

I can’t believe it’s December!!!  Holy moly!  I’m feeling a little wigged out about fitting in all the things I need to get done before Christmas.  It seems that everything is happening at once and the calendar is already looking jammed up!  Well, one thing I will fit in is fitness!  I made a promise to myself to keep my workout schedule and I’m stickin’ to it!

Before heading to the gym, I had a mini- breakfast of a string cheese and a few Triscuits…

Just enough to tie my over for my 35 minute run on the treadmill.  I tried out some intervals this run and I really liked it!  It took the pressure off keeping a steady fast pace and I liked being able to coordinate the pace with my music.  Fast songs = fast pace, slower songs= slower pace.  It was fun!

Breakfast part 2 was by the dashboard light…

After changing, it was off to Gram’s for a day of shopping.  She loves to shop and can outlast me any day!

I finally dragged her out talked her into leaving and headed back to my house for lunch.  I made a terrific tofu scramble…

In the mix…

• 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu
• 3 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• a few onion slices
• 1/2 small red pepper, sliced
• handful baby spinach
• 1/4 cup Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds

Gram declined the tofu and went for a turkey sammie instead!  I’ll make a believer of her, yet!

I also took a few minutes to assemble dinner , since I knew the afternoon would be busy.  I saw a recipe on Kalyn’s Kitchen for Brown Rice Casserole and thought I would give it a try, knowing full well that this would not be welcomed with open mouths by the husband and daughters!  But, I decided to torture them anyway.

I baked it when I got home after little daughter’s dance class.  It looked and smelled delicious…to me…

Them…not so much.  I proceeded to rant about how I didn’t give a flying fig newton what they thought and they were going to eat this fabulous, healthy dish.  And I dished it out…

Okay, I know it doesn’t look pretty, but it was very tasty!  I even threw in some broccoli to make it a true one-dish meal.

Little daughter cried full blown tears at the sight.

The husband hates mushrooms and moved the stuff around to make it look like he ate some.  Okay, but he will eat kale chips???  Whatever.

Big daughter said, “Mom, this actually tastes good.”  She is the only one I love ;)

So, not the biggest hit, but I will keep trying to feed them healthy foods.  Hear that, family???  Yes, the torture will continue…

~~~

Brilliant Blogger :  I read a great post by Jack Sh*t today.  So motivational!  His posts are usually flat out hilarious, but every so often, he throws in one of these “serious” posts to really get you thinking.  What struck me was when he describes a conversation he had in the locker room after a workout – go check out his post for the whole story – but he replied to the person:

 “I didn’t leave a lot in the tank.”

And that’s how I approached my run at the gym.  I kept thinking “don’t leave anything in the tank;  give it your all.”  Result:  awesome workout!  Thanks, Jack!

Oh, I almost forgot… the winner of the Campbell’s Soup Giveaway is  Denise!

I have a couple of favorite soups - creamy tomato, taco soup and butternut squash. Yummy!

Denise, please send me your address and I’ll forward it to the Campbell’s rep:)

If you’re not too sick of me, go check out my guest post on Melissa’s blog – www.abetterbagofgroceries.com  -and see how I tried out the NuVal nutritional scoring system!  Fun!

Have a great day, everyone!

Back To The Gym

I was itching to get to the gym first thing!  Although, we had some nice family time over the Thanksgiving break, it was good to send everyone off to their appropriate locations and get back to my routine.

I was hungry right off the bat, too, so I made up a Yogurt Bowl before heading out.  In the mix…

• 1 cup plain nonfat Chobani (it’s baaaaack!)
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 packet NuNaturals Stevia
• 5 sliced strawberries
• 1 tsp. shredded coconut

It was so rich tasting;  the cocoa powder mixed into the yogurt made it seem like frosting!  Mmm…dessert for breakfast.  It’s a good thing :)

I pumped it out on the elliptical for 35 minutes, then hit the circuit weights for an upper body workout.  I decided , for the month of December, to mix up my workout.  I’m going to run 3 days a week – T, TH, Sat, do a cardio mix with weights 3 days – M, W, F and take Sundays off.  I think this will be a better plan for me.  More consistent running ( my marathon running neighbor told me he hated my “every other week running plan” – LOL!) and a nice mix of cardio and weights on the other days.  I think that will keep it fresh and fun!

After the gym, I ran errands in the nasty, cold rain and finally made it home to eat LUNCH!  My stomach was way past growling.  I did notice the growl at the 3 hour mark again, so that seems to be the magic number these past few days.  I reminded myself not to grab anything and start shoveling.  Instead, I heated up some leftover Individual Turkey Pot Pies…

Halleluia for leftovers!

Later, I couldn’t shake the damp coldness, so I made a cup of French press…

For a special treat, we went to dinner with the in-laws at a new local restaurant.  It’s owned by the family of the husband’s best friend and opened for business today.  I was in the mood for a big greek salad…

I’m not usually a fan of stuffed grape leaves, but the ones on my plate were delicious and very rich, so I only ate one and passed the rest to the husband and FIL.  Sadly, my salad was supposed to have grilled chicken on it, but it didn’t make it to the plate on time, so I had it on the side.

I wasn’t completely satisfied (taste-wise) after this meal, but I had eaten enough and was okay with it after everything settled.

I used a little “pep talkin” while scooping some ice cream for the daughters when we got home.  I knew I didn’t need it.  But I sure did feel like I wanted it!

 *hit replay in my head* 

I will not let food control me.  I have the ability to eat just what I need. 

Somehow repeating that over and over took all pressure off.  It was almost a sense of relief.  Like, oh yeah, I can say “no” and it’s okay.  Niiiiice :)

Today is the last day to enter the Campbell’s Soup Giveaway! 

Have a great day, everyone!

Pep In My Step

I woke up with such a happy feeling!  I think my “step it up” pep talk really worked!  I can’t describe the feeling;  it’s like something changed in me overnight.  I feel like I have a stronger resolve to stay on the healthy eating track.  I kept saying to myself that I would not let food control me.  I’m not giving it the power.  I have the ability to eat just what I need.  I have the ability.  I make the choice.  It’s up to me to do what’s right for my body.  It deserves it.   I know there are going to be rough times.  Times when food wants me…really badly.  I have to remind myself that I am in control of what I put in my body.  I can be in control.  Even through the holidays…  :)

So, breakfast was one of my favorite Yogurt Bowls topped with strawberries and diced apples…

I cheated on Chobani with this guy…

Chobani will always be my first greek love, but ya gotta get what’s on sale when ya can :)

After breakfast, I got my butt out the door for a peppy 45 minute walk (I’ll fill you in about the running tomorrow) around the neighborhood in the glorious weather.  I love mild November days!  The husband even joined me for the last 20 minutes which was  nice!

My stomach let me know it was lunchtime about 3 hours after eating breakfast.  I tried to cue into that to see how long it takes me to get hungry between meals.  I think knowing that is key to keeping munchies at bay and also, to help understand what types of food stick with me the longest.

Lunch was a Grilled Vegetable Boca Burger on a Pepperidge Farms Deli Flat, piled high with baby spinach and tomato.  Instead of my usual side of chips, I went with a longer lasting choice of fuji apple with 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter…

We spent the afternoon at a Christmas carol sing-a-long at church.  It was a nice time and really got us in the spirit!

Again, around the 3 hour mark, I was hungry for a snack.  I decided to go salty with reduced-fat Triscuits with turkey and a dab of  wasabi mustard…

Yum!

The dinner plan was a new recipe from Amelie for Grandmom’s Macaroni.  It sounded delicious;  sort of a new twist on baked mac n’ cheese.  I changed it up a tiny bit by subbing these for the originals :   Ronzoni Smart Taste elbow macaroni (high fiber), my own marinara sauce (had some left in the fridge to use up), Cracker Barrel 2% white cheddar and whipped light butter.

The result was DELISH and a hit with the husband and daughters…

My dish…served with a side of broccoli…

This will definitely be added into my regular dinner rotation!  Thanks for the great recipe, Amelie!

~~~~

I have been thinking a lot lately about the blogworld and about how much encouragement I receive from other bloggers without them knowing it.  I read a lot of blogs.  A lot.  If you have a blog, you can rest assure I am reading it!  LOL!  I guess there are worse addictions :)  Anyway, I got to thinking how many bloggers write things that really strike me.  Really spur me on or cause me to take pause and reflect.  I don’t often take the time to get in touch with each person and tell them how something they wrote affected me, so I had the idea of making an addition to the end of my posts with a reference to a blogger who made an impact on me that day.  I decided to call it Brilliant Blogger because I often think “that’s brilliant” when I’ve read these words of wisdom.  There are also readers that leave me comments that are brilliant words of wisdom and they don’t have blogs, so I’m going to include some of those, too.  Just my small way of saying “thank you” to those bloggers/readers and sharing some great insights from them!

My first Brilliant Blogger is Joanna from Fitness and Spice. 

She wrote:  This year I’ve decided I’m not going to stress out about eating too much and working out too little during the holidays. That’s because I’ve already made up my mind that I won’t be eating too much and I will be making the time to workout.

Love that!

Don’t forget to enter my Campbell’s  Soup Giveaway – there’s a cool pedometer in there!!!

Have a great day, everyone!

Step It Up + A Giveaway

Hey everyone!  Hope you had a fantastic weekend!  Did you shop til you dropped?  Not me!  It was a hangin’ out kinda weekend here :)

I woke up ready to start a new day.  A new “non-holiday food” day!  I’ve been lazy about my regular exercise;  just been doing some Wii Fit with the daughters and a little weights here and there.  I guess my normal routine shifted with them being home, but I’m looking forward to hitting the gym HARD when they get back to school this week!

After doing some cleaning (the husband was up early and scrubbed the bathroom floors for me –LOVE HIM!), I made got out of the freezer a hearty breakfast of Fat Free Pumpkin and Raisin Biscuits and a small banana…

The cleaning kept on for most of the day.  I wanted to get everything spiffed up before we put up the Christmas decorations!

I did make a pit-stop for lunch.  I was feeling pretty hungry, so I heated up one of the Bean and Rice Burritos  topped it with guacamole and ate it knife and fork style…

As filling as that was, I still did some picking in the afternoon.  It actually didn’t hit me until later that I was doing that.  A classic case of “mindless eating”.  It’s amazing how fast that bad habit comes back and into play.  Bites of this and that leftover from daughters’ plates, a candy from the candy dish, a nibble or two while preparing snacks.  The awareness fades and it becomes almost robotic in nature.

I finally came out of the haze I was in and realized what I was doing!  Okay…refocus… or just focus…or snap the hell out of it, I said to myself!

Dinner was much better.  I tried out a recipe from the current issue of Clean Eating Magazine for Individual Chicken Pot Pies.  I changed it up a little by using leftover turkey breast and 2 cups of frozen classic mixed vegetables.  It was super easy and very good;  everyone liked it and there were no complaints…yippee!

The recipe called for topping the pies with 3 whole wheat biscuits…

They were pretty hearty, so I was fine with two…

Despite the mindless eating episodes, I feel stoked and totally ready to step it up!  I really want to give this holiday eating season a run for its money!  I want to prove to myself that I can indulge in a controlled way during the specific holiday DAY and not have this sending me spiraling out of control into an eating oblivion.  I CAN DO IT!  You can do it, too!  Let’s do this!!!!

Okay, pep talk over (mainly for my benefit, but thanks for hanging in there with me –LOL!), now let’s get to the GIVEAWAY!!!!  The Campbell’s Soup folks sent me this neat package of goodies…

• Campbell’s V8 Garden Vegetable Blend soup
• A Campbell’s V8 Soup Health Journal and vegetable shaped pen
• A Flip and Tumble shopping bag
• A Pedometer – to count your steps!

Perfect for stepping it up, right?!  Well, they would like to send this gift pack to one lucky winner, too!  All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me what your favorite soup is.  I’ll pick a winner using random.org on Wednesday, December 2.  Good luck!!!

Have a great day, everyone!!!

The Best Laid Plans

Thanksgiving was a great day of food and family!  I started off with a light breakfast;  I wasn’t super hungry and I knew there would be lots later!  A Pumpkin Smoothie hit the spot…

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
• 5 ice cubes
• 1/2 packet of NuNaturals Stevia
• sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice

I reluctantly headed to the basement for a treadmill run.  I was feeling awfully lazy, but knew if I didn’t get in some exercise, I would regret it.  After a quick 2 miles, I felt better.  No regrets!

I decided on a small lunch to tide me over until the REAL eating started!  I used some leftover Baked Seitan (remember when I said it tasted a little like bacon?) to make an SLT on a Pepperidge Farms Deli Flat…

With a honeycrisp apple, it was just the right amount.

Then, it was off to my parents’ house where the good stuff was being prepared!

For starters, an antipasto platter…

My plate x2…

Then I got myself a BIG glass of water x2 to avoid any more picking.  I wanted to save up for the other yummy food coming up!

When it was time to sit for dinner, we found these papers at our places…

Dad always writes a Thanksgiving prayer and big daughter reads it aloud…

Our first course, as always, was pasta!  This one was fettuccine with bolognese sauce…

my plate was about a half cup worth…

Believe me, I wanted more!!  But, I kept reminding myself of the plan - “controlled indulgence”.

After that settled a bit, the big guns donned the table…

Tom…

stuffing with whole wheat bread and sausage..and butter…and parmesan cheese… I DIE…

roasted sweets and parsnips…

broccoli rabe…

roasted asparagus…

mashed potatoes (a must for big daughter)…

biscuits…

homemade cranberry sauce…

I had a taste of it all…

but, I went a little crazy with this…

Best stuffing EVER!!!

We had a great time at the table reminiscing about our old houses and neighborhoods and the husband asked us to each share all the things that we were thankful for.  We ended up practically giving speeches!  We are very blessed and able to be grateful for even the smallest things, but family was at the top of all our lists!

No Thanksgiving is complete without dessert!  We were also celebrating my Dad’s birthday, so we had his favorites…

My Mom’s homemade cheesecake…again, I DIE…

and pecan pie…

and my only contribution to this fabulous day of food – Sugar Free Pumpkin Roll (for Gram who is diabetic).  I used NuNaturals Baking Blend (stevia) in the recipe and it came out surprisingly well…

I had to have the cheesecake.  One word…AMAZING!!

I had a nibble or two more of it, but called it a night.  I definitely ate a lot today, but didn’t let myself get stuffed or uncomfortable.  I enjoyed every bite!

***

Happy Birthday, DAD!!!

ONE GOOD THING:  I was happy with my plan of “controlled indulgence”.  I ate, I enjoyed and didn’t feel guilty or nervous.  I was full but not uncomfortable.  And that’s it – day over.  Back to the normal plan as I remind myself that the holiday was just one day, not the next four!  Back to the plan, stan :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful T-Day!