Transitions + Changes

Boy, the first day of school sure was a hectic one!  After getting the daughters off to school, it was run, run, run!  I think I spent most of the day in the car running around with the exception of about an hour!  It was crazy!  But, we all transitioned into the new schedule pretty well, even me with getting up in the dark to start the day :)  My schedule is a bit different when the daughters are in school;  my day starts much earlier and my workouts aren’t until after everyone leaves for the day.  I usually don’t eat before my workouts, but since I’m changing things up and going to the gym (eek!) after they leave, I may have to eat before the workouts.  And my blogging schedule will be different, too!  I decided to switch to posting in the morning or before lunchtime, so that I can be available for my family at night.  As the daughters are getting older, the homework and afterschool activities are ramping up, so, as much as I love ending my day with blogging, it’s not my best option.  But, I’ll be here !

So, after everyone got out the door, I headed to the basement for a non-eventful 30 minutes on the elliptical, then did a few sets of tricep dips a la MizFit!

I was starving after that, but needed something quick, so I dipped into a Chobani nonfat Strawberry yogurt topped with some crunchy freeze dried strawberries and a sprinkle of Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal…

Can’t forget the Teeccino … no caffeine, but still gives me that “morning coffee” ritual…

Then, the running began.  In the car, out of the car.  Drive here.  Drive there.  The daughters only had a half day to start, so I picked them up and took them to lunch at their favorite place- Chick-fil-A.  This location was “snazzy” and even had a cool quote on the wall…

They have some decent salad options, too.  I chose the Chargrilled Chicken and Fruit Salad…

with a reduced fat Berry Balsamic dressing (only used about half)…

I couldn’t help snagging a few of the waffle fries, too!  This trip to Chick-fil-A was all to butter up the daughters because right after, they had (unknowingly) a doc’s appointment for the flu shot.  I could write a book about the histrionics that go on with little daughter in the weeks leading up to the shot appointment, so this time, I decided they would need to be “game day players” and I sprung it on them at the last minute.  I know, another Mom Crime for the books ;)  It all worked out well though, no major drama.

Then, it was off to dance class for little daughter.  I was hungry by this time, so I was glad I remembered to grab a snack for the car:  Choco – Cranberry- Almond Granola Bar…

These are just the greatest!  Thanks for the recipe, Jaime!

Dinner on dance night has to be heat and eat.  Luckily, I had some leftover Chicken Cacciatore which I reheated with some freezer Greek Lima Beans…

And I was out the door again for one last errand!  I finally ended the night with a little treat…Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate square with a smear of PB2…

That hit the spot!

ONE GOOD THING :  I remembered to pack/plan a snack for the afternoon, so I wouldn’t be raging starving at dinner time and end up picking on a bunch of stuff while getting dinner together.

Hope you all have a great day!!!

It’s All Greek To Me

I wanted to thank you all so much for your comments, encouragement and feedback with respect to my eating and trying to transition into being intuitive with it.  It is so helpful to hear about your experiences and I often think about your comments during the day to get me through some of the rougher moments.  I appreciate the time you take to read my babbling and comment.  I do read each comment and suggestion that each of you offers and I’m so,so grateful for your support!  Okay, before I get out the box of tissues, I’ll get on with the food =)

I lounged around in bed this morning with little daughter and caught up on some blog reading which took a lot longer than I planned on;  so many blogs, so little time!!!  Before I knew it, breakfast was calling my name.  I decided on 6 oz. Chobani nonfat  plain  Greek yogurt with 1 c. blueberries.  Now, if you’re not a fan of plain yogurt, I completely understand.  I used to eat it only if sweetened with Splenda.  Now, that I’ve weaned myself off Splenda, it’s definitely more palatable.  But, what made this really special this morning is taking 1/2 c. of the blueberries, put in a microwave safe bowl ( I used a Pyrex measuring cup) and nuke it for about 15-30 sec.  The berries burst and become a sweet syrup.  I poured it over the yogurt and topped it with the rest of the berries.  A-mazing…

I’ll have to try it with strawberries next!

And my new habit formed Teeccino…

Before I decided to slug out, I grabbed my kicks and headed to the basement.  The treadmill beckoned me and I said “screw the hip” and decided to run.  I told myself if I felt real pain, I would stop.  But, I only felt a little soreness, so I kept going and got in a good groove for 30 minutes.  I wanted to go longer, but decided not to push it.  Just in case, I followed my run with a “chaser”…

I planned ahead for lunch today by making some Smoked Salmon and Parmesan Omelet Muffins from Kath’s site.  These are easy to make and store well in the fridge/freezer.  I made up a double batch and stored them, but left a couple out for lunch.  I paired them with a simple spring mix salad dressed with 2 tsp. evoo, 2 tsp. dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp. honey and a splash of red wine vinegar…

a look inside…

I felt like more crunch, so I grabbed handful of pretzel slims (x3 – UGH!!!) * not out of hunger, more because once I started, it was hard to stop…

Later, I was getting a mild hunger pang and nibbled on 1/2  of this fabulous Larabar…

Dinner was pork and beans.  Not the typical, though!  This was a greek inspired instead of campfire inspired =)  I grilled a pork tenderloin that I seasoned with garlic, parsley, oregano, s + p and evoo and paired it with Greek Lima Beans and homemade tzatziki sauce (1 c. greek yogurt, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 grated cucumber, 1 tsp. white vinegar, fresh dill, s+p)…

Very flavorful and filling.

So, lesson learned today was that I need to push away from my plate after lunch and give myself time for my meal to settle in before digging into something else.  I realized that I wasn’t still hungry after eating my delicious lunch.  I was satisfied with the flavors and really enjoyed it.  But, something drives me to dig in the pantry after and I haven’t quite figured that part out yet.  I think if I remove myself from the kitchen area after my meal, it may reduce the craving to nosh.  I’m a work in progress… :)

Question of the Day:  What’s your favorite Greek food?

Have a great night!

According To Schedule

Today was the first full day of togetherness with the daughters. So far, so good. I devised a schedule for our day...

• my workout from 8 -9 a.m.
• cooking lesson with big daughter at 9 a.m. (she know where nothing is in our kitchen, so I decided it's about time she learn!)
• cleaning of disgusting rooms from 10-11:30 a.m.
• washed and dressed 11:30 -12 p.m.
• lunch 12 p.m.
• after lunch....whatever sounds fun!

There were no complaints about the schedule and it worked out pretty smoothly. I started off with a good 20 minute fast run on the treadmill and then switched over to Level 1 of The Shred. I'm going to try to up my exercise time as long as the daughters cooperate. It was a good workout and I wore my heart rate monitor for fun today, too! It's a Polar F1, so it's an older model that you have to "do the math" to figure out how many calories burned. I found an online calculator and it looks like I burned 411 calories. Not too bad! I'm not sure how accurate that measurement is since I go by the average heart rate and my heart rate goes down quite a bit when I do the strength part of The Shred. Oh well, it's cool to have a general idea anyway.

After my workout, I had a cereal bowl of Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 c. strawberries and 1/2 c. freeze dried bananas for 3 POINTS...




When all the chores were complete, I made some lunch. I was in the mood for salad today. I decided on a Chicken Bruschetta Salad made with romaine, 4 oz. grilled chicken breast, 1/2 c. homemade bruschetta and 1 slice of asiago cheese. Such great flavor for only 5 POINTS...


I needed some extra crunch, so it was a good time to try these new Mini Edamame Crackers...


A whole lotta for only 2 POINTS...

These are another rice chip-type cracker that are thin, crispy and a bit salty. I love that you get so many in a serving...

all together now...

Then, we were off to the mall to shop in the most hideous of all stores...Hollister. Big daughter wanted a few things from there, but it is the loudest and darkest store I have ever been in! I have never felt older than when I'm in that store! The lack of lights... the loud music.... the whippersnappers working there....LOL! Seriously, I did ask one girl who works there if she needed to sign a waiver against future hearing loss when she was hired. And guess what she said? She said, "WHAT????" See, it's happening already ;P

When we got home, little daughter wanted to make cookies. Lovely. That means cookie dough, chocolate chips and lots of cookies begging to be eaten. I caved. I indulged in it all. Cookie dough. Chocolate chips. And a cookie x 2...

My stomach was not happy after that. Thankfully, I had a reasonable dinner planned. I baked some mahi mahi and served it with leftover Greek Lima Beans for 5 POINTS...

Nooooo dessert tonight. I had enough for the whole week this afternoon! Gonna have to burn some serious calories the rest of this week!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Rise And Shine, It's Scale Time

My first official Saturday of summer vacation started with me getting up and hitting the treadmill by 7:30 a.m.! It was earlier than I wanted, but I planned on going to the 8:30 WW meeting and I needed to get in my workout first. I did a 30 minute run, cleaned up and went to the meeting. I was happy to be down 2.6 lbs. I am back to where I was before the snack-a-rama weeks. I feel good about my "new" way of counting POINTS, but what I think may have made the most difference is not having a snack in the afternoon. It kept me from overeating in the afternoon because I never started to begin with. I'm going to continue this for another week and see how it goes.


My breakfast was a sample bar that was given out at the meeting. It was only 1 POINT and very yummy...


I had to run a bunch of errands after that, so I didn't have time to come home for a more substantial breakfast. I decided to wait it out for a bigger lunch. But, that turned out to be a rush job, too. My Dad wanted to take us to the movies to see UP at 12:30, so I packed up lunch to take with me. I went with a roasted veggie hummus wrap made with leftover roasted veggies and 2 tbsp. hummus rolled into a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Tortilla for 3 POINTS...

And I took some carrots and soy crisps for munching during the movie (2 POINTS)...

The daughters got popcorn and I did indulge in some of that. Why is movie popcorn so hard to resist?! I looked it up when I got home and I'm guessing I ate about 5 POINTS worth.

I relaxed to the max the rest of the afternoon and watched some mindless tv - The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Those women are nutty! While watching, I started on making dinner. I had planned on burgers and I was dying to try and recreate those Greek Lima Beans that friends brought to our last bbq. Here's the recipe I came up with...

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4 c. diced onion
• 1/4 c. diced carrots
• 1/4 c. diced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 16 oz. frozen fordhook lima beans
• 1/2 c. canned petite diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. oregano
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. water or chicken broth

1. Saute onion, carrots, celery and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
2. Add beans, tomatoes and seasoning. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Transfer to baking dish. Add water, cover and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Serves 5 (about 1/2 cup). 2 POINTS per serving.

It was very good! Not exactly like the original, but I think that had way more olive oil involved than what I used. I also made some of Gram's green beans, too. Altogether, a great tasting 8 POINT dinner...

I went for my traditional dessert - Fudgy Peanut Chip Vitatop with PB2 for 2 POINTS. It tasted extra good tonight....

I'm looking forward to snoozing now! Have a great night!

Nightmare On Hormone Street

I am hormonally challenged today. I feel tired, annoyed, happy, frustrated, bored, excited, tired and more tired. How's that for a skitzy lady? It must be that time. Could be why I wanted a basket of chocolate this afternoon! Pfft! And I was being so "intuitive" with my eating these past few days :( Well, I got back to counting today, with the exception of the chocolate incident. But, there's always tomorrow. That I can count on...


Breakfast was an Arnold Sandwich Thin with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light and 2 tbsp of hummus. A yummy 3 POINT combo...


Then, I headed out to take Gram to get some bloodwork. After that, we picked up my Mom, went back to Gram's living community and met my Dad and nephew for lunch in one of the restaurants there. I ordered a Mediterranean Veggie Wrap made with romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, red pepper hummus and feta and a side salad with lite Italian dressing on the side. It was very good! I estimated it at 6 POINTS...

Later, I had a snack of prunes and an Italian fig cookie for 4 POINTS...

Then came my second "snack" which was all the chocolate in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Yes, it's a real place. No, I can't tell you how to get there ;P Oompa loompa doom-pa-dee do. Can you tell chocolate makes me crazy?? Sigh. Moving on....

Dinner, as if I needed it, was the last of the leftover Greek lima beans mixed with orzo for 8 POINTS. I love these beans! If there are any Greek blogfriends out there who have a recipe for this, I would love to have it!!! Who knew lima beans could be so good...

I'm not thrilled with how things went down today, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. I feel like I am in limbo right now. I'm not at goal yet, I want to lose more, but I'm just "hanging out" and not giving it the hard core press I need to get to the end. Any suggestions??

Have a great night everyone =)

Too Many Leftovers To Count

We have so many leftovers from the bbq yesterday! My fridge is stocked full. I did give some away to family as they left, but we are still filled to the brim. I decided, in order to go through some of the leftovers, that I would eat what we have without driving myself batty trying to figure out POINTS for everything. Scary, I know. I am entering dangerous territory here. I equate not counting POINTS (or even calories for that matter) with being "off program". Off program = weight gain. Or does it? Can I do this? Can I not count what I am eating and still lose weight? I'm not sure. Especially with these leftovers! But, it is an idea I have been toying with for a while. I don't think I am completely sold on my ability to do it yet. I haven't made goal YET and I don't want to change up anything drastically until I get there. But, for today at least, I "forgot" about counting and started on Operation: Fridge Clear-out.

Breakfast was 1/2 c. of nonfat greek yogurt and 1 c. of leftover fruit salad...



Lots of lounging went on today. It was so relaxing after all the running around I have been doing the last week! I decided to not do any formal exercise today. It kinda felt good to take a day off.


Lunch was leftover Sundried Tomato and Pesto Turkey Burger and those amazing Greek lima beans. I have to try and recreate these! They are so good! I had a full cup of those and thankfully, I have about 1 more serving left, so you will be seeing them again. I decided to go bunless for the burger and topped it with a slice of Parmesan cheese and 1 tbsp. bruschetta...

The remainder of the afternoon was spent polishing nails and toes (mine and the daughters'), then jumping on the trampoline. The husband set up the hose at the top of the safety netting and turned it on "mist" so we all got misted with the water while we jumped around in our bathing suits. It was fun and a great way to cool off on this hot and humid day.

We stopped jumping for bit to enjoy a nice cool treat...

Dinner was leftover hot dogs and burgers for the husband and daughters. I opted for the remainder of the eggplant parmesan and a side of Italian green bean and potato salad...

After dinner, we played badminton in the yard. We suck. Well, at least the daughters and I do! The poor husband was waiting so patiently to be able to get a volley going. We were lucky we got it over the net! We kept missing it and the game ended with me running so athletically to slam the shuttlecock that I overswung and landed flat on my face. I banged up my knee and was rolling around on the ground holding it, half laughing and half crying! The husband and daughters were on the ground hysterical laughing at my wonderous athleticism. Yep, I definitely put the "bad" in badminton ;P

No formal dessert tonight, although they are quite a few of those leftovers that I would like to dig into! I did have a few bites of chocolate mousse cake when getting it out for the daughters and thankfully, they finished the rest of that!

I think I'm ready to get back to counting tomorrow. We made a good dent in the tough stuff today, so tomorrow should be easier to figure out. Hopefully the scale won't "figure out" that I haven't been counting :)

Have a great night!