Who's That Porker

Hey All! I'm not up for much chatting tonight. I found out today that a friend has cancer and it has made me very sad. For me, very sad = lots of afternoon snacking. Yep, I'm a full fledged emotional eater, no doubt about it. Today, I don't care so much. It's inconsequential to the battle that my friend is undergoing. So, here's my day for what it is. No excuses, no pity party, no "why oh whys". It is what it is and that's how I dealt with things today :(


I started off strong with a weighted 35 minute elliptical workout. I tore it up this morning! While on the elliptical, I pushed hard and kept yelling out loud (very Jillian-like), So you want to eat cookies??? You want to eat cookie dough??? Nothing's for free!!! The husband was working out with me and he kept egging me on saying, "yeah, I saw you eat lots of cookie dough!" It was funny! I was dripping in sweat and cursing like a truck driver the whole time! After 35 minutes, I got off and finished up with a 15 minute treadmill run. My HRM said I burned 450 calories. Um, okay. That probably covered about 2 cookies and a lick of cookie dough. Oh well. Better than nothing ;P

I wasn't hungry for a while after that beating, so I waited for an hour before I settled into a cereal bowl of 3/4 c. High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 c. blueberries and a couple chopped dried apricots for 3 POINTS...


Lunch was a hummus wrap with Laughing Cow Light Cheese, cucumbers and baby spinach in a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Wrap. I went with a side of good old soy crisps and an apple for a tasty 7 POINT lunch...

Then came the sad news, a trip to the library with the daughters and back home for afternoon munching. If it wasn't nailed down, I ate it.

Dinner was leftover Pineapple Luau Pork (from the freezer) served over brown rice for 6 POINTS...

Speaking of pork, who's that porker...

The daughters found that picture of me with the hubby (isn't he cute!)while rummaging through some albums down the basement. They ran up to show me saying they couldn't believe that was me. They don't remember me looking that way. Nice to know they have impaired long term memories. That may serve me well for the many "mom crimes" I have committed! LOL! Although, they'll probably remember ALL those incidents that "ruined" their childhood ;P Anyway, here's a pic of the "mom they know" taken by little daughter (excuse my hideous lack of makeup )...

Sometimes I still see that person in the first picture. It's good to know that you all don't, though :D

Have a great night!

Lost In Leftovers

I did not want to get up this morning. I felt like I could have slept for quite a few more hours. But, only 1 more day to get through before I get to sleep in until 7 a.m. - yay! It's way better than 6, that's for sure!

I decided to do a quick Shred this morning for something different. Jillian still continues to kick my butt, even on Level 1. One day, I will be shredded ;) After huffing and puffing, I had a cereal breakfast. Are you guys sick of seeing this breakfast?? I know, but it's been really filling me up, so I'm sticking with it for a while. Today was 3/4 c. High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 10 oz. of strawberries! Yes, you read that right! Ten ounces of strawberries (300 grams) is only 1 POINT. If you're not a "weigher", it works out to 1 1/2 cups. That is an awesome POINT bargain! It was a great 3 POINT bowl...



After breakfast, I went to visit my friend, Rosemary who just had her first baby. He is sooooo adorable. I got to hold him and get my baby fix! He is the cutest! On my way home, I got a little lost (duh) and it ended up taking me almost an hour to get home instead of 30 minutes :( Needless to say, I was more than starving when I got home. The first thing I saw in the fridge was my bbq baked tofu, so I went with that on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, a slice of 2% cheese and BACON! Way to make something un-vegetarian ;) I had some carrots with 2 tbsp. hummus to go with it. It was a quick 6 POINT lunch that I promptly munched down...


I sailed through snack time with no troubles since I ate such a late lunch. I had no specific plan for dinner other than wanting to use up some leftover ground beef from tacos the other night. I thought about making a beef stroganoff with it, but realized I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. I finally came up with a take on an old recipe called Barbecue Beef Cups. Instead of the biscuit dough, I used my Cornbread recipe as the base. I mixed up the cornbread batter, divided it evenly in a 6 cup muffin tin, topped it with the leftover cooked ground beef ( only used 1/2 oz. per cup) and baked it for about 15 minutes. Then, I topped it with shredded 2% cheese (about 1/2 oz. per cup) and put it back in the oven for another minute until melted. I topped the Beef Cornbread Cups with shredded lettuce, tomato, salsa and 1 tbsp guacamole. Good and hearty ! I paired it with a heaping cup of leftover roasted veggies for a terrific 6 POINT dinner...

For dessert, I broke out another freeze dried fruit find - BANANAS...

The nutrition facts are good, too...

I used 1 POINT worth as a topping for 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream...

A super sweet 2 POINT treat. These banana slices are VERY sweet, even though they are unsweetened. They remind me of those crunchy little meringue cookies. They kinda stick to your teeth as they melt in your mouth, too. My dentist would NOT be happy.

I must go brush and floss ;P Have a great night!!

Totally Tofu

I peeked at the scale this morning. I was scared that it might ruin my day. As much as I say to myself that the scale doesn't matter, it does. A lot. It dictates my day. Good number = good day, lots of motivation and general happiness. Bad number = bad day, sometimes overeating and most definitely overall bitchiness. Lucky for my family members, a good number appeared. Not a great number, but I'm showing a teensy loss which makes me feel good about my approaching official weigh-in on Saturday at WW. Hopefully, I can get back to wear I was before this last few weeks of "on and off trackness" :)


After my visit with the scale, I headed to the treadmill for another 35 minute run. I've been really into running this week! I know it's not the best to do it everyday, but so far my hip has been cooperating, so I'm going with it! I've also been going with cereal for breakfast. I'm finding that it fills me up and is very satisfying, especially bulked up with lots of berries. Today was 3/4 c. TJ's High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 1 c. of blueberries for 3 POINTS...



Lunch was a bbq baked tofu sammie on spelt bread with lettuce, tomato and a slice of 2% cheese. I added in some more red superfoods with 1 c. watermelon and a fuji apple for a 6 POINT lunch...

Baked tofu... up close and personal...

The daughters declared it to be Taco Tuesday, so it was tacos for dinner! I joined in the taco festivities, but with a twist. For me, it was Tofu Taco Tuesday! Don't say eeewww! It's great. Really. First, I took 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, squeezed between paper towels to remove excess water and crumbled it in a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Next, I sprinkled 1 tbsp. homemade taco seasoning over the tofu and mixed in. I let the tofu crumbles "brown" for about 10-15 minutes until the tofu dried out and resembled "ground beef/turkey" (it does, TOO!!!)....

I ended up only needing half the mixture, so I saved the other for another time. I assembled my tacos using 2 yellow corn taco shells, 1/2 oz. grated 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and 2 tbsp. guacamole. I paired the tofu tacos with a cup of organic black bean soup and carrot sticks for an amazingly delicious (and messy) 6 POINTS...

Seeeeee??? Not so yucky right?!

I had plenty of POINTS left for a beefed- up (haha) dessert, but I ended up wanting 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream with 1/2 Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar crumbled on top...

That was an awesome 3 POINTS!

So, I technically was able to go without a snack this afternoon again. I did have a couple of bites, licks and tastes which probably added up to a POINT, maybe 2. I tack those on at the end of the day, just in case. I feel like I have a good groove going now and I am happy without all the afternoon snacking. I've been talking myself through it when I feel like I might grab something and I realize that I am not hungry. It's just that whole habit thing of wanting a snack when the daughters get home. Breaking that habit will take some behavior modification and I know it won't happen overnight. But having these last few days under my belt make me feel assured that it IS possible :)

Have a great night everyone!

Super Simple And Shopping

Hey All! First I want to say thanks to all who entered my Larabar giveaway. It was so cool to see all you "lurkers" come out to comment! I am so glad to be able to share my favorite Larabar flavors and I wish I could send them to all of you! Unfortunately, there can only be one winner this time. I won't make you scroll all the way til the end! Random.org says the winner is..... Dee from My Journey! Yay, Dee! Finally, a win for the Canadians!!! Dee, send me your address and I'll get these babies out to you. Okay, let's get to the food...


Today was a day of simple foods. No fuss. Stress free. Mostly made by others, which is extremely simple for me! I started off with a 30 min. run on the treadmill, then a breakfast of blue balls. Heheh. I know that's not nice. It was another beautious bowl of blue (better, right?) for 3 POINTS...


Then it was out the door to pick up Gram for a day of mall shopping. Yippee! Sounds like fun, right? Wrong. I hate shopping. I'm not sure why. I used to love it, but now it seems like torture. I think the husband brainwashes me while I am sleeping. He must repeat over and over in my ear, you hate shopping. shopping is torture. spending money is baaaaad. So now I am brainwashed and the joy of shopping has been sucked out of me. I digress. Food. Oh,yeah. Gram and I stopped the super shopping for a quick lunch at Subway. I had the turkey on wheat with veggies, no cheese, no condiments and a bag o' apples for 6 POINTS...

When I got home, it was snack time! Uh, I mean drink time! Another Chocolate Strawberry Crackshake for 2 POINTS...

Dinner was from good old Trader Joe's...

Here's the facts ( and the ingredients aren't too "scary" either!)... click to enlarge...

I had 1 c. of the Mandarin Orange Chicken with sauce (added another POINT), 1 c. whole wheat coucous and broccoli for 9 POINTS...

I ended the night with 2 of these for 2 POINTS...

I was going to do some strength training tonight, but honestly, I have no strength for strength training tonight. It's early to bed for me ! That 81 year old super shopper whipped my butt today! Guess I'm no whipper snapper after all ;)

Nite everyone!

Oh, Behave!

I almost didn't post tonight because it's a little past my bedtime, but I felt like today was a better on -track day, so I thought I would make sure to document it - lol!

I hopped on the elliptical first thing this morning and did a quick 35 minutes. I had planned on getting in some strength training tonight, but that didn't happen since we had dinner company. I really want to start incorporating more strength training, especially arms. Mine are flappin' in the wind; need to tone those babies up!

Breakfast was a beautious bowl of blue. I used 3/4 c. High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 1 cup of blueberries for 3 POINTS...



I've been going for bigger lunches lately, but I skimped today since we were having a big dinner. I went with a hummus wrap using 4 tbsp. TJ's original hummus, baby spinach, roasted pepper and tomatoes in a La Tortilla Factory Wrap and 1 c. watermelon for 4 POINTS...

I spent the rest of the afternoon chop, chop, chopping veggies and prepping for dinner. During my chop extravaganza, I got a fun package ! My "winnings" from the BSI challenge came all the way from the UK! Thanks, Lara! Can't wait to try them...

The daughters came home from school and I noticed that I immediately wanted to have a snack. I wasn't very hungry, but I think it has just become a habit. This got me thinking about an article I read recently ( I don't remember where) about having to retrain your mind with respect to these eating behaviors. It's basically an exercise in behavior modification. That makes sense to me. I have gotten used to the routine of children coming home, then snack. I'm used to it. My body is used to it. I shovel in the snacks and dopamine surges through my body! Whooo hoooo! So, I decided to change the behavior from eating to drinking. No, not "happy hour" drinking! Just ice tea or maybe a shake. Now, when the daughters come home(well, at least til school's out next week!), I will "think" drink instead of snack/eat. Most times I am not hungry any way. I am just eating to eat. Today's drink was a Chocolate Strawberry Crackshake for 2 POINTS...

That held me over nicely until dinner. We had guests for dinner tonight: my mother-in-law, father-in-law and neice, Nikki! Today is my mother-in- law's birthday and Mon. was my father- in-law's, so I had them over to celebrate. I decided that having a healthy, lowfat dinner was okay. Really. I struggled with this for 2 days. I normally would have an elaborate and not necessarily health conscious spread, but considering the way I have been eating lately, I did not want to add any more fuel to the fire. The one thing that I left out of the "healthy" factor was dessert. Dessert is my mother-in-law's fave and heck, it's her birthday, so she should be able to have something a bit decadent!

The birthday dinner consisted of grilled chicken breasts, thighs and 2 ribeyes (for the guys) topped with a mozzarella and roasted pepper salsa...

whole wheat couscous with roasted vegetables...

romaine salad with cucumbers dressed with evoo and balsamic...

assorted charred grilled veggies...

My plate: chicken thigh with 1 tbsp. mozzarella and roasted pepper salsa, 1 c. couscous with roasted veggies and grilled veggies for 9 POINTS...

I felt pretty good about that! I didn't dig into any bread or have any seconds. We sang "happy birthday" and I put out dessert, but only took 2 bites from big daughter's leftovers. I had 2 cups of coffee with half and half for 1 POINT and that satisfied me. I was smart enough to send the leftover cake home with the MIL, so no future damage may occur. Whew, good to be back! I just gotta get on a nice roll, now. But, would you believe I have another graduation party this Saturday??!! UGH! I'll manage it....

Don't forget to enter my Larabar giveaway, if you haven't already! I see there are lots of responses so far, but it's not too late. I'll be choosing the winner tomorrow night, so make sure to check back to see if you won!

Have a great night =)

WANT Power

I'm driven by WANT power today! Well, that and all of your amazing encouraging comments! Thank you so much for your kind words; it really does keep me going :) I hope that article gave some of you an extra boost, too and insight into, perhaps, a missing piece of this weight loss journey that we are on.

I'm excited about trying out this new POINT tracking experiment. It was strange, though, to put this morning's breakfast on last night's tracking day! I woke up hungry, too, which doesn't normally happen, but I decided to push off breakfast until I got in my workout. I did a 35 minute weighted stint on the elliptical, then got to making some eats. I went with 3 scrambled egg whites with a slice of 2% cheese and 1 tbsp. salsa and a half serving of TJ's Multigrain Savory Thins for 3 POINTS...


I don't think I've mentioned these before. They are a tasty cracker! Basically a rice chip with added grains and seeds....


A full serving is 17 crackers and only 2 POINTS! I just went with 8 crackers this morning, which was plenty...

A little later, I fed my Frap addiction with a homemade Caramel Lite Frap made with coffee. 3 tbsp. fat free half and half, 2 tbsp. sugar free caramel syrup and lots of ice. Good stuff and this one's only 1 POINT...

For lunch, I made another version of turkey burgers - Ranch Turkey Burgers! For these, I used

• 20 oz. ground turkey breast
• 4 tbsp. Light Ranch Dressing (I use Kraft Light Three Cheese Dressing)
• 1 tsp. Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix ( packet)
• 1/4 c. chopped scallions

1. Mix ingredients and shape into 6 burgers.
2. Cook about 4 minutes per side.

I ran this through the Etools Recipe Builder and came up with 3 POINTS per burger. I grilled mine and served it on a honey wheat bun with lettuce and pickles. It was great! The key to turkey burgers is to NOT overcook them; otherwise they get all dried out. But, these were cooked just right and had a nice flavor to them. I served it with 1 cup cherries and 1/2 c. leftover barbecue bean salad. A filling 8 POINT lunch...

Later in the afternoon, I felt like having a snack. I decided on a filling snack of High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. nonfat greek yogurt and 1 tbsp. dried cranberries for 3 POINTS...

Dinner was heat and eat. I'm trying to dwindle down the freezer stash! I decided on 2 TJ's stirfry veggie eggrolls and a bowl of Tabatchnick Vegetable Soup for 5 POINTS...

It was just right! I WANTed to fit in dessert :) It's okay; I had the POINTS, but I kept it simple. Just a plain, old Deep Chocolate Vitatop with no accoutrements for 1 POINT...

And it was just fine and hit the spot ;)

Now, I still have 4 POINTS left for breakfast tomorrow! For some reason this little mind game/tweaking helped out today. It's new and different. Also, I like the fact that I feel like I am eating quite a bit of food, yet I go to bed knowing that I still have POINTS left for the morning. It's all robbing peter to pay paul, so to speak, but hey, it's something different. When I look at my day, I'm just tacking on a couple more POINTS to lunch and taking them away from dinner. But, I think it may be a better way to eat overall anyway. Many Europeans eat this way, too with their largest meals being eaten midday and lighter in the a.m. and late evening. My parents eat that way when they visit Italy every year and come home having lost weight despite large multicourse midday meals. And you know, French women don't get fat ;P Well, until they come to America and eat at Mickey D's.

So, the experiment continues! But, danger lurkes at my nephew's graduation party tomorrow evening :0

I will keep reminding myself : I'VE GOT THE POWER!!!

Have a great night =)

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I am really looking forward to starting a fresh new year. I am happy to be starting this new year a LOT healthier and trimmer than last year and I can only hope for the same for the coming year. I have had some thoughts about goals for the new year, but haven't given it as much attention as I wanted to since we have still been busy celebrating and entertaining. I hope to have some quiet time this weekend to get my goals and affirmations together and in place! Well, let's get to the food...



A quick recap of last night; there was a ton of food at the party! I decided on salad to which I added some shrimp from the shrimp cocktail platter, some of Gram's green beans that I brought, a slice of pepperoni bread (so yum) and a piece of soft pretzel...





Looks pretty good, right?? Yeah, well let's just say that soft pretzels are just as evil as brownies especially when they are fresh from the pretzel bakery!! I ended up eating a whole one and another half piece. I also brought a honey bun cake which was not WW friendly at all (i.e. sour cream, oil, brown sugar, milk), but I had to have a piece to make sure it was o.k. to serve to the masses (wink, wink)...

Uh, it was o.k. And super sweet. After that I dug into various other treats. Little pieces, but quite a few. No way to count Points for it all. There was some damage done, but not binge-like. I kept it pretty under control. I wanted to talk more to keep myself busy during the whole eating party, but I lost my voice (no, I haven't been screaming at the daughters) so it was a little difficult to keep conversing without really straining my voice. But, believe me, I tried!

Here's the husband and me, striking a pose during the festivities...

It was a long night, but we all made it to midnight, even the daughters!! They LOVE to party! We finally got to bed by 1 a.m. and since, no one in this house likes to sleep in (except me) we were up and at 'em by 8:30 this morning. Ugh. I hit the treadmill and ran for 15 min. then hopped on the elliptical for another 15 min. Not my best work, but hey, it's New Year's Day and you're supposed to really want to exercise with "resolve" today!!! I decided on a quick breakfast of Trader Joe's High Fiber O's mixed with a Fiber One knockoff high fiber cereal and 1 c. Soy Slender...

We had both sets of parents and Gram over today for New Years lunch. I had a roast pork sandwich with cheese, roasted peppers and baby spinach. My Mom brought some sushi rolls, so I had one of those and I made a wonderful Black Eyed Pea Salad. I had never tried black eyed peas before; they are delicious...

I had also made some lentil soup which I didn't eat today, but stored some in the freezer for another day. As I was cleaning up, I nibbled on two more sushi rolls and a slice of cheese :(

Then, came these guys...

My mother-in-law makes these awesome peanut butter kandykakes and although I tried to resist them, one made it's way into my mouth!! YUM.

We spent the rest of our afternoon playing Wii bowling and some card games. All in all, a nice family day!

I went with a lighter dinner tonight and a repeat from the other night; lighter spinach frittata and a salad with evoo and vinegar...

I wish I could say that was all I had today and gee, isn't this a great first day of a new year of eating right! However, I ate a bunch of junk following this lovely dinner ranging from more kandykakes to some chocolate to a soft pretzel with cheese!!!! I think I was still in "holiday entertaining" mode and once I shake this, I can regroup. I realized part of the overeating issues are just plain being out of a normal day schedule. The daughters are home from school, the husband is off from work and it is making my normal daily routine out of sync. This, in turn, throws my eating out of sync, too. Not that being an excuse, just an observation into the "whys". Anyway, TOMORROW (there's always that day!!) will be better!

I wish a wonderful, happy and healthy new year for everyone! I have been hearing some great mantra's for 2009. Last year was "gonna be great in 2008". My niece, Nikki asked me last night what mine was for this year. I said , I'm gonna lose my behind in 2009! Ha Ha! Her's was a lot better, "gonna get to the finish line in 2009"!!! Leave me a comment with your mantra for 2009! I'd love to hear it!