One Year + My Favorites Giveaway

Today is the day!  One year ago, I decided I would start a blog.  I had lost quite a bit of weight and people often asked me what I was doing to lose the weight, how I was doing it, what I was eating and how often I exercised.  I thought that by starting a blog, I could keep myself accountable while on my journey toward my goal weight and also, show others that it is possible to eat well while losing.  Little did I know how much this blog would change my life.  I’ve learned so much about myself, my body and what I’m capable of.  It’s been a great experience, with ups and downs along the way and I wouldn’t trade a second of it!

I am so thankful to all of my family, friends and “blog friends” for reading my blog, giving me such wonderful feedback and support and sharing in this journey with me.  Each of you has spurred me on in times of frustration and gave me the motivation to keep trying…every day.  Thank you, thank you!

A quick recap of yesterday’s eats and then, we’ll get to the GIVEAWAY!!!

I’ve been having a hard time with breakfast, lately.  Nothing is exciting me.  Time to look for some new breakfast recipes, I guess!  I finally decided on a bowl of Trader Joe’s High Fiber O’s with skim milk and freeze dried blueberries.  It was great!

I headed over to my parents’ house to help them with some home improvement projects they are working on.  After getting dirty, my Dad and I took a lunch break.  I dug around their fridge and found a cool new product – Sonoma Jacks Cheese Wedges…

They look just like Laughing Cow …

But with even less calories!

I decided to use it as a topping for my Boca Burger and light english muffin.  Fab!  So was the honeycrisp apple and the Jenny Craig brownie that my Mom had stashed in the freezer.  If there’s a brownie to be found, I’ll find it ;)

I was able to fit in a quick stint at the gym while little daughter was at dance class.  I knocked out 30 minutes on The Arc Trainer and called it a sweaty day.

Dinner was another quick and easy meal- Shrimp Fajitas over Spelt Couscous.  This dinner took all of 15 minutes to make from start to finish…

• red and green bell peppers, sliced
• thinly sliced onion
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 9 jumbo frozen uncooked shrimp
• 1 tsp. taco seasoning
• 2 oz. whole spelt couscous, cooked (I used Shibolim brand )
• 2 tbsp. salsa

In a large nonstick skillet, saute the onions and peppers in olive oil until tender.  Add frozen shrimp;  cook about 4 minutes each side or until shrimp turns pink.  Add taco seasoning and stir to coat.  Serve over cooked couscous mixed with salsa.  Serves one – of course, no one else in this house would eat it ;P

Okay….ready????

It’s no secret that many of the items I eat on a regular basis come from my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe’s.  I know it’s frustrating that many of you don’t have one near you, so I thought I’d bring a little Joe to you!  You don’t know how badly I would love to buy up the whole store for a giveaway, but I had to be reasonable and limit myself because I am opening this up to EVERYONE (yes, Canada peeps!) and I would probably spend a zillion dollars to ship it all!  Anyway, I was able to control myself and pick out some of my all time faves for you…

A better view…

All this for one lucky winner!  What will I make you do for a chance to win this??  Just leave a comment on this post telling me what you like best about my blog!  That’s it!  I’ll announce the winner on Monday, November 16.  If you don’t have a blog, please make sure to leave your email address in the comment so that I can contact you .  Good luck everyone!!! 

Thanks for reading and making this a great year!!!

You Said Let's Shred!

The February Shred Challenge is on - thanks so much for my buddies who decided to join me! You guys are awesome and you know misery loves company!! So here's what I'm thinking, how about we take our measurements now and then, again at the end of the Challenge? That way, we can really document the difference in our bodies (hopefully, along with the weight loss, too!) At the end, we can post our results(only if you feel comfortable doing that). I took measurements of the following body parts: arms, chest, waist, hips (lordy) and thighs (double lordy). After that information, I should Shred morning, noon and night ;)

Now for the food...
The daughters had a snow delay this morning, so we got to fiddle around this morning before getting to school. I ate breakfast with little daughter while she read her books to me. I had a lite english muffin topped with 2 tbsp. PB2 and a tsp. Smucker's Sugar Free Grape Jam and 1/2 sliced banana for 3 POINTS...



When everyone was off to school, I headed to the basement for a 30 min. treadmill run. Then, I went straight into The Shred ("no resting "as Jillian would say). Whew, my legs were burning! But, after seeing those measurements...ugh...I got some work to do!!!

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning myself up and then, the house. I was sprucing up the kitchen when my delivery of Vitatops came! Oh JOY, look at this stash...

I ordered 4 different flavors: Triple Chocolate Chunk, Double Chocolate Dream, Deep Chocolate and Banana Fudge. A chocolate extravaganza!!! I can't tell you how badly I wanted to dive into that new Banana Fudge flavor, but I exercised great restraint and decided to save it for dessert :)

Although, chocolate was on my mind for lunch, I went with a Boca Burger on an Arnold Sandwich Thin, topped with a slice of 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and a squirt of ketchup. A side of carrots and a giant pear took the place of my beloved chips, but I seem to be doing o.k. without them! A "filling foods" 5 POINT lunch...

My afternoon snack was a chocolate Vitatop a Weight Watchers Strawberry Yogurt topped with 1/4 c. blueberries, 2 strawberries and 1/4 c. high fiber cereal for 2 POINTS...

The husband and daughters were having hot dogs and mac n' cheese for dinner tonight. Real low-cal ;) I took the opportunity to have something that would completely gross them out. I made an omelette using 3 egg whites, 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge and 2 oz. smoked salmon. I had a side salad with Marie's Lite Chunky Blue Cheese and a mini ciabatta roll (2 oz.). A scrumptious 7 POINT dinner...

And NOW, the best time of the day....DESSERT!!! I had to try the Banana Fudge. OMG!! It did not disappoint! Great banana flavor with yummy chocolate chips. If you love banana bread with chocolate chips but hate the calories, this is your new friend! I had to up the ante and top mine with some PB2. Holy Guacamole...

Since I have a vault filled with Vitatops, I'm fairly certain that I will be having this for dessert every night. Makes me happy, although you may be sick of seeing it after a while ;D

Thanks again, Shredders! Shred Count - only 24 days left!

Anxiety

I've been a bit anxious today because tomorrow morning is my 1st "official" BLBE weigh-in!! Aaaahh!! My teammates have had a spectacular start! I have had some ups and downs with my eating, but all in all I have stayed within my alloted POINTS. I did end up using all of my Weekly Allowance POINTS, so we'll see how that all pans out tomorrow.

I tried to focus on lots of fruits and veggies today. I started the morning with a good 45 min. elliptical workout and then a nice hot breakfast. I made a serving of Whole Grain Cream of Wheat made with water and topped with 3 oz. blueberries and 1/2 banana. Yummy...




Breakfast held me pretty well. I ended up having a late lunch of 2 tbsp. hummus, 1 tbsp. Trader Joe's Red Pepper Spread on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with a handful of baby spinach. This was an amazing combo!! Definitely on my "repeat" list! On the side, I had a HUGE orange...


Sooo juicy and sweet, not to mention pretty and packed with Vitamin C...

For my snack, I couldn't help myself, I HAD to try the other Kashi Fruit and Grain Bar flavor that I bought - Raspberry Chocolate...

OMG, this is by far THE BEST granola bar I have ever had! Good for you and a nice chocolate fix for 2 POINTS!!! These are keepers for sure :)

The rest of the afternoon was crazy and basically spent in and out of the car schlepping the daughters. I didn't really have a spectacular dinner plan for tonight; the husband was working and the daughters opted for different things from the freezer. A-O.K. with me! I was in the mood for a salad. I searched around the fridge/freezer for a topping for it and I finally settled on it being a Cheeseburger Salad! I used giant handfuls of lettuce, chopped tomatoes, 1 oz. Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar and a Boca Burger that I micro'd and crumbled on top. For dressing I used 2 tbsp. Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch and about 2 tsp. ketchup! Sounds strange, but it tasted great - just like a chopped up burger without the bun! It would have been awesome with some bacon crumbled in there, too! Next time...

I had some dessert tonight. Suprise, surprise ;) A decadent, potentially dangerous, Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Cookie topped with 1/2 tbsp. Nutella ...

So, I'm off to bed! I will spend a few minutes "visualizing" a wonderful weigh-in that I can be proud of tomorrow! Then, I will pray :) Is it obvious that I have a scale phobia????? Add that to the "therapy list" =)

Stop The Insanity

Hi Everyone! A much better night sleep was had by all, so we are feeling more like normal people today instead of zombies ;)

I managed to get my regular workout in early this morning which felt good. After the daughters were off to school, I had a bowl of Trader Joe's High Fiber O's mixed with the storebrand high fiber cereal, 1/2 c. blueberries, a few strawberries and 1 c. Soy Slender...



I spent the remainder of the morning working around the house. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I was looking forward to trying these guys that I picked up at the grocery store the other day...


They are a krinkle-style baked potato stick with ketchup flavor! How fun is that? The serving size is the entire 1.2 oz. bag and for 120 cal., 3 gr. fat, 2 gr. fiber, it was a yummy 2 POINTS! And what goes best with fries? Yup, a burger! I went with a Boca Burger in the original vegan flavor (which is only 1 POINT!) served on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with a slice of 2% cheese, lettuce and ketchup. Some sweet grapes were the perfect side to round out this 6 POINT all-american lunch...

After lunch, I had some errands to take care of and while I was at Target picking up something for the husband, I saw these.....

A new product from Kashi! I haven't met a Kashi bar that I didn't like, so I decided to give these a try (plus they were on sale!). Oh my, they are yummy! Like a granola bar topped with an almost gooey frosting and sprinkled with some nuts. This flavor was pumpkin pie...

I have to say, it really did taste like a well spiced pumpkin pie! What a nice 2 POINT snacky. I also picked up the chocolate raspberry flavor; can't wait to try that one!

I wish I could say that was my only afternoon snack, however, it wasn't. I got really munchie and snacked on some other things: 1/2 pretzel rod, handful of baked potato chips, couple bites of little daughter's soft pretzel, piece of chocolate. Carbs and sugar. The usual suspects! Well, that sucked :( I don't know why I do that stupid snacking right when a weigh-in is coming up!! Sorry, Team Angie :( But, guess what? I stopped the insanity! Believe me, it could've gotten UGLY; I was in that kind of mood to eat and eat. However, I shut the pantry door, ran upstairs to get my running shoes on and headed to the treadmill for a 25 min. run! I don't know if it will make that much of a difference for my weigh-in, but at least it helped me do damage control. I'm thinking that was progress :)

My dinner options became fairly limited due to the oversnacking. I estimated the extra snacks at about 5 POINTS and because I don't have any Weekly Allowance POINTS left, that gave me only 4 POINTS to work with for dinner. I decided to make an egg white omelette with baby spinach, a tbsp. of Trader Joe's Roasted Pepper Spread and a shredded light string cheese . I also had a side of leftover string beans with garlic and evoo...

That 3 POINT dinner left me with one lonely POINT which I should have let go, but I knew I had these Mrs. Freshley's 100 calorie mini chocolate cupcakes...

They are 3 mini cakes for 1 POINT, so I broke into them and had some tea to go with these little guys.

I'm gonna call it a night and watch the Biggest Loser. Hopefully, that will inspire me to not eat any more food tonight!!