Treading Lightly

Another beautiful day;  can’t ask for a better holiday weekend!  I woke up without a spring in my step;  more like a hobble.  But, I wanted to get my exercise done first thing, so I headed to the basement and hit the treadmill.  Lightly.  I didn’t want to do any further hip damage, so I decided to just walk on the treadmill.  To beef up my walk, I put on my weighted vest and wore 18 lbs. while walking at a mild pace for 40 minutes.  The extra pounds help it feel like a better workout.  Here I am in my vest  (looking quite scary, I might add)…

Next up was breakfast.  I went with an Open Faced Mushroom Cheese Omelet.  Very filling …

Big daughter wanted to rearrange her room, so we all helped her out with moving furniture and de-cluttering.  It took quite a bit longer than we expected.  The girl’s got some stuff!  We finally decided to take a break for lunch.  I took out a new soup to try from Trader Joe’s – Latin Style Black Bean…

Great nutritionals (except for the sodium – yikes!)…

To go with the soup, I heated up some leftover Chicken Fajitas…

The fajitas were good, the soup…eh, not so much.  It wasn’t bad, it was just okay.  There was a strong black pepper taste that kept hitting me in the back of the throat and I wasn’t digging that.  I ended up leaving a bit in my 1 cup bowl, too.

Then, it was back to the de-cluttering.  Since, I was on a roll, I worked on some of my own downsizing, too.  I love chucking things out!  I also had a pile of recipes and scraps of recipes written on paper here and there, so I gathered them together and worked on organizing some of them.

I took the task outside to take in some of the beautiful day.  All that looking at recipes made me hungry!  I snacked on a Chobani Nonfat Peach Greek Yogurt while soaking in the sun…

The dinner plan tonight was PIZZA!  It’s been a while since I’ve had some.  I made some regular dough for the husband and daughters and found a whole wheat crust in the freezer that I had pre-baked a million years ago, so that worked out for me!  It was a pizza party for 4.  Everyone got their own just the way they liked it…

I used the leftover Grilled Veggie Salad from last night to top my pizza.  I used a bit of marinara and lite mozzarella.  It was delish, even though part of the crust broke off from bending in the freezer…

I made a spring mix salad dressed with balsamic to go with it…

and had a little more pizza…

After dinner, we all went to a local trail for a family walk.  Here’s my peeps…

It was a great way to end the night!

Hope you all had a great Saturday!

ONE GOOD THING:  After a frustrating phone call with a family member, I really wanted to eat something.  Anything.  I was tempted to just shovel something, but instead, I acknowledged the feeling, had a big glass of water, a deep breath and got out of the kitchen.  Phew!

Good Things To Go

Wow everyone!  I loved all your ONE GOOD THINGs from yesterday’s post!  Thanks for sharing those and let’s keep spreading the positive vibes!

I’m gonna be quick tonight, so I can hang with my family.  My first order of business this morning was to register for FitBloggin ‘10!  I dropped by Roni’s site and saw that registration is open, so I jumped on it!  The tenative schedule is up and it looks like a great time;  so looking forward to it!

After much dilly-dallying, I ate some breakfast.  I was pretty shaky at this point, so I grabbed the first easy thing I saw in the fridge – Smoked Salmon and Parmesan Omelet Muffins.  I heated up two and had some honeydew on the side…

It’s good to have some “go to” stuff hanging out waiting for you!

I came across an old Weight Watchers Member Board (no idea who the poster was –sorry) recipe while looking through some of my recipe binders this morning :  Cuban Black Bean Patties.  They sounded great, so I decided to make them for lunch with a few of my own twists to it…

• 2 cups rinsed and drained canned black beans
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dried cilantro (or 1 tsp. fresh)
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 c. reduced fat monterey jack or cheddar cheese (pepperjack  would be good, too)
• 1/8 c. diced red onions
• 1/4 c. cornmeal

1. Place 1 1/2 c. beans in a medium bowl with garlic, cumin , cilantro and salt.  Mash with a fork , slightly to break up beans.
2. Place remaining 1/2 c. beans in a food processor with the egg and puree for 30 seconds.
3. Add bean puree to mashed beans and stir until combined.
4. Add cheese and onion;  combine well.
5. Form bean mixture into 4 patties about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Place cornmeal in a shallow dish and carefully dredge each patty in cornmeal.  There will be some cornmeal leftover.
7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
8. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Coat with cooking spray, add patties and cook for approximately 4 minutes per side. 

I served my Cuban Black Bean Patty over a salad made up of romaine, chopped red and green peppers, diced tomatoes and topped with a squirt of Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch, guacamole and light sour cream…

The bean patty was so flavorful!  Crunchy on the outside from the cornmeal and creamy on the inside…

And I have 3 more left that I wrapped up and popped in the freezer for another “go to” option.

The daughters and I went shoe shopping this afternoon (for them, not me – boo!) and scored a good deal at Payless Shoe Store.  Love their BOGO’s!

Then, it was back home for snack time.  I couldn’t resist another one of Jaime’s amazing Choco – Cranberry- Almond Granola Bars…

I still felt a hankering for something, so I chomped on an apple, too…

Dinner was Chicken Fajitas seasoned with Homemade Taco Seasoning from the Clean Eating Club site.  It’s way better tasting than the packet stuff.  I served the fajitas with a store brand high fiber tortilla, guacamole and light shredded 3 cheese blend…

More leftovers packed up for another time…

ONE GOOD THING today:  As I was finishing my last bite of lunch, I was still yearning for something more.  I decided to look at my watch and give myself 10 minutes to let everything settle and if I still wanted something when the 10 minutes was up, then I would allow myself to eat it.  I got up from the table and busied myself cleaning and doing other things.  After the 10 minutes, I reassessed and decided I really didn’t want anything else after all=)

* I have myself locked in the home office so that no one would disturb me while I hurried to write this.  Little daughter just picked the lock to ask me something!  Guess it’s time to sign off!   Juvie here she comes…

Have a great night, everyone!

Who's Counting??

Not me! Especially not today. I am blaming the hideous rainy weather for my funk and lack of motivation. It has been cold and raining for 2 days straight. I'm ready for some spring. Spring will get me out of this funk and help me refocus on losing these last pounds. Yep, that'll do it! I hope.

I toyed with the idea of stopping my daily POINTS tracking for a while. I have been a "die hard" tracker. It has really worked for me. Weight Watchers emphasizes it as a tool for success and I agree. But, for some reason, I have been sick of it and felt like I wanted a break from it. In all reality, I knew that I was looking for some excuse to be off track. After thinking about it for a bit longer, I realized that not journaling/tracking isn't going to help me any. It will only hinder my weight loss. I need to stop looking for excuses and start doing what I KNOW works. So, today I let caution fly to the wind. No counting POINTS. No writing things down. No real "watching" what I ate. And that's it. Tomorrow, I am going to my meeting and starting anew. I have no special holidays or celebrations on my calendar for the next 2 weeks, so there is nothing to deter me from trying to be as "hard core" as when I first started this weight loss journey 22 months and 70 pounds ago. So, here's a look at my day without counting...

Breakfast was a ham, egg and cheese pita pizza...




I made an open faced omelette with 2 egg whites, 1 1/2 oz. ham, 1 oz. Cabots 75% reduced fat cheese and a bit of spinach and put it on top of a Weight Watcher Pita...


Then, I had a side of small chocolate Easter eggs. (no pic) Not great breakfast food, but they were tasty:)

I did a quick 30 min. on the elliptical, then headed to my parents' house to spend some time with my Mom. It's her birthday, today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to take her out to lunch, but since we were going out to dinner tonight, she decided she wanted to eat in. She ended up making me lunch instead!!! My Dad and Gram joined us for this celebratory lunch of yummy chicken fajitas...


Mom sauteed some chicken breast, onions and peppers in a tbsp. olive oil with a bit of seasonings. She served this with La Tortilla Factory Tortillas (the small ones that are 50 cal.), fresh salsa, shredded lettuce and Cabot's 50% Light shredded cheese. I had one...

Then another with a side of Tostitos MultiGrain Tortilla Chips...

and a Hershey's dark chocolate with cranberries and almonds (no pic- grabbed one before I left!)

My snack this afternoon was a handful of Penny Sticks Honey Wheat pretzels...

Then, it was off to P.F. Changs for Mom's Birthday Dinner! We started off with Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Dad's fave) and Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps...

The lighting was pretty bad in the restaurant, so sorry for the stinky pics. Here's a sampling of the other items we ordered...

Beginning at 12 o'clock : Mongolian Beef, Chang's Chicken, Dry rub Spareribs, Dan Dan Noodles, Singapore Street Noodles and Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. All were absolutely delicious :)

More Chang's Chicken and salad with blue cheese crumbles ...

After PF Chang's, we headed back to my house for birthday cake and presents! Mom requested Carrot Cake. It was so amazing...

I am stuffed. I think I am ready to tackle this again. Ready to face the scale at my meeting tomorrow, gain new resolve and GET TO GOAL!!!!!