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!!!

Ride On

Finally!!!! Some sun! We woke up to a beautiful morning. The husband and I decided to ride bikes to go get some bagels for the morning's breakfast. It was a nice 2 mile ride in the sun! While everyone chowed down on giant bagels, I made my cereal bowl of 3/4 c. Puffins, 1/2 c. Almond Breeze and strawberries for 3 POINTS...



After breakfast, I took another 2 mile bike ride to return a movie. I am loving this bike riding! I was thinking during my ride how nice it would be to live in a little town where you could ride your bike everywhere. I would have one of those cruiser-type bikes with a cute wicker basket on the front. I might even wear a big hat with a giant flower on the front! LOL!


Before heading to the pool for the afternoon, I made an easy lunch of leftover roasted chicken breast with lettuce and a half slice of cheese on a small whole wheat roll. I had more carrots and pineapple to go with it. A quick 5 POINT lunch...

We spent the afternoon swimming in the toasty pool. I love heated pools! I took the opportunity to do more pool exercises (about 40 min.) and then goofed around with the husband and daughters in the pool. It was a great time!


We headed home late in the afternoon and I was starving! I dug into some pretzel sticks...

and some Annie's Cheddar Bunnies...

Mom and Gram made another wonderful dinner tonight. I was feeling hungry, but I mentally prepared myself before sitting down. I took a few minutes to "talk to myself" and figure out what my game plan was going to be. I thought about exactly how I wanted my plate to look with the prepared food and told myself to stick with my plan. My plate looked just like it did in my mind...

I enjoyed every bit, passed on the bread, and put my silverware on my dish and pushed myself back from the table when I was finished. I was still engaged in the table conversation, but wasn't tempted to add more food to my plate. I felt good about that =)

And after dinner, guess what I did?? Big daughter and I went for another 2.5 mile bike ride! I'm a ridin' fool today! When we got back, I dug into a bowl of Breyer's Fat Free Vanilla Ice Cream topped with about 1/4 c. freeze dried blueberries and a squirt of Hershey's Special Dark syrup for 3 POINTS...

Another day of sun is on tap for tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to some beach lounging! See you tomorrow; have a great night!!!

Just Say No

What a crazy weekend! We've been partying it up with all the graduations, so it's been a whirlwind couple of days. Yesterday worked out o.k. I ate fairly decent and only really caved with some jelly beans and a couple chocolates at the party. Not too horrible, but I did end up eating a bunch of Cheez-Its when we got home. I didn't count POINTS, but I think I may have still been in the ballpark.



Today, I took my time waking up and decided to have breakfast before working out. I was craving a sandwich, so I made an egg and cheese on TJ's Organic Spelt bread for 4 POINTS. It was so good...





After watching some E! True Hollywood Story, I got the urge to run! I headed to the treadmill and pumped out a good 35 minutes. I kept my pace faster today; it was a nice push.





The daughters had some friends over to play and we decided to grill for lunch. They had hot dogs and I went with a Ranch Turkey Burger with a slice of Weight Watchers Pepperjack Cheese. I opted to go "bunless" (oh, how I wish ;) and had a side of the Crunchy Curls, grapes and carrot sticks for 7 POINTS...

Then I headed out to help my friend move some furniture. She rented a UHaul and we cracked up about it the whole time because we are both princesses, yet we were bouncing around in this UHaul determined to show our brawn by moving this heavy furniture into her house. We were grunting and sweating like we were doing some crazy challenge on the Biggest Loser Ranch. It was hilarious. And a nice sweaty, strength training workout!

Since I knew I would be getting home close to dinner, I had prepped ahead with a crockpot dish. I saw a recipe for Pineapple Luau Chicken on Bev's blog, so I thought I would give it a try. The only change I made was to use pork tenderloin instead of chicken since I had some on hand. I threw in some broccoli, green onion and served it over 1/2 c. brown rice for a great 6 POINT dinner...

I ended the night with a serving of Breyers Fat Free Double Churn French Chocolate Ice Cream with a topping of freeze dried blueberries!!! This was a great combo for only 1 POINT...

I found these guys (you know where!) recently and they are unbelievably good! They are crunchy and sweet...

Best of all, look at these facts! The whole bag is only 2 POINTS. There are a TON in there and could keep you munching for hours. Note to self: when feeling munchie, grab the crunchy blueberries!!!

I feel like a wad. A whale -ish wad. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm retaining a small pond despite my efforts to drink mass quantities of beverages today. I need to stay home now. No more parties. I need to be in control of what I am eating, "make" what I am eating and not be distracted by parties where I have to keep dodging certain "areas" that contain cake, cookies, chocolate and candy. Yep, stay home. And just say no...

One more thing - some cool news! The nice people at Dominex Eggplant ,who make the delicious eggplant cutlets that I love, have offered to send my readers a dollar off coupon to try out their product. Send an email with your name and address to : sales@dominexeggplant.com and write "Trim The Fat Coupon" in the subject line and they will be glad to send that out to you!

Have a great night!