Recovery

I have to do better today. That was my first thought when I woke up this morning. I knew I had to curb the overly-overeating or I will not be feeling great at the end of this vacation. Unfortunately, the bike ride didn't happen due to some early rain and by the time it cleared up, it was time to take Rocky for another long walk before we hit the beach for the day. At least it was movement and I enjoyed taking in the sites and sounds.

I came back and went right to breakfast- 1/2 c. plain greek yogurt, 1 c. strawberries and 2/3 c. Trader Joe's High Fiber Fruit and Nut Medley for 3 POINTS...


I made everyone's sandwiches for the beach, but decided to make an orzo bean salad for myself...

• 2 cups whole wheat orzo, cooked
• 1 can Trader Joe's Marinated Bean Salad, drained
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 oz. light feta cheese, crumbled
• 4 basil leaves, chopped
• s + p to taste

This made about 5 , 1-cup servings for 5 POINTS per serving. It was a great tasting salad and filling due to the addition of the beans. I also added a few extra tomato chunks leftover from the husband's sammie...

We spent lots of time in the ocean again. The water temp was a nice 76 degrees! The undertow was pretty strong, too, so I'm thinking there was a good bit of strength training going on while I was in there ;P

After the ocean "workout", I had a nice, ripe nectarine... Later, we headed home to get ready for dinner. The husband chose a restaurant on the island which, incidentally, has great pizza. Imagine that!

We started with a deadly bread basket including the daughters' favorite - garlic knots...

Of course, I couldn't resist such fabulous bread...

I ordered two appetizers for my dinner. A salad with pear, cranberries, walnuts and fried goat cheese with a raspberry vinagrette...

and a calamari dish in a spicy tomato sauce with peppers served over crostini...

Both dishes were huge for an appetizer portion. Unfortunately, my calamari dish was bad. Not quite sure what the deal was, but it smelled terrible (like dirty socks - and I'm being nice by saying that). I noticed the smell as soon as the server put the dish on the table. At first, I thought it might just be me, so I tasted the calamari. Brave, I know. Hope that doesn't come back to haunt me, if you know what I mean! Although, it tasted okay, I couldn't feel good about eating it. It just smelled awful. The husband almost gagged and called the server to take it back. I hate doing that, but I hate eating bad food more. No need to end up in the hospital on vacation! Anyway, that kinda ruined my appetite, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I did eat about 2/3 of the salad which was quite tasty, but nothing to write home about. I nibbled on some of big daughter's pizza crust, too. At least the pizza, their veggies (delicious string beans with garlic) and house salad was good!

When we got back from dinner, we went on a leisurely walk with Rocky to soak in the last bit of the day. We all ended the night with a Lil' Drumstick...

I chose the Cookie Dough flavor. It was delish; the perfect little something for 3 POINTS (130 cal, 7 grams fat)...

I'm ready to hit the hay! We have an early morning boardwalk bike ride on tap tomorrow; it should be a fun time!

Have a great night everyone=)

It's Sunday Already?

I can't believe how the weeks and especially the weekends are flying by! I didn't have time to post yesterday because of the fantastic Luau party we went to and let's just say, I'm not too sad about not taking food pics while I was there. It was a food fest like you've never seen and I "tried" to make some healthy choices, but there was definitely some baked brie and one too many brownies that landed on my plate or just right into my mouth. It was a good time and for once, I am feeling no guilt about what I ate. Maybe because I woke up and got right back on track without giving it a second thought. I think I finally realize that overeating on a regular basis isn't my "norm" anymore. I don't like it. I can't do it all the time. I enjoy my healthy eating plan and I begin to crave it when I stray a little. Wow, could I finally be getting this? If so, it's a good feeling and gives me hope that long term maintenance might not be so scary after all...





I felt a bit tired this morning, but really wanted to get in a run. I wasn't able to do it yesterday because I had some weird dizzy spell that put me back to bed for a couple of hours. I felt a lot better this morning, so I hit the treadmill. After 5 minutes, I wanted to quit. I just wasn't feeling it, but I kept talking myself out of quitting and before I knew it, I was 40 minutes into my run and felt like I could have kept running for an hour! Running really is a mind game!





After my run, I had a great breakfast of 1/2 c. Trader Joe's Nonfat Greek Yogurt, 1/2 c. mixed fresh berries (stolen from the party!) and a crumbled Quaker Blueberry Muffin Bar for 4 POINTS...




Breakfast held me over fairly well, but at the first sign of a grumble, I got to making lunch. I have been wanting to use this for a while...



The whole package is barely 3 POINTS (click pic to enlarge)...


I decided to make Salmon and Egg Salad...

• 1 packet of salmon
• 2 hard boiled egg whites, chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped celery
• 1/8 c. diced red onion
• 2 tbsp. Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil
• s + p
  
  

I served it in a Weight Watcher Whole Wheat Pita with some spring mix along with some Sea Salt and Pepper Rice Chips and Rainier cherries. A filling 7 POINT lunch...

Later in the afternoon, I felt like doing some baking. I wanted to use up some of the cooked quinoa that I had in the fridge and after doing some research on the internet, I put together a recipe for quinoa muffins...

Quinoa Cranberry Bran Muffins

• 2 c. quinoa, cooked
• 1/4 c. applesauce, unsweetened
• 3/4 c. skim milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. brown sugar, unpacked
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 c. oat bran, dry
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix first 6 ingredients (quinoa through vanilla) until well combined.
3. In another bowl, combine oat bran, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. Add dry ingredients to quinoa mixture stirring until fully incorporated.
5. Mix in dried cranberries.
6. Fill muffin cups to the top with batter (about a heaping 1/4 c. per muffin cup).
7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and store in a tight container or plastic zip bag.

Makes 12 muffins. Each muffin is 134 calories, 2 grams fat, 3 grams fiber, 5 grams protein. (* I calculated nutritional information using www.calorieking.com).

I thought this would be a unique way to use up some of the quinoa that I had cooked for breakfast the other day! These are some hearty muffins...

Of course I had to try one for a snack! Only 2 POINTS and also a nice dose of potassium (234 mg.) and calcium (78 mg.)...

Although, I tried to chase the husband and daughters around the yard to taste my healthy muffins, they weren't going for it. The husband did want to "save" them for his breakfast tomorrow, so I'll let you know if they passed the pain in the *ss picky eater test ;)

I decided to be nice and not torture them with a healthy dinner. They requested Flatbread Pizza again and I agreed. I made plain for them (can we expand our horizons a little, people that live here????) and I decided to mix mine up a bit. I made a whole wheat crust using the ever easy Quick Flatbread Dough recipe, rolled it out and topped it two ways...

• 1 tsp. garlic oil
• sliced tomato
• 1 oz. part skim mozzarella
• fresh basil, shredded

and...

• 1 tsp. garlic oil
• 1/4 c. sliced roasted pepper and onion
• 1 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 3 Kalamata olives, sliced
• fresh basil, shredded

The tomato/mozzarella half came to 7 POINTS and the pepper/goat cheese half came to 9 POINTS...

I had a slice of each and a side salad ...

and I couldn't resist another slice which made for a 12 POINT dinner...

I was full, but later wanted a cold one...

A fruit bar that is! These Trader Joe's Mango and Cream Fruit Bars are a great 1 POINT treat.

I'm doing the Sunday night wind down. Hope you all had a terrific weekend =)

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 =)

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!

More Of The Same

I was up and out early this morning to make my WW meeting. Not that I was in any rush to get weighed or anything. No big excitement on the scale. It was exactly the same. I can't be upset about it. I haven't been keeping up with my "following the program to the T" strategy. Too much picking going on. But, I spoke with the receptionist while I was there. She has lost 100 lbs. and has kept it off since 1984. I talked with her about my frustration with myself and about getting to goal. I am coming up on 2 years at the end of July and I really hoped to get to my goal and be on the way to achieving Lifetime status. She told me it took her 4 years to get there. Wow. That made me feel a little better. I'm declaring the high end of my weight range for my goal weight even though it's probably not where I would want to settle in at. But, at the rate I'm going, I don't want it to take a lifetime to get to Lifetime! I can see it now. I'll be a real looker when I get to goal at age 90. I might not have teeth, but I'll be the hottest chick in the nursing home ;P In my thong. Eeeewww. Sorry, did you just throw up a little bit?? Okay, in an effort to erase that visual from your damaged mind, I will get to the food...


After the meeting, I came home and made a breakfast wrap with a La Tortilla Factory Tortilla, 3 egg whites, baby spinach, center cut bacon and a slice of 2% cheese for 4 POINTS...


For lunch I tried these new veggie burgers that I picked up the other day...

The nutritionals are great...

These burgers are made with beans, corn, zucchini, string beans, oat bran and a host of other good veggies. They have a nice kick to them and taste a whole lot like the California Veggie Burger also made by Dr. Praeger. I served mine on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with lettuce and a squirt of lite ranch along with a serving of soy crisps and a fuji apple. A healthy 6 POINT lunch...

I took the daughters to see a play this afternoon at little daughter's school. It was very cute and entertaining. When we got back, I made a snack of 1/2 c. TJ's nonfat greek yogurt, 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch, 2 strawberries and a tsp. chocolate syrup for 2 POINTS...

Dinner was pasta and salad for the husband and daughters, but I wasn't in the mood for pasta. Well, I was, but not only 1 cup of pasta! It's just too little of a serving to make me happy. I searched around the freezer and came upon this guy...

It has been in my freezer for an eternity. I'm trying to make sure I eat the freezer stock, so since the date was okay, I decided to eat it for dinner. It's a pretty good bargain for 4 POINTS, but I wasn't having high hopes that it would be good!

I made these to go along with it...

Altogether, a 6 POINT dinner...

But, I only ate some. Here's what I left...

That was one yucky frozen dinner. The chicken was rubbery and "fake", the pasta was flavorless and the sauce was weirdly spicy. The flavors didn't jive. Ick. The TJ's Potato Medley, on the other hand, was terrific! I should have just eaten a big dish of that!

I picked on a roll from the family's dinner, then cleaned up and moved on to dessert. I thought I would give the VitaHearts another try. I had the idea of icing them, so I thought that may redeem them. I made a Chocolate Espresso Glaze by mixing 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa, 1 tsp. powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp. instant espresso powder and 1/2 tsp. skim milk and spread it onto the VitaHeart...

Well, the hearts are still dry, but the glaze was amazing!!! The espresso gave it a prominent flavor making it taste like dark chocolate. So good! I can't wait to try this on the Deep Chocolate Vitatops that I love! Come back tomorrow night; I'll let you know how it is!!

I ended the night with a giant latte made with skim milk for 2 POINTS...

Decaf, of course! Goodnight =)

Sad News:(

Hi guys. I'm gonna make this a quick post. I just got some sad news - my old college roommate's dad passed away, so I'm a bit distracted. Here's a rundown of the day...

Breakfast was 1/2 c. TJ's Nonfat Greek Plain Yogurt (I don't like plain, but I added a bit of Splenda and it was great), 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch and 1 c. sliced strawberries for 3 POINTS. This took me a while to eat and held me over for hours...


I went out to lunch with Mom and Gram at a local diner. I ordered a salad with chicken, bacon, mandarin oranges, red onion with a raspberry viniagrette (I used the "dip fork" method). It was a small serving (well, an appropriate serving!) so I estimate it at 5 POINTS...

Afternoon snack was a Bluebran Vitatop and grapes for 2 POINTS...

I tried an interesting recipe tonight involving this...

I got the inspiration from this old Weight Watchers cookbook that I picked up at the Used Book Sale last weekend...

I reworked the recipe so much that I guess I can call it my own now! It was Polenta with Smoked Gouda and Mushroom Sauce....

It was 8 POINTS and out of this world good! I have leftovers, so I will be eating this again. I'll post the recipe the next time for you all :)

For dessert, another serving of Chocolate Banana Cake with Cocoa Glaze...

One word of advice about this "cake"- don't overbake it! Mine was cooked a little too long and it's more on the dry side. If you try it, start to check for doneness around 18-20 minutes. It doesn't take that long to set up and it's definitely better when it's moist! Dry cake sucks :P

Sorry to rush through this. See you tomorrow =)