Up And Moving: No Candy Required

It’s so nice to get up with the sun!  Love the time change for the morning, although getting dark by 5:30 p.m. kinda stinks.  Oh well, can’t win ‘em all!

The daughters were off from school today, so it was a nice relaxing morning in the pj’s for us.  I took advantage of the extra time to make a bowl of Pumpkin Oat Bran…

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• splash of Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 2 tbsp. walnuts
• 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter

Delicious and very filling.  The addition of almond butter made it!

After breakfast, I got in a good amount of organizing and decluttering in various rooms.  It all accumulates so fast!  Especially books and magazines!

Lunch happened earlier than I thought.  The oat bran was filling, but didn’t hold me over as long as it has before.  Oh well, I ran with it and fixed up a leftover turkey sandwich on an Ezekiel Hamburger Bun with spinach.  The star of the sammie was this awesome mustard…

 

It wasn’t as zesty as Zesty!  But, it was the perfect compliment to the turkey sandwich, as were the POPchips and crunchy Gala…

Later, while I was packing up the mounds of Halloween candy, I had a little treat…

Then carried on along my merry way, pinching my nose so as to not be enticed by the smell of this…

or this…

Yes, you can smell it through the wrapper.  Uh huh.  Have I mentioned that I hate Halloween?  Yes?  Okay, moving on…

While little daughter was at dance, I decided to hit the gym for a quick run.  I wanted to do 3 miles today, but knew I probably wouldn’t be able to fit it into my 30 minute time frame.  I tried pumping up my speed, but it left me a little too winded, so I  resigned myself to the 2 miles and walked the rest at a 10% mountain climbing incline.  It felt great!

Dinner was prepped (me) and in the oven while I was gone (thanks, big daughter!), so a yummy cheesy Lasagna was waiting when we came home.  I wasn’t in the mood for it , though, plus I made it extra cheesy for the family and I didn’t think it was worth the splurge.  I decided on a Salmon Roulette with a drizzle of pesto, leftover roasted potatoes and veggies…

I’m turning into the Leftover Queen!  It’s my secret way of cleaning out the fridge :)

I ended the night with a decaf soy latte:  decaf coffee and Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk…

Candy?  What candy?  Yep, I can say that now.  I am so over it.  Who needs it?  Nope, not me!  Whew!  Now to brace myself for Christmas cookies!!!  Aaaaah!!!!

ONE GOOD THING:  I’m back to running again and I love it!  So far, so dizziness and no major hip issues.  I’m going to try out a pre-5K training schedule which I’ll post about tomorrow.  I like pushing my body a little to see what it can do!

Have a great day all!

Make It Quick

I’ve been so rushed in the morning!  I don’t know why I can’t get in a better groove;  maybe it’s the waking up in the dark that’s throwing me off!  I got the daughters ready for school and made up my breakfast before running out the door.  I was excited to try this Banana Oat Smoothie that I found on the Clean Eating Club site.  I put all the ingredients in the blender with a few ice cubes and whizzed it up.  I substituted Chobani nonfat plain Greek yogurt for an extra protein boost, too.  I poured it in my to-go bottle and hurried out the door…

I wasn’t sure how the oats would taste in this, but it was great!  I really liked it!  It was filling but not too heavy to workout after drinking it.  I can see having this often on rushed mornings!

I headed to the gym and watched my boyfriend, Dr. Oz while on the recumbent bike.  I wasn’t loving that bike so much.  I didn’t feel like it was doing much, so I got off after 30 minutes and hopped on the treadmill for another 25 minutes.  I’m learning how to work all the bells and whistles of the machines and I fooled with the incline to pump it up to 8% – I think.  It was up there;  I felt like I was walking uphill for sure!  I finished up with 20 minutes of upper body and abs weight work.  I love doing the flab ab stuff.

After home and showered, I realized it was time for lunch.  My stomach was finally growling;  that smoothie really held me over!  But, once I became hungry, I was HUNGRY and needed something quick.  I heated up a Cuban Black Bean Patty from the freezer (they froze so well!), topped it with avocado slices and placed it on a Pepperidge Farms Deli Flat. 

I went with a half serving of Kettle Brand Baked Barbeque Potato Chips and a ripe pear on the side…

For “dessert”, I had a calcium chew!  My sneaky way of getting some chocolate!

The rest of my afternoon was spent in the car taking the daughters to and fro and settling at 2 hours of dance class.  I remembered to bring a car snack, so that I wouldn’t be starved by dinner…

still “noshy” , so I had this Clif Mini Bar, too…

That did the trick.  When we got home for dinner, I wasn’t famished and looking to munch.  Dinner was easy;  I picked up fried chicken at the grocery store for the husband and daughters!  They were thrilled, especially after seeing what I was having – Salmon Roulette, leftover grilled sweet potato (yep, that’s the last of it!) and salad…

I ended the night with a cuppa Teeccino while folding laundry, “tweeting” and watching The Biggest Loser (what is UP with Jillian and her screaming??!!  It’s more than ever!)!  How’s that for multi-tasking?!

Hope you all had a great day!

ONE GOOD THING:  I made a cup of Teeccino after dinner instead of dishing out some dessert.  It satisfied me and I didn’t “look” for anything else.

Question of The Day:  What did you think of  The Biggest Loser last night?

One Good Thing

Another lovely day!  I woke up with the birds this morning for some reason and feeling good =)  I knew it was gonna be a great day!

I felt hungry pretty early, so I ate breakfast before my workout.  I was craving plain Greek yogurt again, so I dished some out and decided to try making a “strawberry syrup”.  I put 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries in a bowl and nuked it for about a minute.  The strawberries took a little longer to get juicy in the micro than the blueberries did.  I poured the berries over the yogurt, added some additional sliced berries and topped it with 2 chopped walnuts and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.  Super Amazing!!! 

Later, I set up for 45 minutes of Pilates.  I am getting better at some of the moves and I can really feel it in my abs and legs.

After some house clean-up, the daughters were asking for lunch and I realized it was almost 1:30!  My stomach was barely hungry;  that yogurt bowl held me over so well!

I thought soup sounded like a good lunch, so I heated up some Trader Joe’s Organic Lentil Soup (canned, but very tasty)…

and heated up some Green Giant Immunity Blend Veggies with a sprinkle of parmesan for a side…

 Fiber city…

The daughters and I ran some errands,including a stop at BJ’s Wholesale Club to pick up some school snacks.  I scored a vat of  Chobani nonfat  plain  greek yogurt, so there will be lots more of the same old breakfast for a while!

When we got back, I was feeling a bit hungry, so I decided to have a snack and push our dinner back a bit.  I had the perfect snack in mind, too!  Ever since seeing these fabulous Choco – Cranberry- Almond Granola Bars on Jaime’s blog, I had to make them!  They couldn’t have been easier and I had just the right amount of brown rice syrup left in my pantry.  The only changes I made were substituting oat bran for the ground flax (didn’t have it) , used 4 tasting squares of Ghirardelli 60% cocoa dark chocolate (chopped) for the mini chocolate chips and whipped light butter instead of regular….

These are seriously good…

Even the daughters loved them!

Dinner was nothing fantastical;  the hubs was working late, so it was mac and cheese for the daughters and ‘stuff they would never touch’ for me.  I made balsamic roasted brussel sprouts (2 tsp. evoo, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, s +p  - roasted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes).  The daughters almost gagged at the sight!  To go with these beauties, a Salmon Roulette and a scoop of their mac and cheese.  Delish, even though it doesn’t look so pretty!  Hard to make brussel sprouts look good, especially when they color from the balsamic…

I felt satisfied today.  I didn’t obsess over food all day and I enjoyed everything I ate.  I notice when I choose more filling foods with higher protein and fiber, I definitely feel more full.  I realized while on this path of intuitive eating, I have been psychoanalyzing myself more than ever.  I’m constantly judging how I am feeling, what I am doing, how much or how little I am thinking about food, how much or how little I am eating and if I feel that I am doing all this too much, I beat myself up about it because I feel like I am doing the OPPOSITE of what you are supposed to be doing as an intuitive eater!  It’s hard to break that dieting mind!  Maybe it’s all part of working this whole process, but I am feeling like I am focusing on the negatives instead of the positives.  So, I decided, no matter what kind of eating day I’m having, I will find one good thing about my food day to focus on.  Even if it’s the smallest thing, like “instead of eating the entire bag of pretzel slims, I left 2 pretzels in the bag” – LOL!  In doing this, maybe I’ll come to realize that I am making little changes along the way to reprogram myself and I will see the progress I am making =) 

ONE GOOD THING… I put a scoop of mac and cheese on my dinner plate, enjoyed it and didn’t eat the rest that was left in the pot and/or on the daughters’ plates because I realized I was full and had enough!

Have a great night, everyone!

Question of the Day:  What ONE GOOD THING happened for you today?

Sunday Around The House

I love lazy Sunday mornings. We had no where to be today, so I slept in until 7:30 but didn't get out of bed until 8:30! Love it! I worked on things around the house and helped the husband clean out the garage. I finally got around to eating breakfast around 11. I toasted up 2 slices of TJ's Sprouted Flourless Wheatberry Bread and topped it with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light for 3 POINTS...


A while after breakfast, I did The Shred for my workout. I haven't done it in quite a while, so I went with Level 1. Totally kicked my butt. I forgot how hard it was! I upped my weights and used 5 pounders and my arms were burning. I even had to stop a time or two! I have gotten all pansy-ish again! Jil would not be happy ;P

After that workout, I deserved a nice big lunch! I decided on a tofu scramble. Are you tired of hearing me rave about these??? I can't help it; they are so good! Really! Tofu can be yummy :) This scramble was made with 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, red onion, sliced button mushrooms, baby spinach, roasted peppers and a slice of 2 % cheese. I crumble and brown the tofu first, in nonstick cooking spray, then add the remaining ingredients and cook through. Couldn't be easier or more delicious. Using the lite tofu makes this really low POINTS. The entire block comes to 5 POINTS; I count half as 3 POINTS. The veggies are zero and the addition of the cheese is 1 POINT. So, this giant serving comes to 4 POINTS! So awesome! I had room to add a serving of Triscuits for 2 POINTS and some grapes for 1 POINT. This was one filling 7 POINT meal...

Later in the afternoon, I broke out the popcorn for everyone to snack on. I always forget about this. It is a great volume 1 POINT snack...

Dinner was a Salmon Roulette, Gram's green beans and 1/2 c. brown rice. A quick tip for brown rice- boil it like pasta! I know that sounds strange and not the traditional way to make rice, but if you just put your desired amount of brown rice in a pot of boiling water for about 30-40 minutes, then drain it; it comes out perfect, fluffy and with a great texture! It got 2 thumbs up from the family. A nice, healthy 8 POINT meal...

Okay, now for the dessert. I ditched the Vitahearts and tried out my Chocolate Espresso Glaze on a Deep Chocolate Vitatop...

SCORE!!!! This was so amazing! Rich, chocolatey and very decadent-tasting! And only 1 POINT! You'll be seeing this a lot :D

I'm clocking out early tonight. I have my friend's Dad's funeral in the morning and I know it's gonna be a tough day, so I'm going to get some extra rest. But, come back tomorrow night for a really FUN giveaway!!! Have a great night!

Recoginizing What Works And What Doesn't

My focus today is on getting in more filling foods. Weight Watchers classifies these foods as whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats. They are foods that keep you feeling satisfied for longer and keep hunger in control. I think it will also help with my cravings and munching in the afternoon. We'll see! I will keep tweaking and rearranging to get me to goal. I'm looking forward to get to my Lifetime status!



Breakfast was an open-faced omelette. I used 3 egg whites and topped them with canadian bacon, chopped green pepper and a Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge. Leaving it open-faced made it look like more food than it was; a great trick! It was suprisingly filling for 3 POINTS and left me full for hours...







After breakfast, I did a 45 minute weighted walk on the treadmill. I have a weighted vest that can hold up to 20 lbs. and I used to use it all the time when I was walking. Since, I have progressed to running, I haven't been wearing it. My Mom reminded me of it yesterday, so I decided to suit up today! I put in 12 lbs. (so heavy!) and did brisk walking while watching TV. I really enjoyed it. It was nice to do something different. Not sure if I burned as many calories as running, but it was still a good workout. I also realized I have been chintzing out on the workout time lately. I have only been doing 30 ish minutes running and I think I need to keep it at least 45 min. for weight loss.



More filling foods were on the menu for lunch. I went with some Stuffed Pepper Soup that I had in the freezer topped with 1 oz. Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar, carrot sticks with 2 tbsp. homemade hummus and a Golden Corn Vitatop. A big lunch for 6 POINTS...



I started feeling a little hungry around 3:30, so I made a Strawberry Smoothie with 1/2 c. skim milk, 4 oz. container of Activia Strawberry yogurt and 1 c. fresh strawberries. Very yummy and very filling for 3 POINTS...

The daughters had dentist appointments (no cavities!) and we got home right around dinner time. They were starving! I fixed them a quick chicken, mac n cheese and peas. I had planned on salmon for myself and also, wanted to try this Shibolim Whole Spelt Couscous for my side dish...

These are the size of Israeli couscous which is more like a pasta. I was interested to try this because it was made with spelt which I have never tried. The nutritionals were impressive with 195 cal., 0.5 gr. fat, 7 gr. protein and 9 gr. fiber for a 2 oz. serving. That's a huge serving for 3 POINTS!

It was the perfect side for my Salmon Roulette and green beans. A wonderful 8 POINT dinner...

The husband and daughters were having leftover birthday cake for dessert, but I had enough yesterday! Well, not really, but I'm telling myself that!!! I did have a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich as a sweet 2 POINT treat...

Another realization that I came to today was that I am getting lax with my bites, licks and tastes. I recognized this when I was making the daughters' lunches, cutting off crusts and about to pop them in my mouth. And then again, when I was scraping the peanut butter off the knife and about to lick it off my finger. Yet again, when I was throwing away their plates and about to nibble on what they left on it. I used to not do any of that, but somewhere along the line, I got myself into this pattern of mindless nibbling. I became very conscious of that today and made it a point to stop myself before I ate those things.

Overall, I felt happy and satisfied with the changes made today. I'll try again tomorrow to incorporate the filling foods. I'm taking it one day at a time and I know the changes that I'm hoping for with the scale will come!!!

Oh, by the way, I am way overdue in updating my blogroll! I have so many blogs that I love to read and haven't listed yet. I hope to get to it this weekend; if you would like me to add you, let me know and I'd appreciate if you would add me to yours, too!

Have a great night!!

Sweet Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! A day of love, romance and.....CHOCOLATE! The husband was so sweet to give me these beauties instead ...

So lovely and will last much longer than chocolate would ;) The daughters got some goodies and lots of chocolate, but *eyes closed* I have no idea where that chocolate is!

Well, today I decided to not do my 5K Saturday. I wrestled with myself on this, but I have been having issues with my right foot (planter fasciitis is acting up) and I thought it would be better to give it a rest. I still did the Shred - only 14 days left! I hope to make up the run tomorrow - it'll be 5 K Sunday instead! A question for all you runners out there: how often do you run? Is it bad to run everyday? Do you vary the duration of your runs? Okay, that was 3 questions! I'd appreciate any feedback on that since I'm new at this!

After shredding, I made a Thomas' Light English Muffin with PB2 and a tsp. Smucker's Sugar Free Grape Jam. I had a bowl of sweet strawberries to go with it. A satisfying 3 POINT breakfast...
For lunch, I went with some leftovers. A little different from my normal lunches. I thought I'd see if this was any more satisfying for me than my traditional lunch. I had a serving of leftover turkey meatloaf, asparagus and 1/3 c. of israeli couscous for 8 POINTS...

Like dinner for lunch! What do I call that...dunch or dinch??!! I don't know, I'll just call it good -even the second time around!

Now, I have been thinking about trying to eliminate my afternoon snack. If I try to eat according to my body's needs, then most days I notice I don't really "need" a snack, but I eat one for fear that I will be ravenous by dinner and eat the house down. So, the past couple days, I haven't felt hungry in the afternoon and I have been foregoing the snack. It was okay. I was able to wait for dinner and didn't feel the need to overeat. However, today I became hungry around 4 p.m. and since we had big daughter's basketball game late, I knew I wouldn't make it until dinner which would be around 6:30-6:45. I decided to have 2 hardboiled egg whites and a lite string cheese for 2 POINTS...

Guess what? Then this triggered the munchies! I had a handful of pretzel sticks...

and a handful of TJ's Sour Cream and Onion Rice Chips, 3 small chocolates (I opened my eyes!) and a handful of M&M's. I used my Weekly Allowance POINTS for all that, so I'm o.k., but that was an interesting experiment! I think it may be better for me to avoid an afternoon snack because it seems like when I do lately, it's a snowball effect. I think I will make a goal this week to not snack in the afternoon and see how that works out. I will make sure I eat a bigger breakfast and lunch to get the calories I need. I'm keeping dessert though! We'll see how this goes...


When we got home from big daughter's game (they won - YAY!), I rushed to get dinner on the table. I made the husband and daughters some gnocchi with marinara sauce and a side of broccoli. I decided to have a Salmon Roulette and a side of broccoli for 4 POINTS...

I also made another fancy drink with the POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice.

This time, I mixed 2 oz. juice with some Sprite Zero. Very refreshing!

Valentine's Day would not be complete without these decadent chocolate covered strawberries. I decided to count them as 3 POINTS since one was a bit bigger than last night's...

I'm off to snuggle with my honeys tonight! Hope everyone had a sweet day!!!!!!

Calling All Shredders!

My goal for February is to do the 30 Day Shred every day. It's a butt kickin workout in 20 minutes and we all can find 20 min. right??? I know many of you have tried it already, so now I'm calling all "shredders" to join me in my February Shred Challenge! C'mon peeps, you know ya want to look like Jillian and her girls, so LET'S DO THIS!!! I read some great reviews from some first-time shredders today; check out Kari's "picture that says a thousand words" and Heather's most hilarious review that I have ever read! You will pee your pants; we did =0D


Okay, let's get to the food...
I did my normal early morning elliptical workout for 30 minutes. Got the daughters off to school and had a quick breakfast of Puffins with 1/2 c. milk and sliced strawberries (3 POINTS)...



Lunch was a cup of black bean soup (1 POINT), hummus wrap with roasted pepper and lettuce (3 POINTS) and an apple (1 POINT). Notice the lack of chips, lately?? I'm "trying" to cut back!


Afternoon snack was the most delicious snack, ever! I used 3 TJ's flax and honey flatbread crackers, spread them with 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge and topped with 1 oz. smoked salmon. An amazing 3 POINTS...

I loved that snack so much that I saw more salmon in my future =) Future came fast, dinner was....Salmon! Trader Joe's makes these great Salmon Roulettes that are stuffed with a spinach filling for 4 POINTS. Best part is that you can microwave them without it making them gross or dried out. Three minutes later, it's on your plate! I paired it with 2 0z. whole wheat orzo and a salad dressed with 1 tsp. evoo and vinegar. A fantastic 8 POINT dinner...

A bit after dinner, I headed to Shred it! Still Level 1; don't foresee getting to Level 2 anytime in the near future! I haven't even watched it; not even going there!

I was feeling for a dessert tonight. I know this isn't news as I have dessert every night! It was a tough decision tonight because I am out of my luscious Vitatops. I placed an order from their website for a special Valentine's Day package (they emailed this to me) which I'm really excited about because they are including a limited edition Banana Fudge flavor. Wowza! Can't wait!!!!!
Until then, I had a graham cracker topped with PB2 and a bit of Smucker's Sugar Free Grape Jam for 2 POINTS...

So, what do ya think, Shredders?? Are you in?? Let me know and we'll check in on each other to keep us going! C'mon...let's get shredded!!!