Life Is Like A Bag Of Chocolates

Hey guys!  I’m a little off my blogging schedule – not enough hours in the day, ya know?  I’m faltering with my “to-do list”!  I started off great but, I got side-tracked with other things and now my list is a mile long again.  Pffft!!

The morning began with the growl of my stomach.  That is one annoying alarm clock ;P  Breakfast was definitely in order before gyming it.  I munched down a Thomas’ Light Multigrain English Muffin with homemade almond butter and a pear…

Almond butter is so good.  And sooo hard to control!  I could eat gobs of it, but I have to keep reminding myself:  A serving is 2 tbsp., a serving is 2 tbsp.  Yes, I chant this as I spread it :)  I have received some requests for this recipe, so here it is…

Homemade Almond Butter

• 1 cup whole almonds, roasted
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. olive oil (not extra virgin)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 7-10 minutes. Watch closely to not burn.
2. Place nuts in food processor and pulse until nuts are fully chopped.  Add salt, honey and oil.
3. Continue to process until creamy;  this may take 5-7 minutes.
4. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
5. Try not to eat the whole thing.
6. Good luck with that :)

Then, I drug myself to the gym.  I know that’s not a word, but it is when you don’t want to go to the gym.  Drug is way worse than dragged ;P  I usually like the gym, but since I’m restricted to the recumbent bike  til this dizziness goes away, I’m less than thrilled.  For some reason, the bike just doesn’t do it for me.  It’s boring and I don’t feel like I’m doing much of anything  for a workout.  I did try to pump up the resistance, which definitely was a challenge, but it’s still just “meh” to me.  Maybe, I’ll learn to like it??

I was ready for lunch after my non-exciting gym experience.  I couldn’t wait to get some food.  It was one of THOSE days.  Lunch was a Health is Wealth Chicken Free Patty on a deli flat with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and spinach.  Some soy crisps and carrots filled up the rest of my plate…

But not the rest of my stomach!!!  No, really my stomach was full, but my brain did not get that memo.  It was too focused on these Halloween candies…

My favorite…

A close second…

What I thought I should have instead…

What I did have… all of the above.  And CHEEZ-ITS!  I hate those friggers!

Dinner, as if I needed it, was a delicious bowl of Cheesy Polenta with mushrooms and asparagus…

I used this Polenta recipe from Everyday Food …

 

It was a beautiful thing.  So is chocolate.  I know it so well :)

ONE GOOD THING:  I did not eat 105 pieces of chocolate :D

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite exercise machine at the gym/home?

No Fooling - It's A Larabar Giveaway!

My scale is roadkill. I have run over it with my vehicle until it resembled something like a smashed aluminum can. Okay, daydream over. But, it was a lovely thought. As you can guess, the scale was not my friend this morning. I got on and sirens wailed and red lights flashed, warning of self-destruction. No fooling that thing. You can fool yourself but, the scale will always yank you back into reality. The reality is that the whole 80/20 rule that I seem to be unintentionally practicing lately, is not working. If you do the program 80% of the time, but the other 20%, you are shoveling cookies, snacks and chocolate, it's gonna catch up with you. No doubt about it. Exercise, schmexercise. If you don't eat right, you will not lose weight. I spent the morning giving myself this lecture and, well, throwing a pity party, too. You know the drill, you've heard me crying about it in many other posts. So, *in my best Forrest Gump voice* that's all I have to say about that :D

Breakfast was a repeat of the other day: smoked salmon with Laughing Cow Light on a Thomas' Light English Muffin for 3 POINTS...

More cheesiness for lunch. I was dying for a good old grilled cheese! I made one using 2 slices of Arnold Natural Whole Grain White Bread and a slice of American and a slice of Asiago. I paired it with some sweet cherries for a quick 7 POINT lunch...

After lunch, I headed to Trader Joe's to pick up a couple of things. While I was there, I noticed they had all of my favorite Larabar flavors! I eyed up the Peanut Butter Cookie right away and broke into that as soon as I got home...

A most delicious 4 POINT snack!


I chilled out with the daughters this afternoon, then made some dinner. Pepperoni and Cheese Strombolis (made with whole wheat crust) and orzo soup for them and eggplant for me! I love the Dominex Eggplant Cutlets and since I had some left in the freezer stash, I thought it would make a good dinner tonight. I topped them with a bit of light mozzarella. Plain, simple and delish. I went with some watermelon slices for a light tasting 7 POINT dinner...

No dessert tonight. I'm full. Of fat. That's all I have to say about that.


So, since TJ's had only my favorite Larabar flavors (Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, Cashew Cookie and Peanut Butter Cookie), I thought I would get them all to giveaway to one lucky winner!!!!!



All you need to do is leave me a comment with this post telling me which flavor you would like to try. One winner will get all 4 of my faves! I'll choose the winner, using random.org, on Thurs. June 4. Be sure to check back Thurs. night when I'll announce the winner. Open to all, since I'm doing the shipping :) Good luck!!!!

Less Sucky

I was less sucky today. Primarily because of you guys! I am so thankful for your wonderful, supportive comments. It really did help me out today when I felt like grabbing handfuls of snacks. Thank you, thank you!

The day started off well with a filling 3 POINT breakfast of a Thomas' Light English Muffin with a Laughing Cow Light Cheese wedge and another Strawberry Milkshake made with 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 4 strawberries, 1 tbsp. sugar free-fat free vanilla pudding dry mix and ice. It is serious addiction material. Just ask Kelly! I am now going to call them crackshakes. Thanks again for the new addiction, Becca!

After breakfast, I headed to a local trail to walk. I decided to get back to walking for a while. I love running, but my left hip has been sore for a couple of weeks now and I'm worried about the impact of running contributing to more damage. Just as I arrived, I ran into a friend that I haven't seen in a while (HI Sharray!), so we walked together (along with her little guy in stroller) for an hour. It flew by with all of our gabbing and before I knew it, we had gotten in a nice 4.2 mile walk!

When I got home, I immediately felt like munching. But, you guys helped out with that, so I make it through with a couple of small pretzels and a taste of these...

Apriums! These are a cross between an apricot and a plum. I think they will be really good, but not today. They weren't ripe enough. So, more on those later when they taste better :)

For lunch, I fished these out of the freezer...

These are a new find for me. I got them a while back in my local Super G (Giant). They looked yummy and the nutritionals were great: 2 pieces are 110 calories, 3 gr. fat and 3 gr. fiber which is 2 POINTS. I decided to make 4 bites to have along with a salad. I haven't had a salad for lunch in ages. I thought I would doctor up my plain salad with some of this...

Decent facts, too...


I wasn't sure what to expect of this marinated bean salad, but it was terrific! It was flavorful enough that I didn't even need to add dressing to my salad! A first for me! I used 1/4 c. of the bean salad on top of romaine with carrot slices and had my 4 spinach bites on the side for a 5 POINT lunch...

When the daughters got home from school, I told them we were going out for a special treat! It was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to spend it inside. I loaded them in the car along with our dog, Rocky for our adventure. Our first stop was for more "crack"; a Grande Mocha Lite Frappuccino for 2 POINTS.... (the daughters loved it, too!)

Then, it was off to the park for a walk through the wooded trail. We had such a great time, walking, talking about our day and drinking fraps! Rocky enjoyed his walk, too...

When we got home, I went to work on dinner. I made steaks on the grill seasoned with a homemade taco seasoning. The seasoning is awesome; tastes just like the packets without all the weird ingredients in it. I found the recipe HERE. I topped the steaks with salsa and a tbsp. of guacamole. Along with those , some crinkle potato wedges and a salad with Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch. A great 8 POINT dinner on the deck...

I didn't have a dessert so far. I may go for my usual Vitatop or I may just leave it alone for tonight. I'm already out of the kitchen, so I may as well stay out!

Before I go, I wanted to announce the winner of the FitNutz giveaway! The winner is...Stacey of Dill My Pickle !! Stacey, please email me your address and your FitNutz packs will be on their way! Thanks to all who entered!

Have a great night everyone and thank you again for all your support =)

Back In Action

I was so glad to be outside today!! I was a little disappointed in the weather; I thought is was going to be sunny and warmer for my morning run, but that wasn't the case. In any event, I got the daughters off to school and headed out for my run. I was a bit weak this run, but after I got going, I felt better. As I was walking my cul-de-sac to cool down, my neighbor asked me if I wanted to walk, so I walked a little with her, too! Hi, Dana!!! Then, I came in to Shred! I realized after posting last night, that I forgot to list my Shred for yesterday afternoon. I got it in, even though little daughter was bugging the bejesus out of me during it!! Anyway, there are only 2 DAYS LEFT to the Shred Challenge! Hallelujah!

After my morning exercise extravaganza, I made a breakfast of Thomas' Light English Muffin with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light and a Weight Watchers Strawberry Yogurt for 3 POINTS...


I had some shopping to do after, then stopped home to eat a quick lunch. I went with an Arnold Sandwich Thin with 2 oz. turkey, 1 tbsp. white bean hummus, lettuce and tomato, a serving of Soy Crisps and a side of carrots. A speedy 5 POINT lunch...


For a lunchtime goodie, I had one of these Luna Cookies. I have to say they taste more like a "bar" than a cookie. In fact, they have the same texture and chewiness of the Clif Z Bars that I like (hmmm.... they ARE the same company). This Chocolate Mint flavor was 130 cal., 3 gr. fat and 3 gr. fiber which comes to 2 POINTS. It was tasty, but I think the Clif Z Chocolate Brownie Bar is better and much less expensive! I paid 1.69 for the Luna Cookie, but I get the Clif Z Bars at Trader Joe's for 69 cents! Huge difference, but I am a sucker for packaging and these "looked cute" ...



Well, this lunchtime dessert led to another in the form of the last No Pudge Brownie! I counted this 2 POINT treat in my tracker right away and then got the heck out of the house before I started digging for something else! It worked and I felt my munching feeling go away. I was glad about that; I really wanted to stay on track today.

The afternoon flew by with the usual grind of homework and projects. I decided to forego afterschool activities since this was little daughter's first day back to school this week. The husband was working late, so the daughter's got to have their choice for dinner. I bought lots of baby eggplant at the produce store today, so I decided to work my dinner around those cuties. I ended up with Eggplant, Tomato and Chick Pea Rigatoni! I sauteed 3 baby eggplant in 1 tsp. olive oil, garlic and a bit of sliced onion. I added 3/4 c. canned petite diced tomatoes ,1/2 c. drained chick peas, some basil, salt and pepper. I let this simmer while I cooked 1 c. rigatoni pasta. I topped the pasta with the eggplant mixture and 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese. Oh my greatness! I think I could eat this delicious 7 POINT dinner every night...

Then, it was dessert - AGAIN! I went back to my good old fave - Triple Chocolate Vitatop with PB2/fluff icing for 2 POINTS...

And that was my back in action/on track day! So, a couple things before I go: a) my BLBE WI sucked royally this morning - +2.8 lbs. But, that was no big surprise since the wagon that I fell off "crashed and burned" this week! b) I feel very relaxed. What I mean is, I am not having a fit or flipping out about this gain. I know why it happened and I know it's gonna happen sometimes. And I'm o.k. about it. It's not forever. I am not going backward . I'm not going to gain back 70 lbs. I'm going to keep on trying til I get to goal; then I'm going to keep on trying to lead the healthy lifestyle that I need to so that I can keep the weight off for my lifetime. Yesiree!

Have a great night!

Here's Johnny

I'm starting to feel a little like Jack Nicholson in The Shining; cooped up and going stir crazy! I have not crashed through any doors, saying, "here's Johnny", but it was getting close! A little too much togetherness with little daughter, plus she's feeling better, so she was extra nudgy :) In honor of her "last day" home, I made her breakfast in (my) bed. I sat next to her with my breakfast of 3 scrambled egg whites topped with fresh salsa and 1 oz. lite mozzarella and a toasted Thomas' Light English Muffin; all for 3 POINTS...

We did some schoolwork after eating and I got in some laundry. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I found something new for me at the grocery store that I have been wanting to try...

I found these store brand Soy Crisps on the shelf with the rice cake-type items which was probably the right place as that would be exactly how I would describe them. I chose the cheddar flavor which I liked; it was a mild cheddar, not too overpowering. They also came in a ranch and barbeque flavor which sound good, too! A serving of Soy Crisps is about 19 chips and come in at 120 cal., 3 gr. fat, 2 gr. fiber and 7 gr. protein! They are transfat free and cholesterol free, too! A great "chip alternative" for only 2 POINTS!

Along with the Soy Crisps, I made a white bean hummus melt which was inspired by Cooking With Anne , a wonderful blogger who amazed me with her "from scratch" cooking and food budgeting skills for a family of 9! My version of this open faced sammie was made with 2 tbsp. of my homemade white bean hummus spread on a Weight Watchers Pita and topped with sliced tomato and 1 oz. Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar and run under the broiler to melt the cheese. I had a sliced apple to round out this yummy 7 POINT lunch...

This was a nice filling lunch and really didn't leave me wanting much in the way of a snack this afternoon. I did have a cup of coffee with fat free half and half for 1 POINT as a warm treat, but no munching. I feel the munchiness from the past few days beginning to subside (thankfully), so I should be completely back on track this coming week!

For dinner, I decided to make myself something special that I KNOW the rest of the family would NEVER eat!! SHRIMP! Eeewwww, they say. I told them that something is wrong with their mouths ;) So, my faaaaabulous dinner was Salsa Shrimp with Feta over Whole Wheat Couscous! I sauteed 8 oz. large shrimp in a nonstick pan with cooking spray, added about 1/2 c. fresh salsa until heated through. I poured this over 1 c. whole wheat couscous and topped it with 1 oz. lite feta cheese. An amazing 8 POINT dinner...

I ended the night with another No Pudge Brownie iced with PB2. So rich and decadent tasting for 3 POINTS...

So, tomorrow little daughter is back in action and so am I! I am really looking forward to a nice outdoor run in the morning! Gee, never thought I would hear myself say THAT! Strange, but true =)

Have a great night! Oh, and stay tuned for my first ever giveaway this Friday!!!

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!!!!!!

Day Two

I woke up feeling a lot better today, both mentally and physically. Although, my legs are sore as all get out from my run/walk yesterday! I guess that's a good thing. With one good Point tracking day under my belt, I am ready for day two...

For breakfast, I had a Thomas' Light English Muffin with PB2. In case you haven't noticed, a really am a fan of this PB2 stuff!

It was a good 2 Point breakfast, but I had this waiting in the wings...

I had an idea for Apple Cranberry Bread (I am banana and pumpkined out for now!) and I wanted to give it a whirl. It came out really good, so I had to have a piece which was an additional 2 Points...

For lunch, it was split pea soup again. I had a ham wrap and some apple and grapes along with it for a filling 6 Points...

I guess I was missing my chips because I snagged a small handfull of pretzel sticks ( 1 Point) after that. I wasn't really still hungry, but I needed more "crunch".

Posting this has made me hungry, so I just ran downstairs to grab another slice of apple cranberry bread for my snack...

It's pretty hearty since it's made with whole wheat pastry flour and just a little bit sweet from the apples and cranberries. A nice 2 Point snack.

Well, day two is almost through (hey, I'm a poet) and so far so good. I wanted to share something I read that I think is spot on with respect to what we have all been going through during this holiday eating season. Great, sound advice : check out MizFit's post on Damage Limitation.

Words to live by...

Cookie Day

Today was the day of the cookie baking extravaganza with my Mom, Gram and daughters! I woke up without a solid eating plan and I just decided to treat it like any other day and deal with the cookies when I get to it. I wanted to make sure I had a filling breakfast, so I went with the same one as yesterday, Egg, Cheese and Bacon Muffins and a Thomas' Light English Muffin. I had some Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Coffee, too. Satisfying breakfast...


I did plan to take my lunch to my Mom's, that way I wouldn't be tempted to just grab whatever was around when I got hungry. I found these guys way in the back of my freezer! Forgotten Dr.Praeger's Pizza Bagels...

I had two of these for lunch with an apple and Lighthouse Reduced Sugar Caramel Dip...

Not a bad 7 Point lunch! Now for the cookies!! We made 9 different kinds. We try to make different ones every year. Here were the ones we went with this year...

• pizelles
• orange almond biscotti
• pecan caramel surprises
• pignoli cookies
• white chocolate cranberry cookies
• white chocolate dipped coconut biscotti
• elfin shortbread bites
• white chocolate fudge cookies
• chocolate fudge cookies (so easy!)

My Mom and Gram also made some cucidati which is a filled Italian cookie and some chocolate dipped hazelnut cookies (which weren't ready to take home, yet). It was a six hour bake- a-thon!

When I got home, I assembled everything on trays to take to my neighbors. Here's what it looked like all put together...

I added a package of my chocolate dipped pretzels rods to the tray, also. I wrap it all in cellophane with ribbon and I added a card with the "cookie menu" on it. It's a nice touch. The husband does a great job of delivering them; this year he even wanted to wear a Santa hat! Thankfully, we did not have one!

So, the "non- plan" - how did it go?? Well, I pretty much sampled everything we made and I did not beat myself up about it nor did I feel guilty. I was fairly relaxed about the whole thing. I tasted it all and now I feel like I'm done with it. Maybe because I feel a little bleh and kinda sick of it all! I know this is not healthy, but I didn't even eat/want dinner tonight. My stomach is full of too much sugar and nothing seemed appetizing anyway. I'm hoping to be back to my normal eating for the next couple of days before the big eating Christmas day and to keep up with my regular exercise (I did fit that in this morning before I left!).

At least that's the plan... =)

Just Cruising

Sorry for the non-food post yesterday, but did you like the Screaming Banshee???!!! My mom sent that to me last year and it cracks me up! I am the Screaming Banshee!! Life was so busy yesterday. I ran errands, wrapped presents, ran more errands, did some returning, cleaned, cooked, planned cookie recipes, organized stuff and wandered aimlessly around a couple stores looking for some last minute gifts (to no avail, so I'll be doing that on Mon., too!). Craziness.

Soooo, let's talk about the food. It's true confession time. When I committed myself to doing this blog, I resolved that I would be completely honest with myself and anyone who reads about my food intake. There is no perfection, no eating on program 100% and always choosing all the healthy and proper food groups , EVERY DAY, ALL DAY. As much as I would like to live that way, it doesn't always happen. But, this is part of the weight loss journey and I suspect, part of the maintenance lifestyle, too. So that being said, I will admit to not tracking yesterday and pretty much going downward at warp speed. I didn't snap pics of my indiscretions, either. I thought maybe that would make the junk I ate not exist, but I'm just playing games with myself. Anyway, I'll take you through a quick run through of the eating debacle. I started off with some cereal and Soy Slender. Note to self: this is Not a good enough breakfast! It did not stick with me at all. I kinda knew it wasn't going to, but I was in a hurry and it was the quickest thing I could wolf down. I was starving an hour later. Not good; this could have been the start of it all. I think I need a bigger breakfast during these holiday, goodies abound days. I came home starving for lunch and decided on PB2 and SF jelly on an Arnold Sandwich Thin, a serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips and 2 clementines. So far, so good. Later, when the daughters came home is when it went downhill fast. I had a snack of Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt and a Weight Watchers 1 Point Oatmeal Raisin Bar. And some pretzel sticks and more pretzel sticks, and some crackers with hummus and a Kit Kat and a Crunch Bar(stinkin leftover Halloween candy!) and some cheese and who knows what else! That's all I can remember, but there may have been more of those little candy bars involved. I was in an eating trance. Ugh. I finally reeled myself in, back to reality, and decided to get back on track for my next meal - which I should have skipped because I sure wasn't "hungry" anymore! I did "force" myself to eat a healthy dinner. I did take a pic of that...


So, I think I am feeling back in the game today. However, tomorrow is "Cookie Day" at my mom's house. We bake a ton of cookies (and eat them, too). I don't know what my game plan is for tomorrow. Eat, not eat, plan and track Points, don't. I don't know. I think I will play it by ear. I am feeling pressure to still be losing, but I think maybe I should get through this holiday not worrying so much about a loss, and try to make the best choices I can. No pressure, just cruisin. January is right around the corner and then it'll be crunch time!

This morning, I learned from my breakfast yesterday so I had a filling one. I went with 2 Egg, Cheese and Bacon Muffins and a Thomas' Light English Muffin...

Here's hoping it's smooth sailing in the healthy eating department today...