Catching Some Zzzz's

Hey, everyone! Sorry I missed posting last night. Little daughter and I were on our own last night; the husband was chaperoning big daughter's school event which was from 5 p.m. till midnight! So, I spent the evening with little daughter playing "hairdresser" (she gave me some interesting do's!), making brownies (YES, THERE ARE BROWNIES IN THE HOUSE - AAAHHH!), and snuggling in bed watching TV. I was doing everything I could to keep my eyes open while watching her TV shows and after I put her to bed at 9:15, I put myself to bed, too! My original plan was to post after her bedtime, but I was out for the count! Sorry! So, here's my quick food update...

After sending everyone off to school, I popped in The Shred - still Level 1. However, I noticed that I felt much stronger this time: my jumping jacks, jump rope and anterior raises were all stronger. Maybe I'm ready for Level 2?! Shakin in my boots...we'll see...maybe I'll watch it today to see what I'm in for !!

Breakfast was an egg, bacon and cheese muffin sandwich ( a Mickey D knockoff!). I used 1 egg white, a slice of center cut bacon and slice of 2% cheese on a lite english muffin. I also had a sliced pear for a total of 4 POINTS...

For lunch, I had a cup of black bean soup, a Dietz and Watson gourmet lite beef frank on a light hot dog bun and a serving of Trader Joe's Rice Chips - this time I got the Sour Cream and Onion flavor which was AWESOME!! A yummy 5 POINT lunch...

I tried (and did pretty well without them last week), but I couldn't stay away from the chips for too long! So glad I found these guys. They have the same nutritionals as the Sea Salt and Pepper flavor with the exception of an additional .5 gr. fat which didn't change the POINT value, so they are still coming up 2 POINTS for a huge serving! YAY! My new chip fave...

I know this is weird, but I was pondering how I could fit hummus into my day. I have no idea why I am so obsessed with it; not like it's BROWNIES, but it is so good! I figured hummus would be a nice snack option today, so I used 2 tbsp. smeared on 3 TJ's flax and honey flatbread crackers (I love these, too!) and a handful of carrots. 3 POINTS of goodness...

An easy dinner with little daughter was 2 TJ's Stir Fry Vegetable Egg Rolls, strawberries and blueberries and another handful of carrots for 5 POINTS...

And did I mention, there were BROWNIES!!! Little daughter wanted them and I obliged. Only minor infractions to report. I licked some batter, ate the crunchy edges off some of the baked ones (you can't leave the crunchy edges on, noooooo) and ate a piece of one that "broke apart" - uh, huh - it did, too! I'm counting it as 8 POINTS from my Weekly POINTS Allowance and that's all I'm using of those because if I use too many, I don't lose and I HAVE to lose next week - don't want that .2 lbs. dangling out there!

Little daughter got her brownie and I grabbed one of these and headed upstairs to cuddle and avoid further disaster...

I missed my Vitatop dessert, but I had to get out of the kitchen FAST. So, how am I gonna handle this today? I know they are down there, in the kitchen, wanting to firmly plant themselves on my hips, but I MUST resist. Short of throwing them out, which would surely cause a riot, I'm at a loss for ideas on how to avoid them today. Maybe put them in the laundry room or freezer? Maybe get the husband(who was already excited this morning to see "real" brownies) and daughters to eat each and every one of them with every meal today?? I"m open to any solutions to this great dilema of mine, so please let me know if you've got one!!

Well, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, so I'm going to take my 5K Saturday to the great outdoors. Then, it's Shred and duct tape for my mouth until the brownies are gone ;)

Have a great day... see ya tonight for our regularly scheduled program :)

Cheesy

Hey, hey, it's 5K Saturday!! I headed to the treadmill early this morning and did the 5K treadmill run. Boy was I sloooooow. My legs were weak and I was feeling tired, so I went at a slow pace which made it take even longer! But, I persevered because I feel committed to this 5K Saturday thing! One hour later (I told you I was really slow), I was finally done. Whew! While I was running, I was watching the Food Network (I don't know why I do that to myself) and I saw someone making fried eggs topped with salsa. I think it may be huevos rancheros. That really appealed to me this morning, so after my run, I made a similar version. I scrambled 3 egg whites in a nonstick pan and topped it with a few tbsp. of salsa. It looked good, but still needed something...CHEESE! I grated 1 oz. of Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese and sprinkled the salsa eggs with half. On the side, I had a lite english muffin topped with the remainder of the cheese and broiled for a few minutes. Mmm... a cheesy good 3 POINT breakfast...


The rest of the morning was spent mainly putzing around, reading the paper and hanging out. Laaaazy! Lunchtime came around and I rummaged around the freezer and fridge for something different. I saw Trader Joe's StirFry Vegetable Egg Rolls and went with those. They are only 110 cal each, so I had 2! I had a huge side salad with carrots and Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch. A nice 5 POINT lunch...


For snack, more cheese! This time, I had a light string cheese, 1/2 pear and a half serving of pretzels sticks, all for 3 POINTS...

Dinner was late tonight; big daughter had a basketball game that ran right until dinner time. We decided on a quick pasta dinner. The husband and daughters had ravioli and meatballs that I had in the freezer. Too POINTY for me, so I made some whole wheat cappellini. I sauteed two big handfuls of baby spinach with a tsp. of EVOO, added a sliced Spinach, Fontina, Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's and combined it with the 2 oz. whole wheat cappellini and 1/4 c. marinara sauce. Awesome! It made a huge serving, all for 8 POINTS...

We all cuddled up after dinner and watched The Game Plan, which was a cute movie. Although, I feel like writing Disney a letter demanding to know why, in almost all of their children's movies, the mother in the story has to be dead!! Aren't these supposed to be "feel good" movies!! Humpf. Anyhoo, I can't let the night go without dessert. I went with my classic - Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2 (no fluff - oh, the horror!). This is the best 2 POINT dessert on the planet...

Toward the end of the movie, I also grabbed a couple handfuls of pretzel sticks. I wasn't really hungry, but just felt like munching. No worries, I'll call it 4 POINTS and add it to my Weekly Allowance POINTS. I have to shut it down for sure, though. Don't want to do any serious damage. Just have to get through tomorrow and I think I'll be o.k. this week!

I missed doing The Shred tonight. It's a little late and I'm pretty much ready for bed, but I'm still thinking about doing it. It's only 20 minutes, right?????

A Good Day

Oh happy day! I felt so relieved after weighing-in this morning. It is terrible that I let the scale rule me and it is something that I haven't been able to conquer yet. I let that number on the scale dictate whether I'm going to have a good day or a bad day. Many times that number has caused me to throw in the towel and quit my diet. Other times it has caused me to overeat just from the stress of not seeing the number that I want to see. I'm trying to get better with this and I have realized that I am in this for the long haul, so it shouldn't matter so much what the scale says on a daily basis. It's about all the healthy changes that I am making for a lifetime. In any event, the scale was my friend today so I felt like it was gonna be a good day :)



Since it was weigh-in day, for both BLBE2 Challenge and Weight Watchers, I did not eat breakfast until after my meeting. I brought these in the car to eat on the drive home(don't worry - yogurt was at red lights only!)...


Lunch was a Mexican Bean Wrap, some carrots and a serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips...

For the wrap, I used 1/2 c. Old El Paso Fat Free Refried Beans spread on a La Tortilla Factory Tortilla. I added 2 tbsp. salsa, 1 tbsp. guacamole, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes and rolled it all up burrito-style. So delish and only 3 POINTS! I have to admit that it is not the prettiest wrap to look at. Something about the refried beans reminds me of dogfood! Thankfully, it doesn't taste that way. Although, having never tasted dogfood, I wouldn't know for sure ;)

Before heading out for daughters afternoon activities, I had a snack of 1/2 c. plain yogurt with one of the new WW banana nut bread bars that I got as a sample at my meeting. I have to say that I really like these bars! It was awesome crumbled on top of the yogurt and it was a filling 3 POINT snack...

Again, I had no specific plan for dinner. Since, it's dance night, I knew it would be something quick. I ended up making soup and sammies for the husband and daughters. No complaints from them -how special ;) I decided to have Chinese food - Trader Joe's style!! I picked up this Chicken Chow Mein in the frozen section at TJ's...
It is basically frozen broccoli, peppers, carrots and chicken with noodles and sauce. The sauce comes in a separate package so that you can add as little or as much as you like. Big daughter loves this meal! We had tried it once before and she insisted I buy it again. It's a good buy, POINTS-wise, too. One serving is 220 cal., 3gr. fat and 4 gr. fiber which comes out to 4 POINTS! Such a bargain that I had room for these, too...

One of these egg rolls is only 110 cal., 4 gr. fat and 2 gr. fiber. That's 2 POINTS!

I added even more veg by having some leftover string beans with evoo. Another yummy and filling meal for only 7 POINTS...

And you know there's always room for dessert! I've been jonesing for peanut butter all day. I do have the weirdest cravings, huh? Deep Chocolate Vitatop with a more glaze-ish topping of PB2 mixed with Marshmallow Fluff...

Goodness in every bite :0)