Hmm...That's Different

That was the theme of my food today! I think I said that phrase at every meal. It was a dual purpose saying that could have meant good or bad! Let's start with the good...

For breakfast, I wanted to eat the leftover baked tofu. Weird, right??!! I decided to make a tofu scramble using the leftover baked tofu chopped, 1 c. frozen shredded hash brown potatoes with onion and peppers, 1 egg white and 1 oz. Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar. I doesn't look pretty, but it tasted great! A different 3 POINT breakfast...



For lunch, I had white bean bruschetta "crostini". I toasted an Arnold Sandwich Thin, topped it with 2 tbsp. white bean hummus and 1/2 c. tomato bruschetta. Hmmm... different and delicious! I also had 1 c. Tabatchnick Minestrone Soup and an apple for a filling 6 POINT lunch...


Now, here's where the not so good "different" comes in...

I was really looking forward to dinner. I was going to have pizza on PIZZA NIGHT! I picked this up when I was grocery shopping the other day...

It sounded good and nutritious. The entire pizza was 7 POINTS and I planned on eating it all! Well, what a disappointment :( This wasn't really "pizza". It was a tortilla with some weensy toppings and a ton of overpowering spice (oregano, I think) disguised as a pizza. Now, it did say Ultra Thin on the box, but it still looked as if it would be more of a dough crust than just a stinkin tortilla! I cut it into quarters and had a side of carrots. I took a few bites of the "pizza" and thought....ICK! I don't dislike much in the way of food, but I have to say in little daughter style, "eeewwww, that's gross". I choked down half and threw the rest away. Just not worth the 7 POINTS. I could've just had the regular pizza for that many points. Here was my plate before it hit the trash...

Sometimes "nutritious" isn't always good. This carried over into dessert. Yes, my precious dessert time has been tarnished with yuckiness! I attempted to make a "healthy" peanut butter cookie using PB2, whole wheat and other healthier ingredients. Most traditional peanut butter cookie recipes call for shortening, so I tried to omit that and substitute something else. The result was...

hmmm.....different. Not the traditional taste and texture of a peanut butter cookie like I was looking for. These came to 1 POINT each. I wouldn't make these again as is; they need more tweaking. These unsatisfactory eats lead to an after dinner munch session. Ugh, why does that always happen??!!!! Didn't I just say YESTERDAY that I lost 3.4 lbs.???!!! And I am close to the 150's??!!! And I am only 6 lbs. from my "Weight Watchers Goal"??!!! Yes, that is all true. Yes, I slipped into self-sabotage mode. Yes, I am a swinger. Not THAT kind; ) The" scale "kind - up and down or back and forth, however you want to look at it :) But, what's done is done, so I have to pick up and move on from it. I know I can do this! Tomorrow is another day :)

Off to have some cuddle time with little daughter. Have a great night, everyone!!!

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!

Making It Through

I ended up making it through the day fairly well. Thankfully, the way my body was feeling was a constant reminder to stay on track.

For a snack today, I decided to try one of these bars that I had picked up a while ago...



This bar was actually developed by a weight loss surgeon! The package says to eat a Fullbar with glass of water, 30 minutes before your mealtime and you are supposed to want to eat less and be satisfied at your next meal. Hey, I'm game! The nutritionals were pretty decent for this fairly large bar: 150 cal., 2.5 gr. fat and 5 gr. fiber = 2 Points. Here it is, up close and personal...

This bar was o.k. It was a little chewy and had a strong cinnamon flavor. This bar flavor was supposed to be cranberry almond, but there weren't many almonds, mainly sunflower seeds. Not sure I would buy these again. Not sure if I could say I wanted to "eat less" at my next meal either, but I didn't follow the directions exactly since I had this more like 1 1/2 hrs. before my dinner. In any event, it did o.k. as a snack bar.

Dinner tonight was chicken cutlets for the family. I am so glad I found a way to make these so that I can enjoy them, too. My main trick is to "pan fry" my breaded cutlet first in just cooking spray. Then, I fry the rest for the family in olive oil. My breading is the same for all, so it's just as tasty and a 4 oz. cutlet comes to only 5 Points this way! I also made some roasted cauliflower which I loved and could have eaten the entire batch of. I decided to have the last 2 tbsp. of white bean dip with a few carrots and some New York Style 96% fat free garlic mini bagel chips. It was a filling dinner, all for 10 Points...

I had 2 Points left for dessert and these guys were calling my name...

I used a half serving of them to top my 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free Double Churned Chocolate Ice Cream...

It was yummy and very sugary, which scared me a little, but I seemed to have survived without incident! Yeah, one day down. I made sure to journal/track everything I ate and I even got in a little extra exercise on the trampoline with the daughters. All in all, a day I can feel good about. Hopefully, my body will get the message and I won't feel so yucky tomorrow!

See you in the a.m. =)

Duct Tape

I need duct tape. Not for a household project -for my mouth. I need to tape it up with the strongest duct tape so that I will not allow anymore junk to find it's way into my mouth. I know it sounds extreme, but I think it will work! Okay, it's not realistic, but I am really having a hard time and I don't know of a way to get out of this overeating pattern. Every morning I wake up with the right intentions, but I head in the wrong direction from afternoon to evening. I need to snap out of this! I am kinda mad at myself for giving in to the whole "oh, it's a holiday - just enjoy yourself" hype because it clearly is something I cannot handle at this time. I don't just "get right back on the wagon". I chase after the wagon for weeks as it is doing the Indy 500 in front of me and I can't catch up with it!! So, maybe I am not ready to NOT be in weight loss mode. I need to stay as focused as I can so that I don't completely go off into "never never want to be there again "land. Well, let's get to the food - there sure was a lot of it...



Lunch today was a white bean, roasted pepper and spinach wrap. I used 2 tbsp. white bean dip, roasted peppers, a handful of baby spinach in a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Tortilla. I had the usual sides of grapes and Kettle Baked Potato Chips...







But this was not enough. I also had to eat all the crusts cut off from little daughter's PB&J and two handfuls of pretzel sticks.

Snack time was not a mountain of brownies that I wanted very badly. I decided on a brownie substitute...

I crumbled the Chocolate Brownie Clif Z Bar over 1/2 c. plain yogurt sweetened with a little Splenda...

This was a really tasty snack and pretty filling. I will definitely have this again.

I'm not completely sure, but I do think I grabbed a chocolate or two after this. Isn't that sad? I was in an eating trance!

My in-laws came for dinner tonight and I put out most of our leftovers to eat. They had lasagne and I made a baked penne with some leftover whole wheat penne, part skim ricotta and some reduced fat mozzarella. I also had a salad with oil and vinegar and a slice of some reeeally good rustic bread. I think I said I wasn't going to buy this bread again, but "whoot, there it is"...

I ended up having another piece and a half, PLUS some of little daughter's crusts. Wait, there's more. I picked on some more of the pasta and I had 2 of my Gram's deep fried veggies (she makes them every Christmas Eve). Sorry no pics. I think then I can pretend I never ate them!

But, WAIT, there's more...

and sad to say, more chocolate followed:(

I am ready for bed now, however I am probably so sugared up that I won't sleep right. I hope to snap out of this eating. I feel terrible mentally and physically, but it's almost like I can't stop myself. It's getting to the point where nothing is really looking that appetizing, but I am just compelled to eat it. I don't know. I need some "divine intervention" soon!!!! Or duct tape, whichever comes first...

Jump Around

I was able to occupy myself with lots of cleaning this afternoon, so the munchies stayed away. Also, my parents and Gram came by to see the daughters playing with the gift they gave them...

A trampoline!!! The poor husband spent 4 hours putting this together! It was a job, but I think he was just as excited about it as the daughters! We all tried it out -even my Dad; it's a lot of fun and a suprisingly good workout.

Dinner tonight was.... well, it's Friday you know! Yes, the husband and daughters had pizza. I decided to have some Spanakopita Wontons that I had in the freezer, along with a green salad, some carrots and 2 tbsp. white bean dip that I made this morning...

I wasn't quite "finished" eating, so I grabbed a couple Kashi TLC Roasted Garlic and Thyme Crackers to scoop up the rest of my dip...

I also nibbled on some of the pizza; probably ended up being half a slice total. I guess since I didn't have a snack this afternoon, I should be o.k. with my Points. I have to admit, I didn't "track" my Points exactly today. I know when I get away from writing it down, I tend to go astray. But since this was my day of 'detoxing' from all the overeating, I wasn't too worried about it. Tomorrow, I will be better!!!

I wanted some dessert tonight, so I went with my recent fave - Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2/Cool Whip Free icing. Really rich - a good cravings buster...

I am off to relax a little. I have a wicked headache right now (probably sugar withdraw!), so I am ready to chill...

Have a good night =)

Five Days

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was busy, fun and full of amazing food and treats! I woke up today feeling "the holiday hangover". Too much food, sweets and not enough sleep will do that to me! Good thing I don't add too much alcohol in there! So, I thought today may be a little rough with trying to reel myself in from all the overeating. I decided to start the day by filling my jug of water so that I would be reminded to drink a lot of it today. I couldn't figure out what to have for breakfast; nothing seemed that appetizing except for cookies and chocolate, which I had to stop myself from just mindlessly grabbing. It's amazing how quickly that mindless eating comes back into play! I reminded myself that the "holiday" is just one day, o.k. give it two and the next "eat -a thon holiday" is five days from now. There is no reason why I should continue to go hog wild until New Years; although it is easy and fun to do! But, I know it will only make it that much harder for me come January. So, I'm gonna try my best to give good eating a chance for the next five days.

For breakfast, I finally decided to just go with what I was in the mood for ,which oddly enough ,was beans! Weird, huh? I made a white bean dip (kinda like hummus) and spread that on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. It was so good! I am glad I went with that instead of a traditional breakfast...



For lunch, I had a turkey wrap using 2 oz. turkey, lettuce and a squirt of dijonnaise on a La Tortilla Factory tortilla. I also had some grapes and a serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips. A great 5 Point lunch...


I still felt like munching a little after lunch, but I got myself out of the kitchen and the munchies have gone away for right now. I'll keep chuggin the water - hope that helps me out - there is chocolate EVERYWHERE in my house!!!!!