Dreaming of Dinner

I"m very hungry today. So I've been thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner tonight.

White Pizza.

I miss pizza.

miss WHITE pizza more than anything.

Here's how I'm going to adapt it to my plan.

1 Whole Wheat Sandwich thin
1 tsp of olive oil
1 oz low fat Ricotta Cheese
.5 oz of FF mozzarella
Minced Garlic
Chopped Spinach
Chopped mushrooms.

Preheat oven to 400. Saute mushroom and spinach and garlic in pam. Brush sandwich thin with olive oil and top with ff mozzarella and ricotta. Toss on mushroom/spinach/garlic mixture. Salt and pepper. Bake until melted.

I can't WAIT.

Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffing things.

Stuffing things gives you the illusion that you are eating copious amounts of food.

That's why I really enjoyed making stuffed peppers last night.

1 Orange Bell Pepper with top cut off( scoop out the seeds and white stuff)
1 spicy black bean burger (morningstar farms makes great ones) crumbled.
1/4 Cup black beans ( rinsed)
1 Can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
Handful of chopped mushrooms
Red onion
Minced Garlic
1tsp of olive oil
Cooking Spray
1 oz of 2% cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
Saute burger, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion with garlic and olive oil until tender and onions are transparent. Spray aluminum foiled pan. Stuff burger mixture into pepper and top with cheese. Bake 30 mins or until pepper is very soft. Top with FF sour cream or salsa verde.

FANTASTIC

Monte-Cristo Grilled Sandwich

I love grilled sandwiches. But I don't love that they go directly to my THIGHS.

So to quell my craving last night I created this.

1 Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
1 WW cheese wedge (jalapeno flavored)
2 low sodium slices of turkey bacon
1 oz of ff deli turkey
.5 oz of ff cheddar cheese
Horsradish mustard to taste
Spray butter
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes to all melty and yummy

I had a side serving of Zucchini Fries.

Love -Hate

I have a love-hate relationship with diet soda.

I LOVE IT.

But I know it's not good for me, it makes me hungrier, it takes up space that water could be filling, and it's expensive. But sometimes, I just REALLY REALLY need a fountain diet coke.

I went to subway today for lunch. Ordered the buffalo chicken salad....with spinach instead of iceberg. All the veggies including hot peppers.  No cheese and fat free ranch on the side. I then took half the chicken off and will use this tomorrow on my own salad. Sounds good doesn't it?

But the part of my meal I was most excited for was......

My fountain diet coke. It just makes everything taste better and today i felt VERY SICK OF WATER.

Top 3

Top 3 things I love about today.

1. Even after a week traveling across the country I am down 3.5 pounds.
2. My official weigh in today brings me to a weight that I haven't seen for TWO and 1/2 YEARS.
3. I weigh less today than I did BEFORE I got pregnant.


What I learned as that it's okay to indulge ( b/c I did in San Francisco) but as soon as I could I jumped right back into my healthy eating patterns. No lingering around in the land of ..."I'll start tomorrow". Because weight loss is not ruined by ONE unhealthy meal, or even TWO! But little by little, meal by meal.

Now onto my Veggie Inspiration!

I was CRAVING CRAVING CRAVING pizza.

So I made this!

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

Scoop out brown stuff of a two mushroom caps.
Diced tomatoes &  Red Onions sauteed with garlic, pepper and basil as your sauce.
Turkey Pepperoni chopped up( 17 slices is one serving!)
1 oz of low fat cheese split between BOTH pizzas.

Totally  hit the spot and feels like so much food because you get TWO pizzas. You can even make one traditional and one buffalo chicken ( my fave)

Down She Goes.

Weigh in day was yesterday and she didn't disappoint!

I'm down another 2.5lbs for a total of 16.5 pounds.

Feels good. This week, my vegetable star is Eggplant. I've been trying to cook it in interesting ways.

So far one of my favorites is "Eggplant Chips".

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Slice eggplant into "coins".
3. Salt in a strainer and put aside for 15-20 mins or so. ( this helps draw the water out) I usually cook the rest of the meal while this is happening. Last night was beef, beans and brown rice.
4. Rinse eggplant and pat dry.
5. Dip in egg whites ( i buy a container from Walmart so that I don't waste eggs)
6. And then dip in whole wheat bread crumbs mixed with your fav. spices. I do garlic, oregano and pepper.
7. Heat pan with 1 tsp of olive oil and pan fry coins for 2 mins on each side then place on cookie sheet. Bake for 20 mins turning once.

Dip in warm marinara sauce! YUM. YOu can eat an entire eggplant for 100 calories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cauliflower Bread Sticks

Okay, okay. I know "Eat your Veggie's" is not a new thing.

My mom has been after me since before I was potty trained but I really think that choosing this food group to "focus-on" is benefiting my weight loss and it's giving me a lot of joy!

I recently discovered the joys of Cauliflower. Up until a few days ago, I literally had NEVER tried it. Something about it's weird "albino broccoli" appearance just gave me the yucks!

Last night I made Cauliflower Bread Sticks and Roasted Butternut Squash as my "sides".

You mix riced cauliflower ( pulsed in a food processor) with
1/2 cup egg-whites and 
1/2 cup of 2% cheese ( i did cheddar). 
Press it into a pan coated with cooking spray and bake at 400 for 20-30 mins. Remove when solid to the touch and cut with a pizza cutter into bread stick shapes (8-10 sticks). Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and olive oil cooking spray. Turn oven up to 450 and cook 5-10 more minutes. Sticks are done when brown and toasted looking. Serve with red sauce to dip! 

DELISH. My husband LOVED them. I plan on making more to serve to my tot.

I bet you're thinking...

Man, she's been gone a long time. I bet she's been on a two-month long nacho & french-fry binge.

But, surprise! I wasn't. Although, i considered it.

I'm actually back and 14 lbs lighter.

Besides having a few set-backs...( i hurt my foot). I've still managed to eat very well and remain active. I've found something that works for me and I've been sticking with it.

One of the things that I've challenged myself with is to try and eat more vegetables.

Not just carrots and celery but LOTS of vegetables, different vegetables, new vegetables. You can't beat the nutritional benefit but they are  full of fiber and so low in calories that they help keep me satisfied for a long time.

I've made eggplant lasagna ( slicing the eggplant to use instead of noodles).

Zucchini Fries ( dip in egg whites and coat with breadcrumbs and bake)

Portabello mushroom pizza ( scrape out the guts and make a turkey pepperoni and light cheese pizza).

Cucumber & Tomato salad ( mix balsamic and splenda)

And, tonight I'm making roasted Butternut Squash to mix with chicken and dumplings!

Anywhoo..i'm back and hope to refocus myself to keep this blog updated on my journey. 

Hidey Ho!

So i did it. I'm back on track. Down 4.5 pounds!

Recipes!

Love this new blog I found with ww recipes!

http://pointlessmeals.blogspot.com/

Control...

You know what control feels like to me....

These last few days I have reigned in my out of control eating and I already feel better.

I've been tracking my points...measuring, weighing, NOTICING what goes into my body.

It carries over into all facets of my life.

I am more organized at work.

I am staying on top of the laundry and doing the "hot spot" cleaning each evening that all the martha stewart followers suggest.

This is a journey.

{tap tap tap} Hello?

Remember me?

The girl that was sooooooo motivated to start turning her life around?

The one that could make a healthy lifestyle just FIT into her life.

She wore a pedometer.

And ate lean cuisines.

The one that dated Billy Blanks at least 3 times a week for two months?

Yeah...that didn't turn out so well.

I was majorly derailed by going on vacation. I never fully recovered.

And this weekend...

I think i hit food rock bottom.

We went out for mexican. Then bought movie popcorn without seeing  a movie. Then hit the DQ drive in for a blizzard.

I feel like i've eaten my weight in cookie dough.

I haven't YET turned down a chip.

And a new restaurant opened up in town and its Italian....so bring on the carbs.

I honestly could FEEL myself getting fat. My skin was expanding. My clothes stopped draping me flatteringly.

i've been tired. And feeling awful. I think my insides have turned to food sludge.

So this week will be about getting the blood chemistry back to normal. I'm going to de-carb just for the week and try to reset these awful cravings.

But i'm glad to be back. Even if my life has been more French fries than skinny girl.

O' Le!

When I lived in Boston I was obsessed with this burrito restaurant called Anna's.

The place was totally intimidating because you were supposed to yell out your order to a group of mexican cooks while you waited in line with a bunch of other burrito enthusiasts.

You had to remember size, type, and you had to list what you wanted IN your burrito.

And god forbid you wanted something CRAZY like no rice but extra beans. That really threw them for a loop.

But the anxiety was worth it because those burritos were addictive and probably 100 points each.

I really miss Anna's.

Anywhoo. Today, I tried the Fresco menu at taco bell. And while it is NOT anna's.....

It is...FABULOUS!

It's part of their new DRIVE THRU DIET campaign.

The chicken burrito Fresco is only 6 points and packed with veggies, beans and chicken. The hot sauce is zero points. Just don't get the chips...they're 8 points and not worth it.

Forced Exercise

Since I have been avoiding Billy..( i have an excuse! I hurt my back!)

I have desperately needed to start moving again. I found that the best way to get moving is to force myself into exercise.

Yesterday I was "car-less" at work. My husband had the wheels and I had a meeting across campus. Like the OTHER side.

Luckily, I got myself a ride there ( so i wouldn't be sweaty) but I declined an offer for a ride back and instead...WALKED!

It was 20 minutes...hot as hell..and pretty much UPhill... but i felt GREAT when I got back.

I earned myself an activity point, got some sun and energized myself without an afternoon snack.

If YOU can walk to work...DO IT.

If you can walk home...DO IT!

Commuting is something we have to do anyway...why not get some exercise!

Half

A half pound gain.

Blah.

I know i deserve it. But it still stinks.

Moving on.

4th = 4/10

I wish i could say I had a great weight watching weekend.

But i feel like I'm still sort of limping along from vacation.

I did "okay" but I was not good about tracking and I made poor choices.

However, I did not engage in all or nothing thinking.

I had a pretty heavy points day yesterday but it didn't make me feel like I should order an entire pizza and eat it myself.

More like half a pizza. 

Tomorrow I weigh in so I'll give you the damage report.

6 out of 10

If I were scoring myself on my weight watching ability yesterday, i'd only give myself a 6 out of 10.

I didn't EAT alot but i made some pretty dumb choices and went to bed hungry.

First...

I had a lunch meeting and since we have a total of 3 choices we ended up doing Mexican.

I ordered a salad with grilled chicken but even though i KNEW this salad came with tortilla strips and cheese, i didn't ask for it without.

Instead, i told myself I would "take off" the extras when i got it.

Um..yeah..that's not what happenend.

I ended up eating all the strips and I didn't even bother taking off the cheese. The only smart choice I made was when i used salsa for salad dressing instead of the ranch they served.

Then for dinner I had a lean cuisine ( I KNOW...but seriously I was beat) and since those aren't filling I ended up snacking on Kashi Crackers and 100 calorie pretzels. ( none of this satisfied my hunger).

PLUS..

I didn't hang out with Billy b/c i still had to unpack . I went to bed at 8.

Today I'm hoping for at least a 8/10 day.

Re-Lapse

I tried.

I REALLY tried to be good on vacation.

But I failed sort of miserably.

I had very little control over my environment, I drank beer, we ordered out alot and it was so hot that I could barely move let alone exercise.

Yesterday was the worst day..because we were stuck in an airport ALL DAY due to flight delays.

So I definitely fell into old habits. All or nothing thinking. Carbo loading. Fast food. No water.

BUT.

I stepped on the scale this morning, determined not to run away from whatever number showed up and the damage wasn't too horrible.

Only a 1.5 gain.

That motivated me to get RIGHT back on track.

I had a great breakfast. I"m going to have a salad for lunch and pound water all day.

Then a date with Billy tonight.

Back on track.

Tipping the Scales

One of my weight loss essentials is a food scale. I purchased a digital food scale that can read in grams and oz and it is one of my best investments.

Here's why.

I think when you're overweight you have a "perception problem".

I've spent alot of time looking in the mirror over the last year but not very much time ACTUALLY LOOKING at myself.

I sort of focus on the highlights. My face, my hair, occasionally hands.

So when one day you see a picture of yourself that someone else took...it hits you that you had NO IDEA that you looked like that.

Who IS that fat chic?

I think the same thing applies to portions of food.

One serving of chips when measured in my hand is WAY bigger than one serving of baked chips when weighed on the food scale.

I use it for everything.

If i have cereal, i put the bowl on the scale and weigh the milk, zero it out and add the cereal, zero it out and add the banana and then there is no guessing. No fudging the numbers to get an extra bite.

I may not weigh everything forever but for right now...when i'm just starting out...it's essential. Because i know that my perception is still way off.

So if you don't have one...GET ONE. And use it. I'm even bringing it to florida.

I just ate mcdonald's

But it's okay!

I was supposed to be wining and dining someone at lunch today but they canceled.

Which left me sort of lunch-less. That is an emergency in my book.

So I ended up going to McDonald's and ordering the Southewest Salad without chicken (2 points) and the southwest dressing (1/2 packet = 1.5 points).

This is the salad with black beans, corn, romaine lettuce and a sprinkling of Monetary Jack cheese.

I skipped the tortilla sprinkles ( but honestly..it's b/c they forgot to put them in my bag).

A fountain Diet Coke ( summertime bliss).

And...I also picked up a lean cuisine. I know! But I'm dependent!

It was an incredibly filling lunch.

And i got my " I MUST ORDER FROM A FAST FOOD PLACE" lunch time fix.

Moving Down

Hooray!

Another 1.5 pounds GONE.

The scale is going in the right direction!

Every pound will lead to another pound and before I know it...all my unwanted poundage will be burned up by Billy Blanks.

My husband and I did Tae Bo last night. It's fun to do it together.

I pretend to punch him and he  pretends to kick me...it's very therapeutic. ( I kid)

After all my years "being" an athlete, i had forgotten how wonderful it is to crawl into bed with a truly tired body.

Not tired because of work, or lack of sleep, or eating junk.

Tired because for 60 minutes I pushed myself to exhaustion.

The sweat, and the sore muscles and the feeling of heavy eyelids is exhilerating. Taking a shower because you need to wash the sweat off is a reward in it self.

Feeling it.

Weigh-in day is tomorrow.

Usually by now i can FEEL my weight loss.

It's sort of a lightening or even a loosening of skin.

But this week, i don't feel anything.

I moved all weekend. We walked 5 miles yesterday and went swimming at the pool. I stuck to my points.

The only thing i didn't do was drink enough water.

It's been REALLY hot here and on the weekends i'm so focused on my family, i forget to take care of myself.

On Wednesday we leave for Florida. It's a family vacation and i'm a little worried about maintaining a loss. As long as I don't gain, i'll be happy. But when you stay at someone else's house it's hard to know what healthy food i'll have available.

But i just have to remind myself that it's about choices. Big breakfast? small lunch. Going out for Dinner? eat light all day.

I'll let you know tomorrow if my "feeling" is correct.

Billy and I

Billy Blanks and I got in a fight last night.

Our DVD player wasn't working and I desperately didn't want to do the same workout.

The Get Ripped DVD has three workouts and I very much wanted to do work-out 2, since I've memorized workout 1.

But i couldn't get it to work.

So I told Billy that I needed a break from him  last night and instead did a strength training dvd for 45 minutes.

I didn't sweat. So i felt like a failure.

But this morning i feel better about it because my triceps are sore and so is my rear end, so something was accomplished.

I also left 2 points on the table last night. I wasn't even hungry!

OUT to eat.

Last night we had to clear out of the house so my in-laws could throw a fancy pants dinner party.

So we decided to take The Cub out to eat.

This was my first "out-to eat" since being on plan.

I banked up 13 points plus I had my 35 weekly points. For those of you that don't speak Weight Watchers. ( your daily points are what you stick to all day, and the weekly points are your "splurge points" that you can use all at once or a little each day).

I decided i wanted buffalo wings. I LOVE wings. We ordered them without breading.

So my husband and I split an order. I ate them painstakingly slow. They tasted AMAZING. Worth every bit of the 9 points they cost me.

Then b/c weight watching is all about choices. I ordered a grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side.

I left the restaurant satisfied, not stuffed.

It's hard to get used to NOT being stuffed. For so long that over full, bloated, stomach exploding feeling was the only thing that stopped me from eating.

But last night...i didn't even have to unbutton my pants!

Reminding Myself!

These are the things that I have to constantly remind myself of.

These will be the cornerstones of making this a permanent change of lifestyle.

Each of these bullet points helps contribute to success as I travel down the scale.

These are my "Must Remember" points.

• TRACK EVERYTHING. Even the mess ups. Even the days where i consume 100 points. I will track it and forget it. ONE DAY does not destroy success but ONE WEEK, ONE MONTH and ONE YEAR have brought me to where i am today.
• Wear a pedometer. I will see how lazy i am and it helps me be competitive and try to sneak in extra steps to beat the number.
• PLAN. Going out to eat? I will find the menu and pick my food ahead of time. I will BRING my lunch. And set myself up for success. Control your environment. If there are no chips in the house, I won't binge on chips!
• Water yourself. Living things need water. Pudgy living things need more water.

The Irony

The Irony of losing weight comes when you start getting attention for it.

Because when your overweight you don't want any.

At all.

You can't STAND for people to mention your outfit, your arms, your legs, your stomach.

Because in YOUR head ( even if they are complimenting your new pants) you THINK they are secretly disgusted with your junk in the trunk.

Or you wonder if they'll go back to their office and twitter about your thunder thighs busting out of your new skirt.

But when you're actively trying to shed some poundage you can't WAIT for people to notice.

However, when you're an amazon, like me. It takes a really long time for people to notice.

On the flip side no one ever believes me when i tell them that when i was pregnant...I outweighed my own father.

Because when you're tall you can hide flab...in lots of places.

So now my weight loss is still a secret.

Only me, the scale, and you guys know that i'm just a little bit smaller than yesterday.

I'm Co-dependant

ON Lean Cuisine's.

 Here's the thing. They take all the work out of figuring out lunch.

I simply don't have time.

Between getting my toddler ready for the day and making my own healthy breakfast...the only time I have left for lunch creation is the 2 minutes in between cleaning breakfast dishes and changing the 1st poopy diaper of the day.

My husband tries to help but men seem to have the inability to do more than one thing at a time. So even if I have him focusing on making breakfast, it still leaves 1,230,000 other things to do before we leave the house at 8:00am.

So i always end up tossing a Lean Cuisine in my environmentally friendly reusable lunch satchel with some fruit a yogurt and a 100 calorie snack and calling it lunch.

I know the points. I know they taste marginally better than cardboard and eggshells.

And I mean..it could be worse.

There were a few weeks I "forgot" lunch and had to make a Hardee's run.

But i know they are packed with sodium and I want to get to the point where I whip together a healthy, wholesome from scratch lunch....the night before.

So I"m calling a Lean Cuisine Intervention on myself and only allowing 3 per week.

that is all.

Breakfast of Champions

I heart breakfast.

I have NEVER been one of those people who "forgetgs to eat breakfast."

My mind simply does not function without morning fuel.

This is my favorite WW friendly breakfast. (not the real picture unfortunately)

1 Lite English Muffin ( 1point)
5 Sprays of butter (0 points)
1 Slice of White American Cheese ( 1.5 points)
1 Egg White with a TINY dot  of yolk ( 0 points)
1 Morning Star Farms Veggie Sausage ( 2 points)
or 
2 Slices of turkey Bacon ( 1.5 points)


4.5 or 4 point breakfast. Filled until lunch.

Point Loss

Weigh In Day!

I have successfully lost another TWO pounds.

Funny, b/c even though that is a great loss and on the high end of recommened weekly poundage loss...

...it still feels INSIGNIFICANT.

I have trouble realizing that i should focus on the MINI-goals...not the big ones.

Fifty pounds seems DAUNTING but losing 2 pounds this week is doable and healthy and in the right direction.

What is very ironic about celebrating weight loss is that I generally celebrate things with food.

"Oh you just scored an A on your exam? Let's go out for pizza!"

"Oh you finished your dinner! Let's have dessert!"

My first time around on the weight loss train my BFF decided that my first 20 pound loss should be celebrated with Nachos. Yeah, she's skinny.

But when you celebrate weight loss...you have to find other ways to mark the happiness.

Yet it's hard to be happy when WW tells you that they are TAKING AWAY A DAILY FOOD POINT.

I know it's just one point.

And I KNOW that i've been leaving a point on the table every day anyway..but that POINT means so much!

See...it's a mini bag of popcorn, a cup of grapes, a half of banana!

Anyhoo...

I managed another dance with Billy Blanks last night.

I felt stronger.

Less jiggly.

Not MUCH less...but less.

ALMOST Two Weeks In

So I'm two weeks into my journey down the scale.

I already feel better. Lighter. More in-control. Happier.

I've dug out the Tae-Bo and reaquainted myself with Billy Blanks.

I've missed him and his spandex.

My in-laws actually have a HUGE tv and so when I do the work out it feels like Billy is life-sized and personally motivating me.

I try to punch him and kick him. This makes me happy.

I need all the motivating I can get, because Tae-bo is a BITCH. One 55 minute work-out earns me 9 activity points. I managed to bank 23 this week so far. And I'm hoping to get in one more workout tonight to get me over 30 activity points for the week.

My weigh in day is Tuesday.

Skinny Jeans

I wasn't blessed with skinny jeans.

In fact, my jeans have always been big.

I may have been BORN a small baby ( 6lb 12 oz) but ever since that day, I've managed to have one-up on the growth chart.

In 2005 I joined weight watchers at my highest weight ever. We're talking football player contender.

And within a year I had lost nearly 65 pounds.

I kept it off ( mostly) for 3.5 years.

But then, i sort of let it all go.

And then even though I ran a half marathon a few months before I got pregnant...i wasn't in the best shape.

Add to that growing a  9lb baby and i eventually packed on 55 pounds, to take me to a whole other stratosphere of overweight.

After my son's birth the 55 came off without trying but for the last few months I"ve been stuck in this no man's land of unfit, overweight and no time.

So i decided to stop THINKING about it and start DOING something about it.