Healthy Oils

In my last WW meeting there was a significant amount of talk about healthy oils and how they are essential to weight loss.  They are part of the weight watchers good health guidelines (GHGs). It states you should have two teaspoons of healthy oils a day.  Almonds, fish oil or other oil caplets, avocados, etc don’t count. They want you to find a way to have straight oil.  Now, as a Flex Plan person, this kills me as its an automatic 2 points out of my 19 pt day.  But she said that its proven that people who eat these oils lose weight faster and have better skin and hair. 

 Seeing as though I have been bouncing around 130.4 for SIX WEEKS now, I’m willing to try anything. So, I’m asking you, how do you get your oils?

Suggestions from our meeting include:

* pouring over YOUR serving of whole wheat pasta

* pouring over YOUR portion of roasted veggies

* salad dressing

* oil in your smoothie (um, sounds yucky to me but they swear by it)

Morningstar Farms Chik Patties

Okay, okay, okay.  I’m not sure what’s happened to me. I used to be terrified to try any of these types of products, but through WW I’ve learned to start trying new things.  Recently I’ve been making my toddler a lot of nuggets. I found myself totally craving crunchy chicken.  Several people had told me to try this product but I was scared.  Seriously, how can veggies pose as chicken??  Well, I was surprised to find that this really did taste like chicken.  It even had the stringy texture of chicken. Now, I’m not going to lie, the first time I ate it I buried it in so many condiments I’m not even sure I tasted the darn thing.

 3 pts per patty.  Its a good alternative to the spicy black bean burger when all you want is crunch!

Kashi Black Bean Mango

Yummy.  This is another good Kashi find.  I was a little worried because it has no meat per se, since the husband is always telling me I’m not getting enough protein.  This has 8g because of the beans.  Its a little higher than I would like in points value, but its filling, so worth it when in a pinch.  Also, its VERY spicy.  Being from the south, I love that, but it definately isn’t for the faint of heart.

 7pts per package.

Been awhile…

I’m ashamed at how long its been since my last post.  

I had to travel last week to upstate New York to visit my husband who is on a job.  It was as if I never started WW.  I went knowing that a lot of my meals would be out of my control and therefore I wasn’t going to be upset about it, but rather go with it.   I told myself I’d make wise choices and try to stay as closely on plan as I could.

WRONG. I went to restaurants and ordered what I wanted, not what I should have. Let me also say that I was in the land of diners. We don’t have a lot of diners in Texas, but this place was LOADED.  I think 3 of my meals (out of a week) were NOT at diners.  Scary.  That means a lot of fries! 

My frist day there we had breakfast at a diner.  I ordered an omlett and asked if they could make it with egg whites only. (in  CA they do this all of the time) Um, yeah, it was that “needle off the record” moment.  She looked at me with a face like”why would anyone do that.” So I sucked it up at ate the full fat fare, along with a biscuit and hash browns (if your going to do it go all out, right?).  Other things I ate during the week: brisket sandwiches (2), taco bell, vodka pasta, turkey melt, BBQ wrap, and more goldfish than I’d care to admit.

Its amazing how once you start you can’t stop.  After the egg white incident, it was all down hill.  And you know what else, it felt horrible.  I felt sluggish and over full.  There were many nights when i didn’t have dinner b/c i ate so much throughout the day. I didn’t have a single fruit or not -fattend (aka raw) veggie the whole time I was there.

Also, it was difficult to workout. DH was terribly busy and I had no one to watch the toddler. I did get two runs in toward the end of the week. I have to admit I felt so much better after completing my runs.

Oh, about my runs.  My team is officially running three miles now. Its amazing that in 8 short weeks we went from not being able to run at all to three miles. Next week we will be running 4 miles.  Our longest stretch yet. I’m terrified!! I’m currently running about a 10.5 – 11 min mile.  Pretty secent for a beginner.  I’m happy about it.   We have Tour de Fleurs in about 5 weeks. 6.2 miles.  Are we going to be ready??? Only time will tell!

Okay, so I weighed 1.6 up from my last weigh in (which went back down from my previous post).  So, I’m sitting around the 130 mark at all times.  My home scale has been telling me 129. So, even after my week off, I’m still in good shape.

Hum, I didn’t even touch on how hard it is to come back and get back on the wagon.  I found myself for days saying, “oh, just this one meal.” I think I’ve finally shaken it off.  Too bad I leave again in two weeks!!!!

Summer Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder

YUM-O! I stole this from the WW site, hope they don’t mind. It was SO good!  A cup and a half is actually quite a bit when its full of corn, peppers, and potato.  I’ll def. make this one again.  It makes a great lunch too!

Servings: 4
Points per serving: 4

Ingredients
1 medium Yukon Gold potato(es)
1 sprays cooking spray
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup onion(s), chopped (or 1 large shallot)
4 piece corn on the cob, kernels removed with a knife
1 cup sweet red pepper(s), diced
4 oz Canadian-style bacon, diced
2 cup fat-free skim milk
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Instructions
Puncture potato in several places with a fork; microwave on high power until tender, turning over once, about 8 minutes. Allow to cool; peel and mash.

Meanwhile, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray. Add celery, onion, corn and red pepper; sauté over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. (Note: Feel free to substitute your favorite fresh vegetables like asparagus and broccoli for the red pepper. Or to save time, substitute 2 cups of frozen corn and 1 cup of frozen, diced bell pepper for the fresh corn and red pepper.)

Stir bacon and milk into saucepan; stir in mashed potato and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; stir to combine. Cover and simmer 10 minutes (do not allow to boil). Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

It was bound to happen

It was bound to happen sooner or later….I gained.

 I’m okay with it, really. Having been involved in the fitness industry (actually my husband), I know all to well the weight fluctuations and that you can’t lose every week.  I also know it isn’t a fat gain its a water gain…I was kinda expecting it this week. Why, you ask? I’ll tell you.

1) I haven’t been cooking meals. I’ve been eating boca burgers and sandwiches. My snacks were some fruit, but mainly carbs b/c of the toddler. I know that WW is all calorie related and I know I stayed with in my points, but processed foods aren’t nearly as good as fresh and whole grained foods. Period.

2) I’ve been HORRIBLE about my water intake…..HORRIBLE!  For starters, I ran out of water Monday and didn’t go buy any until late Tuesday.  (we do the big jug and i fill bottles for work) Yup, I was drinking, coffee, tea and coke.  Really that one day didn’t matter too much. BUT i didn’t drink my 64oz any day, combined with…

3) Ate out three meals in a row. Wednesday dinner (greek, have no clue how to even calculate the points), Thursday breakfast (multigrain scone, but still not healthy) and Thursday lunch (corner bakery, i ordered with in good points, but had a few bites of my sisters 22 point food item).

So the combination of eating higher sodium foods and less water = water gain. 

I made every run this week PLUS toddler swim lessons. (Trust me, that *is* a workout!) 28 activity points this week….wooo.

 So, my goal right now is to sit down and figure out what I should eat next week.  I’m going back to the basics of WW and reviewing the Good Health Guidelines. I’m going to really make sure I have my water.  My scale this morning still said 130.5, so I know I’m okay…..but this week is a good reminder week.  Esp, with all of our travel coming up.

Corn, Black Bean and Salsa Chicken

Some friends were talking about this recipe today, so I thought I’d enter it into my recipe builder.  I’m not sure on how many servings there are or the size.  I know that when we’ve had it, we’ve used about a cup of the mixture and there is still always so much left. So, really, the points could be lower.  Of course, you have to add what you serve it with. I used to put it over jasmine rice. 

POINTS® value per serving | 4
Servings | 6

4 item chicken breast, boneless
14 oz canned black beans
14 oz canned yellow corn
1 1/2 cup salsa

Throw in crock pot. Cook 8 hours on low. Shred chicken with a fork and serve. I’m thinking that each serving would be a cup.

(if you aren’t dieting, I’d like to suggest throwing an entire brick of cream cheese on this 30 before serving. Don’t stir it yet, just let it melt. It will still look like a brick when you finally stir it, but its great!)

Tuna Melt

Um, yum. This was a great idea….

My Tuna Salad

1/2 Western Bagel Alternative Bagel

1 Slice 2% Kraft Swiss Cheese

Lightly toast bagel. Layer with tuna and cheese, return to toaster, top only until cheese melts. This is really filling since its on a bagel.

4.5 points!  

My Tuna Salad

12 oz can white albacore tuna, drained

3 Tbs Miracle Whip

Celery Salt to taste

This is my basic recipe. Of course you can add all kinds of things, but when i have nothing else, this suits me just fine.  I divide this up by 4… 3pts each.

130.4

I forgot to post on Friday. Ooops! I can’t believe the scale showed a loss. All week I was getting mixed results. Honestly, I didn’t eat my best last week, I felt like I snacked through the whole thing!

I’m .4 away from being at my WW goal to become a lifetime member. YAY! And I have a total WW weightloss of 12.2 in ten weeks. I’d have to say I’m happy.

Bean & Cheese Nachos

12 based tostito scoops (2)

1/4 cup salsa (0)

1/2 cup kidney beans (1)

1/3 cup low fat cheddar (2)

Don’t forget to spray the top with cooking spray so the cheese melts!!!

5 pts 

My Black Bean Burger

1 Morning Star Farms Black Been Burger Patty (3)

1 Thomas’ Light English Muffin (1)

Mustard

1 Slice 2% Cheddar (1)

Red Onion

Lettuce

Yummy! 5 points and very filling.  I usually serve with a 1/2 cup of vegatarian baked beans (2 pts).  Is it odd to serve a bean burger with a side of beans?? HA! 

Low Fat Cheese

So one of the things I  hate most about low fat cheese is that it never melts as well as high fat cheese.  You know what I’m talking about, right??  It just kinda hardens.

 Well, I’ve found a solution.  Next time you need your low fat cheese to melt, like on nachos of on the pizza below, use a quick spray of any cooking spray over the top of the cheese.  It adds no calories or points and I swear to you it melts.

Flat Out Pizza

Since I’m not cooking this week, I thought I’d share the low point foods that are basically staples in my house on nights I don’t want to cook.

1 Flat Out Tortilla Wrap (1)

2 Tbs pizza sauce (.5)

1/3 2% shredded cheese (2)

2 oz chicken (2) or canadian bacon (1 get 4 slices for 2 points)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray Flat Out with cooking spray on both sides. Bake on baking sheet approx 7 min or untl crispy.  Remove from oven and assemble with toppings.  Return to oven for 5 min or until cheese melts.

based on what you use the points vary.  This version is 5.5 points.

Black Bean Chili

Serves – um, 4?

Serving Size – 1 cup

Points per serving – 4

1 tsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 can rotel tomatoes

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 Tbs chili power

1/2 Tbs oregano

3/4 Tbs cumin (i omitted)

shredded low fat cheddar

fat free sour cream

Heat oil in sauce pan. Add garlic, onion, and green pepper. Cook until soft.  Add ground turkey, stirring and breaking it up until no longer pink. Then add tomatoes, beans, and spices. Cover and simmer 45 min.

 Serve 1 cup of chili, 1 Tbsp FF sour cream and 2 Tbs cheddar.   As with most chilis, I find this to be better on the second or third day.

Western Bagel, Alternative Bagel

Yippee!  Another 1 point food!  Another 1 point bread!

 These are great. So far I’ve used them as frech toast, cheese bread and to make my low fat tuna melt. I even ate one today b/c I was so hungry in the car.

Found them only at sprouts so far, but it appears that you can order them online as well.

Click Here

It’s my blog…

And I’ll brag if I want to!

Yup, today was a good day.  In the mail today there were jeans, but they weren’t just any ordinary jeans.  These were a size 6. As women, I assume most of my readers are women, you understand the difficulty in finding a good pair of jeans.  Well, at the begininng of the year I ordered two pairs of jeans following Zafu’s recommendations. I ordered a size 8 and 10. The ten’s were too big and they’ve literally been sitting in my car for MONTHS.  Two weeks ago I sent them back to VS and put a size 6 as the exchange. I was nervous, of course, seeing as I hadn’t been that number since 2004.  I decided that either I’d be pleasantly surprised at the fit, or they’d be my inspiration.

Well, THEY FIT!!!  Like a nice, not to tight, but just enough, glove! Couldn’t be any happier today!!!

Also, I’ll be posting several food reviews tomorrow.  Its funny actually. I closed my laptop on Friday night to take it to the bedroom to update my WW food log. When I got to the bedroom I couldn’t open the darn things.  Today I finally found a store willing to help me open it at any costs! So I’m a bit behind…sorry!  I’d post them tonight, but I hvae a super early morning and would like to get a few chapters of my book under my belt.

French Toast Alternative

I’m in a hurry to get everyone dressed for church, so I’ll update this later with links.

1 Western Bagel, Alternative Bagel Cinnamon Swirl
2 Packets Splenda
1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon
Spray I Can’t Believe its Not Butter

Mix cinnamon and splenda in a small bowl. Spray bagel with butter (I did about 4 sprays on each side). Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture, and spray again with butter. Toast until top is slightly crunchy. To me it reminded me of french toast. To others it may just be a really great bagel. But the best thing of all….ONE POINT!

(I found these wonderful one point bagels at sprouts)

11 lbs – Yippee!

Just got from my weigh-in(WI). I’m happy to report that I surpassed the 10lb mark “officially” today. I got my sticker and it made me proud. Yup, I’m laughing to, how silly to be so proud of a sticker. But I think its the recognition that my hard work is paying off.  The scale showed a two pound loss from last week. 

 I say “official” because I believe my real weight is the one I see when I step on the scale naked in the morning.  (Which today it said 130.5). I weigh in during lunchtime on Fridays, so I’m dressed, had a few meals, etc.  I’m recording things on the site as the “official” weightloss.

 What’s funnier is this WI came after a girls night out and I still lost! We went to ladies night at Cantina Laredo in Downtown Fort Worth last night. I was still good, I had a salad topped with chicken and slight amount of cheese with raspberry vinagerette on the side. I hardly ate the salad. It was the 5 – 10 pt margarita that I was afraid of. Those of you who know me, know it is VERY rare that I drink, but this was a special occasion. When I got home I couldn’t believe how many points it was. Oh well, I still had the weekly points left.

Anyway….I’m on cloud nine! Have to be good today and tomorrow b/c tomorrow night is Rigatoni Vodka. Oh, and after that we have to go to a pool party, NICE. Italian food followed by getting in a swim suit…UGH!

 Tomorrow is running with the group day. I’m excited.  I won’t be able to run with them next Saturday as I have no one to watch the baby.  I’m starting to feel the soreness in my legs.  I believe its because I’m starting to push my body so much harder. 

Who am I??

Seriously, I just found myself searching running sites in the Dallas area to see what “runs” are coming up.  Um, yeah, I’m still only able to run ALMOST 2 miles.  And I’d rather call it jogging that running!

I’ve been doing good so far this week with runs.  Chad got the treadmill that I’m borrowing fixed, so that’s made everything so much easier.  Today I got up at 550 and ran, showered, dressed and had breakfast all before the toddler woke up….NICE! 

I’m averaging a 12- something minute mile. Not terrible. This week so far I’ve run twice (missed yesterday – i blame the fridge again) both have been walk 5 min/jog 20/walk 5. Technically my training sheet say 5.5/19/5.5, but it was just easier at 5 am to round. 

Saturday will be 3.5/23/3.5.  Fun. 

I really look forward to Saturday runs with the group. It lets me gauge my progress against other people who began at my level.  I do surprisingly well for being so nonathletic. I even shock myself.

On the eating front today….ack.  I know exactly what I did wrong, after that nice run, I failed to eat big. I just ate a vita top and 3 large cups of coffee. That led me down a dark path for the rest of the day. I stayed with in range (esp, exchanging activity points), but i was constantly just snacking.  Half an apple here, half a frozen meal there, veggie chips while making dinner….ugh.  I can’t wait to start over tomorrow.