Foodie Friday

Day 3 of counting and I'm feeling GREAT! I started my morning off with my fave yogurt and granola combination. It's 1/2 cup of Astro, Natural Balkan style yogurt, 1/2 cup of raspberries, half a sliced banana and 1/4 cup of Nature's Path Granola. I love the Hemp Plus variety. So good! I still can't believe that I eat natural yogurt. I used to gag just thinking about it. In fact, I do eat the occasional Activia yogurt cause it really helps me with digestion, but I find it far too sweet. Funny how taste can change. 

I think I might have also broken my workout rut. I got on the treadmill for 45 minutes last night and had a good workout. It was a combination of running for 5 minute bouts, walking on high incline and running sprints. I felt great afterwards. So great that I decided to do another half hour first thing this morning. That wasn't even part of the workout I have planned for today. It's been a while since Jillian and I had a date. So, I think we're due. We have a bit of a love/ hate relationship, but in the end she brings results.

Lunch today taught me a valuable lesson. It made me realize that I was fooling myself when I thought I could do this whole thing without counting. Can it be done? Of course. I'm just not there yet. I decided I was going to make pita pizza's for my husband and I, since we're both home today. Normally, I would have thought that it was a good choice. It's only a small pita with 1/3 cup cheese and turkey pepperoni. Well, it clocked in at 9 points. A little more than I like to spend on a small lunch. So, instead I took a Flatout whole grain tortilla, some leftover pesto from last night (more on that after), 2 points worth of cheese and a couple cherry tomatoes. At 5 points, it was the obvious choice. And you know what? It was absolutely DELICIOUS. I guess it just taught me how important it is to read labels. I never would have guessed the pita would have been 5 points. In the end, it's all about choices and for me counting provides me with the ability to make informed choices.

I managed to get another tab underway last night. I posted the recipe for the Chicken Pesto we had for dinner last night. It turned out great. If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it under the "Good Eats" tab. I'll be continuously adding recipes and food ideas to that page. I'll also try to add the points when I can.

I know some people were interested to hear what I thought of the Vitatops. Last night, I tried the deep chocolate one, topped with 3 tbsp of light cool whip. The verdict? It totally hit the spot. That's the best way I can describe it. On the one hand, they weren't amazing, but I think that's because they are a tad bit dry. That being said, when you warm it up in the microwave and add the cool whip, it makes a big difference. And it really does satisfy the craving for chocolate. In fact, I look forward to having another one today. I think I will try the one with the peanut butter chips. 

I'm also working on getting a little more organized. I really think that the trick to successful weight loss is in the preparation. So, I'm working on a couple little projects that are going to help in that department. I'll be sure to share them with you once they are complete. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Sending skinny vibes to all of you who are weighing-in this weekend. Good luck!

Thursday - The Snack Edition

First of all, let me just say how excited I am to have gotten my Vitalicious package today. I think I may be the only one here in blog land who hasn't tried these puppies yet. I ordered the chocolate super sampler. You're probably wondering why I would order so many if I've never tried them before. I can't seem to find them anywhere in my city. Well, that's not entirely true. I did manage to find the muffins, but they really didn't look as appealing as the tops. And when I shook the box, I could hear the ice crystals shake around, so it made me think they had been sitting there for a while. Anyway, I had a discount code and decided to take the plunge. If for some reason I don't like them, I'm sure I can find someone who'll gladly to take them off my hands. I'm saving my first one for dessert tonight. Now, I just have to choose what flavour to try first.

I managed to get a little more sleep last night, so I'm already feeling more motivated today. Yesterday's plan of faking it totally worked. I was completely on track and stuck to the plan. Now, today, I'll see if the same principal applies to exercise. That is the area where I am severely lacking. I seem to go in spurts. I have times where I exercise A LOT and others where I do NOTHING. Why can't I seem to find a happy medium? I WILL workout today though.

I discovered another a new (to me) food product today. Again, I'm probably the last person in blog land to try this line of products. Amy's is a line of frozen natural and organic foods. Essentially it's healthier convenience food. I believe I've also seen a few canned soups too. Anyway, to get back to the burrito can I just say YUM! I don't know if you can see the wrapper properly, but it was filled with organic beans, brown rice and some cheese. It was delicious. I am really impressed and will be trying some of the other products. Do any of you have any favourites that you could recommend? 

I do have one complaint though. WHY does eating healthy have to be so darn expensive? Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this? It just seems that whenever I'm counting points or really trying to eat healthy my grocery bill almost doubles. I realize that buying vita tops and frozen food doesn't help, but it's not just that. In fact, I don't even count the vitalicious order in my calculations. It's all the produce and lean meats that really seem to add up. Luckily, I'm able to make it work (in moderation), but I can't help but think that some people REALLY can't afford to eat healthy. Their diets consist of ramen noodles, k.d. and the like. It's unfortunate really. 

Anyway, I'm really working on finding some snacks that give me a good bang for my buck. To fit the bill it has to be reasonably priced, low(ish) in points and most importantly it needs staying power. Here are a few that I've tried the last two days:

Here's what I came up with. The veggies with 2 tbsp of tzatziki was great for a before dinner snack. And with the tzatziki only being one point, it hit all of the criteria. The cheese and Mary's crackers was delicious, but with the crackers being on the more expensive side and the 5 point value, this is more of a once in a while indulgence. The grapefruit and activia had no staying power (at least not for me) so for 3 points, I'm not sure that it's worth it. The banana and almond butter was another home run. I used half a banana and a tsp of natural almond butter and for 2 points I had a cheap snack that really hit the spot. Lastly, was the homemade oatmeal square. I was really excited to try this one. I got the recipe from Carrots 'N' Cake. It did not disappoint. It was both healthy and tasty. Unfortunately, the points value was far too high for my liking. A small square was 4 points. So, while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think it will be a while before I make them again. So, there you have it. Hopefully some of these observations will be helpful to someone.

If you have any yummy snacks to share, please pass them on. I'm always looking for new ideas.

On that note, I'm off to finish some work. 

Fake it till you make it

The catchphrase "Fake it till you make it" means to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence.

That my friends is my current motto. I woke up this morning knowing that I was starting Weight Watchers. I've been looking forward to it all week. Not so much the case today. I'm pretty sure it's the lack of sleep from last night. In any case, I just wasn't feeling it. I thought to myself "oh, oh, this isn't going to go so well, is it?" For some strange reason, that's when the catchphrase kinda hit me. What could it hurt? I basically decided that even though I didn't feel like exercising, tracking, going to the meeting or eating healthy today, I would just do it anyway. The hope is that going through the motions will change my frame of mind. And you know what? With each positive thing that I've done today, that's exactly what's happening.

I started my morning off on the right track with a half cup of balkan style yogurt, 1/4 cup Naturespath Hemp granola, a small sliced banana and a 1/4 cup of raspberries. That really hit the spot. 

I chose to try a lunchtime Weight Watcher's meeting. I weighed in at 167. It's up 2 lbs from last week's weigh-in, but I don't think I actually gained weight. At home, I usually weigh-in first thing in the morning, with very little clothes on. Plus, if I remember correctly, my scale has always been about 1lb less than the Weight Watcher's scale. Regardless, I'm not worried about it because it's all going DOWN from here.

As for the meeting itself, it was ok. The leader was about my age and she was really nice, so I can't complain there. There was just something missing though. The leader's weight loss was 18 lbs. Now, don't get me wrong, any amount of weight loss is GREAT. Yet, somehow, I think it is more motivating for members when the leader has lost more. Does that sound terrible? That being said, I know that losing weight is a struggle no matter how much weight one has to lose. I just need to get my mind around it, that's all. I've decided that I'm going to keep going to the meetings no matter what. I may shop around, but in the end, it's a half hour out of every week and you never know what tip or inspiration you may get from it.

For lunch, I decided I felt like pizza. So, I took a Flatout Whole grain tortilla, put a little pizza sauce, a turkey pepperette and 1/3 cup of sharp cheddar and baked in the oven for about 6 minutes. When it came out it was a little floppy, so I decided to fold them and have a makeshift pizza quesadilla. Well worth the 6 points. I enjoyed it with a glass of V8.

The one thing that I did get out of the meeting was the importance of tracking. The general consensus among members was that those who had the most success were the one who tracked EVERYTHING. Even if you don't know the point value of something, you make your best estimate. The idea is that it keeps you accountable. If you're accountable, you generally make better choices. So, there you have it, my weekly goal for the week of Nov 4th-11th is to write down every bite, lick and taste that cross my lips. 

I'm going to try a couple new recipes for dinner tonight. So, I'll be sure to share the results.

It's ON

As of tomorrow, I am back on the point counting bandwagon. The bottom line is that it works. For the best results you gotta work the system and WORK IT is what I'm going to do. 

I'm not perfect, but I do plan getting as close as I can this week. In an effort to kick start my weight loss, this is what I WILL be doing this week:

• I will go and stay for the meeting and soak up all the knowledge that the leader and members have to offer.
  
• I will be weighing/ measuring every morsel of food that goes into my mouth
• I will use ALL of my daily points and ALL of my flex points, but I will use NONE of my activity points
• I will exercise a minimum of 5 times this week
• I will drink a minimum of 3L of water
• I WILL not weigh myself at home in between meetings - not even a peek
• I will try a few new recipes
• I will stay positive

The only thing that could make it better is a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, I have some work to finish before I go to bed and I will most likely only get about 6 hours. Hopefully I can shoot for 8 the rest of the week. Sleep is SO very important.

On that note I should get back to work rather than posting on the blog. :)

T'was the day before Weight Watchers

I am feeling both excited and nervous to join Weight Watchers again. It's always hard to go back once you've stopped going. It kinda makes you feel like a failure. In the end though, I'm doing it for me and it's NOT actually failure because failure would mean giving up completely. 

Today is a day of preparation. I intend to completely ROCK my first week. I mean, I'm going to try and rock every week, but in order to motivate myself to keep going I want to hit the first week right out of the park. In order to do that I am getting ULTRA organized.

My first step is to make a kick ass meal plan for the week. I really think the key to being successful is eating foods you enjoy. If you don't enjoy them, how can you expect to keep following the plan? 

I've enlisted the help of Ellie:

I must admit that I just purchased this cookbook today. I love Ellie. I have her previous cookbook and have enjoyed everything I've tried. The food is great and it's based on healthy living. I can't wait to try some of the recipes in this cookbook. That being said, I am CUT off from buying any more cookbooks this year. The only way I will be getting another cookbook is if it's in the form of a gift (subtle hint in case my husband is reading).

I'm also going to work on an exercise plan for the week. This is something that I've really slacked on in the last few weeks. There's no excuse other than sheer laziness. 

I'm also happy to say that I FINALLY started working on populating the tabs at the top of my blog. So far, I've just done "The Dress", but I expect to have them all done in the next day or so. Feel free to check it out if you're interested on how I came to be "From 12 to 6".

Alright - off to finish my meal plan and then hit up the grocery store.

GTA GTG: Second Edition

Hey guys,

Just a quick announcement to say that the second GTA Get Together will be taking place on Saturday, November 21st at 6:00 p.m. at Springrolls in Mississauga. Its the Sussex centre location right across from Square One.

After quickly discussing it the other night, we had all agreed that the Saturday would work best. Hope all you ladies are okay with this. Kerry and I just thought it would be easier to make specific plans sooner rather than later so that there would be plenty of notice. We're hoping that those who couldn't make it the last time will be able to join us.

The lovely Kat has offered to give rides to the T.O. people since some of you do not have transportation available. Please contact her directly to make those arrangements.

It's less than 3 weeks away already. Can't wait!

Vita Tops and Whole Foods

Just a quick post since it's late and I just got back from our weekend in Toronto. Monday's gonna be a LONG day. 

So, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've decided to re-join weight watchers. I'm going to try a lunchtime meeting on Wednesdays. I'm REALLY excited about it because I'm planning on doing things a little differently this time around. In the past, I've never stayed for meetings. I just went there for my weigh-ins. This time I'm going to reap all the benefits of being a weight watcher. If I don't like the leader on Wednesday's I'll try another. Whatever it takes.

I'm also excited because there seem to be a ton of us who are either joining or recommitting to Weight Watchers. It's going to be a great motivator to be in this together. 

So, I finally took the plunge and jumped on the Vitatops bandwagon. I ordered the chocolate super sampler package yesterday. I really hope I like them, otherwise I'm going to be stuck with quite a few muffins. Sounds like you really get a good bang for your buck with these things. I believe someone mentioned they are big and only one point each. Works for me. I'll be sure to let you all know what I think once I get them.

I also made a quick trip to whole foods today so that I could track down some brown basmati rice. Last week I mentioned how I'm trying to learn to like brown rice, but am having a hard time. A few people recommended I try the brown basmati. I really like rice and hope that this will be the one to make me switch to brown.

While I was there I picked up a few other goodies. I found these crackers:

I had a few with cheese this evening and I really liked them. I like that they are wheat/gluten free and that they have no hydrogenated oils or trans fats. The ingredients list is pretty healthy. They work out to 3 points for 13. I probably wouldn't have that much in one sitting, so it's really not too bad.

Okay - getting fat too late. Must get some sleep. 

And thanks to everyone for the encouraging comments on my last post. You guys rock!