I like hummus... who knew?

Don't you love it when you find a new snack or type of food--that you love--and it's healthy?

I have discovered hummus.

It's funny how your tastes change over the years. A few years back, I would probably have thrown up if I had eaten hummus. I mean, it looks like baby food. Smells bitter and sour. And the texture, don't get me started!

But man it's really good!

And it's high in protein and fiber--bonus!

I've been eating it lately with pretzel flats. I swear I could eat a whole tub of the hummus in one sitting if I allowed myself. It's quickly becoming a red-light food. But as long as I can put the bowl down after only 13 pretzel flats, I think it'll be okay.

So I have a question for you... do you like hummus? Have you ever tried it? What do you like to eat it on or with? I need more ideas of how to eat this stuff!

I'm a "foodie"...

I've been thinking alot about food lately. I mean, a LOT.

I sit at work all day dreaming about food. I keep wondering what this or that would taste like. I'll even smell different types of food throughout the day that simply isn't there.

Like, I'll smell steak. Or Cheetos. Or cake. Or string cheese. ... Weird, huh?

And then I get home and think about food even more.

And being on this "diet" doesn't help matter much, because I always have to be thinking about (planning) what I'm going to eat next. And then once I've figured it out, I can't wait until I can eat it.

Remember when you were in school and class was over at 3:45 and it was 3:00 and it seemed like the clock had stopped? Every 2 seconds you'd be looking at the clock wondering why it wasn't moving any faster.

That's how I am all day long. I keep looking at the clock saying "is it time to eat yet?"

Food is all I can think of.

I even dream in food.

The other night I had a perfectly random dream that had absolutely nothing at all to do with food, but I'll be darned if the ground wasn't made of gum drops!

I keep telling myself that everything will be okay and I'll be normal if I can just stop obsessing over food.

But I can't get it out of my head.

Like just a few minutes ago I was thinking about what I ate last Saturday and planning what I was going to eat this coming Saturday. Random, huh?

One of the tools in Weight Watchers is to be prepared whenever you're heading into a social situation where you'll be eating at a restaurant. They say to either go online or stop by the restaurant before hand so you can see the menu and plan what you're going to eat so you won't be side swiped by all of the yumminess on them menu.

Well, I've been doing that my whole life! Nothing new there. We'd make a plan to go out to a particular restaurant and my mind would race over the imaginary menu in my head. What would I eat? Man! I'd have it all planned out WAY before I got to the restaurant.

So that was a "tool" I didn't have to worry about learning.

But now, I still do the same thing, but now I try to think of all the healthy things on the menu. That's a good thing, right? But I'm still doing the basic same thing, obsessing over food.

I swear, if you guys could see all of the food thoughts that go through my head all day long, every minute of the day, you'd be shocked. Not a minute goes by in my day that I'm not thinking about some sort of food.

So what do I do with that? How can I NOT obsess over food? How can I break my life-long habit of thinking about food my every waking moment?

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Giveaway: Nourish Your Inner Goddess...

Okay, gals, it's time for another giveaway. This one came to me from Yoplait (via BlogSpark).

You all know I'm a HUGE fan of Greek yogurt. The extra (and I mean EXTRA) protein in Greek yogurt makes it a very satisfying snack for me in the afternoons and evenings. Yoplait Greek Yogurt has 12 grams of protein in each container. Greek yogurt tastes thicker and richer than regular yogurt too. Which I like a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love Weight Watcher's yogurt, but there's something about Greek yogurt being thicker that makes it feel like a more substantial snack for me.

Anyway, below are the details for the giveaway, but before I go much further, here's something cool...

To celebrate Yoplait's new Greek yogurt and to encourage women to nourish their inner goddess, Yoplait has teamed up with actress Izabella Miko, who plays Greek Goddess Athena in the epic adventure new Warner Bros. Pictures´ and Legendary Pictures´ film "Clash of the Titans," which opened in theaters on April 2 in 3D.

Here's a cool gadget you can click on to get free yogurt and watch scenes from the movie. Be quick, though, because only the 1st 50 people to click will get the free yogurt.

Weekend mission accomplished...

So I didn't to TOO horrible over the weekend. I had my ONE splurge meal Saturday afternoon: cheese fries, 6 oz sirloin, 1/2 baked potato w/1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon sour cream with water (3 refills). Oh, and I had one hot roll and I totally lost count of the shelled peanuts I had but I'm guessing probably a whole bag of them. That's the only part that I don't know how to count. I should have counted out my peanuts. Oh well. I'm going to count that meal as my 21 daily points plus my 36 flex points just to be safe.

Then on Sunday, I had that wonderful meal planned but it didn't happen. This is what always happens. Every Sunday. I have the best of intentions and then life happens and I get derailed. Well, I hope I wasn't too badly derailed. I think I was able to keep it under control.

My daughter came by (which is such a rare (well rare for me) occasion) and we took her out to lunch. In a quick decision, we decided on an Italian restaurant up the street. I know this restaurant well and even their grilled chicken is high in points. So I decided on a small plat of spaghetti with tomato sauce and 2 meatballs. Well, 1 1/2. I gave 1/2 of one of them to daughter. Other than that, I had just one small sliver of garlic bread and water (2 refills).


When I got home and checked the points on restaurant spaghetti and meatballs and it said 16 points. Yikes! But not to worry, I only had 2 points for breakfast which leaves me 3 points for the rest of the day. Luckily the spaghetti completely filled me up fort he day.

I decided to make Rocco's brownies from his new book I was telling you about yesterday. They're only 53 calories per brownie with only 1.6 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber per 2" square piece.

Listen to these ingredients and you'll see why it's so low in calories and high in fiber: black beans, cocoa powder, espresso powder, egg substitute, sugar free chocolate syrup, light sour cream (although I used fat free greek yogurt), Truvia and vanilla. What an odd combination but I tell you they weren't half bad!

The only thing I could say as an improvement, and this was probably my fault, was that it tasted too coffee tasting. Maybe it was because I used coffee crystals rather than espresso powder. I was out and the closest store to me that sells espresso powder is 35 minutes away. I also didn't have any Truvia so I used Splenda (bad substitute!!). They really tasted like coffe/splenda brownies. I think next time I'll put real sugar in it. There's so little of it, it won't make any difference so far as calories or points go.

And I have to say, mine didn't look anything the picture in the book (above). Mine had a real smooth, flat surface. They didn't look like brownies, but more like a flat, solid chocolate cake.

So I ate 2 of them being as they were 1 point each and 3 points for 2 of them. Which brought my daily total to 21 points.

So I would like to call the weekend a victory. When I stepped on the scales this morning, I was only up ONE pound since before my weigh in on Saturday. I'll have that off by Tuesday or Wednesday, no problem. Just a little extra walking and eating on plan all week.

How did you do?

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So, tracking really does work...

Ok, so am I surprised in the least little bit? No, I really shouldn't be. Tracking really does work.

I tracked everything I ate last week and as a result, I was rewarded by losing 1.8 lbs.

Saweet!!!

As a reward for myself, I bought a 3-month journal. I figured if I'm gonna make it to goal, I need all the help I can get. I just hope--HOPE--I can keep journaling in it. My track record has always been to do it for a few weeks but then stop. So we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to keep doing it for at least 3 months. We'll see...

In Weight Watchers this week we talked about staying on track through the weekends. That has been the absolute #1 reason for my lack of weight loss throughout my entire journey--my splurging on the weekends.

I can gain an easy 2-4 lbs on the weekends from my so-called "splurging".

Check this out. I looked up the official definition of splurge and here's what it says:

splurge /splɜrdʒ/ Show Spelled [splurj] to indulge oneself in some
luxury or pleasure, esp. a costly one.

"To indulge oneself". Hmm. Yup, that's what it is. Only for me its a bit of overindulgence. I'll usually have a big breakfast after weigh in then we always go out to lunch with the in-laws and I'll usually get just whatever I want at lunch--cheese fries with ranch dressing, baked potato with butter, cheese, sour cream, and bacon, cheeseburger with the works, fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, pulled pork with cole slaw... well, you get it, just whatever is on the menu that I happen to want.

This wouldn't be so bad if it were the only "splurge". But there's more...

Usually, throughout the week something catches my mind that I want to eat but I can't. Well, I could if I ate it in moderation, but usually when those cravings hit, they're huge ones. Like last weekend it was a whole bag of Ruffles and a whole tub of Heluva Good french onion dip.

You like the way I put that link in there to the Heluva Good website. I'm so bad. When I went to go get the link, lookie what I found... FAT FREE Heluva Good!! What?! I've never seen this in the store before. Now I'm gonna have to ask Publix to stock it!! I wonder how it tastes. If it tastes half as good as the regular stuff, it'll be amazing. Because their sour cream dips are the absolute best I've ever had in my life. And I've had plenty!

Okay, back to my blog...

So just splurging on a little bit of the chips and dip would have been fine, but I ate the whole bag and the whole tub. ON TOP of the huge meal I splurged on when we went out with the in-laws. And that was just Saturday.

I always vow not to "splurge" any more for the rest of the weekend. But that NEVER happens. We usually cook a big fattening meal on Sunday or we go out with friends or family and I get whatever I want again, knowing all the while I'm killing my weight loss efforts for the coming week.

So then Monday hits and I'm up, like I said, 2-4 lbs. Then I work and work all week to get it back off. If I've gained 3-4 lbs, chances are I will be able to get them off by the end of the week. But just barely. I might pull a small gain or break even. If I've only gained 1-2 lbs, I'm sure to get that off plus squeak out another half or full pound of loss by the end of the week.

So after reading that last paragraph, it has hit me like a TON of bricks. Do you know that if I would only splurge a little bit and NOT gain those extra pounds over the weekend, I could be at goal in less than a few months?? Heck, I could have been at goal 2 YEARS AGO!

I have got to quit doing this!!

Did you notice the last part of that definition up there--"a costly one". Boy is that right! It's cost me getting to my goal years ago.

Ok, Cara, this weekend you only get one splurge or several very small splurges. No big splurges...

I think what I'm going to do is splurge on this one meal (with the in-laws) and then I'll get back to my regular eating schedule for the rest of the day and for all day tomorrow.

In fact, I'm going to commit to cooking a healthy meal at home tomorrow so I won't be tempted to eating out or over doing it at home.

Last week bought Rocco DiSpirito's new book "Now Eat This!". If you guys haven't seen this, you should check it out. There are 150 "real food" recipes all for under 350 calories each. Real food! Home cooking. No fancy ingredients. No gourmet dishes.

There's a recipe in there for Chicken Fried Steak With Sausage Gravy that I've been eying. Here's a picture I took of the page in the book.

I'll make that and the macaroni and cheese, too (pictured below). The steak is only 337 calories and the mac n cheese is 227. I'll let you know how they taste. So far, they look uber easy to make and I've got most of the ingredients already in the house. No special spices or weird creams. In fact, the only thing I'll need to buy is the steak, the cheese, and the pasta. Not bad, huh?

Well, we'll see how the weekend goes. Wish me luck. You guys wanna try it with me? No major splurges. Just little ones or just one big splurge. What do you think?

Who craves crispy granola bars??

I think I may actually be becoming a healthy eater... I found myself saying "Mmmmmmmm!!" when I bit into a dry, crunchy granola bar. LOL

A couple of years ago, heck, just last year, no way you'd catch me eating a crunchy granola bar much less enjoying it! But man! I think I'm in love!

I bought a variety pack of cinnamon, peanut butter and oats n honey and I can't decide which one I like best! Publix was having a sale, is the only reason I even bought the box. If you bought a box of Cherrieos, you'd get a free box of Nature's Valley granola bars. Well, it was free, so what the heck. Now... Mmmmm! I'm hooked!

You know something else I'm enjoying lately, though not NEARLY as much as the granola bars is my spearmint Extra sugar free gum. I kept hearing Bob Harper saying, "chew Extra sugar free gum in between meals to fight off the munchies". For me, gum does nothing but make me crave more munchies. Its like my body gets a taste of the sweetness and just wants more.

But being as I only chew the spearmint, I can't crave anything else because if I did, it would taste all minty. I wouldn't be able to taste it at all. So instead of it fighting the cravings, it actually helps me must stay out of it altogether.

So how have you guys been doing tracking this week? I've been doing good. I tracked every day, so far. I kept forgetting to stick my tracker in my purse each night so I kept writing my food down on sticky notes and then copying them down when I got home. But today I finally remembered to put it in my purse.

I'm finding it very hard to stay below 22 points a day. 21 points is just NOT enough. And I'm eating small portions and healthy food and all the right stuff, but it's so hard to stick to the 21 a day.

Like today, here's what I had:

2 cups cherrieos = 4pts

1 cup almond milk = 1pt

banana = 2pts

1 granola bar = 1pt

2 eggs = 4pts

2 slices Nature's Own light wheat = 1pt

1 tsp light butter = 1pt

2 home made tacos = 6pts

That's 20 points and I haven't had my evening snack. I don't have any 1 point yogurts left so I'm going to have to have a 2pt snack. I'm finding each day that I'm over 1 to 2 points. As hard as I try, I just can't stick to the 21 points.

Oh well, at least I'm close, right?

So tell me, how are ya'll doing with your tracking?

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Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie (5 points)

A little while ago, I mentioned a new recipe I'd found on the Weight Watchers site for Chicken Pot Pie. So I thought I'd share it with you.

It's very delicious, rich and creamy and not at all what I'd expected from the ingredients. I modified their recipe a bit so I'll share my version of it here.

Chicken Pot Pie

(modified from Weight Watchers)
Serves 6
Points: 5

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 cups water

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 cubes chicken bouillon cubes, crumbled

1 bag frozen mixed veggies

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 can fat free evaporated milk

1 can no salt added nibblets corn

6 sheets phyllo dough

Directions:

Place chicken, water, wine, and bouillon cubes in medium sauce pan. Bring to boil, lower heat and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Set aside one cup of broth and chop chicken into small chunks.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200C). Coat a deep 8-inch pie dish (I used an 8-inch casserole dish) with nonstick cooking spray.

Microwave mixed veggies for 2 minutes on high. Drain.

Heat oil in medium nonstick pan, add onions and cook until soft. Stir in flour and cook over low for 2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and stir in milk and reserved broth. Return to heat and cook, stirring, until mixture boils and thickens. Add veggies, chicken and corn.

Pour chicken mixture into prepared dish. Layer sheets of phyllo over pie. Trim edges and press down firmly to seal on edges. Lightly coat with butter flavored cooking spray.

Bake for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 350 degrees (180C) and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes more.

Notes:

The Win: At first, I didn't want to use the wine, I'm not a wine drinker and I especially don't like white wine. But I have to admit, the wine is what gave it such a rich flavor. So I'm glad I got it.

The Flour: I used whole wheat flour, only because it's better for you, but you can substitute white flour if that's what you have on hand.

The Phyllo Dough: I'd never worked with phyllo dough before and was a bit intimidated by it. But once I got the hang of it (because I've made this dish many times), it wasn't that bad. First of all, bring the phyllo dough to room temperature before unrolling it. This is crucial. It may take a couple of hours so you may want to put it out on the counter at lunch time if you're planning on making this for dinner. And I really thought 6 sheets would be just a waste of time. I thought that'd be WAY to thin of a crust. But the way it bakes up fluffy, it was perfect. I think if I'd have added more sheets it would have been over kill. Also, my phyllo never is the right size for my casserole dish, so I just piece the misshapen pieces together and overlap them until the cover the entire dish adequately. It doesn't even hurt the presentation that they are so overlapped and different sized.

Let me know if you try this recipe.

What are some of your favorite recipes? I'd love to try them.

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New Weight Watchers Products...

I've been so fortunate lately. I've been contacted by several companies wanting me to try their weight loss products/foods/etc. and this one was particularly special because it was a PR company (MS&L) that promotes new Weight Watcher products.

They asked if I'd like to try some new flavors of their yogurt and ice cream. Of course I said "heck yea!". So they sent me a coupon for 2 free cups of yogurt and a free box of ice cream novelties.

They have 2 new flavors of ice cream bars:

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar

and Strawberry Smoothie Bar

Unfortunately, I couldn't find either of them at my local grocery stores. I did ask the Publix to see if they could get them in stock, so I'll check back next time I'm at the store and see if I can get one.

But what I did find at the store was both of their new flavors of yogurt:

Apple Pie a la Mode:



and Blueberry Pie:

Both of them were great, but I have to say the Apple Pie a la Mode was amazing!! It truly tasted like I was eating a piece of apple pie with ice cream. I felt like Violet Beauregarde from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original, of course) when she popped that piece of gum in her mouth and all of the sudden she started tasting dinner and dessert.

It had little pieces of baked cinnamon apples and little speckles of nutmeg spice swirling throughout the creaminess of the yogurt. And I don't know how they did it, but I could actually taste the flaky crust and the vanilla ice cream.

Wow, it was VERY good.

As for the Blueberry Pie, it was good, but no where near the experience of the Apple Pie a la Mode. It did taste like blueberry creaminess but I couldn't taste the crust. It had a very rich blueberry flavor, though.

They both had 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Because they were only 100 calories and fat free, they were only 1 point (but I'm pretty sure all WW yogurts are 1 point).

What I do have to mention, though, is that there were 12 grams of sugar and 240 mgs of sodium. While neither of these are all that horrible, they are both a little on the high side taking into consideration it was only 6 ounces of food. And it had a long list of ingredients that I wasn't very happy with either, like fructose, modified corn starch, sucralose (splenda), and a ton of artificial flavors and colors. But on the flip side, it did have inulin (fiber) in it which helps your body absorb the calcium better and 30% of your daily recommended portion of vitamin D. So I guess you'd have to take the good with the bad and hope they cancel each other out.

Bottom line, though, I'd definitely buy them the next time I'm hankering for a sweet treat. These puppies would be great as an evening snack--besides the usual ice cream or cookies after dinner.

Have you guys tried any of the new Weight Watchers yogurt flavors?

Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment on my previous blog to enter to win the Yoplait gift pack. I'm having the drawing Friday night at 10pm. Okay, was that a bit weird that this whole post was about Weight Watcher's yogurt then I end it with a plug for competitor's yogurt?

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Greek yogurt like no other...

I think if you guys know anything about me, you know then when I find something I like, I have a tendency to shout it from the mountain tops. Well, I've found something I like.

Actually, found it about 4-5 months ago and it's really been helping me with my diet (as in food choices, now restrictions from food).

Chobani Greek Yogurt.

Have you guys ever tried it? I've tried other greek yogurt brands and frankly they all grossed me out. They had a very sour taste or were WAY too thick and gooey, and—and this is the most important for me—they were all WAY too expensive.

Not Chobani.

Their texture is thick and creamy, but not heavy at all. The fruit flavors are amazingly fresh tasting. I don't feel like I'm eating sugared down yogurt or artificial flavors. And I love the size of tub that it comes in, it looks larger than regular yogurts although it's the exact same ounces as the rest of them.

The best part is the HUGE amount of protein in every serving—14 to 19 grams!!! It keeps me fuller longer and is a great recovery after my morning runs.

Before I go much further, I have to say that they asked me to taste test 2 of their newest flavors, raspberry and strawberry-banana. And they sent me one container of each flavor. Who am I kidding, I would have done this even if they didn't ask me or send me free product.

First I tried the strawberry-banana. I have never been a fan of strawberry-banana flavored anything. It always tasted like it was too sweet and had a fake flavor like kool-aid. Not so with Chobani's strawberry-banana. I could taste fresh bananas mixed in with fresh strawberries. It was amazing.

Then I tried raspberry. Oh my gosh was it divine! The raspberries tasted like I was eating fresh raspberries straight from the produce section. These weren't sugared down, sweetened raspberries, these were real honest to goodness tart raspberries. Lets face it, raspberries, by themselves, are not sweet. But mixed in with the sweet creamy flavor of the yogurt it was the perfect balance.

I don't think these flavors are available in the grocery stores yet. And so far, in my local stores I've only been able to find blueberry, strawberry and peach. But as luck would have it, those are my 3 favorite flavors anyway.

(Oh, and by the way, Publix has them on sale right now 10 for $10. The sale goes until Feb 5th.)

They also have honey, pineapple and pomegranate. I can't wait to try the pomegranate. Oh, and I tried the pineapple in December when I won a whole case of yogurt FREE from a game I played on their website.

It's called SPOONS. You have to follow @ChobaniNicki on twitter and whenever she says "ok, Spoons has started" you click on the link which takes you to their website and all you have to do is click on a spoon and you win a free case of yogurt. The trick is, you gotta be quick, with over a thousand twitter followers the game usually only lasts a few seconds.

I just won again today. I'm going to try their honey flavor this time. Can't wait for the case to arrive.

By the way, if you guys go to twitter and start following @ChobaniNicki, be sure to tell her @mag_maker (that's me) sent you. :)

You can follow them on Facebook here. They're always coming up with new recipes and great ideas to incorporate greek yogurt into your daily menu.

Have you guys ever tried Chobani? What's your favorite flavor? Have you made any recipes with greek yogurt?

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Weight loss newsletters...

I love getting email newsletters. Do you? I subscribe to all kinds. Different one's like crocheting, running, social marketing, music, movies, radio shows, design, publishing, health & fitness, cupcakes, crafts, charities, baking, and of course lots of weight loss newsletters. And I've found a few weight loss newsletters that I really like and want to share with you.

The first one I really love is from Eat Better America, which is distributed by General Mills. I love this newsletter because, well, #1, it looks nice. I love it when something looks professional and put together. Secondly, I love that all of the recipes are healthy. They feature recipes that have healthy substitutes. I've tried a few and they've always turned out very nice and tasting great. And lastly, it always has coupons you can click and print out. Here's a link to their most recent newsletter.

Another newsletter I like is, well, pretty much anything by Martha Stewart, but the one I'm enjoying currently is the Whole Body Action Plan which is a 4-week plan to start the new year off by making healthy eating choices and moving more (she offers different "healthy" newsletter type challenges throughout the year and you have to sign up for each of them). Their first week started with a detox, which I have to admit, sadly, that I did not follow. But I plan on doing it soon. I'll let you know when I do. Here's a link to the most recent newsletter.

Never Say Diet is one I've subscribed to for years, almost since I first started losing weight. Their part of iVillage.com which, if you haven't been there, you should. There is just TONS of great info on there for women. They have a section on their website called Your Total Health that has articles about just about every aspect of your health. I've actually been a member of iVillage since the late '90s. Anyway, their Never Say Diet newsletter is a short and sweet tidbit of nutrition. Sometimes its fitness tips, sometimes nutrition, sometimes recipes. I really love it! Here's a link to one of the newsletters.

Oh, of course there's Weight Watcher's newsletter. I don't think you have to be a member to get it, either. I have to confess I don't always read it, but I have found some wonderful thing is it before. Like this one article about the different kinds of ice cream and how you can tell what you're getting just by what it's called. Like did you know that "slow churned" is just another word for "whipped". Basically they churn it extra long which adds air to it so you actually get less ice cream and more air than regular ice cream. So it's better for you. Here's a link to a sample newsletter.

KimBenson.com is another good one. She's lost over 200 lbs and her newsletter is full of motivation, tips, recipes and of course products that she sells (that are all extremely healthy). I don't have a link to her newsletter but here's a link to her website where you can sign up for it.

I'm on the look out for some more good ones. Which one's do you subscribe to?

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Tuesday ramblings...

So here it is Tuesday and I still haven't made it to the gym. Hubby and I promised each other we'd go to the gym every night this week. What are we waiting for??!! Its almost like if we both don't say anything about it then we really don't have to go. It's our little secret right? Ugh!

Like a few months ago a lady at work and I decided we'd start walking in the mornings again. We both need to walk and we live only a block away from each other so it was perfect. We both walked one morning and we never brought it up again. It's like, if you don't say anything, then it's okay, right? Ugh!! Ugh!!

And I'm having the darnedest time eating 5 fruits and veggies a day. The most I can get in is two. What's up with that??

At WW last weekend, our leader posted the "quote for the week" and I loved it:

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To eat is a necessity
•••
To eat intelligent is an art.
-------------------

Boy, that's the truth isn't it? We have to eat. But how we eat what we eat is the magical part. Its where science becomes art.

Oh, I found something so amazingly yummy that I HAVE to share with you guys. Audrey, from WW, first told me about these weeks ago, but I just this week tried them. They're my new favorite thing of all times.

French Twists... I love the tag line underneath the product name "Layers of Sweet Puffed Pastry". It really should say "Layers of Sweet Heaven".

They're light and flaky and a bit crispy but in the lightest way possible. The container I got was a plastic tub (about the size of an extra large margarine tub) and each twist was about 3 inches long.

Two twists was only 60 calories, 2 grams of fat and 4 grams of sugar. But the best part is that the type of sugar that's in the ingredients is good for you sugar. Check out the ingredients: High protein wheat flour [whole grain goodness], soy oil [healthy oil], palm oil [a natural appetite suppressant] beet sugar [great for your body], cinnamon [great for your blood sugar] and salt [probably to offset the sweetness of the beet sugar]. That's it! Totally healthy for you and it sure doesn't taste like it.

I wish there was some way you could taste the picture on the screen. They are truly amazing! Here's their website if you wanna try and find where they sell them in your area. I bought mine at Publix.

Enjoy.

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I'm perplexed ...

I wonder. Can the brain invent smells that really aren't there?

I was driving home from work last night and all of the sudden, out of the blue, I get a huge whiff of potato chips and dip. But just for one brief second. Then it was gone. But the windows were rolled up and there was no one and nothing in the car except for me. How did this happen?

But of course NOW I'm craving chips and dip so bad I can't see straight! I was doing fine, too. No cravings all week. Ugh!

I went walking again last night with my WW group. There were actually fewer of us last night than the night before. Oh, well. We had a blast anyways. I post a picture later. Another lady took a picture of us all and she's gonna email it to me.

I'm in a dilemma. I know, you're saying, Cara when are you NOT in a dilemma. And, no, it's not the Pound for Pound Challenge. :] It's my weight. I'm steady gaining this week and I have no idea why.

I have not splurged or over indulged. Not even on Saturday or Sunday. I've eaten within my points every day. I've exercised every day, but not over doing it, so I'm sure it's not muscle gain. It's not around that time of the month. I just don't get it. I've been up between 2/10ths and 4/10ths every day. I've accumulated a total of 1.8 pounds since weigh in on Saturday. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Maybe it is the exercise. I thought my legs were sore, but I realize now its just my right calf. I think I pulled a muscle last Friday and it's still nagging me. My legs, other than that, really feel fine. I only did walking twice this week and I have to be honest with myself and say that I did not over exert myself there. The walking was more like walking through a park or around a mall. I didn't burn alot of calories either time. I did the Gazelle twice this week but only for 15 minutes each time. But this is supposed to help me lose weight not gain.

I know they say you gain muscle when you exercise. But this is ridiculous. I'm not really exercising. I'm just moving more. So there shouldn't be any muscle gain to it. Then what the heck is it?!?

All I want is to lose 100 pounds. That's all I want. Is that so much to ask. I swear, I'm NOT sabotaging myself this time. I haven't had any of the tendencies I had before. I'm steady and focused and loving it. I don't think I'm stressed about anything. I mean, any more than usual. Yes, my life is plenty stressful, but who's isn't right now anyways.

Oh, well. Steady on. I was joking with my WW leader last night that I hope I can get my 100 pounds by NEXT Thanksgiving. I was supposed to reach it this past Thanksgiving. The way I'm going, it might be Thanksgiving of 2010.

Who is that woman in the mirror...

So tonight's Biggest Loser was pretty good. I was so excited to see Nicole given a second chance. She has been my favorite from the beginning. When she came back the last time, she kicked butt on the challenge and ALMOST won. She showed so much strength and determination. I was so impressed. Then when she came back tonight after losing like 87 pounds, or something like that, I was thoroughly impressed. Way to go Nicole!

Then a horrible thing happened, she got voted off. I was so upset. But she said something so amazing after she got voted off that really stuck with me. She was talking about how she had walked past a mirror when she got to The Ranch and noticed for the first time how much weight she'd lost and how good she looked. Until then, she'd never allowed herself to really realize how her body had changed over the months. I mean, holy cow, she'd lost almost 90 pounds! But she was so focused on "losing" and being the "biggest loser" that she hadn't stopped to see the progress she'd made.

Then in the "after the loser" segment, it showed her in her size 24 wedding gown (before the show) and now in the size 12. It occurred to me that that is where I am right now. I started in a size 24 (well, actually I was in a 26/28) and now I'm in a size 12. I think I need to stop for a while and take a look at me now and stop focusing on the process. My mind is so focused on watching the scale to see how much I've lost or haven't lost. It's my measuring stick for success right now. I need to stop that and look in the mirror. To see what Nicole saw.

I've lost almost 100 pounds. But I need to let that number go and stop focusing in on it. I need to just look in the mirror at my progress and be happy there rather than on the scale.

So that's my goal, now, is to focus on the mirror. Focus on the mirror. Focus on the mirror.

The funniest thing happened today. In the middle of the morning, I jotted down a few things I needed to pick up at the store on my way home for lunch (so I wouldn't forget). So I grabbed my note when headed out for lunch and as I was walking down the hall, I looked down at the list and it made me chuckle. The only things on the list were healthy stuff. Bananas, granola bars, almond milk, lettuce and turkey. It was so completely unreal. I remember when my lists would include chips, soda, cookies, hamburger helper, cream cheese, sour cream, etc. Rarely would I pick up anything fresh or healthy. It just struck me as funny how I realize I have turned into a health-nut. Who'dathunk? Me? Healthy?

Speaking of food, I added my daily food log on the top right side of my blog. I found it on Roni's Weigh's website. Eat, Tweet, Post. It's really cool. I just tweet what I eat throughout the day, then go to her website to get a tally of the total points I've eaten for the day, then copy and paste the code into my blog and it formats it with the total at the bottom and everything. I absolutely LOVE Twittering so this one is right up my alley. I love it!

I also have a badge over to the right for the coolest challenge. It's on Fitago. It's a community trek across America. It starts in Daytona Beach, FL and ends in San Fransicso, CA. So all you do is log the miles you walk, run or bike on the Fitago website and the total mileage gets added to everyone else's totals and together we walk across America. How cools is that??!! I've always wanted to join a challenge like this. So this is perfect. Plus, it's getting me motivated to run again. I need anything to get me motivated. This one probably won't be a quick challenge, too, so it'll help me stick with it longer. You should check it out.

So here's to another day of staying within my points, drinking my water, eating my dairy and oils and vegetables and protein. I couldn't run because it was raining all day. But I'll definitely be back to run tomorrow. It's not supposed to rain tomorrow.

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Another great exercise morning...

Well, I did another thing today that I haven't done in probably over a year.

I did Tae Bo!

I have a video of Billy Banks, his Cardio Circuit I Tae Bo video. I bought it maybe 10 years ago and since I've had it, I've maybe watched it 10 times. But I remember watching it several times last year when I first started this whole thing and, well, that was 95 pounds ago and I could barely make it past the 15 minute mark.

Today I did the whole 35 minutes and it really wasn't that bad at all!

In fact, I got to parts in the video that I'd never even seen before. Was really cool.

My legs are still a little sore from running on Wednesday, and I'm so uncorrdinated, but I gave it my all and didn't stop—not once.

I remember last year huffing and puffing and thinking I was going to pass out if I didn't stop. Now I didn't do that at all.

Woo hoo!

On the food front, I haven't done that great. I had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese on Monday night for dinner. I haven't had Kraft in maybe 2 or 3 years. It used to be my comfort food and also the food we'd buy when money got real tight. It's cheap, you know. And filling. And then last night I had sausage with peppers and onions. I used Hillshire Farm's Turkey Polska Kialbasa which was 97% fat free. Each meal was about 15 points.

Now, neither of these were over points. I haven't used any of my flex points, so I still stayed within my points, but for some reason I gained 2 pounds after eating the mac & cheese and another one pound after the sausage & peppers. But for whatever reason, the food stuck to me.

I only exercised twice this week, but both times it was a great workout.

Oh, well. I don't think I'm going to make my 100 pounds by Thanksgiving. That's okay. I knew it was too much to do anyways. It was just something that I really wanted to do so bad. Now, I'm just hoping I can get back to 96 pounds by Thanksgiving. I gained 1.4 last week. I stand to gain another 2-3 pounds this week.

Onward and upward, right?

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the weekend didn't go too bad...

So, Saturday, I was bad. Can you blame me?!

After all, I did lost 4 POUNDS last week. So I couldn't resist being bad for a day.

So for lunch we went to Sonny's BBQ (probably one of the worst places on the planet to eat—fat wise). I had BBQ pulled pork, french fries, and a sweet potato (with cinnamon butter). That was it. So it wasn't too bad, right? Then I didn't eat any dinner. But we had some yummy cheese and crackers. We got Laughing Cow light french onion swiss cheese and All Bran baked crackers. Man was that yummy! I had probably 50 crackers and 4 wedges of cheese. So even though the snacking was healthy, I did go overboard with it. But at least I binged on healthy food, right.

Sunday morning, we went for breakfast before church again. I behaved, though. Egg beater omelet with veggies and no cheese, a half a cup of oatmeal and one slice of wheat toast. Was only a 10 point breakfast (like the way I say only?).

I think all in all I had a decent weekend, food-wise. I only gained a pound from it all.

I didn't go biking this morning. I have no excuse. Just didn't want to.

Oh, the best part of the weekend was last night. I made low fat chocolate cupcakes. I've always said I would never make "diet" cupcakes because, what's the point, right? If you're gonna have a treat, it should be the real thing. Who wants to eat a sub-par treat, right? Well, these were amazing! So moist and rich in flavor. I can't believe they're diet!! I'll post the recipe for you tomorrow. But here's a picture of one of them just to tempt you. They were only 3 points per cupcake.

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i dream of powdered donuts...

Well, folks, I gained 2 POUNDS this past week. :,,[

Oh my gosh, I hate weight loss!

I'm so tired of sacrificing. I'm so tired of denial. I'm so tired of being so "dedicated" to it all. I just want to be 30 pounds lighter (excuse me, that's 32 pounds, now).

I think I might have to step up my game, now. My usual bag of tricks have stopped working.

Last week, I counted my points and only ate about half of my flex points. I exercised 4 days—biked for an hour 3 times and then walked for an hour once. But here was my problem... Last Saturday, we went to Aunt Edris' birthday party and I ate real food (home baked macaroni and cheese, smoked ham (not light), potato salad (real mayo), deviled eggs (mmmmm)) and I had a huge piece of birthday cake (of course the corner piece) and then a piece of chocolate cream pie. So when I weighed myself Sunday morning, I was up 2 pounds. Then, instead of getting back on track, we went out to breakfast before church and I got a real breakfast (sausage patty, egg beater omelet (with cheese) home fries (with grilled onions and peppers) and a huge piece of wheat toast with real butter and jam—the kind where the first ingredient is High Fructose Corn Syrup!). I was back on plan after that meal, though, but it didn't do any good because when I weighed myself Monday morning I was up another pound.

Then I couldn't get those 3 pounds off all week. Not until Friday when I finally dropped one pound.

So this weekend, I'm not splurging. I think I'm going to have to go die hard (ugh, I hate the sound of that). Because if I don't, I'm not going to make my 100 pound goal by Thanksgiving. Now I have 9 pounds to go and only 8 weigh ins left. So I'm behind the eight ball again.

I went biking yesterday. Though it was a leisure ride with my daughter, it was still exercise. I'm going to go again today. I'm trying to talk hubby into going with me, but if he doesn't go, I'll go by myself. I'm going to exercise 7 days this week. And so far, I haven't eaten any of my flex points. Yesterday I had a half a point left over. Today I'm doing good so far. We went out for breakfast again this week before church, but this time I was sensible. I had an egg beater, veggie omelet (no cheese) with oatmeal and wheat toast. The whole meal was 11 points (mainly because I had to use real butter and jam on my one piece of toast and real milk in my coffee and oatmeal).

I've already decided what my "congratulations splurge" food item will be when I hit 100 pounds—
a whole bag of powdered donuts (I'm sure I'll puke). These things have been haunting me for the past several months. I'm not usually a big fan of powdered donuts but I think because I haven't had any in a year and a half they're looking so good right now. I keep seeing them in the store EVERY TIME I go. It's like they're hiding just around the corner of every isle just waiting for me to pass buy so they can jump out in front of me and try to trip me. Most times, they don't actually trip me, but a couple of times, they've actually slapped me across the face. Don't they just look heavenly.

This past weekend in my WW meeting, the leader (we had a sub this week) was talking about denying ourselves of food—like on the "fad diets" and how it's not good to do because you'll end up binging. (On a side note, any weight loss program that tells me I can't eat what I want to is considered a diet to me. I mean, I get the whole "lifestyle" thing, but seriously, a diet means—you can't eat this or that. And on WW, I can't eat all the powdered donuts I want. That's a diet to me.) But anyways, here's my problem... I don't know how to eat these donuts without overeating. See, here's the problem. They come in a bag. There's like 50 of them in a bag (or 30 or however many there are). So say I was to buy the bag and only eat one—which I seriously think I could do. Then there are 49 more of them just glaring at me through the little cellophane window—EAT ME!!! Can you hear them? I can. And I know that the next day I'd have one. Then maybe another one in the afternoon. And many one more before dinner. They'd probably all be gone before the end of the third day in the house. I just don't see how I can satisfy my craving without overeating.

I thought about going to Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme and getting one powdered donut. But, oh my gosh, there's no way I could even step one foot inside one of those places. I know I'd totally lose it and get just one more and maybe another one and before I left would have a whole dozen and have eaten half of them on the way home. I can't be trusted in a donut shop, that's for sure.

So I'll resign myself to setting that as my 100 pound goal and keep dreaming of that day.

Until then, sacrifice, deny, and under-indulge in EVERYTHING.

Oh, hey, I just found a link to Rocco's recipes from a couple of weeks ago on The Biggest Loser. Check these out. I'm definitely trying the Chicken Alfredo. You know how long it's been since I had Alfredo sauce?? I can't even remember!


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"18 Pounds in 18 Weeks"

Challenge Update! -
Week Eight (updates in bold below)

Bento Box Diet (sat WI) - No weigh in since week 4. Total loss 5.5 pounds. :[
Katschi (tues WI) - No weigh in since week 5. Total loss 3 pounds. :[
MaryFran (tues WI) - She was at 186.4 (I'm not sure if that was a gain or loss)
Karyn (mon WI) - Lost 2/10ths of a pound
Donna (mon WI) - No update from last week.
Spunkysuzi (sun WI) - Lost 1.2 pounds
Cathy (fri WI) - Lost 2.6 pounds
Christine K. Sader -

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friday's starting out great...

I'll keep this one brief...

I didn't bike this morning, but it was because we went to go see The Dark Knight last night (or rather this morning) at the 12:30 am pre-screening. Didn't get home until 3:30am. I feel surprisingly well for only 4 hours of sleep. I took a 3 hour nap before the movie so I think I'm doing okay.

The movie was SPECTACULAR!!! If you like batman or love batman or just like adventure, drama movies, I highly recommend this movie!!! This movie is bound for Oscar greatness on many levels. One of which is Heath Ledger. His performance was stellar. The audience kept clapping throughout whenever Heath/The Joker, would do something amazing on screen. Definite must see!!!

I Weighed myself this morning and am down to 180.0. Hope I stay there until tomorrow morning. Thursday morning, I was still up to 182.8. Yesterday I had a great food day. Had a bran muffin and banana for breakfast. Had a big bowl of watermelon, cantaloupe and blueberries with cubes of cheese for lunch and for dinner had boiled shrimp with cocktail sauce and a mixed fruit medley of papayas, honeydews and watermelons with a couple of cheese cubes. The key, I think, was water. I drank so much water yesterday.

I found this on mousearoo and thought it was so profound. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

"...though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike

and I know you'll hike far

and face up to your problems

whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Brayor Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!"

---Dr. Seuss

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

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Everything's under control, now...

Well, we had a wonderful holiday weekend. We didn't do a whole lot but it sure was fun.

On Friday night, the people at the end of the cul de sac (a few doors down) set of one heck of a fireworks show. It was awesome. I'll bet they shot off 2 or 3 hundred fireworks that night.

Saturday morning, WI was a success. I lost 1.6 lbs! Woo hoo!!!

I worked hard for it too. I was tired of having pittley little losses. I kept sabotaging myself, too. So last week, I exercised alot and dieted alot and it paid off.

I've now lost 85 pounds!!!

In 14 1/2 months!!!

I have to say I can't believe I've come this far. If you would have asked me last year if I could lose 85 pounds in a year, I would have laughed you silly. But here I am. I did it.

I've got about 40 more to go. And I'm going all the way!!

This morning we had a going away breakfast for a lady at the office. We all brought in our yummy breakfast goodies. I baked Breakfast Pizza but made it the healthy way. Line the bottom of a 13" x 9" baking pan with reduced fat Pilsbury Crescent Rolls then sprinkle cooked, crumbled turkey sausage on top of that. Then put a couple of cups of Orida O'Brien frozen potatoes then top that with 2 cups of low fat shredded cheddar cheese (WW) and then 5 servings of egg beaters (1 1/4 cup). Bake it in the oven at 375 for about 30 minutes (my oven usually takes 45 minutes to get done) until the top is bubbly and brown. I think it was 4 or 5 points for a 3" square serving. Not bad. It was so yummy too.

I did indulge in a few other things at the breakfast, but not much. I had a light lunch and only had fruit and cheese for dinner. I still stayed under my 23 points for today.

Tonight I finished making the Snickers Bar Cupcakes. They turned out perfect. I haven't eaten one. But I will have one with everyone else tomorrow morning.

Here's a picture of how they turned out.

(Sorry, I know this is probably cruel on a diet blog, but I can't help but brag.)