Getting Back on Track - Day 3 & 4

Didn't have a chance to post anything last night. I passed out around 1030pm and just didn't have the energy to write anything. Having little to no energy is definitely a drawback to losing weight. Anyway...yesterday was again pretty good. I was really hungry around lunch time and the afternoon. I ate the lunch I brought but an hour later was hungry again so I got a skinny Starbucks that was about 130 calories. Not too bad and it curbed that hunger. I was craving salty food last night and I was really proud of myself that I didn't give in and go get fast food. I actually went to the grocery store after work and made tacos at home. I made it with lean ground turkey so it was healthier than beef and I just put avocado on my taco and no cheese. It was a really satisfying meal and I was actually really full afterwards. I also made a couple skinny cheesecake pies last night that have less that 200 calories a slice. I had the regular kind last night and it was delicisous. Another successful, but definitely a little more difficult day.

Calories: 1266

Carbs: 183

Fat: 36

Protein: 64

Weight: 222.4 (no change)

BMI: 40.7 (no change)

Today was a really good day in terms of eating in my calorie range and not feeling hungry at all. (Work related, it was a shitty day). I did eat out for lunch and dinner though but I made sure to order things with no mayo and no cheese. I didn't give in to "chip temptation" twice today so, go me! I don't love chips like some people but they are definitely tasty. I had another slice of that skinny pie tonight and it was exactly what I was craving without the guilt! I'm starting to think I can actually do this!

Calories: 1154 (I know my calories look low today but I accounted for the fact that I ate out two meals and couldn't be 100% sure of the nutritional information)

Carbs: 163

Fat: 39

Protein: 39

Weight: 222.4 (no change)

BMI: 40.7 (no change)

Skinny No-Bake Pies

So, the reason for making these pies came about because of two reasons. The first was that I had 3 packages of cream cheese from my sister's bridal shower in my fridge and I needed to use them up. The other was that I was craving something sweet and didn't want to go over on my daily calories. I had to find a recipe that could solve both problems. So of course, I went trolling on Pinterest. Soon enough I found two recipes for Skinny no-bake pies. One was a traditional cheesecake and other was pumpkin pie cheesecake. Both were around 150-200 calories a slice.

Here are the ingredients you'll need (minus the pie crust, I forgot to take a picture of that)

Basically, you throw all of this in a bowl and whip until smooth, pour into the pie crust and it will look like this! You do have to refrigerate for a few hours so it sets. I had this one tonight and it was really good. I would never have guessed it was low cal/low fat. Even Harrison wanted a bite!

 The cheesecake from Pinterest is from the following website: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/no-bake-cheesecake.html

No-Bake Cheesecake

Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Servings: 8 • Size: 1 piece • Calories: 239 • Old Points: 5.25 pts • Points+: 6 pts

Ingredients:

8 oz whipped topping (I used Cool-Whip Lite)

8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese

9 inch reduced fat Graham Cracker Crust

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

In a large bowl, whip cream cheese, lemon and sugar for a few minutes until fluffy.Add whipped topping and whip until smooth. Spoon mixture into pie crust and chill for a few hours, until firm.

For the pumpkin pie cheesecake, here are the ingredients (again, minus the pie crust)

And again, super easy; throw all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Refrigerate for a couple hours and you have a skinny Fall treat :)

I LOVE easy recipes. These are definitely worth making. It took me about a half hour to make both of these pies. I would definitely make these again!

The pumpkin pie cheesecake from Pinterest is from the following website: http://skinnymom.com/2011/11/15/skinny-pumpkin-cheesecake/

Prep Time: 10 minutes, Fridge Time: 2 hours, Servings: 10

One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin, not pie filling

One 8-ounce container Cool Whip Free

One 8-ounce container reduced-fat cream cheese (room temperature)

1-cup fat-free sour cream

1 low fat graham cracker crust

1 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener (granulated)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine cream cheese, Cool Whip, sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and Splenda. Stir until blended. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well until blended. Spoon mixture evenly into graham cracker crust. Top with crushed graham crackers, nuts, or whip cream (optional).Chill in the fridge for a few hours and serve.

Per Serving: Calories: 133, Fat: 3g, Carbs: 29, Fiber: 1.5g, Sugars: 8g, Protein: 5g

Getting Back on Track - Day 2

So I just weighed myself and to my surprise, in one day I lost almost 2 pounds! Now I know that is probably water weight or something like that, but hey, I'll take it! Today was again a little difficult but not too bad. I had a Jimmy Dean turkey sausage breakfast sandwich this morning which was pretty filling and some coffee. I have to learn to drink coffee with skim milk. That is the one thing I was never able to change. I drink skim milk and use it in every other area but coffee. Coffee just doesn't taste good without half and half. That's a habit I need to start breaking. Not sure if I can do that one. If I had used skim milk instead of cream this morning I would have saved myself almost 60 calories (I only drank half my small coffee). Anyway, lunch was a yummy salad from Panera with chicken that was only 330 calories. As delicious as that salad was, it was completely not filling. I was still really hungry. Unfortunately I didn't remember to pack a yogurt or fruit today so I ended up eating a Nature Valley protein bar. The calories on that weren't too bad but the fat was terrible. I picked it because it was high in protein and I knew it would fill me up, which it did. Mental note to stock up on yogurt or low fat cheese at work. Protein bars are not that great for you. Lots of sugar and sometimes lots of fat. I treated myself a little today too and had a mini kit-kat. The chocolate was exactly what I needed at 3pm but it was about 50 calories for that tiny little thing. Still, it did the trick. Dinner was surprisingly not bad again. Dinner has always been my weak link. I manage to do really well all day but then I'm so hungry by dinner I tend to overeat. Today I did well again. I had another salad and another nutrisystem entree. It filled me up and then I had a nutrisystem snack to top it off. All in all, I can't really complain; another successful day!

Calories: 1497
Carbs:  177
Fat: 59
Protein:  82

Weight: 222.4 (still yuck)
BMI: 40.7 (still ugh)

Getting back on track

So, today begins my quest to get back on track to eating healthier and exercising more. It occurred to me yesterday (after pigging out on fries and wings) that I have exactly 10 weeks until my sister's wedding. That's right people, 70 days to lose as much weight and inches as possible. I had every intention of using this entire year to work on my weight but as so many other things, I just got too busy, too lazy and lacked motivation. So now I find myself in somewhat of a panic mode. I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid, not to mention that I'm the maid of honor. I'm pissed at myself beyond words that I've let myself go this long. I could come up with a hundred excuses right now as to why I couldn't do it or why I put it off but that would be futile at this point. The funny thing is, is that I know HOW to lose weight; I have all the tools and skills. I've tried Nutrisystem and have been to a nutritionist twice with some results but somehow or another, I always go back to my old ways. I need to get focused and motivated, STAT!!! So from here until November 3rd, 2012, my blog will focus primarily of keeping track of my weight loss. I'll track how many calories I eat each day, weekly weight-ins and take pictures of my progress along the way. I'm going to keep my calories between 1200-1500 a day like I did when I was seeing a nutritionist. If I can get down 20 lbs by my sister's wedding I will be happy. I start going back to Zumba tomorrow and the plan is to go at least twice a week. I've never been much of a gym person so I will do some strength training at home and crunches every night. NO EXCUSES! I need all the motivation I can get so if you read my blog, feel free to post comments to help me along. I know I can do this!

Day 1

Surprisingly, today wasn't so bad. But, my head was in the game today too. I have some leftover nutrisystem meals from earlier in the year so I had nutrisystem cereal this morning for breakfast. I went to Isaac's for lunch with my Dad but because I knew he was coming up and where we were going, it was easier for me to plan ahead. I eat out a lot. Partly because it's easier and partly because there is no point cooking for one person. Anyway, there are always some good choices at restaurants to today I went with half a turkey and bacon sandwich with no mayo and no cheese. I substituted chips for a side salad with dressing on the side and ate half my cup of tomato soup. It was actually really filling. I didn't eat a snack until around 3 or 4 which was a banana and a small Greek yogurt. Dinner was a nutrisystem hamburger and a big yummy salad. All in all, today was pretty good. I'm a little hungry now and could definitely go for something sweet but I'm holding back. If I ate anything else I would go over my 1500 calories. I'm going to do a little strength training now with my dumbbells but I don't really burn a ton of calories doing that at home so I can't justify eating anything else. All of that said, I'm calling today a win. Go me!

Calories: 1363

Carbs:  153
Fat: 58

Protein:  60

Weight: 224 (yuck)

BMI: 41 (ugh)

Avocado & Poppy Seed Summer Salad

I have been dying to put this recipe on my blog! This is without a doubt my favorite salad in the whole world. My mom started making it a few years ago and almost every time we had a family function after that, there was this wonderful salad. I've made a few changes to suit my preferences and I think the result is fantastic.

 Here are all the ingredients you will need. Spring Mix, roasted almonds, mandarin oranges, avocado and of course poppy seed dressing. (Any salad green will do by the way. I've used spinach and it's just as tasty)

Now the most important part of this salad and the pièce de résistance, if you will, if Brianna's Home Style Poppy Seed Dressing. It is my favorite dressing. It's creamy and a little sweet but has a nice light flavor. (I actually made this salad for my sister's bridal shower a few weeks ago and almost everyone there asked me not only for this recipe but what dressing I used). 

After I stop drooling over the dressing, I assemble my salad: about 2-3 cups of salad (or half a bag), 1/2 cup of drained mandarin oranges (I like them cold so I put the can in the fridge for about an hour before making this salad), and 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds. I used Almond Accents because they are sliced nice and thin and oven roasted and have a no salt version.

Next I get my avocado ready. Now, I'm something of an expert on avocados. I love them. I seriously would put them on anything if people didn't think I was having some sort of pregnant craving. I got the avocado above today at the market. The thing you want to look for in avocados is firmness. Color of the skin has nothing to do with a ripe avocado. If I'm going to use the avocado today, I go for an avocado that has just the slightest give when I squeeze it. If it's too soft, it's usually over-ripe or possibly even gone bad. If you're not going to use the avocado right away, you can get a firm avocado. Just let it sit a day or two until you're ready to use it or until you feel the slight give when you squeeze it. Then it will be perfect.

I use a whole half avocado on this salad because, like I said, I seriously love avocado. If you're not as big of a fan, use whatever amount suits you. The trick I use is to leave the avocado in the skin and slice it right in there. I slice it long-ways and then across, leaving me with nice little squares.

Then, all you have to do is get a spoon and run it along the back of the avocado, near the skin and the perfect little squares will fall right into your salad bowl.

 Yum!!

 So now I'm ready to add the amazing dressing.

2 tablespoons are really enough of this dressing. It coats the salad well so no need to lather on the dressing. Trust me, in this case, less is more. I give it a good toss with a fork or tongs to coat all of the salad and voila! A super yummy, light, tasty, and filling summer salad is at your fingertips! The mandarin oranges pair really well with the creamy poppy seed dressing and the almonds give the salad a nice crunch. The avocado adds this great creamy, buttery texture to the salad. This can definitely be served on the side of a meal or eaten all by itself. That's what I'm doing tonight :) This salad is also great for large crowds. It's easy to double and triple. Enjoy!!


Ingredients:

2-3 cups of spring mix
1/2 cup of mandarin oranges (in sections)
2 TBSP of sliced almonds
1/2 ripe avocado, cut into cubes
2 TBSP of Poppy Seed dressing

Toss everything into a bowl and mix well.

Calories: 444, Fat: 31 grams, Carbs: 38 grams, 7 grams of protein

**To make a lighter version of this recipe, substitute Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing for a fat-free version. Maple Grove Farms makes an excellent fat free poppy seed dressing that works well with this salad. Another substitution I've used is sections of grapefruit instead of mandarin oranges. It gives the salad a more tangy flavor. 

Ron's Original Bar & Grille

So, went to lunch with my boss today since it was record review day. This basically means that by 1130am our eyes are nearly cross-eyed and we could both probably use a drink stiffer than something Starbucks makes. Anyway, today we vied for something different that our usual sushi hangout. So we decided on Ron's Original Bar & Grille. We've both eaten here before and my roommate and I order take out from there frequently. Anyway, there are definitely some things on their menu that are blog-worthy. The first is their ranch dressing. I know, you can't believe I'm blogging about ranch dressing, but it's the best! Seriously, not even kidding, hands down, the best ranch dressing ever. I'm sure it helps that it's homemade (as are all dressings on their menu). My roommate, Amanda, and I tried to figure out the other night what was in it but we were unsuccessful. It definitely is a mayonnaise base and has dill in it but other than that, it's some creamy, delicious secret that only Ron's knows. Pair it with some of their crinkle-cut fries and your in pub grub heaven.

The other thing I have to mention about Ron's is their "Ovals". Basically it's just a small, somewhat personal sized pizza, that is oval shaped instead of round. But that's where the similarities with pizza end. Their Ovals have premium toppings like smoked ham or broccoli rabe and they even have one with potato and bacon on it. That's the one I got and it is sinfully rich: cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, roasted potatoes, bacon and some of that amazing ranch dressing I mentioned above. Then it's all baked on this wonderful soft, salty crust. It's to die for. And that's only 1 of 19 kinds! And of course you can always make your own creation.

Bottom line, gotta go to Ron's. Sorry for anyone who actually reads this blog who lives in Philadelphia or farther because it's in Exton, PA (chester county). It's definitely worth the trip though. Their menu is gigantic by the way. You'll need 10 minutes to look it all over. They have a wide arrange of food to accommodate any craving (including a Quinoa salad! Now how eclectic is that?!)

Oh and did I mention they have a beer and wine selection to rival most brewery's? Ok, I'm starting to get hungry thinking about it. Here's the link to their website. I would suggest you make a trip to Ron's ASAP :)

http://ronsoriginal.com/ordereze/splash.aspx