Vacation Time

Last post for awhile, I am heading to the beach, so I weighed in this morning since I wouldn't be able to post on Monday and I had loss of 1.4 so I will take that and run with it.  I have planned meals and snacks out for myself and will try my best to stick to the plan and not gain 5 to 10 pounds on vacation as I have in the past. Everybody take care and I will see you back on July 5th.

Protein Power!

I started the morning off with plenty of protein by having these DELISH protein pancakes. I have posted about them before but want to bump up for others to try if you didn't see the older post. They are easy to make and very good. I use a Tbsp. of peanut butter with a little agave as syrup for them for extra protein (even Jake eats them!)

Protein Pancakes
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
dash salt
Grind all together in blender and let set for about 5 minutes then I fry in unstick skillet sprayed in butter flavored Pam. Makes 2 small or 1 large pancake.

Then for lunch I had a hot dog on lite wheat bun with a few pork rinds (not the best lunch):

What's everybody eating today? Share any good recipes!

Summer Means S'Mores!

Summer-time is my favorite time to fix S'mores for the kids around my house. This year I wanted to lighten things up so I have been on the hunt for versions of this goodness and found these few at Hungry Girl:

Scoopable Bread S'mores

Ingredients: 8 slices light bread, lightly toasted and cut into half-inch cubes 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 2 sheets (8 crackers) low-fat honey graham crackers, broken into bite-sized pieces 2 1/2 cups light vanilla soymilk 2/3 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original) 1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed) 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 cup mini marshmallows Optional topping: Cool Whip Free or Fat Free Reddi-wip Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8" or 9" square baking pan with nonstick spray. Evenly place toasted bread cubes in the pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and graham cracker pieces. Set aside. In a bowl, combine soymilk, egg substitute, brown sugar, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture over the contents of the baking pan, making sure all the bread cubes are covered. Let stand for 5 minutes. Bake in the oven until firm, 45 - 50 minutes. Set oven to broil. Evenly top the baked dish with marshmallows. Broil until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1 - 2 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. If you like, finish off each serving with some whipped topping. Enjoy! MAKES 8 SERVINGS Freezy-Good Whoopie S'mores  PER SERVING (entire recipe, 1 whoopie pie): 172 calories, 2.5g fat, 175mg sodium, 40.5g carbs, 9g fiber, 19g sugars, 4.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 5* This dessert couldn't be more appropriately named. After one bite, you'll say "WHOOPIE!" and beg for S'MORE... Ingredients: 1 Vitalicious Deep Chocolate VitaTop (or any other chocolate variety), frozen 3 tbsp. Cool Whip Free, thawed 10 mini marshmallows 1/2 tsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/4 sheet (1 cracker) low-fat graham crackers, crushed Directions: Carefully slice the VitaTop in half lengthwise (like you would a hamburger bun), so that you are left with 2 thin round Vita "slices." Set aside. To make the filling, combine Cool Whip, marshmallows, and chocolate chips in a small bowl; set aside. Place crushed graham cracker on a small plate, and set that aside as well. Evenly spoon filling over the cut side of 1 Vita slice. Top with the other Vita slice, cut side down, to form a sandwich. Very gently press the sides of the sandwich into the crushed graham cracker, so the crumbs cover the exposed filling. Freeze until solid, about 1 hour. Tada! MAKES 1 SERVING Do you have any good s'more recipes that are good for you? Sum, Sum, Summer Time: It has not been below 88 degrees in weeks with high humidity so as far as I am concerned summer was here along time ago. BUT, I did take Jake out last night and explain the summer solstice and we watched lightning bugs together. He is such an awesome kid and I am so lucky to have him. I continue to battle a bad sinus infection. So far I have not gone and got my usual shot of steroids. The last time I did that back in March of this year, and took a steroid pack, I have not been able to lose much weight. Not sure if that was the culprit but I know the same week I took the shot everything came to a screeching halt in the weight department.  Anyhoo, started this morning out with a serving of Multigrain Cheerios and a small banana: Lunch was a boring turkey on whole wheat with a slice of pepper jack and light mayo, unsweet tea and a fresh peach. Doing much better on water and calorie counting this week, now need to kick back in with the exercise.

Week 2 Recap

Gained +.08 but I am not going to sweat it with the week I had, I am lucky it isn't more.

Food: Counted everything and watched what I ate at the beginning of the week and then Wed. afternoon it all went down-hill for a few days.

Exercise: Not one day

Water: Little bit everyday

No it was not a good week, I was off to a good start and then got blowed away at the Dr.'s office. Next week I will be on vacation, so I am going to try my hardest this week and maintain next week. Things are tough right now emotionally and I DO NOT want to turn to food as I always have in the past and then just give up. I will get this under control.

Remember the little puppy someone threw away at my house? He is doing great and we love him very much. He is a gentle soul and I couldn't have asked for a better tempered dog for Jacob to have:

And so we begin Week 3 of the Summer Slimdown, I hope everyone had a great weekend and is doing good. Peace to All!

Down, Down, Down

and I don't mean my weight. I have spent the last 3 days on a trip to St. Louis where my son was evaluated for what needs to be done for his orthopedic surgery next year. After a full day of xrays and pulling and stretching the Dr. added a few nasty surprises to the already nasty mix. I have been devastated to the point I can't write about it or even think about it or I will go screaming into the street. Thank God Ronald McDonald House doesn't allow alcohol so I only stressed out on half a Mr. Pibb and 4 cookies. I stayed on-plan on travel day Tuesday but Wednesday and travel home yesterday was not stellar. I have spent the night thinking about why I started this weight loss journey and it was to get healthy so I can take care of my son next year when all of this hits. SO....I got myself up this morning and started over. I am not going to be commenting on any blogs for a couple of day, I am not feeling real positive right now don't feel I am the one to try and make people feel better. Next week we leave for vacation and I want to get my mind right to have a good time and not think ahead but enjoy the present. Take care Blog Buddies and I will see you on Monday.

Week 1 Recap

Made it through the first week of Summer Slimdown and here is a recap of my goals:

1. Food: stayed within my points this week, did have a couple of times where I ate something I should not, but tracked it and counted it; Loss for the Week: -1.2  

2. Exercise: to exercise 4 out of 7 days, 30 minutes each day. Didn't quiet make it, I did exercise 3 days this week at 30 minutes. Need to improve here.

3. Water: drink 64 oz. daily. I failed miserably here. I have the hardest time getting down water! Will try much harder.

Here are some shots of things I ate this weekend:

Green tomaters are in and cooked up a few in some olive oil instead of vegetable oil, very good Southern eating! ( I only had ONE.)

Lunch one day was a good sandwich with 2 slices Delightful Honey Wheat Bread and some shaved ham and turkey, little light mayo and lettuce with slice pepper jack, few fat free Pringles:

And this morning I tried something new for breakfast and it was pretty good--Cinnamon Cherrios with 1% milk. I will finish the box but don't think I will buy again, they didn't really have any taste:

Overall I am pleased with everything but need to work harder eliminating the processed foods, getting in my water and exercising more. I will keep up the fight and hope everyone else will too. I am going to be out of pocket until Friday and will not be able to post or check on everyone else. So between now and then everybody take care and DON'T GIVE UP!

How Hot Is It?

Not able to post yesterday, had too much going on.  Everybody doing ok? I started this morning out with 2 slices Delightful Honey Wheat Bread with some Brummel and Brown and 1 fried egg plus a banana for snack later in the morning. This is a very good breakfast and keeps me full until lunch:

And lunch was the best I could do--1 piece fried chicken without skin (took more skin off after pic) and some homemade coleslaw with fresh tomato pieces:

and then I went all buck crazy wild and added 1 small oatmeal raisin cookie (it went so fast no time for picture taking.)

All I have to say people is that it is HOT, I mean HOT, here in West TN. It's been hot for days and days! This is how hot it is and if you are offended in any way I am sorry but I still gotta post how hot it really is:

Ya'll have a good weekend! 



Day 3

Read this on yahoo this morning, WW must be doing something right:

The best diet to lose weight on is Weight Watchers, according to weight-loss experts who rated the diets below for U.S. News. The Jenny Craig diet program and the Raw Food Diet come in close behind. Some other diets outperform these for fast weight loss, but long-term weight loss is more important for your health.

#1. Weight Watchers Diet
(3.8 out of 5.0)
This popular points-counting diet helps dieters drop pounds—and keep them off. In experts' ratings, Weight Watchers bested all other ranked diets for both short-term and long-term weight loss. But that doesn't guarantee it will work for everyone. Its average rating of "moderately effective" for long-term weight loss reflects the difficulty dieters have staying on the wagon, even when using the best weight-loss diet available.

I am going to keep at WW (I've been saying that since Feb.) and still trying to have my points in the low-carb range(not doing as well as I should on that.) But I do believe each person has to do what they think is best for their body no matter what program you choose it has to be for LONG TERM. What works for some might not work for others. I was wondering what "moderately effective for long term weight loss" means when people are figuring out what is a good diet and what isn't.

So on to Day 3 for all of us doing Summer Slimdown. I think on Monday's I will do a total week recap of my goals on the blog instead of trying to write them daily. I am keeping up with my goals and food in a notebook so even tho I am not posting everything here I am keeping myself accountable. What's everyone else doing? I would also like to post pics of what I eat but may have to do that with the cell phone since the camera is still not cooperating with my computer.

Day 2

In court all day today but took my water with me! Also, it's hot. Way hot. Way, Way, Way, Way Hot. More tomorrow...hope everyone is having a great second day.

Let the Summer Slimdown Begin!

Weighed in this morning for the Summer Slimdown and had a slight gain. Made me sick as I have tracked calories/points everyday and exercised nearly everyday this past week. Same ole same ole, up, down, up, down, but I refuse to give in and give up!

I will try and check on blogs and comment when I can. But I am determined to stick to my goals for the Slimdown. Going to divide them up weekly I think and post how it is going each week with the exception of the last week of June. I more than likely will not be around a computer that week.

So here we go with day One! Good luck everybody!

Here is a recap of my goals set last month:

Food: Changed! Follow WW Points Plus Program where I get 29 PP daily, with plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables, and keeping the carb count on the lower end due to my insulin issues. I plan on logging on My Fitness Pal, when I can, to track my calories to make sure my points are ranging between 1200 to 1400 daily. With my job it is easier for me to count points.

My end goal is to track daily and eat healthy limiting processed food when I can and not beating myself up if I can't for a meal. Weight loss would be a grand thing too (smile.)

Water: Water intake is a work in-progress for me. I tend to retain water and do not lose when I am drinking lots of it. I do not understand this, maybe I just don't drink it enough days to flush it out. SO...my goal is to drink 64 oz. of water daily, pure water, not tea, etc. and see what happens.

Exercise: I want to exercise 4 out of 7 days a week, a minimum of 30 minutes, by walking on elliptical, walking outside, resistance bands, etc.

My end goal with exercise is : Just MOVE MORE!!

Yesterday's Eats

Breakfast: 1 McDonald's Yogurt Parfait (4 pp)
                 coffee

Snack: 10 pieces of peanut butter pretzel nuggets (4 pp)

Lunch: 1/2 Subway Ham and Swiss sub on wheat with 1 tsp. mayo and veggies (5 pp)
            few fresh cherries (0 pp)
            unsweet tea

Snack: (Jacob talked me into this one!! Should have left alone but had a little summer with my son)
            small chocalate icecream cone by the pool (5 pp)

Supper: 2 1/2 crunchy tacos with little bit of shredded cheese (12 pp)
             diet cherry Dr. Pepper

Total Daily PP:  33
Used 4 Weekly: 42 remaining

Exercise: Walked and swam in our pool for 30 minutes
Water: not so good

Looking back at posting my food I am eating WAY too many carbs and processed foods. Going to try and do better with that as it is a goal for me to eliminate them as much as possible and I see I am not doing a good job of that AT. ALL.