On the Menu This Week

Greek Style Cheeseburgers
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
Roasted Cornish Hens with Quinoa and Broccoli

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Reminder

Just a reminder the blog is now on my own domain
http://waistingduxie.com, someone commented the other day that I had stopped posting so in case anyone else missed it...

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Blog has moved

I have moved my blog to my own domain. You can now find me at http://waistingduxie.com.
Hope to see you there :)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

January 6th Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 19 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points.

Breakfast(5) -English muffin, peanut butter, pear
Lunch (5)-Chicken Cacciatore
Dinner (7)-1/2 Cornish Hen no skin(3), Quinoa with Spinach (1), Zucchini with oregano and feta (1), milk (2)
Snack (2)-kozy shack pudding, vitamuffin

Earned 5 activity points did step aerobics and then 30 minutes on the treadmill as a stroll. I'm pretty sore today from the 2 days of couch to 5k and adding strength training back in.

The Cornish hens turned out well in the new toaster convection oven and pretty fast.

Running Weekly totals used 17 of 35 weekly points, earned 23 activity points

January 5th Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 42 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points.

Breakfast(5) -Yogurt, pear and 1 oz reduced fat cheese
Lunch (10)-Cracked crab with salad and sourdough
Dinner (27)-Indian Dinner at Naan and Curry, so good

Earned 5 activity points I did the second day of week one of couch to 5k then walked an additional mile to round out my numbers.

Had Indian then went and saw Avatar, great flick (see it in 3 D)

Running Weekly totals used 17 of 35 weekly points, earned 18 activity points

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

January 4th Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 20 of 25 points. Earned 6 activity points.

Breakfast(4) -Yogurt, pear and 1/2 serving of my Mix My Granola latest blend (low fat with lots of fruit and some nuts)
Lunch (7)-Sweet and Spicy Peanut Soup
Snack (1)-Pear (1)
Dinner (8)-Vegetarian Black Bean Chili (6) with light sour cream (1) and low fat cheddar (1) forgot to put on the avocado I had planned :(

Earned 6 activity points I did The Firm "Body Sculpting" to get in some strength training again, 20 minutes of "gentle" yoga and 25 minutes on the treadmill to get my burn up where I wanted, planned on 15 minutes but was close enough to 600 calories burned that I figured I'd go for it.

Not eating the avocado at dinner put me way under what I planned caloricly for the day but oh well I wasn't hungry so I guess it's all good, just can't do it every day.

Running Weekly totals used 0 of 35 weekly points, earned 13 activity points

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Kitchen tools that I can’t live without for low calorie cooking

There are many tools that any cook can’t live without, ever try cutting a ton of vegetables without a sharp knife? But for low calorie cooking I have specific tools that I look to.

I love having steamer baskets for veggies, you can always add some fat later if you want it.

My misto sprayer!!!! With this handy tool you add your favourite oil pump it up and voila fine spray to coat pans or foods. I prefer this to traditional cooking sprays for a couple of reasons. First no propellants or other garbage no body needs, second I can fill it with my favourite oil and know it is fresh. I use this both to coat pans and also to spray some olive oil on foods that I am oven “frying” it adds so much crunch. I am actually up to 2 one for canola oil or regular olive oil for cooking and one for extra virgin olive oil as a finisher for oven “fried” foods.

Immersion blender, great for soups, smoothies etc especially smoothies for one right in the glass.

Stainless Steel Cookware, mostly non stick and provides a much better sear to meat than non stick pans. New favourite is the Scanpan which is a ceramic titanium pan and even though it is nonstick it does not have the issues of non stick pans in terms of the surface coming off.

Grill pans are great for indoor grilling and the fat falls into the wells and away from the food and now that I have a new non warped one I love it even more!

Adjustable” measuring spoons. These are tubes with a plunger, you set it to the amount you want and fill it. I love it for things like butter, peanut butter and honey which are sticky and not easy to measure in traditional spoons.

And of course, measuring cups and spoons and my food scale.

January 3rd Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 24.5 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points.

Breakfast(5) -Non fat Greek Yogurt (2), 1 TBSP Pure maple syrup (1), Granola (2)
Lunch (6)-Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo (6)
Dinner (12.5)-Greek Style Cheeseburger (6), Salad with vinagrette (2) Pesto (1.5) Alexia Sweet Potato Fries (3)
Snack (1)-Kozy Shack low fat chocolate pudding (1)

Earned 5 activity points on the treadmill, did week one day one of Couch to 5k a program to get you running a 5k in 9 weeks.

Running Weekly totals used 0 of 35 weekly points, earned 7 activity points

Saturday, January 2, 2010

January 2nd Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 19.5 of 25 points. Earned 2 activity points.

Breakfast(3) -Strawberry yogurt(2), pear (1)
Lunch (6)-Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo (6)
Dinner (9.5)-Greek Style Cheeseburger (6), Salad with vinagrette (2) Pesto (1.5)
Snack (1)-Kozy Shack low fat chocolate pudding (1)

Earned 2 activity points on the treadmill

Running Weekly totals used 0 of 35 weekly points, earned 2 activity points

The Weekly Round up 12/26-1/1

I got in 7 workouts this week.

Summary I used 35/35 Weekly Points and I earned 31 Activity Points.

I'm up 1.8 but it was the hardest 2 weeks of the year with lot of eating out and foods that I don't see often.

Saturday 36.5 of 25 points ate Christmas leftovers. Earned 3 activity points

Sunday 31 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points, made yummy Beef Bourgiugnon for dinner so good and worth the points.

Monday 25 of 25 points. Earned 6 activity points, made lemon chicken and orzo soup for lunch and spicy peanut soup for dinner

Tuesday 24.5 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points. Leftovers for dinner beef, mushroom and barley soup for lunch

Wednesday 21 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points. Chicken Cacciatore in the slower cooker really tasty and easy.

Thursday 31.5 of 25 points. Earned 5 activity points, leftovers and new year's celebrating

Friday 34 of 25 points leftovers. 2 activity points, leftovers

I plan to workout every day this week and stay on plan, eating out on Tuesday.

Friday, January 1, 2010

January 1st Food and Exercise Diary

Ate 34 of 25 points. Earned 2 activity points.

Breakfast(17.5) -English Muffin, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, mimosa
Lunch (8.5)-cheeseball and triquits
Dinner (8)-chicken cacciatore, brown rice and pear,

Earned 2 activity points on the treadmill

Running Weekly totals used 35 of 35 weekly points, earned 31 activity points

New Month Resolution

I was going to do New Year's Resolutions but honestly the month feels so much more managable and focuses change over a year so I'm going to stick with the monthly resolutions, it's also nice to be able to mark my progress and know I'm succeeding.
I hope that these things that I add monthly will add up to lots of changes over the year, taken in smaller more manageable bites. So New Month's Resolution will be a regular feature.

To review last month my resolutions were

1. Remember that a holiday is just that a day. I learned from Thanksgiving that I can't be near the leftovers, I have to give them away and have plans for light nutritious meals after the holiday fare.

2. To enjoy what I eat and not eat mindlessly.

3. To enjoy some form of activity every day.

4. To keep blogging and journaling no matter how "bad" it looks

I really didn't do better on number 1 than I did at Thanksgiving, granted there were more "events" in a single week but still it's something I need to work on this coming year... I mastered number 2 fairly well aside from some junk that was around, I made Ben hide it and things began to look up. I did really well on number 3. I managed 30 minutes on all but 2 days and that was due to pain as opposed to not being bothered. And number 4 I did great, I didn't count points the week of christmas but I did write it all down.

This month

1. To eat vegetarian completely one day a week.

2. To try a new recipe each week.

3. To enjoy some form of activity every day. Not new

4. To keep blogging and journalling. Not new This has been a great outlet and way to organise my thoughts.

5. To lose 5 pounds (may not seem like much but it's achievable and I like focusing on 5 at a time).

6. I put the most important last. To make myself a priority, by taking care of myself I can better take care of others. I started this in 2009 now I plan to really focus on it. Taking time for exercise and clean eating to start, I'm sure there is more that I'm not thinking of yet. I have put me at the top of my to do list.
My Plan

I did WeightWatchers once before in 2004-2005. I lost 50 pounds. I gained some back going through my divorce but the good news is I kept off 20 of them until I restarted WeightWatchers in January 2009.

For the first time, I have found a plan that was easy to stick to. Something just felt right this time. Before embarking on WeightWatchers I re-read some books I had found helpful in the middle of my last journey. The books are listed under "Weight Loss" Books on the side bar, and a blog post about them will follow soon. These books helped get me mentally prepared to lose weight and they are the reason I think I am finding losing to be less of a struggle. I am not letting myself get discouraged by small gains and I am seeing far more consistent results.

WeightWatchers gives you a points target based on weight and basic daily activity level. Every food has a points value based on calories, fiber and fat. Then its like a checkbook you start with your daily balance, subtract for foods eaten and add for activity done which can earn you points. Exercise=More Food. Each food point is roughly 50 calories and each activity point is worth roughly 100, I use a heart-rate monitor to calculate my activity points earned.

You also get 35 weekly points to use as you want anytime during the week. For me the most successful both mentally and on the scale is to use most of those points on Saturday night for a splurge and to then stick to my daily points fairly closely the rest of the week. It helps me to know my favourite foods are only a week away if I want them. People can manage the plan however they want but for me this is the most successful. When I'm working out a lot I try to eat some of those activity points as well. Ironically I get much smaller losses the weeks I don't eat those points on Saturday, maybe it shakes up my metabolism, who knows I just know it works

Finally my last key to my plan is attending meetings. It helps keep me accountable and on track.

Weight Loss Slideshow