A Day In The Bite -

I've been telling you all for a few weeks now that I wanted to take on a challenge I saw on SparkPeople (where I go to track my food and get great support and motivation - and it's free!) about tracking my food in pictures.  Well thus far, it hasn't happened.  Until today!

Here are my nutritional ranges for each day ~
calories: 1220 - 1570
fat: 35 - 57
carbs: 165 - 239
protein: 60 - 129

And here's how today looked...


BREAKFAST:

Impossible Veggie and Egg pie that I made the other day. This is about a 1/8 serving.  I also had a Yorkshire pudding with this but was too piggy to stop eating it and put it down for the photo.  I will actually admit to you all that I was chomping away on it as I took this photo.  Pathetic!!  Yorkshire by the way for you non-English folk (other Europeans make it too) is made of egg, milk and flour with a bit of drippings from roast beef.  It's savory and soooo yummy! Total comfort food for me as my mum made it for us at least every other Sunday growning up.  I put the batter into muffin tins to speed the cooking so my serving size was 1/12th.   Later in the am I had this Yoplait yogurt.  First time I tried the red velvet cake flavor.  Quite good.
Veggie Pie - 111 calories, 12 carbs, 4 fat, 8 protein
Yorkshire Pudding - 91 calories, 13 carbs, 3 fat, 2 protein
Yogurt - 100 calories, 19 carbs, 0 fat, 5 protein

LUNCH

For lunch I stared with a tossed salad made of iceburg and romaine lettuce, baby spinich, shreded carrot, super sweet grape tomatoes and a sliced light cheese stick.  I topped it with Good Seasons salad dressing prepared light (more water, less oil).  Then I had a bowl of Progresso Light Italian Vegetable soup.  I love Progresso soups!  I had one bowl right after the salad and then about 2 hours later I finished the can.  Tastey and filling lunch for low fat & calories!

Salad: 141 calories, 12 carbs, 11 fat, 10 protein
Soup (whole can): 120 calories, 28 carbs, 0 fat, 4 protein


SNACK

I saw this Pria bay by PowerBar at the grocery store yesterday and decided to give it a go.  Only 110 calories so I thought, why not?  Well let me tell ya why not... Not so great.  It wasn't totally nasty, but it was sort of... 'sawdustlike'.  Yes it did provide a sweet fix, but I'll look elsewhere for that next time.  Side note - I did try a Luna bar for the first time yesterday and that was scrumptious!!

Pria: 110 calories, 17 carbs, 3 fat, 5 protein

DINNER

I was looking forward to dinner all day! (yes, I pretty much still live from one meal to the next)  This is baked cod with Brummel & Brown and crumbled Town House crackers on top.  I have tried to strip this dish down to the lowest totals possible, but sometimes you need to decide what's worth cutting and what isn't.  In this case I found I couldn't go low fat butter substitute and low fat/calorie crackers - so I went with the butter substitute.  Then you can also see that I have roasted veggies on my plate (you all know how I feel about those sweet little colorful bundles of vitamins!!).  This time I have carrots, summer squash and zucchini.  Lastly, a little mashed potatoes.

Fish - 289 calories, 9 carbs, 15 fat, 10 protein

Potatoes - 162 calories, 37 carbs, 1 fat, 4 protein

Veggies - 55 calories, 13 carbs, 0 fat, 1 protein

EVENING SNACKS

I would love to tell you I indulge in carrots sticks or berries for my evening snacks but nope.  I need me some real sweet and or salty snacks whilst watching the small screen.  I had two snacks tonight, but could only control myself long enough to photograph one.  These are Nonni's Biscotti and they're excellent!  Love them with a cup of tea.  I had one.  Then I also had one - 100 calorie Swiss Roll.  Total indulgence!!

Biscotti - 110 calories, 17 carbs,  4 fat,  2 protein

Swiss Roll - 100 calories, 33 carbs, 8 fat, 2 protein

Let's review.. something is missing... hmm... FRUIT!!  Most unlike me!  I normally have a minimum of 2 pieces of fruit a day.  Oh well...

Here are my totals for the day:

Calories: 1389  (within range)

Carbs: 209 (within range)

Fat: 48 (within range)

Protein: 54 (under range)

The one I typically have trouble getting enough of is Protein, as you see today.  The one I normally have trouble not going over is Carbs.  This isn't a surprise to me.  I'm a total carb girl!!

Well  there you are folks.  This is what it looks like to eat within my ranges (almost - sorry protein!).  It's plenty of food - plenty of variety - and I can still have treats!  Jillian Michaels of Biggest Loser fame suggests that your diet be 80/20 - 80% healthy stuff, 20% treats.  I was pretty close to this today so I'm happy.

It's time to hit the hey.  Good night blog buds!

Week 17

Last week was quite the week! It was April vacation for the kiddos and we had a great time!!


Trips into Boston, museums, play dates, sleep over’s.... As tiring as it was, I'm sad to see it end. Great memories made with my little men!

But with all of that fun brought many food challenges. Quite frankly, I had victory many times and other times I caved. Here's the cool part though - I feel totally good about it.

I've said it once, I'll say it again (and again, and again I'm sure) I will not truly change to a healthier lifestyle if I feel that it will mean I have to live too restrictively. If I want to indulge in a hot dog at Quincy Market, then so be it. Heck, how often do I even go there? Maybe once every 18 months or so... When we went to the movies, yes, I had popcorn! But again, other times, I made really great choices! The hubs and I went to lunch one day and I really wanted to get one of the pasta dishes in the creamycheesieyummy sauces, but didn't. I wanted to have an ice cream with the kids, but instead chose to have a Klondike 100 calorie bar at home. It was a week of give-and-take.

To be honest, I dreaded the walk to the closet this morning to pull out my cold white metal nemesis. But to my surprise, it was quite nice to me this morning. Thank you scale!! I'm down 3 lbs.

Are you ready for the grand total kids? 31 pounds lost!!!

This now brings me to my next reward of 2 glorious hours to myself!! Maybe I'll use those two hours to redeem my 25 pound weight loss reward of a hair cut which I still have not done. (Looking for a cheap reasonably priced, good hair stylist that has hours I can do.) So yeah me!!

The Week Ahead:
As much as I was sad to see vacation week end I was not anticipating that the big guy would be staying home today due to sickness. (poor guy) So had to cancel with the cc today. : ( Reschedule!

I have been doing so little exercise, save for all of the walking on our adventures over school break. Come to think about it, I'm sure that's what I have to thank for the 3 lb loss. I'm hoping to start walking at least a few days/nights a week. Looking for a local walking buddy. Actually, I do believe I'll have two little walking buddies. I'll let you know how that goes : )

Need to be more diligent tracking, I've been getting sloppy. Same goes with sleeping and drinking my water. I've been slacking on my 8 hours sleep/glasses of water.

Holy bloggity distraction!
It's time to get the little guy to preschool.

I'm off my friends - Have a great week!!

"Impossible"? No Way!

My friend makes this wonderful egg dish called the "Impossible Veggie Pie".  It's sort of like a cross between a quiche and an egg casarole.  I like egg dishes in general but my two complaints would be that the eggs are frequently a little runny and that they are super high in fat and calories.
But this pie is not runny because it uses a little Bisquick mixed in with the eggs.  It is hands down my favorite egg dish!!
So, how do I continue to enjoy this without it having to be a big splurge or only eating enough for one taste - which let's face it, would just be a tease!
It's time to make the "Impossible Pie" the "Possible Pie"!!  I went to work on it last night and it came out super eggcelent!!!  (even the hubs had no idea that I had lightened it up!)

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Egg Beaters
1.5 Cups Milk (I use 1%)
3/4 Cups Bisquick Heart Health
2 Cups Broccoli (chopped and cooked until fork tender)
1/4 Cup Chopped Onion
1 Cup Shredded Cheese (I used Reduced Fat Cheddar)

In a bowl mix onion, cheese and chopped & cooked broccoli until combined.  Put into a generously sprayed pie plate or baking dish.  In another bowl (or blender) mix egg beaters, milk and Bisquick until well blended.  Pour egg mixture over the veggies and cheese.  Bake in a 350 preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes or until set and slightly golden.

Here's the nutritional info for the recipe above.  You can however add any kind and amount of veggies (my friend once made it with summer squash and it was terrific!!) and meats like sausage also work well.

Serving Size: 1/6  (this is a generous portion)
Calories: 148
Fat:  4.56
Protein:   10.4
Dietary Fiber:  1
Cholesterol:  13.25
Carbohydrates:  15.6

I sprinkled a little extra cheese on top.

Enjoy!!

Uggg

We took the kids to the movie today to see How To Train Your Dragon.  Very cute movie, although I did keep falling asleep through the second act.
Movies aren't the movies without popcorn for me, so I splurged.  We went into the theater, selected our seats (always near the front due to the hubs vision), and began to tear into the snacks.  Popcorn - yummmm.... um... no, not so much.  The popcorn was terrible!  It tasted stale and there were several burnt pieces.
Here's where the story really gets sad on so many levels.  I still ate it!!  Yes, and I don't even have enough shame to keep it from all of you.  In theory, I only splurge on something that is 'worth it'.  This popcorn was sooooo not worth it!  But I ate it any way.

Have you ever done this?  Splurged on something that wasn't worth it because it was there?

It's time to start writing out my grocery list for tomorrow.  I need to fill this house with healthy food and 86 the evil consumables that have been finding their way in!!  Anyone else need a fresh burst of motivation into their healthy lifestyle?  We can do this!!!

Week 16

Sorry for the dely folks!  It's school vacation week so my little men have been monopolizing my time :)  and I don't mind one bit!!

That being said, I really only have time for a quick post at the moment.

Week in review:
did well with sleep
did well with water
did ok on tracking (5 out of 7 days)
some days did great, some not so great at staying within my ranges.

What's the scales opinion?  Stayed the same.  Maintaining a 28 lb. pound loss this week.  I'm ok with staying the same.  Better than a gain!!

My big goal for this week is to just be conscious of my choices.  Again, it's school vacation week and we've been going out or having play dates each day so I'm out of my normal routine.  I just want to be very aware of each choice that I make so that at the end of the day I can feel good about what I did.

BTW - I had a date with my 7 year old son this morning while younger brother was busy.  We went to Dunkin Donuts and I tried an Egg White, Turkey Sausage and Cheese Flatbread sandwhich.  Very yummy and filling!!
calories: 280
fat: 6
protein: 19
dietary fiber: 3
carbs: 37 (yikes!)
Still, it's a better choice than their Reduce Fat muffins at 450 calories, 10 g of fat and 86 g of carbs!!  Personally, a muffin would never be worth that to me!!

Have a great week everyone!!

It's time to take my men on a picnic!

Veggies + Roasting = Delish!!

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE roasted veggies?
Along with fish and a baked potato, tonight we had roasted carrots, summer squash and zucchini. Yummmmm!!!  I'm downright piggy with it!  But if you're gonna be a swine about something, it might as well be veggies, right?
Just toss your veggies in a baking dish and add a little evoo to coat and some salt and peper.  Put in a 425 degree oven until the veggies start to get darkened on the edges.
Soooo good!!

It's time to go watch a movie with the hubs!  'Have You Heard About The Morgans?'

Week 15

Hello all and welcome to week 15!

I'm hoping week 15 will be a fresh start for me!!

Being sick for about 3 weeks has totally thrown me off of my journey. Well, not completely. But food and exercise wise, yes. Last week was better, now that I'm pretty healthy again, but I could have done much better!

I was thinking about this last night and just why it is so important to me to make a healthy life change. One thought that came to mind has stuck with me through a rough night's sleep (allergies).

Over the last few weeks there have been lots of flashes going off, camera flashes that is. Pictures taken for Easter, play dates, Scouting events, etc. I have seen some of the pictures and to be frank, when I see one of me, I'm not happy at the image before me. Not that I ever am really, but I think I'm expecting to see a better reflection of all of my hard work.

I do not want to be one of those people who say, "No, I hate having my picture taken, don't!" Especially now that my mother is gone and I know how much a picture can mean. I can't be that selfish to my boys. And it would be selfish (sorry, not trying to offend any shutter-shy people). I say this for two reasons.

1. When someone really loves you, as a spouse, parent or children do, they love you completely, fat and all. And let's face it folks, a photograph is a reasonably accurate depiction of how you look. (I say 'reasonably' because there are people who just don't photograph well and the image doesn't match the individual.) When you want to remember someone photographs become very important. I won't take that away from my boys.

2. What lesson would I teach them by not letting anyone take my picture? Self-loathing. Yup, that's what it amounts to. I hate how I look sooooo much, that I won’t' let it be recorded. That is not a message I want to send to my young men. I want them to be much deeper than that.

More picture snapping events are coming up. Family day trips, birthdays, etc.. Pictures will be taken. How do I want to look in them? More than anything - happy!

Ok - so I'm ready for ya week 15!

I've actually been typing this without knowing what my current poundage is.... I'm going to go weigh in now. How exciting - a live weigh in! Considering no one will read this right away, I guess it's only sort-of exciting for me. And considering I'm not expecting fabulous results....Ahh, enough already. Here it goes.

I do have to say first that my hair is dripping wet! (Oh boy! I sound like one of those folks at Weight Watchers who spit out their gum before they weigh in as if that tiny wad of Trident is going to make the tilt buzzer go off..)

Wow - I'm down 2 lbs!!! This puts me at a grand total of 28 lbs lost! Yippee - yeah me!!

Goals for this week:
drink 8 glasses of water a day
8 hours sleep a night
track all of my food (ok, totally wimped out of photo journal last week - it's so hard, I don't want to wait to eat until I've taken a picture!)
stay within my ranges
exercise - for however long, just get going!
try a new healthy food/recipe
continue job hunt
work on talk for fall church event (please be praying as I'll be the speaker)

Still need to get my 25 lb loss reward of a hair cut.  Soon I hope!

It's time to attend to the laundry! Have a great week everyone!!

Question... What do you want to see when you look at your reflection?

Feast For The Eyes As Well As The Stomach

The other night I was trying to decide what to make for dinner (you know, staring into he fridge expecting something to just jump out at ya), when I noticed that I had quite a bit of veggies in need of being cooked up.


So I pulled out carrots, broccoli, onion, zucchini, summer squash and red pepper. Hmm.. what to do what to do. I decided on stir fry. I love me a good stir fry!

I chopped up each yummy veggie and sautéed them in a pan while I had whole wheat pasta boiling and my good hubby outside grilling a little chicken. As I was tossing all of that jullianned goodness, I was suddenly struck with just how beautiful it was. The reds, greens, oranges and yellows were absolutely brilliant!

I have been working on a devotion this week that I'll be teaching this Saturday for the gals at church about finding beauty in our every day life. God gives us so much if we just take the time to notice. God interrupted my normal dinner time rush to show me the beauty in his creation. Isn't it amazing how He even made the things that we're just going to chew up and eat beautiful? He is amazing!!!

Please notice the blurred hand in this photo. That is my hungry husband drumming his fingers while his picture crazed wife stages a shot. Poor guy.

Have you found beauty in your everyday life?

It's time for me to find the beauty in a cup of tea :)

Thinning Out

I enjoy a good bagel with cream cheese time and again, but they are loaded with fat and calories!!
Sure, you can get the 'diet' ones, but they are usually tiny and have a funky texture.

This is why I'm excited with Thomas' Bagel Thins.  They're about the same width as a traditional bagel, but only about 1/2 to a 1/3 as thick.  They still have the same great taste and texture too.
Here's the skinny on their 'everything' flavor:
calories ~ 110
fat ~ 1 gram
cholesterol ~ 0
dietary fiber ~ 5 grams
protein ~ 5 grams

I've been having this for breakfast with some whipped cream cheese.  Oh so yummmy.  Nothing 'diety' tasting about it and totally guilt free!

It's time to get ready for kids to arrive!  Don't forget to eat your breakfast!!

Too Convenient

100 Calorie packs.  Great idea, right?  Convenient.  Handy.  Portion control.....
But when you eat 4 of them in one day!?!?!!!  Seriously!  Maybe a little too convenient.

It makes me think of the Jim Gaffigan bit on mini muffins - "Maybe I'll just eat one or twelve"

Not doing this tomorrow.  If I am really in need of something else to eat, I'll go for an apple.  Or maybe I just need a piece of gum to chew.  But no more 400 calorie packs!!

Feelin' Good

Really feeling good about good choices yesterday and getting back to tracking!!

Need to post my pics from day 1 of pictoral tracking.  This is going to be hard!  I don't normally stop and take a picture before I eat something.  I can tell you that last nights dinner was long gone before I remembered that I was supposed to take a picture of it. Oops!

It's time to get crackalackin'!

Week 14

How was your Easter?

My day was great - actually, the whole weekend was great!  We spent both days with family watching the kids play and eating.  And eating... and eating....

But that's ok.  Today is a new day!  And to be honest, I'm glad to be over the last couple of weeks.  First the whole family had strep, then my illness progressed into bronchitis, just short of pneumonia.  Feel much better, although still not 100% - but I'll take 'better'.

Today I headed off to the cc.  Fairly good appointment - discussed something that really upset me last week.  This discussion led to my weight which will be the topic of conversation for the next meeting...

My weight has been traveling the 2 lb. path over the last few weeks and at this point I'm down one of those pounds.  So my total is 26 lbs. down as of right now.  Although the stall is a little frustrating, I am still feeling so good about this loss!!  There's no race - no key goal that I have in mind that adds additional pressure.  I'm just going to keep enjoying and celebrating each pound I take off and how good it makes me feel!

Today I began the photo tracking challenge.  I'll be taking a picture of everything I eat over the next week.  Well, that's the plan any how.  How convicting will this be??

Going back to the sick topic.. one good thing did come of being ill.  It forced me to slow down.  Seriously!  It had me flat on my back for a few days.  Unfortunately, those few days were the set-up of, and then the big communion breakfast itself that I'd been working on for months.  But God had a plan for all of it!  The gals from our church and the hosting church did an amazing job (from all accounts) and it was enjoyed by all.  But the good that came from this down time was this, God has begun filling my mind with lots of topics and themes for future talks and retreats.
For many years, I have felt God leading me into ladies ministry.  As of about four years ago, I was actually put into that field at our church.  I have been blessed to help lead the women's ministry these past few years, and I have truly been blessed as a result.  But I feel God wants more.
A year and a half ago, God called me to not only lead Bible study and introduce speakers, but called ME to speak.  My first talk was at Christmas and it was called "The Wise Still Seek Him" and I taught about the significance of each of the Wise Mens gifts.  I was terrified, but the peace of the Lord washed over me just before I took the stage.  I have done a few brief speaking engagements since, and I'm scheduled to be the speaker for our Fall 2010 event.
Please be in prayer for how God would use me in Women's Ministry.  As I said, He's been filling my head with more themes and ideas and I am looking to be faithful to study and see what He wants me to do with them.  We have been praying for guidance as to employment for me.. and it has been a question on our hearts as to if the Lord is calling me to speak proffessionally.  I'd greatly appreciate your prayers!!!

Goals for the week:
8 hours sleep a night
track my food (update tracker and pictures)
8 glasses of water a day
physical activity (still need to be careful - still having trouble w/asthma due to illness)
be faithful in my walk with the Lord and studying His word
cc gave me an assignment to read up on emotional eating

That's it for this weekly update my friends.  I'm happy to say that I've finally started blogging on my other blog again!  I even updated the look.  If you have not done so already, please take the time to become a 'follower' on this and/or my other blog.  Have a great week!!!

It's time to start working on the devotional I'll share with the ladies at this weeks Heart2Heart on Saturday.

Happy Easter

Just wanted to write a quick - "Happy Easter" to everyone.

Bunnies and candy and eggs are fun (especially the chocolate ones!!) - but let us remember that this day is to remember what Christ has done for us.

Thank you Jesus for suffering and dying on the cross for my sins!!!  Thank you that you have victory over death by rising the third day and thank you for preparing a place in heaven for me!
Amen.

It's time to watch Harry Potter with my men.