[You can click here if the video isn’t viewable in your feed]
The Halibloggers had a successful run and I completely forgot to try to get us all in a video at the end. Sorry! :-( But I do have lots of pics to share with you to make up for it ;-)
Pre-game in our “traditional pose” (see here and you’ll know what I mean!)
Thanks again Laura! That hat kept me WARM before and after the run!
What a great day ladies! It was fun doing something so positive and motivational with all of you beautiful people!
Oh yeah and it was a great way to get my feet wet for a big running season ahead! In case you haven’t heard us gush and squeal about this on Twitter, I might as well tell yas that I have decided to REALLY step out of my comfort zone and run the Half Marathon in the Bluenose this coming May!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! I am freaking the HELL OUT! Not only am I running it, but so is Lynn and get ready for this, it looks like Amy is flying out to do it with us for a very special run ;-)
Did I say I’m freaking out?!?!?!
How wonderfully poetic is it for the three of us to run a half marathon together, each of us having lost at least a 100 lbs, supporting each other every step on the way right here in the blogosphere for nearly THREE years!
Details to come, but I can tell ya that I signed up for the Running Room Half Marathon Clinic starting up in January:
Do you guys know how long I’ve wanted to have a bowl of oats in a jar??? So many times I’ve finished a jar of nut butter and completely forgot to take advantage of the goodness that is left behind! Kath is definitely an oatmeal pioneer and I’ve had this in the back of my mind for at least a year! lol
By the way, THE BEST nut butter combo by far has to be almond-cashew butter. I just love it!
The mix was indeed pumpkin oats (I still can’t believe that I not only like pumpkin (finally!), but I LOVE pumpkin oats!
The mix:
1/3c rolled oats, 1/2c unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, 1/2c water, 1/2 banana chunked in the pot and simmered
Add 1 tbsp ground chia, splash vanilla, lots of pumpkin pie spice and a pinch of salt with 1/3c pumpkin at the end
Toppings: sliced natural almonds, unsweetened coconut and mini dark chocolate chips
Okay so I’ve been wanting to share that with yas for like EVER! (I realize that’s pretty sad! lol)
So this week is pretty similar to last week in the POINTS department. I used up most of my Flex early on in the week which wasn’t my original plan because I wanted to save them for Friday night because tomorrow night the Halibloggers are getting together to GTG to get hyped up for our Santa Shuffle race Saturday morning and we’re doing a baking exchange and a pot luck! But since I did my baking early on in the week, a few “taste testing” episodes later and it doesn’t take long to use up your Flex on a few squares! So the rest of the week was depending on Activity POINTS.
I gave the treadmill hell on Monday and felt great! I wasn’t able to exercise on Tues/Wed because I had some more treatments to my shoulder with the specialist which involved many needles! Needless to say, it was SORE. I felt good enough to allow my arms to swing up a storm tonight though and I killed it again on the treadmill! (Then I drunk tweeted off the endorphins telling you all that I love you :-D Seriously if ya’ll aren’t on Twitter, you’re missing out on half the fun!)
I still don’t know where this all came from, this loving the treadmill business? Don’t question it, or look it directly in the eye, just roll with it, I says! ;-)
Soooooo speaking of the Santa Shuffle! How sweet and thoughtful was it that Laura (who is one of my all time running heros sent us a little “surprise” to wear on the run?!!
Keeping it secret ‘til tomorrow night! :-P
(so dramatic! lol)
P.S. I have some reaaallly exciting news in the running department to share with you soooon! I’m just starting to come out of the closet about it. Again, if you followed me on Twitter, ya might already know! ;-)
What if I told it they were pancakes from an aerosol can?!?!
Oh yes!
So I saw this on the shelf by the organic yogurt the other day at the grocery store and I laughed out loud. The idea of it was hilarious to me and more so because it is “organic.” Many people assume that because something is “organic” that is a “healthy” choice. As you can see from the ingredients, it’s not all good, but not all bad either. But it is in a can after all. I decided that I had to buy it, if for nothing else, for the blog! :-D
This morning was as good a day as any to put this puppy to the test. I warmed up my non-stick pan, sprayed it with some EVOO and gave it a few “squirts” ? of pancake batter:
Then I started to panic wondering what I was going to do to “healthify” them a bit more and I sprinkled them with sprouted ground chia!
They cooked up quite nicely actually!
I sprinkled a few POM seeds on top and some sugar free syrup for dipping. It ended up being kind of impressive!
I think what I liked most about it was that it’s ready-made batter in the fridge and I can make it in no-time flatif I want pancakes on a “work” morning. They weren’t too bad in the fluffy department either. But all in all, that would be my only reason for wanting to use it. It’s pretty easy to whip up a batch of pancakes if you’ve got more than a few minutes!
Nooowwwwww, moving on to my new LOVE!!!
You might not think so by looking at it, but this stuff rocks my world :-)
It has such a beautiful fresh balance of bright tasting ingredients like ginger, cilantro and lemon grass are incredible and I just love it! The lemon grass really sticks out and it kicks the pants off of regular hummus in the taste department and is comparable in the NI department.
I can’t be trusted around it if I’m hungry at all!
I will most DEFINITELY be needing a new container of this next grocery shop!
P.S. I totally rocked the treadmill tonight. I ran for 45 minutes kicking it up to HIIT for the last 10. I think I even pushed another 5 minutes out of the guy next to me because he was totally on cool down when I started my HIIT and next thing ya know he’s totally sprinting with me!
It’s nice to see that we Canadians are starting to keep up with our American friends in the product department. A while ago I received an email from Vitalicious asking me if I would be willing to try some samples for the blog and while I danced around in excitement, they realized that I was north of the border and were going to send me off to their Canadian folks. I had forgotten all about it until I received an email from their north of the border rep who told me all about the great Vitalicious products that are now available in Canada. Up until this point I had only ever seen the Deep Chocolate Vitamuffins, BlueBran and CranBran Vitamuffins and the Deep Chocolate Vitatops, all of which I have tried and liked.
I don’t usually buy them because they are definitely on the expensive side (around $6-7 for a package four) , but definitely not a bad cakey and chocolaty treat for only 100 calories.
I am not an advocate for “100 calorie packs” as a way for people to eat their daily calorie or points because typically they are void of nutrition, and in some cases, people will chose 2 POINTS of a cookie pack over adding their 2 POINTS worth of healthy oil for the day, but on the other hand, I am a fan of “portion control” and let’s be honest, a girl still needs her fix once in a while! lol
And upon inspection of the NI and the ingredients list, I was actually kind of impressed keeping in mind that the list was bound to be somewhat “long” regardless:
For what it’s worth, the flour is whole wheat and the sugar is organic! lol :-P
They are kept frozen and I told him that they are better when you warm them up ooey and gooey in the microwave first, but since they were partially thawed in transit, he declined my suggestion.
I told him I had to try a “bite for the blog” :-D
He wasn’t a fan. I AM a fan. The reason he wasn’t a fan was because they are somewhat of a “healthified” lower calorie version of the “real thing,” they are a bit “dry” tasting and you probably aren’t expecting it because they look so “cakey.” This is why I find they are best consumed warm out of the microwave (and a schmear of PB2 on top!) It is a compromise I don’t mind because I think it’s a fair compromise. You can’t have it both ways unless you make a version for yourself fresh.
Normally I get my chocolate fix from 100 calories’ worth of dark chocolate after supper which I LOVE, but I certainly don’t mind substituting trying some of the Vitalicious products every other day or so at all! Bring it on I says!
Don’t worry I do have a husband who is more than willing to help me out in the taste testing. ;-) There were lots of chocolate variations in his honour:
AND underneath those vitatops there’s more! I never knew they also made brownies!
HAULT!!!!
Don’t worry I TRIED ONE FOR YOU! :-D
Definitely passed the test in my books! Warmed in the microwave is key!
And I scored me some VitaBrownie Mix too! This will be a true test to see if they are more moist when baked at home.
And a new kind of Vitamuffin that I haven’t seen available in stores here yet, Velvety Chocolate (Sugar Free):
And there is definitely a selection of Vitatops o’ plenty, so they will be fun to review for you guys. I have a large variety of different chocolate flavours, so it will be interesting to see if the chocolate flavours are truly distinguishable from one another.
It was a fun week as far as receiving fun blog & twitter-related packages in the mail, so I will share those with you this week too :-)
Guys I think this is rounding around to one month as a Weight Watchers meetings member already! Here's how my Week 4 WI went today:
[you click here if you cannot see the video in your feed]
I think it is obvious how frigging tired I am! lol
As I mentioned, our meeting's topic was intended to be about how to deal with the holidays and we talked about "food-centered relationships." One of the tips that our leader mentioned is that if you outright "ask for help" from someone in your family to "help you" because you are "trying to stay on program bla bla" the very act of "asking" for their help normally changes their perspective and they will actually assist you in your efforts rather than sabotage them.
Our usual meeting pose!
And I gotta tell ya'll that I totally killed it at the gym and sweat up a storm! My knees weren't bothering me "too" much, so I made a bee line for the treadmill and lit it up for 45 minutes! I love running now and I'm still completely floored by that. The last 5 minutes were cool down, but the 10 minutes leading up to that were HIIT and I felt a little bit like Ben Johnson ('cept I'm all natural all the way baby!) :-D Next I did some stretching (I LOVE those stretching stations that they have at Nubody's!! They are genius! I finished off with a few sets of various upper body strength, some minor ab work and some more hip flexor stretches (I could do that one all day long!)
All in all I left the gym feeling like a champ! Hitting up the gym after our WW meeting is absolutely THE best way to start off a new week on the right foot. After I got home, I showered, got dressed and then the husband and I were off to run some errands. We ended up at Boston Pizza for supper where I ended up eating too much, using about half of my Flex Points for the week already on Day ONE, but honestly who the h.e. double hockey stix cares?! I'm kickin ass and takin' names bloggies and 0.8 IS 0.8 for a total of 6.4lbs and one full month on program!!
There is something so absolutely perfect about that statement and I thank Peabody a million times over for leaving those words of wisdom to me in the comments of my last post! She said:
Some days it's not about the motivation, it's about the discipline. When I played organized hockey, our locker room had the quote "Discipline before Desire" written across it. I remember that always. It's what got me to 6am practice. It's what got me to the gym today even though I just wanted to stay in bed. It's what gets me up at 6am on Sunday mornings to the rink to play pick up with my friends. It's what helps me chose butternut squash over general tao chicken. Somedays the chicken wins out though. ;)
Hang in there. Know, that I hardly ever have motivation. But I do have discipline.
Think about that for a second. Isn’t that the ultimate truth?! It is the discipline in every single aspect of life that makes the difference, not the desire.
I thank each and every one of you for your comments (always) because there were some excellent words of encouragement and wisdom found there that helped me to feel like I’m on my way back “up” (and not on the scale!) :-D
Our leader likes to say, "when you've had a 'bad' week (for what ever reason) that's when you need your meeting...when you've had a 'good' week, that's when your meeting needs you!" All you can do is deal with today (another one of Faye's pearls of wisdom)...so don't worry about what happened yesterday, as it's done, and none of us have any idea what tomorrow is going to bring. You are a great motivation to all of us out here in Blogger-land, and don't you ever forget how awesome you are, regardless of what the number on the scale says! :)
Thank you Carol, that is sooo unbelievably true! I am a new meetings member, but I see the truth in that even at this stage.
So last night was Zumba night again for the Halibloggers and while not all of us made were able to make it, Tammi was there all ready to Zumba with us too. It was Lynn’s first class and god love her is all I have to say. You could tell she just didn’t like it and was gritting her teeth through it, but she did it and she sweat and that was the main thing. She’s not a fan, but at least she gave it a try!
It ended up being a lower intensity class (so says my HRM), but I also wasn’t into it very much. I had a really unfortunate incident on my way there where a kitty cat ran out in front of me and I hit him with my car! *sobs* I ended up reacting hysterically (of course) and thought the worst, pulled over onto a side street and ran trying to find him. I called Lesley because she was just up the road (she and Lynn and I met for a coffee at Local Joe’s beforehand) and she came to help me find him. I was all crying and everything and thankfully there was a pedestrian there to saw us and who also saw me hit the cat and he said that the cat ran away over to some houses and it couldn’t have been really hurt by the way he ran away.
I love that guy.
I of course still cried all my way to Zumba and I contemplated not going, but I went because my girls were there and I thought that was the place I needed to be the most in all aspects of the situation.Thank you ladies for helping me feel better. Tammi even had me laughing more than once. That girl cracks me up ;-) Lesley deserves some sort of crisis friend award by the way she just showed up out of no where like a friend superhero hugging me on the street and talked to the pedestrian while I was all crying!
Thank you, you superstar friend *mwah*
Soooo, back to this “discipline before desire” stuff. Tonight when I got home from work, I had the usual ideas and plan to get to the gym. I decided that I would make supper first because I’ve recently discovered that I have a waaayyyy better and harder workouts after I’ve eaten supper and am sufficiently fueled and I can focus. For supper I had a delicious salad, steamed beets and a fish cake (homemade from a place in spring garden place mall) and a side of chow (it was awesome!) and then my “old” thought patterns attempted to emerge where I would try to cop out and not go to the gym.
I now live about 8 minutes from the gym so it’s really not that big of an ordeal to go.
Then I got on Twitter and told all my tweeps that I was having a hard time feeling motivated to go and sure enough, my tweeps did not let me down and next thing I know I’m getting changed and I’m out the door!
I decided I’d hit up the treadmill and I did 45 hard minutes plus cool down. I was a sweaty beast and I outran a guy and a girl on either side of me who got on after me and got off before me. 10 minutes of it I ran it HIIT which had me HR in the high 170’s and there was only once when I slowed down enough so I could take a drink without poking myself in the nose! lol I ended it all off with some upper body weights.
During the workout, I was able to clearly recognize how much differently I was thinking during the workout compared to before. Normally I’d be watching the time tick by soooo slowly and hating it. This time, and really for the last 4 weeks, I’ve been grinning and beaming from the inside feeling so strong and athletic that I almost don’t recognize myself!
I seriously have no idea where it came from, but it was like I have FINALLY removed that script from my head!
I mean GOD you guys!! It’s only taken what? THREE YEARS?! But seriously, it’s come when I was ready to let it come. I am pretty sure that having suffered some pretty serious injuries in our car accident 3 and a half years ago when I was still extremely overweight played a major roll in my reluctance in pushing out of my comfort zone, for fear of re-injuring myself or hindering my rehab. It’s a very difficult and fine line to walk, but I’m getting there I’m trusting myself and what I am capable of and it feels empowering.
So much so that I think the Bluenose Marathon this year holds quite a bigger race for me in May 2010 ;-)
So I was tracking my meals one day last week when I simultaneously remembered I had an entire head of cauliflower to use up in the fridge. How’s this for a coincidence?
Here’s the thing: I don’t really “like” cauliflower that much, but it was on sale at Avery’s Farm Market and I aint ‘fraid a no veggie.
But this looked like a pretty good way to put it to use as a side dish, so in the oven it went:
I also added some smoked paprika that I bought at the craft fair as well. I had been wanting to pick up smoked paprika forEVER but just never came across any. I’m convinced it was the secret ingredient in the chili I made a while ago which ROCKED even though I used frozen vegetables in it!
The final result:
I’m sure if you like cauliflower this is a great recipe for you to try, but I dunno, it didn’t scream “popper” to me!
It’s a good thing that I had my brussels sprouts to fall back on too. I still cannot believe how much I love brussels sprouts and it took me 29 years to even try them!
So tonight a bunch of us girls are hitting up Zumba again to shake our booty and get our sweat on. I’m tellin’ yas we are going to have to fight the crowd to get our ticket for the class because since the class only accepts the first 30 people, we alone take up 25% of it!
I am looking forward to great workout and I really need it because yesterday I had a day off and I tried to go for a run, but my knee started shooting pains. I had to walk. I didn’t like that at ALL! I have been feeling so great about being able to just pound out an hour of running. Hopefully it was just a temporary problem and I won’t have any trouble with our Santa Shuffle coming up next weekend.
Plus I’ll be honest with you guys, I’m having a rough time this last week. I stayed OP last week and did well on my WI, but I’m just not feeling it right now. I’m already out of Flex for the week until Saturday and I feel like I’m just Eyoring my way through it right now. That’s what happens to the good ol’ motivational high that comes and goes. I can still remember the incredibly motivated feeling I had just a few short weeks ago and I wanted to bottle it so that I could have some later when I needed it!
I just hope that I can get my head in the game again because a bad WI result certainly isn’t motivating!
I think I need to get organized to try some new recipes because that is always something that helps me feel good about being on track.
Finally got it to work! Sorry guys for the delay in my weigh-in day post! I couldn't figure out why my second video wasn't loading and it was because the setting was on HR and it was too big. Thankfully hubby saved the day and I'm now getting around to telling you about it! I apologize the quality isn't where I would want it to be, but the only time I use "blogger" to create posts is when I have videos and there's no editing options...pffffft.
First off, pre-WI:
[If you are reading this feed from Haligonia.ca & cannot see these videos in your feed, please click here :-)]
Ta-da!
I got me a 5 lbs star too :-D
Our seemingly traditional pre-meeting pose:
Now only the deets about the meeting! Today's topic was about starting to get ready for the holidays and how to approach the upcoming season:
One of the things our leader raised is whether we were "thankful" to be a WW member right now. It sounds kind of cheesy, but honestly I truly am! I am so much more at peace with myself knowing that I am in the driver's seat of finishing off my weight loss and "nothing tastes as good as being in control feels"
A few tips about how to manage the inevitable temptations:
And then it was time for Lynn, Holly and I to head on over to Sobeys to support the @halifaxchicks with their fundraiser to raise funds for Bustamove. "Eat a pancake, save a boob." :-D
Why on earth did no one tell me my bangs were starting to go all Farrah Fawcett??
How fun is it going to be to have Richard Simmons leading in on the exercise for Bust a Move?! I wish I had of gotten my buns in gear to join these girls :-*(
And of course the "important" part:
Oh and all the regular "Joes" got the "generic" syrup:
We had a secret password and got the "real deal"
(It pays to know the right people ;-) )
And we timed it perfectly to enjoy a pancake in the company of our Zumba buddy Tammi and her adorable family (see you Tuesday for some more booty shakin)
And just LOOK at that BANG of mine?!?!?! Like seriously girls, you don't let a girl walk around with a boogie in her nose would ya?!
hahaha
Then it was time to get prepared for my Pampered Chef guests to arrive at my house, so Holly and Lynn accompanied me back to my place to get some dips prepared for the crew:
For some reason Lynn and I both missed getting a shot of the two cream cheese dips that we made! One of them was the shrimp dip recipe that I received from my aunt when they surprised us with a housewarming party and the other was a traditional nacho dip. I could hardly keep my hands away from them! It was a darn good thing that it was a new week with lots of time to cancel out that badness for next WI!
The punch I made was a Pampered Chef recipe called "Cran-Raspberry Fizz" and it was sooo goood!
4 limes, divided 1 can (275 mL) frozen cranberry juice concentrate 3 cups (750 mL) cold water 1 pint (473 mL) raspberry sorbet, softened 2 liters chilled ginger ale (I used diet which completely cut down the calories and was not detectable at all!)
Susan got all set up ready to do her demonstration:
Lots of products to show us:
We made a recipe called, "Mexican Chicken 'Lasagna'" which is made using the deep covered baker in the microwave and instead of using pasta noodles, you use flour tortillas instead!
There was badness in the cream cheese for sure!
Bad it was tasty! Of course I was running around so I didn't get many pictures, but the party was a success! We have left our order open for a few extra days for a few people who still want to place an order, and I am still trying to choose what it is I want! I've gotten a few great suggestions from you guys and we were really lucky that a few of our guests were well familiar with their products and had lots to recommend. Do any of you guys have any recommendations?!
(and P.S. since our order is still in fact open, anyone who lives in Canada can indeed place an order with our and our consultant will arrange to have it sent to you - shameless I know because I do get the perk of getting a percentage of the total sales for free, but I'm just throwing that out there! ;-) )
After that, my stomach was a little unsettled because over the last three weeks I have been treating my body the best it has ever been treated, pretty stellar with the eating and rocking the exercise, so it was interesting how just a moderate indulgence with those dips and that food made my stomach unsettled. The last thing I was in the mood for was exercise, but after it was all over Lynn and I pushed each other to go. We ended up killing it at the gym. I actually wanted to keep going, but heartburn was setting in hard with my stomach being unsettled and running on the treadmill, so I decided to pack it in. I ended up starting out in the StairMaster for 20 mins (first time ever tried it and I actually liked it!) then I ran on the treadmill for another 25 minutes (and I swear I could have kept going for a loong time after that. (I love that I knew I could do it). We finished it off pumping some iron then we decided we were going to enjoy a few glasses of wine!
We made the most amazing salad ever for dinner and I enjoyed 2 glasses of wine and a strongbow:
greens
green onion
julienne carrot
julienne beets
POM seeds
chicken
cran goat cheese (perfect flavour combo)
balsamic vinaigrette
= perfection
Oh and there was totally chocolate involved last night too! I decided to write off my flex for the week and focus on earning Activity POINTS for the rest of the week.
Hey guys! I am so sorry that I haven’t posted since Wednesday and especially my WI videos from yesterday. I just wanted you to know that I’m trying to get my videos uploaded, but am having a few problems. I now have to run out to visit my cousin in the hospital, so I will most definitely have a mother of a post up for you later on when I get back!
It was impromptu. but impromperfection. Ever since our fabulous out of town bloggerbuddiescame to visit for thanksgiving and we had a daquiri and cheese nibbler night at Farm Girl’s house, I have not been able to get the yummy thought of the cranberry goat cheese outta my head! I picked up a package a while ago trying to figure out how I wanted to work it in a recipe, while leaving some for a treat on crackers for another night.
I had fresh chicken ready to use, then it dawned on me that poultry and cranberry are a match made in heaven! And, well, cheese is pretty much a match for anything, so low and behold, I decided to stuff up my chicken with it!
Ingredients:
boneless skinless chicken breasts (or turkey)
cranberry goat cheese (15g per breast)
egg whites
Panko crumbs or whole wheat bread crumbs
Epicure roasted red pepper dip mix (or any kind you want) for some “flava”
S&P
Method:
1. Cut a little slit in the breast
2. Measure out 15g of goat cheese per chicken breast and stuff it inside the slit:
3. Tie it up with cooking twine or these super cool silicone elastics and dredge in egg whites and coat all sides:
4. Add the Epicure dip mix to the Panko crumbs + S&P:
Tip: I bet you could use summer savory instead and have an excellent festive flavour combo too!!
5. Coat all sides of the chicken breast to cover
6. Bake at around 425 until cooked:
7. YUMO for 6 POINTS (depending on the size of your breasts :-P)
Wooohooo bloggies did we ever boogie down tonight! Tonight we finally got coordinated to attend our first Zumba class at the GoodLife and not only did Lesley and Lex join me, but Tammi took the twitter bate and came along with us too! WOOT! We were all first timers, but were super excited because check it out:
Ditch the Workout – Join The Party! Zumba has easy to follow moves and routines. Featuring interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat. Add some Latin flavour and international zest into the mix and you've got ZUMBA! See your club for class dates and times.
And FYI, if you think you can’t burn as many calories dancing around and shaking your booty, you’re just plain wrong! I was curious and wore my heart rate monitor and I burned 450 calories which is comparable to what I burned last night doing FitKick.
We shook our booties (booty?) to some Shakira and lots of other latin music and I absolutely LOVED it! Another FYI: You do not have to have any rhythm of any kind to take this class (trust me on this one! lol) and to be perfectly honest I didn’t see one person in that class that really knew the moves and didn’t look like everyone else. The class was full of course, which means that you have to arrive at least 15 minutes early and line up to get your “ticket” to ensure your spot in the class, but totally worth it and since it’s not worth it for me to go all the way home after work and come back, I’m there early anyway!
P.S. Don’t use the microwave at the Superstore @ Joseph Howe because OMG Ewwwww (I tweeted the details about that while I was trying to amuse myself while waiting for the other girls! lol) I had packed my supper to take with me to eat there while waiting for the class since I got off work 2 hours before the class. Let’s just say, I ate cold chicken and cold green beans! “Clean up in aisle 5!”
Mid-Week Check-In: So far I’ve got 3 exercise sessions in with one more planned for Thursday. I’ve still got about 10 Flex POINTS left and all of my Activity POINTS. I have to say, since joining the WW meetings, I don’t think I’ve eaten THIS good on a consistent basis for as long as I can remember, if EVER!
Who says that following WW dooms you to processed 100 calorie packs?! In fact, I’m kind of going to make it my mission to prove that it’s just not so!
Ya see, there are two sizes of kibbles in the brand of dog food that we buy for Lucy; the "big bites" and the "small bites" which are for different sizes of dogs. She likes the big bites, but for reasons you're about to see, we normally buy her the small bites, but the vet assistant grabbed me the wrong bag! [Click here if you are unable to see the video in this feed]
So I have taken some penny pinching and “do it yourself” inspiration from Vanessa and Jen and thought I would try my hand at making my own homemade “latte” of sorts. Now I don’t have a fancy dancy espresso maker or a french press (although I plan to get my hands on a french press PRONTO), but I did decide to fork out the $12.00 on one of these bad boys:
It’s a milk frother and this little device is where the magic happens:
So I’m not coffee expert and half the time when I’m in the lineup at Starbucks I’m listening to the other people in the lineup and trying to memorize what the frig to say! But I think I got down the basics for a latte:
mostly steamed milk
espresso
flavour
Okay well now I don’t have a “steamer” to steam my milk, but I can certainly heat it up, and I don’t have espresso, but I’ve got great Just Us coffee so that’s when I decided I’d do a combo of an egg nog “latte” and egg nog “misto!” For any of you who are like me and have no flippin’ idea what a Misto is, it’s when you add warmed or steamed milk to your coffee rather than cold and it would be mostly coffee with the milk added to it as opposed to a latte which is mostly steamed milk with espresso shots added. I’m sure our resident Haliblogger expert Jaime can correct me if I’m wrong ;-)
So I got my inner barista brain wheels a churning and this is what I ended up doing:
I took a 1/4c light egg nog + 1/4c skim milk and warmed them in the microwave:
Put my little milk frother to use:
Added coffee + pumpkin pie spice (it just seemed like the right thing to do ;-D):
Then for some reason I decided I didn’t have enough fun with the frother, so I stuck it in for another bit and ended up all bubbly. I of course sprinkled it with more pumpkin pie spice for good measure too. I didn’t add any sugar or sweetener because:
(a) I’ve weened myself off it in my regular coffee almost completely (YAY ME!); and
(b) The egg nog gave it the perfect amount of sweet for me
Hello 1 POINT next-to-nothing fancy dancy Egg Nog Misto Latte!
The next time around, I got better at the yummy froth on top:
I think the dinky li’l milk frother does a pretty good job, don’t you?
Now if I could only come up with a 1 POINT biscotti, we’d be golden! :-P
Now isn't this an interesting little "experiment" about how I my weigh-in result does or does not impact how I feel....the suspense is killing you, I know! lol
Pre-weigh-in:
I feel so lucky to have these girls to attend the meetings with! I girl sometimes needs two shoulders to boost her back up ;-)
Our meeting topic today was intended to be:
We didn't get to talk about it very much because we had a special anecdote from one of our meetings members who was in possession of the "magic journal" for the week. I will talk more about the "magic journal" another time, but "Jeannie" sure touched my heart from all angles. What a character that woman is!
There were a few points said by our leader that I thought were very important.
She always mentions our right to "press the re-start button" ever single week. I think the idea of that is so important. It not only allows you to put any "indiscretions" behind you and move forward, but it also means that it is now a new week to also keep going!
Making excuses sabotages your chances for success. Isn't this so true. It's important to be realistic about all aspects of your weight loss approach.
Instead of dreading the upcoming holidays and staying on plan, think of it as an "opportunity." In other words, if you stay committed to your plan during a traditionally difficult time full of all sorts of temptations, coming out the other side no worse for wear and maybe even with a loss, is an opportunity that breeds future success
End of the meeting quote: "If you do not change directions, you may end up where you are heading." A very powerful statement for someone who is looking to find that "moment where it clicks" to turn your interest in losing weight into a commitment.
Just before we were ready to head out the door, one of our meetings members stopped us to tell us how much we inspire her and motivate her because of our success to date. I don't think there could have been a better time to have a stranger stop me to tell me this. She truly meant it and it was a humbling reminder not to let any ONE week take over my accumulated success. I wish I had of gotten her name, I really want to thank you for that from the bottom of my heart because I needed it today ;-)
Post weigh-in:
Post bum kicking:
Well there you have it bloggies, that's Week 2 all wrapped up and now we're into Week 3! There is no better way to kick it off than a fabulous work out at the gym!
P.S. I still stand by what I said about feeling smaller! ;-)
…you might be a red neck…lol okay, what I meant to say was “…you know you’ve got a problem!” lol
Why?
Firstly, this is my favourite breakfast of late. It keeps me going usually until lunch time. Sometimes I snack before lunch, but lately there hasn’t been much need.
I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this before, but in any event, I give you my version of an “Egg Mcmuffin” for 4 POINTS:
You can even see the “halo” hovering around it ;-)
The part about this that makes it so delicious is the addition of cream cheese! *sigh* cream cheese just makes everything better, doesn’t it? The thought of combining cream cheese with egg kind of turned me off the first time that Lynn suggested it one day, but I am never one to not try something and boy am I ever glad I did because it has become my quick & easy, delicious and nutritious breakfast! Most of the time I take them “to go” and eat them in the car on my way to work :0D
‘member when I did the “How To” post about how to microwave eggs? If you’ve never tried it before, you’ll be majorly impressed how even easier eggs can be to whip up in a pinch. As if they weren’t easy already?! I LOVE eggs! They truly are a perfect food all chalked full of tons of goodness for your body. I’ve been skipping the yokes to save a few POINTS.
One egg = 2 POINTS, but 3 eggwhites = 1 POINT. Most of the goodness in the egg is in the white anyway, no?
So back to this cream cheese business. Trust me on this:
You could of course add some tomato slices and/or baby spinach to sneak in some veggies there too ;-)
Oh and I’m a major fan of the sprouted grain breads/english muffins/buns. They are made without flour because they are made by a method of using “sprouted grains” and they are also a complete protein all by themselves. Plus they are always denser and chewier than regular bread and I have come to prefer it over traditional bread because it’s more satisfying to have some chew to my bread! Plus is definitely more filling! I’m all about what will fill me up :-D
Soooooo, moving on to my incredible 5 POINTSmoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Bagel I had for lunch and promised some tweeps I would post!
(I think I may have a cream cheese addiction problem and it is now confirmed by the fact that a message just popped up to tell me that Philadelphia Cream Cheese is now following me on Twitter ! lol) Too funny!
Ya see, the idea is that you eat it “open faced” and that way you get “more” rather than just slamming it together like a bagel sammich!
It was delicious and I can’t wait to use up the rest of my smoked salmon! (P.S. Smoked salmon freezes really well!)
After work I took a stroll down to Spring Garden for a little browsing just all by my onesome and of course I had to grab a salad at Pete’s Frootique ! It was big and not exactly POINT-friendly, but it was healthy and delicious!
They can definitely stuff ALOT of salad into one of these small little containers! The mix:
salad greens
baby spinach
carrot
tomatoes
egg
cheese
chick peas
beets
dried cranberries
trail mix
mandarins
red poppyseed dressing
I counted it as 9 POINTS although I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more. But let me tell ya, trail mix and dried cranberries are made to be in a salad! Perfection.
And how awesome is it that you can buy just little tastes of fudge and not have 2399484 calories? Perfect for a Friday night treat :-)
Each one a different flavour:
See how little:
I had about 3 POINTS worth and it hit the sweet spot!
So bloggies, tomorrow is Week 2 WI. I feel like I had an overall good week so regardless of the result I am feeling best of all that I am finally accepting exercise into my life. I have spent too many years fighting it and it feels like such a relief that it’s now not only accepted into my routine, but that I am actually enjoying it for the first time in my life ;-) I haven’t stepped on the scale even once this week and there was a few times when I almost let my curiosity get the best of me, but I didn’t! I knew that it was not going to serve me any purpose because I’m need to carry on just as I have been, regardless of what it says.
I hit up FitKick last night which gave me 3 exercise days this week. I ate all of my Flex POINTS and about half of my Activity POINTS.
(I am kind of curious though, but I will have to wait until tomorrow!)
Are you guys weekly weighers, daily weighers, monthly weighers? How “attached” are you to your weighing practice? Do you need that kind of feedback to keep you on track?
I am 29 years old from Halifax, Nova Scotia. This blog is where it's at. It details my daily trials and tribulations of my journey to a healthy weight. My journey began at 298 lbs. Weight Watchers Online was a huge component to me getting my "sea legs" venturing on this healthy lifestyle of mine and gave me the tools to lose 100 lbs of that weight. My goal weight is 165 lbs and I while the last leg of my journey has proven the most difficult (sticking in the 170's), I will get there! Wish me luck and I hope you check in to see how I'm doing!
I suppose you may wonder what is the significance of Angie "All The Way?" When I first joined WW online, I was trying hard to think of a good username that would represent something about me and my commitment to my weightloss. I decided that in committing to this, it was the real deal and I would not accept any nonsense from myself and was 100% dedicated to losing ALL of the weight - FOR GOOD. So, I'm in this for the long haul people, permanently, All The Way to acheiving my goals!
That "moment" where my commitment to acheiving a healthy weight became solidified
![IMG_7379_thumb[2]](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_CRsuCjX7k28/SxsZHSZdlwI/AAAAAAAAG1Y/bQe87tnzRF8/IMG_7379%5B2%5D%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800 "IMG_7379_thumb[2]")
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