A Nonstop Saturday!

What should you NOT eat before you go to Bootcamp for the first time in two months?

These........
3 Mini Pumpkin Poppers
(They are 1 PPV, but I called 3 of them 5 PPV)




You really should have a little protein before a workout, and halfway through Bootcamp, I felt light headed and a bit dizzy. I knew I should have had a Greek yogurt or eggs instead of my poppers, but man they tasted good!

Bootcamp felt great and it was good to be back!

When I got home I decided to try something I had found on Pinterest. I know.....surprise!

I like to microwave a chopped apple sprinkled with cinnamon and put it on top of my oatmeal.

When I found the recipe for Apple in a bag, I knew I had to try it!

Sliced apple, cinnamon, cornstarch, water, sweetener and a few raisins........




Put them all in a Ziplock Freezer bag, shake, vent and microwave for three minutes!



Yummy........




I poured the whole bag over my Oatmeal. I loved it!
5 PPV




Now that I had my energy back, I headed out to mow. Then I decided, after nearly losing an eye (twice), that I would take it upon myself to trim the tree branches in the backyard. I hope I don't get in trouble. You know there is a certain way to do that job? Then I had to cut UP everything I cut OFF! I earned some serious activity points today between Bootcamp, mowing the lawn, and the tree trimming I did. :)

Before tackling the next items on my Saturday "To Do List", I took a break and had some lunch.

1/2 piece of Tilapia, Tortilla Crusted
Mixed Greens, feta, vinaigrette
Pineapple
7 PPV




You gotta love leftovers.......don'tcha?





I tackled more Saturday chores, then I had some errands to run. I don't really CRAVE things often, but I could not get frozen yogurt off the brain! So I called a friend. Not to get my mind off of it, but TO GO WITH ME! :)

She did!





Chocolate Brownie and Peanut Butter topped with a few pieces of Reece's Peanut Butter Cup.
8 PPV





I was able to wrap up my chores and get ready for a night out with my hubby and friends.

We went to La Bodega to enjoy some Tapas and Sangria. I was reading the menu and its definition of Tapas. In the Spanish Culture, Tapas are a part of an evening out, going from place to place and enjoying a glass of wine with a small plate of food with just enough bites of something to keep you satiated while focusing on the people and the conversation.

That's exactly what we did!

White Sangria......I hadn't had it.....and I liked it! All 2 1/2 glasses!
12 PPV



I didn't take pictures, but I was able to find pictures online of the Tapas we chose.

Chicken and Chorizo Skewers........




Mushrooms........




Baked Goat Cheese in Tomato Sauce......(my favorite)




Refried Potatoes......(not a typo.....REFRIED POTATOES!)




Crepe with cheese.......




Everything was delicious, and we split them all four ways. They bring the Tapas one or two at a time to your table and I loved it. We always had a little bite of something on our plate. And the Sangria, of course.
I kind of picked things apart in my brain when I got home, and decided to give it a points value of........

13 PPV

I ate a lot of food today.
I did a lot of moving today.
I got a whole lot done today.
I had a lot of fun today!

What did you do today?


Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 5
Breakfast No. 2 = 5
Lunch = 7
Snack = 9
Dinner = 13
Sangria = 12

Total = 51

Activity Points Earned Today = 10
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 22
How many glasses of water I drank today = 12






"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Greek Yogurt & Jam

I keep Plain Nonfat Greek on hand all the time now. I use it as a sour cream replacement and have used it in a few recipes. It has a ridiculous amount of protein in it, so I want to use it as often as possible. I had heard that using jam or preserves is just like buying it with fruit in it. So I gave it a try and I was pleasantly surprised!

Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt (2 PPV)
1/4 C Kashi GoLean (1 PPV)
1 T Blackberry Jam (1 PPV)

4 PPV




"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Portabella Mushroom Pizza

I am not going to be real specific here......because I think it's pretty simple.

Clean and prep some Portabella Mushroom Caps.
Bake for 5 minutes on a baking sheet at 375.
Then top with Your favorite pizza sauce and toppings of your choice.

Chicken sausages and Lite Mozzarella.
Taco Meat and Light Shredded Cheddar.
Bacon and Tomato and Cheddar.
Turkey Sausage and Monterey Jack.
Turkey Pepperoni and onion.
Breakfast sausage, cheese and scrambled eggs.

These are going to be low in points no matter what.

Bake with toppings at 375 for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

These have Chicken sausages and Lite Mozzarella.
3 PPV for one, or 6 PPV for the two I ate here.




"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Friday Reflection

I have decided to make my Friday blog a Reflection of what I think worked for me, or didn't work for me that particular week.

If you are trying to lose weight, and you don't currently journal or track your food and exercise, I highly recommend it! Tracking allows you to go back through your week and see what choices may have affected your results at the scale, whether a gain or a loss.

It's funny how things work sometimes. I had great success at the scale this week and I was able to enjoy Pizza, Beer, Ribs, Starbucks, a Grilled Panini and some cinnamon sugar Pumpkin Muffins. Those were some of my favorite things I had this week, all in moderation. I focused on the power foods this week and never felt hungry.

I only got exercise in twice this week, so that wasn't great, but I did lose 2 pounds, which got me back to 165, finally! I said I would be giddy when I hit 164 for the first time in YEARS, and hopefully next Friday will be major giddiness!

I made two new recipes, as I planned to do in last weeks "Reflection" post.

I made Pizza's using Portabella Mushrooms as the crust. We loved them! I will make those again for sure!

I modified the Pumpkin Poppers and turned them from 3 PPV a piece to 1 PPV. Honestly, they were so good I had to give some away and freeze the rest.

That was my successful week in a nutshell!

Friday started off with a cloudy sky, a cool morning, windows open and coffee in bed with the dogs.

Then I headed to my meeting hoping I might see 164 something..........

Hey, I only missed it by four tenths! But this is my lowest yet and that is the first time that number to the far right has said -42! Yay!



The meeting was awesome, as always. My WW Leader started off the meeting by passing around a XLARGE ziplock bag with EIGHT pounds of fat in it! It was gross. And it is just plain CRAZY how heavy EIGHT pounds is! I mean I'm thinking...."That's the extra weight on my butt and thighs!"

Once we all came out of our coma from shock, the meeting continued. 😊

On the way home, I happily munched on my banana feeling light as a feather, but then I kept thinking about that damn bag of fat! So I didn't eat anything else until noon.





At noon, I made this delicious, creamy egg white and cheese sandwich on toast.
4 egg whites
1 slice Kraft 2% Sharp Cheddar
1 slice Trader Joes Bread
3 PPV




I knew this would last me a while with all that protein, and it did.




Then I met a girlfriend, and we thoroughly enjoyed our Friday afternoon out.

2 glasses of Wine.....
11 PPV




1/2 Edamame at Seasons 52.......
2 PPV





1/2 Artichoke Goat Cheese Flatbread at Seasons 52
5 PPV




This was my first time there, and I would go back for sure. The entire menu is online, so I was able to find the nutritional information to figure out the points. Perfect!





I was home shortly after 7:00 pm and Mike hadn't eaten, and since I had points left, I decided to eat my salmon that I had planned on eating for lunch.
I added red onion, feta, sliced strawberries and my Trader Joes Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola Dressing........





7 PPV




Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 0
Lunch = 3
Snack = 18
Dinner = 7

Total = 28

Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 47
How many glasses of water I drank today = 9





"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Happy Plate!

It was one of those days where everything struck me as......well.....funny.

I put my breakfast on my plate (2 muffins), and as I was getting ready to take the picture, they just looked sooooo lonely. So I added friends, and made a face. But I did just eat the muffins. I made the muffins the night before, and calculated them as 1 PPV. Eating two.......I wondered if 3 PPV might be more accurate.

3 PPV




I was meeting my dad for brunch, so a little something before brunch seemed like a good idea.

We met at La Peep? I hadn't been there in a long time, but was pleased to see they had lots of options. I really wanted the Banana Pecan Pancake special......but went with the Turkey Egg White Omelet instead, and it ended up being exactly what my taste buds needed!

I ordered the English Muffin dry, but it came buttered, so I ate half. That butter was DELICIOUS,!

Egg White Omelette with turkey sausage and avocado
Fruit
English Muffin

11 PPV? (Sometimes, you just have to guess)




My next stop was a hair appointment, or maybe....a Hair Consultation?? I am growing it out.....I think....and I feel lost. It has several layers after being so short, and I fear it looks feathered. Well, I fear it, because its true!! I found a picture of myself from the 80's and its freakishly similar to what my hair looks like today! Eeeeekkkk.

So I got some great guidance and a trim from my dear Lorrie.

Then I stopped at Starbucks for just a short visit and a Tall (small) Latte.
2 PPV

While there, and elderly gentleman sitting beside me pulled out his cell phone. Most people his age (sorry, Mom) seem to speak very loudly into their cell phones. I don't get that, but it always make me giggle. So he yells into the phone.....

"I tried to call your cell phone earlier, but I got a busy signal."

I snorted immediately. This tends to happen often when I laugh, but don't mean to laugh. (I think that snorting started in grade school.......and I've had to live with it ever since.) Then he continued to argue with the person on the other end that .....Yes, he did in fact call the right number, and got a busy signal.

Ahhhhhhhh..........Old People make me giggle.

Then I came home and tackled bills! Ick.

Those crunchy carrots got me through the stress.....






My inspiration for dinner came from the Wood Grilled Salmon Salad at Brio. This was not even close to a duplicate, but it was really good.






I made a tilapia fillet for Mike, and Salmon for my lunch the next day.




I always under calculate Salmon, so I weighed it.

EIGHT POINTS! Glad I weighed it.




I was guessing 5 PPV.




Then I cooked a small red potato to add to my salad and weighed it.
2 PPV.




I added Olive Oil and Balsamic Vineagrette.
2 PPV




And Feta Cheese.....
1 PPV




I'm totally repeating this for lunch on Friday!




Would you?




I thought so.







Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 3
Brunch = 11
Snack (carrots, latte) = 2
Dinner = 13

Total = 29

Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 23
How many glasses of water I drank today = 12






"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Power Foods....Are you familiar with them?

Did you know that.......

.......a light multi grain English Muffin counts as a Weight Watchers power food?
Yip, It do.

and............it has.....
5 grams of protein and........
8 grams of fiber, and.......

It is 3 PPV.





Just a reminder. WW power foods are fruits and veggies, nonfat dairy, lean proteins and whole grains. These foods help you to feel fuller longer.

"Power foods are determined by both their ability to be filling (provide eating satisfaction, which keeps you fuller longer) and their impact on health (how their sugar, sodium, saturated fat, total fat, and/or fiber content stack up against that of similar foods)." Weight Watchers

If you fill your daily menu with Power Foods, you are certain to have success!

Protein is key for me in feeling fuller longer. I have been asked why I always eat egg whites.

One Egg has 6 grams of Protein and is 2 WW PPV.

Four Egg Whites have 16 grams of Protein and is only 1 WW PPV.

So.......because I eat eggs often, and I would like to keep my cholesterol at a healthy number, I choose egg whites most often.

I do, on occasion, enjoy a whole egg, and I do love the taste of the yolk.

Here is breakfast......

4 scrambled egg whites
1 slice Kraft 2% Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese (torn into pieces)




Cover for just a sec.........




The best creamy and cheesy eggs ever!
And only 2 PPV!




I ate late.....around 9:30, and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat again until about 3:00, so I loaded up!

Toasted English Muffin with Pumpkin Butter (4 PPV)
Eggs and Cheese (2 PPV)
Pineapple and Banana (0 PPV)




Tons of food for 6 PPV!




I am working at the Food Truck, Beauty of the Bistro, on Wednesdays, and The Boom Boom Tacos are one of my favorites!

I brought them home today for lunch, then I disected them to see just how many PPV I thought they might be?

They are pulled pork, with slaw, salsa and a buttermilk yummy goodness on top. I may be over guessing a bit, but I am calling each taco 8 PPV.



I decided to not eat the tortillas, and dumped the best part into a bowl!
10 PPV




No regrets!





I don't know what happened for dinner, but I wasn't hungry. It was weird.

I shared some Green Giant veggies with Mike.
2 PPV





Then I thought I would try some Pineapple and cottage cheese........never had it together......won't have it again. I didn't hate it, I think I just prefer my cottage cheese with tomatoes and cucumber mixed in, rather than fruit.

2PPV





I made the Pumpkin Poppers again. This time I tried really hard to take them from 3 PPV to 2 PPV.

I got them to 1 PPV!

This is the original recipe with my modifications in parentheses.


1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/3 cup vegetable oil. (I used 1/3 C lite applesauce)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used 1/4 C Splenda Brown Sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

For Coating
1 stick unsalted butter, melted (I used 2 Tablespoons)
2/3 cup sugar (I used 1/4 Cup of sugar)
2 tbsp. cinnamon (I reduced this to taste since I used less sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray mini muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl and whisk until combine.

In another bowl, mix oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk. Pour in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fill mini muffin tins until almost full and bake 10-12 minutes.

(I do not follow the instructions below. I barely dipped the top in melted butter, then lightly dip it in the cinnamon/sugar.)

Melt butter in small bowl. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl. After popper cool for a few minutes, dip them in the butter and roll them in the sugar mixture. Enjoy. :)

1 Pumpkin Popper = 1 PPV!

Combine Dry Ingredients....




Combine wet ingredients.....




Mix together!




The original recipe....I think.....calls for 24 mini muffins, but I stretched it into 30 mini muffins.





Let them cool and dip away........but just a tiny dip!




Aren't they cute?




I actually melted 3 Tablespoons of butter, but poured out what was left over into a Tablespoon, and there was extra!




I think they taste great!




Perfect Fall Treat!




I had to freeze some so I don't eat them all............





Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 6
Lunch = 10
Snack....(poppers) = 4
Dinner = 4

Total = 24

Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 26
How many glasses of water I drank today = 12





"love the life you live, live the life you love"