Boot Camp Anyone?

Boot camp began yesterday! Myself and four friends, (ah, the comfort in numbers), joined an 8 week, Summer Slim-down Challenge. I was super nervous. I never know just what to expect in a class situation, and many times I have done classes, I feel like I'm the least experienced, or possibly the class member in the worst shape of any of the other class members. These pictures were on a friends facebook page, so I had a visual of what to expect........
This is my friend Ellen. She has been doing the class for a while now and is getting some Killer Arms! She's my idol.



This all came about fairly quickly, but I have been exercising pretty regularly and felt like the class would be a good little boost for my weight loss, and I do love a variety. I also like the idea of having a group of friends to go with. Many times in my weight loss adventures through my life, I have been in "food cautious mode", or "exercise mode", but I can't think of a time where I was really focused on both at the same time, and focused so much on my complete health, mind and body. I feel better, mentally and physically, than I have in a really long time. I don't think it's so much about the number on the scale (it certainly helps), but the decision I made almost three years ago to be healthier, live healthier, make healthier decisions, be aware of how I am feeling, and educating myself on the best things to eat. The class went really well. We go to the weights class three times a week, do cardio on our own three times a week, (we were given guidelines on finding our middle and high intensity heart rate, and a schedule of what to do, and how long to do it), and then there is a "diet". You are supposed to eat a certain amount of protein on certain days, then a certain amount of carbs on certain days, then one day, no carbs, and so on. I wasn't aware of this when I signed up. I am certain if I followed that, the weight would come off faster, but I am just a wee bit stubborn, and I am really happy with the way I am eating right now, so I think I will keep things as they are in the kitchen, but I will attempt to cut down on the bananas and fruit in general, and snack more on veggies, not fruit. I still say I didn't get fat eating too much fruit! :)
In the excitement of my 8 week adventure, I decided some actual exercise clothes would be a nice added touch. Lawn mowing clothes should be for lawn mowing, and actually, some of those need to go bye bye. Hey, I'm all about comfort!
So I headed to TJ Maxx to search for some deals! I found some great tops for $9.99! I also picked up some socks and a new pair of pants. Then I headed to Kohl's for my favorite Champion Sports bras, in the correct size! I can't believe how long I had been wearing the bras from several pounds ago! Dumb! I always buy black and white......I was feeling sassy, so I added some bright colors! I love them!



Here's yesterdays eats.....
Breakfast.......egg scramble.....
I cooked, then weighed this potato....2 PPV.

Then I cut it up, and "crisped" it a bit in Olive Oil spray...

I added 4 egg whites and scrambled...topped with a slice of 2% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, in little pieces.....

Covered with a lid.....

Ta Da! Nice and creamy, melted cheese.

Added my cafe au lait.......

and a couple of strawberries......perfect!

Then I was gone most of the day........when I got home I wanted something yummy and quick! So I made up one of my new smoothies. I am LOVING this WW Creamy Coconut Smoothie with a little added fresh pineapple!

I snacked on some dry kashi cereal, then had a banana, then had a serving of my Blueberry Cobbler!

Blueberry Cobbler
I wanted to have dinner ready when I got home from my 6:00 pm Bootcamp, so I was thinking crockpot. I made a favorite. Taco Soup.
Taco Soup



'https://picasaweb.google.com/107573335611793943119/TheWeightOfMyWeight?authkey=Gv1sRgCOGFlaeF_b7lPg#5750543848355381554'>
Check out this crockpot.....It's really a fryer with a basket and all. My mom gave it to me a LONG time ago, and she had it a LONG time before I got it! I still have the original book that came with it! I would love to know what year she bought this. I don't see a publish date in the book. I will ask her. I guarantee, she will know.


I have used it for frying twice. I have no idea how many times I have made dinner in it! TONS!
The taco soup tasted great after the weight class. I had plenty of points left to eat it on top of baked chips and top with cheese, and I really wanted a diet coke to make me feel like I was really having a treat of a dinner! I only have about one or two diet soda's a week. The sodium really seems to make me puffy. Not a great feeling. After the soup, chips and soda, I'll be drinking even more water the next 24 hours to flush that out!

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
Lunch = 3
Snack = 6
Dinner = 12
Total = 26
Activity Points Earned Today = 4
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 17
How many glasses of water I drank today = 12

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

Taco Soup

This is another old WW recipe that is a favorite of mine. I don't really even know why I call it a WW recipe. It's a recipe. But I do know that I received it from a WW member a long, long time a go. I have tweaked it just a bit.

1 lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 cans beans, rinsed (use what you like...pinto, kidney, black, etc)
1 can corn, rinsed (I prefer frozen)
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 pkg taco seasoning (Williams is my favorite)
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Dressing
1 1/2 C water

Brown meat and onion. Drain. Add the rest! Easy peasy! And so good!

I like to make this early in the day and let it simmer in the crockpot. Of course it's always better the next day!














I like to serve this over a bed of baked chips, then top with a little reduced fat cheddar and sour cream (plain Greek yogurt taste good too!).

This recipe makes about 8 cups. 1 cup = 4 PPV.

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

Successful in the weekend's challenge....mostly.

I promised myself when I got into the 160's, I would treat myself to a mani/pedi. I don't do this very often, but probably should. Yesterday, I finally found some free time to do just that! I grabbed myself a Starbucks on the way. Tracey, her American name, was super sweet and convinced me to get the gel nails. Glad I did. I love them!

Fingers......


AND toes!



It was my last food challenge of the weekend. We were going to my brothers house for a birthday celebration. My plan was to eat fairly light throughout the day, then eat a Greek yogurt right before we left to go to his house (14 grams of protein!) and take a point friendly dessert to share.

I did just that.

Breakfast......Banana, 2 cookies, 1/4 C kashi dry.





Lunch........cottage cheese and veggies, celery stuffed with peanut butter.





Snack before going to my brother, Dave's house..........

Blueberry yogurt with blueberries......




Can you say "Oompah loompah!"?




This is all I saw in my head the entire time I was eating this.



Then we headed to my bro's house. I didn't take pictures, but I ate....

Cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and hummus
Fruit
Green beans
About 6 bites of a piece of fried chicken, no skin.
1/4 c beans and rice
Blueberry cobbler
Chips

I passed on mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, red velvet cake and vanilla ice cream!!! Yay me! I did eat 1 1/2 servings of my cobbler though. I was only going to have 1/2 a serving! :) Everyone loved it!

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 3
Latte = 1
Lunch = 3
Snack = 4
Dinner = 21

Total = 32

Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 17
How many glasses of water I drank today = 14

My plan was to only eat half of my 49 this week, and I have gone over on that. I start boot camp today, so I know my workouts are going be a little more intense over the next 8 weeks. I'll work that extra off, and I'm not worried about it, but I will be cautious these next four days so I don't dip any further into the 49.

I just watched a video from the gym owner that runs the boot camp! Yikes! Looking forward to it!

I'm reposting this because it really seems to be keeping me focused right now, and it feels so good!




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

Blueberry Cobbler

This is an old recipe that I have hung onto. I am not a big pie or cobbler person. I prefer cakes and brownies and breads, but this is a keeper! Probably because of the cobbler part! I wish I could give credit to the original creator of the recipe, but I haven't a clue. For some odd reason, I remember her name was Sue! Thanks Sue!

I am going to my brothers today to celebrate his birthday and offered to bring dessert. The menu for dinner is fried chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, and all that jazz. I don't really care for fried chicken, and can pass on the other stuff as well, but don't want to make a scene. I think I'll take a veggie platter and eat small bites of the "other" food.

I will be eating this though!

Here's the recipe! Nothing about this taste "light", and it is super easy to make! Promise!

Blueberry Cobbler

4 C fresh blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
Cooking spray
1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 T veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lg egg whites, lightly beaten
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine blueberries and lemon juice in a 9 inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. (I used a larger dish so I could spread it out a bit and just have smaller portions. The recipe as is, is a very nice large portion.) Combine flour and the next 4 ingredients in a lg. bowl. Make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, slight beat egg whites, then add oil and vanilla and whisk. Add to flour mixture.






Stir until completely mixed.




Form 8 dumplings and place on top of blueberries. (I made 16 small dumplings instead of 8 large ones. This allows me to cut the points down if I eat 1/2 of an original serving).




Combine 3 T of sugar with 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. (I think this is what does it for me!)





Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

I JUST took this out of the oven and I have no idea how I am going to wait ALL day to eat it! The house smells so good!




The original recipe is for 8 servings, and 5 PPV.

I will cut it in half, but call it 3 PPV!

Happy Sunday!

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”
― Julia Child



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

Relax.....busy.....busy....busy......relax.

A relaxing morning in the kitchen with Neil Diamond on my Pandora (I have NO idea why), while trying out a new 1 PPV Cookie recipe. While the cookies were in the oven, I made myself a nice cafe au lait, (lots of practice steaming milk lately)...........And snacked on a small amount of Kashi cereal, dry.




........and played on the computer downloading some pictures I took last night. After a few silly facebook post, it was time to get to work. Laundry, house cleaning and quite a bit of time doing yard work. Why does that NEVER end? My next door neighbor likes to make sure and put all of the branches that blow out of my tree, in a nice, neat pile beside my house before he mows. I think its a very friendly way to say...."Here you go! These fell out of your tree, so I picked them up out of my yard for you and returned them to YOUR yard!" It really does make perfect sense. I don't know why it bothers me. They shouldn't be his problem. I shouldn't expect him to have to pick up my branches and put them in HIS trash, right? Well, I used to pick up the branches out of my yard that came from my OTHER neighbors tree, and put them with my yard waste, but now? I have decided to pick them up and put them in a nice, neat pile beside her house. I'm "PAYING IT FORWARD". So, the yard work seemed to take forever today! I am using it as my activity points. I don't want to waste them!

So here's the cookie recipe. I found it on Pinterest. It reminds me a bit of a no bake cookie, but you bake it, so not really. Huh? I know.


Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a large bowl, then stir in remaining ingredients. Let batter stand for approximately 20 minutes, then drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.






I guess it just LOOKS like a no bake cookie?




Its one of those things I keep eating, and trying to decide if I like it or not. Mike said he liked it. I ate 7 of them today. I guess I had a whole meal in a bunch of cookies! To me, it taste more like bread than a cookie. Not sweet enough to be a cookie, and soft enough to be bread? Weird, but like I said, I just keep eating them!

So I needed to be careful with lunch. I was prepared.......

This entire plate of food was so incredibly filling and tasty and satisfying! Only 4 PPV! Cucumbers, carrots, red bell peppers, two wedges of Queso Laughing Cow Cheese, 3/4 C of cottage cheese and two fresh peaches!


The peaches tasted like candy!

After eating all that, I started the lawn work. When I was done, I SAMPLED another cookie! (I ate it!)

Then I had a WW Mini Fudge Bar.

Then I had another cookie! Damn! Do I like them?

Finally I jumped in the shower. Then I decided to chill on the deck and start my new book. The Iron House, by John Hart. I asked a pear and a fresca to join me! They did!




Around dinner time, I decided take out was best. Mike wasn't feeling so great, crazy headache, so simple and quick. I went to a favorite neighborhood spot and grabbed Mike his San Diego Chicken Salad, and my new favorite for me, Hawaiian Skewers. Then I snatched a slice of avocado from Mikes salad!




We chilled on the deck with Dinner To Go, and he started to feel better. Yay!

Then we headed over to our sons new apartment. Actually, not his yet. He is getting married next month and his fiancé moved into their new apartment today! It's super cute! No pics though. :(


The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 2
Snack = (cookies) 5
Lunch = 4
Snack = (more cookies) 3
Dinner = 12

Total = 26

Activity Points Earned Today = 3
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"

Crazy, Fun, Happy Day!

Yesterday was just one of those days when......your not really sure what to expect. Great results on the scale? Not so great? Maybe plans? Maybe not plans? Things on your to do list, but could wait. Well, if you've been reading, weigh in yesterday morning was AWESOME! Then to the store to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies for this week. Got in some treadmill time, worked a bit, walked the dogs. The usual.

Then a girlfriend and I decided to head downtown to First Friday's for some art and a little bit of a cultural experience. We like to step outside the box. The husbands? Not so much. Oh, sure, they'd tag along if we insisted, but I'm pretty sure they were fine missing this one.

Not only was it First Friday's, where art galleries are open, some serving wine and appetizers, (or beer and crackers, the diversity is great!), but it was also the Kick Off for Gay Pride, and a Zombie Walk to raise money for charity!

Here is a friendly zombie. She said it was hard to not smile for her photo. She is the one I asked the purpose of the walk. She explained it all very sweet, but I was having a hard time nodding and talking to her while she played the roll of a ZOMBIE!




This couple scared me, but not so much I didn't get a photo!



Now I don't remember his, I mean her, name, but she had a kick ass wardrobe!




I won't mention what these two do for a living, but they were very friendly!




Now this guy is getting married today, and if you gave him a dollar, you could get a lifesaver off of his body with your mouth!





My dear friend Laura wanted to help the guy out! I claimed I had no cash. I was nervous. Laura had a five, and spent it all! The pictures are not appropriate for posting!

We had a great time and met up with a few other friends that brought lots of laughs! Always a good time out with Laura!

So here's the eats......

Breakfast was an apple and a banana on the way home from WW.

When I did get home, I made a WW Creamy Coconut Smoothie. It was so creamy and good. I added pineapple for a vacation feel and enjoyed it on the deck.



Lunch was a bowl of cottage cheese topped with cucumbers and a leftover turkey burger.




I actually only ate half of the burger. The cottage cheese was pretty filling and I wasn't sure where we would end up for dinner and what our choices would be, so I wanted to have as many points as possible.



I snacked on some carrots and laughing cow cheese in the afternoon. Before going out, I was pretty hungry an decided to finish off the black bean and corn salsa I made during the week, with a serving of chips. This time I counted them out. Nine chips is 2 PPV. Urg.

I included my zero points Crystal Light Margarita!



When Laura and I got downtown, we decided to eat first and do a little people watching. We ate at a place called The Cashew. A great view of First Fridays from the second floor!




I had two beers, mushroom bisque and a Lamb Gyro. I looked up the points as best as I could this morning. Later in the evening I had two more beers. I had planned on only having three, but we were out from 5:30 to midnight, so I added one. No biggie. Treadmill it off today!

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 0
Snack = 2
Lunch = 7
Snack = 8
Dinner = 35

Total = 52

Activity Points Earned Today = 2
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 23
How many glasses of water I drank today = 10


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

Thank You! Thank You! Thank you!

I'm not sure who I'm thanking here, but I believe it's the scale. Maybe it's myself. Okay, yes, I thank myself. I mean, after all, I am the one who made the choices that made the scale do what it did, right? The whole blogging thing was going to become quite embarrassing if I didn't get out of the 170's.....quick!!

Today, I did it! 168.00. It felt great to step on that scale and see that happy little 6 in the middle. I don't think I have seen a 6 there in over five years! Honestly, I was going to jump up and down for, 169.00, so at 168.00, I froze. Hehe hehe.....now I'm just giddy. I might as well weigh 120! Okay, small exaggeration. But I am extremely pleased with myself.




So I need a new challenge, and a new goal. I have determined that I do best with small, short term goals. Long term goals seem to wig me out a bit, and I can't see the end. But I can visualize short term. I will receive my next 5lb award at 167.4. That means I need to loose 0.6 this week. Totally doable. So that's my goal on the scale. How am I going to get there? Do what works for me.

1. Drink alcohol only one time this week.
2. Of my 49 points allowance that I can choose to use, or not, I will use half. (I typically just use them all)
3. Exercise 6 days a minimum of 30 minutes.

Obstacles?

Tonight is First Friday in the art district downtown. Lots of fun people. Lots of activities. Lots of food. Lots of drinks. I am going!

No plans Saturday....Whew!

Sunday we are celebrating my brothers birthday at his house. I already know the menu is fried chicken and he may request my moms famous birthday chocolate cake.

With school being out now, I know there will be more invitations for lunches out, driveway happy hours, poolside snacks and drinks, lake invites.

First obstacle. I am driving tonight, on purpose. That limits my drinking to three beers. Yay! I have a plan.

Second obstacle. I have been asked to bring a side. I took a large platter of roasted veggies to his house for his birthday last year. I roasted them in the morning, then chilled them and served them cold. They were a hit with everyone! I think I did asparagus, green beans, red onions, vidallia onions and red potatoes, with a little butter flavored olive oil, and kosher salt. I am also taking an old WW recipe from a long time ago. It's a blueberry cobbler that's delicious! Well, I guess I'm not taking the recipe. I am actually taking the cobbler! I will probably eat a Greek yogurt right before we go. It's growing on me and I'm diggin the 14 grams of protein! Yay! Another plan!

Third obstacle. I just have to stay strong and stick with my plan. Fresh fruits and veggies and low fat dips for unexpected driveway parties and poolside chats. I love all of the crystal light flavors, so I stocked up and I'm ready for summer! Yay! Planning!

Honestly, the lake? Happens very infrequently. Anything goes at the lake. Sorry. Truth hurts.

At my WW meeting this morning, I was out of my Vanilla WW Smoothie mix and had planned on buying more. All of their products are sooooo good! I had never tried the Creamy Coconut, and decide to give it a try.




As soon as I got home, I mixed one up, added a cup of fresh pineapple, and headed out to the deck to blog. Turned on my Pandora to a little Eagles, and put my feet up! Holy Coconut! This stuff is delicious!!

Can you say "Drink of the Day?" I think I'm on a cruise ship?

"Waiter?"



It's going to be a great week!

I start the boot camp on Monday! Eeeekkkkkkkk!!

This is so me right now........




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