Juicy

A couple of years ago when I was trying all sorts of crazy diets I did a juice fast. For 14 days I ate no solid food and only drank fruit and vegetable juice/ soup that I made at home. The idea is that when your body does not have to work to digest your food it help clear all the toxins out of your system. This website gives a lot of information on Juice Fasting. I will not go into the details but the fasting definitely worked for me as a detox. Two weeks was a long time, I have never done that again but have done two or three day fasts a few times, but not since I have started WW a year ago.

I was cleaning out my cupboards yesterday and found my juicer. It is a really heavy duty one that you can just shove whole fruits and veggies in with no peeling or chopping required (except citrus). I had forgotten how much I love fresh carrot apple juice. I am not sure how to count points for it though, 6 smallish carrots and two apples (cut with 1/3 h20) makes about a litre of juice. I think 4 points should cover it???? For the next week I am going to take this drink to work to keep me going through the day.

Any other juicers out there?? Any one have a favourite juice recipe??

Plateau...

I STS this week. I am pretty much the same weight as I was the beginning of December. I gained a few over the holidays and have lost it but basically I have been playing with the same 4 pounds for three months. I have been OP for the last four weeks but it is just not showing on the scale. Oh well, I shall persevere!

Today was my day off so I tried a few new recipes. For lunch we had Falafel Pitas. Janet from the Crumbling Muffin Top had made these awhile ago and they looked delicious. I was thumbing through the latest Cooking Light magazine and there they were again so I thought I would give

them a try. I also made the tzatziki sauce and this whole plate is only 8 points and really filling.

My DH is a huge Gordon Ramsay fan. We have all his cookbooks and last week acquired his latest called Healthy Appetite. To innagurate the new cookbook I decided to make the Spinach Goat Cheese Souffle. My ramekins are bigger than the ones he recommends so my souffles did not rise over the top - but they were really tasty. Only 5 points for each souffle.

Finally, I was preparing my DH's meals to take out of ton for work and decided to try another ESBM recipe. Glad Thai Dings are flavourful little meatballs with thai coconut peanut sauce. DH does not like ground beef so I made it with ground turkey and they are so so so good! I will defiantly be making these again soon.

I went to a great class at the gym tonight and aquasize last night - My body might not want to give up any weight right now but I will not surrender!

Anniversary musings

I am feeling a bit better since the time of my last post. Not 100% myself but I am functioning. Lack of sleep, food, exercise and relaxation have set my whole system into a tailspin, but I am regrouping and will be back to full self soon.



I really wanted to post about my one year WW anniversary. So much has happened in the past year. As I have stated before, I decided last February that I would take a year to focus on myself - to stop being the one who always put everyone else first (husband, job, family, friends etc..) I told my husband that I would be making some selfish decisions. Financially I spent $$ on WW meetings, gym membership, fresh fruit in the middle of winter etc.. Except for rare occasions I have not let any 'bad' food into the house and have banned my trigger foods completely. I don't stop him from eating whatever he wants but I have made the selfish request for him to keep it out of the house. I have been selfish with my time as well. I have spent mornings at the gym, instead of lounging in bed with DH. I have gone to my WW meeting instead of coffee with girlfriends. I have spent evenings meal planning instead of curling up on the couch with my dog.



I think you get the picture. The crazy thing (to me at least) is that none of the people in my life have begrudged me for one minute. No one has felt slighted - instead they are proud of me and in some cases have joined me in this new selfish lifestyle. I have always heard the Dr. Phil/Oprah/Self-help book ideas that you have to be good to your self so that you can be good to others. I finally get it! I have had this major epiphany that seems so completely simple to me now that I have had it. I now treat myself how I have always treated other people. Wow, what a bomb shell!



In an ideal world I had hoped to be a little further to my goal by now. But considering how many times in the past 15 years I have said 'by this time next year I will be 50, 70, 100 pounds lighter and actually gained weight, I am ok with my progress. I have averaged just over 1lb a week. I have lost pretty consistently. It has not really been that hard, once I layed a few basic ground rules for myself, I just continually remind myself that I am worth it. These are the few things that are non-negotiables to me:



1. I never put anything in my mouth unless I have figured out (or approximated) the calories and fat grams. This does not always stop me from eating what I should not - but it usually makes me stop at one serving.



2. I plan out my menus for the week , including snacks, and I shop with a grocery list. I NEVER buy processed junk food at the grocery store. In the past year I have NEVER bought chips (unless they are baked) donuts, white bread, chocolate bars, candy, ice cream etc... I'm not saying that I have not eaten any of these things, they just do not come home with me from the grocery store. I stick to my list 100%



3. I weigh myself every day (I know this does not work for everyone). I find that If I hide from the scale it is too easy to pretend that everything is fine. Weighing everyday forces me to quickly recover from any slips.



4. When we eat out I have salad instead of fries. Seems simple? Well this is non-negotiable to me - I have not eaten a french fry in a year - and after this long I don't miss them at all! The fist few times were really hard, I felt sorry for myself - seemed so unfair! Now ordering a salad with my burger or sandwich is a little victory for me every time.



5. I never eat with out thinking. This one is hard to explain. I no longer grab something when I fill up with gas, or at the grocery checkout, or from the convenience store next to my work. This was a big downfall for me in the past - If I ate it quickly and on the run I never really had to consider that it was not good for me. By making it a non-negotiable promise to myself I have save thousands and thousands of un-needed calories.

6. I plan for mindless snacking. I know that I like to eat while watching tv in the evenings. I like to snack away on something crunchy. I have food on hand that takes a while to eat and is healthy. Home made pita chips and salsa, roasted chick peas, frozen home made applesauce are a few favourites. My absolute favourite is grapes - I can easily eat 4 cups of grapes (or more) in an evening so I plan for it. If I ever get the urge to really fill myself up (the comfort eating demon we all battle) now I turn to a huge bag of grapes - they fill me up fast and I never feel guilty afterwards.

So, those are a few of the things that have helped me be successful to this point, and these are the thing I will do to lose the next 35 pounds and maintain forever. This year I have discovered that I am much stronger than I gave myself credit for. Food is no longer my friend or enemy - it is fuel for my body and my body deserves the best!

Thanks for reading.

Emotional non-eating

I have had a bad couple of days. Stress in many areas of my life has my emotions all over the map. I missed my WW meeting but weighed in at home on Thursday at 210.4 so .8 of a loss for the week. I have not come close to eating my points since then. Stress takes away all my desire to eat or go to the gym, or even a walk. I got a pretty decent sleep last night and I am off to work this morning. I am going to stop for a delicious healthy smoothie on the way so that my body has something to keep it going.

Yesterday was my one year weight watchers anniversary and I had been planning a blog about all the change of the past year. I will put that together tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for listening!

20 Activity points in one day!!!!

I was just on the WW.ca site tracking my food and activity for the day and I earned 20 AP today! DH and I decided to do some hiking today since the weather on Vancouver Island has been so lovely. We decided to tackle a hike that I have not done in about 12 years - It is straight up the mountain behind my in laws house. There is a beautiful lake up there that can not be accessed by roads. We set out with our dog, some trail mix and bottles of water. About half an hour in there began to be a lot of snow on the ground - the higher we got the more snow there was (I know, I should have been a geographer!). It made for an extra tough hike - but some stunning scenery. This picture doesn't do it justice but this is taken at the top - it took about two hours to climb up from the bottom. The next picture is of me at the frozen lake - I think my new LuLu Lemon pants make my legs look almost slim!

So after we hiked back down, we had lunch with my in laws and then headed home. I promised one of the girls from work I would go to water aerobics with her tonight. I went a half hour early so I could get in some lengths since I have not been to the pool in awhile. So, between the hike, the swimming and the water aerobics I earned 20ap! I ate four of them in trail mix... well worth it!

In other news, I made a great dinner last night. Doesn't this look like a plate of mashed potatos, fries and steak?

It is a lean pork chop - grilled, baked sweet potato fries and mashed fauxtatoes (ESBM recipe). It was so delicious and about half the points of its inspiration meal. For dessert I made an angel food cake ices with a combo of fat free pudding and 95% fat free cool whip. This big slice only 3 points.

This has been a pretty good week. Some good work outs and I stayed within my points. I hope my hard work shows at WI tomorrow.

Mixed Bag

Not as in the mixed bag gym class I went to yesterday, but just a mixed bag of blogging topics today. First off, the all important weigh in. I had a pretty good week, it was DH birthday so we had some friends and family over for dinner. I made Oh la la lasagna from my trusty ESBM cookbook. They ate it all before I could take a close-up but here it is moments before it was devoured. I also made Ceaser Salad with the most amazing dressing. I got the recipe from Clean Eating Magazine (my new favourite magazine) and everyone raved about it. I waited until the salad bowl had been picked clean before I told them that the main ingredient was tofu!

300g package of soft tofu

3 cloves finely minced garlic

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp EVOO

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt

just whizz this all together in a food processor (or blender). I needs to sit overnight so that the flavours come together. It will last for 3-4 days in the fridge. I am not a big tofu fan but this recipe will be a regular dressing in my house!!! Yum yum yum!

I made garlic bread from a whole wheat baguette (which also supplied the croutons). So all in all it was a pretty low point meal (lasagna 6, salad 2, bread 2). I also made a birthday cake for DH - I consider my self a pretty good cook, but a lousy baker. DH usually handles all cake related events in our house, but I decided to give it a try for his special day. Before you look at the picture let me explain, I accidentally bought neon food colouring and my DH's hobby is these giant gas powered remote controlled monster trucks (can you see me rolling my eyes) so kind of explains the cake.

This party was on Monday. On Tuesday both DH and I had the day off so I told him that his present was 24 hours of doing whatever he wanted. Naturally there was a lot of food involved in his day. I made blueberry pancakes (but used sugar-free syrup). We drove and hour to a nearby town to watch a movie and he wanted Tim Horton's coffee and donuts for the road. I had 2 timbits and a coffee with milk and sweetener. I did indulge a little that day though, a hot dog for lunch, half of a small movie popcorn, and 1/3 of the cheesecake he had for dessert after dinner. The salt intake was enough to keep me away from the scale on Wed (and into the gym) so I went to WI tonight and was down 1.2lbs this week.

So, tomorrow is the start of a new WW week and I am menu planning tonight and will get groceries after work (and the gym) tomorrow so that my fridge and pantry are full of healthy options.

Finally another great find from this week was this scrumptious Carrot Cashew Ginger soup I picked up at the grocery store. I love the Pacific Natural Foods soups - the ingredient list is always short and stuff I would cook with myself. This soup was so creamy and tasty (don't try it if you don't like ginger though) and only 2 points for 1 cup.

Skipped WI today...

To go to the gym!! I will weigh in at a meeting tomorrow night. I really wanted to try a class at the gym tonight that I heard was really tough. It was called 'mixed bag' so I had no idea what to expect. It was step aerobics combined with weight training and then 20 minutes of core work (crunches, crunches, sit-ups, and various forms of crunches). It was a really tough class and by the time the cool-down began sweat was running down my face (pretty picture huh?). I felt like one of the contestants on The Biggest Loser and it was my last chance workout.

I have the most amazing low fat Caesar salad dressing recipe to share with you.. but will have to wait until tomorrow because my camera is MIA right now. I will post after my WI.

Happy blogging.

Sisterly love

I'm a day late - but here is the recipe as promised for my Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal. Actually it is pretty easy. For one serving:

Boil one cup of water

add 1/2 cup oats

lower heat to simmer

after 2.5 min add one tbsp of dried cranberries and 1 tbsp of cocoa powder

cook for an additional 2.5 minutes (until most of the water is absorbed)

before serving stir in 2 tsp of splenda brown sugar

This steaming bowl of chocolate berry deliciousness is only 5 points and keeps me going until lunch!

This evening my sister came to stay with me, it is a very rare occasion that she leaves her husband and kids behind for sister time so we made the most of it. We recreated her favourite meal from Moxie's - the steak salad with goat cheese and tomato vinaigrette. Their website says that the vinaigrette is made with Clamato juice so we tested for awhile and I think we perfected the dressing:

Reduce 1/2 cup of Clamato until you have 1/4 cup
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1 Tsp chopped basil
1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 clove chopped garlic

1 tbsp chopped shallot

2 tsp Dijon mustard

we mixed all this together and then slowly whisked in about 1/4 cup of olive oil

It was delicious on the salad of greens, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and grilled steak!! I also made mini banana muffins (Moxie's always gives you banana bread with your salad). We had white wine spritzer and enjoyed a relaxing dinner!

She bought us new PJs to celebrate out special sleepover. Cute aren't we??

Later we finished our evening with cinnamon toast and hot chocolate.... tomorrow morning we are headed to the spa for some pampering.. I love my sister!

WI - 1.2lb

At least it was a loss... I have seen smaller numbers on the scale this week so I am pretty happy with my progress. I stayed on plan with points today but a lack of groceries and pre-planning made for some poor choices using those points.

Plan for tomorrow is:

1. 6:30 am spin class (as I promised you all last week)
2. Chocolate cranberry oatmeal for breakfast (my new favourite!)
3. Pack my lunch for work
4. Subway sandwich for dinner as I am driving an hour to my sisters after work
5. Grande non-fat sugar free caramel latte from Starbucks for a gossip session with the girls

I will take a picture of my oatmeal creation and give you the recipe tomorrow.

HYC - check in

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days. I had a really busy weekend. I hosted a going away party for a co-worker. It was cocktail party at my house - appetizers and martinis. I prepared some healthy choices and some not so healthy choices. I did not count my points but I am confident that I stayed pretty close to my target as I stayed away from the desserts and only had one martini.

Then a girlfriend flew in for the rest of the weekend and we swayed from eating really healthy meals to some not so good choices. On Sunday I had a burger and onion rings at a great little drive in, but we went on a 2 hours hike as well to help balance it out. Today my DH and I were stuck waiting for our car to get fixed and decided to eat at a little diner. I had eggs Benedict (yikes) - but I did opt for the spinach and tomato instead of ham. I estimate the whole plate was 15 points - I ate really light the rest of the day and have been guzzling water all evening.

My WI is tomorrow night and so far this week I have been weighing between 209-212 so I am pretty sure I will see a loss tomorrow. I will go grocery shopping right after WI so I am motivated from the meeting to make great choices. Menu is planned for tomorrow, gym time planned for tomorrow... getting right back on that horse!