February 21, 2009

  • Thanks for the birthday wishes and 5k wishes!

    Sadly, 31 minutes and 45 seconds is my unofficial time. So - close but no cigar. We'll see what it looks like when my official time is posted - hopefully this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

  • Happy 29 years to me!!!

    I'm up and getting ready for my birthday 5k....
    my goal is 30 minutes or less - cross your fingers for me!

February 16, 2009

  • I would like a copy of this sign to hang on my refrigerator.

February 15, 2009

  • Two entries in one day!

    I had a rough week - Tuesday I ate far too many crackers, Thursday I ate far too many homemade bean tostadas and then Friday I fell hard into a bag full of Taco Bell. Saturday was a pre-scheduled lunch at California Pizza Kitchen which I enjoyed greatly - Club Egg Rolls and an entire Buffalo Chicken pizza (and all of that after a bacon and egg breakfast with REAL pig bacon - not turkey bacon). I also skipped Friday and Saturday's workout.

    I'm back on the wagon as of today - eating good and did my run (4.8 miles of running in about an hour as well as walking 1.2 miles as a warmup/cooldown - total of 6 miles traversed in about one hour and twenty minutes). We (Joshua and I) did an outdoor run on a route near our house. It was a nice run and I will be doing it again, hopefully faster. I really need to learn to pace myself better. Tomorrow's weigh in will not be pretty though - if nothing else, not eating my veggies and fruit for two days in a row really puts a crimp on my bowels! I think I'm full like a sausage with poo....

    Oh well, I try not to overly judge myself by numbers - except when I see reason to celebrate. I am back eating healthy. I am back exercising. And I did run for an HOUR straight. Which, even if I don't ever lose another pound, is fucking awesome!

  • 2009 Recipe #8 - Only one this week!

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    Crockpot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
    This recipe is from here but I modified it a bit.

    20oz of extra lean turkey breast (I used the 99% lean Jennie-O stuff)
    8 cups of chicken bouillon
    1c of uncooked wild rice
    1 medium yellow onion chopped
    1c of chopped celery
    1c of chopped carrots
    1t sage
    2T red wine vinegar
    2c of spinach leaves

    Cook the turkey (I used my wok which is the best meat cooking pan I've found) and then put the turkey into the crockpot when it's done browning. Add the bouillon, the veggies and the rice. Then stir in the sage and the vinegar and top with the spinach leaves (they will wilt down nicely)

    Cook in the crockpot on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8 to 10 hours. Soup is done when the veggies are as tender as you want them.

    Verdict

    I like it. I was surprised. I thought it would be a bit boring, there aren't many ingredients and I usually prefer my soup to be bean-y. But, I have wild rice in the pantry and thought I'd give it a go as I'm still also eating last week's Taco Soup.

    The sage tasted good, the rice was nice and chewy and it was overall very satisfying.

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    As usual though, it really doesn't look very good.

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    Nutrition Information
    I made 8 servings from this - they're about 330g each (1.5c to 2c probably).
    Calories: 163.6
    Fat: 0.9g
    Fiber: 2.6g
    WWpts: 2.8 (I'll be rounding it to 3)

February 9, 2009

  • A link to make you think.

    I do wonder why I (we) seek such standards as the BMI - for me, it's partially because otherwise, how do you know what you should aim for? I needed a goal - and hence my choosing the arbitrary 25 or less BMI number. But at the same time, I also take into account my physical health - I do exercise and I definitely will continue to do so. (5k on February 21st!). As well, one of the other measurements that they refer to - waist size - still categorizes me as obese, I think (not just overweight). I should go look that up - I've got a 34" waist (I'm a damn apple) and as a woman, I think 35" or less is the generally accepted "healthier" but - that's not terribly specific, is it?

  • I'm at work and don't have my full spreadsheet of data analysis (and there is a lot of data analysis, including 10 day weight predictions and accuracy checks and all that jazz which is what happens when a science nerd and computer nerd live together and make spreadsheets to analyze their weight data together....I'll probably do some more number crunching eventually) but I wanted to report that I am down 1.2 pounds for this week's official weigh in. You may notice that my little sidebar weight doohickey changes regularly (and is currently at 153 something or another) but my weigh in today is 154.2. I only report out my weekly changes, since tracking my daily weight changes on here would be insane. Well, for all of you at least, I kinda like the number crunching... but the sidebar is a tracker of my lowest weight -- to date not quite to my lowest on weight watchers ever (152.2) but getting close. I'm a little nervous about getting below 150. I haven't been there since college days...

     

     

    **** Edit below

     

    I wonder if it's possible to eat too many fruits and veggies?
    Today so far I have eaten - a tomato, an orange, a kiwi, 1/2c of strawberries, 1c of roasted broccoli/broccoliflower, 3/4lb of carrots, celery and mushrooms as well as the vegetables in my taco soup (tomatoes, corn and beans if you count beans as a vegetable). I also plan to eat an apple, an ear of corn and a baked sweet potato. Possibly another kiwi f I'm hungry and want a sweet. I think that's pushing 10 servings? Eeep....I was thinking about a salad too but maybe not.

February 8, 2009

  • Recipe B - since A was big

    Crockpot Taco Soup
    I'm lazy so you will have to go here to get the recipe.
    You'll live.
    The only difference was that I used black beans in place of kidney beans and added an extra can of water since it seemed not to be soupy enough.

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    I'm convinced that all crockpot foods look like barf.

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    Verdict
    Very tasty and easy to make - I did add an onion now that I think about it because I have a bunch and it seemed like the thing to do while browning my turkey. However - BE WARNED. This makes a very large amount of food!

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    That is 17 (yes, SEVENTEEN!) 200g servings. Yeah, that's 3.4kg of food. And 200g worth of this soup is plenty (and lots of protein what with the turkey and the beans and corn).

    I served mine topped with sour cream and cheese.

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    Nutritional information
    per serving (17)
    Calories: 186
    Fat: 3.2g
    Fiber: 5.3g
    WWpts: 3.2pts (round to 3)

  • 2009 New Recipe #7 (a and b)

    Spinach, Egg and Turkey Bacon Wrap
    Well, I invented this one this weekend upon receiving a bunch of spinach in my produce basket. I try to measure but usually only succeed on the high fat/calorie ingredients and just guess on spices and veggies.

    You'll need:
    -A handful of spinach
    -1/2c or so of egg white (I use the stuff I buy in a carton at the grocery store - you could also just use two egg whites or even two regular eggs or one egg and one egg white - whatever floats your eggy boat)
    -A healthy sprinkling of some sort of egg appropriate seasoning (egg whites are bland, man! I use Zatarain's Creole Seasoning)
    -2 slices of turkey bacon, halved (which makes a total of 4 halves - I like Jennie-O)
    -30g of ricotta cheese (I think it's around 2T, but I use my scale so I can't tell you in tablespoons exactly - I also use lowfat ricotta by preference)
    -One wrap (I like Flat Out Multigrain something or anothers - I get them three packs of 8 for $6 at Costco usually)

    So.
    Preheat a pan - I use our ridiculously expensive AllClad little pan that requires no oil to cook eggs - but if you don't possess said ridiculously overpriced little pan, you'll probably want a spray or so of oil in the pan.
    Then toss in the spinach (I try to remove the big stems - then I feed them to the dogs, it makes their poop pretty)
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    That handful is ridiculously big at first but never fear, it WILL get smaller (Please to ignore the spots on the stove. I have since washed my stove, I promise!)
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    See? I told you!
    Then add the 1/2 cup of egg whites to the spinach.
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    And then top with the seasonings.
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    Then put a lid on the eggy thing and start the other preparations.

    I make my turkey bacon in the microwave - 30seconds to defrost, then 30 seconds on one side and 30 seconds on the other.
    I comes out looking like this.
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    You might notice there are five pieces of bacon on this plate. Don't worry, only four go on the sandwich. Number five goes in my tummy and is a relic of portioning up a whole package of Jennie-O turkey bacon.

    Then put the ricotta on the wrap
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    Just kind of spread it around on one half.

    Go back to your eggs which should hopefully be relatively well set up by now and carefully flip that bad boy over
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    Then cook for another minute or so and then put it on the ricotta topped wrap
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    Top with the bacon
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    And ROOOOOLLLLLLL!
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    And then serve!IMG_1965

    Looks tasty no?
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    A little blurry, but you get the idea.

    Here's how I served mine:

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    Yeah, strawberries.
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    And tomatoes and orange-ish fruit. I don't think it's an orange though, it peels too easily and has a teat. Oh well. It's a citrus. And all from my produce basket....

    Okay, next recipe is going to be a separate entry...this one is already too long!

    EDIT! Since I forgot the verdict and the nutritional information!

    Verdict:
    Tasty and not just because I invented it. Or possibly, plaguerized it from 900 different recipes that already live in my head. It would be better with real bacon and real eggs of course but I think the ricotta and spinach actually would stay in my wrap even if I weren't on a diet. I enjoy their tastes together. How weird is that? I like spinach!

    Nutritional information:
    Ummm. yeah. see, here's the thing. I don't actually calculate the full nutritionals on something like this. It's a one meal kind of deal so I just approximate the WWpts - the wrap is one point or so, the ricotta is about half a point, the spinach is free, the egg whites are one point and the turkey bacon is one point

    That's a total of 3.5pts for breakfast (the tomato is zero, so are the strawberries so the only other point is the orange thing so the entire plate + bowl = 4.5 pts)

February 5, 2009

  • This is a link for anyone who doesn't have time to eat right and exercise well (including me!). And for everyone who can come up with a dozen excuses at the drop of the hat to not go to the gym or why she should go to Taco Bell instead of eating properly what she already has at home in the fridge....

    I'm not going to say I LIKE that link because frankly, it makes me grumpy. But it is a GOOD link (even if it means no Taco Bell tonight.)