Challenges and choices

My parents were in town this weekend for my dad's birthday, so we did a lot of fun stuff! A hockey game, the symphony, MPM, and some serious eating! I think I did well choosing, though. On Friday we went to a sports bar where "vegetable" is a 4-letter word. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and half an order of onion rings. And a Miller Lite, but just one! Saturday we went to Trocadero, a French restaurant on the East Side. I had a salad with grilled steak, cheese and dressing on the side so I could use just a little. I also had a Hennepin beer. K-man and I shared a chocolate crepe for dessert, which was so much better than getting an appetizer! It was probably a million points, but I think I estimated fairly. And it was delicious! This morning, instead of the bacon extravaganza that could have been the all-you-can-eat buffet, I opted for a veggie fritatta, with zucchini and tomatoes. It was really good, but I think it had a ton of cheese. At least cheese counts for calcium!

I had a snack of a piece of toast with almond butter before the gym, now I'm about to have a roast beef sandwich and watch the Grammys, possibly flipping back and forth between cartoons on Fox.

Nothing too exciting on the menu this week, unfortunately. More sandwich thins, soup and Amy's wraps. But, I suppose when I get tired of those things, I will find something else! There's a possibility of half-price sushi tomorrow, but I have to confirm with my ladies first.

Have a great night!

Zumba

I heard a rumor today that zumba is now going to be a sign-up-and-pay class. It blows. Isn't that why I pay a membership? Not that I will mind the $1 or whatever it will be, I just can't always go to the same classes every week. I have yet to substantiate the rumor, though...

I have been eating really boring stuff. Vegetable soup, egg sandwiches, apples, yogurt. But my parents will be in town this weekend, so I'll have to figure out where we're going so I can check out the menu beforehand. If I go there already decided, I'm less likely to order the Fried Stuff Sampler, which is popular here in Milwaukee.

I don't know if I'll have much time to work out this weekend, but I will try to squeeze it in between a tour at work, and various other things that are more fun. Have a great weekend, hope you've been cooking something delicious!

Thumbs up...

for Amy's Organic Indian food. So far, I have enjoyed the Mattar Paneer, the spinach tofu wrap and the samosa wrap. A little expensive (another thing I will *have* to go to to WF to get), and the tofu wrap was 7 points, but they were really good. I recommend them if you like a little curry flavor in your life!

And Double Thumbs Up to Susan for running 2 miles and dispelling the crankiness! Woot!

Sorry...

to those of you who thought that Team VR had become Just Amy. After battling and defeating an ear infection (who knew adults still get those??) with my good friend Mr. Z. Pack, I'm back. I'm going to gloss over the Italian feast, the steakhouse binge and the huevos rancheros large enough to feed a third world country from last weekend and commend myself for just doing two miles on the treadmill. I had a lot of pent-up crankiness so I ran until my little legs couldn't run anymore.

Boring food week so far due to lack of inspiration. Salads for lunch and an egg white omelette last night for dinner. Now I'm just waiting for the pre-husband to get home with the sub stuff so we can build sandwiches and watch more Dexter. The Dexter Diet... If all else fails, you won't be hungry after watching one of those episodes.

Update

My legs hurt from Bodypump and my head hurts from the birthday party. Maybe a walk later, since it's a heat wave in Miltown at 43 degrees, but there's also some football that will need watching. Go Saints! I have plans to make cookies and soup later on, so it should turn out to be a pretty nice Sunday. After I take some aspirin.

Highlight Reel

Hi Team! It's been almost a week since I put anything up here. Don't worry, I've been working hard. Here's a recap:

My meal plans got thrown off this week by going out to dinner on Monday night. I had seared Ahi Tuna at Maxie's Southern Comfort, and it was awesome! Plus a piece of cornbread, and a few bites of key lime pie. After days and days of spinach and egg whites and nonfat yogurt, it tasted so good, and I didn't regret one bite!

I went to step class for the 3rd time, and it's getting a little easier. I am learning the routine, so then I can actually focus on my muscles instead of worrying about falling.

I tried to make a 3-minute breakfast cookie, like I saw on the Carrots N Cake site. A little egg substitute, a few oats, a little sugar, microwave it and it turns into a big fluffy cookie. Wrong! Mine burned, and my whole apartment still smells. Fail.

Last night we went to the Admirals hockey game with another couple, and had dinner at Turner Hall beforehand. They are supposed to have one of the best fish fries in town, but I didn't have one! I knew I would feel gross, so I had a chicken schnitzel sandwich with a salad.

This morning I went to a new exercise class, BodyPUMP. I think they capitalize it to make it look scary. It was definitely hard, but I didn't want to die. It's focused on strength training, and is pretty complicated, with a step bench, barbell, different weights, hand weights and a mat. I got most of the moves, but will have to experiment a little with how much weight to use for the different muscle groups. Then I did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, and came home and made a big, protein-y breakfast sandwich. I feel pretty good! The only disappointing part was that Bodypump only counts as 3 exercise points. I think strength training is almost as important as cardio, and should count for more. Alas, I will follow the rules and count it as 3, and try not to have too many beers at the birthday party tonight!

I'm off to Whole Foods to stock up on some veggies and yogurt (the Oikos in the 4-pack, they ONLY sell it there!). Then maybe I'll take a nap! Whew!

Have a great weekend!

Meh

I've been struck by the common cold that seems to be circling (at least no swine flu!) so my health kick has been somewhat halted for the time being. I can't smell anything thanks to the congestion, so in turn I have little appetite - at least I'm not overeating too much. However, I also can't hack the gym right now so I'm kinda just laying around and thinking healthy thoughts.

I do have a new recipe for creamy tomato barley that I'm going to try out tonight, and if it works then it'll be lunch for the rest of the week.

Good morning!

Hi Team! Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend so far. A few highlights from the last few days for me:
I definitely exercised my butt off this week. Zumba, step, the elliptical. I'm planning a walk outside today, since it's finally above freezing here. Or I might go to the gym so I can walk and watch tv. I don't have cable, so I like to catch up that way. If I'm watching a new episode of What Not To Wear, I can spend the whole hour on the elliptical and be totally entertained!

Yesterday was a not-great eating day, but I think I managed to do alright. We ate lunch at Culver's, where I had a cheeseburger and fries, my first in quite a while. It was delicious! It was a lot of points, so I had a bowl of vegetables for dinner. Then I went out for a birthday, where I had a couple of beers and a piece of cake. Those were also delicious. I counted everything fairly, so it should all work out, I hope! I was feeling less muffin-toppy this week, which is a good sign. I don't expect to lose all the weight I want to in just 3 weeks, so I'm happy with some forward motion, even if it's slow according to the scale.

What was something delicious that you cooked this week? I made chicken salad, with celery, walnuts and cranberries. One of my faves, similar to what you can get at a deli, but much better for you when you can control all the ingredients.

Have a great Sunday!

It's all about balance, right?

It was my coworker's bday, so they twisted my arm into going along for the lunch buffet at Maharaja. It was so good. It always is! Except, today were no samosas. It was mildly tragic, but ok in the end, because usually I eat like 4 of them. And at 3 points each, it would have doubled the count of my lunch.

So, almond butter. It's made of almonds. It's delicious. It's full of fiber and protein and no preservatives. Except, when I put it on a sandwich thin with a little honey, it's SEVEN points. I might as well eat a bagel with cream cheese, which is 8. Dang. I know, the bagel has no nutritional value, and I am better off with the almond butter. Bah. For 9, I can have some egg and cheese on that bad boy and really enjoy it! Double bah.

Anyway, my Indian lunch balanced out with step aerobics tonight, which went better than last week. I remembered most of the routine and was able to follow along with almost all of it, while reaching a 6-8 on a scale of 1 to 10 of how hard I was working. Tomorrow there will be more yoga at work. Unless B and I are still going for burritos. Then, no yoga. :-) That means this week I will take off Tuesday and Thursday from the gym, but I'm planning to hit it Friday after work, and on the weekend.

I haven't cooked anything special lately, just the chicken soup from the weekend that I'm going to finally try tomorrow. Also, I am planning to weigh myself again tomorrow. Usually I stick to once per week, but on Monday it seemed I had only lost half a pound, and then on Tuesday it seemed that I was down 1.5 more from that. I think my scale is accurate, so I might try a twice-per-week check in. Will keep you posted on that.

Ok, probably enough rambling for now, but a shout out to Beth, a Gamma Phi girl from back in the day. She's great, and I'm happy that she wants to read along with Team VR!

Endorsement of the Greek casserole

I made it last night, and apart from making the condo smell like feta (Sorry, Dave!), it turned out really good! I omitted the artichoke hearts and substituted basmati rice for the brown rice. Definitely a good and tasty lunch treat, with lots of fiber, veggies and lean protein (with the feta, you can't even taste the tofu).

I also put my Healthy Streak to the test last night... by going to the Cheesecake Factory. If you've never been there, just know that the menu is as lengthy as a Danielle Steel novel and twice as bad for you. I ended up getting a small beet/arugula/apple/pecan/goat cheese salad (no dressing) and a small side of stuffed mushrooms. Considering the average size of a CF entree is the stuff heart attacks and obesity is made of (but SO delicious), I think I fared rather well. Of course, I did have a piece of red velvet cheesecake (layer of cheesecake, layer of red velvet cake, repeat twice more) but everyone needs a splurge once in a while!

As an add-on to Amy's post, Kashi oatmeal is also disgusting. Gritty and crunchy, but not in a good way. I recommend Trader Joe's oatmeal, personally! Less expensive and still good for you, while being yummy. As yummy as oatmeal can be, anyway.

Kashi 7 Grain Puffs

They are gross! They taste like those crackers that Susan had at her apartment, the kind that tasted like something you might feed a horse. I'd definitely rather have Cheetos. But the cereal is only one point, so at least I can wash it down with some yogurt. I think I'll stick to the GoLean Crunch, I liked that a lot better.

Also, I know many of you have been eating them since they came out, but I finally bought some Arnold's sandwich thins, and I really like them! I got the multi-grain, one point each, definitely a good addition to my regular menu.

Check out Tina over at Carrot 'N Cake. She's doing an I'm-turning-30 Shape Up, so follow along with her!

French Fries and New Gym 2

I had a slight panic on Friday when I realized that I had eaten 10 points' worth of French Fries for lunch! Susan managed to talk me down, and I had still eaten my soup and my other healthy stuff, so there were no worries. I took Friday off from the gym, but over the weekend the K-man and I went to the downtown Y. Usually I go to the South Shore location. The downtown one is pretty cool, it's in a mall that used to be awesome and is now kind of a dump. The building is rectangular, with an open center to look down onto the lower levels, and they have an indoor track that goes all the way around. They also offer a lot of classes there, and I imagine it's a popular lunchtime and after work spot. Be careful, though, they charge SIX DOLLARS for parking! On Sunday, we just parked on the street.

Today was also the Packer game, which turned out to be the last one of the season. And no, I don't really want to talk about it. At the party, I had 2 beers, a couple peppermint patties, a sandwich, some fruit and a scoop of potatoes. It helped that I ate before I went, so I wasn't starving. The food is always delish and there's so much of it, but hopefully no one was offended that I didn't eat too much. I'm sure no one noticed, and I felt a lot better than if I had eaten a whole plateful of cheesy potato casserole and 2 pieces of cake.

Weigh in tomorrow... I'm a little nervous, even though I didn't swap out all my activity points this week. Are you really supposed to use all of them? So, I should still have lost some weight, even with the french fries, and half an order of cheese curds on Saturday night.

On the menu this week... salad, soup (a new recipe, white bean and chicken), maybe grilled cheese, and planning to make black bean burgers on sandwich thins. I also got a new kind of cereal (Kashi 7 Grain puffs) so we'll see how that is.

Hope everyone had a healthy weekend! It's definitely time for bed.

Success!

I'm calling Week 1 of 2010 a success. I ate more fruits and veggies, curbed the cookie intake and managed to hit up the gym three times. Plus today at lunch, so that'll be four times this week.

In retrospect (from the whole five days I've been in health-mode), I think the best thing I can do to keep this up is to make sure I have healthy food at home. When I haven't gone grocery shopping, I end up eating junk at home and junk at work.

Tonight, I shall celebrate with a margarita. Maybe two.

Veggies!

I have been getting tons of veggies, fo' sho'. This week I had salads, Greek casserole and soup. I had a little bit of a splurge this morning with an egg and cheese sandwich on a bagel (9 points), but have been good the rest of the day. For dinner I'm planning to have whole wheat pasta with more veggies (artichoke hearts, zucchini and mushrooms) with tomato basil sauce. I'll probably make some oatmeal cookies later - they're made with whole wheat flour, and count as 3 points for 2 cookies.

I did not work out on Tuesday (good to take a day off once in a while). Last night I went to step aerobics, and it was pretty tough! 8 activity points for that, but I had to work for all of them! It was a good workout, and I think the second time would be easier, if you're a little bit familiar with the routines. We also had yoga today at work, which was a little easier than Monday's class, but not much. I could smell the calories burning, just by bending!

We were supposed to get mountains of snow in Miltown today, but so far it's about 4 inches of fluffy stuff. I already shoveled, so I'm just going to hang out in my sweats and watch tv.

Oatmeal-Date-Chocolate Cookies
from health.com
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. regular oats
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lightly beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. chopped, pitted dates
3 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter, add brown sugar. Stir until smooth. Combine flour through salt. Mix in butter/sugar mix, and add egg, vanilla and dates. Add chocolate. Mix well and spoon by tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, until tops are dry to the touch.

I only used dates the first time, it's a good base to use anything else you like - raisins, cranberries, milk chocolate chips. Tonight I'll use a couple handfuls of peanut butter chips, cause I think that's all I have in the cabinet. The recipe says it makes 32 cookies, but I get 24 out of it.

There's a recipe for a skinny eggnog latte! It was love at first sight.

http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Jen for the link! Team VR is hoping that Jen becomes an avid fan of our healthy living blog, for sure.

Just Say No!

I passed up the muffins at my HR class this morning in favor of fruit
and a cereal bar. Nancy Reagan would be proud.

Did I just date myself with a 1980s reference?

Sent from my iPhone

Baby steps

1. I swapped out the flavored creamer at work for my own fat free half n half.
2. I'm using natural spray margarine instead of the tub stuff.
3. I'm walking up the stairs when I can (work, T station, etc.) instead of taking the elevator.

Last night I sauteed some summer squash in a bit of olive oil, added half a cup spaghetti sauce and served over whole wheat pasta for a vege-tastic fiber-filled dinner. Yum!

Dave is also going to the gym tonight (unprovoked by me!) so I'll tag along. This is when it's good to have a partner in motivation. When he wants to go to Sonic for dinner? Not so much;-)

But... I'm not coordinated...

Whew! Big day today. First, some good things I ate. Kashi cereal, an apple, an orange, some bean soup. I also had a Chobani yogurt, pomegranate flavor. I really like Greek yogurt, I don't even eat Yoplait any more, but these bad boys are 3 points. I think I would rather have plain with honey for 2, or an Oikos individual serving for 2. So, maybe those won't be in the regular rotation. I also had some more Greek casserole for dinner, which was really good. I'm planning to take some in my lunch tomorrow.

I also worked out TWICE today! Woot! We had yoga at work, where the instructor tortured us with the pigeon pose. Then this evening I went to my first Zumba class at the Y. I understand why people like it, it's part dancing and part aerobics, and it goes pretty fast so you don't have time to worry about being coordinated. Which, of course, I am not. I think I will keep going, especially if it will get me a body like the instructor, who was pretty smokin'.

So, that's 6 total exercise points for today, pretty exciting. I lost 4 pounds last week (I'm pretty sure it was just Holiday Weight), so that is good motivation to keep going!

And if you see Susan and her iPhone, bump her!

In honor of Susan finally joining the 21st century

I may be the last person out there to have purchased an iPhone, but for all of our readers (hello? is this thing on?), I found this article about iPhone apps that can help you keep your new year's resolutions (eating, exercise, money, fewer hookers, etc.).

http://mashable.com/2010/01/01/iphone-new-years-apps/

I was just being lazy.

Ok, here is the Greek Casserole recipe. I have blatantly stolen it from another blog, who got it from somewhere else, which is kind of like public domain, right?

Ingredients:

* 1-1.5 cups cooked brown rice or other whole grain (quinoa is good)
* 1 T olive oil
* 1 small onion
* 1 bulb garlic, chopped, or one tablespoon minced garlic from a jar
* 1 bag baby spinach
* herbs
* 1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half, or one can diced tomatoes
* 1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
* 1/2 block firm tofu, drained & pressed
* sliced black olives (optional)

I also added mushrooms, kalamata olive slices (instead of regular black), and quartered artichoke hearts.

Directions:

* Cook brown rice or other grain as directed.
* Preheat oven to 375 *F.
* Heat olive oil in skillet and add onion and garlic.
* Wash the spinach and squeeze dry.
* When the onion has become limp and tractable, add the spinach and whatever herbs you like (plus the mushrooms). (Miss Conduct used dill, oregano, basil, and black pepper, but advises against adding salt since it’s already in the feta.)



* While that cooks, spray an 8X8 pan with non-stick spray and spread the rice (or other grain) evenly across the bottom.
* When the spinach mixture is just barely cooked, put that on top.
* Finally, put the tomatoes, artichoke hearts and sliced olives on top of that, cover in foil, and bake for about 20 minutes.
* Meanwhile, mix the tofu and feta together using a fork until it’s all crumbly.
* Remove the casserole from the oven and add the feta cheese and tofu topping.
* Return to oven and bake uncovered until topping browns– about 15 more minutes.

It made 4 large servings. Pretty tasty.

Happy Sunday!

Hi Team! I had another good day of eating/exercising. The K-man accompanied me to the grocery store to push the cart, and I stocked up on lots of good stuff: veggies, canned beans, tofu, yogurt, skim milk, eggs. I am planning to eat soup again (it could turn out to be my diet secret), plus various combos of pesto, whole wheat pasta, red peppers, carrots, chicken breast, and spinach. I also promised K-man some egg salad for coming to the store with me. It should make a lot of low-points meals, so I can have one of the leftover Christmas cupcakes still in the freezer...

For dinner tonight I made Easy Greek Casserole, which I got from the Carrots N Cake blog. It combines brown rice, veggies, tofu and feta cheese, and came out delicious. It got all mixed up when I scooped it into my bowl, but I love all those ingredients. You can click over to the right of this post on the Carrots N Cake link and search for the recipe on Tina's website. And 3 points per big bowlful, so definitely worth it.

Good job to Susan, adding the Twitter and Facebook links, too! Woot! Also, thanks for sharing the CNN article. Those are definitely things to consider, and I'm so glad I have Resolution Buddies, even far-away ones!

I also made it back to the gym today, for 30 minutes on the elliptical, and 15 minutes walking. I can usually walk longer, but I was super hungry and feeling a little shaky. Next time I will have to eat a bigger breakfast or something. I was so hungry, in fact, that we stopped for Subway on the way home instead of waiting to cook something.

Back to work for everyone tomorrow! Yoga for us at the museum, and maybe going to a class in the evening so I can gather some exercise points early in the week.

Resolve!

An article from CNN with advice on how to keep your 2010 resolutions:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/29/motivation.new.years.resolutions/index.html

Namaste

Tomorrow is the official Be Healthy kickoff. Fo' real. My plans include planning out meals for the week and then hitting up Stop n Shop (and perhaps Trader Joe's or Whole Foods). I will also go to the gym!

To further the cause for embracing positive, healthy changes in our lives, I am also resolving to go back to yoga. After some online investigating this evening (and much yelp.com-ing), I ended up settling on my old yoga studio in the Back Bay (which has, happily, just found a new home a bit closer to me). They offer 90-minute community classes every Sunday at 12:30 for only $5, and I can't say enough good things about them. I went often in 2008 and just loved the bodily workout as well as the de-stressing aspect, but neglected the classes in 2009 because I was lazy. There, I said it. Lazy. And because health extends beyond physicality, Dave has decided to go back to church this year. He will go to mass on Sundays at noon down the street from my yoga studio, which will give us both motivation to leave the house and do things that make us feel better.

I will report back soon with my recipe choices for the week. In the meantime, here's the link to my yoga studio for any Bostonians out there who may be interested.

P.S. - My Chick-Fil-A earlier today was amazing.

New gym

Despite my love of John and his giant biceps at Bay View Fitness, where I have been working out for the past year, I left him to join the South Shore YMCA. They offer a bunch of classes in addition to the standard cardio and weight rooms. They also have a pool, which I hope to use as well. Today was the first day I went to the new Y, and it was pretty good. I wanted to make up for all the sitting and football-watching I did yesterday (on and off for 9 hours, yikes!), so I did a lot of cardio. 20 minutes walking, 15 minutes on the recumbent bike, and 35 minutes on my beloved elliptical, the kind where you don't move your arms. Bay View Fitness didn't have these, so I was only using the treadmill there. All that sweating only adds up to 4 exercise points, but it felt good. I hope to get back in the routine of going, and plan to try out some classes. We're also still doing yoga 2 days per week at work, so even though there's practically no daylight this time of year, I won't be too sloth-like.

Since I was pretty good this week and stayed under my Weight Watchers points, I'm having a gyro for dinner! Woot! Also, Susan went to Chik-Fil-A today. Everyone needs a little treat. My points will reset tomorrow, and it's back to work this week, so it will be back to packing my lunch. I have some soup in the freezer, and I'll be getting some veggies tomorrow at the grocery store, so I should be set with some low-point foods for the week.

Soup!

Happy New Year! We have drank, eaten and polar-bear plunged our way into the New Year, so it's time to get to business. Gym tomorrow. Really.

And a recipe that I have been obsessed with lately. Slow-cooker veggie chili, from myrecipes.com.

This recipe is for a 3-qt. crockpot, and makes about 8 servings at 1 1/2 c. each. It's open to endless variations, I'll mention a few of mine at the end.

1 carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 medium size sweet onion
vegetable cooking spray
1 8oz. package fresh mushrooms
1/2 zucchini, chopped
1/2 yellow squash, chopped
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. seasoned pepper
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 12oz can V8 juice (I use low sodium whenever possible)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans beans of your choice (pinto, cannelini, black, navy)
1/2 c. corn

1. Saute first 3 ingredients in a large, nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and squash, saute 3 more minutes. Add chili powder, basil and pepper, saute 5 more minutes.

2. Stir together tomato sauce and tomato juice in 3 qt. slow-cooker. Stir in diced tomatoes, beans and corn, and carrot mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Note: Cool leftovers, and freeze in plastic freezer containers or zip-top plastic freezer bags for up to 2 months.

This is my favorite recipe lately, since it has only 124 calories and 7 g fiber with almost no fat. I use a whole zucchini instead of half of one plus half a squash. I have used pinto, navy and cannelini beans. I added half a can of vegetable stock to make it a little soupier. I preferred baby portabella mushrooms, but the regular ones are fine. I also experimented with green beans and potatoes, both of which were good.

Ok, back to watching football. Go Bearcats!