Healthy Dining Finder

Today I was browsing the web and pinning away to Pinterest when I searched for 'healthy options when dining out'.  A website Healthy Dining Finder came up and so I clicked on it.  It's ah-mazing!  Maybe some people know about this website but I had no idea.  The site has a team of registered dietitians who work trying to find healthy dining options for us!  You can put in your zip code and it brings up a list of local restaurants and then you can click on them and it shows you a list of recommended healthy options.  You can even click on the option and it tells you all the nutrition information, some even have pictures of the entree.  And some recommend that you make a special request for like "ask for no olive oil", for example.  It's great!   This will be especially helpful when I get to the maintenance phase of my program (in like a year), or when I go on vacation next week (because will be eating some meals out with my family).  It's also really helpful because it gives calorie info so you can track your calories.  This might be my new favorite thing!  Hope you find this website helpful as well!!

No class this week!!!

I haven't blogged in 1 1/2 weeks!! So working full time, having a 3 year old, and now a new puppy to watch 24/7 is taking up like 100% of my time!  I won't be blogging as much, I know this...but I do plan on still updating when I can about my progress etc.    So today is the 4th of July.  I'm off work, and so are most people...including the people who work at the clinic where I go to weigh in, and my dietitian.  So there is no weekly class today or weigh-in.  I could, if I wanted go up to the clinic to weigh in tomorrow but seeing how the hubs doesn't get home until almost 6 on Thursdays and the clinic closing at 6 I doubt that will be happening.  Last week I weighed in and lost 7.7lbs - per the clinic.  This is absolutely not right.  Apparently, they re-calibrated the scales and so they are now "correct" and were not correct before.  By my scale at home the change on the scales at the clinic is almost 4lbs... which leads me to believe I lost somewhere around 3lbs.  Unfortunately, I'll never know the true amount I lost.   It was kind of upsetting at first but at least the scales there are telling me my true weight now and from here on out they should be accurate.    I have been weighing myself at home and the numbers are going up and down dramatically and this morning, it still didn't even read as low as the scale at the clinic.   I have still been following the program, eating my 5 meal replacements and my veggies/fruits.  I ate much more veggies/fruits this week than I did last week.  I went to Kroger on Saturday morning and the abundance of fresh awesome produce was overwhelming and exciting!   I bought fresh green beans, onions, mushrooms, summer squash, cabbage, asparagus, peppers, lemons, mango, and peaches...    my new favorite thing is grilling my veggies on kabobs as you saw in my last blog's picture.  I also love sauteing my squash and my green beans w/ white onion. So yum!  

Have I told you how much I LOVE Butter Pam???  It's incredibly flavorful and zero calories and is amazing for cooking all of my veggies!!  They are so delicious and I'm not adding any calories to them!  I forgot to get strawberries/grapes so I picked those up at Sam's on Sunday.  Sam's strawberries are always so fresh and look/smell amazing and they are so sweet.  And the price?!  Can't beat it!!  I recommend getting your strawberries from Sam's if at all possible!   I also have been back using my creamy potato soup MR to make pizzas and since I can eat veggies now, I've been added onion, mushroom, zucchini to my pizzas for little extra calories!  Makes them so delicious!!  Instead of using Parmesan cheese which is 20 calories for 2 tsp, I've been using fat free feta cheese which is only 9 calories per Tablespoon and you can't beat that and I love feta!  

  

Last week, Ben and I went to the UAMS weight program's "Cook-In".  They had demonstrations for Zumba, and we got to try several new recipes including the Strawberry shortcake which was made w/ the vanilla MR.  Pretty delicious!   I also won a "portion plate".  It's this plastic plate w/ a graphic on it and it has divided sections for your protein, veggies/fruits, carbs.  Pretty helpful for learning how much you should really be eating at a meal!    I've still be exercising 5x/week and so far it's been pretty easy still continuing to follow this program.  We go on vacation in a week and a half for a week.  That will be a challenge and for that week my goal will be to not GAIN any weight.  I think I can do it :)    Can't wait until next week when I can go to my class and weigh in and have that accountability I'm missing this week!  

Falling behind!

I've been falling behind on posting!! But I really need to so I can document my progress!   So last week I went to class and weighed in.  It was after a week of adding veggies/fruit to my diet.  I lost 1.8lbs so just under 2lbs.  It's the least amount of weight I have lost since starting the program.  It was somewhat discouraging but I realize and have said it before, that I will lose different amounts of weight each week.  I also had just lost around 5lbs each the prior two weeks.  Also, 1.8lbs in a week is still great!  And they wanted to add some calories to our diet to boost our metabolisms back up.   I don't think I ate ALL my veggie/fruit servings that we are allowed each of the days but I did have some each day.  I also continued exercising and did do the elliptical 5 of the 7 days for 25 minutes.   Although I didn't lose as much as usual, I was pleased and I have kept on trucking! So far this week I've been eating a lot different veggies including a lot of salads with very low cal dressing (5-10 cals of dressing per salad), and grilling a lot of veggies on skewers (purple onion, peppers, mushrooms), as well as one of my favorite dishes - sauteed summer squash and white onion.  Usually I would use EVOO when cooking my veggies, but I have found that zero-cal butter Pam works wonders!   I season w/ some garlic salt and pepper and everything turns out delicious!   I haven't exactly been "measuring" my portions of veggies but 4 cups of veggies is kind of a lot and I've only been eating them for one meal, so I go ahead and put the full amount of allowed calories in my meal tracker app.  Fruit wise, I've not been eating a whole lot.  Basically just watermelon lately...so yummy!    Today we took Ben to the zoo at like 9:30 and walked around for about an hour, but it was sweltering and he was getting hot/tired and then I came home and did my 25 minute elliptical work out.  I worked out both Saturday and Sunday this week because I missed my workout Wednesday when I drove to Judsonia after class to get our new puppy and didn't get home until after 9pm!  Then I missed my workout on Friday because I chose to get my grocery shopping in.  But I promised myself I would make up those 2 days and I did!
We had friends over last night and grilled burgers but It wasn't hard at all for me to not eat the burgers since we had so many other yummy things to eat like the veggie kabobs!  Things are still going really well and I am still so happy with this program, and all it has been offering me as far as accountability and all the different things I learn from the classes.  Can't wait till Wednesday!

Veggies!

I'm finished with week 5!  I somehow lost another 5 pounds.  I thought my loss would be much less this week because it was like that much the week before.  Sometimes I doubt the scales at the clinic can even be right??  Craziness!  Now that I finished week 5 and am starting week 6, there are a couple huge new things.  Firstly,  I can have bars.  I did end up buying a box of Fudge Graham bars this week.  Are they the most delicious thing I've ever eaten?   After 5 weeks of packaged powder meal replacements... YES!   I can only eat one per day so I am going to eat them for breakfast.  This is ideal because I am really supposed to have my first MR within 30 minutes of waking up but with the shakes, I have to wait until I get to work, which is usually about an hour.  This way, I can grab my bar and eat it in the car in the morning.  It's perfect!  One bar replaces one meal replacement.  I still am eating 5 meal replacements a day (including bars), so now I have 1 bar, 3 regular MRs, and 1 soup MR.    The other big thing is that I can eat fruit and veggies now!!  5 weeks FLEW by and it seemed like yesterday when 5 weeks seemed forever away.  I guess that's a good thing.   So I am supposed to add in *up to* two 60 calorie servings of fruit, and 4 servings of non-starchy veggies (1/2 cup cooked veg, or 1 cup raw veg = 1 serving and is supposed to = 25 calories).  So if I eat 4 veggie servings (100 cals), and 2 fruit servings (120 cals), then I will be adding 220 calories to my diet.  I had been eating anywhere from 830 cals to 920 cals a day prior to this week.  SO my new goal is to eat right around 1050 calories with the added fruit/veggies. Here's the list of what we can eat that they provided us in class.

The dietitian told us we could start eating them last night, but I didn't want to drive to the store and basically all we had in the house was baby carrots so I chopped up 1/2 a cup of them and added them to my soup.   Tonight for dinner we went to Jason's deli and I ate a salad.  I'm so used to piling it high w/ boiled eggs, pasta salad, cheese, croutons, etc so it was hard to JUST put veggies... but I did it.  I chose dark greens and added mushrooms, peppers, zucchini slices, broccoli, cauliflower, and red onion.  I read online that Jason's Deli had a Fat Free Leo's Italian dressing that only has 10 calories per 4 tablespoons but I couldn't find it anywhere.  So I used the raspberry vinaigrette which was the next lowest calorie at 90 for 4T, but I probably only used like...maybe 1T... not much at all.  Then I put a couple dashes of vinegar on it.  The I mixed it up as much as I could. Doesn't it look yum??

 I wrote down a couple of dressing recipes off the internet that are very fresh/low cal/no oil dressings that should be good to use for my salads!  I will make each week and they should keep in the fridge for a week.  I love vinegar though, so if those don't work I know I'll be okay with a sprinkle of vinegar!! 

So I am excited about the program still.  I know I won't lose weight as fast now that I'm adding more calories but no one can healthily lose an average of 5lbs a week for extended periods.  Speaking of health,  everything was good at my doctor visit yesterday except for my liver enzymes in my labwork.  They were going up.  One of them was actually elevated out of the normal range so the doctor says I need to come back in a month and redo-labs and she will follow them.  She said unless they normalize I will need to modify the diet program.  Not exactly sure what she means, but I am just hoping the labs go back to normal and I won't have to worry!  

Did I mention that my cholesterol dropped 40 points in just a month???  It was normal the first time (under 200 at 180 something) but it was 140 something now!   Amazing....

This blog post is getting long but I just have one more thing to share.  I tried a new recipe w/ the potato soup MR this week- "pretzels", and boy are they good!  I eat them with mustard (0 cals).  I've made them twice now.  All it is, is a potato soup MR + 1T jiffy pizza crust mix (35 cal)  + water to a firm but wet dough.  Then I knead it a few times in a tsp of flour (9 cals) and roll it into 2 long ropes... shape like pretzels and bake at 350 for 15 mins.  I then spray them w/ pam butter spray and sprinkle w/ salt.  Definitely one of my new favs!!

Oh and another thing real quick-  eating all these extra fruits/veggies all of a sudden makes me feel like I'm eating SO MUCH.  It's going to take some getting used to, but I don't think i'll mind it.  I love love love most fruits/veggies and I know they are so great for me and I'm thankful that I do love them!    So anyways, they said I should lost between 2-3lbs from here on out w/ the added cals.  Guess we'll see in a week if they're right! 

Off days

It's Sunday.  I usually take the weekends off as far as workouts go.  Sometimes I'll go for a walk in the neighborhood on the weekends but this weekend it's incredibly humid and yucky and it's the last thing I want to do! I did do arm weights yesterday and sweeping/swiffering/vacuuming as well which isn't really cardio but it's still more activity than I normally get on a weekday sitting in a cubicle.  I look forward to the off days in a way, but in a way I always feel somewhat guilty for not doing cardio.  Not sure why,  I think 20-30 minutes of moderately intense cardio 5 days a week is pretty good.  I also feel like I'm not losing weight on these days.  I tend to get on the scale every morning.  Not sure why, b/c my scale isn't the same as the hospital and I also weigh in the evenings at the hospital and fully clothed.  I guess I still watch for the number to go down in the mornings, but sometimes- like the last few days.. It hasn't.  I think this week will be a small loss compared to last week.  And I might be one of those people who loses a pretty good amount one week, then a smaller amount the next week, and repeats that pattern.  Some people lose the same amount each week.  That's definitely not me.  But as long as it's a loss I'm okay with it!
So I've tried a couple new recipes this past week.  One of my new favorite things is the sugar free fat free lemon pudding mix, mixed w/ a vanilla MR.  I just eat it mixed w/ water to the consistency of a frosting/icing and eat it w/ a spoon.  It's delicious.   So this  week I tried making cookies w/ the same mix.  Here's what I did:
1 packet vanilla MR
1 1/2 T egg whites
1 T lemon pudding mix
mixed w/ enough water to form a dough consistency and tore off little balls and pressed them to the cookie sheet.  Think I baked them at 350 for 15ish minutes?  I can't really remember, just watched until the edges started turning brown. Here's how they turned out:

They were kind of chewy (maybe the egg whites?), and tasty.  I would definitely make them again.   Easy to make them at night and grab and go for breakfast the next morning.
I also made some pancakes from the recipe book.  Here's how they turned out:

These were okay.  The texture wasn't right on w/ an actual pancake, but close.  The flavor was pretty good.  Not sure I'm a fan of the no sugar syrup I used, though.  Maybe they would be better w/ a couple sprays of spray butter?   I would probably make these again too but they were 1 MR + 48 calories of additives.
We're only allowed 50 calories extra per meal replacement and not supposed to use that much on each one per day b/c that would add up to an extra 250 calories a day which is quite a bit.  
I try to keep my calories eaten under 900/day.  Some days I might go over 20 or so.  I think that's pretty good.   I'm not getting bored.  Still sticking with it.  Although, I will admit, I did eat a baby carrot yesterday to show Ben how yummy they were!  Hey, just a mommy duty I had to fulfill!  I don't think that baby carrot will hurt my diet!  *crosses fingers*.
Can't wait till Wednesday when I get to buy some yummy bars!!  Praying everyday this program is my solution and I really know it will be if I keep it up.

1 month down

Today is the start of a new month.  The first month FLEW by! Seriously, it went quick.   I weighed in yesterday and lost a little over 5lbs for a total of 21.7lbs now.  Amazing.  I've never lost more than 20lbs in a month.  I also did cardio for a minimum of 20 minutes 25 of the last 30 days.  Not too shabby!  I'm still trying to incorporate some arm exercises in with free weights/dumbells 2-3x/week for the last couple weeks.   Class was good last night, a lot of random discussions made for an interesting hour.  I also got my labs drawn and I will see the doctor again next week.  It will be interesting to see if my labs are any different.  They weren't fasting labs though.  Wondering what my random blood glucose will be!   I've had two random people at work this week ask me if I was losing weight!  That's also good, and great encouragement.  I'm also 29lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight FOUR years ago!  My GOAL this month for weight loss will be 10lbs.
We found out that we can buy meal replacement "bars" next week.  There are a ton of yummy flavors and we got to try 4 of them in class.  Really good.  They limit you to 1 bar in place of a meal replacement per day though.  They have 160 calories and all but 2 of them have 15 grams of protein- just like the MRs.  I'm definitely buying a box and will be eating one of them for breakfast in the mornings.  Then the week after that we start adding in fruits and veggies!  Who's excited?!  THIS GIRL!   Can't wait to eat a salad!
Anyways, things have been going great and I can't wait to keep continuing to see even more results!

Favorite Recipes

So I am totally loving (okay maybe not loving but close) the taste of the chocolate shakes now!

My favorite chocolate meal replacement shake + flavorings/additives are:
Sugar Free Fat Free Chocolate Pudding Mix - makes it thick and even more chocolatey!
PB2 - who doesn't love peanut butter and chocolate?  I also mix in 1 packet of splenda to sweeten it a bit.
Instant Coffee Grounds- kinda like a mocha!
Sugar Free Fat Free Cheesecake Pudding Mix - chocolate cheesecake!
English Toffee Sugar Free Davinci Syrup - calorie free and gives it a kick.
Dulce De Leche Sugar Free Davinci Syrup - pretty tasty.

My favorite non-shake foods are:
Pizza! Creamy potato soup MR + Garlic and Herb seasoning, baked, topped w/ Hunts basil, garlic, and oregano tomato sauce (1/4 cup is only 20 cals!), and 2 teaspoons parmesan cheese (kraft- 20cals).

Taco Waffle - Creamy potato soup MR + 1 T corn meal mix + 1 teaspoon taco seasoning.  Makes 2 waffles in the waffle maker - and topped w/ 2 T of Wholly brand Salsa (10 calories)

Lemon "frosting" - Vanilla MR, water + 1 T of Sugar Free Fat Free Lemon Pudding mix (Kroger brand).

On occasion I have a tiny item to hold me over:
An egg white omelet made w/ egg beaters, sprinkled w/ Parmesan

A wedge of Weight Watchers Creamy Swiss (30 cals)  - I was told I could have one of these per day but I maybe eat 3 a week

Pickles!!

Salsa yum (my own invention) - 29 calories   2T Wholly Salsa + 1T Fat Free Sour Cream + 1 T Fat Free Feta Cheese -  mixed in a bowl.  I eat it w/ a spoon or use this on top of my taco waffle!

My fav soup mixes:
Creamy Chicken Soup  + 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules + 2 teaspoons dried chopped onion

Minestrone + 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules + 2 T blended Rotel Mexican Cilantro and Lime Juice (8 cals)

This is pretty much what I've been living on for 2 weeks.  The past couple days I've been really wanting to eat something real.  like anything my husband or kid have for dinner.  But I hold back.  Gosh it's hard!!
Just say no!  It will be 4 weeks on Wednesday.   Can't wait to see my results then!