Two days in a row!

A whopping two days in a row I remembered to take pictures. Amazing! Yesterday was pretty normal and boring as are most weekdays. Same old same old. Work, home, boy, sleep. I have been totally enthralled with the Sookie Stackhouse series of vampire novels. I’m on book 6 and I’ve just been ripping right through them.

The HBO series True Blood is based on them. I didn’t watch the first season when it came out because I didn’t have HBO at the time. I did buy the DVDs last month and tore through them on my vacation. The second season premiere is Sunday and I’ve added HBO back to our dish service. It’s a pretty good show and a great series of books. Although I know I’ve been watching/reading too much of something when I start dreaming about it. Dreaming about vampires…not so fun.

The same sort of thing happened when my husband and I decided to start watching The Sopranos. We had to get all caught up so we watched a totally unhealthy amount of mob themed television in a very short period of time. Oh the f-bombs that were dropped in casual conversation. There is such a thing as TOO much of a good thing. :P

For breakfast yesterday I made myself a bacon, egg, and cheese wrap with a La Tortilla Factory tortilla (0), 1/2 c. egg beaters (1), 1 slice 2% sharp cheddar singles (1), and 2 slices Morningstar Farms veggie bacon (1) with ice coffee (of course). This has become a staple breakfast pack with protein and a good amount of fiber. Keeps me nice and full for most of the morning.

Yet another every morning thing, my iced soy latte (1) and AppleBerry VitaTop (1). I really thought all these VitaTops I ordered were gonna last a while but I seem to be eating at least one a day. I’m going to have to order some more pretty soon at this rate.

After writing my post yesterday before I left for lunch I was starving so I went through the Starbucks drive-through to get my most yummy and favorite Light Espresso Frappucino (2). I’m really trying to curb this $5 a pop habit but sometimes I just have to give in.

It was a nice little appetizer for my lunch. Once I got home I took survey of the fridge and decided to consume some of the leftovers rather than making something new. I had a wasa cracker (0) while I waited for my leftover Chef Boyardee Pizza (8) to heat in the microwave. I paired the pizza with an assortment of zero point sides—carrots (0), celery (0), and strawberries with some fat free redi-whip (0).

I love these sourdough wasa crackers. They’re a little bland alone but it’s a great vehicle for other things. As a snack for later I prepared two crackers (1) with Laughing Cow Cheese (1) and 1 tbsp of Wild Garden Hummus (0).

Just so you know, those crackers, they don’t stay all crispy when you let them sit for a few hours with a topping on them. I learned that the hard way yesterday. Still ate them but it wasn’t quite as satisfying with out the crunch. :)

Dinner was more leftovers. I try and do that once a week. Not only does that mean I don’t have to cook but it also helps clean out the fridge and we don’t waste so much food. I opted for a BBQ Pork (4) sandwich made with a sandwich thin (1), baked beans (2), carrots and broccoli (0) and some berries with fat-free redi-whip on the side (0).

That BBQ pork is yummy and I make it in my crock pot. It’s super easy. You can find the recipe here. Really couldn’t be easier. Again I just made it under my 9PM cut off for eating. I opted for a Chocolate Pomegranate VitaTop (1) and a glass of Original Sweetened Almond Breeze (1).

I actually did forget to take this picture until after I’d eaten my muffin and drank half my milk. So this is a frozen muffin that I then put back in the freezer and finished the rest of my milk. :D

I just realized that I actually had one more point left for the day. Oh well. Being on the Wendi PlanI should have gotten an extra 5 points yesterday and I only ate 4 of them. I may be re-evaluating staying on this plan pretty soon. I do think I need a high point day but I’m not sure I need to be soooo strict. It doesn’t seem to be doing that much good in taking the weight off. I’m still thinking about so I’m not making any changes just yet.

Total: 26/27
Activity Earned: 4

-Weight Loss Warrior

A week off work: The Anniversary

You would think with a week off work I’d have plenty of time for lots of blogging and such. However, I also had my two-year-old son full time as well since we kept him out of daycare all week. Plus, I spend all day every day in front of a computer at work. This means when I’m off I typically don’t crack open that lap top at all.

We started the last week of May with a trip to visit my mother. This trip included an anniversary celebration for my husband and I. Our 5th wedding anniversary was May 16th but we waited to celebrate with a stay at a B&B in Chattanooga. My mom kept the boy and we got almost an entire 24 hours of kid-free, obligation-free time. It was really nice. It’s always interesting to me to be a tourist in the town I grew up in.

We are wild and exciting. First order of business after checking in…a nap of course. Here’s our room with my wonderful husband of 5 years sprawled out on the bed. That bed was so high I had to use the bench at the end of it or get a running start to get up there.

Reason #2 this room was the chosen one. A big ‘ole jacuzzi tub. They claim that’s a two person tub but it’s not. I fit in it very comfortably completely stretched out for a nice 30 minute soak after dinner but my husband couldn’t stretch out all the way. There’s no way two people would fit comfortably in that thing at the same time. None the less, it was awesome to have it.

And reason #3…our own private balcony.

Overlooking…

 

The Tennessee River

A Sculpture Garden (complete with an in progress wedding ceremony)

The little art district we were staying in

We layed around and then went out and played Boccie. I think I lost but I don’t remember. We took a stroll through the sculpture garden and saw the worst thing.

In case you can’t tell, that sculpture that’s in the bushes, it SHOULD be on that pedestal NOT in the bushes. Nothing like a little vandalism to crap on a beautiful thing like a sculpture garden overlooking the river. My husband tried to move the sculpture too, it was NOT light by any means. It probably took 2 or 3 punk kids to tip it over like that. Sheesh.

After that we went and ate at one of my favorite restauraunts that we don’t have in our town. The food isn’t really all that good but the bread and salad are to die for. I ate a ton and enjoyed every second of it.

When we returned to our little B&B we decided to check out the little coffee shop in that area. They have tons of desserts and I picked out a piece of Chocolate Cheesecake for later (It was AWESOME). Once we got back in the room I soaked in the tub while my husband did the shred.

I spent the rest of the evening reading (uninterrupted) and my husband watched basketball playoffs. I know, I know, how romantic. :P I came down with a bad headache and was really tired so I was asleep by 9:45 and slept all night long until 7am. It was glorious. :)

The next day after I did the shred and we had breakfast we decided to walk across the walking bridge in downtown Chattanooga.

The Hunter Art Museum from across the River

The Market Street Bridge

The bridge with the Tennessee Aquarium in the background

Coolidge Park

We had a nice time and enjoyed just spending time together. We certainly missed out little boy though and were happy to relieve my mom by lunch time.

-Weight Loss Warrior

Random Food Photos

I’ve been sort of MIA this week. I’ve started getting migraines again and that put me out of commission for a day or so and I’ve been super busy at work. I have taken a few random food pictures though.

That is a 3 pt snack I had on Wednesday afternoon before I headed off to spinning. THREE POINTS! For all that food. Have I mentioned that I LOVE the crack wrap? Here you see a crack wrap (3), pickle (0), 1/2 cup fresh strawberries (0) with 2 Tbsp fat free whipped topping (0), and carrots (0).

This was almost like a second lunch but my first one didn’t really stick with me and I knew I was going to be burning plenty of calories during spinning.

This is my new favorite late night snack. A flat bottom cake cone (0), WW single serve chocolate fudge brownie ice cream (2), and 2 Tbsp of fat free whipped topping (0). See Kelly, someone is listening about the ice cream cones. :)

Last night I had an even better late night snack because I found myself with an extra 4 points at the end of the day. I have recently fell in love with the 100 calorie pack cocoa roasted almonds (2). I do not DARE by a bottle that are not in individual little portioned packets for fear that I will consume the entire container in one sitting. Anyway, I crushed up a cone and piled it with ice cream, then almonds and then the whipped topping. It was sooooo good. I forgot to take a pic but it really wasn’t all that pretty.

I have recently had a serious peanut butter craving and have found very little to sastiate it. I’m not willing to spend 5 freakin points on 2 Tbsps of PB either. Hungry Girl sent out a newsletter recently with some alternatives that weigh in at only 1 point per serving.

You can only get them online though. Both companies offer a sampler pack of their flavors so I ordered some this week. I received the one from Bell Plantation today and couldn’t resist trying it out wiht lunch.

I gotta admit I was totally skeptical about powdered peanut butter. I wondered if it would be easy to mix and end up a good consistency without the use of a whisk. I was pleasantly surprised. It was easy to mix and turned out really nice and creamy. My sampler pack came with two single serving packs of their regular peanut butter and their chocolate peanut butter. I tried the regular today. The chocolate peanut butter flavor sounds just perfect for a crepe. Hmmm, we might be having crepes for breakfast.

Along with the peanut butter (1), I had an apple (1) and another crack wrap (3) for lunch today. It was yummy. Apples and peanut butter is one of my favorite snacks. I’m not ready to place an order for this just yet. I still have a sampler pack coming from the FitNutz people and they have a chunky flavor. I love me some chunky peanut butter. I’ll definitely be ordering some of this stuff from somewhere though. I miss peanut butter.

In totally unrelated news, I scored Steely Dan tickets this morning! I’m so psyched! And the best part about it, I didn’t even have to pay for them. It was an american express presale and because I no longer have an AMEX card I asked my mom if I could use hers. She said yes and then she said we didn’t have to pay her back, we could consider it our birthday presents. Awesome! And very generous of my mother. Especially since she’ll be keeping my son so we can go as well. My sister and her husband will be going with us. It will be lots of fun and I can’t wait.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

-Weight Loss Warrior

Spring is here!

With spring comes new life. We have an old bird feeder that is broken in our front yard. My husband hung it out there to be decorative but it seems a robin has made a nest in there. A couple of weeks ago we found this inside.

We showed them to our son and continued to check back on them, no doubt scaring the mama bird half to death each time we walk up to take a peek. A few days later when my son asked to see the eggs this is what we found.

No more eggs but a big fuzzy mass of baby birds. We’re careful just to look and not disturb them. A few more days pass and this is what we find.

I guess it was dinner time cause they all seem to be pretty hungry. The mama bird always flies off when we walk up. Once she almost flew into the side of my head. We check on them daily and take pictures every few days. My son thinks its the most fascinating thing ever and I have to admit I’m pretty fascinated by them as well.

We had a pretty uneventful weekend and I think it was just what we needed. On Saturday after my son woke up from his nap all three of us spent the whole afternoon outside in the yard. My husband and I were doing various yard work projects and my son was “helping” and throwing the ball for the dog.

I have historically had a pretty black thumb when it comes to growing any sort of plant but this year I got an urge to try my hand at some various container gardening projects.

That is my tiny container garden consisting of one red bell pepper plant and one cherry tomato plant.

And some cinnamon basil for good measure. This smells and tastes just like regular basil but with a little spicy hint at the end. I plan to use it just like I would regular basil if it does well.

We also did a couple of things just to be pretty. I planted two window boxes of impatiens and put the remainder of the flat in a teracotta bowl. The front of our house gets very little sun so impatiens where really the only decent choices that have a shot at living. (So says my husband, he’s the one with the green thumb.)

After spending the afternoon digging in the dirt I sort of understand the appeal of gardening. Granted I did very little but I can see how it would be a pretty enjoyable hobby. Maybe I can be successful with my few little plants. I had thought about doing a proper garden but since we are thinking of moving sometime in the near future I didn’t want to invest the time and money only to have to leave it behind.

Maybe when we get settled in our next house I can think about doing a garden next year or the next. My son will really be old enough to help by then.

We had a family reunion to attend on Sunday and I knew I had to bring something to ensure I had something to eat. I made Hungry Girl (HG) sweet and crunchy chicken salad (3) and brought whole wheat pitas to go with it. People actually ate the salad. Well they put it on their plates anyway. I ate that and a tiny sliver of a brownie.

I was able to stay on points for Sunday which was really important since that is my low day following my super high day. I had also made the HG coconut glazed fruit salad (2) to take and I was really looking forward to trying it. It smelled sooooo good. When I opened the fridge to pack everything up, the container fell out of the fridge and exploded all over my kitchen floor. I was so bummed. I did manage to salvage a few bites which I ate later that day and it was yummy.

I’m still working my way through the HG recipes and tonight I’ll be making the cheesy beefy quesadilla (5.5) for my whole family tonight. We’ll see if they like them as much as I do.

Tomorrow is the next weigh in, here’s hoping I’ve lost that 0.6 lbs and then some!

-Weight Loss Warrior

A new workout

Yesterday I tried Level 1 of The Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout. It was definitely a good workout. I was totally drenched in sweat by the time I was done. Bob hosts Level 1 and he’s most certainly a kinder, gentler trainer. I actually responded quite well to that. He keeps you moving the whole time and you actually sort of like him for it. Plus it seemed to be over pretty quickly.

The cooldown is all Yoga which is fine but doesn’t much feel like a cooldown to me, especially since my quads were on fire. Don’t get me wrong, I love Yoga and I intend to work in The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD whenever NetFlix can get it to me. However, after doing a whole bunch of squats during a workout the last thing I want to cool down with is some warrior poses.

Today I went back to the Shred level 2 and was pretty dang sweaty afterwards as well. Tomorrow is spinning class in the evening so no videos required.

Have you gotten your new Hungry Girl 200 under 200 book yet? I HAVE! And I’ve printed out the points values for all the recipes. I’m planning on marking up my book tonight while watching TV. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes next week. I love reading cookbooks.

On a different note…a little food p0rn in the way of the Laptop Lunches flickr group. I get totally mesmerized by this group and also come up with some pretty good ideas for stuff to pack in my box. They are not all low-cal/low-fat of course but still, it’s mesmerizing.

I’ve got my weigh in tomorrow morning. Bright and early with my Wii Fit. I’m not feeling overly confident this week so I’ll take any loss and be happy with it. I suspect I had one too many splurges what with the jelly beans, sweet tarts and bunny cake. We’ll see tomorrow morning I suppose.

-Weight Loss Warrior

When it finally stops raining…

This happens. A trip to the Botanical Gardens with the new camera.

No idea what’s going on with this river birch.

-Weight Loss Warrior