Yummy Simple Carrots!

I made a new recipe last night.  This was soooo easy and very very tasty.  5 minutes prep time.  My husband really enjoyed these and I think kids would love them too.  I got the basic recipe from allrecipes.com but made a few changes.

Balsamic Glazed Carrots

1lb bag baby carrots
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Combine the bottom 3 seasonings (I used a small ice cream bowl) and pour over the carrots. 
3.  Toss the carrots in the mix a few times so they all get covered. 
4.  Spray a cookie sheet with PAM (I use olive oil flavor but any would work)
5.  Cook for about an hour (I like my carrots softer so I cooked for a long time...if you like them more crisp you can take out sooner).  About halfway through I pulled out the cookie sheet and kind of "shook" it so that the carrots would roll a bit...sort of like flipping them but a lot easier. 

When they came out of the oven, A said "hmm...they kind of look like mini hotdogs!"  LOL.  They are sweet but not too sweet.  Hard to describe, but like I said...yummy!  We split it into two servings, but my eyes were bigger than my tummy and I couldn't finish my serving.  A had no problem plowing through his though!

Total recipe: 355 cals, 14 fat, 10 fiber
2 servings = 3 WW pts each
3 servings = 2 WW pts each
4 servings = 1 WW pt each
 
I also made a very simple egg salad recipe.  (Last night was vegetarian night).  Hardest part of this recipe was peeling the eggs...and remembering to boil the eggs the night before!
 
Kelli's Egg Salad
4 hard boiled eggs
3 egg whites
2 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp gulden's mustard
1 tbsp relish
paprika, salt, pepper to taste (don't be shy!)
 
This entire recipe has 14 WW points in it (I apologize...didn't calculate total cals/fat/fiber..did each ingredient individually).  It made 3 very nice size servings of about 5 pts each.   One thing you'll notice is that I rarely cook with low-fat mayo or sour cream and never cook with artificial sugars.  So, if you do you can probably knock the points/calorie value of these recipes down even further.  Sorry...no picture of this one.
 
But, I do have one more picture.  Look who's been joining us at the dinner table this week!  :)  Won't be long until she's chowing down on some carrots of her own!
 
 

Sleep Deprivation

Ok, so I’m a new mom. Which means I have a very intimate knowledge of sleep deprivation. For the most part, I have a very good sleeper. She is 3 months old and eats only once a night. She typically wakes up two additional times but just needs some comforting (nothing like a good butt pat to calm her down) to get back to sleep. Which means I get up an average of 3 times every night. Add to that the reduced capacity of my bladder since childbirth and many nights its 4 times. I checked into the hospital for induction on December 16. So, I’d say my last really decent night of sleep was December 15th (and that was pregnancy sleeping so really you could say my last decent night of sleep happened even long before that!). But, lets use December 15th just for the sake of it. That means that I have not had a decent night of sleep in 105 nights. (For the sake of full disclosure I should mention that one night during the early weeks my sister was visiting and I slept in the basement without a baby monitor and got a 6 hour chunk of uninterrupted sleep and she took baby night duty– that was heaven!) It’s a wonder that any of us new mom’s can get the pregnancy weight off…who wants to exercise when you haven’t slept well in months??

I remember once hearing that Angelina Jolie said something about how she does everything by herself with her twins. The only help she hired was a night nurse. Basically implying that she’s “just like us”. I don’t know if its true or not…celebrities get blamed for saying all kinds of things they never said…BUT it angered me then even though I hadn’t had a kid yet. If all mom’s could just have a night nurse at their disposal it would make motherhood so much easier! Sure, Angelina still does a ton of mommy stuff…but she does it with sleep on her side! Now that I’m actually a mom, the thought of that quote bothers me even more.

Last night was one of our worst nights ever. S woke up before midnight even hit (she RARELY does that) and was up for a nice long 2.5 hour chunk from 2:00-4:30. By the time I dealt with her and then was able to relax enough to get myself back to sleep both times I ended up getting less than 4 hours of sleep. And those 4 hours were not consecutive and not very restful. Having one night of this surrounded by a bunch of nights where I got a good long restful chunk of sleep might make it easier to deal with. But when it is preceded by 104 nights of crappy sleep it can have some major effects! I dragged myself out of bed and skipped showering all together. It was definitely a “ponytail” day. I have to be out of the house by 6:40 to make it to work on time. I left at about 6:45 and then sat in the parking garage and did my makeup (does it count as being ontime if you’re in the parking garage on time? LOL).

Today has definitely been a challenge in the ways you would expect. Hard to keep my eyes open at my desk, very difficult to concentrate, daydreaming about my bed. My emotions have been a total mess. Crying this morning before leaving for work, crying on the way to work , and breaking down in tears at my desk a few times. But…what has surprised me more than anything is the effect it has had on my appetite! I am so much hungrier today! It started at about 3am when I was sitting in the rocking chair with a very awake baby. My stomach growled so loud I’m surprised it didn’t wake the dog up! It was not perceived or emotional hunger…it was real hunger. I ignored it and managed to make it through the whole night without eating anything. But the hunger has continued all day. I had my normal breakfast but was starving again by 8:30. Had another breakfast and found myself hungry again at 10:30.

With my emotions in such a precarious state, I’ve had to pay very very close attention to my body’s cues to make sure that I am only feeding REAL hunger and not just eating to calm my emotional needs. It has been REAL hunger though. I wonder why? Maybe my body is trying to replace the energy it usually gets from sleep by taking in more calories? Or maybe it burned more calories over night and so is trying to replenish? I’m not sure…but what I am sure of is that this is a physiological need, not a psychological one.

I have to say that I am quite proud of myself that I have gotten in tune enough with my body that I can actually tell the difference in the two. I remember in the past when I’ve done WW they’ve always told us to pay attention to our body’s cues of real hunger. And I’ve never really been able to do it. But, this very difficult day has given me the opportunity to see that I’ve come a long way. And I must say…it feels good.

Oh..and one more non-scale victory. I ended up getting invited to a lunch meeting at the last minute and was told there would be Jimmy John’s. I could have brought my own lunch to the meeting but have a mental block with that…a topic for another blog entry for sure. So, when I got to the meeting I picked up my boxed lunch and first ate the pickle (safest thing in the box and definitely a way to get my belly started towards fullness!). I made a point to eat really really slow and to pay attention to my bodie's cues. I ended up eating between 1/2 and 2/3 of the sandwich, about 1/2 of the chips, and 1/4 of the cookie. I'm left with basically no points for tonight but I'll dip into flex points...no big deal...we are having a fairly low point dinner anyways (egg salad sandwiches and roasted carrots).

What amazed me is that I felt full! Not deprived at all. My eating habits truly are changing. My tummy simply doesn't want to hold as much as it used to. In the past I would have plowed through that whole meal, no questions asked. I've done it many times. Hubby keeps telling me that he thinks the way I'm cooking is making him eat less at all his other meals. I keep kind of laughing it off...but I'm starting to agree with him. My WW leader said she thinks this happens because as you learn to satisfy your bodies actual nutritional needs your body stops telling you to eat as much. Maybe she's right?

So, I’ll close this post with a little something to make you smile. This is what has kept me up every night for the last 105 nights…and you know what? She is TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Product Reviews

As a working mom, there is nothing better than finding something natural, SIMPLE, and healthy that I can include in my dinner routine.  Emphasis on the simple!  :)

I have two products that both my husband and I have really enjoyed the few times I've made them.  The first is a Uyuni Quinoa & Whole Grain Brown Rice made by Seeds of Change.  I picked this up at Target near the other prepared rice pouches.  This is a rice/quinoa pouch that you microwave right in the pouch it comes in.  90 seconds in the microwave and its ready to serve.  You don't even have to get a dish dirty!  The flavors are super yummy and the ingredient list is organic and simple. 

Serving Size - 1 cup (2 servings per pouch) -
4 WW points

240 cals
3.5g fat
3g fiber
6g protein




The second is a Green Giant Simply Steam product - Green Beans & Almonds, no sauce.  These are also super easy...it steams in the package it comes in - takes 3-5 minutes.  It's one of their box products.  You wouldn't think the almonds would make that big of a difference, but it really does.  Hubby and I both really really enjoy these.  We share the box, although I could easily eat the whole thing.  Mmmmm.

Serving Size - 1/2 cup cooked (2.5 servings per box)
1 WW point per serving...or 2 points for the whole box!

45 cals
2g fat
2g fiber
2g protein

There is a picture and another product review here.

Tonight's dinner was salmon with these two side dishes.  It took me about 10 minutes to make and has kept us both full for hours.  And the small amount of dishes wasn't a bad thing either!

Two Thumbs Down Lane Bryant

After writing my last post and making a huge decision to go ahead and invest in the size smaller pants, I ran out to Lane Bryant…only to discover that Lane Bryant has discontinued Right Fit pants and jeans until SEPTEMBER! That is 6 months away!

Us working girls need pants all year round, not just during fall and winter. I called all 3 stores in our area and checked online. I’m super bummed about this. Time to check ebay and see if I can find what I need.

Two great big thumbs down Lane Bryant.

The Pessimistic Optimist

When it comes to weightloss, I am a pessimistic optimist. What an oxymoron.

Pessimistic (from dictionary.com): A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view

Optimist (from dictionary.com): One who usually expects a favorable outcome

How is this even possible? I’ll tell you! I am, in general, an optimist. I truly do expect a favorable outcome. And, if I don’t get a favorable outcome, I can almost always find a way to find the good in any given situation. I think I actually drive my husband crazy with my rampant optimism and “see the best in any given situation” attitude. But, it’s how I was raised. My mom taught us from a very young age that your attitude is the most important thing you possess. You have complete control over it and no one can take that control away.  You can choose to dwell on the negative things that happen to you, or you can put those behind and instead concentrate on the good. And, that is how I live my life. I honestly believe it was the #1 best tool for living that my mom gave me.

However, when it comes to weightloss I find myself stumbling. I have failed at this journey so very many times in the past that I have a very hard time “expecting a favorable outcome”. Oh yes, occasionally, even daily, I think to myself…this is going to work! I’m doing it! But just as quickly the negative thoughts come flooding into my mind. I hear myself thinking things like:

-Don’t set yourself up for disappointment…you know you can’t do this
-Don’t tell your husband that you feel excited this time around, he’ll just be thinking “yeah right”
-Right now its easy but you are going to trip and fall face first one of these days and then you’ll be right back where you started from and you’ll feel like an idiot for ever believing in yourself in the first place.
-Yeah, you might manage to get a few pounds off, but as soon as you get pregnant again they are going to come back on at record speed and you’re going to hate yourself.
-Hello? You have felt this way before…it never lasts…give up the dream.

See – “a tendency to take the gloomiest view”. Pessimism run amok. Ugh.

At our WW meetings they often talk about how we should use visualization to focus, center, and ultimately reach our goal. Visualize yourself at your goal weight…what will you do, how will it feel. A great friend wrote me an email about how she made it through exercise by visualizing herself at goal and running along a lake with wind through her hair. I tried to use this technique on Sunday and failed at it big time. I have always had a mental block when it comes to visualizing my own success at weight loss. I can’t even fathom mini-goals beyond getting to “twoderville” because, frankly, I can’t imagine myself ever even getting there.

I have no idea how to combat this. I seriously cannot have a positive thought about weightloss without 3-4 negative thoughts taking over. I truly believe that even the way we “think” is a choice (see my blog intro above) but this is one area where I haven’t quite taken control back from the fear center of my brain and said “enough! I banish these negative thoughts!”. I don’t know how to do it. I actually think I’m afraid to do it.

I saw a counselor in highschool and she would have me do something called “thought replacement”. She had me come up with 4 happy thoughts about myself to have in a ready ‘brain-arsenal’. Anytime I caught myself thinking something negative about myself (I had some seriously low self-esteem issues junior year of high school) she had me fire off my positive thoughts instead. Sometimes I would have to actually speak them outloud to overpower the negative thinking. I felt so stupid doing this at first…but the thing is…it worked. I think it might be time to try the same with my weightloss efforts.

So, 4 positive thoughts….hmmm…

1. I have not binged in more than 4 years.

2. With the exception of pregnancy, I have not finished a year more than 5 pounds heavier than I finished the last in at least 7 years. (This is important for me to remember because for most of my childhood/high school/college life I would hold my breath every single time I pulled on a pair of jeans because I never knew if they were still going to fit. I remember that horrible feeling when they wouldn’t. Sometimes I think I still let myself be that girl…held hostage by the fear of my yo-yoing weight. But, I’m not that girl anymore…and I need to allow myself to own that truth)

3. I eat more vegetables now than at any other point in my entire life…and I enjoy them. I don’t eat these out of obligation, I actually anticipate them eagerly.

4. I truly am doing this differently this time. In the past when I tried to lose weight I did it by trying to substitute the low-fat, sugar free processed junk for the full-fat, full of sugar processed junk I was used to eating. This time around I am concentrating on eating REAL food. I haven’t had an artificial sweetener in two years. I am making real food at home and bringing those for my lunch instead of relying on ‘healthy’ frozen processed meals. The last time I ate a fast food breakfast it actually tasted bad to me and I threw out the hashbrowns all together (if you know me in real life you know this is HUGE).

I think that these 4 thoughts are good reminders that its ok to be optimistic. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” I need to remember that I’m not doing what I’ve always done! I need to give myself credit for the strides I’ve made on health. And I need to give myself permission to anticipate positive outcomes this time around. So, I am publicly giving myself this permission right now. When the negative thoughts come in I WILL fire off my positive thoughts. I’m even going to print these four thoughts out and put them in my purse, my car, my fridge, and my desk.

I’m also going to take a step towards allowing optimism. I’ve got 3 real women dollars at Lane Bryant. For those of you who shop at Lane Bryant, you know that these allow you to get the best deals possible on the ‘right fit pants.’ They are about the only coupon that they allow you to use on these pants and they only offer them 4 times a year. You can use them on whatever you want, but I usually try to use mine on the pants. Normally, since I’ve basically been the same size for the last 7 years (see above about my weight staying pretty stable) I’ve always gone and bought a pair of jeans and a pair of work pants in “my size.” However, I’ve been having a huge internal struggle this time around. My work pants are in decent shape and if I’m losing weight, then there really is no reason to get another pair in this size…these will certainly last me another 2-3 months until my weight loss really starts showing in my clothes. So, the optimistic me says to buy a pair in the next lower size so that I’ll have them when I’m ready. You can certainly guess what the pessimistic me says in response! But, in the spirit of granting myself permission to believe I am going to invest in the smaller size pants.

Wow…just writing that made me shudder with self doubt….it’s obvious that I’ve got a lot of work to do on this front.

Saturday - Weigh-In!

Quick post as we've got company this weekend.  I had my WW meeting this morning.  I missed last week, so this was a two-week weigh in.  4.8 pounds!!!  Woo-hoo!!  For a total of 17.6.  AND...I'm only two pounds away from meeting my first mini-goal - Pre-Pregnant Weight!  Talk about motivation for this week!

There were two people who got their 50-pound metals today, one lady who hit 40 pounds and one lady who hit 25.  Talk about inspiring.  Just goes to show you, it can be done. 

I've really been enjoying my WW meetings lately.  I've gotten some great food ideas and just very good motivation.  I would highly encourage anyone who is doing WW online to consider trying out a few meetings and trying to find a good fit.  It really can make a difference.

Ok, that's it for today.  Off to enjoy my weekend!

Vegetarian Night - Care to join us?

A and I made a commitment to try and reduce the amount of meat in our diet. We’re doing this for many reasons.

First is that it’s a socially conscious decision…mass manufacture of meat is very hard on the environment. You can do a quick google search if you’re interested in learning more about this. I don’t want this to turn into a social debate…so I’ll leave it at that.

Second is that daughters of friends keep getting their periods earlier and earlier. 10 years old and even younger. There are some studies that indicate that this may be due to the large amount of growth hormones fed to animals to fatten them up for slaughter. We could buy the farm-raised meat at the health food store (and we haven’t ruled this out as an option yet), but those meats are so expensive. So, we decided that reducing consumption of them would be a better plan for now.

The final reason is that I want S and all my kids to grow up with a different view of food than I did. I grew up thinking dinner was not dinner without meat. Actually, in large part I felt the same way about lunch (pb&j being the notable exception). Even breakfast…pancakes without sausage…why bother?? I’d rather my kiddos think that dinner is not dinner without veggies! A and I both grew up in very traditional homes where the traditional meat and potato type dinners were the norm. But, I want my kids to be exposed to all kinds of food from very early on so that they can learn to love variety. It all falls in line with the main reason I’m working to change my lifestyle…to leave my kids the legacy of a healthy lifestyle!

So, we are taking several steps to help us reduce our meat consumption:

The first is that we have committed to one seafood dinner a week. Salmon, tilapia, and shrimp are our favorites.

Second is that we are not eating as many meals where meat is served all by itself…instead we use it as part of a dish. So, instead of serving a grilled chicken breast I use chicken breast in a pasta or rice dish (with veggies of course) and therefore greatly reduce the amount we eat. Just the other night I made a pasta dish with 2 chicken breasts. The pasta dish made 5 servings and so instead of each of us eating an entire chicken breast we each had just less than half. That’s not to say we don’t still enjoy a shake’n’bake porkchop or a nice thick turkey burger (or even a steak…mmmmmm) occasionally. Just that we don’t eat those meat centered meals every night any more.

The third commitment we made was to try and reduce the amount of leftovers we throwout. We are terrible about not eating all of our leftovers. I hate to think that an animal gave its life for me and then I turn around and toss it in the trash. Waste of money and waste of life.

The final decision we made is to commit to one vegetarian meal a week. We still consume dairy products at these meals, just no meat. I’ll admit…since I’ve never really cooked vegetarian meals before..my creativity on these nights has been minimal. Grilled cheese and tomato soup served with veggies, baked potato with broccoli and cheese, frozen veggie burgers with roasted potatos and veggies. So, this week I decided to do some searches online and I found this recipe for “two bean tamale pie” on better homes and gardens. I decided to give it a try.

Two-Bean Tamale Pie

Ingredients
• 1 cup chopped green sweet pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans or black beans, rinsed, drained, and slightly mashed
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed, drained, and slightly mashed
• 1 6-ounce can (2/3 cup) vegetable juice
• 1 4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, undrained
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 8-1/2-ounce package corn muffin mix
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh cilantro or parsley


Directions
1. Grease a 2-quart square baking dish or 10-inch quiche dish; set aside.

2. In a medium skillet cook sweet pepper, onion, and garlic in hot oil until tender. Stir in kidney beans, pinto beans, vegetable juice, chile peppers, chili powder, and cumin; heat through. Spoon bean mixture into the prepared dish.

3. Prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions. Add cheese and cilantro to muffin mix, stirring just until combined. Spoon cornbread mixture evenly over top of bean mixture. Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until golden. If desired, serve with salsa and sour cream.

We both really enjoyed this. And it was easy (a must for a new mom like myself!) I used the pre-chopped frozen onion and pepper mix that I got at the grocery store to save me the trouble of chopping veggies. Still sauteed them with the garlic and oil. I opted for black beans instead of kidney. I used Jiffy corn muffin mix and used 1/3 cup water instead of milk when prepping the mix(didn’t have any milk on hand). I also added a drained can of tomatos to up the veggies. Finally…I didn’t have the cilantro so I skipped that altogether. When I make this again I will drain a can of corn and add half of it to the corn muffin mix along with the cheese before pouring it over the top. I think the actual corn would go really well with these flavors. We ate it with a dollop of greek yogurt on top. Two thumbs up from my household. Not spicy at all…just flavorful. Made 6 servings (6 WW points per serving if you’re counting). We each ate 1.5 servings and now I’ve got three servings for lunches next week.

So, what about you and yours…do you eat meat at every meal? Could you eat a little less? If you already eat vegetarian meals regularly…what are your favorites? I could use some ideas!

Employees "Choose" to Lose?

My company is in the process of launching an “Employee Choose to Lose” program. What is it about work sponsored weight loss programs that bother me? In theory..they make sense. We spend upwards of 40 hours a week in the workplace. They pay for our healthcare (if we’re lucky). But something about the idea of a work sponsored weight loss program really makes me cringe. At my last job they had a Biggest Loser competition. Some people really got into it. I avoided it like it was the plague. It seemed like those of us who needed it the most were the ones that didn’t participate.

I walk around the office and see so many women who are largely overweight like myself and think that it’s really too bad we can’t all get together and form some sort of support group. Maybe a chubby girls’ walking club? :) But, then I pull back because weight and work don’t mix. They’re like liquor and beer. At least for me! I notice that the women who have lesser amounts to lose, maybe 5-30 pounds very openly discuss their weightloss efforts with each other. Men often openly discuss theirs as well. But us very overweight girls keep quiet. Why? Is it the fear of looking like a failure at work? I think that might be part of it. I mean, work is all about impressing and I know from experience that when it comes to weightloss I’ve been known to strike out many more times than hitting a grand slam (or even a double).

I know for me that another big part of it is fear. I actually have a fear that someday my employer will be able to treat me differently because of my weight. I already see my employer treating the smokers in our office as sub-par employees. I think the overweight employees are next. I fully anticipate that one day soon I’m going to be forced to pay more for my healthcare due to my “obese” rating on the BMI scale. I guess I’m afraid that if I sign up for their program I might be opening myself up for that “special” treatment.

I think the final reason is that I think of my weight as a “private” problem. Which is kind of funny…because it’s the most easily identifiable vice out there. My co-worker may be an alcoholic, drug addict, sex addict, or in extreme debt…but I would never know it. However, all my co-worker has to do is look at me to know that I have a weight problem. I don’t think the alcoholics at work (I know they are around) would want to attend an alcoholics support group at work. Who wants everyone knowing that they are an alcoholic? And even though my weight problem is visible to the naked eye, I think the same thoughts that would motivate an alcoholic to avoid treatment programs at work are the thoughts that motivate me to avoid employer sponsored weight loss programs.

Would love to hear others thoughts on this. Have you ever joined an employer led weight loss program? Were you glad you did it? Do you find yourself avoiding them as well?

It's more than the number...

I got on the scale this morning and it showed me a higher number than the last 3 days. I found myself thinking "screw it...this is never gonna work" and daydreaming about Burger King for breakfast. BUT...then I started really thinking about why I'm doing this. The primary reason I'm doing this is not actually weight loss. I really really really want my family to have a healthy lifestyle. And reality is that my family's lifestyle begins with mom...me...I’m the one that decides whats for dinner, whats for breakfast, whats for lunch and snacks. And children learn by example...period. I can tell S to eat her fruit and veggies and skip the fried stuff...but if I'm running off to BK for breakfast...she's gonna do what I do, not what I say. And it straightened my attitude right up. I made my muffin, grabbed my packed lunch and headed off to work. It's all about perspective. Even if this weight NEVER comes off of me, if I can pass on the amazing gift of a healthy lifestyle to S (and my future kiddos), then this will all be worth it. Also, I started thinking about the fact that when I went to the Dr. on Monday my blood pressure was normal. I used to struggle with border line high BP and I really believe that the better food choices are what is helping me beat that.