OK, I'm borrowing a little from Martha Stewart.
I am the World's Pickiest Eater. It isn't a title I'm proud of, but hey, someone has to bear it.
So, when I find foods that I like I want to share them. Thus, I'm starting a new segment - Good Things. I hope to post this once a week. (And feel free to send your ideas as well. Remember, this blog is supposed to be a group effort.)
For the inaugural:
Yoplait Delights.
This is some of the best lowfat yogurt that will ever hit your tongue! It is thick and rich and tastes/feels more like a pudding dessert than a yogurt.
It comes in four flavors - Lemon Torte, Chocolate Raspberry, Creme' Caramel and Triple Berry Creme'. I have tried all but the last one. Billy hasn't been able to locate it for me yet. He even ate the Lemon Torte while at his mom's house last week and loved it.
So, the positives: tastes great, lowfat, only 100 calories, and still packs 15% of the recommended allowance for calcium.
The downside: it does have about 12 grams of sugar.
It makes a nice midmorning or midafternoon snack if you aren't into a sweet breakfast.
Try it, you'll like it (also borrowed but I can't remember from whom right now)!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Bliss
I guess when the New Age Gurus tell you to "follow your bliss" they aren't talking about the Hershey candies.
Man those things are good!
Everything in moderation.
Man those things are good!
Everything in moderation.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Breakfast!
Sausage and Cheese Scones
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole-grain pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
4 turkey breakfast sausage links, crumbled and browned
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, mustard, and pepper. Add the butter and blend with a pastry cutter or two knives until the dough is crumbly. Add the sausage and cheese; toss to combine. Add the buttermilk and stir until the dough comes together.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead for about 30 seconds. Pat the dough into a circle, approximately 8 inches across and 1 inch thick.
Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg white mixture. Cut into 10 equal wedges. Pull the wedges apart to separate slightly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned. Cool slightly and serve, or cool completely, wrap individually in air-tight covering, and freeze for future use.
Makes 10 scones
Per scone: 156 calories, 16 g carbohydrates, 7 g protein, 7 g total fat, 22 mg cholesterol, 2 g dietary fiber, 388 mg sodium
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole-grain pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
4 turkey breakfast sausage links, crumbled and browned
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, mustard, and pepper. Add the butter and blend with a pastry cutter or two knives until the dough is crumbly. Add the sausage and cheese; toss to combine. Add the buttermilk and stir until the dough comes together.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead for about 30 seconds. Pat the dough into a circle, approximately 8 inches across and 1 inch thick.
Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg white mixture. Cut into 10 equal wedges. Pull the wedges apart to separate slightly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned. Cool slightly and serve, or cool completely, wrap individually in air-tight covering, and freeze for future use.
Makes 10 scones
Per scone: 156 calories, 16 g carbohydrates, 7 g protein, 7 g total fat, 22 mg cholesterol, 2 g dietary fiber, 388 mg sodium
Monday, October 5, 2009
If You Bite It, Write It!
This was the title of an article in my diabetes newsletter. I didn't actually read the article, but it reminded me of probably the single most effective tool when I was losing weight.
Write down everything you eat. Every bite, every lick. Everything.
I didn't start keeping a food log to make it into a food diary. I didn't want information about WHY I was eating as much as WHAT I was eating. Maybe it is just my nature but I wanted to see evidence that I could analyze.
I needed to see what I was really eating in a day. What food choices were costing me the most calories? Where could I make some positive changes?
I think keeping the log does more, though, than just give information. It keeps you conscious, engaged in the process. You start to really think about everything you consume. The hard part is all the little stuff. Maybe you lick the beaters when making a cake for your family. Or take little bites of cookie dough. Or grab a Hershey's kiss.
It isn't that these things are bad in and of themselves, but they do have calories and they do add up.
And they are sometimes hard to quantify.
For me, after a while of tracking everything I found that I would really stop to think - if I eat that I'll have to drag out my log and write it down, do I want it that bad? Answer became No a lot of times. Whatever that food was just simply lost its appeal at that point.
Helps those small calories go away.
It also started to show me where I was making smart choices. I wouldn't get upset if I was over on my calorie goal if it was due to a good thing - an extra serving of a high fiber cereal, or a glass of V8 Fusion, something that was positive for my health.
Unfortunately, it was also the second thing I stopped doing and probably need to start back up. The first thing was actually measuring servings. You get to where you think you are eyeballing it pretty well. Truth be told your "eyeball" starts to get a little bigger each time and pretty soon you're eating more than you intend.
Both of these slights on my part are easily remedied and will be resumed.
As I've said before, maintenance is tougher than losing. But the lessons learned are the same and it just has to be habits - like everything we do in life.
Write down everything you eat. Every bite, every lick. Everything.
I didn't start keeping a food log to make it into a food diary. I didn't want information about WHY I was eating as much as WHAT I was eating. Maybe it is just my nature but I wanted to see evidence that I could analyze.
I needed to see what I was really eating in a day. What food choices were costing me the most calories? Where could I make some positive changes?
I think keeping the log does more, though, than just give information. It keeps you conscious, engaged in the process. You start to really think about everything you consume. The hard part is all the little stuff. Maybe you lick the beaters when making a cake for your family. Or take little bites of cookie dough. Or grab a Hershey's kiss.
It isn't that these things are bad in and of themselves, but they do have calories and they do add up.
And they are sometimes hard to quantify.
For me, after a while of tracking everything I found that I would really stop to think - if I eat that I'll have to drag out my log and write it down, do I want it that bad? Answer became No a lot of times. Whatever that food was just simply lost its appeal at that point.
Helps those small calories go away.
It also started to show me where I was making smart choices. I wouldn't get upset if I was over on my calorie goal if it was due to a good thing - an extra serving of a high fiber cereal, or a glass of V8 Fusion, something that was positive for my health.
Unfortunately, it was also the second thing I stopped doing and probably need to start back up. The first thing was actually measuring servings. You get to where you think you are eyeballing it pretty well. Truth be told your "eyeball" starts to get a little bigger each time and pretty soon you're eating more than you intend.
Both of these slights on my part are easily remedied and will be resumed.
As I've said before, maintenance is tougher than losing. But the lessons learned are the same and it just has to be habits - like everything we do in life.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thought for Today
From Denise Austin's Newsletter, but it echoes what I keep saying!
Your great choices today are your rewards tomorrow. Plan ahead!
- Denise
Your great choices today are your rewards tomorrow. Plan ahead!
- Denise
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Status Check
First of all, I nearly panicked this morning. I started my day as usual - by firing up the Wii.
Only nothing happened.
Now, I've been gone for 4 days and I knew it was working before I left. I hit every button, pulled the plug and replugged, you name it.
Then I asked Billy to look at it for me. In reality I thought he'd confess that he did something accidentally to it while I was gone - hit it with the vacuum or something - but he didn't. He even started working on it while I was at work. When I came home for lunch I tried the one last thing. I moved it to another plug.
Worked like a charm.
We didn't think of this before because the Wii, surround sound, television, satellite, and everything else is plugged into the same multi-outlet unit so it didn't seem reasonable that everything would work except that one thing.
But that was it. Apparently the middle two of the six outlets had gone bad.
So, with the crisis adverted, I went on about my afternoon and exercised tonight.
All of that to say nothing really.
The main point of all this was to check on my progress. I noted one day last week that I was on Day 490 of using the Wii. There were gaps, of course, but I'd had started using it 490 days ago.
On that day, I had logged 100 hours on the Wii itself and 223 and half hours of total activity. That averaged out to 27 minutes a day.
I think that's pretty cool. The guidelines are 30 minutes a day, about 3 days a week.
So, I'm on target.
When you think about all the days that I didn't get to exercise in the last 16ish months, I'm really rather proud of myself. It says to me that I am making the most of the opportunities when they present themselves.
All I have to do now is keep it up. Ramp it up a little. I know that I tend to slack off some in the heat of summer so today's cooler temperatures were very welcome. I even walked to a meeting today and started planning how many days next week I could walk to work and home again.
I'm still looking for something else to add to the mix. Apparently I need to stretch or something more before I jog because the last few times I've done it have resulted in a painful hip for a few days following.
I am still looking into the ballet but I want to wait until I can reasonably do all 6 weeks. I don't want to get started if I can't give it 100% attendance and effort.
Anyway. Things are looking good.
I'll keep you posted.
Only nothing happened.
Now, I've been gone for 4 days and I knew it was working before I left. I hit every button, pulled the plug and replugged, you name it.
Then I asked Billy to look at it for me. In reality I thought he'd confess that he did something accidentally to it while I was gone - hit it with the vacuum or something - but he didn't. He even started working on it while I was at work. When I came home for lunch I tried the one last thing. I moved it to another plug.
Worked like a charm.
We didn't think of this before because the Wii, surround sound, television, satellite, and everything else is plugged into the same multi-outlet unit so it didn't seem reasonable that everything would work except that one thing.
But that was it. Apparently the middle two of the six outlets had gone bad.
So, with the crisis adverted, I went on about my afternoon and exercised tonight.
All of that to say nothing really.
The main point of all this was to check on my progress. I noted one day last week that I was on Day 490 of using the Wii. There were gaps, of course, but I'd had started using it 490 days ago.
On that day, I had logged 100 hours on the Wii itself and 223 and half hours of total activity. That averaged out to 27 minutes a day.
I think that's pretty cool. The guidelines are 30 minutes a day, about 3 days a week.
So, I'm on target.
When you think about all the days that I didn't get to exercise in the last 16ish months, I'm really rather proud of myself. It says to me that I am making the most of the opportunities when they present themselves.
All I have to do now is keep it up. Ramp it up a little. I know that I tend to slack off some in the heat of summer so today's cooler temperatures were very welcome. I even walked to a meeting today and started planning how many days next week I could walk to work and home again.
I'm still looking for something else to add to the mix. Apparently I need to stretch or something more before I jog because the last few times I've done it have resulted in a painful hip for a few days following.
I am still looking into the ballet but I want to wait until I can reasonably do all 6 weeks. I don't want to get started if I can't give it 100% attendance and effort.
Anyway. Things are looking good.
I'll keep you posted.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thought for Today
From Denise Austin's newsletter this morning. Wish I had thought of it!
"The road to success has many tempting parking places and rest stops. Just keep going!"
- Denise
"The road to success has many tempting parking places and rest stops. Just keep going!"
- Denise
Saturday, September 19, 2009
How Time Flies
I think this is the longest I've gone without an update. Or at least a note telling you why I haven't updated.
This has been a rough week in the Tanksley household. There was hip and back pain (mine) and a seizure week for Riley. I posted on my other blog under the influence of pain pills on Monday and just hoped for the best. On Wednesday night Riley was back home but was awake and pacing all night long. And I mean that literally. We were so exhausted by Thursday night that I went to bed at 8:30. All of the sudden it is Saturday.
With everything else going on I haven't monitored myself too well this week. That is not necessarily a bad thing since it indicates, at least to me, that I still have my priorities straight.
Family first.
But, I am trying to set a new goal. I think I need one. As I have said before, losing the weight was easy compared to maintaining it. My original goal was 53 pounds. I did hit that, once, and have continued to hover between 48 and 51. But just trying to lose a couple of pounds, while yes it has proved to be challenging, isn't really the goal I need.
On the flip side, I am no longer convinced that I need to hit my "ideal" weight either. My ideal weight is 64 pounds from where I started. Another 14 pounds away.
I honestly think that would be too small. I don't know why I say that except I really think it would be. I look at myself in the mirror and like what I see. Wouldn't mind seeing a little less but I am nothing if not reasonable.
I also know this would entail ramping up the exercise since I can see no way that I can eat less and still be relatively healthy. Your body does have certain needs that have to be met.
So, my first goal will be to determine my next goal. Then I can decide how to work towards it.
Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
Stay tuned!
This has been a rough week in the Tanksley household. There was hip and back pain (mine) and a seizure week for Riley. I posted on my other blog under the influence of pain pills on Monday and just hoped for the best. On Wednesday night Riley was back home but was awake and pacing all night long. And I mean that literally. We were so exhausted by Thursday night that I went to bed at 8:30. All of the sudden it is Saturday.
With everything else going on I haven't monitored myself too well this week. That is not necessarily a bad thing since it indicates, at least to me, that I still have my priorities straight.
Family first.
But, I am trying to set a new goal. I think I need one. As I have said before, losing the weight was easy compared to maintaining it. My original goal was 53 pounds. I did hit that, once, and have continued to hover between 48 and 51. But just trying to lose a couple of pounds, while yes it has proved to be challenging, isn't really the goal I need.
On the flip side, I am no longer convinced that I need to hit my "ideal" weight either. My ideal weight is 64 pounds from where I started. Another 14 pounds away.
I honestly think that would be too small. I don't know why I say that except I really think it would be. I look at myself in the mirror and like what I see. Wouldn't mind seeing a little less but I am nothing if not reasonable.
I also know this would entail ramping up the exercise since I can see no way that I can eat less and still be relatively healthy. Your body does have certain needs that have to be met.
So, my first goal will be to determine my next goal. Then I can decide how to work towards it.
Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
Stay tuned!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
No Permanent Damage
OK, the verdict came in. I checked with the Wii on Monday - wanted to wait until after my mother-in-law had left the house and after enjoying a post-vacation weekend.
I did gain 2 pounds in the 9 days. Not bad. Especially considering all the factors working against me last week.
As of this morning I had lost 2.9 so I'm actually better off than when I left.
So, here is what I've learned: I can go enjoy myself. I was totally conscious of the choices I was making but I didn't obsess on it the whole time. I was able to have fun and still fall back on the new habits I've developed. I've also learned that I can get back on the program when needed.
I can allow myself the leeway I need, when I need it, and still maintain my healthier lifestyle while out of my regular environment. It may not sound like much but that really is a big deal for me. I tend to be a Type A personality and a feeling of control is a major component. We don't like when things get outside of our comfort zone and we don't feel like we can control the situation. Well, now I know I can.
That is worth almost as much as losing the 2.9 pounds!
I did gain 2 pounds in the 9 days. Not bad. Especially considering all the factors working against me last week.
As of this morning I had lost 2.9 so I'm actually better off than when I left.
So, here is what I've learned: I can go enjoy myself. I was totally conscious of the choices I was making but I didn't obsess on it the whole time. I was able to have fun and still fall back on the new habits I've developed. I've also learned that I can get back on the program when needed.
I can allow myself the leeway I need, when I need it, and still maintain my healthier lifestyle while out of my regular environment. It may not sound like much but that really is a big deal for me. I tend to be a Type A personality and a feeling of control is a major component. We don't like when things get outside of our comfort zone and we don't feel like we can control the situation. Well, now I know I can.
That is worth almost as much as losing the 2.9 pounds!
Friday, September 4, 2009
I'll Take That To Go
Eating while traveling has to be my biggest challenge. I'm out of my routine. I don't perceive that I have as much control over my choices.
This vacation week has been a rough one. We've eaten dinner at 9:30 and 10 at night (normally doesn't happen past 6 PM) and I think I've eaten more french fries this week than in the last 6 months collectively.
On the plus side, I walked an awful lot. Especially the last two days. During tennis we sat for hours and hours at a time, but climbed a lot of stairs. Yesterday and today we walked miles and miles. Hopefully there will be some offset there.
I'm not looking forward to stepping on the scales this weekend and seeing the damage. But here's the thing. I can't beat myself up. If losing weight or maintaining a lifestyle seems to be a chore then it is work and work isn't fun. The occasional indulgence is needed and necessary.
I just can't make a habit of it.
This vacation week has been a rough one. We've eaten dinner at 9:30 and 10 at night (normally doesn't happen past 6 PM) and I think I've eaten more french fries this week than in the last 6 months collectively.
On the plus side, I walked an awful lot. Especially the last two days. During tennis we sat for hours and hours at a time, but climbed a lot of stairs. Yesterday and today we walked miles and miles. Hopefully there will be some offset there.
I'm not looking forward to stepping on the scales this weekend and seeing the damage. But here's the thing. I can't beat myself up. If losing weight or maintaining a lifestyle seems to be a chore then it is work and work isn't fun. The occasional indulgence is needed and necessary.
I just can't make a habit of it.
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