Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Eat This, Not That....

It always amazes me how points shake out with the Weight Watchers plan....i hate it when i "eyeball" an item thinking it will be 2 or 3 points....then when i get home and look it up and it turns out to be really 5 or 6! I heard from a fellow weight watcher that getting this book opened up such a wide range of options that she never thought of before....remember this is not just about weight loss, its about living a healthier lifestyle all together. I typically go to the grocery store and buy whatever is on sale. This book actually breaks down each brand of the food that you normally eat, and gives easy substitutions to save you calories and fat grams. I have ordered this book, and look forward to sharing all the secrets i learn with all of you!

Eat what you want, when you want--and watch the pounds disappear! Americans spend more than $400 billion a year eating out, and behind each burger, turkey sandwich, and ice cream sundae is a simple decision that could help you control your weight—and your life. The problem is, restaurant chains and food producers aren't interested in helping you make healthy choices. In fact, they invest $30 billion a year on advertising, much of it aimed at confusing eaters and disguising the fat and calorie counts of their products. All of that has changed with EAT THIS, NOT THAT!. This book puts the entire food industry under the spotlight, and arms you with the savvy tricks and insider information it takes to eat well no matter where you are. With EAT THIS, NOT THAT! you're the expert in every eating situation, from the frozen food aisle to your favorite fast food joint to your local sports bar. You control your food universe—and lose the pounds you want--because, unlike every other customer, you'll know the smart choices to make—instantly! EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is jam-packed with secrets the restaurant industry doesn't want you to know. For example: • Burger King doesn't want you to know that a BK Big Fish® Sandwich and fries have a whopping 1000 calories—nearly half your daily caloric intake! (Fish is usually healthy, but not this kind. Find out why with this book.) • Pizza Hut doesn't want you to know that a standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories, but the same meal at Pizza Hut can top 2,100 calories! (You'd need to ride a stationary bike for more than three hours to burn off this mistake. Instead, eat all the pizza you want by making smart choices. EAT THIS, NOT THAT! shows you how.) • Macaroni Grill doesn't want you to know that a single serving of their Grilled Teriyaki Salmon has more than three times your daily allowance of sodium! (Cut your risk of high blood pressure by making smart choices at the same restaurant. You'll find them inside.) If only you knew the industry secrets, you could eat at any of your favorite restaurants—or chow down on everything from the company vending machine to your kids’ Halloween buckets—and know that every decision you made was smart, healthy, and the best possible choice for you. For example, did you know: • At McDonald’s, an Egg McMuffin® is actually a healthy choice, with just 300 calories. (The Hotcakes pack more than double that amount!) • At Krispy Kreme, all you need to do is order the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller, and you'll save 500 calories! (Do that once a week and you'll drop more than 7 pounds this year—without trying!) • At Chipotle, you can cut 570 calories out of your Chicken Burrito just by ordering it as a bowl (without the tortilla) and asking them to hold the rice. (Same great taste, but with 94 fewer carb grams!) • Choosing a cinnamon roll at Au Bon Pain over Cinnabon will save you 463 calories and 20 grams of fat! • In the freezer section of your local supermarket, a turkey pot pie from Swanson’s has 610 fewer calories than a turkey pot pie from Pepperidge Farms. • In the produce aisle, you'll get twice the vitamin C—and nine times as much vitamin A—simply by picking red bell peppers over green ones. (Who said eating healthy was difficult?) And that’s why EAT THIS, NOT THAT! is going to change everything. It’s time to level the playing field. We're all tired of sneaky calories adding to our waistlines, and having to starve ourselves or spend hours on the treadmill trying to burn off the damage. Now—for the first time—you're in charge. With this simple illustrated guide to thousands of foods--along with the nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss--you'll make the smartest choice every time!

Monday, February 9, 2009

My Trainer Bob

Jillian gets ALL kind of love on this blog in the posts and the comments...so I thought I'd share the love and tell yall about an awesome website my boyfriend Bob Harper has started. It's called My Trainer Bob, click HERE for the website.

I really can't tell you HOW cool this site it, and unlike Jillian's weight-loss site, this one is free! When you sign up, you totally customize the page for yourself. YOUR weight, your goals, your journal, your pictures, etc. You can keep track of what you eat, and it figures the calories for you, and then you track your work-outs and it subtracts the loss from your total. Bob offers a Tip of the Day and you can read his blog. It also has a VERY cool calorie counter, that you can type any food into and how many servings and it calculates the calories for you.

I just joined yesterday, so not sure how all the features work, but so far so good. It has a myspace/facebook feel to it...you can have friends called BOBS and message each other. If you join, become my friend...my user name is alliem0825

And my FAVORITE part of the site, is that you get to look at that hottie, hot, hot Bob!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Weekly Weigh In

Lesli: The night before weigh in I dreamt all night that I would wake up and still be at ZERO and then I'd have to promise you I was working really hard and staying within my points and spending time at the gym 6 days out of the week. Then all of you would think of Joelle from Biggest Loser except you'd picture me being her and walking around the gym and thinking about exercising. After that bad dream I had to really encourage myself to get out of bed and face the facts. I hopped on the scale and thought is that 2 ticks or 3 ticks. Apparently I am losing my eye sight along with the extra weight. Let's just say 2 to be on the safe side! I am thrilled to have lost 2lbs this week, because I've been really focused and feel like I am getting visual results, so numerical results are icing on the cake... err... the fiber in the kashi bar.

Lesli: -2lbs
Total: -7lbs
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Allie: Hi friends! I'm a bit discouraged this week, and it's the first time I have been since I started this journey; Wednesday December 17th, so by my calculations that is SEVEN weeks of loosing weight and feeling great. I haven't lost pounds every one of those weeks, but still wasn't discouraged until this week. I blame that 6lbs week, what a fluke! I lost a pound this week....and before all you followers start wagging your finger at me telling me to be thankful and proud of that 1 measly pound. I AM THANKFUL! But I am discouraged too, cause I'm eating really good, and hardly ever go over my daily points. My good friend Jillian told me (via an interview on the Rachael Ray show) that plateaus don't exist. Trainers tell clients that to make them feel better about themselves and not get discouraged and quit. But it's bogus. Loosing weight is simple math, if you burn more calories than you take in you will loose weight. PERIOD. So, guess what that means friends? Allie has to BURN more calories or she won't loose any more weight. And that friends is scary to me. Hopefully by next week I will be able to report in how many days I worked out this week. Wish me luck!
Week: -1 lb
Total: -19 lbs
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Ryan-This is the first week I have noticed my waist becoming smaller. It shows in my jeans and in my shirts and I'm loving every minute of it. My family arrived yesterday and the first thing my mom's husband said was, "Ryan, have you lost weight?" It made my night! I know I have only lost 5 pounds, and I have 15 to go, but at least it's a start. I'm down 1 pound this week and though I wished it were 2, I'm happy it's coming off, even if it's slow.

Week: -1 lb
Total: -5 lbs
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Christina - I would love to write that i have been working out excessively and putting perfect portions of food in my mouth for the past 2 weeks....but that would be a lie. My recent surgery prevented me from working out for 2 weeks, but i cheated and worked out today since i needed to weigh anyway. So i looked down at the scale and couldn't believe my eyes....or maybe i could... the upside to surgery is that you are too doped up for multiple days to eat much food. To my defense, i did refuse the fried chicken, mac and cheese, and deep dish Chicago pizza that was served in my house because i was too sick to cook....In my opinion, i worked very hard to get well over the past week, so i should feel like i really earned my weight loss right??
Week: -5 pounds
Total: -13 pounds

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Have a question?

I'm dedicating this post for all of you to ask us questions. They can be personal, nutritional, they can be ANYTHING. If I don't know the answer, I will research it and get you the correct one. For now I have some popular diet questions below answered for you, and don't forget, WEIGH in is tomorrow!


Is there one small diet fix that will help me lose weight?

YES, stop drinking your calories. Fruit juices, soda, and milk are packed full of calories, choose no calorie beverages like tea, skim milk, and diet sodas.


When eating fast foods, what things should I avoid?


One slice of Pizza Hut's pizza with Italian sausage packs 320 calories and 20 grams of fat; Burger King's Double Whopper with Cheese weighs in at 1,070 calories and 70 grams of fat. So if your stomach is craving for the Golden Arches control your portions by ordering a small grilled chicken sandwich minus the cheese, or opt for thin crust and vegetable toppings on your pizza. If you have to have a burger, make it at home. Buying lean ground meat is not high in points at ALL.


Do I need to cut back on salt if I don't have high blood pressure?


A high-sodium diet has also been linked to osteoporosis; taking in more than 3,000 milligrams daily may interfere with calcium absorption, which can weaken bones over time. You also hold more water, which you know this :). Frozen dinners, canned soups, popcorn, and cookies are all loaded full of salt.


What are my triglycerides? There simply a form of fat. When a blood test indicates that your triglycerides levels are high, it's a tip-off that they're hovering in the bloodstream instead of being stored in the body for energy. Losing weight, reducing alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, and excising regularly can all help lower triglyceride levels.


Are organic foods more nutritious?


They contain the same amount of vitamins and minerals. However, they have higher levels of disease-fighting antioxidants, since their grown without pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers.


Hope this helps some of you!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Lesli got new shoes!

This past weekend I hung up my old $35 new balance tennis shoes that I had gotten at TJ Maxx in Chicago. {Side note: I lived in Chicago from Aug 06- Oct 07; i.e. ~ they were OLD} They had seen better days, and if I got real honest with myself they were never really that comfortable.

I've had my eye on these adidas shoes since Christmas, but could never pull the trigger due to being uncertain on the size. These shoes are totally different than my last pair and I thought they'd be perfect at the gym and major (I've noticed I say MAJOR a lot in conversation lately) cute when I wanted to wear them with my yoga pants.

Do not be deceived... they are hot pink not red and I loved them. Saturday I decided that I HAD to get new tennis shoes due to the exercise plan I've introduced into my lifestyle, and was dead set on these. They didn't EXACTLY have my size, but with any good shoe size is not all that matters. They were so sassy! But dern, they were a little uncomfortable and I'd been in cute but uncomfortable shoes for 2 years now.

So, Ladies... I hiked up my big girl panties and did something terrible rational. I got the stark white, little more expensive shoe that was comfortable and perfect for my athletic needs.

Honest to gawd I think I deserve a big gold star for this, because if I'm guilty of anything I'm certainly guilty of shopping on the cheaper end of things AND buying based on looks instead of functionality.

I just finished up my 4th work out in them and I have to brag... they are great! They are the kind of shoes that you look forward to putting on at the end of a long day. Plus my gym is very close to the airport and I think my new bright white kicks are helping out traffic control.

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PS ~ The Fat Chicks are VERY interested to hear about what work outs y'all are doing! We're wanting to feature reviews of the different dvds and routines on our site, but there are only 4 of us and many of you! Please let us know what you're doing and leave us a way to contact you so we can share your story. REMEMBER ~ we're all in this together!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

How I Start Almost Every Morning....



I call myself the smoothie master in my house....its not hard to be the "master" in a household of two...but still...my smoothies are pretty darn good if i do say so myself....

I came up with this smoothie recipe during my first run with Weight Watchers. I was doing the CORE plan, and found that i could have a large smoothie every morning for minimal points. I don't know if any of you have tried the Weight Watchers 1 point smoothie, but I was pretty disappointed with it. If you go to Smoothie King, a 20 ounce smoothie (their smallest size) will cost you between 7 and 15 points. I am not even going to go into what the larger ones total to. My smoothie recipe makes a 24 ounce serving, is sure to fill you up, and will only cost you five points.

Ingredients:


  • 1 cup frozen unsweetened peaches


  • 1 small peeled banana


  • 1 cup Orange Peach Mango Juice (i typically use the Trader Joe's brand, but Dole makes a delicious version of this too and can be found in any grocery store)


  • 1/2 cup of Fat Free Plain Yogurt


  • 4 packets of Splenda


  • 1 cup of cubed ice


Directions: Throw it all in, blend and ENJOY!


Points: Flex Plan= 5 points, Core Plan = 2 points

Monday, February 2, 2009

Turkey Sausage with onions & mushrooms

I made a delicious self created dinner, lean smoked turkey sausage, caramelized onions, garlic and mushrooms served over vermicelli (I was really shocked to find out how low calorie & fat vermicelli is) Pleasantly surprised!
Jennie-O lean turkey sausage

Serving is 7 per package, so I cut into 7 equal part and then cut again lengthwise, sauteed in a little bit of no-fat beef broth. Then removed from pan. Sausage is 2 points per serving


Added a large sliced red onion & minced garlic to the pan and sauteed

While that was cooking I boiled some vermicelli until al dente. 4oz of pasta (1/3 of package) is 2 servings and 4 points for the 2 servings.
SORRY ABOUT THE COLORING, I'm terrible about the silly flash. This is the sauteed onions and then sliced mushrooms added to it. Once they were all sauteed, I deglazed the pan with Worcestershire & redwine vinegar

I combined everything together into the saute pan and transferred to a very low heat oven.
The low and slow oven combined all the flavors and made the pasta a bit browned and crispy.
Here is the lovely finished product.
It was a 6 point dinner. Sausage 2 Points, pasta 2 points (since I only ate 1 serving of the pasta), and then I added 3 more points for the veggies and liquids I used to make the sauce.

I dare anyone to tell me that THIS is diet food!
Love and encouragement to all my Four Fat Chicks Followers, hope you have a great week!