Cardio, Cardio!

POSTED BY: LESLI

Does it seem like all we can talk about 'round here is food? Well, just so you know ALL of us are getting our fair share of calorie burning in as well. If you are like me, you HATE going to the gym, but love burning calories. Due to my iPhone application obsession I recently downloaded the LIVESTRONG app and have fallen in LOVE and if you know me you know I am the furthest from being in love with Mr. Armstrong! THAT is another story for another time.

Here's the deal ~ when you register you put height, weight and pounds per week you want to lose. It then spits out the number of calories you are allotted per day. Not sure how many calories are in your meal? That's ok, search their database for anything imaginable!

So, I said this isn't about food, and it's not, so let's check in on the exercise. Don't feel guilty that you didn't have time to "phone it in at the gym" - Jillian Michaels, I have recently discovered that they have calculated EVERY possible way that you burn calories.

FOR EXAMPLE...

Allie & I like to gab away on the phone each night. Justin thinks we're weird, but we always have LOTS to talk about.

Talking on the phone - recline (62 cals/hour)

Talking on the phone - sitting (93 cals/hour)

Talking on the phone - standing (112/hour)

So, basically we can burn an extra 372 calories doing what we do best!

Ryan has been on a cross country road trip from Florida to Oklahoma and back again for the past FOREVER, ok more like 3 weeks, but we miss you sister!

Driving - light vehicle (124 cals/hour)

Riding - light vehicle (62 cals/hour)

Therefore, if she rides the entire 9 hours she'll burn 1178 calories, but if she herself climbs into the drivers seat she'll burn a whopping 2356 calories! Go ahead and have another breakfast at Taco Bueno, sister!

Christina and many others of you will be spending a lot of time on this evening before we hit the town...

Applying make up (124 cals/hour)

I estimate that you spend 15 minutes on your make up, so that's about 31 calories. Doesn't sound like a lot, but remember they all add up when the champagne is flowing!

So, get on over to LIVESTRONG and get to calculating fat chicks! Trust me ~ you will be pumped by all the calories you are burning and never knew. Now if they could only calculate the calories you burn blogging...

Chick-fil-A the WW Way!

posted by: Lesli

I feel like I've eaten 3/4 of my meals this last month in the car, which makes being on weight watchers a daunting task. Except for when I find restaurants that are conducive to my diet and my time!

An all time favorite of mine and MOST of you from the south is Chick-fil-A. Of all the fast food out there, I'll be the first to admit that this is not only the best tasting, this is absolutely the BEST for your weight watching!

I've found that I'm as stingy with my points as I am my money, but if you ran into me during lunch (or dinner) at Chick-fil-A this is what would be on my plate...

#2 ~ Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich: 5 points

with Medium Fruit instead of Fries: 1 point

Unsweetened Tea with 3 equals: 0 points

For a Grand Total of: 6 points

Not bad for a very filling lunch, huh?

There are times that a good splurge is in order and say you might have extra points lying around that you're just DYING to use up. If that was the case, here's what tempts me most...

~~~~~~~

Chick-fil-A Original Chicken Sandwich: 9.5 points (deduct a point for wheat bun or no butter)

Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Club Sandwich (love that bacon & provolone cheese!): 8 points

Chick-fil-A Chicken Salad Sandwich: 7.5 points

and for you breakfast lovers who like to go for the gold early before 11am...

Chick-fil-A 3 count Chick-n-Minis: 6 points

Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit: 9.5 points

For stingy point hoarders, these numbers might seem hefty, but I'd encourage you to examine other menus to better options with lower point values. It's not easy to find.

If you were pulling up a chair next to me at Chick-fil-A, what would you order? Don't worry, if you want to be bad, I wouldn't blame you NOR would I tell the WW gods!

I scream, U scream....

I LOVE ICE CREAM! It is my favorite desert, it is my favorite food....often it is my favorite meal. Nothing is better to me than a big chocolate milkshake. I found the perfect answer to any ice cream addict like me on a diet.

They have all the great taste and half the fat. At 2 points a serving, you cannot beat it. Honestly...its the closest to REAL tasting ice cream that i have found. Edy's is my favorite, but Dean's is really good as well. If you add 1 cup of skim milk, you have yourself a great tasting 4 point milkshake! (this is a 2 point shake if you are on core because you don't add points for the skim milk ).

Lesli loves Egg Nog, and i thought of her while i was at Trader Joe's this week.

Trader Joe's Light Egg Nog is completely delicious, and another 2 point treat. If you can spare 2 additional points, you can throw in a shot of your favorite liquor to this drink.....of course if you love ice cream like i do, you would add 1 serving of Edy's Light Vanilla Ice cream, and have your self a guilt free 4 point Egg Nog Shake!

Week 2 Weigh In

I'll go ahead and start....4th Fat Chick Allie here. I weigh in on Wednesday (Weight Watchers World Wide Web Weigh In, had to pick Wed ya know!) I am sooo thankful for the Wednesday this week...considering that Thursday & Friday are Christmas and I knew WW would go out the window. So, as of Weigh In Wednesday I was down 1 pound, very thankful for that! Merry Christmas to me!

Allie -1 pound

-6 pounds total


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Lesli is a nervous wreck before weigh ins. See how I made that like a facebook status update? I'm glad that you can erase the IS if you like, but I always feel the need to continue speaking in the 3rd person. Ok, to the weight loss. Seriously, I went to bed the night before the weigh in covered in anxiety. Not because I didn't think I did very good with my eating or my working out, but last week was such a let down and in my old age I've developed this anxiety thing. My alarm went off at 5am and I literally stumbled out of bed and hoped on the scale bleary eyed. I did not believe what I saw. I was hoping to lose 4lbs, but instead I lost 3! Oh mama there is nothing quite like losing 3lbs when you're on a diet! I'm sure it is second to none other than losing 3lbs when you're not on a diet, but I am happy! So happy, that I've been much more willing to keep my holiday eating in check, but I will admit ~ my mom's fudge is DAMN good! If anyone asks, I had 1 small piece... not two!


Lesli: -3

-3 pounds total


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Hi, it's Allie again ghost blogging for Ryan. She is still "on holiday" on her 5 state tour of the USA, and in the snowy woods of Oklahoma or is it Arkansas? Anyway, she asked me to post that she lost a pound! In spite of her Taco Bueno for breakfast. You go girl! She'll be home next week and back to the Mac-Book and will have lots of WW gas station adventures to share, I'm sure. Until then, this ghost writer is signing off!

Ryan: -1

-1 pounds total


Christina here....I thought i was going to have a great advantage this week considering i was home with my husband for Christmas, and not with my family eating all the bad things that i usually eat. However, i think i made up for the extra calories i would have eaten with my wine consumption ....Sheesh... I knew that because of my "celebrating" this week, I would have a very slim chance of weight loss. I was glad that i didn't gain any weight, but I was very disappointed with my decisions for this week. I was about to start beating myself up about it, but then i remembered that this process is a change in lifestyle, not a short term fix.... I cannot expect to be perfect, but i can use my shortcomings to drive myself to do better... That is what i love most about Weight Watchers.... you get to hit the reset button, and give yourself another opportunity to be better than the week before... So this week....one glass of almond champagne...not three!

Christina: 0 pounds

-6 pounds total

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi everyone...we are all going in 4 different directions in our lives.

Stay tuned to Friday for our weigh in (hopefully!!)

Hope you all have a FABULOUS holiday.

Much love,

Four Fat Chicks

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

posted by: Lesli

My blog friend Laura posted a link to the hungry girl recipe for Hungry-Girl's Yum Yum Brownie Muffins the other day and me being the sweets feign that I am, I had to try. I made a family dinner on Sunday night and me and my sister are ALWAYS looking for delicious ways to cut calories, but usually aren't very good at it, so these seemed perfect! Plus, I will make up any excuse to get to use my Kitchenaid Mixer!

Wait, would y'all like to meet my fabulous sister? This is going to make my other blog jealous, so I'll have to share with them later, but this is my fat chick sister. I call her a fat chick, because she called me the other day and said, "Well, I did it. I stripped off all my clothes to my bra and panties and took the dreaded picture." She should not worry, I will only be picturing her here fully clothed.

Ok, really she's Justin's (my husband) sister, but what's his is mine, right?

Back to the Yum Yum Brownie Muffins! This recipe is really hard, so if you're not an expert level chef you MIGHT want to back away from this one.

Recipe according to Hungry Girl:

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins
(1 Muffin, or 3 minis - 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 37g carbs, 2g, fiber, 2g protein - 4 WW points)

1 box devil’s food cake mix

1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING! Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular or 36 mini muffins.

Here's is what they'll look like after you've mixed and poured into the pan. They don't pour into the tins or smooth out like cake batter would, so I scooped them out proportionally with a measuring cup and spoon.

The final product! Beautiful fluffy chocolate Yum Yum Brownie Muffins! The tops of mine looked like it formed little peaks that burned, BUT in all reality they were delicious and moist and fluffy tasting.

If any of you are addicted to cupcakes, like me, this is what I'd HIGHLY recommend for you! I think the fact that I have resisted the urge since SATURDAY to put a healthy dollop of chocolate icing on top should earn me extra WW points!

Chili Lime Chicken--3 Points

Personal disclaimer: I CANNOT follow a recipe exactly. I must add my own touches, so just a warning....if you are following Weight Watchers exactly and their point system you should follow the WW recipe at the bottom. If you like to break the rules and your life revolves around a bit more FLAVOR, than follow my lead! (said in Paula Deen twang) Either way, it will taste great!



In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil (1 T. vegetable oil)

Put boneless, skinless chicken breasts into ziplock bag, and pound until 1/4 inch thick

In a large ziplock bag, mix the flour, chili powder, and salt. Of course I added other spices, cause Hey, that's the charm of me! I added a little seasoning salt, coarse ground pepper, cumin and smoked paprika. Then add chicken to the flour mixture to coat, evenly shaking off any excess.

Transfer the chicken to the skillet; saute until cooked through, about 3 mins. on each side

flip the chicken and cook the other side.

I transferred to a paper towel on a plate at this point, to soak up any excess oil, and to be able to make the sauce in the pan without the chicken coating coming off
chicken resting

saute minced onion & garlic

then I added some canned diced tomato & chicken stock and bring to boil, then I added lime zest, lime juice and chopped cilantro (sorry about the color, sometimes I forget to turn the flash off!!)

after sauce reduces, I added the chicken breasts back to the sauce

let stand, for sauce to thicken. It was delicious and since you pound the chicken out so thin, it make a lot.

1 TBS. veggie oil
2 TBS. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 (3oz.) thin-sliced skinless chicken breast (1/4" thick)
1/2 cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
2 TBS. fresh lime juice
2 TBS. minced cilantro (optional)

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. In a large ziplock bag, mix the flour, chili powder, and salt. Add chicken and shake until well coated. Transfer the chicken to the skillet, shaking off any excess flour; saute until cooked through, about 3 mins. on each side. Pour broth and lime juice over the chicken; heat to serving temperature, about 30 seconds. Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon the pan juices over chicken and sprinkle with cilantro.
SERVINGS: 4. 3 points per serving.