I Cried About Guacamole

I have a confession to make.
I am a freak about food.
Yesterday morning as I was packing my lunch I noticed something was missing...I had put all the ingredients for my taco salad down on the bottom shelf of the fridge (hidden from bf's view) in order to make sure he didn't take them easily grab them. I could have sworn I put the guacamole down here with everything, I scanned the fridge and didn't see the little tub of green amazingness anywhere...then it dawned on me...I slowly turned around and walked over to the trash. There, empty and sad was the container that held the last serving of guacamole that was intended for MY TACO SALAD. Then, tears welled in my eyes. He ate MY guacamole!!! My delicious new Greek yogurt Guacamole from Trader Joe's.  I have to give the bf a little leeway because I didn't tell him I was planning to eat it the next day, and I didn't ask him NOT to eat it. But I went to bed at 10 pm thinking it was late enough that my last little bits of chunky guacamole would be safe until morning. Why am I nearly crying over guacamole?!!?! Why did it upset me so much?? I mean I had already had some, it's not like I didn't get to try it, and it's not like I can't go get more. I should be happy I found a healthy snack that the bf likes....BUT I WASN'T. I took my time to go to Trader Joe's, I lovingly picked out the new dip, and I had imagined how creamy and delicious it would be on top of my taco salad at lunch.
I. Am. A. Freak.....it's just food, but it really upset me.

I'm over it now, I'm not mad the bf or anything, but this salad sure was missing something.

In other news, in order to quell my sadness from the guacamole incident of '13, I made some chocolate chip cookies last night after dinner. 

OH wait, here was dinner:

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for cookies that didn't use any flour, sugar or eggs and I wanted to try them. 

I adapted This Recipe from "Watching What I Eat" and made these cookies

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed until smooth & creamy
• 1/3 cup chocolate PB2(or regular PB2)
• individual cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups oats 
• 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup dry chocolate PB2 with 3 TBS of water
3. Mash in bananas until completely combined
4. Add in the applesauce and vanilla extract mix again until all are completely combined
5. Add in the oats and chocolate chips and combine well
6. Chill dough in fridge for 10 minutes
7. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on how you prefer your cookies, a little softer or a little chewier
9. Enjoy!

I calculated this entire recipe to be 15 Points Plus. It will obviously depend on what kind of applesauce, oats or chocolate chips you use and any other modifications or substitutions you might make. I wanted to make 15 cookies so they would be 1 PP each...but I fail at portioning the dough and ended up with 13 cookies, I rounded up and say two cookies for 3PP just to be safe. They are SO GOOD, so good in fact the bf ate one, then went back for another- I know I did something right if he goes back for more, especially when I thought he would say they were weird.

Also, I completed Day 2 of Week 3 of my C25K, feeling better every single run I do, the longer running sections- up to 3 minutes at a time now, aren't even that hard. It's probably time to start upping my speed :)

Eight Weight Loss Essentials

Good morning! Yesterday on my drive home from work I got to thinkin', what are the essential things I personally need in my weight loss journey? Now I know each person is different and has specific goals for their own health, but I realized there are a few things that are absolutely necessary for me to reach my weight loss goals. Why are there only eight you ask and not a nice solid number like ten? BECAUSE, I only could think of eight and I didn't want to throw in two junky ones just to have a good number, so the number is eight. If your OCD can't handle it (mine is just a little uncomfortable with it) then you can mentally picture two more items on this list.

So without further ado, my Eight Weight Loss Essentials
(so important I created a cute little graphic for it)
((I didn't work that hard on it though I only made it in Paint))

1.) Something that you will drink water from. Water is SO important and if you have a container you LIKE to drink out of it will be more likely that you will drink water. I personally love drinking out of straws, so I have these plastic tumblers that I get, that way I'm not buying disposable straws and I like that these are less likely to spill too. I keep these at work, at home, wherever I am. This particular one the bf got for me on one of his trips, I think it is so cute it makes me drink even more water :) 

2.) Food Scale- This is soooo important for me in my cooking because measuring food with measuring cups is very difficult and can easily cause inaccurate results, especially if the food item is oddly shaped, however with a scale like this you can easily get the exact amount in a serving and they are not too expensive either. I got mine on Amazon for $13 which is a bargain in my opinion for how much I use it and how much it helps me. I also love it measures in grams and oz/lbs. It can zero out so I can put any container on there, zero it and add my food. 

3.) Good workout shoes. I used to just buy any old sneakers from where ever and use them, I never knew the importance of a good pair of shoes. This became especially important when I moved from the elliptical to the treadmill. Running requires well fitted shoes if you want to avoid injury and pain. I bought my first pair of Asics a few years ago and love love love them. I am now on my second pair of Asics, the retina burning pink ones on the left :) and so far I love them too. 

4.) Along with good running shoes, I would not be able to monitor my workout progress without my chest strap. I have only ever had this Polar HRM but I'm sure there are others out there that are equally as good. I like that you put in all of your own personal information in it and it tracks your personal heart rate zone, lets you know how many calories you burned, your workout time, high heart rate, average heart rate etc. I love this gadget.

5.) And of course, a good sports bra! This might not be an essential if you are a male, but if you are female I would greatly stress the need for a supportive and well fitting sports bra. Especially if you are like me and are  a bit bustier. I have worked out with ill-fitting sports bras before and let me tell you it is NOT PLEASANT.

6.) Another item that is essential to my success is my tablet. This one might seem silly and might not be essential to you, but maybe you have a laptop, maybe you use your phone, or an e-reader, or even a good old fashioned cook book, but for me, I use my tablet ALL THE TIME to look up recipes online or on Pinterest. I use my tablet for my Weight Watchers app to use the points calculator, I Google substitutions for recipes or measurement exchanges, everything. I even use it to play Pandora while I cook, it is definitely my cooking buddy. 

7.)  I love love love Tupperware! I use containers for packing items in my lunch, I use them for saving portions of meals to freeze for future enjoyment. I use them to portion out items I buy in bulk. They can be put in the freezer, microwaved, go in the dishwasher. I have purchased a few sets of these Tupperware because I love that they all match and the lids fit a few different sizes of each container. I also love these lunchboxes because you can put different parts of a meal in one container without stuff touching or getting all mixed together (I know I'm kind of a freak).

8.) Lastly, a scale. I know a lot of people like to measure Non-scale victories, and I do too, it's important to recognize accomplishments in building muscle  clothes fitting better, feeling more energy, making healthier choices, all of those things. But it is also important for me to track my weight progress as well. I used to have a scale that measured body fat and hydration and weight and tracked from previous weights but it really didn't work well. I think it was just too fancy and I never had much success with it actually getting me all that information. I now have this scale it is simple, works so well and I love it. (can you tell I buy everything from Amazon? Prime baby!)

So those are my most essential items I own/use in order to be successful in getting healthy, changing my life and of course, losing weight.

I'd love to know what YOUR essential items are, what do you need for your personal journey?

Do you buy things on Amazon like I do?

Here is what happened for dinner last night. I made stir fry veggies, and some chicken with this new Campbell's skillet sauce I had. I combined it with my noodles from my Trader Joe's Extravaganza and it was a delicious 9 Points Plus dinner.

Why Doing Stuff All Day is Hard

And by stuff, I mean house projects- specifically PAINTING.
Yes, the saga continues, weekend three of painting. I was so tempted to take a weekend off, my body takes all five weekdays to stop being sore and then BAM I make all the muscles hurt again. I wanted to just take it easy, but the bf decided to let me know that his friend whom he hasn't seen in a while wanted to come over and see our place for the first time next week...UM I guess that means my break will have to wait because I don't want people seeing a half painted house! So here's why doing stuff all day is hard- specifically when it comes to healthy eating. Here is how the day breaks down:

• 9:00am wake up and have coffee, banana and protein muffin
• Start taping and prepping
• 11:30am I am kinda hungry already, must be all the moving around so I grab a Luna bar because it's quick and I don't time to stop
• Start painting
• 2:00pm I'm hungry!! but I 'm in the middle of painting and need to do something quick- ok well trying this new guacamole will be quick and at least give me some energy- now BACK TO PAINTING
• then I finish painting the house, I must put my kitchen back together, I am moving my stove across my living room and kitchen back to its place, I'm moving my fridge back into it's place, I'm up and down ladders, sweeping, cleaning, scrubbing, I'm a crazy woman because all I want is to be DONE painting and have  my house back together and OMG now it's 8:00pm!!!
• 8:30pm I am so so so way too hungry, I've had a total of 11 of my 34 points and usually at this time I'm about done eating for the day...So I quick throw together some tacos because heck they are easy and filling and I don't have time to think
• 9:00pm I'm eating my tacos, sitting down for the first time in 12 hours

Do you see how doing stuff all day is hard? Well for me it is because I get so involved in my project that I don't want to stop and eat a real meal, I don't stop to cut up fruit and veggies or drink a lot of water I just kind of go. I didn't go over my points, and I did a lot of physical activity, but for sure not great to eat most of your points at 9pm at night. EEK
Here is the finished product- the left is before we moved into the house, the right is now.

Also, here is the guacamole I tried from my Trader Joe's Extravaganza, and it is AMAZING! Especially with their baked Blue Chips.

Here are my quick tacos:

I also tried this Cowboy Caviar from Trader Joe's,  it's corn, black bean and pepper salsa. REALLY GOOD, not as good as the guacamole, because hey, guacamole is awesome, but this stuff is spicy and fresh tasting.

In other weekend news, I ran Saturday morning, day 1 of  week 3 of my C25K and my puppy layed so nicely waiting for me to finish

Saturday night, the bf, got tickets to go see a comedian named Bill Burr downtown, we went with his brother and his girlfriend.

We were going to eat at a restaurant next to the theater called Rock Bottom Brewery- I knew in advance I wanted to eat something yummy so I saved up my points AND I looked at their menu, planning out three different options in case my tastes changed, I ended up getting their homemade veggie burger plain with a side of onion rings, for 24 points. It was the majority of my daily points but it was very good and worth it.

How was your weekend? 

Did you do stuff?

New Shoes!!!!

Firstly, thank you to those who offered me advice and support yesterday, the  positive thoughts sent my way really helped and gave me that little boost to keep my chin up and not give in as easily this time. 

Also, yesterday I got my new shoes!!! I'm so so excited, I hope I love them as much as my first pair of Asics because those were the best shoes I've ever had, I didn't have to "break them in", I never got a blister, they were amazing. Annnnd drumroll please, here are the new girls (added bonus the sales support Breast Cancer Research)

They are so bright pink it *almost* makes my eyes hurt, and I love it! They came with silly black satin laces so I had to go swipe some real laces from my old softball cleats in order to use them. Since it was my "off" day from my C25K program I decided to just test them out on the elliptical, I just did an easy 30 minute workout to get myself moving and see how they felt. So far so good but tonight when I do day 3 of week 2 on the treadmill will be the real test if they are worthy. 

I got a new cereal to go in my breakfast bowl, this time it is the 80 calories Honey Squares, I like it a lot, it pairs nicely with the yogurt and fruit, not as strong a flavor as the chocolate. 

I was at home for lunch because I needed to bring the bf to the airport, so I whipped us up some black bean quesadillas, which was a couple tablespoons of these black beans with lime, chopped up green peppers and a tablespoon of reduced fat colby jack cheese, dipped in salsa. YUM

For dinner I was still craving protein, not sure why, so I made a salad and an egg white sandwich, I actually made a bunch of these 3 Point Plus breakfast sandwiches and froze them for future mornings when I'm not feeling the fruit/yogurt thing.

How was your Tuesday? 

What kind of running/workout shoes do you like? 

Why Scale WHY?!

So today was my weigh-in day...and clearly it did not go well. I am having zero success with Weight Watchers Points Plus program. Either there is something wrong with me, or something wrong with the program. I first started it in January and after three weeks of dedication I had NO RESULTS, and I know weight loss takes time but I should have seen something, so I got bummed out and for a few weeks just ate wisely but did not track points. Then I decided to give it another go, I have been tracking points for three weeks again, I am in week two of a running program and ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING, the scale has not budged! Saturday Morning I stepped on the scale for just a mid-week check and I was down two pounds! I was so excited. I also worked out on Saturday and earned 5 activity points, on that evening I ate those points but otherwise did not go over my daily limit + activity points. Sunday, after working hard painting all day and only eating brief healthy snacks I wanted Chipotle dinner, I ended up using SOME but not all of my weekly extra points, I thought that's what they were there for. Yesterday I was exactly within my points not going over and not eating my activity points. Today I am up 4 POUNDS from Saturday morning...how on earth could a person gain 4 pounds in four days?! I know I did not eat an extra 3,500 calories every single day, I know I didn't. Is there something else going on? Do you build muscle from running? Could it be water weight from being a female?  I'm just not understanding why I have no success. I guess I can try a week or two without using any extra weekly points and not using my activity points and see if that works, but besides that I don't know what else to really do. I'm eating good foods and paying close attention to what I'm doing, working out 3-4 times a week burning 400-500 calories and drinking water like cray...I'm getting downtrodden again about this whole thing....

And also I'm on a 12 hour fast because I have a wellness screening at work so I'm probably a little extra crabby since I haven't had my morning coffee and I'm not allowed to have breakfast until I'm done with the screening. Anyone else having trouble with WW PP? Anyone having great success and want to tell me what you're doing? Should I eat less points? More? Should I quit and try something else?

In other news, I ran yesterday- day 2 of week 2 of my C25K, part of the Spring Training 5K Challenge with KTJ and Latte and a Prayer

And I ate some food- p.s. Vanilla Chobani is not good in my opinion, it is sour like sour cream and not vanilla-y at all.

But this salad with Newman's Own Greek Vinaigrette was a super tasty lunch!

Hopefully you had a good Monday and aren't feeling hunger pains and caffeine headaches because of a dumb work health screening. Clearly I have a little coffee addiction but I'm not ashamed, I love me my morning coffee, it's the only non-water beverage I really drink and it is so good. 

Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling more positive.

Costco...More Like Cost Less (get it?)

Happy Friday!!! I know I'm pretty excited for this weekend to be here, mostly because I'm going to be starting on round two of project "paint my entire house". I'm just starting to recover from the first weekend, because seriously painting uses a LOT of muscles...and I'm pretty out of shape, the bf says I've been drinking the "weak sauce"..which is code for "I'm a wimp". 

Last night we decided it would be super fun to go get some of the staples we are out of from our friendly neighborhood Costco. We joined the ol' cluberooski a few months ago and so far have started a pretty good list of things that are good deals for us that we can stock up on. I enjoy going there, but ONLY when there aren't a lot of people and crazy kids running around. I love kids, just not when I'm trying to push a ginormous cart full of heavy bulk items around a crowded warehouse. 

I also have two other gripes about Costco: 

1.) Their parking lots STINK, whoever designed their weird shape was sooo on drugs because there are no good parking spots, no good places to walk without getting hit by cars, and no good places to drive through without hitting people walking. 

2.) Their cart placement STINKS, if you have ever been to a Costco, at least in MN, there is a steady flow of people leaving the store at all times with huge carts full of stuff out the left door, the entrance is the right door (sometimes these are flip flopped) BUUUUT the carts? They are on the left of the left door...so I have to walk ACROSS the exiting flow of shoppers, grab my huge cart, then walk back across maneuvering my cart through the exiting people to get to the entrance door...I seriously don't understand the meaning of this.


But on to the good stuff, I thought I'd share my super finds from Costco last night, in no particular order.

Here is a box with 36 snack bags of Pirate's Booty, I don't know if this is supposed to be popcorn, or crackers, or just flavored air, but I love it, and for 2 Points Plus a bag it's a nice little snack.

At my house we love the Kirkland marinara sauce, we use it on pasta, in casseroles and sometimes as a pizza sauce. It has simple ingredients: tomatoes, water, tomato concentrate, onions, garlic, basil, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, citric acid. And I think it tastes good, I know not everyone is a fan but we like it at our house and it has less sugars and other additives than most pasta sauces. A 1/2 cup serving is 1 Points Plus.

Look at this giant container of giant strawberries! Mmmm we've been really feeling strawberries lately at my house, I love to put them in yogurt and the bf has been enjoying them in a sugar free pudding as an evening dessert. 0 Points Plus of course. 

I do not like regular milk, I never really did as a child and a few years ago I did the vegan thing for 6 months and switched to soy, I love love love it! Mostly just as a creamer in my coffee, I don't have a lot of other uses for milk, I don't drink it straight at all. I hardly have a bowl of cereal because that's sort of a trigger food for me, but I also use soymilk for baking and it usually adds a really nice soft vanilla flavor. At Costco you can get a huge case of it for less than $2 a carton and that's a good deal, especially since they are shelf stable for a long time.

 As a once in a while, quick fix meal we make these Annie's mac n cheese boxes. Not often because they aren't the greatest, but when you need some comfort food and have the points to spend on it, Annie's is the best, mix in peas, spinach, peppers or broccoli and you have a nearly balanced meal. 

This item is one of our faves and its hard to find when it's not fall/winter time, I guess they think mashed potatoes are seasonal? Not in my house! I'm a sucker for instant potatoes and this is nice because its small serving pouches and different flavors. 1/2 a pouch is 6 Points Plus or a 1/4 for 3 PP.

I first tried this brown rice and quinoa mix from Super Target and loved it! It is really flavorful, filling and a nice combination of the two grains. At Costco they have a four pack with a bit of savings from buying them individually, it's nice to just have them in the pantry as a meal staple if we ever need 'em.

So have you ever shopped at Costco? 

Are you  a member? 

What staples or great food finds do you love? 

People Who Run

So I need some help and advice from people who run, I have some questions and I don't feel like Googling them, I just want someone who's smarter than me about running to help me. 

I started this Couch to 5K program last week, I've done running stuff before, but I've never ever considered myself a "runner". I've never had proper running technique, I've never done any races, I'm just a person who uses a treadmill to try  not to gain any more weight. But now I have gone and convinced my friend that we should sign up for a real life 5K at the end of April. I'm not sure you heard me...THE END OF APRIL. That's like not very far away. So I'm having to stop being a baby about this whole running thing and totally do it for realz. So here are my questions.

1.) I have had my running/workout shoes for like almost 3 years. I don't use them every day of course, but that's a good long time. They don't hurt me, they aren't falling apart, but internet tells me I need new running shoes every 6 months! Is this true life? Do I really need to drop $50+ every 6 months if I'm not a hardcore marathon runner?
How do you know when it's time to get new shoes?

2.) I have pain! in my shoulder when I run, it's not like I hurt my shoulder and now it hurts when I run, its like INSIDE my shoulder, like cramping kind of or when you get a stitch in your side, except it's in my shoulder...Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

3.) Heart rate monitors: I have a chest strap with a watch and it took my gender, age, height and weight and now it tracks my heart rate when I run (which I assume is pretty accurate), the time I'm in my "zone" and how long my workout is...but it also tells me how many calories I burned...but my treadmill that doesn't know me from Jill also tracks my calories and they are VERY DIFFERENT. I assume the watch is more accurate because I told it all my secrets but is it really accurate? Did I really just burn 500 calories in an hour? or is it tricking me to think I'm making a difference? 

SO PLEASE HELP ME people who run...or tell people you know who run and are smart to help me. K Thanks.

Also, this is what I did yesterday...that's pretty much almost 3 miles there...yes I walked a portion of that, but still..I was gonna just push to 3.0 miles but I thought I'd save that treat for myself another day.

And I also ate this stuff:

Yogurt, fruit and Fiber One Chocolate squares

Shredded chicken, refried beans and a cut up red bell pepper.

Pre-workout snack: Apple and PB

Dinner, I found this whole wheat gnocchi and made it with Trader Joe's veggie meatballs, marinara and some peas. The bf told me gnocchi looked like cat vomit so I made him regular pasta with his. lol Thanks for that mental image...yum. Actually, it was yum.