Gotta watch the grazing!

So the other night I was cooking and the hubby had made himself a plate of cheese and crackers and left it on the counter.  While I was chopping, boiling, steaming and stir-frying all my healthy stuff I was mindlessly eating the crackers and cheese.  I think I had 8 or 9 crackers and at least 3 of them I put cheese on.  When I suddenly realized what I was doing I was shocked.  I always "taste as I go" as I cook - so now I wonder just how many senseless calories and points I put in my body.  Obviously this is easily solved - make sure there isn't anything sitting around that I shouldn't be nibbling on while I work.  And of course, be a little more focused on just what my hands and mouth are trying to do behind my back!

On to more positive notes.  I met a friend at McDonalds for lunch today.  I was a little concerned about what I could have because they aren't exactly vegetarian friendly there.  I chose the Southwestern Salad with no chicken.  I also didn't have the tortilla strips that are supposed to go on top.  Later when I checked the nutritional information so I could enter my points I discovered that the salad, with the strips, dressing, and grilled chicken is normally 11 points.  Salad with the dressing, no strips, and no chicken?  Only 5 points!  That is a 6 point savings!  And there is quite a bit in there - I ended up leaving a few bites in the bowl.  That extra 6 points I then used for an afternoon treat of a Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte (3 points) and one of the new Petite Lemon Sweet Squares at Starbucks (3 points)!!!  I'm all about "lots" - I want a lot of food.  I get discouranged and sad when there is only a couple small things on my plate.  So to get the salad AND the latte AND the sweet treat?  WINNING!!  (thanks CS for going crazy in public!).

I swear - one of these days excersize is going to start coming back into the picture.  I just know it!  

Vegetarian doesn't always mean low Points!

Logically I knew this already, but I have a hard time not defaulting to "Oh, it's vegetarian - it must be super healthy."  If it's sautee'd in lots of oil, or smoothed out with heavy cream, it drives the points values up from a few to a LOT.  I have a twofold reason for the vegetarian effort, well OK - I have several, but 2 of the big ones are overall health, and the theory that it will help me stay within my points values if the bulk of my meals are made up of raw or lightly cooked veggies and fleshed out with whole grains.  In theory, this will work.  But if I have tofu and sautee'd veggies from the teriyaki place and the veggies are all greasy and wilted looking things probably aren't working out the way I want!!  Thankfully when I stir-fry at home I just use a couple spritzes from my Pam.

So of course early on I'm all about trying the different products out there and let me just say it is MUCH nicer to do this now than say, 10 years ago!!  This morning I had a toasted english muffin with EggBeaters, tomato and 3 slices of Tofurkey lunch meat.  It was delicious!  Thanks to suggestions from my friend Michelle, the Vegan Goddess, I am going to try a greenie smoothie tomorrow morning.  I'll certainly let you know how THAT goes down! 

Now my other trick is to try and make meals that the husband and the kids will eat.  The baby is easy - he loves fruits, tofu, pasta and since he's not quite a year yet he is still on the bottle.  While I loved last nights Bok Choy and Tofu stir fry over brown rice the older son only ate the rice and a few of the other veggies and the hubby didn't try any of it.  I work all day, getting home about 6, and evening bedtime routines start around 8.  I DON'T want to spend that entire 2 hours cooking, I like to spend some of it with my family and the time after the kids are in bed is spent cleaning & doing laundry.  So the challenge is to find yummy vegetarian/vegan meals that I can make FAST.  If I make any that the whole family jumps up and down for I'll post them for ya!

Gonna be a journey...

First of all: YAY!  I lost weight last week!  That is a double edged sword right now.  There is the part of me (this is the part I want to get stronger and be around all the time) that says "Just think of how much more you may have lost had you stayed on course all week!."  This is a good thing because it's motivational - how much better can I do?  Then, there is the bad part of me that says "Wow - look at all the bad things you ate and still lost weight!"  This is not a good thing and I need to nip it in the bud right now. 

So, in the interest of trying to force myself to make the right choices, eat healthier, and stay on track I am doing something I've never done before.  I'm giving up something for Lent.  Meat.  Yes - I am going to be a vegetarian the next 40 days.  This is going to be difficult for me because all the quick easy meals I know have meat in them and I'm not sure I can force my family to go meatless with me.  I've never been sucessful at giving up food before but if I'm going to start with something I'm better off with meat than I am with chocolate or coffee.  I think this is going to be very hard for me and yes, I know I'm supposed to be all gung-ho and supportive of myself but right now I'm not 100% sure I can do it.  But I am going to try.  I'm going to start with this week and hopefully I'll see another loss on the scale next week which will help motivate me to keep going.  At least tonight will be easy - the meal I plan on making is vegetarian anyway.  Lightly sautee'd veggies tossed with lemon-ginger fettucine, artichoke hearts and capers.  

I really, really will need support on this one!

Down 3.6 lbs!!!! Couldn't wait til tomorrow to post that!! More thoughts about it tomorrow.

I guess I'll see how it went!

I was really proud of myself for how well I did at the Pike Place Market on Saturday.  I stayed away from most of the junk.  I did share a very hearty grilled cheese sandwich, but I only had 1/3 of it and the rest of what I had were fruit & veggie samples and a handful of nuts.  I admit I had half of one small personal cheesecake (about the size of a tangelo) from The Confectional but still I stayed within my points for the day.   My boys and I did a LOT of walking around and we were all bushed by the time we got home at the end of the day.

SUNDAY, however, was a different story.  I started off well enough but by the end of the day had not just gone off track, but had crashed and burned at the bottom of a ravine.   Ugh – and the day before weigh in too!  WHY the heck do I sabatoge myself like that?  What reason could I possibly have for wanting to stay fat?  I weigh in tonight and can only hope that even though I wasn’t as good as I should be, I was better than I have been so maybe I’ll see a loss.