Happy Holidays!

Things are still on track for the most part. I am still down around 8-8.5lbs. I haven't had the best last few days which means I'm not really losing anything but just maintaining. I'm getting pretty antsy to hit the 10 pound mark though so I need to step it up here soon.
Tomorrow night is the fist night of Passover and we'll be hosting a Seder at my house. For those who don't know - Passover is the one where we don't eat bread for a week. It's basically like going on a low carb diet. After tomorrow I should be pretty good diet wise. I'll spend the week eating some - not too much, matzah, lots of veggies, eggs, lean meat, etc. For the diet that goes over pretty well. Tomorrow night though may be a tough one. When my mom cooks and everyone gets together it's easy to over eat and over drink. But whatevs, it's a holiday and I say I'm allowed.

So for all my fellow Chosen Ones - I wish you all Chag Sameach!!! Oh and I'll be sharing some yummy low cal Maztah Brie and Matzah Pizza recipes this week so stay tuned.

And for the rest of you... enjoy your fatty cadbury eggs this week. Just kidding I actually LOVE cadbury eggs. Like I could probably eat them all day. Anyway if you are going to be enjoying any of those delicious and creamy chocolate eggs - please know that you are taking in 170 calories and 6 grams of fat for each one. Which, on it's own, actually isn't too bad. So if you are nothing like me and have any sort of self control, enjoy one egg and then walk away!

Sorry bout the weird Easter tangent. I'm done now. See you soon!

And I'm Back... Challenge Day 5

Day 5 Weight: X-4lbs

So I took a little break from posting for a couple of days. For one I was just a little bit tired (this is hard work you know, ) and secondly I was a kind of disappointed with the underwhelming response I got from my last post. I was really looking forward to getting your feedback on the workout songs. So either not as many people are reading this as I thought, or those of you who are reading are just too lazy to respond. Or maybe you guys just don't go to the gym? Either way I have decided to stop pouting and move on.
Thank you very very much to those of you who did take the time to help me out... Ms. Wilde, Tim, Lauren, and Anonymous. Your suggestions are all fabulous and I'll be thinking of you guys when I'm miserable at the gym. I'll have the new play list ready to post soon.

I started my new job this week and in terms of dieting I think it will be a very good thing. It has me on my feet all day and gives me no time to do any kind of mindless eating - which I tend to do when I'm at a desk all day long. We'll see how it goes, hopefully I am right.

1 piece of Rocky Mountain Toast (1 egg & low cal Sara Lee bread)

Persian Cucumbers w/Artichoke Tapenade
** Seems like a weird combo, I know. But I like to mix weird things. It's just a really quick and fresh snack.

Jello 60 cal Pudding Snack
Motts Healthy Harvest Blueberry Delight Applesauce
** These are both really good healthy snack options especially if you are looking for something sweet.

Chicken & Shrimp Fajitas, Red Beans & Rice, Corn
**The chicken fajitas were from none other than Trader Joes. This is another delight from the frozen foods section. You get the veggies, chicken, and seasoning all in one bag and, of course, it's all very healthy. I added in some shrimp too pretty much just for quantity. For the tortillas I used one of my WW staple items - La Tortilla Factory tortillas. The smaller size has around 50 calories and 8 grams of fiber. If you are dieting you need these tortillas! You can use them for anything... wraps, burritos, fajitas, etc.
The red beans and rice were one of those Knorr/Lipton Cajun Sides. It's not particularly low cal or anything but not bad at all as a side dish, especially if you are splitting with someone.
And the corn was from a can.. nothing too special there. I used a dash of cayenne pepper pretty much over everything in the meal just to give it an extra little kick. It all turned out great.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow. :0)

I Heart Trader Joe's

Light Yoplait Yogurt w/Lowfat Granola

Corn w/Lowfat Cheese
Bush's Baked Beans - Vegetarian
** I know these last 2 sound kind of strange. Sometimes I just really like eating canned food. It's quick and easy and I think it's delicious. Although not all agree so I'll just leave it at that.

Thai Shrimp Gyozas, Prig Khing Green Beans, and Brown Rice
** This was a delicious and healthy Trader Joe's dinner. If there is anyone left in the world who does not shop at Trader Joe's yet, stop what you are doing right now and go. I am a huge fan of this store. For some reason I think a few people group this store in with Whole Foods and assume it's just as pricey - but you couldn't be more wrong. Trader Joe's is some of the most affordable grocery shopping you can do. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE WHOLE FOODS but I can't quite afford it at the moment so I wont get into that right now.
Ok so back to TJ's. I would highly suggest that you start off by taking a stroll down the frozen foods aisle. It is nothing like the frozen foods you would find at a grocery store. It is SO much better. The food tastes better, is better for you, and is definitely cheaper. I just can't say enough.
The Thai Shrimp Gyozas and the Green Beans both came from TJ's frozen foods. I am obsessed with these gyoza's. I have been buying them for years. They come in veggie too. Super low in calories and WW Pts. This was my first time buying the green beans and as expected they were delicious as well. And then obvi the brown rice.. nothing special to report there.
Trader Joe's is always my go-to when whenever I throw a party, dinner party, etc. They have lots of dips and things like that. They've also got a lot of little hour d'oeuvres (that is weird word to spell) in the frozen section. Everything there is just so quick and easy to make you really can't go wrong.
A quick warning about TJ's though... If you buy any fresh produce or fruit there eat it right away. It will go bad quickly. I'm not sure what they do differently than regular grocery stores but I just know it's pretty much always the case. So don't buy more than you need.
Last thing and then I'm done. Don't leave the store without buying yourself at least 2 (or 6) bottles of Charles Shaw wine aka "Two Buck Chuck." No joke - it costs $1.99. It's not the best wine you'll ever have in your life but knowing that you only paid $1.99 for it makes it taste a whole lot better.

Oh yeah that reminds me... I did have some wine with dinner too. Maybe half a bottle or so?

Tuesday

I am starting to think that I may need something new to do. Something to shake things up - eating wise. Maybe like a little lose 5 lbs goal for myself? I didn't really feel like going on any sort of official diet right now but I don't know how much anyone really wants to read about me sitting around eating like a fat ass all day. So maybe just a quickie challenge. Lose 5 lbs in 2 weeks? That's do-able I think. I will think about it some more. Maybe do something really crazy like start it on Friday. I mean... who starts a diet on a Friday? Anyway... we'll see.

Breakfast Sandwich
** 2 pieces of low cal Sara Lee bread, 1 slice of 2% Kraft cheese, approx 1/3 cup of Egg Beaters, sliced tomatoes. Another delicious breakfast. Although I'm starting to think that I need to ease up on how much bread I've been eating lately - even though it is low cal and high fiber.

Went to one of my favorite local sushi spots for lunch. Sushi Fix. The greatest thing about Sushi Fix is that it's located in Little Italy (where I live) and is pretty much the only non Italian restaurant in the whole area. And since Sushi is my favorite food and Italian is least favorite food... well let's just say I'm very happy to have it there. And best of all they deliver. I mean sushi being delivered to my door is really something special.
Anyway, had a very nice lunch here with one my bff's, Lauren, after we went on a very long walk all along the harbor downtown. Between the two of us this is what we had:
- Fire Roll: Spicy krab with cucumber topped with spicy tuna
- Spicy Crunchy Cali Roll: California roll topped with crunchies, spicy and eel sauce
- Cucumber Salad
- Seaweed Salad
- Edamame
I can't really say we made the best choices possible on the rolls, at least not when it comes to dieting. But we didn't finish it all which is quite unusual for me when it comes to sushi. So maybe that made up for it. Probably not but oh well. I never regret a good sushi meal.

Mexican Candy
Ok.. so those who have known me since I was a kid know that this is yet another one of my "food" obsessions. Mexican candy is in no way good for you and I would not suggest that anyone start eating it. Although most people I know (other than a few and you know who you are) think that it tastes disgusting. It's not really that high in calories but it's just not good. It consists of a lot of sugar and chili powder and other unknown ingredients. I don't eat it all the time but when I come across some of my favorite kinds it's almost impossible for me to resist. So I'm just going to leave it at that.

Frozen Yogurt!
Yay I love love love fro yo! I love it all - sweet, tart, whatever. Yogurtland is one of my faves. I made sure to get a little bit cause I tend to go a little overboard when it's self-serve. I did, of course, top it with fresh strawberries and chocolate sprinkles. Mmmm.

A few bites of a Lean Cuisine Pizza

Dinner Salad
This is one of those times when I just dove into my fridge and used whatever I had that was fresh and close to going bad. Not bad yet - don't worry. But I hate throwing away food so I wanted to make sure I used what I had before I had to do that. Here is what I threw together:
Green Pepper
Orange Pepper
Persian Cucumbers
Tomato
Jalapenos
Corn
Grilled chicken strips tossed in buffalo wing sauce
Galeo's Miso Dressing - really good salad dressing. Great for a low cal coleslaw.

That's all I've got. See you later friends!