Green Smoothie

For the last three weeks I have started my morning by drinking a "Green Smoothie".  In the last three weeks I have been able to see a difference in my energy, my weight and my bowels (too much?).  I have already proved that the "Green Smoothie" curbs my cravings for sweets and gives me a lasting fullness.  After all there was that day I didn't drink one and the mini binge that ensued.  So, ah la, The Pioneer Woman, I will be sharing my "recipe" for the "Green Smoothie" with pictures.

First, grab some produce.  Anything really.  Spinach.  Kale.  Chard.  Lemons.  Limes.  Oranges.  I use mostly frozen fruit for cost and because we don't have ice.  Can't have a smoothie without something frozen.

Gather up the "Super Foods" you would like to add to boost your beverage.  Here you see Mesquite Pod Flour, Coconut Water, Flax Seeds, Black Cherry Concentrate.

Cut, peel and clean the produce.

Frozen fruits in first.  I buy whatever fruit is on sale.  If you want to trick your husband or children into drinking this smoothie you better add some dark berries so they don't see the green stuff.  If you add only light fruits you will truly have a GREEN smoothie!



Add your pick of "Super Foods".  Here I am adding some black cherry concentrate.

Add the "Green".  I like spinach because it is mild and you can't taste it.  Kale.  Not so much.  I may be adding more greens later but for now this is the one.

Add more power packed foods.  Here I am adding Flax seeds. 

I forgot to add the picture of me adding coconut water.  You can also use regular water to make your smoothie smooth.  Otherwise it will come out in chunks.  Who likes drinking a chunky?  GROSS!

Blend.

Saving the environment by using reusable straws.

Enjoy.

There really is no one way to make this delish drink.  Adding yogurt makes it creamier but it also adds points.  I have been very happy with just using water or coconut water.  You might not believe me but the fruit is sweet enough!  You don't need to add anything to sweeten it up.  No, really, you don't.  I just added a lemon this morning and I swear it tastes just like kind of like Sonic's Lemon Berry Slush. 

Try it.  Trick your family members.  Enjoy a refreshing and healthy treat.

  PS I love my Ninja Blender.  The End.



5%

Time to CELEBRATE!

I reached my first weight loss goal on Thursday.  I said "Buh Bye" to 5% of my total weight. 

12.2 gone.  That's the size of a one month old!

I am celebrating by eating these.

I am even dipping them in a fat-free mayo and balsamic vinegar dip and it's still 0 points!

Now on to my next goal.  10% or 12.2 more lbs.

Oh, remember when I talked about my veggie drawer here.  Well you will have to wait until Friday to find out more!  I know, I know, you are sitting at your computer in anticipation!  Well, tomorrow I will post my green smoothie recipe to tide you over.

Wordless Wednesday: Lunch

It was the Cookies!

Thanks for all those who played my the game.

Sarah was the first to guess correctly on my fb and Kristin was the first one to guess on here. 

GOLD STARS FOR BOTH! 

The hot dogs are Carl's.  I bought only fat-free cheese.  Let me tell you, no temptation there!



Couldn't help the Dave Matthew's song reference!



See we have this little space between our cheese drawer and veggie drawer, it only holds junky foods.  I was cleaning out our leftovers when I saw them.  I restrained and only baked 8 cookies but within 24 hours all 8 found their way to my belly!  I didn't go over too many of my points and luckily Weight Watchers (WW) has added Flex Points to their plan.  It allows for a Weight Watcher to get through events like Spring Break, a wedding or say PMS without having to dump the whole program and feel like a failure.  I used some of those points to have a mini binge on Toll House chocolate chip walnut cookies.  I have made a connection between me NOT having my daily green smoothie the other day and my weakness. (More on Green Smoothies soon as I take some pictures)  I will say I am proud of how full our veggie drawer has been lately.  I can't wait to share what I did yesterday to ensure my veggie drawer will stay over flowing!  But for now I must go make a green smoothie or bake more cookies....

What Did I Eat?

Let's play a  little game called, "What did I eat to make me go over my Points* today."

This is a partial picture of my fridge.  The culprit is in the picture.  If you can tell me which food item caused me to go over my WW Points* you get a gold star!

*Weight Watchers (WW) has a point system.  The scientist that work for WW came up with a formula using a person's sex, weight and age to determine how many Points a person of said criteria can use to eat in a day.  All foods have a certian Point value.  The same scientists sketched out another formula using fat, carbs, fiber and protien to assign a Point value to each morsal of food.  I don't ask too many questions on their theories.  I trust they are smarter than me.  So anyway, a Weight Watcher, such as myself, uses their assigned Points to determine what to eat in a day.  I have 36 Points I can use in my day. 

It's What's for Dinner

Turkey Burger:  lean ground turkey seasoned with salt and pepper only, potato bun (it's only 1 more point than those Deli Flats and I would rather have the bread), Spinach and mustard. 

Pickles:  My dad pickled these bad boys from his own garden.  I believe these are "Mrs. Wages Dill Pickles"

Butternut Squash Fries and Ketchup:  These were super easy to make! Peel and cut up the neck of the squash into "fries" add a little salt and olive oil spray and stick it in the oven at 450 for 20 min. 

It was very filling and not for very many points!  Only 8 points to be exact.  I can use up to 36 points a day for meals and snacks.  An 8 point dinner means I can have dessert!  The best part about this meal is my husband didn't even notice that he was eating butternut squash.  I asked him if I should buy more of those kind of fries and he said yes.  It wasn't emphatic but it was a yes!  I am counting it as a win for the WW team!

Thursdays=Weigh In Day

At 5:15 I had my sixth weigh in with Weight Watchers (WW). 

I gained.  Ugh.  Are you ready for this number?  Are you?

.2 lbs.  Did you even see the tiny little dot before the two?

That's right I gained two tenths of a pound.  Do I sound depressed?  I'm not.  I forgot to pee before I weighed in.  Yeah, that's it. 

SIDE NOTE: To all my math teacher friends:  Are you proud of me?  I did the math on that one!  Now that I think about it, it's surprising how many of my friends are math teachers.   Disgusting really, since I get nauseated at the sight of a #2 pencil or a TI 82 calculator.  But I digress.

This is the Weight Watchers Record Keeper.

For those who are not familiar with Weight Watchers(WW), every Thursday I go weigh in at the only WW meeting in town.  I stand in line with a bunch of other hefty people wearing an inappropriate amount of clothing considering the chilly weather.  We all have our Weight Records and Monthly Passes in our hands and wait for our own turn to stand on a giant scale in front of one of the former fat ladies (FFL) that is now working for WW.  (There will be a future post on WW meetings, talk about the ultimate place to people watch!)  The FFL then writes in our logs whether we lost, gained or stayed the same.

As you can see, I have a bit of a pattern going on.  Loss.  Loss. Gain.  Loss.  Loss.  Gain.   I am not upset about it.  The gains are tiny in comparison to the losses.  I am actually running at the suggested -2lbs. a week.  I just do it 4 lbs. at a time and then take a break.  I don't even mind if I keep this pattern.  That is only if the gains are all .2lbs and the losses are 4lbs! 

Oh, just in case you were wondering, the awesome gold star is for losing 5lbs.  I should have another one, because I lost 5 more but I forgot to get it tonight.  I have lost exactly 10lbs total to date. Wow, there are a lot of mathy sort of references in this post.  I am shocked.  My middle school math teacher was right, you really do need math skills in everyday life! 

Off to count how many points I have left for the day.  HA, more math!  Who knew.

The Portrait of a Fat Lady

This is my friend Tricia. 



Yeah, I know, gorgeous, right?!?   Well she had a little thing this last November called a wedding.  I was privileged enough to be a bridesmaid.  She picked out this fitted black cocktail dress for her beautiful bridesmaids to wear.  Well,  The dress didn't fit.  I drank Slim Fast for a week so that the dad gum thing would zip up!  The results are as follows:

This is the dress.  Just ignore the fact that I am standing next to another gorgeous friend, Jacqui.  I know, I gotta get uglier friends...or something. 

God gave us two ears and one mouth and how many chins?  That would be one right?  I am hoping to give back my extra.  I am sure God could stick it on some baby.  Double chins always look better on babies.

I wave.  It waves.  I dance.  It dances.  I stop.  It doesn't. 

I wore SPANX.  When they weren't rolling down my back, they were pushing my fat onto my thighs.  Horrible.

So there you go.  The Portrait of a Fat Lady. 

Making Better Food Choices...

...While Eating Out.

As a preschool teacher I am always asking my toddlers, "Did you do the right thing?".  For the last month or so I have asked my self the same question about food.

Today we ate at our favorite restaurant, Posados.  I love to eat Mexican or Tex Mex or Southwestern fare.  It's all tasty. (Who am I kidding, I love to eat, cuisine can change and I will still eat it)  In the past I would get a big platter with a chicken tamale, cheese enchilada, a cheese chili relleno, rice, beans, and 4 flour tortillas.  Now to be fair I would take half of it home.  I haven't even included the chips, queso, salsa, guacamole and the free sopapilla!  No wonder I am fat?!?!?!

This was my meal today:



Authentic Chicken Fajita Tacos with Black Beans and Rice



What is the difference?

My old meal was about 50 points.

The new meal is 15 points.  That is including the corn tortillas I ate before the meal!  That is a HUGE difference.  It tasted just as yummy and I was just as full.  (Really I was less full but all that meant was I could move after the meal, which is a good thing.)

Oh,  just so you know I get 36 points (as of now, the more weight I lose the less points I will have to eat with) a day.

All this talk about food has made me hungry.  I'm out.

Kalena