New Recipe - Chic & Asparagus Casserole Mmmmm tonight I tried a new recipe ... Chicken and Asparagus Casserole. I found the recipe on the net today, although it isnt actually a WW recipe. I noticed the ingredients seemed low point so gave it a try and it is delicious! Just a note though - its a bit too runny so could do with a bit less soup. So if you intend to make it keep that in mind!

Ingredients:
2 cans asparagus, drained
2 large chicken breasts, cubed
1 lg can Heinz "Extra Special" Country Chicken soup (I cant remember the grams it was - about 600-ish)
1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup lowfat cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs

Method:

1. Spray pan with cooking spray and cook chicken peices
2. Put asparagus in bottom of casserole dish, place chicken on top
3. In a bowl mix soup, mayo and lemon juice ... then pour over chicken and asparagus
4. Top with breadcrumbs and cheese
5. Bake in moderate oven till cheese is golden

Makes 6 serves - Each serve is only 4.5 points (going off the brands I used). If you make it please double check the points because points can vary greatly depending on brands.

Serve with 3/4 cup cooked rice (add 2.5 points) and steamed point free veges (I had carrot, brocolli and snow peas)

If you try it let me know how it goes!

----------

Tomorrow is weigh-in. I severely doubt I will get to my August goal thanks to Mother Nature raining all weekend. But I will have lost at least 0.5kg Im sure of it.

  ¶ 8:30 PM 0 comments

  I am a fruit-virgin I am really struggling with having to eat five serves of fruit a day - as I really am not a fruit fan. I have adjusted quite well to the 8 serves of veges/salad, 6 serves of fruit/cereals and 3 serves of dairy ... but I have yet to eat a full 5 serves of fruit in one day since I started WW three weeks ago.

So I am putting this out to my small reading audience ... what is your favourite way to eat fruit? Do you have a recipe? Or a simple combination of foods? Something made up by you that noone else has tried?

Post a comment on this article with your advice and help me get to my goal of consuming 5 fruits a day!  ¶ 3:36 PM 10 comments

  Tips for reducing fat intake

I found some useful tips and hints at http://www.dietsite.com/dt/diets/hearthealthy/tipstolowerfatintake.asp regarding picking and preparing foods lower in saturated fat and cholesterol. Some of them are obvious, but Ive bolded the ones that I'm currently not doing, that I can apply to my own food plans.

1. Trim off all visible fat from meat before and after cooking
2. Choose lean cuts of meat/poultry or fish.
3. Cook by broiling, baking, roasting, steaming, poaching, microwaving, stir-frying, or charcoal grilling.
4. Fake fry. Try "frying" with calorie-free cooking sprays instead of oil. Spray sliced potatoes and roast them in the oven for French fries that taste fried without the fat.
5. For crispy fish - roll in cornmeal and bake.
6. For crispy chicken - remove the skin; dip in skim milk mixed with herbs and spices; roll in bread crumbs, cornflakes, or potato flakes; and bake
7. Use a nonstick pan so added fat wont be necessary or use non-stick vegetable spray.
8. Cook meat or poultry on a rack so fat will drain off.
9. Remove skin from poultry before cooking.
10. Prepare soups and stews ahead of time, refrigerate, and remove the hardened fat. You can use a fat-free broth as a base for gravy and sauces.
11. Make gravies with fat-free broth, skim milk and cornstarch or prepare gravy with buttermilk instead of butter.
12. Substitute cholesterol-free egg substitutes or just the egg whites for regular egg. (One egg = one egg white plus one teaspoon vegetable oil)
13. Switch from whole milk to non-fat milk and use this with your cereal, coffee or in recipes.
14. Substitute non-fat or low-fat yogurt, blender-whipped non-fat or low fat cottage cheese, or buttermilk, for sour cream or mayonnaise.
15. Use evaporated skim milk in your coffee instead of cream.
16. Use a limited amount of soft tub margarine instead of butter and lard.
17. If you must eat cheese, select cheeses made from non-fat milk. Reduced fat cheeses should be less than 20% fat.
18. Use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas.
19. Spread jellies and jams on breads instead of butter or margarine.
20. Instead of two-crust pies, serve single-crust (open-face) pies.
21. Sprinkle seasonings such as garlic or onion powder and oregano on cooked foods in place of butter or margarine.
22. Use herb or herb flavored croutons to flavor soups and salads.
23. Make your own breading with plain breadcrumbs. Coat food with crumbs after dipping in skim milk with an egg white.
24. Limit use of gravies, cream sauces, and casserole-type dished unless using low cholesterol recipes.
25. Use oil-free salad dressings, lemon juice, and wine vinegar, instead of mayonnaise-based salad dressings.
26. Cook vegetables in broth or sprinkle with herbs to add flavor
27. Make your own vinaigrette. Mix together extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar (choose from a wide variety such as Balsamic, champagne, raspberry, red wine and tarragon) in a one to one ratio.
28. Spray air-popped popcorn lightly with a vegetable spray and then sprinkle with chili powder, onion powder, or cinnamon.
29. If you must eat desserts, switch from rich desserts with hidden fats to low cholesterol desserts such as angel food cake, plain gelatin, fruits, sorbet, or sherbet.
30. Cut down on the amount of fat you add to food.
31. Add oat bran to your daily food intake.
32. Eat spicy foods - you will miss fattening sauces. Add picante sauce or salsa, tobasco, ginger, Italian spice blends.
33. Sauté vegetables in a little fat free broth, lemon, lime or orange juice instead of fat. Add garlic and onion powder to enhance flavor.
34. Make mustard, Worcestershire or chili sauces your first choices.
35. Eat fish with a low-fat tartar sauce or cocktail sauce.
36. Keep deli sandwiches lean by piling on fat-free fillers such as lettuce, tomato, sprout, cucumbers, pickles, and shredded carrots.
37. The following foods are terrific salad toppers: alfalfa sprouts; avocado; green, black, garbonzo (chick peas), and kidney beans, broccoli, shredded cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; chives; cucumbers; dried fruit; mushrooms; almonds; pecans; pignoli, walnuts; onion; oranges; mandarin sections; sweet or hot peppers; sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, and sesame seeds; tomatoes; celery, radish.
38. A food labeled "no cholesterol" or "cholesterol free" may be high in fat. For example, potato chips may be labeled "no cholesterol" which is true, but it is high in saturated fat and calories.

  ¶ 3:02 PM 1 comments

  Rain rain go away ... come again another day ... Its been raining on and off since Friday night and I am sooooo disappointed :( I havent been able to go for walks because when its not raining its blowing gail-force winds.

So I can pretty much guarantee that I wont be reaching my August goal. whaaaaaaaa. To lose 1.5 kilo this week I really had to walk every day and work my butt off - literally! But even if tomorrow it clears up and I walk an hour a day the rest of this week I wont get under 80kgs in time.

Ill rent an exercise video this afternoon and do that instead. Although I dont enjoy that kind of exercise as much as walking.

Oh well - I will get under 80kgs eventually!!  ¶ 9:54 AM 1 comments

  End of Week 2 Weigh-in ... down another 1.4kgs I weighed in today and I lost 1.4 kg this week :D For my readers who dont know KG that is around 3 pound. So I am excited!! This means that to achieve my August goal of weighing under 80kgs I need to lose another 1.4kg in the coming week.

Areas I know I let myself down are:
- Speed I walked at around the gooseys (I can kick it up a notch)
- Water intake (I dont think I getting the 2 ltrs a day)
- Fruit intake (I only have around 2 peices of fruit a day - I should be having 5)

So my goals of this week are to change the areas I mentioned above into POSITIVES! Hopefully next week I will lose at least 1.4 kilo. But realisticly I dont want to lose too much more than that. I dont want to lose the weight too quickly. But itd be awesome to achieve my August goal!

So total weight loss now is 1.8kgs. I stuck it in tubs of butter on the right, but I need to get some graphics that are PART tubs. Cos its not quite 2kg but I have 2kg of butter on the right.

I STILL havent taken my measurements. oh my goodness i am so shocking. i should have done that ages ago and now they wont be right. cos I would have lost some cms by now!

grrrrr

happy weightloss people :)  ¶ 12:54 PM 4 comments

  goodbye to the sloth within ... hello bouyant vibrant mojo I think someone snuck some happy pills into my exercise drink bottle this morning during my walk cos today I feel a million dollars. I feel like I have so much energy. Like I could run a marathon ... ok maybe not a whole marathon, but I could at least run down the street.

I dont know why I felt so tired yesterday. Before I went on this weightloss journey I never thought I was being lazy ... but now that I have started concentrating on what I eat, and exercising, I realise just how "sloth-like" and complaicant I was before. But its been replaced by this mojo that is quite inspiring ...... or maybe Ive just had too much fake sugar over the last two weeks.

I cant even compare my mornings now to what they were 2 weeks ago. I used to wake up at 7am when Bee got up, then would lounge around the house until I either had to go to work or I went out to run errands. At some stage in there I would have a bowl of cereal and not drink any water all morning. Uh-oh norty me. I would also do the laundry then chuck the clothes straight into the clothes dryer. And I would take the elevator to my floor at work.

Now I get up at 7am, get ready for my walk at the Gooseponds, do the laundry and HANG IT OUT on the line. Go for a walk with a friend at the gooseys, then run my errands on the way home. I get ready for work and WALK up the 60 stairs to get to my office.

But I want to start concentrating on other areas of exercise instead of just walking. Am thinking of maybe joining in on some classes at the local gym. Will research this latest venture and report back :)

Today I had some fantasies about what it would be like to have a big binge on foods that I know are big pointers and should be eaten in moderation. I reckon if food was point-free for a day this is what I would consume in the space of 24 hours:

• a litre of lemon lime and bitters softdrink
• a big bag of doritoes chips dunked in guacamole, salsa and beandip
• a packet or two of timtams
• battered fish with chips
• a box of twix pods, a box of bounty pods, and a box of mars pods
• half a cheesecake from "the cheesecake shop"
• a pepperoni pizza on thin and crispy base

But instead of it being a dream that I found hard to deny myself of - it was easy to push it to the back of my mind and keep focusing on planning some extra exercises for next week. I wont give into the evil TimTams. I will stick to what I know is working, and what I know makes me feel good. Besides, I never used to eat that much bad food in one day - but its always when you know you cant have something it makes you want it more!

/me takes some deep breathes and tries to push degenerative thoughts out of mind

  ¶ 1:57 PM 0 comments

  no energy! For some reason at the moment I have absolutely no energy and I am soooo tired. It could be due to the lunch I had. I had one and a half ham/che/tom toasted sandwiches, which I didnt want to have, but there was nothing to eat for lunch! I am trying really hard to have at least 1 cup of salad with my lunch, but today had none. So disappointing. So this means that I wont make my veg/salad quota for today. Ill have to have heaps more for dinner.

Last night I made a really tasty but low point dinner. I made bolognaise mince from diet minced beef that had nearly no fat in it at all. It cost me an arm and a leg but its worth the extra expence when trying to lose weight. In the mince I had the beef, a tin of tomato soup, a lg carrot, onion, some herbs, and some pepper. So there wasnt much in it, but it turned out really tasty - and was only 3.5p for 150g. So I had it with a baked potato and 0p veges for a very filling but low point dinner.

We still have some left over so was thinking for dinner we would have mince and salad in lavash bread. I find flat bread is a nice alternative to bread at times - cos I get sick of it. Especially with having to have so much of it now on this diet.

I have my third weigh-in the day after tomorrow - Im a bit nervous. I hope I lose at least a kilo this week. Im going for a 1 hour walk tomorrow and also on Thursday morning to try to budge the weight a bit more. Going to go twice around the gooseponds each day.

Today is my mum's bday so we were going to do something today to celebrate. I was a bit nervous at that prospect so decided that I would be the one to organise an outing. Going out to dinner I thought would be too hard at the moment as Im not really good at guessing point values and all that so I decided on a dessert/supper outing. So we are going to Hogs Breath for dessert tonight. I chose them because they have a banana and strawberry pancake stack.

Once thing I have learnt from reading other people's blogs it always pays off to prepare and plan! So I am going to order that, but with no cream or icecream. And I will only eat 2 small pancakes, and give my dad the other two. This way I get my fruit points as well :)

I nearly died when I read the WW points book and saw that the Hogs Breath apple crumble is a MASSIVE FOURTY-FIVE POINTS!!!! *deep breathes* That is disgusting. They must inject pure fat and liquid sugar into that monstrosity. Mind you, it is big enough to serve 2 people, and is served with cream and icecream. But still ... 45 points is a bit over the top.

Enjoy your week.  ¶ 4:02 PM 0 comments

  great post in another WWer's blog I was browsing blogs this morning and found this post here: http://rachellepavao.blogspot.com/

I'm taking the easy way out. People are often looking for the "easy way out". I think maybe my concept of "easy" is different from some.

Some people think that fad and starvation diets are taking the easy way out. "lose 20 lbs in three weeks". That's not easy. I don't call starving myself easy.

Some people look at Bariatric/Lap Band/Gastric Bypass surgery as the "easy way out". I don't call major surgery, pain, weeks of recovery, and a .5% (1 out of 200 is BAD) chance for death as the easy way. You have to spend the rest of your life with parts of you missing, and this does not ensure you a life of "thinness". Many people who have had this surgery are gaining weight back.

Me, I'm taking the "easy" way out. I'm eating the foods I love to eat. I have hamburgers from Wendy's, Icecream from Baskin Robbins, and even have birthday cake when I go to parties. If I want a milkshake, I can have it. If I want a candybar I can have it. There is nothing that is off limits. I'm not on a diet....I don't have anyone forcing me to do things I don't want to do. I am taking the "easy way out"... I am chosing a Weight Watchers lifestyle, and although it is slower for some than others, and everyone's experience is different, it is amazing sometimes even to me how "easy" it is. Where else can you have no restriction on food choices, eat as much as you want (using low point/no point foods) AND get an amazing support group of people who are not judging (usually) at your side 24/7.

Weightwatchers = the easy way out...to me. :)

I found this very inspiring!! its so true.  ¶ 7:05 AM 0 comments

  beginning of a whole new week This week is starting off great - I feel healthy, happy and motivated to lose weight!

Today I put on a pair of pants that 2 weeks ago were TOO SMALL. I felt as though the button was going to pop off any any time! But today They fit me nearly perfectly. My "baby belly" still sticks out just a bit so I have a bit of overhang, but on the whole they fit me well. The legs now arent skin-tight and my hips fit snugly. Definitely difference in fit!

And this is just after 11 days of dieting! Gotta love Weight Watchers. And I'm eating so much food. Can't wait for weigh-in on Thursday.

I didnt go for a walk yesterday or this morning, but I did a load of laundry on the line and washed the Turbo. That took about an hour and a half, and was pretty hard work. So even though it wasnt walking - it will all benefit me in the end. If there is time tonight I might go for a walk before putting Bee to bed.

I want to go for 45+ min walks 6 times a week. I'm finding it easier when I invite a friend to come along. So each day I have a different person Ive invited to go for a walk around the Gooseponds with. The chatter is good, keeps me company.

I had major cravings over the weekend but behaved the whole time! Yay for self-control! I have found a few foods that are low in points but really hit the sugar craving. When I feel like something sweet I have one of the following:

• Glass of pepsi-max (0p) - I normally stick to water so this is a good treat to have, plus is no points.
• Scone with WW jam and no butter/cream (2.5p) - Scones are not considered sweet points (they are bread points) so its a good afternoon tea when with friends. WW jam is zero points , so is a good topper to have.
• WW Mocha Chocolate bar (1.5p) - these are low in points but high in taste and portion. They are surprisingly big, for such a low point value. They taste devine too! $6 for a box of 5 isnt too bad either.
• WW butterscotch biscuits (1p for 2) with a hot choc (2p) - I make my hot choc on skim milk with 1 tbs cadbury hot chocolate and no sugar so is a low point value.

Happy weight-loss girlies!!! (especially those from the beloved birth.com weightloss group) :)

  ¶ 1:09 PM 5 comments

  weight watchers online points calculator I added a new link to the list found on the right for an online weight watchers points calculator!! How handy is that! There is only one problem though ... I don't know how to find the fibre content in a product. I am looking at the nutritional content, and can see the calories and the fat .... but no fibre. Is that carbohydrates? Is it protein? I'm pretty sure sodium is salt content. I have no idea and need to find out so I can use this tool all the time.

If anyone knows can you please put in comment below and let me know! Thanks ...

I am currently waiting to find out the point total for a McDonalds Fruit Smoothie. On the cup it says "real fruit", but it got me wondering exactly how much real fruit is actually in there.

Exercise
Today I went for a one hour walk with Bee. She grizzled on and off for the first 40 minutes then finally slept at the end. Poor girly still has a snotty nose all blocked up.

I want to buy the WW dvd when my funds allow it, although I dont know how much time I will actually have to do the exercises. A more money-kind option is to just go to Civic on Tuesday and get a DVD for $1.10 and do it from that. I'll go for a look and see what they have on offer.

Food
I am so norty! I didnt do my daily plan of points yesterday and I VASTLY under-ate. I honestly didnt mean to and I wish I had eaten more points but I only had 20.5 during the day. That is what got me in this trouble in the first place! Not eating enough food! So today I plan on going slightly over my points to try to counteract the loss yesterday.

So far today Ive had avocado on toast for breakfast (5.5p), then morning tea was a tub of yogurt(1p) and an apple (1p), lunch was a ham/che/salad wholemeal roll with WW caesar (5.5p), and afternoon tea was a fruit smoothie (5p? waiting for clarification). I like the fruit smoothies because they are healthy but high in points. Same with avocado. So this means that today thus far I have consumed around 18 points. For dinner we are having pork chops with veges, which will then be followed by a nestle low-fat drumstick (3p). I have to check the points that I will be having with dinner but it should be around 10 points. Hmmm this puts me right on my allowance ... I will have a few nuts at home when I finish work at 4pm (2p).  ¶ 2:42 PM 0 comments

  week one weigh-in (-0.4kg) Oh my goodness I actually lost weight! Only a bit, but its still a loss. I lost 0.4 kilo. Because I didnt think I was actually going to lose weight by eating so much food I didnt give this week 100%. I ate all the right foods, but I could have been more active.

This week my goal is to walk faster than I normally do and to walk every day! I dont think I will be able to walk for longer than 40 mins each time, but if I work harder during the workout than it will do more good. I'll post in here each time I do exercise to help myself get motivated.

It felt so good to get onto those scales and see it drop under 83 kilo. I am now 82.8 kilo - 14.8 left to go!

There are 2 more weeks left in August so it may be a good idea to set an August Goal - even though its nearly finished! I am going to weigh under 80 kilo by the end of August! I think I need to say that louder to motivate myself ... I AM GOING TO WEIGH UNDER 80 KILO BY THE END OF AUGUST!!!!!! Ok now I am going to make myself a sign to hang on the kitchen wall to remind myself of my goal!

I keep forgetting to do my measurements and "before" photos. Grrrr. Must remember to do that tonight.  ¶ 3:41 PM 0 comments

  tomorrow is weigh-in! today i did some research about weight watchers and tried to find some online resources. I found some great recipes and such, but the best website i think i found was http://www.weighttracker.info.

it seems so easy to use and its FREE! so today i created my account and i am determined to keep on top of this. itll be really interesting to read once i have lost all the weight.

i must remember to get troy to take my measurements tonight so i can keep a record of those as well! wish me luck at tomorrow's weigh-in. i dont feel like i have lost any weight so itll be interesting to read.

i am hoping that i am not too disappointed when i find out the results. it will be so disheartening to find out that i have lost nothing! i will even be happy with .1 of a kilo.

today i went for a 30 min walk today with mum which makes my total pram walking times for August to 210 minutes. tomorrow im going to a walk with addy so that should be good.

i counted the stairs today as i took them and i counted them wrong the first time!! there are only 60 stairs, not 80. derrrrr. so i did 2 lots today ... so did 120 stairs.  ¶ 4:56 PM 0 comments

  4 days in ...

today I went for a 1 hour walk with Bee to the grocery store to get some nutritious snacks. I found these Nestle Light Drumsticks that are 3 points each! Score! So I have decided that these will be my Thursday treat after my WW weigh-in. If I have lost weight then I get to reward myself with this icecream!

Got some really great news from Troy's work today. They are going to review his wage and are considering giving him a work car. This will be fantastic because it then means we can sell our second car - putting that money onto our mortgage or our other car loan.

Bee did the biggest stinkiest spew today thanks to her sickness. I could hear her sucking back the mucous out of her nose (ewwwww) and then all of a sudden she perked all the contents of her stomach. Lucky me. Unfortunately I had also just fed her some yogurt so it was extra stinky and foul.

Stair Count for today: 160 stairs

  ¶ 1:39 PM 0 comments

  New Diet ... New Me!! Yesterday I signed up for Weight Watchers so today is officially my first full day of my new healthy lifestyle! Yay so exciting!

Because I am breastfeeding Bee still I have 30 points to consume a day - which is heaps! Plus, in that 30 points I have to eat 8 cups of veges, 5 peices of fruit, and 6 servings of bread. I am positive that after consuming all that food, plus the other food in the 30 points, I am definitely not going to lose any weight!

But I guess when I go to weigh-in next Thursday I will find out if it really will work!

I am so annoyed. I really wanted to go for a walk every day - but today it is pouring down rain. I am positive its going to rain tomorrow as well. So disappointed because I am so motivated at the moment. I dont want to waste this motivation! I want to get out there and work my butt off! I guess I will have to do ALL my housework instead, and really get into it. Try to make it a workout!

Tomorrow the girls are coming over for morning tea so I took care to prepare healthy and nutritious snacks. I made a WW chocolate cheesecake that is 3 points per serve (very good), some dip with carrot/celery/rice crackers, and some WW cookies. So I wont be tempted to stray from my diet.

Did the stairs at work today once, 80 stairs. Im going to keep a stair-count so I know how many stairs it took to get my ass into fineform :) Yesterday I took the stairs twice so I will make sure I include that!

Another way of working out is I joined up to a "600 minute Pram Push" challenge. This challenge is for participants to walk the pram for 600 minutes a month. I started late in August so only have to do 375 minutes.

Stats
SW: 83.2
CW: 83.2
GW: 68
WL: 0/15.2kg

Aug WLG: 4kg
Aug Pram Push: 0min
Aug Work Stairs (up only): 240 stairs

Todays Menu:
Breakfast - lg bowl musli with skim milk, peice of toast with WW jam
Morning Tea - lg banana and tub yogurt
Lunch - coffee, ham/salad/mayo sw
Afternoon Tea - Apple,
Dinner - Chicken in Plum sauce with salad and veges (lots and lots of veges!)
Dessert - Strawberries  ¶ 2:50 PM 0 comments