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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Low-Cal Banana Bread

I found this recipe on 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet (so it HAS to be great, right?).  Once I try it, I'll let you know!

Ingredients (makes 16 small slices):

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
3 tbsp. Promise Light Buttery Spread
1/4 cup applesauce
2 medium mashed bananas (200g)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients :) You know the drill. I left my batter a little lumpy because I wanted to be able to see some banana chunks in the bread. Then I poured it into a greased springform pan and baked it at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes (depending on the oven). The bread should be a golden brown color and cooked around the edges.

Nutrition Information (per slice - 1 weight watchers point):

60 calories
1g fat
11g carbohydrates
1g fiber
2g protein

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Almost $500 Purse GIve-a-way

Remember how I wrote about the Recessionista Party website before?  Well, they're doing an amazing Thanksgiving give-a-way.  They're giving away a purse that costs almost $500!  I think it must be made of gold and probably too heavy to carry around, but I'm sure you could get creative about how to best make use of a bag like that, right? (Like sell it on E-bay and use the money to buy a new wardrobe, the make-up you've been dying to replenish but couldn't afford to, Christmas for your kids, a special trip home to visit, pay off a chunk of money on a credit card or make an extra house payment -- you could find something, I am sure!).

Anyway -- it's a free drawing, and that makes me happy!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Problem SOLVED!

So - do you ever look at foods and think, "I can't eat that cuz I'm on a diet" or "I don't want to eat that because it will mess up my diet"?  I do.  All. The. Time.  But I was thinking this morning as I planned a slam-bam ending to this day that included baking a long-overdue pumpkin pie with my husband, "If I just knew the nutrition information for the whole pie, I could figure out how much I could eat while still maintaining my daily calorie goals." 

So I did a search online and found a few sites that I used today to figure up the nutrition information for 1/8 of a pumpkin pie -- the result, by the way, is just under 300 calories with 10 grams of fat and just over 2 grams of fiber.  If you are interested, here are the top sites I found:

1) Calorie Count -- Here you type in the recipe and then tell it to analyze the recipe.  It will tell you all the nutrition info. for the ingredients you typed in and will also tell you if there are some that it doesn't recognize or have in its system (like evaporated skim milk, for example; or 98% fat free cream of chicken soup).  It's really easy!  I really like this one!

2) Nutrition Data -- Here you type in the ingredients, choosing them one by one from a list, and then it calculates the nutrition info. for you. I had a hard time using this one.  I couldn't, for example, find generic sugar without searching through eight pages of items that came up when I typed in "sugar" -- and it didn't recognize "white sugar."  But maybe with practice on the key words for the search, I could figure it out. I also read online that you can type in your own nutrition information from labels for foods that aren't in their database -- but I haven't gotten into it enough yet to figure this out.

3) Spark Recipes -- This is basically the same as Nutrition Data.

4) Calorie King -- This is a good place to go to just look up the nutrition information for foods in general, though you have to sign up and pay to use their software for recipe building.

5) Fit Watch -- More of the same.

Although these next two sites don't have a recipe builder, I found a lot of useful information on there for general health/nutrition.

1) Web MD -- I LOVE this site!  So many great resources, and generally a source you can trust!

2) Diet Nation -- Just found this site.  Has great calculators for topics from how much water you should be drinking every day to how much protein and fat your body needs to how many calories you need to cut from your diet each day to reach your weight loss goals.  Good stuff!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Weak!

I could use this word to describe a lot of things lately:
  1. My weak body, as duly noted after my gravity group class last week!  Seriously, I felt it ALL WEEKEND LONG, and today, my body just wasn't up to par during my run.  It took me FOR-E-VER to get my muscles and ligaments loosened up enough TO run this morning that I didn't have a lot of time to run.  I did a LOT of walking, though.  Am I actually moving forward here?  Not quite sure today.
  2. My resolve. Sunday is usually my day off, but yesterday, I felt like I went overboard.  Then tonight, even though I had almost eaten all of my calories for the day, I made Dave dinner at 8:00 at night and didn't have the resolve to NOT take a few bites.  It's so much easier to live within a money budget than a calorie budget sometimes!  But what I was really struggling with was keeping the goal to not eat after 5:30.  Seriously, folks. Seriously.
  3. My sweet tooth.  And know what was weakest of all here?  My sweet selection!  Raisins, apples, diet root beer, chewable Vitamin C.  Oh . . . oh . . . then I discovered the sugar-free hot chocolate!  SCORE!!!!  Yes, I had maxed out on calories for the day . . . but that sure was a GREAT cup of hot chocolate! ;-D

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Journal

I know I was a lot more detailed in my past journals, but let's be honest: this is all saved by date, so I don't need to number them, right?  Besides which, I can't really remember where I am in all of this.

I had a great week this week!  I have been tracking and recording EVERYTHING I am eating.  I have been drinking LOTS of water (like a gallon a day, religiously!).  I have been done eating between 5:30 and 6:00 almost every night.  I'm getting my fruits and veggies in, including my healthy fats, and enjoying my daily root beer float splurges.  Life is good!

I went running Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and today!  I generally went 4 1/2 miles, though today was slightly less because I wasn't feeling well this morning and got out of the house late and had to get back to let Dave go.  Plus, I ran -- literally -- into my friend Heidi O'Barr and found out that she is an avid half-marathon runner, actually ran one while pregnant with BOTH of her little boys, and she has also done ONE marathon, though she doesn't recommend it until after you're done having children, unless you are running at a lower elevation.  It was very enlightening and just great to visit with her for a bit . . . about running! ;-D

Anyway -- I am working on my goal for next week.  I think it's going to be vitamins, vitamins, vitamins.  We'll see!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pampering Mommy

Okay, let me first say that I am NOT one to accessorize, though I AM one to notice when other people do.  Why?  Well - it's expensive, for one; I don't really have the eye for it, for another.  HOWEVER, I am learning that with all the emphasis on losing weight, taking care of giving your body proper nutrition, etc., there is also the very important aspect of PAMPERING YOURSELF that will help you look and feel like you're on top of the world. 

And you know I'm right about this.  Think about how you feel when you get up, exercise, eat well, AND shower and put on makeup and do your hair for the day.  TOTALLY DIFFERENT WOMAN, right?  I know I feel like I can face the day a lot better and conquer the world if I actually take time to get ready and face the world armed and dangerous.

In lieu of that, I am actually following a blog called Recessionista.  My friend Amanda, who LOVES to accessorize in EVERYTHING, kind of tipped me towards checking it out.  Anyway - they are going to be giving away free prizes -- and they sell all their stuff for 50-75% off retail value.  Which helps my number one reason for NOT accessorizing IMMENSELY. 

If you want to join the craze, even if just in hopes that you might get something free to give you a place to start, check out this new blog find of mine.  You'll be amazed -- and it just might be perfect timing for the upcoming holiday season and the people on your list who already LOVE THEIR JEWELRY, SHOES, AND HANDBAGS.  My sister is JUST that type!  Too bad I have her name for Christmas NEXT year and not this year.  Which means I have a whole year to watch sales and shop . . . . . . !  :-)