12 Day Tone Up, Slim Down

I'm cracking down on my diet.  I have 12 days to get back to my goal weight.


That means 12 days until my anniversary!  I love, LOve, LOVE my anniversary.  There's nothing especially special about what we do on our anniversary.  We spend the day at the beach, go out to dinner and watch the fireworks.  


And then you ask; How do you get fireworks on your anniversary?


My anniversary is July 4th.  I get to imagine that the fireworks are just for me and my hunny, in celebration of our love and marriage.  


Anyway, back to my diet.  I'm doing a 90% fruit, 5% vegetable and 5% other stuff diet.  


Breakfast
Cereal w/ fruit mixed in


Lunch
Fruit


Dinner
1/2 cup yogurt
Fruit mixed in
2 servings of vegetables


Dessert
Bowl of fruit
Sugar free maple syrup (for sweetness)
Fat free Cool Whip (just because it's yummy!)


That mixed with my daily workout so help me drop the pesky 8 lbs before my anniversary.




Thursday prompt:   Have you ever jumped out of your skin?

I am a jumpy person in general.  Mr. Amazing works a lot of nites so it's me and the kids in the house after dark.  Kay loves to come and stand in my doorway.  This is what I see -->


She won't say anything, she won't make any noise, she just stands there.  Makes me jump every single time.  Normally I end up screaming at the top of my lungs she scares me so bad.  There have been times I have almost thrown things at her.  It kills me when she does that!


What makes you jump?

So UN-Stuffed!

I've been bad about keeping a well stocked fridge since we've gotten back from vacation. I also don't have my meal plan done for this week.  So dinner is "whatever we have in the house."  

Tonite's dinner was supposed to be tuna stuffed peppers.  The peppers the girls picked out were very oddly shaped.  So I couldn't use them to put the stuffing into.  So instead I made Tuna UN-Stuffed Peppers.  I adapted this from the Starkist website

Tuna UN-Stuffed Peppers  

3 cans Tuna in Water, drained

1 bell pepper

1 cup chopped onions

1 1/4 cup orzo (you can also use brown rice)

1 cup mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Dice the green pepper and onions
3. Spray large skillet with pan spray.  Heat over medium heat.  
4. Add onions and peppers and cook until soft.  If they start to stick then add some water to the pan and let it cook until the water is gone.
5. Mix in orzo and tuna.
6. Spray an 8x8 baking dish.  Put tuna mixture in baking dish.
7. Bake for 15 minutes
8. Add the cheese and bake an extra 5 minutes until the cheese melts

Sauteeing the vegetables

Into the baking dish

Finished!  Ooey, gooey yumminess!!

I only put cheese on half since I didn't have any fat free cheese in the fridge.

Prompt for the day:

How do you cope when nervous?

Honestly?  I bake or I exercise.  If I start nervous baking then we'll have 3-4 different goodies in the house.  The girls honestly love when I'm nervous because they know they'll get a variety of different desserts that we don't normally keep in the house.  

If I start exercising when I'm nervous the sky's the limit for my calorie burning.  I'll swim 90 minutes of laps, walk for 2 hours, run the stairs in my house until my legs are rubber, anything I can do to get my mind off of whatever I'm thinking about.

How do you cope with being nervous?  How well stocked is your fridge?

Mental Fitness

After 2 days of walking on the beach at sunrise by mental clarity has been greatly helped.  My physical fitness has been helped also though.  I walked 3 miles and did 12 minutes of stairs.  On the downside I've been overloading on the desserts.  

Today's dessert was actually quite diet friendly.  It was banana soft serve.  I was inspired by the Yonana machine.  

If you've never heard of the Yonana machine it's an ice cream maker that you put frozen bananas into and it turns them into soft serve.  You can also add other mix-ins so it's not just plain banana soft serve.

Banana Soft Serve

5 bananas

1 T peanut butter (optional)

2 T milk

1. Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Place the banana puree in an ice cream maker and freeze.  (I ran my ice cream maker for about 25 minutes)

No ice cream maker?  No problem!
Use your food processor instead of blender.  Freeze the bananas for a few hours before pureeing and leave out the milk.  Process until smooth.

Sorry I didn't get a picture.  Honestly it's not a very photogenic dessert.  BUT, it is delicious.  Low in calories and loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Kay finished hers in record time.

Would you spend money on the Yonana machine or does the ice cream maker/food processor way work perfectly fine for you?  I know it does for me.

Out and About at 6 A.M.

Frosting + Animal Crackers = Pure Heaven 

Do you agree?

Because of frosting and animal cracker, and cookies, (LOTS AND LOTS of cookies) I've gained weight.  Maybe they should start putting warning labels on sweets:  Warning!  Disastrous to your diet!

I decided to take Mr. Amazing's advice and go for a walk in the morning before the kids wake up.  I was amazed at how calming it was. I'm a morning person, no questions asked but, exercising at 6 a.m. honestly originally wasn't my idea of a fun time.  But after today I can't wait to go back tomorrow morning.  

There's only one thing that I hate about walking in the morning when the sun is barely up.  There are a bunch of random creepy crawlies out that aren't out when the sun is fully up.  I nearly stepped on 3 or 4 crabs.  I don't know why but crabs make me nervous.  I think it's the pinch possibility.  I've been pinched by a crab before at the beach and it's not any fun so, I  stay far away from them now.  

Crab hiding, waiting to attack me

I only walked 2 miles and I did 11 minutes on the stairs at the beach.  I've read some various blogs stating that real stairs are harder than the stairmaster at the gym.  I personally agree.  (When I find the websites again I'll post them, I promise!)  11 minutes on the stair climber would be no big deal but 11 minutes of real stairs wore me out!  

I came home tonite and ate about 1/4 of a carton of ice cream.  It was low-fat frozen yogurt but, I know it killed my calorie burn for the day.  After I started feeling guilty I tossed the rest of the carton away.  Don't worry there was only about 1/4 left in the carton.  

I know I wasted money but I couldn't have it in my house tempting me anymore.  It was ng me, laughing at me.  I did the same thing with a couple cans of frosting.  

How do you deal with things that are tempting you in the house?  Do you toss them or keep them?

Well, good nite!  I'm going to get some rest so I can wake up at see this in the morning:

Daddy's Day and Barefoot Running

First off,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Mr. Amazing and Sirr on my wedding day.  Don't they look handsome??  

As a side note I'd like to say that Mr. Amazing has lost about 70 pounds since this photo was taken in 2009

I've gained almost 3 pounds since we got home from vacation on Tuesday.  Every time I need to lose weight and want to lose it quick I get this dumb idea to try running.  After one running session I remember how dumb I am and how much running hurts me.  

Bad knees, hips, and ankles + running = NO FUN!!

This morning I did 1 mile.  1 tiny mile.  It took me 10 minutes.  I ran for 30 seconds and walked for 30 seconds.  This is what happened besides immense pain.

I don't know how well you can see them but I have blisters on both big toes.  I go barefoot running, did I mention that?  I hate shoes so much that I prefer barefoot running.  Honestly I would be barefoot all the time if I was allowed to be.  

Supposedly barefoot running is better for you.  

Here are some links about barefoot running:

Harvard Study on Barefoot running

Barefoot Running

Oh this is what I made Mr. Amazing for his Father's Day dinner.  Paula Deen Pot Roast

Do you run?  What are your views on barefoot running?

Frozen Yogurt is the Devil!

Farmers Market Friday is back!

Here's a list of all the things I bought today.

Eggplant
Creamer potatoes
Brussel sprouts
Kiwi
Bananas
Apples
Peaches
Carrots
Green onions
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Jalepenos

Frozen yogurt has been my downfall the past few days.  

It's just so darn good!  Espresso Chip low-fat frozen yogurt from Publix is AMAZING!  I've been meaning to try some fat free fro-yo recipes and wanting to cut calories is a perfect reason to try them out.  

Today I got back on my health wagon.  I took the girls to the pool and I took the dogs for a walk on the beach.  It only lasted 20 minutes due to a nice oncoming rainstorm.

After I got home I recieved a call from the detective handling my ring case.  Looks like I need to take both of my dogs in for x-rays to make sure that they didn't eat my ring.  After losing a very expensive, very sentimental item like an engagement ring some people would look at the "glass" half empty but, honestly I can't.  I can't look at it half full or half empty.  My glass is just half.  Not empty, not full, just half.

Tonite was taco night.  Vegetarian taco night.  The girls love having tacos.  Taco night is only second to sushi night in favorites.  This is a great quick meal.  I served it with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Vegetarian bean taco filling
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1 can mexicorn
1 large onion, diced

1. Sautee onion until soft
2. Add corn with juice and mexicorn
3. After a few minutes add black beans and heat through

Simple right?

What is your favorite simple meal?

The food I live for

The dinner theme for the month (and possibly all summer) is quick and simple.  The challenge is that dinner should take no longer than 45 minutes to make but still be healthy.  Don't think that every meal is going to be salads and processed foods.  97% of all the meals will be made from scratch just like always.  

Tonite was hot dog nite.  I couldn't find the fat free vegetarian hot dogs in the Publix so I decided to experiment with the things I already had in the house.  I made myself a hot dog using mushrooms, onions, some bread to bind it and egg substitute.  I'm not going to give you the recipe because it still needs to be seriously tweaked.  

Don't think that since I made a mushroom dog that I don't enjoy hot dogs.  I love hot dogs.  They used to be one of my favorite foods.  Before I became a pescatarian I loved anything grilled.  Hot dogs were one of my favorites.  Mr. Amazing and I still joke that we really don't need a stove.  As long as we have a working grill we're okay.  Before I got sick one of my favorite foods was a nice big porterhouse.  Until I found out that my 16 oz porterhouse that I loved to occasionally indulge in had these numbers associated with it.

Doesn't that look yummy?

Calories		707.6
Total Fat		32.5 g
	Saturated Fat	11.6 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.4 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	15.2 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		254.0 mg
Sodium		263.1 mg
Potassium		1,329.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		0.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		96.5 g

Crazy right?  But now I'm happy with a big bucket of seafood.  I'd rather eat a pound of shrimp.  

Calories		480.5
Total Fat		7.8 g
	Saturated Fat	1.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.1 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		689.1 mg
Sodium		670.9 mg
Potassium		838.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		4.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		92.1 g

You save 220 calories and almost 30 grams of fat!!  Plus there's a bunch of vitamins and minerals that you get from the shrimp.

What food can't you live without?