Productive day

Yesterday was a sort of kick back Sunday, and I got a chance to accomplish everything I had to and wanted to - yay ! I got in a lot of walking, caught up on my own studies AND got to pick up my guitar for a solid 45 minutes !It may not sound like much to some, but it had been so long since I played that I was afraid I had lost my calouses. People who play stringed instruments know how important they are- and how PAINFUL they can be to develop !

The day started out with something different- 2 toaster waffles and sausage with fresh blueberry syrup. You place 1/4 cup of bluberries in the microwave for about 2 minutes, till they burst and become runny. pour on and then add 1/4 cup non cooked. Sunday mornings here are almost like weekday mornings when hubby has an early mass, and a little more so when it happens to be at the congregation both he and our son are singing in the choir with. Toaster waffles abd brown and serve sausage are quick and flexible for staggered eaters !

The guys were back for lunch and we had opened faced turkey ham and cheese melts on Arnolds thins with cucumbers, tomatoes and an apple.This was some smoked cheddar we found at Aldis, and it gives a really nice rich flavor to whatever you put it on. Heating these makes them more satisfying than just a cold sandwich.

Snack time !

Dinner was country steak with gravy, mashed turnip potatoes, garlic mushroom broccoli and a salad wih romaine, cucumbers and tomatoes. The "steak" was actually ground turkey seasoned with salt, pepper and dried onions, formed into patties and baked at 400 for 25 minutes. Gravy was 2 T margarine melted and then add 1/4 cup flour, 2 cups of beef stock and 1 tsp dried onion. The "taters" were turnips, peeled, cubed and boiled with a packet of stevia, then mashed and mixed with 2 T plain nonfat yogert, 1 T margarine and salt and pepper. The broccoli and mushrooms were steamed and then sprinkled liberally with garlic powder. Low fat, lo calorie comfort food -347 calories per person .

Evening snack was a cup of vanilla yogert with 2 T ground flax, an apple and a Fiber Plus bar. I think if I include ground flax in something at least once a day it will help my system to regulate. I am already taking acidopholis capsules, getting plenty of water and fiber, and enough fat. We shall see how this helps. Next step will be dandelion root something !

Better day Saturday

It was a MUCH better day on the walking front. Sometimes, on the weekends, everything falls into place with the to do lists and we can get in more time for fun things. If it is a week where I have to devote less time to school prep, then it means more time for other things and then moe time for play. It really varies according to what we are studying. In any case we are all committed to more exercise this week , and we kicked it off with a short walk outside after lunch.

Breakfast was non pumpkin oatmeal with toppings. Ground Flax, Goji berries, dried blueberries, dried cranberries , coconut, almond butter and olive oil. We all love this one so much that if given a choice between this and going for breakfast, we opt for this.

Lunch was grabbed at the grocery store and brought home. It was a HUGE sandwich on a foccaccia, filled with roast turkey, pesto, lettuce and provalone cheese. I did not eat most of it. I took a bite of the whole thing and it was way too breaddy, the pesto was too oily and the chicken dry. So I pulled out the filling and gave the foccaccia to the guys, who are bread lovers and can have more calories than I can have. On the side was one of the new Yoplait Yogurt Delights. My verdict is they are a darned good desert substitute, but way too sweet to be a yogurt option. Not saying I will not buy these again, but if I do they will be for dessert.

We came back from our walk and I had The old reliable snack- cocoa almonds with a new crop Gala apple. Honeycrisps will be showing up soon !

Dinner was turkey sloppy joes on Arnolds with carrots, celery and cucumbers. Saturday night dinners are bes when they are quick and easy fixes. Saturday night here is game night, and we played Wii Ski resort and Wii darts . Afterwords hubby and I caught Bridget Jones Diaries. What can I say- we have a lot of movies to catch up on !

During the movie we had our weekly desert- the berry pudding "parfait" , and this week I added some ground flax to mine. I think adding ground flax to my evening snack in some way will help with the constipation problem. I also had a nightly Fiber Plus bar for the same reason. I prefer not to resort to drugs for most problems as they only address the symptoms and not the root cause of a problem. Most things can be cured through diet and lifestyle changes, and so I am giving it a try to address this issue.

Weigh in week 3

Week three of the new plan of eating according to calories and exchanges, and a weigh in.
I lost 0.6
Son lost 1.0
Hubby lost 1.2
I have to confess, I am having a problem. My system is such that if I do not eat a certain level of grains, I get constipated, but if I eat more than 4 servings of grains, my weight loss stalls or I gain. Currently I am having a problem with being constipated, and it is VERY uncomfortable. With the amount of vegetables, water and fiber I am taking in, this should not be a problem, but it is. I don't know what to do about it. Ideas ?

Breakfast was 1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1 cup mixed frozen berries and a Thomases Better Start whole wheat light english muffin smeaed with 2 T whipped berry cream cheese and coffee.


Lunch was provalone melted on an Arnold's lite with a spinach carrot tomato salad , cup of chicken rice soup and some beets. I did not eat the whole thing, only about 4 pieces and decided I really did not want it. I miscalculated the fruit and veggie needs for the week and this whole day was relying on least favorite options.

Snack was cinnamon apple sauce and a pack of cocoa almonds. Commercially made applesauce in a jar may technically be food, but it is a horrible substitute for a fresh apple !

Dinner was a whole veggiepalooza. Meatloaf made with ground turkey, spinach, onions and carrots with mashed cauliflower, steamed green beans and zuchinni noodles on the side. Part of the mix was to use up the last of the fresh veggies from the week , and other part was we were all kind of hungry.

We made our first pass at the grocery store in the afternoon and got some apples and berries- yay ! For evening snack I had my bar ( I choose these to attempt to help with my problem) , 17 almonds, an apple and a chocolate pudding because I really wanted one !

Thus begins a new week. Goal for the week is to figure out a way to increase exercise, still teach school, still run a house, still keep up with reiki clients and perhaps get back to my own studies !

Weight watcher surprize and a movie

I heard something kind of amusing/interesting yesterday. Michelle Duggar (TLC 19 kids and counting) is pregnant with number 20. It turns out she had a gut feeling that she was done having babies and decided to try Weight Watchers to lose weight. She followed the plan perfectly but did not lose any weight. This combined with the fact that her current nursing baby was constantly fussy and unsatisfied ,along with the fact that she kept eating pickles, led her to take a test and she found out why. Two thoughts on that- one is that if anyone could learn to make Weight Watchers work on a strict budget using normal food it would be the Duggars, and I am sorry to see that this experiment will end. Second, it brings back memories of when my weight loss first started to stall. I was not cheating but gaining for no reason. Sadly in my case it is not pregnancy that was causing the stall. Could have been fun though !

Breakfast yesterday was 2 egg burritos with a cup of plain yogert sprinkled with a tablespoon of granola and a can of V8 and coffee.


Lunch was turkey sloppy joes on Arnolds Thins, celery and carrot sticks and 3 bean salad. Reason for the bean salad was we miscalculated the fruit and veggie needs for the week and things are a little close till Saturday . It's not the end of the world, and one reason canned veggies were created in the first place.

The normal snack fare. I can't help it- I really love this combo !

Dinner was Blackbean butternut squash turkey chili, cornbread and a green salad. This chili was following someone elses recipe instead of my own, and it was not good. I like chili, but neither of the guys do. That is unless it is made with salsa and not tomatoes. I miscalculated my salsa stash, found there was none, and had to make it with tomatoes. Healthy and something real chili lovers would enjoy, but never again here.

For some reason we decided to watch Mamma Mia last night on On Demand, and I grabbed my snack to munch while I watched. I really did not like it, and hubby was not impressed either. In my case, I was never that much of an Abba fan, and the movie seemed like a badly written plot to frame around Abba songs. Hubby did like Abba, but did not like the story and came to the conclusion that Peirce Brosnan should not sing. That is the beauty of cable- you can catch movies you miss at the theater and pay a lot less to see them ! Now if I could figure out how to get a treadmill or stationary bike in here we could exercise while we are watching mindless movies !

Sort of running away for half a day

Hubby realized that life has been crazy busy, we are in danger of falling too far behind and it has been a while since we spent any time together, so when he got called to sing yet another funeral yesterday( there have been 8 in the last 6 weeks), he chose to take the day off and spend it catching up. Smart man- and a real sweetheart ! So in the morning son and I did school while he sang at the funeral and did mundane things like get the oil changed, and after lunch we went to the Goodwill to find some clothes for son ( he is still transitioning size and will be for a while so a brand new wardrobe would be wasted at this point), and I found a couple of shirts for myself. Then we made a quick stop in the woods, and it felt like a whole new world.


Breakfast was cottage cheese, blueberries and a Thomases Better Start lite whole grain English muffin and coffee

Lunch was turkey breast on an Arnolds Thin with a tossed green salad. Quick because I really wanted to blow this popsicle stand for a while ! I had an apple and 100 calorie pack cocoa almonds when we got home and I forgot to take a picture !


Dinner was a turkey burger ( homemade from a chub of ground turkey), red whole grain rice and ratatouille with a salad. This dinner started a debate. As I have mentioned before my son is autistic, and one of the quirks of that spectrum is a tendancy to be VERY literal. Idioms confuse them- if they hear a phrase like I am keeping my eyes on you or we see things eye to eye, they look for physical eyes doing the actions. With my son it extends to food, and when he heard we were having ratatouille, he kept insisting it was not food, but the movie. Even when dinner was served, he insisted that what is on the plate was not ratatouille. Happily he went to sing at choir rehearsal with dad before it became an all night debate and melt down. While they were gone I worked with some reiki clients, which benefits others as well as myself. After I worked I broke for this snack
A cup of plain yogert with a cut up apple and a chopped up Fiber One Bar. Sort of a variation on some breakfasts I have made in the past. Verdict is Fiber Ones are better eaten as bars than as additions. It was a good day- I even go in a decent amount of walking for the day !

At least school went well

Much better day for school yesterday. Unfortunately that made a much worse day for exercise ! I still really struggle to get both of those ends balanced and flowing as they should. I wear a pedometer and yesterday I did not even get in a thousand steps ! If it was not for isometric crunches, I don't think I would have gotten any exercise at all. Did have some progress with my son in math and writing skills though. One of his disabilities makes just physically writing a challenge, and things like essay writing almost impossible. We have worked very hard helping him to overcome the one and now we work on the other. That is indeed more important than me fitting into a size 6 by Christmas.


Breakfast was 2 breakfast burritos on Aldis Wraps with V8. The wraps contained egg beaters, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese and turkey sausage. A can of low Sodium V8 accompanied and coffee. Really good ! I used to make breakfast burritos on flour tortillas with eggs, so this is a healthier , lo cal version of an old standard.

Lunch was a hummus pizza on an Aldi's flatbread. Red pepper hummus topped with mozzerella, black olives, mushrooms and bacon bits. Cucumber spears, carrots and celery on the side with a diet soda.
Afternoon snack. I forgot to snap a picture of the cocoa almonds before I opend it, so here is the contents of a pack of these in a 100 calorie snack.


Dinner was a new thing that will definately be back. Italian beef and tomato sauce( homemade marinara sauce with ground turkey) over zucchini and mushrooms with a spinach salad on the side. I took a potato peeler and pared the zuchs into long, noodle like slices and steamed them with sliced mushrooms for 5 minutes. Quick, tasty and really filling !

Later in the evening it was the ole reliable.Fruit, nuts and a bar. I can't help it- I really love this combo !

Frustrating day.

Yesterday was one of those school days where I thought that I was speaking to a wall. Not out of rebellion or disrespect, but son just did not seem to understand even the most basic things I was explaining to him. I was so frustrated with this till it dawned on me this morning that the cause may be something in his diet . There may be something that he is eating now that has crossed his tolerance level for gluten/casien/mold that I am missing. With him, nutrition is so tricky ! He is still a growing boy, he has to lose weight AND we are trying to bring him out of Autism. There is no manual to cover all three, so I constantly have to be like a pioneer exploring new territory. And then again, several people have said that in the treatment there will be times of reversals, and this could be one. I would be wise to double check his intake though.

Breakfast was 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup blueberries and a Thomases Better Start whole grain English muffin with Promise and coffee. We both really liked this one for speed and satiation.

Lunch was much like many of my childhood, but done better. A slice of Provalone cheese on an Arnolds Thin, melted with a cup of alphabet soup from a can and a green salad with tomato and cucumber and 10 sprays Wishbone Salad Spritzer ranch and a Diet Soda. Now I am wondering if perhaps nightshades ( tomatoes, eggplant and so forth) might be a triger food for him ?

School finished and we were both at the end of our ropes- not good. Ah, the power of chocolate in any form to talk you down from the ledge !

Dinner was another classic made better- oven fried chicken, mashed turnip taters, broccoli and sliced tomatoes with basil and salt. The chicken was breaded with crushed cornflakes and a mixture of melted margarine and lemon juice whipped into an emulsion. Bake 50 min at 375.
We caught Lars and The Real Girl on TV and during that I munched on my snack. What a quirky, funny, touching movie ! I had heard about it , but never got to see it in the theater- like so many other movies it seems. That is the nice thing about having cable and On Demand- you can catch up at your convenience !