Mixed Berry Muffins

Muffins Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value: 2 Servings: 21 Preparation Time: 15 min Cooking Time: 15 min Level of Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 1 cup(s) whole wheat flour 3/4 cup(s) Gold Medal All-Purpose Organic Flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp table salt 2 Tbsp ground flax seed meal 1/4 cup(s) Agave Nectar 1 cup(s) unsweetened frozen mixed berries 1/4 cup(s) hot water 1 medium lemon(s) 1/4 cup(s) olive oil 1 egg 1/2 cup applesauce

This version was even better than yesterday's!

Whisk dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients and add into dry until combined. Divvy up into two cupcake tins (21 cupcakes) and bake for about 15 minutes at 375. Lower the temp if you substitute honey for the agave nectar.

I couldn't get it to stretch to 24 muffins so I filled the three empty cups with water and they turned out delicious. If you use an ice cream scoop, it's super easy to fill the cups. My six year old, initially skeptical, was impressed.

Peach Muffins

Muffins Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value: 2 Servings: 24 Preparation Time: 15 min Cooking Time: 15 min Level of Difficulty: Easy Ingredients 1 cup(s) whole wheat flour 3/4 cup(s) Gold Medal All-Purpose Organic Flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp table salt 2 Tbsp ground flax seed meal 1/4 cup(s) Agave Nectar 1 cup(s) unsweetened frozen peaches 1/4 cup(s) hot water 1 medium lemon(s) 1/4 cup(s) olive oil 1 egg

I have been playing around with this recipe and this seems to work pretty well. Made them yesterday for daughter's preschool snack.

You can use any pureed fruit - bananas, peaches, even pumpkin. I'm going to experiment with other versions. I did peach yesterday.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients and add into dry until combined. Divvy up into two cupcake tins (24 cupcakes) and bake for about 15 minutes at 375. Lower the temp if you substitute honey for the agave nectar.

Monday & Weekend Update

Oh, man, I feel like I'm failing. Like maybe I should go join Overeaters Anonymous or something.

I'm in the middle of eating a salad while regretting the Cadbury eggs I scarfed after a grocery run. There's no excuse when I had a good breakfast before I left.

I hate being so obsessed about food. I hate the guilt that comes with being "bad". I didn't even weigh this morning. Don't want to know.

On the bright side, I ran into someone I hadn't seen since last fall who said she could tell a difference and asked me what I'd been doing. Well, that's something, right?

I didn't track all weekend. Going to get back to it today. Right away.

Friday

Let's just scrap today and yesterday, ok? No pictures today. Seriously sleep deprived.

Breakfast (8)

Rough night, woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep so I made coffee and oatmeal in what felt like the middle of the night.

Coffee w/ milk - 2

Oatmeal w/ 1/2 c milk, didn't measure the brown sugar, and a chopped up apple - 6

Snack (4)

Almonds (about 10) - 2

More coffee - 2

Lunch (15)

Oh, I fell off the healthy wagon here!

McDonald's cheeseburger

1/2 a med fry

Coke

"snack size" mcflurry but i think they messed up b/c it was BIG

Let's say hmmmm 15?

Dinner (17)

Whole wheat pasta - 5

Marinara w/ sausage 4

2 slices of garlic bread - 8

green beans

Dessert (7)

1/2 a candy bar - 4

mint ice cream thing - 3

Ugh.... Total: 51 WWP

Thursday

This was my weigh in day. I only lost .4 according the damn scale at the meeting. Ugh. Seriously depressing. I know it's because I ate too much on Wednesday. Maybe salt?

My husband frequently says I have this addictive personality. He's sort of right. I am addicted to things that make me feel good right away. I need instant gratification. I crave it. He also says I lack discipline. Yeah, obviously.

I really hate this. I don't want to even post this one but I'm trying here, people and I'm being honest.

Breakfast (6)

Toast w/ avocado - 4

Banana

Coffee w/ milk and 2 packs of honey, sounds odd, right? I used to think so too but it's good. - 2

Lunch (14)

Big, huge salad w/ chick peas, a little ham, 1 hard boiled egg, tons of veggies a little drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. - 6

1 small slice of plain cheese pizza - 5

3 gummy butterflies (how do I calculate this? I guessed and based it on gumdrops.) - 3

Anytime (11)

Oh, and then the afternoon...

Approx. 1 T peanut butter - 3

A candy bar - 8

Dinner (19)

Tilapia, again but this time w/ soy sauce and sauteed peppers & onions - 4

big salad w/ avocado and grapefruit - weird again, right? No, it was yummy. - 5

Asian sesame dressing

wine - 3

Later...

2 of those WW latte ice cream things - 4

pretzels - 3

Total: Another whopping 50 WWP day.

Ugh.... feel like I failed again.

Activity (3)

20 minutes cardio at the gym (treadmill)

lower body and ab weight machines

Wednesday

This day started off great but then in the afternoon things went awry and I lost control of myself. The sad thing is I'm still hungry and could keep on eating till 10 p.m. no problem! Weigh in day tomorrow.

Activity for the day? Walking the mall w/ my friend at a leisurely pace for maybe 30-60 minutes. I claimed 2 activity points for this.

This week I'm in the hole 15 points for weekly points but earned 20 activity points.

Breakfast (5)

Coffee w/ milk & Truvia - 1

2/3 c fat free Greek yogurt w/ apple/banana/orange/flax and 1 t agave nectar - 3

Lunch (14)

1 c leftover minestrone from last night - 5

2 oz chicken w/ 1 oz cheddar on 2 slices artisan bread & 1 T bbq sauce - 9

Dinner (15)

Steamed broccoli

4 oz tilapia

1 c Annie's mac & cheese

4 oz white wine

Anytime (18)

Oh, God, this is almost embarrassing to admit but I suppose that's the point!

1/4 of a huge Starbuck's cookie - 2

3 squares of chocolate - 6

WW latte bar - 2

mint truffle bar- 3

And at almost 9 p.m.

1/2 a p.b. sandwich - 5

A whopping 52 WWP

Tuesday

Today was cold and all I wanted to do was eat and drink hot stuff to make me warm. Successfully avoided Starbuck's saving myself money and enough points to waste on half a candy bar a kid begged me for.

I had planned to walk for an extra 30 minutes at the gym after the weight lifting class but couldn't talk myself into it. Forgetting music in the car was my excuse.

Breakfast (5)

Banana

Coffee w/ milk - 1

2 hard boiled eggs - 4

clementine

Snack (2)

12 almonds - 2

Lunch (13)

Subway turkey/ham sub on wheat w/ tons of veggies, a small amount of shredded cheese and a little vinagrette: 11

OK, so I ate the 6" one on the way home. Starving! Then came home, dumped the nasty Subway bun and put it on two thin slices of artisan bread and put it in this thing with that stuff.

Shoved the veggies back into it and YUM!

Chai w/ 1 tsp agave + 1 T whole milk: 2

Dinner (8)

1 cup minestrone soup w/ sausage and black beans added - 5

Bear Creek soup mix w/ 1/2 a can of black beans, 1/2 lb lean sausage browned, 1/2 a large can of tomatoes

Soup by itself is 3 WWP per cup.

1 piece of bread - 2

1/2 t olive oil - 1

Anytime (6)

WW Latte ice cream bar - 2 (haven't actually eaten this yet but I plan to)

1/2 a candy bar - 4

AFTER DINNER UPDATE: Damn it! I was starving and blew it on 2 T p.b. & one piece of wheat bread and didn't look up the points first. 8 freakin' points!!!

Total for the day: 42 WWP

Activity (4)

Body Pump class at the Y: 4

45 minutes

Monday

Breakfast (4)

1/2 non-fat Greek yogurt: 1
peaches (canned in their juice, not syrup)
blueberries
clementine
1 t agave nectar: 1
1 T ground flax seed: 1





This is the flax I'm using:



coffee w/ agave nectar (1 tsp) + 1/4 c 2% milk: 1 (2 tsp of agave nectar is 1 point)

Lunch (19)

Panera Bread
You pick 2
Fuji Apple Chicken Salad & low-fat garden
vegetable soup
1/2 of the baguette that came w/ it

(Disclaimer: I didn't take ^these 2^ pictures.)

This is 13 WWP but I deducted 1 for not eating all of the bread: 12

More coffee: 3

About 1/3 of the muffin I got for my daughter - cranberry orange
The whole thing would be 480 calories! *gasp* A whopping 13 points all by itself. I am taking 4 points for a third of the thing.

Dinner (9)

2 slices thin crust cheese pizza: 5

Anytime (3)

Banana
Green tea
Skinny cow mint truffle ice cream: 3

Total for the day: 35 WW+


Activity (9)

I did about 40 minutes of a cycle class at the Y this morning and walked for 10 minutes so I'm counting that as my activity and will cash in those points I suppose.

40 min spin class: 8
10 min walk on level surface: 1

Sunday

Sometimes you just got to have the things you want - even if it takes a lot of your daily points! I guess that's what those 49 weekly points are for, right?

Breakfast

2 cinnamon bun pancakes w/ about a tablespoon of the icing: 13

I used this recipe w/ a few substitutions. Calculated it on WW online. We got about 10 small pancakes from this.

This was seriously delicious and indulgent but now I only have 10 points remaining for the day! This is probably why I stayed so heavy for so long. I never used to think about the fact that because I indulged in one part of my day that maybe I should go light for the other two meals. Now I do. This is a big change for me. BIG!

Lunch

Two venison tacos leftover from the other night w/ shredded cabbage (we were out of lettuce), grape tomatoes and about a tablespoon of sour cream (full fat)

taco shells: 3
meat: 2
sour cream: 1

Total: 6

Snack

About 12 almonds

Total: 2

Dinner

Insalata Fiorucci -- Artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and grilled eggplant in vinaigrette,
topped with a hazelnut goat cheese medallion at Carrabba's w/ a pomegranate martini.

I found the nutritional information for this here.



I have no idea how to accurately calculate this but it was such a treat since I never buy eggplant or artichokes - no one here but me likes stuff like that - and I was with a friend. Ate almost every bite except some of the cheese.

Let's say the drink was about 5, the bread about 3 and the salad 8.

About one slice of their bread w/ some of the olive oil dip. My friend helped me from eating the whole basket and asking for more. ;) She's great like that.

Estimated total for such indulgence: 16

Oh, and then I came home and ate one of these:


They are 3 points and really good.

Total for the day: 46 WWP+

So I have no more weekly points left but did meet all my requirements for liquids, healthy fats, vegetables and dairy and then some! Ha!

Saturday

So I didn't make the preacher cookies last night. Whew! Success.

I was inspired and motivated when I got up this morning and was down nearly three pounds. Not sure how that's possible but I've definitely been tracking more and drinking a lot more water so maybe? I was 176.4 according to my scale which is very close to accurate with the scale they use at my meetings on Thursdays at Weight Watchers.

We had a busy morning! I walked the track at the gym for 35 minutes while two of my daughers did gymnastics. Lots of fun to watch them from above. Then we walked five blocks to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. It was a good time but I'm totally exhausted.

(That's not me, those are leprechauns!)

Breakfast

1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt - 1

1/2 a granny smith apple, chopped

1/2 a cup blueberries

1 clementine

1 T flax - 1

1 piece of rye toast-2

1/2 t butter - 1

Crystal Light kiwi strawberry pure fitness water 16 oz

Total WWP+: 6

This breakfast fulfills 3 servings of fruit, 2 liquids, and I count the flax as a healthy oil even though it's a seed really. Need to check on that to see if it's a fact.

Lunch

Grilled chicken sandwich from McDonald's w/ lettuce & tomato. No mayo. Wish I'd had some honey mustard or something for it. It was crazy in there though and I didn't want to go back up to ask for some. Tossed about 1/3 of the bun. Way too much bread.

This sandwich is 9 points on WW but I'm deducting 2 points for the bread I tossed: 7

A few of the kids' fries: 1 (counted as 1/8 of a small fry)

Drank water (20 oz)

Total: 8 WWP+

Snack

String cheese: 2

1/2 an apple

clementine

Total: 2 WWP+

Dinner w/ cocktail AND dessert (sort of)

3 venison tacos w/ lettuce, tomato and real sour cream (about a tablespoon total)

Made 10 tacos w/ 1/2 a lb. of meat so I'm counting this as 3 oz of meat

3 El Paso taco shells: 4

3 oz venison: 3

1 oz cheddar shredded: 3

Vodka (1 shot): 4

w/ Sierra Mist (4 oz) and a squeeze of lime: 1

1/2 a piece of the peanut butter fudge from Christmas that we found in the back of the freezer when the kids turned off the thing and we had to clean it out: 2

Total for dinner: 17

Total for the day: 33 WWP+

I'll update with a dinner picture tomorrow and I'll tell you if I ate anything else. ;) I'm not hungry so that's a good sign. Maybe I should go to bed at 8:30 p.m.

Ok, total for the day 38 WWP+ after the husband handed me one of these and I couldn't help myself. Damn it. Good but not worth 5 freakin' points!

This Is New

I started doing Weight Watchers back in January. I thought it would help me to write about the things I'm eating so I'm more accountable.

I'm going to be completely honest and tell you that sticking to the 29 points a day and 45 weekly has been a challenge for me. There have been days where I've tracked 50 or even 70 points. Well at least I'm now conscious of it as opposed to before I started this journey when I ate and drank with reckless abandon.

I'm a big fan of eating natural, unprocessed foods as much as possible so that's not the hard part for me. I started eliminating high fructose corn syrup and trans fats from my family's diet three years ago. My struggle is with portion control. I'm also a bit of an emotional eater and will eat when I'm anxious or bored or happy. No wonder I've stayed overweight for nearly a decade.

I'm stuck currently at 179 pounds and am 5'2" so according to Weight Watchers I need to lose 42 pounds to be at the very top of their healthy weight range for me. Can I do that? I have no idea. I haven't weighed in the 130s since high school. I'm just taking it one pound at a time. I've lost 7 so far and only have a little more to get to my first goal of 5% lost (9 lbs.)

Here are my meals for the day. I will edit this at the end of the day to include anything else I consume.

Breakfast

A grapefruit w/ 2 tsp. brown sugar and a tiny bit of butter put under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Delicious! Two hard boiled eggs w/ salt & pepper. A clementine and a piece of rye bread w/ about a 1/2 tsp. of butter.

Total WW Points Plus: 8

But I also had a cup of coffee w/ 2 tsp agave and about 1/4 cup 2% milk: 2

Lunch

This Crystal Light powder I've been putting in my water is great. It's 30 calories for 16 oz but so much easier to suck down than plain water. It contains stevia instead of the aspartame or Splenda that Weight Watchers seems to be so fond of promoting.

I'm constantly using measuring spoons now which is kind of annoying and not my usual thing but I feel like I have to do it or I'll lose control.

1 cup of Muir Glen Southwestern Black Bean soup - 3

1/2 oz. cheddar cheese - 1

HUGE salad w/ 3 oz chicken breast - 3

2 T strawberry balsamic dressing - 1

1 t olive oil - 1

Total: 9

When I make salads I just put in whatever we have. This one fulfilled lots of my veggie requirements for the day. I do the teaspoon of oil to fulfill the healthy oil requirement. This salad had granny smith apple, clementine, grape tomatoes, and salad greens. It was very good and filling w/ the leftover chicken I found in the fridge.

For the sake of accountability, I also splurged at Starbuck's and tried this new drink even though I had planned to only get plain coffee. Damn it. So instead of spending 2 points, I spent 6.

That means a mere 4 points left for dinner.

Not pictured (like the kid who didn't show up on picture day!)

Dinner

Blackened salmon (4 oz): 7

This was delicious! I used a blackened seasoning rub I got at Fresh Market for $3.99. Plenty in the container. I think it will also be good on tilapia and chicken. It has no calories at all (the spices) and really added some kick. I cooked it in olive oil cooking spray in a cast iron pan for about 5 minutes per side.

My 17 month old daughter loved it, too.

17 baked Kroger fries: 3

4 oz. Kefir: 4

And I went over my points by 10 for a total of 39 points consumed, maybe 2 activity points earned by walking the mall today for an hour pushing a stroller.

I'm trying to stop myself from making preacher cookies. Damn it. Someone tie my hands behind my back and wire my jaw!