T Stands for Carrot Cake Breakfast Shake

 

Once again, I'm trying to drop a few pounds. Baking during Massachusetts' Stay at Home Advisory during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic was too tasty. 

This recipe for a Carrot Cake Breakfast Shake comes from a 12 Week Metabolic Meal Plan.

Ingredients for One Serving:

1 serving protein powder or vanilla powdered shake mix

1 carrot, chopped (I used a handful of baby carrots)

1/4 skin on apple (I can't stand recipes that use only a small portion of a fruit or veg. What do you do with the other 3/4 because apples aren't low carb? So I used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)

1/2 cup of unsweetened, non-dairy milk. (I used unsweetened coconut milk)

4 ice cubes

1 T. chia seeds

1 T. orange zest (I used Orange Peel from the spice cabinet)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Optional: 1 T. chopped walnuts

                1 T. unsweetened coconut flakes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend. Use a little water to adjust the thickness if necessary.

Enjoy!

Bye, Bye, Babies

Whovians will recognize these little babies as Adipose. As their name suggests, they are made of fat.

A year ago, I decided I needed to say good-bye to some of these babies. I was waaaay too heavy and couldn't use stress eating because of dealing with my elderly parents anymore. The old folks had been gone two years. I'd gone from looking like a beach ball with legs to the size of a small planet. All I needed was a moon or two to orbit my equator. Not good.

A year later, and I've managed to say bye-bye to 35 of these babies. Not as many as I would have liked. I hit a plateau over the Winter and can't seem to shed any more babies. And perhaps at my 61 years, getting back to college weight maybe have been unrealistic. On the plus side, I've managed to maintain this weight. Not quite where I wanted to end up, but a lot better than where I started.

Infused Water

Himself brought home a wonderful gift from a friend. It's a pitcher with a section to include fruit and veggies. The water becomes infused with the fruit and veggie essence. Drinking fruit juice has too many sugar calories. The recipe pictured is lemon, cucumber, mint, and ginger. It's quite refreshing.

I'm not a big water drinker especially plain water. This may help me drink more water through the day. Thanks, D. I also like the pitcher as it is slim and doesn't take up a lot of room in the fridge.

Have you tried infused water? What are your favorite fruit and veg combinations?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The jeans formerly belonging to The Young One (she doesn't like the style) are now mine. I can fit into them. I don't have to lie on the bed to pull up the zipper, and I can put stuff in the pockets.

2. My girlies aren't into eating bread for toast or sandwiches, but bake two loaves of bread (Amish white and Cinnamon Raisin) and it's hard to find a crumb left.

3. Got an email from a friend I haven't heard from in quite some time.

4. A new contact asked me for a business card.

5. The cold Himself shared with me seems to be a fast mover.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week:

1. The flusher on the toilet broke. So we had to flush the toilet with buckets of water. Holy Mary on the Prairie.! Himself took the tank apart (because fishing in the toilet tank is definitely not a Little Princess job) and replaced the innards. We can flush like normal people again! It really is the little things that give meaning to life.

2. I lost two bags of sugar

3. Since the new microwave arrived damaged and couldn't be installed, Himself and I went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

4. I can almost fit into a pair of The Young One's jeans. They are a little tight. I can't put things in the pockets, but I can pull up the zipper without lying across the bed.

5. A new, undamaged microwave was finally installed. I missed having a second microwave. Spoiled much? This one has a power saving feature. Supposedly, it will save electricity when its not running.

How was your week?

Wordless Wednesday

Begin Again, Finnegan

Plateau dreaded word. Three weeks of not moving forward even though I was sticking with the plan. I didn't think I'd hit this point so soon. Thought I would reach this point when trying to lose the last 10 balloons, not the first ten. Poor body went into shock. I even tried adding an extra lap to the morning walk. Nothing yet.

So no loss, but no gain. How's your week?

Begin Again, Finnegan

A gold star for me! That's my familiar, Ink, and me in the illustration. I'm wearing my Jack O'Lantern shirt.  A darker color blob made an interesting shape that looked like a cape. Not my hair blowing in the wind. My hair isn't that long. Gouache, Sharpie marker, crayons, and stickers. Lettering needs to be added.


And why did I award myself a gold star? I did not eat any Halloween candy. That's right! Not a morsel passed through my lips. I asked Himself to buy a bag of Reese's Cups to hand out to the Trick or Treaters. I don't like Reese's Cups. Adding peanut butter is a waste of perfectly good chocolate in my opinion. So it was very easy for me to stay away from the pumpkin treat bucket.

Week 5. Another week where I plateaued. I didn't expect this to happen so quickly. Deep sigh. Forlorn look.

How was your week?

Begin Again Finnegan

I've been doing pretty well with not snacking between meals. I even set Sunday as a you-can-eat-what-you want day, and I haven't gone overboard. Himself had a bag of Halloween size Hershey bars, and I only had one! One! Usually with chocolate around, I'd be in and out of the bag a dozen times. But I only had one! So I was insufferably pleased with myself.

Then came Saturday. Mole Day., a chemist's holiday celebrating Avogardro's Number 6.0221415 × 10²³

If you've forgotten your chemistry or are just curious, you can read about it here Since it was Mole Day, we had to celebrate with special food. After trying to decide what to make, Himself suggested Molasses Cookies. So I baked and then had to taste one which led to tasting another and another and... (They were sinfully good!) This wouldn't have been so bad except The Young One was home on Fall break for the week. Which meant, I didn't go for a walk around my block. I didn't even dust off the treadmill. And I had lunch out twice this week.

After week 4, I didn't lose any balloons, but I didn't gain any either. Just stayed the same.

Cookies are my downfall. What's your downfall?

Begin Again Finnegan

 A few years ago, I heard 10,000 steps was the magic number. If you could make 10,000 steps during your day, you would shape up, lose weight. Apparently, 10,000 steps is equal to 5 miles.  I thought it was worth a shot so I bought a pedometer. Once around my block is a little over 1/4 mile. The first day I wore the pedometer, I managed some 6400 steps. Not bad, except it was real easy to cheat. Just clipping the pedometer to my pocket earned me 3 steps. Up down chairs, up down porcelain throne also garnered extra steps.  LOL

After week three, I lost another balloon for a total of 5 balloons gone.

How many steps do you think you take in one day?

Begin Again Finnegan

I've been trying to make small changes. Mostly no grabbing whatever I can get my hands on in between meals or after a stressful day. I did pretty good this week. It helps if there are no goodies in the house. I was stressed one day and didn't cram whatever I could find in my pie hole. I was amazed at me.

I've been going for a walk every morning. Not a long walk, just around my block. I even managed to go around the block twice one day and it was raining too!

Week 2: I lost another balloon for a total of 4 balloons gone.

How's by you?

Begin Again Finnegan

Two year ago, I started a weigh loss journey. I lost a few pounds and fell off the wagon. Got the urge to try again. Was surprised to find I weigh the same as I weighed two years ago. At least I didn't gain a ton.

I've started walking around the block. I'm not sure of the distance, but I'm pretty sure it's not more than 1/4 mile. Baby steps and then I can always go around the block an extra time or two.

Two year ago, I followed a very old Weight Watcher's plan. (I did WW after The Young One was born and lost 25 lbs. so the plan works. I just wasn't able to keep the weight off) I wrote down what I ate in a food journal. I won't be doing that this time around. I found myself constantly looking at the food chart to see what I could eat next. I don't want to obsess about food.

My food problems are eating in between meals,nibbling when I cook, and stress eating. I'm trying to curb the snacking and stress stuffing. During this first week, I've found I'm more thirsty than really hungry so I hit my ice tea (Crystal Lite) water bottle. It's been helping. Helped with a stressful day, too.

As to weight loss, I won't focus on the number, but on the shape I would like to have. I would like to have a more defined waist instead of an equator, thighs that don't rub together and go "flubba, flubba" when I walk, and oranges. Oh, and gracefully imitating Marilyn Monroe's jello on springs walk wouldn't be a bad perc either.

Week 1: I lost 3 balloons.

Wii and Mii

July is birthday month so we got a gift we all can play with. We got a Wii and a Wii Fit to help us get off the couch.

You start by making a Mii, an avatar for you to play the Wii games with. Besides picking hair and eye color, you pick your favorite color for the clothing and can size your Mii. Here's Mii, short and chubby and accessorised with my blue glasses.

Wii Fit has yoga and aerobic exercises, core training and balance games. Wii Fit helps you set weight goals and keeps track of how you are doing on a daily basis. You get to pick a personal trainer to work the yoga and core training. I chose a male and call him Jack after the tv exercise guru of the 60s Jack LaLane. There's a female trainer, but looking at her cartoon figure in her tight and cute yoga togs made me feel like I was working out with a Barbi doll. As you do the exercise she exclaims "Picture your ideal body!" and I look at her tiny waist and grapefruit sized boobs and think that ain't gonna happen. So I work out with Jack.

The Wii Fit board can be cheeky. She has a child-like voice and when you step on her she goes "Ohh!" as in "Ohhh, you're heavy." or "Ohh, 6 elephants weigh less than you do." I don't think she's quite calibrated correctly as she chastised me for gaining 7 pounds in one day!

Still, it's fun. Like having a holodeck except the computer doesn't go haywire, the Miiples dont' go rogue and no one dies like a red shirt. Though one can die an epic death when trying to walk the tightrope in one of the balance games. Too funny!

You can create your own Mii to use as an avatar even if you don't have a Wii. Visit http://www.myavatareditor.com/ When you're done playing, export your Mii to your hard drive as a .png or .jpg

Wednesday Weigh-In

Back to square one. Himself celebrated his birthday last weekend. I baked a Starlight Double Delight cake, a recipe from Ma. The cake batter makes its own frosting. Birthday cake should be considered free food like carrot sticks and celery.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Another hectic week of appointments. Stress + not much walking = weight gain of 1 pound.

Seven

I had a very hectic week. Running out every day shuttling the elders to the mahket and eye doctor appointment, my own dental checkup, a marketing presentation, and picking The Eldest and her dorm room up for the summer. Whew! Today's seven are the things I forgot to do this week because of all the running.

1. I forgot all about Tues. night.

2. I forgot to watch The Mentalist on Tues. night. The only television program I watch, and I forgot all about it.

3. I forgot my Wednesday morning routine. Walk on the tread mill.

4. I forgot to blog the Wednesday Weigh In. For chuckles I weighed myself on Friday expecting the same old number to register on the scale. I lost a pound!

5. I forgot the bank manager's name. She greets me all the time. We chat and this time around I called her by my dental hygeniest's name when I was leaving. How embarrassing!

6. I mentioned to Sunflower as I was signing off IM on Thursday, I had to fill out the order form and a check for The Young One's senior sweater for next fall. I shut down the computer. Passed go, passed the check book and went to bed. I had to rush to fill out the form just before we left for school on Friday morning.

7. I know there was one more thing, but I forgot it.

How was your week? Did you forget to do anything?

Wednesday Weigh-In

I had such high hopes for this week. Thought I had lost one pound. Not so. I am the same as I was last week. It's good that I didn't gain. Constantly wrestling with the lose one pound, stay the same for a couple of weeks is frustrating. I was telling Himself when I was in my twenties, a very long time ago, if I wanted to lose a little weight, I wouldn't eat for one day and drop five pounds. Now I try to watch what I'm jamming in my face, hit the treadmill for 30 minutes at least 3 or more times a week and all I'm doing is spinning my wheels. Deep sigh. I know. Someone dial whine one one.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Happy dance! I lost one pound. Yeah, it's not much, but when you've plateaued for a long time, it's very easy to lose the motivation. So down one is a good thing. And I can see the little horse in the counter moving. Like getting a sticker. That's fun too.

I still found myself wanted to grab the cookies. Did one night, but grabbed chocolate rice cakes last night and the night before. Not very exciting, but enough crunch to take the edge off. I didn't want to stay where I was last week. Really wanted to see a loss.

What gets you through the plateaus? How do you keep your motivation up and not sabotage yourself?

Wednesday Weigh-In

No change this week. Amazing considering I sabotaged myself with candy sushi, and slabs from the lamb cake. I'm glad there are no more major holidays that revolve around candy until Halloween.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Wednesday weigh in is back. No more excuses about remodels, workmen in and out, inspections. Time for me to get back in the saddle.

I relocated the treadmill to the other end of the room. From there, I'll be able to walk and watch television at the same time.

This morning, since I haven't been on the treadmill in a couple of months, I took a leisurely 1 mile tread while watching Good Morning, America. I could feel the burn, debated about ramping up the speed, but decided against it. Slow and steady wins the race.

On the happy side of the scale, I only gained 1 pound since the last time I weighed myself at the beginning of February.

How are you doing?