Cheating! I’m a cheater and I am confessing this to you.

I have cheated with food. Sometimes it’s as innocent as the fun size Butterfinger candy bar I am nibbling on while I write this post. Other times it could be a full out pig fest. Maybe a philly steak sandwich with waffle fries, three Bacardi and diet and some fried pickles. Then again, it could be pizza, breadsticks and the wonderful Bacardi and diet.

I’ve cheated on my workouts. Some of you might be asking how you can cheat on a workout. Believe me…it can be done. You can “lose” count and be done before you really are with some reps. You can push halfway instead of all the way. You can do your push ups against a wall instead of on the floor. Need I go on? I’ve got more if you need to hear them.

I’ve also cheated on the scale. This is really the easiest cheat there is. I am the only person in the bathroom with the scale. I am the only person who knows what that scale says, so I could say it says anything I want. Who could possibly know any different?

I’ve cheated when I tracked my food. It’s really easy to “forget” the little snack you had or the extra cookie you ate. You can say you had 4 ounces of chicken when you really had 6 ounces. How about saying you had broccoli and forgetting to say it was smothered in cheese sauce?

Cheating…you get the idea. It’s pretty easy to be a cheater. The more you do it, the easier it gets. The good news is that I have pretty much given up the cheating. I still have occasional lapses, but nothing like I used to do years ago. Would you like to know the reason I gave up cheating? I realized that the only thing I was cheating was myself and where is the fun in that?

I don’t have a recipe for today. Instead, I would like to share with you something that I have recently learned. Some of you may already know this. Especially if you’re a vegan. If so, I am sorry, but some of you may find this helpful. And you may can help me!

Recently we learned that my nephew is highly allergic to eggs. We have to read the labels of just about everything now so that we make sure that we don’t accidentally give him something that has eggs.

A typical day with my nephew consists of him asking for some sort of yummy treat, we check the label, see that it contains eggs and we’ll say, “You can’t have that. It has eggs in it.” (This also led to him looking at the broccoli my mom put on his plate and saying, “Has eggs in it.”)

Next month, the little man turns three and we’ve been trying to figure out what we’re going to do for his birthday cake. (I mean, because EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE A BIRTHDAY CAKE.) So, we set to the internet and found a solution.

Did you know that for baking purposes, 1 1/2 tablespoons water, 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of baking powder = 1 egg? My mom and I tried this out at Christmas and it worked well!

Now, I’m going to take it to the masses. Do you know of any good subtitutes for eggs when it comes to baking? Let’s hear them!

OK. Let’s have a little chat, shall we?

Today I want to talk about one of the basic food groups: NACHOS. (Stick with me here.)

I have always, always given myself one meal of whatever I want per week. Even when I was being as strict as you can possibly imagine on calories, I set aside one day and I ate whatever I wanted.

Allowing myself this meal was more than a treat; it more of a necessity for me. I thought of it as a way to keep me from craving all of my favorite foods. I’ve tried before to deny myself my favorite foods, and that only left me with eating them anyway. (Probably more often than I should.) So, when I decided to get serious about healthy living, I decided I was not going to deprive myself of my favorite things.

That still holds true today. And today, truth held nachos.

I know what you’re thinking. You think I had a plate piled high of chicken and beef and beans and cheese and chips and sour cream and the only thing healthy was the lettuce and tomato. Not true. Even though every now and then I have those loaded nachos, today I had chicken fajita nachos that had grilled chicken and green peppers and onions (that were too strong to eat) and cheese, and I didn’t eat all of my chips. Then before I felt too full, I put my napkin on my plate and declared myself finished.

The thing is, you can have your favorites. You can even have all of your favorite things on your favorite foods. But the trick is to have the discipline to make tiny changes like asking for sour cream on the side.

I know the holidays makes it difficult cause it seems like ALL of your favorite foods are placed right in front of you and you swear they are calling your name. Just know that you CAN do this. You can have the discipline to enjoy in moderation.

Also, know that sometimes you’re just going to indulge more than you planned to. Don’t get down about it. I’m guessing, when you do have a little more than planned, you’ll be less likely to order those fries the next day, right? (You should be anyway.)

The power on this journey is YOURS. Own it and know that sometimes, you’re just going to eat all of the chips.

Here’s to a healthy holidays!

Tis, the holiday season, and odds are, you have lots of holiday parties and events planned, right? If you’re really focusing on weight loss, you’re also probably worried about stuffing yourself with all kinds of holiday goodness.  You’re afraid that you’ll undo all of the hard work that you have done by indulging in all of your favorite foods. (I see you all nodding your heads!)

Here’s the thing about MY weight loss journey. Not once have I ever said, “I can’t have that.” I have never denied myself something that I’ve wanted. What I realize is that if I tell myself I can’t have it, then I find myself wanting it even more, and that’s when I’m more likely to over-indulge. So, during the holidays or before parties or get togethers I learned a couple of things to help keep me in check. (Note: I realize that some of you are on things like the South Beach Diet, so some of the things I’m saying may not apply to you all, if you choose.)

• Drink lots and lots of water! Sure you may want to enjoy a more fun beverage than water, and that’s OK, but by also drinking your water, you’ll feel fuller and eat less.
• Fill up on veggies! Vegetables (unless cooked with lots o’ butter) are the best thing ever. When I was counting every single calorie I put into my mouth, I never, ever counted green veggies or carrots. The reason is that your body has to work extra hard to digest those things, so it actually takes more calories to burn them than actual calories they have in them. So, fill your plate UP with veggies!
• Eat a snack before your party. By having a healthy snack before you go, you will be less hungry at the party. When you’re less hungry, you’re less likely to over eat.
• Allow yourself one special treat. If there is one food at the party that you just absolutely love, then HAVE IT. Allow yourself to have one of your favorites.
• Be mindful. This is probably the most important thing. Just be mindful of what you’re putting into your body. Know that you can have your favorite foods without going overboard.

The thing to remember about holiday parties is, sure the food and drinks are fun. Food is delicious, so enjoying food is fun, but just remember that the food isn’t what your holidays are about. The holidays are about family, friends, and making memories that will last a lifeftime. Embrace that and enjoy the holidays!

1. Start drinking extra water right now. Yes, now. Right this very minute in fact. Go fill up and I’ll be here when you get back.
2. Wake up on Thursday morning and get out of the house. First thing! You’ve got to get up early to get the turkey in the oven anyway, so set that alarm for 30 minutes earlier. Trust me. Go for a homegrown Turkey Trot! Getting moving early is going to be key to making sure you stay on track all day long. If you don’t run, try a little technique I learned in bootcamp. It’s called Bursting! Run as fast as you can for 30 seconds-1 minute. When I say as fast as you can, I want you to be bent over and so out of breath you can’t talk when you’re done. For real. Then walk for a couple of minutes. Then do it again x 6. This will get your heart rate up and keep your metabolism kicking all day long. Trust me! You’ll feel super-energized.
3. When you’re cooking tomorrow don’t taste everything. You’re making the same things you’ve been making and your mom’s been making and your grandma’s been making every year, and you know it’s good. So keep your finger out of the bowl. Enlist a family member to be your taste tester instead. Kids love this job!
4. And while you’re avoiding tasting every little thing, I want you to go ahead and keep a notepad handy, because I want you to write down everything you eat. Did you realize that over the course of the day, the average person can consume over 4,000 calories, yo? FOR REAL. All of those bites, licks, tastes, seconds, and extra pieces of all the pies WITH whipped cream add up. So write it down as you go, and maybe it will help keep you away from the second round of pies.
5. You’ll want to keep some healthy snacks handy. A fruit and vegetable tray is a great option for snacking the day away!
6. Man, I’m bossy, huh?
7. After you eat, leave the dishes for a little while and get outside again. Go for a quick walk, or play some tag football with your family. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel. This will get things moving in the digestion department, and it’s so much smarter than plopping your butt down on the couch, yo. Cuz you know that’s what you’ll want to do!
8. Most of all, I want you to ENJOY your Thanksgiving. Have a little bit of all the things you love. Savor the flavors, lick your dessert plate, and then step away from the table (and from seconds). I want you to end the day feeling like you ROCKED it, and not feeling like you need to be ROLLED to the couch.

Have you ever tried chicken sausage?

It’s fantastic.

I never even knew it existed until I began the journey into calorie-counting and I found it as an ingredient for something on Spark People.

Its whereabouts in the grocery store perplexed me so I wandered around looking for it and found it above the breakfast sausage but below the kielbasa in my grocery’s refrigerated section. Just in case you were wondering. Like I was.

I like chicken sausage because I love sausage in general (there’s a joke in there somewhere) but it’s lower in fat and lower in calories than full-fat pork sausage. So you can get the sausage taste without all of the sausage-ness in your typical unhealthy version.

I have two delicious recipes for chicken sausage that you might enjoy; the first one is a chicken sausage and feta dish of my own, the second is a slow-cooker chicken sausage paella from Eat! Move! Play! the awesome, awesome Weight Watchers book that I’ve been cooking my way through this summer and enjoying every moment of this (YOU SERIOUSLY NEED THIS BOOK!)

My recipe:

Penne with Chicken Sausage

Ingredients:
-4 links precooked chicken sausage (I used Al Fresca brand)
-10 oz. frozen broccoli
-2 red peppers, sliced
-1 Box whole wheat pasta
-1 bunch basil, chopped
-1/2 cup feta cheese
pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Sautee peppers and broccoli. Cover and cook until warm, remove from pan. Sliced pre-cooked chicken sausage and heat in pan. Prepare pasta according to directions. When sausage is browned, toss with in cooked pasta and veggies. Top with feta and basil.
Calories: 397
Fat: 12g

Slow Cooker Paella with Chicken Sausage (best EVER!) from Eat! Move! Play!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 (8 oz) package sliced mushrooms (I’m not a mushroom person, I omitted.)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (8 oz) package yellow rice
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
12 oz fully-cooked reduced-fat chicken sausage, sliced

Directions:
Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring until onion is softened, about 5 mins. Add peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic and cook until veggies soften, about 3 mins. Transfer veggies to a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker. Add rice mix, tomatoes, and water. Cook sausage in same skillet over medium-hihgh heat until browned, about 2 mins. Add sausage to slow cooker. Cover and cook until rice is just tender and the liquid is absorbed, 1-2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low. (Note: mine took 3-4 hours on high, for some unknown reason.)

Calories: 269
Fat: 7g

We’ve been highlighting recipes and exercises all month from Eat! Move! Play! and I canNOT explain to you how much I love the recipes in this book. I am literally cooking my way through it. So far, I’ve made “Spaghetti Pie”, “Turkey and Rice ‘Mice,’” and “Cheesy Mini Muffins” just to name a few. And I’ve taken quite a few pictures, which I’d share, but my food pictures make the food look more like the food tends to look after you eat it. (How do people take such great food pictures! I am not blessed with that talent.)

What about you? Have you had chicken sausage? And what other foods do you use to substitute the higher fat versions?

(*Note* If you’re watching your sodium content, you may want to look out for anything sausage, as it may be a little high — just make sure to read the labels.)

Another great chicken sausage recipe: Red Beans with Chicken Andouille Sauce & Rice!

Good morning, everyone! How was your week this week? Did you stick it to that scale? Did it give you the business this morning? Go ahead, weigh in, post about it and leave your link in the comments! Or you can just weigh in below. Either way, tell us what happened this week!

And seriously, tell us allllll about it! Did you do great? And how bout exercise? Do you have have a pattern, a recurring little annoying problem, like me, late night eating, not enough water drinking… , go ahead and dish! All the dirty details, we want them! Scale and non-scale victories, all perfect wonderful blog and comment material!

Lisa’s been heading up our mini-challenges, and our latest one is journaling. How are you doing with that?? There’s still time to jump in and if you’re still hanging out on the side thinking “I don’t need to journal, I know what I’m doing…” I thought the same thing too until I journaled for the first time and boy was THAT an eye-opening experience. All of a sudden my one cookie turned to 2, my innocent pats of butter and my innocent little slices of cheese, all those teeny tiny things really added up and sabotaged me! Not to mention eating out at restaurants and how journaling opened my eyes to how difficult it is in some places to find any calorie-information whatsoever!

I’m looking forward to the week ahead! No matter how bad or good I’ve done, I love Wednesdays because it gives me a chance to analyze, plant my feet and re-commit. Which I’m doing today. I hope you do too! If you did great, keep it up! If you had a rough week, well, time to recharge.

Now leave your link and go visit your sisters, this is a Sisterhood for Pete’s sake!

(Who’s Pete?)

I think my children might be vegetarian and it’s of no work on my part, not that there’s anything wrong with it of course. But I’m as carnivorous as they come (big fan of the warm red center. BIG FAN.) But when I make a meatless dinner as opposed to a meatFUL dinner, I get a much warmer response from the children, hence one of their favorite dishes ever: my vegetarian chili, made with a million billion beans and zero meat (upon child request.) And since it takes literally 15 minutes to make, I’m all for it.

Ingredients:

1/2 pouch (or to your taste) of the spices from Carroll Shelby’s Chili Mix (used to be a brown bag, now it’s a brown box)
2 cans dark red kidney beans
2 cans red beans
1 can (15 oz) plain tomato sauce
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilis

Directions:
Literally, dump everything in a big giant skillet. I use only a 1/2 of the spice packet in the bag because more than that is too spicy for the kids. You can use however much you want, to your taste. Let it simmer on the stove for about 15 minutes on medium. Use the masa flour in the packet (according to box directions) to thicken the chili. Done.

Serve with a little light sour cream and some low-fat cheddar cheese. Altogether, 3 points in WW and 204 calories (without the sour cream and low-fat cheddar cheese.)

It’s one of our favorites. And while I have you here, one of our other favorite vegetarian dishes you can make in about 15 minutes is a bean soup straight out of the bag:   Vigo Spanish Bean Soup.  I find mine near all the boxes of rice in my grocery store, but you just add water, it’s low-calorie, and we’ll have some cuban bread with it and call it a day. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!!

Good morning!

Have you had your breakfast this morning??

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times. EAT YOUR BREAKFAST!  No, it’s not me yelling at you, it’s them. You know the ones. The ones we refer to when saying “They say you should eat your breakfast!”  Whoever “they” are. The really smart people who do all those studies who say it’s all important and all. (They probably wear white jackets.)

Well, they say breakfast is good and I believe them. Because a) it’s brain food. You can’t think on an empty stomach, and I’m pretty sure we all need to think at some point. (Not all of us do, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.) b) If you don’t eat breakfast, you’ll literally want to eat your arm off and since that’s not really available for consumption, you’ll turn to whatever is. In the form of a Big Mac, donut, or something Ala Vending Machine-Du Jour. And that’s no good. Finally, there’s c) Studies show that people who eat breakfast are able to keep weight off. (“They” did that study. I read about it.)

But one thing I keep hearing all about and I know it’s true for myself is that it is just so hard to get a good breakfast in. A good breakfast and a healthy breakfast. We all do it. We skip breakfast. But we don’t have to!  So I’m bringing breakfast back with three recipes for yummy breakfasts you can make well in advance and just heat up the day of and these are my absolute favorites because actually I’m a breakfast-a-holic and if there is any  meal I do not want to skip, ever, it’s breakfast. I could eat breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I just like saying and writing the word. Breakfast breakfast breakfast. Oh and plus I’m all about the convenience. So here they are:

1. The Low-Fat Version of the Egg, Sausage & Cheese Frittata

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups of egg substitute (Egg Beaters)
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• butter spray
• 1 (12 oz) pkg reduced fat ground pork sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese

Whisk together first 4 ingredients until well-blended. Spray oven-proof skillet with butter spray. Pour half of egg mixture into skillet. Sprinkle evenly with cooked sausage and cheese. Top with remaining egg mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until set. Serves 6-8! Calories: 140, Fat: or 6 Weight Watchers Points.

*Helpful yummy hint: you can actually mix all the ingredients (and if you don’t want sausage you can put spinach or broccoli or ham or any of the above) spray a muffin or mini-muffin pan and bake those and make tiny mini frittatas instead of one giant one. And then you have little individual guys that you can stick in a baggie and bring to work, like I used to. When I worked. I miss work. I’m going off tangent.

2. Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins (OK, I have published this one before but I’m such a huge believer in it that I can’t help myself and plus there are new people here and they must know about these muffins.)

• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 egg whites (I’ve used EggBeaters)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sugar
• raisins or nuts (optional but I haven’t used either yet)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soak the oats in milk for an hour. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. These can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.

**Yummy Helpful Hint: I spread a little light cream cheese on the muffins and they’re amazing!! These are my family’s favorite. I have to make these in double batches.**

Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 92
Fat: .5
Protein: 2.9 g
WW Points: 1

3.  Wheat pancakes with yogurt and fruit and nuts

This one I found in Runner’s World Magazine and it was mostly about how awesome it is as a post-morning-run recovery meal because it has healthy whole grains and also gobs of protein! But it is just healthy overall and I don’t run in the morning, so I’m eating it anyway! And, ok, so the recipe is sort of cheating, but still. The magazine says to find some frozen whole wheat pancakes and I would, except that I couldn’t! So instead, I found whole wheat pancake mix (I found a supereasy one that is an easy add-water-only-mix). Make those pancakes according to directions. And make lots of them! And refrigerate them. Put them in a gallon baggie and label it and take 2 or 3 each morning. And then take them out and nuke ‘em for a minute to 1:30 when you want ‘em, and put lots of stuff on them. Like, for instance, a 5 oz. dollop of non-fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt and strawberries or blueberries or bananas and top that with a tablespoon of crushed almonds.  Deeelish!!

So those are my favorite make-ahead breakfasts. What are yours??? Link em up and share!!

I see a lot of new faces around here (HURRAH!!!) so to recap what The Monday Project is, each week we have a “project” or a “question” that helps you renew your motivation and/or reflect upon yourself. You have the whole week to do it and we link up our “answers” or “projects” on Fridays. I had something else planned for this week, but I got to thinking about something because I always have these crazy deep moments in spin class, of all places (I always get teary-eyed on my bike!) And this is what I asked myself.

“What would it be like if I just started this journey two years from now?”

Some of us are beginning our weightloss journeys right now. Some of us are about halfway through. Some of us are nearing the finish line. And here at the Sisterhood, we come from all walks of life. We are all ages, shapes and sizes and we are all beautiful. We all have greatness within us waiting to get out. Some of us have already caught a glimpse of it and some of us are about to (and believe me when I say there is nothing in the world like that feeling of seeing for the first time what it is exactly that we are capable of.)

All of us sisters are so glad you are with us and hopefully to stay. So I got to thinking about this over the weekend. What would have happened if I had waited a little longer to start the journey? What would happen if you waited? The good news is, you haven’t! Because you’re here right now! But if you had…

The first things that come to mind off the top would be, I’d be two years older, I’d probably weigh even more, I’d probably have even less energy and a suckier metabolism, my kids would be two years older and everything that that implies…

Of course, those are very “scrape the surface” things, but no doubt, it would be harder. So I want you to fast forward a couple years and show us what would happen if you put off getting healthier, what would it be like to start later than today?

Link up on Friday so we can all see what you’ve come up with!! Have a wonderful week!!