September 2009 – That's Just Me

Hunger Isn’t As Big of an Issue Anymore

Back a few months ago, I couldn’t get though a night of TV without chomping on snacks, sometimes all night long.

But now, I sometimes have to force myself to eat an evening snack, just so I can eat all my calories (it’s important to eat all your allotted calories for the day)

Does that sound cocky? I hate sounding like that, especially since it could turn on a dime, and I could be back to the same habits from a few months ago.

I have been trying to figure it out, and I wonder if it has to do with my lower sugar intake. The scientists say that sugar messes up the chemical in your body that tells your brain that you are full. I am wondering if that is what is happening to me. My body is now free to talk to my brain and tell it that I don’t need any more food.

Or maybe it’s all the water I am drinking. I know water helps make your body feel full.

I don’t know. I hope it keeps up, whatever is happening!

Turkey Meatloaf

I was planning on making pasta with turkey tomato sauce, but figured I might make a meatloaf instead. That way I could take the leftovers and easily make the pasta tomato sauce tomorrow night.

I searched on the Epicurious iPhone app for ground turkey recipes, and found what looked like a good one.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Turkey-Meatloaf-with-Mushrooms-and-Herbs-355229

I had to edit the ingredients, and “make it my own” as usual. (Note: I am not a good recipe follower, I rarely ever make a dish to recipe specifications)

I had one pound of ground white turkey (Natural from Plainville Farms) so I figured I better cut the recipe ingredients in half.

I didn’t have any bread, so I used 1 cup of Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs (only 220 calories for the full cup)
1/2 Cup of Swanson Low Sodium chicken broth (they have organic low sodium now! Yay)
Some diced onion
1 tbsp Olive Oil (yum)
1 egg (Pete & Gerry’s – Organic Eggs)
Basil, onion powder, garlic powder, a little dash of cumin, salt & pepper

Mixed that up, (smelled really good) then I donned a plastic food glove and mixed in the pound of ground turkey (not my favorite part! yuck)

Bake in pre-heated oven at 375 degrees.

The reviews were excellent, but since I messed with the ingredients, and only used ground white turkey, I hope it’s not too dry.
We’ll see how it comes out.

ETA: The meatloaf came out okay. I think I definitely overcooked it. Next time, I will watch it better. The taste reminded me of Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. It was good. I think I might use less breading next time so it won’t be so “stuffing-like” and also might add thyme, as in the original recipe.

But all in all, it was a good start to a good turkey loaf.

Nutritional Data:

Calories 178.2
Total Fat 8.6 g
Saturated Fat 2.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.0 g
Cholesterol 88.8 mg
Sodium 175.5 mg
Potassium 10.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.3 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 17.2 g
Iron 8.0 %

Photos below are not that appealing, and yes, I know my dish is very carb heavy! I didn’t feel like green beans and was too lazy to make a salad, so I microwaved frozen peas. I also added four Poppys potato and cheddar Pierogies with a dollop of fat-free plain yogurt. Yeah, way too carb heavy, but I am usually under on my carbs, so it’s okay.

turkey meatloaf

Bell & Evans breaded chicken

Yum, picked up a package of Bell & Evans frozen breaded chicken, and I baked one piece for dinner tonight (Mike went to the ball game). Oh it was just yummy, not at all like other typical frozen breaded chicken burgers!

Bell & Evans patties are made with natural chicken, raised without antibiotics. The patties are not breaded too much, and they are easy to bake!

It’ll fill you up

I just had the craziest memory flashback!

My mom never let us have any drinks during meals, even water! She’d say “it’ll fill you up!” Well funny, isn’t that the point of water with meals or in between meals? To make you not over eat?

It’s a funny memory!

Birthday Dinner

Well tomorrow is my 47th birthday. sigh. I have decided not to get too depressed about it. I figure that I have 3 more years until I am 50 and if I can get healthy and reach my goals by then, well I will have nothing to be upset about!

But I am giving into temptations tonight. I ordered the Meat Lovers Pasta (sausage, pepperoni, bacon with marinara sauce & pasta) at a local Italian restaurant, that comes with a salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Since I won’t be getting a birthday cake (I told my husband NO) I figure that I am owed at least one cheat every once in awhile, and tonight is it!

I did good all day today, and I have over 800 calories left tonight. I am sure I will be going over, but it’s fine! I can’t deprive myself all the time, right? Yeah, keep talking yourself into it! LOL

ETA: OMG, it was fantastic. I was purring with the first bite of pasta. It was salty, fatty and delicious. OMG. I was full halfway through my meal, but I couldn’t stop myself from eating more. BAAAAD. It was just so tasty, I just wanted to keep eating, and I did. I finished almost all of it, and ended up throwing the rest out. I knew if I didn’t I would end up eating it tomorrow.

Am I disappointed in myself? Sort of. I feel heavy, bloated and full right now, but I can’t do anything about it. I just have to move on and know that there are going to be days like this. It’s not the end of the world, and I will be back on track tomorrow!

Hmm, now what to do about the chocolate cake dessert. oooh noooo!

One more Pound!

Well, I was figuring that I was in a slump. I reached a plateau and I wouldn’t be able to lose any more weight! sigh.

It’s been 15 days since my last weight loss blog post (at 10 lbs total) and I kept weighing myself hoping for a little more. I wasn’t necessarily getting “discouraged” because I knew that as long as I was eating better, moving more, and feeling healthier, even if the scales didn’t notice, I was doing okay.

So, this morning before breakfast, I weighed myself. I could barely see the numbers, but they surely looked like 1 more pound lost. That’s all I can hope for. It’s not going to be a speedy trip, it’s going to take some time. I have to keep up my good work, and know that I am doing the right thing even if my weight is not as low as I want it.

Oh and I have been biking and moving more, hoping it kicks up my metabolism. I have to do some more research on metabolism and see if I can help myself more.

Tilapia with peppers, onions, tomatoes

Made a delicious dinner tonight, tilapia baked with peppers, onions, & cherry tomatoes on top. No oil used, even when I cooked the veggies on the stove first. The tomatoes helped give it some liquid.

I had something similar on vacation in Franconia, NH, except they topped fish with just roasted peppers. It just yummy, so I knew I had to try to make it for myself.

Kymaro Body Shaper

Come on ladies, are you really that stupid to believe ads like the Kymaro Body Shaper?

I am sorry, but just looking at the infomercial, it looks like this product is a piece of scammy crap!

For one thing, the ads shout don’t bother with exercise, just put on one of these and you will look slimmer and lose inches. Are women really that gullible? When they measure the participants, you can tell the “before” measurements are not accurate by the way the tape measure is placed uneven around their body. Don’t people realize that they are just moving around their “fat” they aren’t actually doing anything healthy! grrr!

Here is what the Kymaro Body Shaper web site claims:

Kymaro-body-shaper-benefits

Very comfortable? Not according to real customer reviews online
Body slims down 2 sizes in 2 minutes! “Slims down” is a bold claim. You aren’t losing weight! Your body is not slimming down!
Reshapes your body due to loss of muscle tone. Lack of muscle tone? They make it sound that’s a good thing.
Lower fatigue level and More energy! They are kidding, right? How can you gain more energy from being squished into a tight body sucking suit? I would think it would fatigue you instead! They make it sound like they’re selling you a fitness plan! hahaa haha!

Look carefully at the “before” and “after” photos. The shirt in the before photo is pushed up and all wrinkled. I bet it’s even a size smaller than the after shot, which is smooth and pulled down over the pants. The model is always has better posture in the after photo too.

Note: in the infomercial, they have “individual results may vary” in tiny type across the bottom of the photos! Just a disclaimer to protect themselves when you don’t see the same results on your fat out of shape body!

kymaro-body-shaper

And what’s up with the models that are pencil thin wearing the body shaper? Come on, their bodies are perfect, of course they are going to look amazing. I don’t see any plus size models actually shown wearing just the body shaper (sans clothes) I bet it would look like a big ole hot mess!

kymaro-body-shaper-box

And I love this part:

Double Your Order and get the New Body Shaper in Black for FREE, just pay the processing and handling of $9.95 for the top, and $9.95 for the shorts. That’s over a $90 value for only $19.90 for an extra top and bottom in black.

For free? yeah, right, it really costs $20 to ship (and handle) something that lightweight! They should be ashamed of themselves! The product itself is probably only worth $10 (if that) and they are making a fortune from ladies spending up to $88 for all the pieces.

And I am not the only one complaining about the Kymaro Body Shaper. Google “kymaro body shaper review” and you’ll find tons of unhappy customers talking about their bad product as well as horrible customer service.

But again, I revert back to my original statement, are women really that stupid to fall for this stuff?

Junk Junk Nothing But Junk

My husband went to a vending show the other day, and came home with a huge bag of snacks.

The only good thing about this was the bag itself. It was a large mesh bag that could be used for grocery shopping! LOL

junk food

In the old days, I would have been thrilled! I would have ate the chocolate & cream cakes, danishes, chips, candy bars, and cookies without batting an eye lash. Between the two of us, we would have ate most of it in a few days. Sad!

But the new me took one look at all of it, and sighed. This is why Americans are sooooo fat and out of shape. This garbage is in our vending machines and this is the junk that we keep stuffing into our mouths.

I took a look at most of the labels and was just shocked. Most were sneaky and had “two servings” so the calories were twice as much. 600 calories for a danish? 200 for a cookie? Hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup! It made me sick!

I do admit I guess while I was searching, I was hoping to find maybe one or two healthy offerings, but basically nothing was edible. (Except for the organic green tea samples from Bigelow)

It’s very sad to realize that we as a nation will all continue to be obese until products like this are taken off the market!

Today Was a Good Day

I drove my bike to the library, about a mile away. It was a flat easy ride, and I tried to pedal most of the way.

I got a menu from a new Asian restaurant, so I figured we would treat ourselves. It was fabulous. I got Japanese hibachi chicken with veggies and brown rice, and it came with the most delicious hot & sour soup. OMG, fantastic. Yummy!

I did taste a lot of sugar in the brown sauce, but I don’t think it was too bad. I do have lots left over for lunch tomorrow.

I think I am getting much better at making good choices every day!