bunchofheather

Author: heather

  • MIA!

    Well, I have neen quite neglectful of this blog!  Honestly, that was my fear when I started it… that I would be all “rah rah rah” and then lose interest.

    I haven’t lost interest completely, just took a minor break. Instead of working hard at getting an A in weight loss I have been more of a C stident in maintainence.

    I am at 180 so still 30 pounds from my main goal… i had hoped to reach it by my birthday in July. Still possible but it is going to take some serious work!

    A friend of mine at work came into my office yesterday to talk to me about running with her and training in prep for the Dirty Girl Mud Run that she & I are doing on June 14.  Woah! Wake up call! That’s less than 10 weeks away and my exercise for about two months has been just walking… I upped my daily step goal from 10 to 11 thousand but that isn’t enough to help!

    She and I are meeting this Saturday for our first training together…

    So tomorrow morning my ass will be on the treadmill to see what I can do and how far I have to go… I need to develop an upper body strength workout too. Added benefit, I might develop some muscles to firm up my flappy upper arms.

    Lose weight, gain strength. That’s my mantra.

  • back on track.

    I had to be so crazy strict to meet that last 4-week Dietbet that as soon as I successfully weighed in I went semi-crazy.  I’ve kept at logging my calories and hitting 10,000 steps a day so the damage isn’t as bad as it could be.  I averaged about 1925 net calorie intake a day which is about my maintenance at this weight or a little above… Like I said, it could be worse.

    But today I hit my goals and I’m back on track.

    So, to review my last two Quest bars:

    Vanilla Almond Crunch. 190 calories, 20 grams protein, 18 grams fiber. Another “good, but nothing so awesome it makes my top three” list.

    Double Chocolate Chunk. 160 calories, 20 grams protein, 16 grams fiber. Yum. Yum. Yum! A definite add to the buy list!

    I am almost out of my protein powders and my husband is out of his vitamins so I see a Vitacost order including some Quest Bars happening soon-ish!

  • updates

    First, the banana oatmeal cake was good.  It stuck to the pan so the next day when I made it again for breakfast and lunch I thought, “oh, I’ll use my mini-muffin pan since it’s non-stick.”  Bad idea… instead of sticking to one big pan that could easily be scraped and washed it stuck to 24 little holes in a pan.

    Dietbet.  Yay!  I won $45 and that is pure “profit”.  It was close though.  During this 4 week / 4% bet I had really slacked off.  I was losing weight just not at a rate of 1% a week.  I had to weigh in Wednesday and happened to be off Monday and Tuesday for a four day weekend.  So I spent all four days eating next to no processed food so not a ton of sodium, then I limited to 1,000 calories, drank a ton of water, and made sure I got my 10,000 steps in.  I made my goal.

    Yes, I know, 1,000 calories is low but it was fine for four days.  I average about 1,700 – 1,800 normally so I am far from starving!

    Quest bars!  I’ve had two more since I worked Wednesday and Thursday.

    Chocolate Brownie.  170 calories, 20 grams protein, 19 grams fiber.  Ohhh! These are freaking incredible.  I can’t say enough about how much I liked these.  I think they may have moved firmly into first place for the bars (the peanut butter cups still hold the top spot overall).

    Cinnamon Roll.  170 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  These were good.  Nothing bad to say about them, I’d eat them again.  This is a flavor I might want to try warm since I’ve heard such good things about eating the bars warm.

    I don’t know which flavor I’m going to take for my morning today…  But for now, time to get up and get some steps in before work!

  • Are they really all that? Quest Bars. Yum!

    So, I recently discovered Quest Bars… OMG!  bars

    My November Foodie Penpal sent me a Coconut Cashew bar.  I left it on the kitchen table at work and it disappeared so I didn’t try them then.

    They seem to have a cult following!  So I decided to stop at GNC and buy three to try.  First off, the nutrition makes my day… so much fiber and protein!  Since I track calories, protein, and fiber, these are great!  I’m going to review them in the order that I’ve tried them.

    Chocolate Peanut Butter.  160 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  My first Quest Bar.  It was pretty tasty.  I would buy it again.  I was surprised at the softness of the bar, it is kind of malleable.

    Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  190 calories, 21 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  And this is the bar that made me into a cult follower too!  It was so good!

    Peanut Butter and Jelly. 200 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  Nothing special, I wouldn’t buy this one again.  It was tasty but not that amazing to be worth 200 calories and almost $3.

    At this point, after three days, I was now out of my initial three bars that I purchased…  so no more for a few days.  Come the next week, I stopped into a Vitamin Shoppe on my way home and spent almost $30.

    As I continued on my drive home couldn’t resist breaking into the bag and I ate a package of Quest Cravings Peanut Butter Cups.

    pbcups_bar_vba_300_01_1

    Oh My!!! 240 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  They are kind of an odd texture, they seem powdery and I found myself worried they would crumble away to dust but I really liked the taste.  Do they taste like a Reese’s Cup?  No, but they are good and I didn’t regret eating them 15 minutes afterward like I would have if I had eaten two Reese’s!!!  (I am so glad I bought two packages!  One is still in my cupboard for a later date)

    Lemon Cream Pie.  160 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  Not my favorite.  When I first bit into it I thought “Lemon Pledge.”  The second bite tasted better, then by the time I finished it, I thought it was okay but I don’t think this would go on my buy again list…

    Cookies and Cream.  180 calories, 21 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  Yum again!  Little chunks of things that taste like chocolate cookies.  Absolutely want this one again!

    Strawberry Cheesecake.  160 calories, 20 grams protein, 17 grams fiber.  Honestly, I don’t remember eating this one.  It was Thursday morning and that is an early day to get to work…  Mindful eating? Nope.

    Banana Nut Muffin.  170 calories, 20 grams protein, 16 grams fiber.  Pretty good.  Considering how many bananas I eat in general, I don’t think I’ll get this one again because really, more banana stuff?  No thanks!  But it isn’t going on the no list for taste.

    I still have five more bars and a pack of peanut butter cups in the cupboard.  Vanilla Almond Crunch, Cinnamon Roll, Chocolate Brownie, Double Chocolate Chunk, another bar of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and one more pack of the Cravings Peanut Butter Cups.

    For sure these have entered my diet for now and the future.  I want to try all the flavors and then decide which ones I want to buy as boxes of 12.

    chocchipscncbarlargeimage_350_cpb_bar_1

    (Two posts, in one day?  Well, I started this one three days ago but didn’t finish it until tonight)

  • Banana Oatmeal… cake?

    I am in the home stretch of my current 4 week/4%  Dietbet…  so every calorie has to count this week because I don’t want to lose my money!!!  (I’m doing fine on the six month one because its percentage goals are easier)

    Breakfast this morning, I thought about another smoothie like I did yesterday:

    smoothie

    Then I thought about making the pancakes with 1 banana and 2 eggs, or banana oatmeal cookies.  Then I decided to just create.  So I threw a bunch of stuff into the blender.  It’s in the oven now.  It might be cake:

    cake

    I hope it’s good since it is breakfast / lunch.  The calories are a bit (!) higher than the smoothie but it is big enough to cut in half and eat half now and half in a couple hours.

    I am trying to make sure I eat at least a banana a day because I have been having horrible leg cramps.  Mostly in my left calf but also my toes, and then last night, after having a calf cramp, a couple hours later, a weird ankle cramp too.  So, potassium and making sure I increase my water too.

    Speaking of potassium, I saw the demo of the new food label where potassium is going to be required not optional.  I like that part of it.

  • soup warms you from the inside…

    soup

    Every so often I like to make a big pot of soup for the weekend.  It goes on the stove in the morning on Saturday, by afternoon it is ready.  Whenever I get hungry I’ll have a small bowl or a coffee mug full of soup.  Sunday morning, put it back on the stove, get hungry, eat soup.  Maybe add a different veggie into it or some rice or pasta around dinnertime to change it up a bit.  Monday, take it for lunch for work then have it for dinner.  Tuesday, dump the leftovers off the porch for any animal that wants a taste (three days is my limit for eating the same things over and over!)  Two, three months later, do it again.

    Extra awesome side effect?  Two days of rather low calorie consumption.

    My average calorie intake is about 1700 calories a day when “dieting”.  About 1400 if I’m being really strict.  So two days of mostly veggie soup dips way below that.

    The soup isn’t from a recipe per se.  Today’s version has cabbage, celery, carrots, onions, and green beans in beef broth and I am getting ready to have my first bowl!

    Nutritional breakdown, per cup.  It made about 24 cups but I rounded down to 20 just because…

    soupdetails

  • neglectful

    I’ve been neglectful…

    I am still here, still exercising, still counting what I eat, still really wishing winter would be freaking OVER!!!

    What did I do this week?  Made over 100 chocolate covered oreos, over 200 chocolate covered strawberries, and am averaging 600 – 1000 calories a day in pure junk in addition to meals…  Not that those things are connected, right?  The students where I work are fundraising for their annual school trip and for valentine’s sold chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels, and oreos…  I am the leader of the fundraising committee… lucky me.  I have multiple pounds of chocolate in my office and I can’t say I’ve been great with willpower this week.

    But I am committing myself anew to stop justifying the junk.  I’m going to make a big pot of vegetable soup for the weekend and get back on track so that last week’s gain of .4 pounds doesn’t grow up and find friends.

    quote

    Since I am averaging over 10,000 steps a day I feel good about my accomplishing of the “getting off my ass part,” now to work on the “STOP EATING GARBAGE” part!!!

  • Guess what? It’s snowing again.

    This winter can’t be over soon enough!  Let’s see… what to ramble about, besides the weather?

    I won the two Dietbets that I was doing consecutively.  One I paid $30 and got back $40.62.  The other I paid $25 and got back $32.29.  So at the end of the month, my weight is down and I made $18.11.  Woo-hoo!!

    I am almost “overweight” rather than “obese” based on the BMI charts.  That really makes my day.  On my weight page I calculate my BMI for the first weigh-in of the month so as the first Monday of the month, that was today… 31.1

    I feel a little sick… just a runny nose and a sinus headache.  I hope it doesn’t get worse!  I went to visit a friend of mine in the hospital Friday.  She has pneumonia and H1N1 flu.  I put on a gown, gloves, and mask before I went into her room.  Washed my hands really well when leaving, took sani-wipes and wiped down things and used it to press buttons on the way back to my car… but virulent germs are scary!  She is diabetic and over 400 pounds so she has other health issues making her battle to health even harder.   She joined our biggest loser competition.  I am so proud of her for taking that step!  She wanted me to bring the scale to the hospital for her weigh-in but I told her to just focus on getting well and I’d take the hospital’s weight when she checked in as her week’s weigh-in.

    Well, off to exercise!

  • January Foodie Penpal

    This was my second time participating in the Foodie Penpals program that Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean began and coordinates!

    What is a Foodie Penpal?  Well, in a nutshell:  You sign up and get matched with a penpal at the beginning of the month then you make up a box of interesting, or local, favorite, or unusual food which you then mail to your penpal by the 15th of the month.  At the same time your penpal is mailing a box to you.

    I got the perfect match this month!!!   My penpal this month was Tara.  She is from Iowa.  Among the many things we have in common is birthdays that are only three days apart, so we are pretty much the exact same age.  The list goes on and on from there!  It is crazy.  It was a lot of fun exchanging the initial emails and seeing the similarities!

    Tara sent me this great assortment of yummy items from Iowa:

    IMG_20140117_190510

    There was salsa and chips, gourmet marshmallows, flavored coffee, chocolate covered almonds, and beef sticks, along with a beautiful card telling me about some of the products and cool facts (including there are more cows than people in Iowa)

    I say was because many items quickly disappeared!  First to go was the almonds.  I am proud to say they didn’t all go in one day, I did make them last three!  I think next was the beef sticks, I love beef sticks and these were nitrate free and yummy !

    I really enjoyed this month’s experience.  Not only did I get a cool box of goodies, I met a person from half way across the country that I think, if we were put in a room together, we could easily talk for hours!  She’s on my Facebook friends list now and I have spent this month drooling over the awesome quilt tops she’s made (multiple. in one month!)

    If sending and receiving a box of goodies sounds good to you, think about joining the next exchange!  To sign up for February you need to sign up by February 5th.

    The Lean Green Bean
    Yay!

  • cookies again

    I call them cookies, but really, it’s like breakfast in indulgent baked form.

    This is the second one I’m getting ready to eat today:0125cookie

    Today’s recipe:

    • 1 banana
    • 4 oz applesauce
    • 1 cup quick oats
    • 2 tblsp PBSlim (vitacost’s version of PB2)
    • 2 scoops (45g) Aro Lean Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Diet Shake

    350 degrees for 12 minutes.

    Yum, yum, yum!!!    Often I put them in the mini muffin pan but today I just glopped it onto the cookie sheet so it made an odd number of 11 cookies.

    Nutritional Info (I track what I try to make sure I get enough of (or in the case of sodium what I try not to get too much of…) so no carb or fat info):

    0125cookies

    My husband suggested a version with pineapple instead of banana…  I may try that when these are gone (Monday?).  I don’t think I’d add the chocolate or peanut butter powders to that batch though.