Since I've changed my way of life, I've made many, many changes in the way I go about the business keeping myself change. I'm sure that many of you have also. So, what are your new special favorites that help you to lose or maintain your weight? I'll list a few of mine, but I'd love to get some new idea from the rest of you.

Egg beaters for the win! Sara Lee Delightful bread (partial to the multigrain one, but 100% whole wheat are good also). I like fat free mayo and sourcream as much as the orginals. Jeanie-O frozen lean turkey burgers (the ones that come 12 to a pack, not 4!). Splenda, splenda, splenda, and of course, SPLENDA! Laughing cow light cheese (any kind). Velveeta made with 2% milk. Vermont Farms cheedar made with 1% milk.

Things I make: Chocolate Goo: 1 pound light cream cheese, a few squirts of sugarfree chocolate syrup, around 3 or 4 table spoons cocoa powder, splenda to taste (I use about half a cup or so), a pinch of salt. Rich and decadent like fudge, and a tablespoon or two of stuff really satisfies me. But the nutritionals aren't too bad, and would be even better if you can tolerate FF creamcheese (I can't, it just doesn't taste like food to me).

Roasted Garbanzo Beans: Take a can or four of garbanzo beans, open, rinse, and drain. Place on a cookie sheet, salt to taste if you wish. Roast in an oven at 325 or so (I usually make these when I'm cooking other things). Check every ten minutes, stir to keep from scorching on one side. They are done when they are crunchy like corn nuts. When done, season further if you wish with curry powder, popcorn seasonings, garlic powder, or whatever else catches your fancy. But even plain, these are pretty addictive even if they are pretty good for you (high fiber protein), low fat fairly low carb).

Edit: I HATE it when I make typo in title of post, where I can't fix it. Of course, I mean "secrets" rather than the rather enigmatic "xecrets".

I use fat free plain (unflavored/unsweetened) yogurt in place of sour cream.

Fat free feta is my favorite cheese, tastes just like the original full fat version!

Instead of cooking with butter, oil, cheese, etc. to add flavor to my dishes I use hot sauce, I have many different kinds and use them in EVERYTHING!

I could live off of whole wheat wraps and whole wheat pitas, they get used for everything from sandwiches to pizzas to dippers, whatever!

Does fat free feta REALLY taste like regular? I haven't been daring enough to try it!

I cannot live with out Yoplait, thick & creamy light yogurt. Great stuff, especially when you have a sweet tooth. Yummy & lots of calcium!

Fresh, homemade salsa...I make it every week! Love it on EVERYTHING!

Kashi -Go Lean cereal...not the Go-Lean Crunch(too much sugar) I like it w/ skim milk or plain yougurt, sweetened with vanilla stevia and a hand full of raisins or banana slices. Fills me up and keeps me full & satisifed for hours!

My new favorite is stuffed red peppers. I fill them with a mixture of ground lean turkey, spinach and barley. Top 'em with parmasean cheese and bake for 30-40 minutes. So good and soooo good for ya!

An absolute favorite is sweet potatoes. I like them roasted whole or peeled and cut like fries. Spray with a little Pam, salt & pepper and roast then at 450 degrees for about 30 min. SWEET & SAVORY!

I use polenta as a sub for rice or pasta. A 70-calorie serving of polenta is just as filling to me as a 160-180 calorie serving of rice or pasta.

Trader's Light Chevre is my go-to cheese. I use it in every recipe that calls for cheese--casseroles, frittatas, soups, macaroni and cheese, even tacos. And at only 35 calories per oz, it's actually lower in calories than non-fat cheddar and you would never in a million years guess that it is light.

Non-fat cream cheese is my substitute for butter. I use it on bread, muffins, baked potatoes, etc. I swear, if I could saute veggies in it, I would (but you can make a great pasta sauce by mixing non-fat cream cheese with salsa).

Trader Joe's non-fat greek yogurt is another staple. I use it instead of sour cream and mayo. Just made chicken salad for tomorrow with chicken, non-fat greek yogurt, non-fat cream cheese, celery, and roasted red peppers.

I sub whole wheat pitas for pizza crusts and make mini pizzas. Well, actually, the whole thing is a giant substutite--whole wheat pita for the crust, lean turkey or ham for the pepperoni, light chevre for the mozzarella cheese, and 1 tbsp raspberry chipotle sauce for the pizza sauce. I guess they don't really look much like pizzas when all is said and done. But they do taste good and make a nice, low calorie lunch.

And of course all the obvious subs: brown rice for white rice or orzo, sweet potatoes for white potatoes, whole wheat bread for regular bread, etc. In baking I usually sub whole wheat flour for half the white flour.

Barbara,

If you like pizza, have you ever tried the Trader Joes's "Almost" Whole Wheat pizza crust? It is usually located near the prepared salads and hummus. I think it is about $1.10 and I will usually make about 4 mini pizza's out of one crust. I bake it first, add toppings and them bake again. It's really good!

I also use turkey pepperoni (I like it just as much as "real" pepperoni)

I'm a hugh muncher -- so instead of chips I've been enjoying mini Quaker rice cakes -- the ranch are great.

do you have the nutritional info for your chocolate goo? it sounds yummy!

I've looked at it but it's too high in calories for me. I think 1/8 is 150 calories, so a fourth, which is what would be necessary to make a mini pizza is 300 calories! That's more than what I eat for my entire lunch and close to my entire dinner. Same thing for the turkey pepperoni--too high in calories and not enough protein for the calories. I'm trying to get in around 100g of protein per day on 1200 calories; to do that I have to be really careful about what I eat.

I do like Trader Joe's spicy spinach pizzas (six to a package, right next to the refrigerated pizza dough). They are basically just pre-cooked mini-pizza sized crusts with a little spinach on them. They are only 140 calories each, so I can add my own toppings and make a meal out of them.

I thought those were very high in cals. According to fit day, 1 cup of canned has almost 300 cals, over 50 gms of carbs. They are low in fat, have a nice amount of fiber and almost 12 gms of protein.

What you do with them does sound good.

I, too, like Egg Beaters. I get the Costco brand and freeze them. Then I defrost one as needed. They take forever to defrost.

I've recently discovered Gimme Lean. I got the sausage flavor the other day. I broke the package down to 1 oz slices and individually froze them. the texture is a little funky if you don't mix it with something but the flavor is there. It is a meat free product. Really good in an omelet. I haven't tried the beef one yet.

Not really. The cheese is 60 calories per ounce, so I think the goo must have slighty fewer calories. The only other thing that in it that has any weight to speak of is the cocoa powder and chocolate syrup, both of which are not very calorific. When I log it, I just list it as plain light cream cheese. I doubt if that is very far from being true.

According the can, a serving is half a cup for 120 calories, so one cup would be 220. And I eat them a handful at a time, not a full cup. One serving has 20 grams of carbs. I dunno if they are counting the weight of the beans drained or not, of course.

I don't doubt that one could very easily get fat eating these things if one ate enough of them. Like so many things, one must practice moderation.

Thanks Barbara for the tip on the spicy spinach pizzas at TJ's...they sound wonderful. I agree about the cal count on the almost whole wheat crust but my toppings are so low-cal that it works for me.

Tea Leaf, I love your signature.