Hmmm....I have to say that I really struggled yesterday...just wanted to eat and eat....

s'ok... i have a salad planned for lunch today..

Hang in there Chicki! I have to plan my meals too or I go wandering off in the wrong direction!!

My fave quick low-cal recipe.
Ground turkey, the leaner the better
Couple heaping tablespoons of horseradish
palmful of montreal steak seasoning ( about 1/4 cup)
1/4 c of whatever lowfat shreed cheese is in the fridge

Mix it all up, divide into patties and grill, if you cook in a pan, you'll need a little olive oil to keep it from sticking, so good.

Here's one of my favorite healthy meals. This makes enough to feed an army!

Ingredients:
1 pound bag of white beans
1 onion, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced (or to taste)
5-6 veggie bouillion cubes
6 oz whole wheat couscous
Shredded parmesan cheese (optional)

Soak the beans overnight. In the morning drain and rinse the beans. Put in a pot with plenty of water to cover. (I'm sure a crock pot would work too.) Add the bouillion cubes, onion and garlic. Cook the beans per the directions on the bag. About 15 minutes before serving, add the couscous to the pot and stir well. Serve hot with some fresh cracked pepper and a tablespoon of parmesan cheese.

This dish is so yummy and very filling. There's no added fat and the whole wheat couscous and beans contain very little fat naturally. If you're restricting salt, you might want to choose a low salt broth instead of the bouillion cubes.

You can also mix up this recipe. Last time I made it with cranberry beans and brown rice and it was delicious too.

CS Chick - That sounds yummy!!! I made a bean chili last night and having the leftovers for lunch!

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 medium Yellow Onion chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
1 can (14.5 oz) low sodium chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cumin ground
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 cups soybeans (Edamame) cooked
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 jalapeño (or more to taste)
Hot Sauce to Taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and sauté the onions and garlic until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes(with juice) and sauté for 3-4 more minutes.

Stir in the oregano, cumin, chopped jalapeño and chili powder, sautéing for 2-3 minutes more.

Add the soybeans and black beans and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour.

So filling and great source of protein. All fat is of the "healthy" variety.

The recipe I modified for this says it serves 6 but since I normally just eat this as a meal by itself I'd say 3-4 servings is more realistic.

Originally Posted by chickichickibangbang:
Hmmm....I have to say that I really struggled yesterday...just wanted to eat and eat....

s'ok... i have a salad planned for lunch today..

I've been dealing with that too! Not sure what its all about but you've got the right idea! Set yourself up for success. Failing to plan is like planning to fail so if you go in armed with your healthy foods you'll be less likely to choose the bad ones! I hope today is a better day for you!!! We can do this!

Thanks for the recipes girls!! I'm looking forward to trying the beans and couscous!

I've got a quiz this morning so I've got to go study but I hope everyone has a fantastic day today!! Be good to you! Make those healthy choices!!

REPOST FOR THOSE WHO MISSED IT:

Sometime between now and Sunday everyone needs to try and see how many (or how long) they can do of the following:

Pushups
Plank position
crunches
chair position
Balance on one foot with arms straight over head
Balance on the other foot with arms straight over head

all this is, is to set your starting point! Look for the thread to post your starting numbers Friday afternoon, till then just hold on to them!

Are they regular pushups, or can they be modified like on the knees pushups?

Whatever kind of pushups you are comfortable doing but still have to challenge yourself is just fine. I'm going for the real ones myself!

Originally Posted by kellybones:
I'm going to try to post a picture of my doggie mascots -- I have two Australian Cattle Dogs - they're also called Heelers.
One is a Red and one is a Blue.

I have a picture of the red one chewing on the blue one! Let's see if I can figure out to make pictures work!
[IMG]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...e/IMG_0075.jpg[/IMG]

They're too cute!

Originally Posted by xGurlyGrlx:
She is soo cute!! Is she a Chihuahua?

She's a mutt. One of the ladies at the vet told me once that they thought she had some Papillon in her. Your little one is adorable!

Originally Posted by mayness:
And, most importantly, my husband said that my butt is looking more round and muscular. :D After that, who cares what the scale says?!?

:carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot:

Originally Posted by trying2Bbuff:
Hi everyone. Hope you are all having a great day. I am going to need to withdraw from the challenge, as I will need to have surgery on my knee to repair some torn ligaments/cartilage and will be out of commission for several weeks. But good luck to all of those still participating and I hope you kick some butt and WIN THAT WEIGH IN!!
Hugs,
Tara

I wish you a speedy recovery! If you do decide to withdraw, I hope you still stop by and chat with us!

Originally Posted by jenjen74:
While we are sharing healthy recipes, I thought I would share about my newest favorite cookbook. My 10 year old son is the pickiest eater ever. So I picked up a copy of "The Sneaky Chef" which I highly recommend. All sorts of recipes for sneaking in fruits and veggies, and your kids will never know. So I made a pan of healthy brownies that have spinach and blueberries in them. Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? But you can't taste them. Those brownies are so good! With whole wheat flour and wheat germ, they have a fair amount of fiber and are still fudgy. The best part --- my son ate them. I got my son to eat spinach! Woo-hoo! Score one for mom!

That's awesome. I really need that to cook for my (almost 40 y/o) sister. I've tried to get her to eat somethings with foods she turns her nose up, but if you tell her it's in there ahead of time, she won't eat it. I keep trying to convince her that you can't taste that one ingredient but it doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by Idealmuse:
Hi girls - so for the exercise challenge I blew out 180 miles already today. Guess that's the nice thing about my training I'll have no trouble meeting the mile goals.

I swam for an hour freestyle (2100 yards)
I walked for an hour to/from the pool (4miles)
and I biked for an hour (probably 12-14miles)

I'm pooped!

Awesome job, Muse! You are a machine! A quick glance at the exercise challenge had me confused. It seemed a little confusing, but that may have a lot to do with my busyness at work and a muddle brain this week! I'll have to go in once people start posting to see how it works!

Originally Posted by shelby897:
Today was an excellent day -- because the scales went into the garbage can!!!:dizzy: I had a bad week but this one (and every one after that) will be good, because I can't be scale obsessed if there aren't any -- one weigh in a week at WW will have to do -- because if I can weigh at home and do well -- I eat, do bad -- I eat -- cant lose weight that way!!

As you will oftentimes hear our fearless leader (the hula hooping queen) say: "Scales are for Fish!" I am often victim of going off plan to celebrate a loss or going off plan because I gained so what's the point. I totally get what you're saying! I'm working on that but today I fell victim again! Ugh! ;)

Lonnie - Sorry about your back. I've got chronic back pain, so I can sympathize. Does this happen often when you workout? I started taking an all natural muscle relaxer called Celadrin, and my backpain almost completely disappeared.
Melissa & jelynn - Way to go on staying OP! :cheer:
csChick - Good to see you!
Chickichicki - You can do it! I had a terrible problem getting back on the wagon when I first started. For some reason I thought I had to wait to the beginning of the next week. ;) Good job on jumping right back in.

To all the other fabulous red team members - Howdy! Keep up the great work!

HI Red Team,

I went a little over on my calories last night, and even though I did double exercise the scale didn't budge so I know I can't do that again! Still holding at 190, praying for 189 by tomorrow or Saturday but we'll see!

I am behind on reading but I will catch up after work today!!! Have a great OP day everyone!

:cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:. :cheer3:

Random invasion of the NEW Blue cheerleader thats now a 3FC smiley.

Thanks Roni! :D

OK....confession time. I had 2 cookies last night. I hate to admit it. I was just NEEDING chocolate as it is the TOM, but I thought I would do better. I am back on track and will do great today, promise!!!!

Scale read 229.something this morning- yay! I think this week I've done better than the whole last challenge, LOL.
My DH is on board this time too- he is all excited at losing over 3 lbs this week. He's riding his bike to work and trying to curb his muffin/chocolate milk habit at work. Amazing what changing some small habits can do for us long term!

Off for 45 minutes of t-tapp. later!