Weight Loss

I suppose it's time for a confession. You know how you can let a little weight creep up on you gradually and then suddenly be shocked at how much bigger you are now than a year ago/6 months ago? That happened to me this weekend.

Buying a pair of pants, I had to go to a size 10.

Psychologically, that's huge -- it's a two-digit number instead of a one-digit number. Even if you wear designer/men's sizes, it means going from a svelte number in the 20's to... 30.

There are always tons of excuses. I'm always super busy between work, school and homework. Days that I have class, I'm busy from 7:30 in the morning until 10 at night - not very conducive to healthy eating. I haven't wanted to cook a lot, prompting us to buy more convenience foods, and when I do cook I've been trying to watch our budget - that means I'll probably trade in light seafood for ground beef on sale. All in all, not good practices.

It stops. Now.

Overall, my meals aren't that bad.

Breakfast is usually one cup of coffee, some instant oatmeal, and a small container of yogurt (like the Fiber One 4-packs). (Full disclosure: We get Eco-planet gluten free mix for my husband, but since I don't have to be gluten free I get the cheaper Quaker stuff for myself).

A typical lunch is an Amy's frozen meal (I'm partial to her teriyaki bowl) and a piece of fruit like an orange. Unless I go out, then it's usually Subway, Panera, or something along those lines. And of course, I have to battle the urge to snack around 3 PM, and resist all the office snacks that magically appear.

Dinner is whatever I end up making. We eat mostly chicken, shrimp, and meatless dishes with cheese. And then, of course, dessert. Snacking afterwards. Candy is my downfall. Especially Easter candy. And of course, all the gluten free baking doesn't help because everything's just here!

Finally -- I am notoriously lazy about going to the gym. Mostly because using the cardio equipment at the gym (or the Wii Fit for that matter) is completely and utterly boring. I can go an hour on the elliptical, but the Lady GaGa album can only get me so far, until I just want to quit from sheer boredom (And how can my gym constantly play the Food Network!?).

So -- conclusions:
- I need to find some new lunches that don't give me the 3 PM slump. And NOT go out as much.
- I need to find some EASY, QUICK, and HEALTHY meal options for dinner - that are husband friendly, and fill me up to the point where I don't crave something sweet afterwards.
- I need to find a way to make working out interesting.
- If I don't lose about 10 lbs. by April 1st, I'm joining WW. (That's my deadline!)

Anyone else out there dieting/trying to shed some pounds before summer capris-shorts-and-bathing suit season?

Healthy Gluten Free

Last week I talked about all the unhealthy, but super-yummy, gluten free food we make during football games. Well, all that unhealthy food has its price, and since I really don't want muffin top in my cute little Bebe jeans, I try to make up for it during the week with healthier meals. (Note: we have a pretty high grocery budget... I wasn't really concerned with "eating on the cheap" here, but it's pretty indicative of what our usual grocery list looks like).

Hmm. I wonder I could get away with rationalizing designer jeans as weight management tools... but that's for another blog entry. ;-)

So, assuming Sunday is the "screw it, I'm eating anything I feel like" day, here's a sample menu for the rest of the week:

Monday
Since I have class on Wednesday evenings, I like to cook something that will provide at least one day of leftovers. A staple that I rely on is sauteed chicken. I'll sautee four chicken breasts (aka two nights for us) in a little bit of olive oil, fresh chopped garlic and white wine. I'll season the chicken with onion, pepper, and seasoned salt, and I'll throw in any veggies I have on hand -- peppers, onions, tomatoes, snow peas, you name it. Serve with a salad (make one big enough to store leftovers in the crisper, and you've got leftover veggies for Wednesday as well). I usually don't eat a starch with this meal but will make gluten free risotto or tagliatelle noodles with margarine for my husband.

Tuesday
Fish! I like to stop for fresh fish at the market the day that I cook it, but in a pinch I always keep frozen wild salmon fillets in the freezer. Thaw them by putting them in the fridge the night before (or soaking the vacuum-sealed pouches in cold water for about an hour). Sautee in olive oil, wine, and seasonings to taste. I like to keep wild salmon pretty simple - it tastes so good on its own - and just use garlic and black pepper. Serve with broccolini or yellow squash if it's in season, otherwise I'll usually do green beans or frozen broccoli florets. Baked potato with nonfat sour cream or plain greek yogurt for a starch.

And of course, pair with a nice riesling.

Wednesday
Heat up Monday's leftovers.

Thursday
Asian stir-fry. I usually take the cheater's way out and do a little bit of sesame oil, a bag of frozen stir fry veggies, a can of baby corn, a can of bean sprouts, a can of peas, a can of corn, and a can of water chestnuts. Add brown rice, and for protein use some combination of shrimp, chicken, or scrambled egg (make it like fried rice).

I haven't found a good gluten free stir-fry sauce that I like, so I'll make gluten free teriyaki sauce or else just use a little bit of gluten free soy sauce -- I prefer it a little on the dry side and not drowning in sauce anyway.

Friday
TGIF! Who wants to cook!? Order in sushi! :-) We like tuna rolls, salmon rolls, and shrimp rolls.

And there's still that bottle of riesling from Tuesday. ;-)

Saturday
Stir-fry leftovers.

I rarely eat carbs with dinner unless it's part of the meal, like stir-fry or sushi. But I always plan some kind of starch for my husband. We could probably be a little healthier and greener if we made more veggie-centric meals... it might be a good new years resolution to work on. But for now, that's a week of healthy meals for us.

So, readers: I'm always looking for more ideas! What are your go-to healthy meal options?

Simple, Light Chicken Dish

When I'm trying to eat light, my go-to recipe and one of the staples of my diet (literally - I'll have this twice a week) is based off a chicken in wine sauce recipe I downloaded from AllRecipes. For people who care, it's a South Beach Diet friendly recipe (Phase 2), and if I recall correctly it was 3 or 4 Weight Watchers points (my mother and I debated on that, I counted the olive oil and tallied it at 4 while she tallied it at 3)

This is a great dish because it's simple, doesn't cause too much of a mess, and really healthy for you!

I usually buy a package of thin-sliced, boneless chicken breasts at the grocery store for this recipe - the chicken is already cut thin so you can use it "as is" which is really nice.

I also like to add a lot of seasoning - the garlic, salt and pepper is nice (and it's worth the time to chop up the fresh garlic), but I like to add onion powder and seasoned salt instead of regular salt. And of course, since the secret to cooking with wine is to use something marginally drinkable I usually use Barefoot chardonnay.

What I love about this recipe:

• It's simple - you can come home from a long day at work and have dinner ready in less than half an hour
  
• It's super-healthy for you and a great diet recipe at approx. 250 calories per serving
  
• You can make it in one dish - yay!
  
• You can substitute/add almost any veggies that you already have on hand. I love making this dish with red pepper slices, sweet onion and portabella mushrooms!

In the winter I like to pair this recipe with mashed potatoes and peas, or a nice salad. It goes very well with pinot grigio or riesling as well!

However if I'm trying to eat healthy - like now, try it paired with:

• Summer squash (best in season), steamed, with a tsp. margarine and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper
• A nice organic baby romaine salad, and a baked potato with some plain yogurt if you insist on having a starch. A side note on the salad, Price Chopper brand light bleu cheese dressing is awesome, cheap and pretty decent as far as calories and fat go!
  

Do you have a "healthy" go-to recipe of your own?

"Cookie-less January"

Ah, January. The holidays are over, the tree has been packed up (or in our case, broken and thrown out) for yet another year, the house is finally back in order, and the credit card bill for holiday purchases is due. Alas, this is also the time of year when girls like me try on our skinny Seven for all Mankind jeans and see the dreaded muffin-top from one (or ten) too many holiday indulgences.

Now, the first week of January for us was pretty much still an extended holiday. The first weekend in January a lot of my relatives came up to my parents' house to celebrate the holiday, where my mother actually ordered a tray of chicken cacciatore for everyone (as well as a ton of other munchies, like the crab dip I made for the occasion). Now - one nice thing to know is that Italian restaurants can be very accomodating of gluten free needs! All you have to do is ask:

• My office holiday party was held at Cornell's, where my husband was given a special plate of wonderful, gluten free, chicken marsala along with salad, rice, and they offered him sherbet for dessert (though he was already stuffed from the meal!) - this was a very special treat, because it was the first time we'd gone to an Italian restaurant since going gluten free!
• My mother ordered the chicken cacciatore from Canali's, where they prepared the tray in their "default" style and provided a gluten free version for my husband. Their marinara sauce is also gluten free, though since they don't provide gluten free pasta he had side dishes of their yummy green beans and roasted potatoes.

Anyway, now the holidays are officially and completely over, our puggle is still on her diet, and I am starting to eat and exercise off all those indulgent meals.

I asked my husband for the Wii Fit for Christmas, and while it's fun and no-doubt a workout if you do it right (at least, my legs were killing me the first week that I started using it), there's no contest in my mind that going to the gym is better - or even better yet, taking advantage of all the snow we've had so far this season and going snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing!

Anyway - I have less than a month to go until Italian Night at Glen Sanders Mansion, and I want to be sure to fit into a cute outfit! This means eating extremely healthy at Kat's GF Kitchen! I've stocked up on healthy fare including chicken, fish/shrimp and plenty of veggies, and for the rest of this month will be focusing on healthy, low-fat, low-calorie meals - and not going out to eat as much!

Who else has jumped on the diet bandwagon this January??