Everythings Coming Up . . .

As others have noted, our spring, too seems to be coming about three weeks earlier.  I've taken some pictures over the past ten days that I thought I'd share with you as I let you know about my incremental improvements.

Aren't the red tulips pretty? I like the basic red and basic yellow tulips.  These are quite large and look almost like poppies when they're fully open.  I'm falling behind in keeping up with my garden tasks.

 I've been ratcheting up my exercise.  I've done six 5+ mile  "rawks" (run/walks) over the past couple of weeks.  I listen to a book on tape and have my iPod tick off the 5 minute intervals during a 90 minute period.  I run for an increasingly long distance at each interval.  It's fun to see my total distance for 90 minutes increasing and my pace per mile decreasing.  Still very slow, but getting better.  I love being out and seeing things.  This big tree is just coming into leaf. That's the new Woodrow Wilson bridge over the Potomac River in the background.


A different section of the same path (the Mount Vernon bike path, along the George Washington Parkway) has a long wooden boardwalk over an inlet.  It's one of my favorite sections. One time I saw a beaver swimming from that exact spot. He swam toward me and then under the bridge.  I'm also on the lookout for the prothonatory warblers that live in the wooded section you see to the left across the bridge.

 The yellow tulips wanted equal time.  Such a lush display.  My enemy the squirrels (or maybe a deer) ate off about a third of the blooms last night, but there are still a lot left to brighten that corner of the garden.

These little babies are Individual Chocolate Souffles.  The recipe was featured in the WW weekly handout a few weeks ago.  I made them for dessert a couple of days ago.  OMG (that's Oh My Gosh)!  They are wonderful.  I'll put the recipe on the recipe page in the right side bar.  Only 3 WW points plus, and very tastey.

My last two WIs have been good!  My losing streak is intact; I've lost at every WI since Dec 8th (there were a few weeks that I missed weighing in December and January).   I'm continuing my regimen of doing WW simply filling with flex points from W thru F and then doing 4 days of 17DD Cycle I.  That's working for me.  I stick pretty much to what is laid out in Cycle I, but occasionally have one fruit in the late afternoon (either my allowed 2nd fruit or a "bonus" fruit).   I am getting better about keeping the three "splurge" days from getting out of hand.  The chocolate souffles were dessert one night.  Another night I made a Cooking Light recipe for Double Plum Baked Chicken--yum!  I keep my breakfasts and lunches fairly simple and plan and splurge for family meals.

We took a lovely sunlit bike ride today.  My odometer (on my road bike) read 17.6, but DH's read 14.  Sadly, I think mine is not calibrated correctly!  In any case, with my increased runs and a couple  of long bike rides, I am adding 86 miles for the past two weeks for a grand total of 308 miles.

I'll leave you with a picture of my iris.  I almost pulled these out because they didn't bloom for several years in a row.  Look at them, now!

Have a great week!  One of my goals for April is to blog every week, rather than every other week.  We'll see.

Out of the Box

I was standing in line at the grocery the other day idly comparing my cart full of stuff to a cart in the next line over.  I confess I felt a little prideful.  My cart was brimming with good, good-for-you things.  Beets, cabbage, carrots, apples, kumquats, carrots, fresh ginger, greek yogurt, mayer lemons, chicken, tilapia, olive oil.  The other cart, when I really looked at it, seemed to be filled with boxes.  Hamburger helper, jello, cereal, frozen waffles, pasta, pizza mix.  Some people come out of the closet.  I have come out of the box.  I buy very few processed foods any more.  That's a good thing.

On the weight loss front, I've kept up my streak!  I've lost at my last eight weigh-ins and, with the help of the 17DD, I've lost 13.6 pounds from my 2012 high.  What's working for me now is to stick with the basic Cycle I from Saturday to Tuesday and then to relax to WW Core (Simply Filling) with some of the extra weekly points thrown in from Wednesday through Friday.  Strangely enough, I find it easier to stick to the more restricted diet on the weekend.  This is probably because DH is very supportive and trying to whittle off a few pounds to get back to his WW lifetime goal (he's lost about 10 and is just a couple of pounds away).  I'm gradually learning how to enjoy the "extras" without going overboard.  It helps me when I know that I can enjoy popcorn or a dessert or brown rice once in a while.  Or cookies.   I made my sister's killer Oatmeal Cookie recipe yesterday, but changed it just a bit to make it a little more figure-friendly. I took a big plate of them to our Bible Study (they usually get grapes or pineapple from me, and it was fun to bake for a change).  Those were all  eaten and when we got home, I noticed that Jay had put all the rest into a tin box.  I sent those with him to work today.  Of the whole batch I just had 3--not bad.

Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

You might notice that I have a new recipe page that you can link to in the right column.  A few of you had expressed interest in my Stuffed Cabbage recipe.  I remade it and wrote things down.  I based it on a recipe for Sweet and Sour Cabbage rolls from Eating Well, but I made some changes to suit my tastes and requirements.  They were dee-lish.  I also put a recipe for roasted parsnips and carrots there.  Talk about tastey!  And good for you.  Try these. (oh and I just added the Oatmeal Cookie recipe . . .)

The penny finally dropped (love that expression!) and I now know that I can use my trusty little ipod nano 6th gen to record my runs on nike+ without messing with the nike+ kit.  You might notice that my little nike+ avatar in the sidebar is running again.  Yay!  I'm mostly walking so far, but the distances are getting better and the running bits are getting longer.

Virginia Bluebells

Like many of you. we're having an early spring.  I was surprised to find that my Virginia bluebells were in full bloom yesterday.  We're about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of last year's season.  I've spent a few hours doing spring clean up stuff in the garden, but I need to push myself to get out there soon to finish up, because I think the awful hot humid days when it's not fun to do heavy garden work are galloping toward us.

Oh and we had our first after-supper bike ride of the season last weekend.  I love this.

Mileage report: with the increased running and a few bike rides I'm adding 46 miles for the past two weeks. YTD 222 miles.

I am washing my hands about 60 times a day and doing lots of hot water loads in the washing machine in an effort to avoid the nasty little virus that is plaguing my little grandchildren.  Jack and Ella and their parents have been trading it back and forth for the past couple of weeks.  Hm, I think I'll go wash my hands again. . . .

Have you come out of the box??

Busy Day Check In

 I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted here.  They were a good two weeks!  My brother, his best friend and my 88 yr old aunt came for a long weekend inbetween.  We had a great time together, mostly talking, playing games (NYT crosswords!), watching Maggie Smith outtakes on YouTube, and cooking and eating delicious healthy food.  You'd never believe my aunt is 88--she's loads of fun and it's always a party when she's there (and, no, there was no alcohol involved :-)).

I completed Cycle I on the 17DD and lost a total of 10.5 pounds.  Then I transitioned to a WW approach for two weeks and gained 3 pounds.  Partly overindulging in foods I'd missed (hello brown rice) and partly having houseguests for 5 days (two batches of Lori's Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies--Warning!:  don't go there if you don't plan on having them; the picture alone is enough to make you want to preheat the oven). DH and I decided to do Cycle I together for 5 days to get back on the straight and skinny.  Today's the last day, and I'm happy to report that those 3 pounds and a bit more have left the building.  Hoping for another good WI tomorrow.  I have a streak going with my WIs.  I've lost at my last 5 WIs.  There were a couple weeks when I didn't go, but still, not bad, right?

On the food front, right now I have my Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes in the oven.  I'm planning to use them to make a Roasted Tomato and Basil soup.  I've got a big bunch of basil waiting and the tomatoes smell wonderful, they're got about 20 more minutes until they're done.  Here's a quick picture from the oven.  Wish I could send you the aroma, too!

I also made some Stuffed Cabbage.  I was thinking about my mom's cooking and remembered that she used to make Stuffed Cabbage.  I didn't have her recipe but perused the Joy of Cooking and Google to come up with some ideas.  I wanted mine to conform to my 17DD requirements (using ground turkey rather than beef), but it seemed doable.  I used lean ground turkey, chopped onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, basic marinara sauce (Amy's), low-sodium soy sauce, Lee & Perrins,  and salt & pepper for the filling.  I browned the meat and then added the veggies until they were tender, then the other ingredients.  I steamed the cabbage leaves until they were pliable and wrapped a spoonfull of filling in each leaf.  I tucked them seam-side-down in a pyrex dish, added a bit of low-sodium chicken broth and cooked them for about 30 minutes.  I didn't write down amounts, but I wish I had.  They were dee-lish!   Here's a picture. Looks like we had roasted tomatoes at that meal, too.  I told you they were good.

Today I have an unexpected day off from babysitting the grandkids.  I'm on my 4th load of laundry, cooking my soup, catching up on blogs, and planning to get out and do a "rawk" (run/walk, borrowed stolen from Shelley). I need to load up a new audio book on my ipod as I just finished Believing the Lie (Elizabeth George, a Detective Lynley mystery).  A great book that has me gnashing my teeth that it'll likely be two years before I find out what happened to one of my favorite characters!

Oh, I'm also going to drive over to see my friend, Mrs. Elliott.  She is my choir director's mom, who moved up from Alabama to an assisted living place near to her daughter. Mrs. Elliott turned 90 last week.  She's fun and bright and always glad to have company.  She didn't know anyone here except her daughter and was missing her friends so I've sort of adopted her as my "mom" and try to see her at least once a week.  

Here's a picture of little Jack.  He was quite taken with the "real" carrots (as opposed to the baby carrots one usually encounters these days) we found at Whole Foods.  He wanted to eat one right away.  I washed and peeled it, but he wanted the green top left on it.  He ate every bite (except the green, which he tried, but declared "Yucky!)"  Don't you feel rather virtuous when you load up your grocery cart with great looking veggies and scorn the offerings from whole aisles of processed foods?  I do.

We had some snow flakes yesterday, but biking weather is coming closer and closer.  I, for one, can't wait!

Oh, not great report on the mileage project.  I finally recovered from the heel blisters and enforced croc wearing and reclaimed my Nikes a few days ago. Total mileage for the past two weeks is 26 miles.  YTD total 176.  I'm hoping to up the ante now that I can wear real shoes again!


What's your new favorite healthy recipe?

A Few of My (new) Favorite Things

Sure, I love raindrops on roses, brown paper packages tied up with string, and snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes, but, Stop-the-Presses!, I have a few new things to add to the list.  

This photo of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park 
is courtesy of TripAdvisor


 

First let me tell you about my green crocs.  Why yes, they do look rather like frog feet.  I first discovered how great they were when we took a trip to Glacier National Park.  We had a picnic by Lake McDonald. It  is fed by snowmelt (can we say c-o-l-d??) and, as you can see the lakebed is stone.  We were with Laura's family and, between the 8 of us, we had one pair of adult sized crocs.  That one pair got used by every single member of the party to wade out into the lake and play.  That same day, we found a dollar store in town and bought knock-off crocs for everybody.  Now we always throw them in the trunk when we travel by car, just in case. 

Last Friday I went shopping with my BFF.  We were going to a fairly upscale mall, so I didn't want to wear my white running shoes with good black slacks, so I decided to wear my new black leather sport shoes that I'd bought for just such a time.  We had a great time and I racked up lots of steps on my pedometer.  A couple of hours into the morning, I noticed that my heels were sore.  We stopped for lunch and then shopped for a couple more hours.  I definitely noticed the pain by the time we walked to the car.  By the time I got home I could barely walk.  Of course I found each heel had a huge blister that had rubbed raw through the skin.  I have lived in my green crocs since Friday, except for Sunday morning, when I wore ridiculously out-of-season black heelless sandals to church.  I even went for my walks with crocs.  They're amazingly comfortable.  The only annoyance is small gravel bits that sneak in through the holes and require a stop to shake them out.   

Green Tea.  I've never liked it.  The 17DD, however, does like it (it's apparently loaded with antioxidants) and calls for two or three cups a day.  I bought several types of green tea with added flavors to try.  Lipton's Mandarin Orange flavor was fairly good, but then I tried Lemon Ginger Green Tea (Stash).  OMG, this is a dynamo flavor combination.  I use one packet of truvia with it and it makes a wonderful cuppa.  I bought mine at Safeway, but I've seen the Stash brand at other stores, too.

And one other discovery from following the 17DD.  An egg white scramble makes a super-quick delicious breakfast.  Really, it's almost as fast as cereal. I bought a case of Costco's Real Egg (99% egg whites, but the traditional yellow color).  When I ran out I picked up a carton of All Whites (100% egg whites).  I like both, but the All Whites, with a strange almost water-like consistency cook up magically into something that reminds me a lot of the best part of a fried egg (the white part!).

I know you may have other things to do today, so I'll wrap this up with a progress report on my time on the 17DD and my weekly mileage.

I finished the first cycle (17 days) of the 17DD on Sunday.  My total weight loss for that time was 10.4 pounds.  While I've started the second 17 day cycle, I'm not sure that this is something I plan to do for life.  I love the jump start to my weight loss and have gained some insights during the process:  yes, I can be disciplined, at least for a short time; I don't have to have sugary "treats" every day; portion size counts; drinking all that water (and tea) is do-able and helpful.  I've discovered some great new recipes along the way.  I actually like the yogurt (never a yogurt fan). I missed the whole grains. A lot.  The yogurt may "help the digestive process," but my body needs more fiber than the first cycle provided. I'll see if this second cycle works better with my digestion.  Stay tuned.

The mileage for last week was right on track until I  developed those blisters on my heels.  Still, I totalled 22 miles for the week, bringing my YTD to a nice, even 150 miles!

For your viewing pleasure: My father, at about 5 or 6 years old (c 1922) with his sling-shot.  He was apparently pretty skilled. In his later years, my mother had to work hard to persuade him to use humane traps to catch the marauding squirrels in his vegetable garden rather than his trusty sling-shot.

Checking In plus 17 Day Diet Update and Recipe Ideas

I've been enjoying getting out to walk.  How did I let this "me-time" fall by the wayside?  I'm experimenting with a bit of running interspersed and might try out the C25K (again).  I'm still wearing my pedometer.  Last week I averaged 6K a day for a total of 22 miles.  YTD mileage 128.  Next week my goal is to avg 7.5K per day and work up within a few weeks to 10K.

Today is day 11 on the 17 Day Diet  (check here to see a description and review of the plan).  It's working for me.  After the first couple of days, I found my cravings for sugar and salty/crispy things diminished to negligible levels.  This is good!  I also think the variety of foods is okay (even on the first, most restricted, cycle).  I feel in control of my eating again and that's a super feeling.  Even when I spent four days in the hospital last week with my son, I was able to stick pretty much to my planned eating.  I'm getting my exercise back on track (aiming for 10K steps a day and my 2-3 circuit trips a week).  And, best of all, I'm losing weight.  After 10 full days on the program, I've lost 8.4 pounds.  :-)

I'm not bored with the food choices yet.  A friend asked what I found to eat for dinner.  I think she was imagining boiled chicken and celery sticks at every meal. Here are some meals that we've enjoyed over the last 11 days.

Soy Lemon Chicken (8 chicken thighs (bone in, skin removed); Marinade: 1/4 c each ls soy sauce and lemon juice,  seasoned w/  dash of garlic powder &  1/2 tsp powdered ginger and 2 thinly sliced lemons)  Bake 50 min in 350 oven or until done.  Turn pieces over, half way thru cooking.

Steamed Asparagus

Flash Cooked Collards w/ Lemon Juice  (I have good nonstick pans and half the olive oil worked just fine)

Slow Roasted Plum Tomatoes    These are yummy.  Make a lot. Again, I used about half the olive oil.

Stuffed Green Peppers  (I added some chopped fresh collard greens and mushrooms)  We had this for dinner tonight--YUM!

Baked Salmon w/ Apricot Mustard Glaze  (A Cooking Light recipe: substitute water for the 1/4 cup apricot nectar & Truvia for the honey)

Artichoke w/ olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette dipping sauce

Roasted Chicken Breast (Ina Garten recipe)--This is the BEST recipe for roasted chicken, it's very easy and makes it moist and delHicious and ready for using later if you need it in another recipe.  Remove the skin afterwards.

Roasted Broccoli (high heat, olive oil, S&P)

Stir fried pepper strips (green, red, & yellow peppers strips stir fried in canola oil)

Chicken Vegetable Soup (broth, carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, chicken, cabbage)

Green Salad (cherry tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, cucumber, olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette)

Pan Seared Talapia (in olive oil,  w S&P, paprika) with lemon

Asian Slaw (cabbage, shredded carrots,  2 tsp canola oil,  1 T ls soy sauce,  3 T rice vinegar,  1 1/2 tsp truvia)

Chicken Stir Fry (chicken breast, canola oil, red peppers, yellow peppers, snow peas, celery, shitaki mushrooms, scallions, ls soy sauce, S&P)

For your viewing pleasure:  Grandson Jack (2 1/2) putting the finishing touches on his egg-carton caterpillar.  We had craft time after their naps this afternoon.  It's so fun to have them and to watch them learn and grow.

Thanks for your supportive comments last week.  Son Jay is sounding much better (cough-wise) and goes for his follow up appointment on Wednesday before he can go back to work.  He's getting bored being home, I think!  DH is fighting his own bout of congestion and cough plus flu-like symptoms.  Much chicken soup and tea.  I'm big into hand-washing just now and keeping my sickies away from the kiddos.

I'll miss my WI once again (3rd week in a row) because Jay's appointment falls smack dab during the meeting.  Maybe I can get to an earlier meeting . . . I'd like to go.  I do think that the 17DD fits well with the WW Simply Filling (Core) program.  I've tracked a couple days and am eating right at my daily target points.

Onward and downward!
Tish

Good News

1. I figured out how to insert one of my own photos via iPad.
2. Jay loved meeting the two therapy dogs who visited his room in the hospital.
And 3. We're HOME, and Dorothy got it right. There's no place like home.

Tish

No News is

[apologies in advance for typos, lack of links, and other format oddities]

Good News, at least on the fitness and diet front. I'm a bit late checcking in this week, but my report on my exercise and eating is glowing! I finally remembered how much I enjoyed my long runs on my favorite running path and racked up 4 three plus mile outings. I even ran a bit on a couple of them. My pedometer is happy to report 19 miles worth of steps for last week. Too cold for biking miles, so my yearly total as of last Sunday is 106.

I missed my WW meeting last week and today, but am doing very well and expect a very happy loss next week. After reading about Sharon's (Gains and Losses) and Tami's (Nutmeg Notebook) experiences with The 17 Day Diet, I decided to look into it. I think it tracks along very well with the WW Simply Filling plan (formerly called CORE and my plan of choice). I decided to follow it to see if I could jump start my weightloss efforts. What appealed most to me was the idea that a fairly short term of omitting all sugar and grains would erase a craving for those foods. I'm just finishing day 5 and can report that so far, it's been remarkably easy. Amazing. I totted up the points plus for one day and am just about exactly at my WW target. I'm getting fruits, veggies, lean meats, healthy oils, and dairy every day.

My reason for not posting earlier, for trying to create a post on my iPad, and for missing my WI today? That's the bad news. Our son Jay is in the hospital ICU with pneumonia, and maybe influenza. He may be 30 (!!), but he's my youngest and he wants me here, with him. This will be my second night sleeping in a chair near his bed. After a rough night last night, he's perked up a lot today. Here's a picture of him in his Darth Vader mask, waving to you with his bionic finger. We're in the brand new, state of the art military hospital near our home. He has a private suite and more high tech gadgets than you could imagine. He enjoyed a Percussive Vibration treatment this evening. The nurse pushed a button and his bed vibrated percussively(?) to break up some of the congestion in his lungs. It brought to mind the coin operated massage available in cheesy motels of the 60s and 70s. One of the best parts of the day, besides Jay starting to feel better, is when my BFF, Marilyn came to visit. She not only brought a mylar balloon for Jay, but she brought food--the kind I can have. Yogurt, oranges and hard boiled eggs. A veritable feast! Friends are a true blessing. We're hoping that he might be out on Friday. Well phooey! Can't add the photo either. Sorry. At least I can stay up late reading books on the Kindle App . . . .

Please keep Jay in your prayers. Back to our regularly scheduled program next week.

Tish

UPDATE: Jay's numbers look very good this morning and he may be graduating to the regular ward today! 😃