Slim down your fast food

Cruising the drive-through or food court doesn’t have to lead to a supersize you, thanks to a number of waistline-friendly options popping up on fast food menus. The tricky part? Spotting them among the seemingly healthy picks. These choices will keep you from consuming hundreds of extra calories—and packing inches onto your hips.

The best and worst menu picks

BURGER KING	CHILI'S	KFC	McDONALD'S	PANDA EXPRESS	PANERA BREAD	TACO BELL
Instead of Tendergrill, Chicken, Sandwich (490 calories, 21 g fat)	Instead of Caesar Salad with Spicy Garlic and Lime Grilled Shrimp (980 calories, 77 g fat)	Instead of Original Recipe Chicken Breast, potato wedges, and coleslaw (800 calories, 43 g fat)	Instead of Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken and Creamy Southwest Dressing (530 calories, 26 g fat)	Instead of Orange Chicken and an order of with rice (975 calories, 32 g fat)	Instead of Sierra Turkey Sandwich on Asiago Cheese Focaccia (970 calories 54 g fat)	Instead of Chicken Fiesta Taco Salad (780 calories 36 g fat)
HAVE Whopper Junior (hold the mayo) and a side of BK Fresh Apple “Fries” With Caramel Sauce (360 calories, 13 g fat)	HAVE Spicy Garlic and Lime Grilled Shrimp, a house side salad, and black beans with pico de gallo (520 calories, 25 g fat)	HAVE Original Recipe Chicken Breast (remove the skin), mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans (320 calories, 9 g fat)	HAVE Premium Asian Salad with Grilled Chicken and Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing (390 calories, 13 g fat)	HAVE Egg Flower Soup, Beef with Broccoli, and a half order of white rice (473 calories, 12 g fat)	HAVE Half a smoked Turkey Breast Sandwich, a small cup of creamy tomato soup, and a small fruit cup (520 calories 24 g fat)	HAVE Fresco Chicken Burrito Supreme and a side of Mexican rice (440 calories, 11 g fat)
SAVE: 130 calories, 8 g fat	SAVE: 460 calories, 52 g fat	SAVE: 480 calories, 34 g fat	SAVE: 140 calories, 13 g fat	SAVE: 502 calories, 20 g fat	SAVE: 450 calories, 30 g fat	SAVE: 340 calories, 25 g fat

Salad Niçoise

Be creative: Substitute cherry tomatoes for bell pepper or use grilled tuna rather than canned.

Ingredients:

• ½ lb (4-5 cups) mixed baby greens
  
  


• 4 oz sweet potato, cooked and cut into 1” cubes
  
  


• 8 oz green beans, cooked and cut into 1½” lengths
  
  


• ½ cup roasted red bell pepper
  
  


• 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
  
  


• ¼ cup black olives, sliced
  
  


• 4 anchovy fillets
  
  


• 6 oz water-packed tuna, drained
  
  


• ¼ cup Galeos Vinaigrette
  
  

Preparation:

• Arrange greens, sweet potato, green beans. bell pepper, eggs, olives, anchovies, and tuna on plates. Drizzle with dressing.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount per Serving: 200 Calories, 15 g Protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 6 g Fiber, 6 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 260 mg sodium

It's going to be a good day

I've been up since 3 a.m. checking on my software release. Everything looks good. It went out to all locations (120+) at 2:33 a.m. I completed a couple very basic smoke tests on two machines in two cities and I think it's going to be okay. Hallelujah!

It's 4:30 a.m. now so I guess it's off to the gym. Honestly, I'm so tired I could easily go back to sleep but I need to leave work early today so I can work on my Toastmaster speech for tomorrow. Ugh! The title is "The Fountain of Youth" and it's about the importance of exercise to the slow down the aging process.

I'm going to make a room of 20 people listen to me praise the benefits of exercise for seven minutes. They're a trapped audience and have to listen. Did I ever mention how much I hate public speaking? I'm getting better and Toastmasters is a huge help, but it's not something I would normally volunteer to do for fun. It's one of those things that if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger.

Oddly, I'm starving this morning. Normally I don't eat before my workout but I feel like I'm running on zero energy this morning and my stomach is actually growling at me. I didn't have any snacks late last night other than a small Honeycrisp apple at 8pm, and I stayed within my 21 Points yesterday (not easy!). I'm cutting back on eating my earned exercise Points, especially since my candy lapse on Sunday.

I'm also trying to cut back on junk, aka "diet" ice cream and frozen fruit bars. Since I have difficulty eating just one of anything that I think tastes good, I've stopped buying them. Even though the frozen fruit bars are only 70 calories each, if I eat three in one sitting that's 210 calories and a lot of sugar. So they're not on the list anymore.

On Dawn's recommendation I bought a box of sugar-free fudgsicles. There's not much chance I'd eat more than one of those at a time, or two at the absolute max. They're 40 calories each and not exactly what I would call delicious, but they're better than nothing if you're really dying for a junk food sort of treat. Last night I actually decided I'd prefer an organic apple over the fudgesicles. An interesting concept. Something wholesome and healthy over something artificial (although sometimes, I'd pick the artificial treat).

I really have to get to the gym now and stop stalling. Row machine for 20, Stair Master for 20 and upper body weights for 40. Fun times.

Track Your Progress

Jotting down the foods you eat and the workout you do provides extra motivation to keep you on course

This journal can be an invaluable tool for helping you reach your maximum weight loss potential. It’s not only makes you more mindful of what you’re putting in your mouth, it also motivates you to think about your workouts and plan ahead. Start recording your success today!

Date:___________________________Calorie Goal:_____________________________
What I ate:	Calories	Carbohydrate (45%)	Protein (30%)	Fat (25%)
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Dinner:
Snack 1:
Snack 2:

Total Calories:___________________+/- Goal Calories:__________________

Glasses of Water □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □

What I did:	Duration
Exercise:

Fish Tacos

Ingredients:



Fish:

• 1 lb orange roughy or other boneless, skinless fish fillet, such as red snapper
  
  


• 3 tbsp lime juice
  
  


• ½ tsp paprika
  
  


• ½ tsp salt
  
  


• ½ tsp ground black pepper
  
  


• ½ tsp chili powder (optional)
  
  

Tacos:

• 8 whole grain high-fiber tortillas or stone-ground corn tortillas
  
  


• ½ avocado, chopped and lightly mashed
  
  


• ⅓ cup shredded low-fat Mexican blend or pepper Jack cheese
  
  


• ½ cup tomato salsa
  
  


• 4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  
  


• 1½ cups finely shredded cabbage
  
  


• Hot sauce (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Place fish in shallow baking dish and sprinkle with lime juice, paprika, salt, black pepper, and chili powder, if using. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate about 30 minutes.
  
  


• Preheat grill to medium-high heat (or preheat oven to 375 F).
  
  


• Coat 24”*12” piece of foil lightly with olive oil cooking spray. Place fish in single layer in center of foil. Fold foil over and fold ends upward to seal in fish. Place foil packet on grill. Cook 7 to 10 minutes. Or until fish is opaque. Remove from grill.
  
  


• Wrap tortillas in foil place on grill to warm 2 minutes. Spread about one-eighth of mashed avocado on each tortilla and top with one-eighth of the fish. Sprinkle each with cheese, salsa, cilantro, cabbage, and hot sauce, if using.
  
  

Make 8 (1 taco) Servings:



Weight Loss Recipes Amount per Serving: 140 Calories, 18 g Protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 8 g Fiber, 5 g fat, < 1 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 480 mg sodium

Yes, she's a little bit crazy

Lately I've been a little bit nuts in my postings. I'm here, there and everywhere on how I'm trying to lose weight. One week I'm quitting Weight Watchers and Geneen Roth is my magic bullet. The next week I'm back at Weight Watchers, then I'm doing Geneen Roth's plan and Weight Watchers, then I'm binging. If you're wondering what the hell I'm doing, well, get in line because I'm not sure myself anymore.

The only thing I know is that I'm not giving up. If it's not working for me, I'll try something else and I'll keep trying different things until I get this figured out.

Now a word about therapy for people that have food issues. Obviously, I have issues. Anyone that gains 100 pounds and doesn't have a medical reason for the gain, most likely has some mental issues that contributed to the weight gain.

I remember the very first time someone told me I needed to go to therapy for my issues with food. It was in 1992, the person was my Jenny Craig "counselor". After going from 192 to 135 pounds, and still wanting to lose another ten pounds, I lost control one week and ate six bananas in one sitting. I don't know much about the program these days, but in 1992 you were only allowed one or two bananas a week, maximum.

I had a few more encounters with food similar to the banana incident over a period of several weeks. When I told my very thin Jenny Craig counselor about my binges, she was appalled. I think she'd lost 25 pounds on Jenny Craig before she was qualified to become a "counselor". She told me there wasn't anything she could do to help me, that I was wasting my money at Jenny Craig, and I needed to go into therapy.

She was right, but at this point in my life, I'm just not willing to spend the time and effort for therapy. Perhaps that's a bad idea, but it's where I am right now.

The food and exercise
Today was a very good food day. I forgot to take the leftover candy to work, but I put it in the trunk of my car tonight, and I feel safe. Crazy isn't it? That I feel "safe" from food. It's not like it's going to attack me.

My workout was great today, I love that old slider rowing machine. I did my thirty minutes on the crossramp and then fifteen minutes rowing. I found some videos on how to use the rowing machine (and if your back hurts, you're doing it wrong).

There are several great instructional videos available on YouTube. It turns out it's a good upper body workout, as well as good for your core. It's not really meant to get your heart rate up high (although it does if you do it too fast), it's more to strengthen your upper body. Who knew? I was doing it super fast to burn calories, but after watching the videos I'm going to slow it down a bit for more strengthening.

Now the crazy lady is going to bed. Tomorrow at 2am is out big software release to production. I'm not expecting good things. I hope I'm wrong.

The Day After Halloween

Photo Credit

This happens every year to me.  No matter what my thinking is, it's never good enough.  I know that Halloween is coming and I prepare for the day by telling myself that I can enjoy the day.  If I only indulged on holidays, I wouldn't have a weight issue.

But then the next day comes.  I was resolved to not touch anything from last night.  My kids have been trained well.  They each dumped their candy into a big gallon zip lock and disappeared with them.  This is good, out of sight, out of mind. But what stayed behind? A nice full plate of my aunt's delicious cookies and brownies.  I looked at them first thing this morning.  How are you supposed to eat your normal, boring breakfast when you have a plate of goodies staring at you?  I should have just thrown them out, but that would be wasteful.

I haven't been looking forward to today since we the reality hit that our vacation was over.  I knew it would be hard, and getting up to face the day was.  My house is thrashed from all the unpacking and laundry mixed with Halloween decor. Thank heaven my husband was kind enough to straighten up a bunch last night. Halloween decor is so annoying to see on November 1st.  Also, NaNoWriMo officially started at midnight last night and all I really want to do is write, not teach or clean.

In efforts to keep my priorities straight, I turned a blind eye to the house, started school and grabbed an oatmeal cookie for breakfast. It was certainly a compromise wouldn't you say? But what's come back to bite me is my kids.  Somehow they have actually learned the good quality of sharing and they are doing just that.  How am I to turn down shared candy from my kids? I can't.

So this is my plan.  I will NOT allow myself to sneak their candy.  (This is where I have found myself in trouble in the past) If they offer, I will make the decision at that time and hopefully it will give me a moment to choose the right.

I lost about 5 pounds while gone this week and I would like to keep it that way.  I think I might also commit myself to a nightly workout starting tonight.  If I can tap into my perfectionist tendencies and do the elliptical everyday for the next few months, maybe I will not only get through the holidays with my current jeans but also in a daily habit again for 2010.  Hello holiday season!