Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Your Very Own Crab Rangoon

Hey guys! I stayed at Clay’s last night and my scale is at my apartment, so I didn’t weigh in today. I will weigh in tomorrow.
But I have a food blog for you today. Who out there loves Crab Rangoon? Yeah, me too. In fact, that’s all I pile on my plate when I go to Chinese buffets. Mostly because I’m not a fan of the buffet (another story for another blog), so I just consume my weight in the rangoons because, really, what could go wrong?
Lots can go wrong. Those puppies are fried and loaded with full-fat cheese. That appetizer is no joke. So how do you get your crab rangoon on? You make a light version in the comfort of your very own home, that’s how! And if you aren’t sure what spices to put in them, just have Clay make them for you.
For ours we used (or rather, Clay used) one package of 1/3 fat cream cheese, 1 can of crabmeat (our pick was Bumble Bee brand, based solely on this song), and 1 package of wonton wraps. Mix the cheese and crab meat together and add some spices (Clay added a dash of ginger and soy sauce). Then spoon the mixture onto a wonton wrapper, sprinkle the edges with water, fold over, and seal. Voila!



These guys only took about 8 minutes to bake in a 350o oven, too. Clay flipped them over halfway through.
Now I’ll let you guess how many points each one is. Go on. The whole batch of filling made 20 rangoons. I plugged the recipe into my WW iPad recipe app and it came out to 1PP per rangoon. One! That’s it! Eat up, kids. 
While Clay was making the Crab Rangoon, I was having a go at making this thing:

I took a bag of frozen berries from Trader Joes (be sure to get the no-sugar-added kind; just frozen fruit!) and sprinkled on 1Tbsp of sugar. I let that sit while I layered a muffin pan with two wontons per hole. I did this because I knew the fruit juice would soak through the first wonton, so a second layer was needed just to be safe. After the wrappers were in place, I spooned in my fruit. Then I baked them. For these I turned the oven down to about 275o and left them in for about 20 minutes. I don’t know why I did this. Actually, that’s a lie. I did it because that’s how you bake apple pies. Low temperature for a long time. Turns out that was a good decision on my part (Kudos, Kelly, Kudos) because they were pretty awesome. Since they have two wonton wrappers plus the sugar, these are 2 PP each. Not bad for a dessert, I’d say.

The camera on my phone doesn't take the most appetizing of pictures, but I hope you still try to make your own versions. Maybe your phone's camera will make the food more aesthetically pleasing.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Weigh-in and Arc Training


Hello hello! Guess what? I lost 2.4 pounds this week! That means I hit my mini goal and have also lost a total of 41 pounds. Ahh! I set my next mini goal for 15 more pounds. That will probably take me a long time to hit at this rate.
I’m finding it increasingly hard to curb my eating lately, and this past week was no different. However, I worked out a lot harder than I had been. I did two spinning classes (one that was so hard I nearly vomited afterward), and I did a crazy-hard workout at the gym on the arc trainer. I put that puppy’s resistance up to 100 and ran – ran – backwards for 10 minutes. That’s in addition to all the forward-running I did at various resistances. It was a great workout. I haven’t pushed myself that hard on my own in a long time. Any arc trainer fans out there? How do you vary your workout on the machine? It’s so easy to stagnate on gym machines, I think. You can really get in a rut if you rely solely on them for your workouts. But that’s just my opinion. I haven’t done any official research on the subject. Feel free to disagree. In fact, please do! I’d love to hear the other side of that argument. You know, in case I want to change my opinion.
So I think what helped was the increased intensity of my workouts.
As for curbing my eating, I don’t eat horribly. I never go over my weekly + activity points, but I have been going over every day instead of saving them up for one or two special days. But something worked this past week, and that’s all I can hope for.
Also, guess what’s back? My weekly picture! It’s been a while, so I’m also putting up my first picture so you can see just how far I’ve come. Oh boy, I hope you’re sitting down for this.



Weight loss this week: 2.4 pounds
Total weight loss: 41 pounds

Monday, February 20, 2012

The New River Gorge Bridge

Clay and I took a little impromptu trip to Fayetteville, West Virginia yesterday to see the New River Gorge Bridge. We almost did the bridge walk, and I was getting pretty excited about it, until I called and found out it was $70 per person. So we just viewed from afar. 




The mining town of Kaymoor used to sit right at the bend of the river


We did a little bit of hiking around the area as well. The hikes we took weren’t long at all. In fact, one was just a staircase created by the visitor’s center that allowed you to get a better look at the bridge. But guess how many steps it had? 178. Climbing 178 steps at a brisk pace gets your heart going.



The second trail we went to was advertised as “strenuous.” They were not lying. We hiked through the woods on what felt like a vertical wall and when we got to the crest, the trail narrowed quite a bit so you were walking down a windy treacherous slope between a wall and a cliff. I called foul. It wasn’t an official hiking day for us (we were just checking them out) and neither of us was prepared for that kind of hike. So we went back to the car, but we were both huffing and puffing for most of that hike as well. It was steep!


Then we headed over to Charleston for lunch at the Bluegrass KitchenI forgot to pull out my camera so I didn’t get any pics of the food or the decor, but it was in an old building and had a pretty artsy vibe going on. I wouldn’t call it kitschy. Or maybe I would. You check it out and see for yourself. It’s worth a drive down just for the scenery. 

I got the house salad with grilled chicken and a side of fries. I shared the fries with Clay. Clay got a cheeseburger, fries, and a side salad. Clay’s a foodie, so he wasn’t too impressed with his stuff. I think he’s also turning me into a foodie, because I am finding myself fine-tuning my taste buds on every meal I eat. My salad was okay. The dressing (homemade strawberry vinaigrette) was a little too sour for my taste. They also put a heeping pile of sprouts on my salad. I’ve never been a fan of sprouts – I think they taste like dirt (literally) – but it had been years since I last tried them so I gave them another shot. Yep, still tasted like dirt. But the fries were really good. That’s why I made Clay eat most of them.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Weigh-in and Winter

I lost 3.4 pounds this week. Still 1.2 pounds from my next mini goal, but I’m a lot closer than I was last week. I just keep dancing around it, as Hannah said.
This past weekend I got snowed in at my parents’ house. It felt pretty fantastic and was needed more than I realized. I didn’t have my winter attire with me, since it wasn’t winter when I drove up on Friday, so I didn’t get to take any winter walks. BUT, Candy and I ventured to Ligonier on Saturday morning to workout at the YMCA, so I did get some exercise.
Do you go for winter walks? Or hikes, depending on your preference? I personally enjoy the leisurely walks: the crunch of the snow giving way to your weight, the slow pace, the silence. Winter is so silent, isn’t it? Stark. I personally enjoy taking winter walks at night, when the snow picks up the light from the moon. It’s like walking on a bed of glitter.  
Weight loss this week: 3.4 pounds
Total weight loss: 38.6

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Weigh-in and How I Will Fix It

Oh yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. I gained 4.4 pounds this week. There were some reasons I couldn't control, like the swelling in my foot (yes, that’s still there!), but there was one glaring mistake I made this week.
I said in my last post how I had been up two pounds all week. Every day after my weigh-in day saw a gain of two pounds. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The scale didn’t budge. No matter what I ate, no matter how much water I drank, no matter what exercise I did. It just wouldn’t move. I hate to admit it, but I let it get the best of me. I actually had this thought: “Well, if I’m not losing any weight then why not eat what I want?” And that’s exactly what I did. I used Clay’s Superbowl party as a special occasion to eat what I wanted. A Superbowl party. That was my special occasion. A SUPERBOWL PARTY! I don’t even like football! What is so special about a Superbowl party that I would consider it enough of a special occasion to eat the following foods (in very large quantities, mind you): chips and dip, oreo cream pie, peanut butter cream pie, Italian sausage sandwich, garlic parmesan chicken tenders, cream cheese roll, chips and dip, chips and dips, chips and dip (my weakness is salty foods, not sweets)??? The answer: nothing. There is nothing special about that day. I was discouraged from my consistent gain of two pounds and I let it get the best of me. So now I’m 4.4 pounds heavier and feel like I gained every last ounce of weight back. All 30-something pounds. I feel defeated. I feel like the unhealthy me let the healthy me down.
Okay, so what am I going to do about it? Surely I’m not going to let this setback set me back, right? Right! Here’s my plan: I have no plan. Everytime I come up with a plan – an eating plan, an exercise routine, a set of restrictions – I always feel trapped and end up allowing one misstep to throw me off completely. So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to be the best I can be this week. I’m going to work on making better decisions and get back to tracking (because I haven’t been tracking on the weekends, another problem for another blog). I’m not only going to think about the food I’m choosing to put in my body, I’m also going to think about the portions of that food. I’m just going to do my best. No rules, no guidelines, just an honest effort. I can do this.
Weight loss this week: +4.4 pounds
Total weight loss: 35.2 pounds

Monday, February 6, 2012

The Running Debacle

For the first time in months, I tried running again. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill. For every three minutes I walked, I ran for one minute. Might not seem like much, but it felt like plenty. (Remember that time I ran for five minutes straight??? Yeah, the memory is fuzzy for me, too.) And now the bad news: my foot swelled immediately afterward. I forgot what it was like to have swollen feet, it had been so long. I put a lot of faith in my custom shoe inserts, but I guess I can’t underestimate the jarring circumstances that come with running. I’m kind of at a loss as to what to do now. I want to keep trying, but I don’t know if I want it to be at the expense of my physical health. Funny how the very thing that keeps me healthy is also the very thing that keeps me injured. Argh!!!
Maybe I’ll keep up with the 1-minute jogging increments until spring and then give the Couch to 5K a go. Perhaps my foot just needs an adjustment period to get used to the movement of running? Who knows. Any advice or cautionary tales from you runners out there? Am I doomed or is this a normal occurrence for new runners?
As a teaser to my weigh-in tomorrow, I’ve been up 2 pounds all week. What gives? I’ve been on-point (save for the Superbowl party) and got plenty of exercise this week. Bodies are so weird sometimes, yes?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Weigh-in and Superstardom

I lost 1.2 pounds this week. I am so close to my next goal I can taste it. I’m going to work hard to lose that last .3 pounds this week. I started yesterday. I did my regular spinning class and ate on-point all day. I was pretty satisfied too.
I’ve been making this new pasta concoction. I’m a fan of the pasta concoction. It’s basically 1 cup of pasta (I use whole wheat), a protein, and any veggies you have laying around. I’ll have to write a blog about it soon complete with pictures. Tomorrow feels like a good day for that. Anyway, this new pasta concoction fills me up! And it’s so low in points that I have enough left over for a cup of tea and a PB&J-on-a-crumpet snack.  That’s what I had for dinner last night and I was completely satisfied.
I also had enough energy to get all my homework done, including a four-page report. I am a superstar.
So what has you feeling like a superstar these days?

Weight loss this week: 1.2 pound
Total weight loss: 39.6 pounds