A New Year, A New Year Giveaway Event Starts Today - Enter Now!

Life has been SO incredibly busy. We had Christmas in California, which was wonderful.  Not so wonderful, however, was learning we had to move out of this place so the landlady's cousin could move in (sigh.)  Back on the side of excellent, however, is the fact that we're buying a condo and should move in there in about a month.  Score!  There's a fitness room in the clubhouse so I can train away for my half marathon in May.

Now that things are starting to settle out somewhat (we've done a lot of packing, we know where we're moving, etc), it's time to get back to posting. I am joining my first multi-blog giveaway event.  Without further ado....



Welcome to A New Year, A New Me Giveaway Event hosted by Daily Mothering, Mommy of Two Little Monkeys and Mommy Digger! Do you want to become a healthier, fitter, slimmer, more beautiful YOU in 2012? Over 55 blogs have come together to present this exciting fitness and beauty event January 24th-31st! Each blog is giving away a fitness and/or beauty related prize worth $25 or more (and some are worth more than $100!). Enter my giveaway and then hop to the next blog on the list at the bottom of this post to have a chance to win more exciting prizes!


What Can I Win?
Glad you asked!  I've got a nice prize pack for y'all today.  Just peek at the Rafflecopter below for specific prizes like RevAbs (get that 6 pack!), a workout log and more.
The giveaway starts Jan 24th at 12:01 AM EST and ends 11:59 PM EST on Jan 31st. Open to those in US and Canada who are 13+.  Void where prohibited.

Note to Men: Eating Healthy is Not Emasculating

I know a fellow that is trying to lose weight and eat better.  However, he runs into problems sometimes when eating out with other guys.  He says it is "emasculating" to take home leftovers or have the restaurant box up half at the start...so he just eats the whole thing.  He also thinks it's less manly to eat salads or other healthy fare, sometimes. I guess men are supposed to eat with abandon or such.

Newsflash:  Eating in a healthy manner does not make you less of a dude.

I try telling him this, and that it doesn't matter what other people think.  That's a lesson I've learned over the years that has helped me so much.  I know perhaps that I can't understand fully since I'm a chica, but it doesn't quite make sense to me.

Some of the time he does go get something healthier from a different fast food place nearby and bring it to where the group is eating, so kudos on that for sure.  I think he needs to learn not to care what other people say.  I wish those other guys wouldn't say anything if his meal is deemed less than manly...whatever that really means.

Do the guys in your life feel like this?

I Conquered Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is rough for a lot of us, isn't it?  Foods that we only usually have a few times a year are everywhere.  Stereotypically, we are supposed to eat until we're overstuffed...and still make room for some desserts after.

This is what my plate looked like this year.  I don't think I did too bad!  As you can see, half of the plate is vegetables - steamed carrots, broccoli


and cauliflower, as well as Oriental Green Beans.
 I have about 6 ounces of turkey, 2 small rolls, 1/4 cup mashed potatoes, 1/8 cup gravy, 1/2 cup noodles (I didn't eat all of them) and 2 stuffing balls. My mother-in-law has a set of the Weight Watchers easy measuring ladles, so I was able to portion everything out easily.  I need to get a set the next time I go to weigh in!

I followed that with a piece of sunshine cake (which is yellow cake with pineapple and coconut), a piece of chocolate pie, and a piece of Snickers pie (a Weight Watchers recipe).  I had a 2nd piece of Snickers pie later that evening.

I did end up using about 19 of my weekly points in addition to my dailies, but I am perfectly fine with that - that's what they are there for!  I still have some left for the week.  I monitored everything I ate and logged it.  I am feeling pleased that I was full, not overstuffed, and made healthier choices overall.

How was your Thanksgiving?

In Love with Skinnytaste!

Sometimes my friends and I do International Nights, where we pick a country or two and have some foods from that area.  The most recent one was for Argentina and Uruguay.  ¡Muy bien!

I was looking around for a recipe for healthier empanadas.  These little turnovers are usually fried and full of calories, but adjustments like baking can help.  I found a recipe for baked empanadas on Skinnytaste.com.

This blog takes recipes and lightens them up.  I love that she also lists the WW Points and Points+ for the recipes.  While I didn't end up making them (I ran out of time to look for the Goya discs), I have looked through the recipes and drooled over many of the pictures.

I did make her Kalua pork and pineapple shrimp fried rice (minus the shrimp) and both were delicious. They were a hit with Mister too, which is always great.  I already have a few more in mind to try out soon.

What healthy recipe blogs do you like to visit?

Plan Ahead for Eating Out

One of the things that I like about Weight Watchers is that no food is off limits.  Of course, you can't eat a whole bag of Reese's peanut butter cups (yum!) all the time, but you can have some here and there as long as you watch how many points it is and account for it.

You can also go out to eat too.  I like to go the restaurant's website and check out the menu before I go. Many places now list nutritional information (thank goodness!), so it makes it much easier to know what my options are and choose accordingly.

I did this recently when we went to Outback with a friend.  I knew Mister wanted to get the cheese fries, which have a lot of points.  Using the points calculator and the website information, I was able to determine that I wanted to have 1/3 of the cheese fries and the Grilled Chicken on the Barbie.  I adjusted my points during the day in anticipation of our dinner.  I made sure to ask for no butter on the veggies.

I did go over a bit.  They took too long to get us seated, get us water and get our food to us, so I was pretty hungry.  I had 3 chunks of the delicious brown bread that I hadn't planned on eating. It wasn't overboard, though, and I had extra weekly points to use.

I'm going to Panda Express today and lunch is already entered into my tracker.  I chose a Panda Bowl made up of Mixed Veggies and the Garlic Lover's Chicken Breast.  I'll also have Hot & Sour Soup.  Yummy!

How do you make eating out a better experience when you're trying to lose weight?