I made my own tostitos

Yesterday I was looking for something to snack on.  I wanted potato chips.  I almost went to the store to buy some potato chips.  Mmmm potato chips.  I didn’t do it, I was strong.  I instead came home to see what I could find to eat.  I had purchased a package of 90 corn tortillas for a fish taco recipe and decided to experiment.  Yesterday I attempted to make Doritos and discovered that, while not bad, using popcorn seasoning on my “chips” didn’t quite have the flavor I was seeking.  Today I was in the mood for nachos.  I cut 5 corn tortillas into 8 pieces and baked them for 12 minutes on 350.  I then salted and peppered them.  I ate a few and they totally cured my chip craving.  The good news..the whole plateful was only 245 calories.  The package also says they are fat free, but that is for a serving of 2 tortillas.  I added some low fat sour cream , 2% milk cheese, and some salsa for a total calorie count of 445.  The fat was about 14grams.  I enjoyed my tasty meal and now have a plan for when the chip craving strikes.  Also, the tortillas are around 3 dollars for 90 at Wal-Mart.

ARG!

Okay, I was so excited yesterday because I thought I had lost 9 pounds, but today was our school weigh in.  I like to weigh in on Sunday mornings sans clothes so I have some idea of what to expect on Monday mornings with all my clothes on.  I was feeling pretty good about stepping on that scale today.  I hop up only to find that the stupid scale said I had gained a half a pound.  I almost said an unkind word, but there was a student in the nurse’s office trying to rest.  The nurse said that at certain times of the month one could gain weight.  Great I say, it happens to be that time, but 9 1/2 pounds?  I gained that much by sleeping and putting on clothes!  The nice school nurse assures me that I will show improvement next week, but I am still disappointed.  The question now is can I rightfully leave the Sunday morning weight on my ticker and fit day page?

Is this thing broken?

Today I got on the scale for my normal Sunday morning weigh in and thought I had somehow managed to break the scale.  It said that I had lost 9 pounds!  Just yesterday I had been telling a friend of mine that I would be happy with losing 1 and 1/2 pounds so that I would have lost 5 in the past two weeks.  I had been concerned because I had gone out to eat once last week and had participated in a trivia night (table full of food) the night before.  I can only attribute this weight loss to keeping careful track of the calories I ate during the day.  Even if I ate something high in calories I logged it.  I have been trying new things in my quest to eat healthier.  I ate a sweet potato and found that I like them and I’m going to buy a spaghetti squash on my next grocery trip.

I have slacked off on my couch to 5k.  My partner in crime went out of town Saturday and isn’t coming back until Wednesday.  That pretty much cut out 3 of our scheduled runs.  I told her that I would run/walk while she was gone, but yesterday after dropping her off at the airport at 5am I spent the rest of the day sleeping.  I have been sick lately so I think this was my body catching up on much needed rest.  I need to motivate myself to run today and Tuesday, but without someone forcing me to I don’t know how successful I will be.

Week 2

Okay, so yesterday was my first day of week 2 of the couch to 5k. I didn’t want to do it. I have been battling a serious sore throat since Saturday and yesterday it had escalated to full on head cold. Thank God for my friend Marnin who drives her butt up here 3 times a week to do this with me ( a 30 minute drive). I emailed her telling her that I felt icky and told her I would absolutely not be running outside, but if she still wanted to drive up we could run/walk inside my school. She did and we did and I have to admit I felt okay about it. We rewarded ourselves with pizza. I have been craving pizza and ice cream for at least a week and it was getting bad, but we had a strategy. While the pizza was cooking we steamed some vegetables and ate them. When it came time to eat the pizza we weren’t as hungry and didn’t eat as much. I even had enough calories left to indulge in another weakness of mine, ice cream. I had 1 cup of the Light Thin Mint ice cream. I was worried about buying the ice cream because I usually sit in front of the TV with the whole carton. Not this time.

I attribute my willpower to finally getting around to watching the season premiere of The Biggest Loser. After crying through the entire show I promised myself that I would stay committed to this diet.

I read this article on MSN today.  It pretty much confirmed for me why I’m fat.

Weigh in

I lost 3.6 pounds on this week’s weigh in.  I also completed my first week of couch to 5k.  I’m not sure doing this workout outside has worked out in my favor, as I have had little to no voice since Saturday.  Then again, everyone around me seems to be sick so it might have nothing to do with it.  My biggest problem with being sick is that I seek out my comfort foods, pizza and ice cream, to make me feel better.  It’s times like these I wish I had the flu instead of just a head cold so I wouldn’t feel like eating at all.

Recipe for the chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 oz pkg. of ranch dressing mix (not the dip mix)
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 egg whites beaten

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the rice cereal, ranch mix and parmesan cheese together in a bowl. Dip the chiken in the egg whites and then into the cereal mixture coating evenly. Arrange chicken on a greased baking sheet. Bake until golden. 30-35 minutes.

Nutritional info. for 1 breast
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories 245.8

Total Fat 5.3 g

Saturated Fat 1.8 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g

Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g

Cholesterol 84.9 mg

Sodium 713.3 mg

Potassium 26.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate 15.2 g

Dietary Fiber 0.0 g

Sugars 1.5 g

Protein 34.1 g

Vitamin A 4.6 %

Vitamin B-12 9.0 %

Vitamin B-6 13.5 %

Vitamin C 2.0 %

Vitamin D 5.6 %

Vitamin E 4.0 %

Calcium 8.6 %

Copper 0.1 %

Folate 0.1 %

Iron 8.3 %

Magnesium 0.8 %

Manganese 0.1 %

Niacin 0.1 %

Pantothenic Acid 0.3 %

Phosphorus 5.0 %

Riboflavin 1.4 %

Selenium 2.3 %

Thiamin 0.2 %

Zinc 1.3 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Yummy Chicken

Crispy Ranch Chicken

The past two nights I have made this really yummy chicken recipe that I found on sparkpeople.com. It is crispy ranch chicken and each breasts is only 5 grams of fat. I love to dip chicken in ranch and I also like to sometimes eat breaded chicken. This recipe mixes ranch dressing mix, parm cheese and rice crispies. SO GOOD! My friend came up for our second day of couch to 5k so I made it for her for dinner. She doesn’t usually like anything that is reduced fat or fat free, but she loved this! (I didn’t tell her I used reduced fat parm cheese)
The second day of walking/jogging was harder than the first. My right hip and back really started to hurt. I admit during one of the 60 second jog intervals I only jogged for 30.
Sunday is our next day. I am hoping it’s warmer outside.