Healthy Snacking

I made it to Trader Joe's and loaded up on the healthy snacks. I bought some old favorites like...


I've raved about the Fage before, how good it is with an apple. At only 2 Points and 13 grams of protein the yogurt is really good bang for your calorie buck. The Trader Joe's Light String Cheese is great because it's only 1 Point, most are 2 Points, even other light versions. Bananas are, well, bananas. And the Spicy Spinach Pizzas weigh in at 3 Points but they are super tasty. I pop them in the toaster oven and four minutes later...yummmy.

So those are some quick and easy snacks but I have a couple cracker snacks I also want to share. First is the Flax & Honey Flatbread crackers with The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss spreadable cheese wedge.


You get three crackers in a serving for 1 Point and the cheese is 1 Point so spread the cheese on the crackers and for 2 Points you get...


Together with a piece of fruit and a big glass of water and you've got a pretty hearty snack.

But Kristy told me about a snack she's been eating lately, hummus mixed with cottage cheese, so I tried out a version of it with crackers.


I took 1/4 cup of the hummus at 1 Point blended with 1/4 cup of the cottage cheese at 1.5 Points (I did Lowfat instead of Fat Free because of the nursing, when I'm no longer breastfeeding I'll go back to FF) spread on a serving of the crackers at 2 Points for a very hearty, tasty 4.5 Point snack. Maybe post-nursing I'll cut the serving in half.


What else do I snack on? I like cottage cheese and a can of mixed fruit or peaches in lite syrup (I buy this box at Costco and always have them on hand). With FF cottage cheese it's a nice 2 Point snack. Notice a trend in my snacking? Protein. Protein is the secret to fulfilling snacks. Without it, I'm hungry again 10 minutes later.

Of course fruits and veggies make great snacks too so I'm always stocked up on 1 Point apples and various other favorites. How do I know the apples are 1 Point? Because they all are. In my book, all apples (and all oranges) are 1 Point, no matter the size. I did not get fat eating apples and oranges.

On a slightly sad note I'm a little bit under the weather. I wonder if I pushed my body a bit too much? I feel good but the virus makes me think maybe I wasn't as strong as I was feeling. No, I don't have the swine flu, but a little bug that's keeping me from working out. So far I've tracked this week, even the THREE (!!!) Weight Watchers' ice cream bars I ate yesterday. Hopefully I can keep the eating in check (that is, not go over my allotted points) since working out isn't an option right now.

I'm really enjoying having the support of this blog back in my life. The comments are always so helpful and encouraging and just writing down what I'm doing and why, getting out some of my unhealthy thinking, and reminding myself how this really works - it all makes such a difference. Thank you for reading :)

I Didn't Lose Weight

But I didn't gain either. I stayed exactly the same, 179.8 pounds. I'm hoping my explanations (water retention, etc) are accurate and that next week I might see some movement on the scale. It's always a challenge to work your butt off and not see any immediate outcome. But it's also a chance for me to walk the walk and not look to the numbers for positive reinforcement.

I feel so much better than I did a week ago and I know it's the exercise - my energy level is improved, despite getting marginal amounts of sleep, it feels easier to move around, I'm just feel stronger all the way around.

When I started back to Weight Watchers I would have guessed that I'd change my eating habits first and then resume working out sometime down the road. I guess I assumed so because that's how I did it when I started WW the first time in February 2007. But no, I'm into the exercising but not feeling very motivated to tackle food. That's not to say I haven't made changes, I have. I'm eating more veggies, cutting back on the sweets and generally trying to make better choices. But tracking is non-existent (though I have tracked so far today!) and, more importantly, I'm not that motivated to follow the WW Points plan. Without motivation, everything is harder.

I think this is a good thing because I'm seeing the results of exercise already. With food changes I think the outcomes are slower. Of course, I'm not seeing the results on the scale yet, but I know that will come. This is a reminder that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. If it were a diet I'd be down in the dumps, and though I'm not happy about it, I'm not upset either.

So I used the disappointment at the scale to propel me to head to the gym. I got in 45 minutes of cardio and lifted a few weights before childcare ended at 1pm. After some sweat and endorphins I cared even less about the scale.

Well, I'm off to Trader Joe's to find some healthy snacks. I need some whole grain snacks now that I've run out of Cheetos :)