Food, Fitness, & Fun in All 50 States

This week, diet-wise, sucked! I was in a pissy mood, un-motivated, and just didn’t want to care. Luckily, I didn’t completely blow it and was able to recover the last few days. I only lost 1.1 pounds for the week, but considering I was up 5.5 at one point, I’ll take it. However, I HAVE to refocus this week…which I have already started working on. I don’t know what got into me but I was just in a funk all week. So my total weight loss for the past 3 weeks is at 11.9 now. Not too bad. I am just ready to kick it back into high gear and drop more weight this week.

I only exercised 3 days last week (6-7 is my goal every week). But, one of the days was a nice creative shake-up instead of the usual treadmill…we went skiing in VT! I haven’t skied in 10 years and boy was it a workout! My legs were on fi-ya! (I hope you sang that last sentence). I was so nervous to try it again not knowing if I would remember how and even more concerned about my weight and how that would effect things. But it came back so naturally. And it was a blast!!! I will tell you more about the day later on when I write about it all, but the point is that you can make exercise fun and not so mundane by adding in different activities. In Hermosa Beach and Seattle we loved rollerblading. I also walked on the beach every day in Hermosa. In San Antonio I got really into Zumba. We play golf in warm weather locations and love to hike in all the different national and state parks. And then of course there’s swimming, dancing, kickboxing, the list is endless! So when you get into a rut, try something new to shake things up a bit and keep yourself motivated! This is something I have to remember moving forward so I don’t bore myself into slacking off again.

On another note, it is Super Bowl Sunday! And instead of eating the typical hot wings, nachos, subs, beer, etc. we went healthy this year. Skyler was quite skeptical when I told him earlier in the week what I was planning. But it turned out great! Both of us and our friend Ashlee loved it all! Definite success. I made the following recipes that I found via Pinterest. You can click on the links below to go straight to the recipe page. The nutrition info I listed below is based on how I tweaked the recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins – 173 calories – 6 pts+ each
These were delicious! They would make a perfect lunch or light dinner too!

Zucchini Tots/Muffins – 75 calories – 2 pts+ each
Next time I would make these with about 1/2 of the breadcrumbs. I feel like they just overpowered the zucchini and you lost the zucchini taste/texture. Don’t get me wrong, they are awesome, but I think it could be adjusted easily. Oh, and I don’t use reduced fat/fat free products so I used regular sharp cheddar cheese in mine and I made a 4x’s batch and did 5 eggs instead of 4 because it seemed kind of dry still.  They were really good! Perfect make ahead side dish item to throw with dinner one night during the week.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas – 2 pts+ per 1/2 C pre-cooked (about 1/3 C cooked?)
These taste a lot like corn nuts. They will become a regular snack item in our house now when I am craving chips! They are crunchy and you can season however you want. I think I will try Ranch next time!

For my beverage – Coconut Water & OJ mocktail. A friend on Facebook posted this the other day and it sounded good so I gave it a try and I love it! It tastes a lot like a pina colada and only 3 pts+ for 19.5 oz. I even garnished mine with some frozen berry’s and served it in a wine glass to feel a little special. I meant to try it tonight with a smidge of this orange zero calorie spritzer I have to give it a little fizz, but I forgot. To make it just mix a bottle of Coconut Water (11.5 oz) and 8 oz of Trop 50 Orange Juice…delish!

Excuse the terrible photos. I took them all on my iPhone and we live in a hotel with zero overhead lighting…not everything I cooked actually looked orange/yellow. So anyway, my total point value for the night for 1 Buffalo Chicken Potato Skin, 2 Zucchini Muffins, 1/2 C Spicy Chickpeas, 2T Sour Cream Ranch Dip, Carrots & Celery, & 19.5 oz Mocktail was 16 Weight Watchers Points Plus. Now, that is kinda high for a typical ‘dinner’. But for Super Bowl night and since I planned for it, I don’t think it was so bad. I could have easily shaved off 2 points by only having one zucchini muffin. And another three without the mocktail (I typically try not to drink calories…especially if it isn’t booze). But considering my typical Super Bowl snacks probably range closer to 100 points or something crazy like that I would say tonight was a definite success!

For other party food ideas that are healthy I recommend Chili (mine is 3 pts+ for 1C), Fish or Veggie Tacos, Hummus Dip, Turkey or Chicken Meatballs, Caramel Apples (I use a Dulce de Leche Pudding Cup to dip a Green Apple in). There are so many healthy recipes out there and you can always modify your favorites to make them healthier than the original version. What are your favorite healthy party recipes???