Tilapia Tacos and some food reviews

 

Sorry this photo was taken by my cell phone quickly because I was so hungry I wanted to dig right in!

This is a great meal!  You only need:

• Taco Shells**
• 1 tilapia fillet per taco
• Romaine lettuce
• Grilled veggies of choice (I used left over asparagus and zucchini)
• Tabouli Salad or (Salsa)
• Southwest Seasoning or Old Goat Lake George Spices

Simply start by seasoning your fish with the seasoning, while your grill heats up.  It’s a thin fish so its best to grill it in a grill pan or George Foramen type grill.  Follow the instructions for heating the taco shell (I put mine in the microwave).

The fish will only take a minute or two on each side.  Then I break up the fish into the taco shell and layer in the lettuce, veggies and top with tabouli.

This has such a light summer taste. its great you have to try it!!

It comes in at about 205 calories, 16g carbs, 7g Fat and 23g Protein

**The taco shells: you could use any thing here! Wraps, soft taco shells. whatever!  I follow a 90-10 rule with my food 90% of the time I eat great 10% I eat to satisfy the fat kristen! lol.  I have been using the El Paso stand n Stuff taco shells.  They taste great and they don’t have too much crap like some other options I saw at the store.  Plus it makes hubby happy!!

Speaking of 90-10 here are some Food reviews I would like to share with you:

Being and Upstate NY I love Buffalo Style anything!  So I had to try these.  They came in at 130 calories per link.  The ingredients were great, nothing I couldn’t pronounce.  They had good taste with a bit of a bite to them.  I liked them they could satisfy a craving for Buffalo sandwich or wings. you can find more info on them here

Then I found these.  They are only 70 calories per link.  I don’t think they had as strong of flavor but I did like them. They also had less fat at 2.5g vs 6g for the one’s above.  This too had good ingredients which can be found here.

I will purchase both again. I think the Thin n trim is a great for dinner or lunch – and to be added to a dish.  If I really wanted a sausage and peppers sandwich I would use the al fresco.

I rec’d several questions about the make your own pizza night.

I used these pizza crusts/shells for our pizza night.  Information can be found here.  It has enriched flour and whole wheat flour – remember that 90-10 rule!!

You get 2 shells per package. but the serving size is jacked up.  One service is 2oz. but one shell is 4.5oz.  so you have to do a bit of math to figure out how much you are eating!  Stupid they should do it per shell or per 1/2 shell not 44% of one.

Well off to bed! enjoy the food!

Its the Great Push (up), Kristen!!!

Most people who know me, know i hate my arms.  Always have but hopefully someday I will say I have accepted them.  My goal for the month is to work on my arm strength and hopefully the side effect will be appearance. 

My trainer gave me some pointer on building strength at home.  Basically i do real push ups really slow going down and then i drop to my knees - get into the pillar position and start over.  I have a problem where i drop my hips while doing this.  The best way to overcome this to build my core strenght.

On Monday (I think -crazy week not sure what today is) Karen at waisting time posted about a plank challenge on fitblog.  So i have decided to do it.

Bootcamp last night gave me the jump start:  2 rounds:  Plank, Side Plank (left), Side Plank (right)  45 second hold on each.  Killer

So by the time July rolls around i hope to have great results to speak of!!

The Lawn Mower story

This is a great story that I am going to tell in order it happened!  its totally not weight loss related but its goofy so enjoy!

After returning from camping last Monday, we realized that the lawn needed to be mowed…..again!  Well everything that could of gone wrong did on Monday.  I told David I would mow the law on Tuesday when I was off.

He looked at me like I was nuts, not believing that I really was going to do it.  He simply told me..the mower needs gas.

I took the gas tank to the gas station and filled it up.  Damn thing spilled in the back of my car.  After getting some of my things done I started mowing a little before 3pm.  This day was crazy hot in the 90’s with humidity.  But I figured it was a great way to tan!  So I put on a strapless top and my bathing suit bottom and headed for the shed!

My mom was here to witness it.

In the dark shed I sat on the mow reading the directions.  I like a good little student first read thru all the directions before taking action. In the 3 years we have had the mow I have never been allowed to mow or even drive it.  Tyler probably knows how!

I got the mower started and out of the shed without breaking anything!  I turned on the PTO/Blades and away I went! See below (warning scary photo below)

Grass clippings were coming out and it wasn’t too bad after I got use to it!  I had a little less then 1/2 the lawn done when I went to back up to get a spot I missed.  And then the mower turned off – Obviously I was out of gas because I hadn’t added it before starting to mow.

As I carried the gas down to the mower David called because Mom had texted the above photo to him.  I had to search for where to even add the gas but rest assured it only took me a moment to figure it out.  That’s when I noticed the tank still had gas? hmm well to be sure I added more gas!  Ugh  I spilled gas everywhere. wtf.

David was in shock that I was mowing!  I double checked where the throttle should be when he asked “How low is the blades?”

Me:What? 

David: you didn’t lower the blades to the yellow arrow??? 

Me Um no its not listed on the directions – WTF???

David: thanks for trying to help but you didn’t mow a thing.

Me: Seriously Double WTF

What was John Deere thinking leaving that off the directions- obviously they know their customers are males and they don’t read!! so it must of saved them some costs on printing!

So I started over –determined to mow!  Thank god I was doing the backyard so nobody would notice lol!

Every time I tried to back up the damn thing would stall it was annoying so I just stopped going backwards and did a little u turn when needed.  My u turns became donuts!  As I finished the last 500 sq feet my mom tells me that David called to say: if I need to backup there is a button on the dashboard I have to press.  GRRRRRRR Seriously. 

So I only mowed the back lawn – parts twice! BUT I did get a great tan!

Weigh in

Today was weigh in day after 2 weeks and I was down 3 pounds! That puts me at 191! 

When I am at work I have so many things I want to write about but then I get home and my mind goes blank.  So here are some cool facts:

• 3 pounds lost this weigh in
• 72.8 pounds since I started on January 1, 2010
• I have lost 27.60% of my starting weight
• I have lost 15.8 pounds in 9 weeks
• 82.8 pounds from my highest non-pregnancy weight
• My current BMI is 30.82
• 11.75 decrease in BMI since my 1 Jan 2010 of 42.57
• I am 5.2 pounds from having an “overweight” BMI
• I ran 5.25 miles in under 55minutes on Sunday
• Saturday I went to a party and people didn’t know who I was!
• I really love hockey and this game is annoying me….

I am sorry its not a more exciting post! I would like to hit 185.8 (the weight I need to be considered overweight) by the 4th of July.  Basically I need to lose 1.7 pounds the next 3 weeks each.

The problem is I am getting TOM and Today I just want to eat –CRAP. Its not that I am just having larger portions or extra healthy snacks, we are talking about sniffing out candy dishes at work.  One Reese peanut butter cup, one Reese pieces fun pack and a spoonful of peanut butter on a oreo.  I need to go to bed and forget about this and start fresh tomorrow.

What kind of cravings do you have when you are getting TOM (I am pretty sure I only have female readers!)?  How do you get over them without giving in?  Normally I would have a cup of coffee (Flavored) and that helps me but it was really summer-like today and hot coffee was not appealing.  Maybe I need to starting making iced coffee!!!

Good night

Asian Chicken Slaw

This is the photo that inspired my Asian Chicken Slaw

The recipe can be found here!  I was a bit annoyed that I couldn’t find the nutrition facts.  Most of your calories are going to come from the serving of peanut butter, the 1/2cup of oil and the optional cashews.

I did a quick search and found this giving you a 2 cup serving  for 290calories…it uses a lot less oil, no peanut butter and no nuts.

So here is my version that I made for a graduation party but I have not figured the calories.

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) bag coleslaw mix
• 1 pound cooked chicken, shredded
• 2 cups broccoli florets, I did mine raw
• 1/2 red, orange and yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch thinly sliced scallions
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews and sliced almonds

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup of Rice  vinegar

• 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar – I used splenda
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 cup canola oil or EVOO (you can use less)
• 1 tsp of celery salt
• black pepper

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, toss together the coleslaw mix, chicken, broccoli, peppers, nuts and scallions.

2. In a medium bowl, wisk the soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, sugar, minced garlic, and seasoning until well blended. Slowly whisk in the canola oil and sesame oil. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Toss the salad with the dressing.

70 pounds of justification

Do you ever feel like you need to justify your weight loss?  Or that your loss is discredited in some way?
So for starters there are several people I know joining bootcamp next phase.  That’s great for them but my conversations with them is making me uncomfortable.  I think they figure since I did it that anyone can do it.  They expect to lose 70 pounds and have their cake too…..Literally!

I don’t think they understand that I have given up a lot of foods, that I workout more then just bootcamp that I have changed my entire life. 
They are going to do the workouts BUT…..

• They can not do certain exercise – okay steve can handle that
• They don’t want to work like they see the people on the biggest loser.  okay we don’t workout for 8 hours with a trainer yelling in our face but our workouts are no joke.  And seriously your results depend on your actions – how hard you push yourself.
• They are not giving up any foods okay they COULD do moderation if their willpower is strong
• they are not going to count calories
• They are still going to drink beer /wine regularly
• They don’t like veggies, fruits, fish, cottage cheese

So what is going to happen when they don’t get the results? 
When the conversation gets to this point, I don’t know what to say.  I start to feel attacked. 

• Them: “I can not workout ask much as you, you are ridiculous”
• My best response: '”I am just really focused right now”
• Them: I don’t eat a lot of protein I really love carbs and whole wheat pasta doesn’t count
• My best response: Nutrition is a given take – I have my vice (choc) but I do my best to make the right choice 90% of the time

THEN there are people in my life that have had gastric.  They tell people about all the workouts they are doing and how they eat and what success they have had.  but then the leave off that they had the surgery.  WTF I don’t get it.  They had surgery to lose weight so they are going to lose weight weather or not they are in the gym.  So what I don’t get is why are they having the surgery if they can now eat right and workout?  they should of just gotten of their ass and done it before.  am I missing something? 
Seriously if you have any insight please tell me.  I have worked hard for these 70 pounds.  I shouldn’t have to justify it.

It’s like riding a bike……

Sorry its been so long for an update! I am not off the wagon honest! I was camping!  One thing I noticed that old habits can come back fast.

As a tradition we stopped at the best restaurant in the world on the way up but instead of ordering the traditional hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and extra gravy I had a grilled chicken sandwich with cottage cheese.  Okay this weekend will not be a problem:

Then came the m&M cookies, smores, pulled pork, amazing summer salads, ice cream, pistachios and I don’t know what else.  Saturday I hit over 2K in calories, sunday I think I was at 1700.  I was just plain bad with larger then normal portions and a sneak treat here and there

But like riding a bike it was easy to get on track.  Once home upped my water, stopped eating anything processed again and just gained control of myself.  Boy at tuesdays bootcamp did I sweat that shit out of me!  ugh.

While camping I was active with going for walks, and both Saturday and Sunday morning I ran 4.79miles in about 52minutes.  Tuesday when we got home I ran 2 miles then worked in the garden for 90 minutes and then that night went to bootcamp for a hell of a workout!

This was the recap of my 4.79 run:

As you can see in the photo above I did get a bike ride in too!  I have not rode my bike in close to maybe 6 or 7 years???  the tire always looked flat when my big ass was on the bike.  and really that seat didn’t feel good no matter how much fat I had.  But with all the camping we have planned this summer and my new active lifestyle I asked for a baby carrier for xmas.

She has that excited but nervous look on her face!!  I know she was thinking..mommy you really should go for a ride without me first!

But we took the bull by the horns and off we went on a family ride!

it took some getting use to.. if she moved around it would throw the balance off. but in the end she didn’t want to get off the bike!

We are totally going for more!!!

No weigh this week, I am off from work till tomorrow but I am going to weight till next Monday to get back on track!