4th of July and Vacation Eating
Crispy Artichoke Hearts with Lemon Aioli
Cheesecake Factory (share the joy of eating
them with everyone at the table and it cuts
down on your calorie/point count!
Soda Fountain that has been in Palm Dessert since 1957
My girls outside of Babe's posing with the
pig named Lucky.
Sweet Potato cut in half and baked on it's end.
Tip is cut off and then pecans and honey butter on top.
It wasn't overly sweet and tasted so healthy and delicious.
I had a Wedge Salad First and was full so just ordered
these two sides for dinner.
I hope everyone enjoyed the Fourth of July! I certainly enjoyed the food: fried chicken, bacon wrapped grilled hot dogs, pork sliders, platters of fresh fruit, incredible potato salad with pepporcini's in it and my most favorite: Prima peaches! DELICIOUS! During this entire time of being on the WW diet I've only missed tracking my food three days. So even when I eat to my hearts content, I still write everything down. It really helps me KNOW that I truly want to eat something instead of eating something "just because it is there" or "because I walked by it." So I did eat 63 points (3150 calories) worth of food on the 4th of July but I enjoyed every single bite from the Chateau Margaux wine to the rich blue cheese to the aged gouda cheese to all the comfort foods I mentioned above. If I had it to do over again I'd eat it all again!
Then we left for Palm Springs on Monday for vacation. They have a great gym at the hotel where we stay so again my plan was to "boost my metabolism." This is a different mindset than the "i'll eat this and then work it off." This is mindset of I'll speed up my metabolism but still be sure I'm mindfully eating food I really want to eat instead of just grazing or bingeing. So even though I had 48 points one day and 50 the other, because I was writing everything down I only ate one quesadilla instead of the two that came on my plate. I also went to Cheesecake Factory and only ate two pieces of bread with butter instead of ordering bread for the table three times. And then we had these great crispy fried artichoke hearts which were fantastic (but ironically one of the lower calorie things on the menu since all the nutrition info is printed for you. And I split them with Jason.) Then had mushroom soup and a lovely field greens salad. Afterward the kids wanted Ben and Jerry's. I was stuffed, but had I not been recording points or what I ate I would have had the Ben and Jerry's "just because we were there." So I went to Borders while Jason and the girls went to Ben and Jerry's.
I'm also including pictures of the half-sweet potato we had at Babe's. I ordered the Wedge Salad First and then just had these two sides for my entree since i was full from the salad. If I hadn't been recording points I would have ordered an entree even though I was too full to eat it. (You have to keep in mind that I can eat more than most men and I easily grew accustomed to the feeling of being stuffed.)
Worked out in the gym everyday for an hour and a half. (Funny note: they don't have Food Network on the TV in the hotel rooms. Only in the gym. So I had to go to the gym in order to watch it. And because the shows were so interesting to me I kept staying on the treadmill to watch another one!)
The bottom line is that I came back and didn't gain any weight. Then the first night back at home ate the dinner that I lose weight on every single time I eat it: 3 oz of flank steak, 1/2 baked potato with 2 tablespoons real sour cream and 1 tablespoon non-fat Greek Yogurt and a tomato salad. And next day on the scale I'm a pound less! (So far every single time I have that for dinner I am at least a half-pound lighter the next day.)
I'll also mention this. I'm eating fruit like it is going out of style. Not bananas because they don't seem to equate the same. But pretty much all other fruit seems to be helping boost my metabolism and weight loss. I know my mom went on some diet years ago that required you to eat an apple everyday to help with weight loss. It worked. So I'm taking that same idea and eating fruit after every single meal. Tons of peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, watermelon, canteloupe. I'm probably not eating as many veggies as I should but I'm definitely eating plenty of fruit after every meal. So at a minimum just add some fruit to your normal diet and see if it helps you lose.
Fiddle Version of Artichoke Eggplant Dip coming next!
Enjoy Eating!
Maili
PS Here are two links on Loving What You Eat Mindful Eating that I really enjoyed
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