At school, my breakfast and lunches are decently healthy. Three days a week at least I have a Lean Cuisine or other healthy frozen meal for lunch. I do usually have a breakfast sandwich from Dunks with my pumpkin coffee, which isn't the healthiest thing, but I at least choose the turkey sausage egg white flatbread sandwich. My Dunks runs will end tomorrow, since I found some pumpkin spice creamer at the grocery store today. Usually I just have coffee with skim milk, but when pumpkin season rolls around, it's pumpkin and skim milk, which makes it a bit unhealthier. But, I'm a firm believer in a little indulgence each day, and since sweets aren't my thing, a little pumpkin spice in my coffee isn't so bad. Right?
Yesterday, I went with my bridesmaid to choose their dresses. I cannot believe how smoothly it went. I have 10 bridesmaids (yes, 10) and 9 were there and it took under an hour for everyone to choose a dress they loved. I also tried on my dress again for them. It's definitely time to re-instate the Weight Watchers.
When I do diet, I like to use some sort of tacking for it. Weight Watchers, though it's not free, has a great system. You get all the tools you need to track your meals and recipes. I have the website (I don't do the meetings) and the apps on my phone (the tracker and scanner). I've also used MyFitnessPal.com (and the app), which is free and pretty good. Sometimes some foods can be hard to find, and portions can be hard to track unless they can do individual pieces of things. Sometimes, on MyFitnessPal, you have to choose a set serving size, so trying to put in that you ate 10 Wheat Thins, instead of a serving of 12, can be tough. With WW, there was more variety. Also, when I diet, I don't religiously stick to every single rule. It's okay to have a meal out on date night and not feel like a total failure. Just eat some extra veggies the next day and try to get more exercise in. I'm also honest when I track my foods. I put everything in, and if it ends up being high in points (for WW), then I try and remember and balance it with healthier foods for the rest of the day. I also put my recipes into the recipe calculator, so I can see exactly what one serving will be. I don't necessarily choose healthy meals to cook either (seriously, I bake cupcakes once a week...but I don't eat them). My first two weeks of Weight Watchers and a week or two of semi following it after that (other than beach week), resulted in a 7-pound weight loss. Not bad. Now if I can just keep up with it, and use to help me be more conscious of what I eat around the holidays, I'd say that would be making some good progress. Oh, and be more physically active. I wish looking up wedding ideas and recipes on Pinterest burned some serious calories...I'd be a stick figure if that were the case. Wishful thinking!
Tonight's recipe, when I put it into the recipe calculator on WW, is worth 9 points if you portion it out to be 6 servings. The rice jacks up the points, but a girl needs some starch every now and then. The sauce for this was really good, but not enough to cover all of the chicken in there, so next time, I'll double it. That may bring the points up a bit if I do. I also added in some steamed broccoli for color, health, and something more than chicken. I used 3 pretty large chicken breasts, so there was more than 1 pound, but I reflected that when I put it into the WW calculator, so if you only use 1 pound, that may bring the points down.
Sesame Chicken
from Budget Bytes
For the chicken:
1 egg
2 tbsp. cornstarch
salt & pepper
1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breast
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
For the sauce:
1.5 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
1.5 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced (I left out because I forgot!)
1 tsp. ground ginger or 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 bag frozen broccoli pieces that can be steamed in the microwave (like Valley Fresh Steamers)
4 cups of cooked jasmine rice
1. Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the egg, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in the egg mix to coat.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and all of the egg mix. Cook the chicken until cooked through and browned, stirring occasionally.
4. Mix all the of the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. When the chicken is cooked, add the sauce. The sauce will thicken once it's added to the pan. Stir and cook until sauce is heated. Add the steamed broccoli, mix with the chicken and sauce and serve over rice.
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