So you want to eat a lot of food all of the time and lose weight. Okay, I’ve got your back! I am a rock star at eating A LOT of food and losing A LOT of weight while doing it—76 pounds, and counting sister! Can I get an Amen?!
I will preface by saying that I am brand loyal to companies that accommodate my need to eat quality and quantity. I will have my low-calorie Hostess 100 calorie pack snack cakes and eat them too (the lemon ones are the best). Also, I think of these sometimes pricey items as TOOLS for success. And if I have to pay $20 shipping and handling or a few more dollars at the grocery store to effectively lose weight without ever feeling hungry, so freaking be it.
I am also a religious Hungry Girl and Weightwatchers follower. I get inspirations from their recipes on a daily basis, so make sure you are checking out their sites daily. I only speak Weight Watchers points, so don’t ask me what the calorie count is…sorry, Charlie. Now on to the good stuff!
Western Bagel should pay ME to eat their bagels, because I swear to God I’ve sent them at least 20 new customers. Their alternative bagels and pitas are complete must haves at just 1 point each, and I could not live without them. The alternative English muffins are eggy and delicious, too. Since I’ve given up meat, however, I don’t need them to make Low-cal Egg McMuffins anymore:
• 1 egg, 1 slice thin deli ham, 1 tbsp 2% shredded cheddar, spray buter, 1 muffin= 4 points; substitute ¼ to ½ cup of Egg Beaters instead of egg and you have a 3-point hearty breakfast. NOTE: ONLY use the Southwestern Egg Beaters, ladies. Unless you need the regular egg beaters as an egg bath for faux frying, this is the way to go. It is not “southwestern” as much as it flavorful—unlike regular bland Egg Beaters-yuck!
I keep little prep bowls with lids of finely chopped onion, green onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini/squash on hand so I can throw those into my scramble that I subsequently put on my bagels or in my pita. Weight Watchers Whipped Cream Cheese is only 1 point for two tablespoons, so I always spread that on first before I top it with my Southwestern Egg Beaters scramble. If I stuff it in a pita, I use ¼ cup 2% mozzarella instead. Both are ENORMOUS 3 or 2.5 point breakfast heros! Or I just make an omelet bigger than Miami the same way and leave it at that for a 1.5 point breakfast. Nature's Own Honey Wheat Light bread is .5 points per slice, so I usually round it out to a 2 point breakfast with a slice of that with spray butter (I recommend I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter.)
I make a little heartier breakfast by crumbling a microwave nuked Morningstar Farms Sausage Patty into the scramble with ¼ cup 2% mozzarella cheese. I roll it all up with some pico di gallo or jalapeños for a 4.5 point breakfast in another one of my lifesavers, La Tortilla Factory large white-wheat wraps (1 point).
But I digress…
Western Bagels are amazing for sandwiches. I just get some 1/3 Reduced Fat Kraft Philadelphia Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese and top it with sprouts, cucumber slices, shredded carrots, roasted bell pepper and fresh spinach, and eat it up yum yum. Throw 2 oz deli turkey on there, and you are adding 1.5 points to a mere 3 point sandwich. And it is HUGE! Or cut the Western Bagel pita in half, nuke it 10 seconds so it will open up, and you have TWO pita pockets to fill up for one measly point—this is clearly the way I usually go. Or roll it up in a wrap-same thing. I prefer the wrap or pita, because you can fit more sustenance in it. Plus, putting some sriracha on your sammy/wrap/pita is always good, because spicy makes you feel full quicker, too.
Although the opportunities are endless, here is my new favorite thing to shove in a Western Bagel pita
• Bake off a Morningstar Farms Breaded Chicken Patty (I know, I was skeptical, too, but at 3 points for something that at least appears to be like my beloved fried chicken patties…it was worth a shot). Take it out and cover it with Franks Hot Sauce (it HAS to be Franks). Top with ¼ cup 2% mozzarella cheese or 1 tbsp blue cheese and broil until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Take out and cut patty into two portions. In a side bowl, toss shredded lettuce, celery, and green onions with one tbsp Light Hidden Valley Ranch you’ve mixed with ½ tsp adobo sauce. Cut your pita in two, nuke for 10 seconds so it will come open, and stuff each side with a crap load of salad mix and half of the chicken patty. This whopper of a meal is a mere 6 points.
These magical pitas also make amazing little pizzas—our FAVORITE!!! Top it anyway you like it with lean meats and veggies with low calorie sauces and 2% cheeses, and the ideas are absolutely endless and typically have between 3 and 5 points.
So here is the Western Bagel website, so you can order your new best friend: http://www.westernbagel.com/... unless you have them at a store near you, which very few people do.
I recommend alternative Sweet Wheat and Italian Herb, but I could totally live on Roasted Onion alone. Get the white alternative pitas and English muffins. They are just as good for you and you feel like you are splurging more.
I must confess that I went vegetarian for little reason other than I get to eat a lot more. I use the Boca Original Vegan burger (with Worcestershire and garlic and onion powder) and dress it up a bit. Some grilled onions and mushrooms, different types of greens or spinach, roasted peppers—you name it, all on top of a Nature’s Own Whitewheat hamburger bun. Roast off 4 oz of hand-cut sweet potato fries (two small sweet potatoes) in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes (turning after ten minutes and broiling at the end to desired crispiness) after seasoning and tossing in Pam, and you’ve got a MASSIVE 3.5 point meal. Add 1 point for the ¼ cup ketchup you will want to smear all over this delicious mess. Are you kidding me? I can have a HUGE burger and fries for 4.5 points? Sign me up!
TIP: I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a salad or zero point soup with my meal. It makes it more filling and substantial. Remember that 1 tsp grated parmesan is zero points and added to greens with some zero calorie spray dressing or balsamic vinegar is a zero point side that helps fill you up.
My favorite salad right now (2.5 points):
• Spinach
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries
• Alfalfa sprouts
• 2 tbsp blue cheese
• 10 sprays Wishbone Balsamic Breeze
• Your best balsamic vinegar to taste
Toss this sweet and salty piece of perfection and it’s Mmm Mmm good! And although I’m not eating it right now, we all know how delicious bacon is. Hormel Real Bacon crumbles add to any salad or wrap only 1 point per tbsp. Um, yes, please?!
Make it or buy it in a can—the zero point soup BEFORE a meal helps make you feel full at the end of your meal for sure. End your meal with ½ cup grapes (.5 point), and you are ready to pop!
Smart Taste whole grain pastas (2 oz dry is 3 points, but yields a substantial portion) are essential as well. Tossed with ton of sautéed veggies and/or lean meats and a low-cal sauce, you can’t go wrong. Homemade (and therefore calorie controlled) pesto or, if you’re feeling lazy, Ragu Light-Tomato and Basil are great toppers.
Must have cereals:
1) Chocolate Cheerios-great with bananas morning, noon, and night—especially if you are CRAVING chocolate at only 2 points per serving. Might I add that while I am a huge fan of Special K Red Berry, their Chocolate Delight version is complete garbage. The chocolate has zero taste and the consistency of plastic.
2) Puffins-these organic pillows of fiberrific goodness are just 1 point per serving and great with a handful of strawberries
3) Fiber One- The original version has zero points in ½ cup. Don’t eat it by itself, because it is gross. Mix it with fruit and yogurt (fiber one yogurt has zero points in 1/3 cup) for an afternoon snack or put it in the food processor to use as zero point breadcrumbs for faux frying.
4) Frosted Mini Wheats-they are the only cereal that I can eat by themselves without fruit or another side and NOT be hungry before lunch
Must have snacks:
1) Fiber One peach yogurt
2) Sugar Free Jell-o pudding
3) Low fat string cheese
4) Special K Multi-grain Crackers
5) Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges (on an apple or cracker)
6) Light (not baked) Original Lays (a butt load of chips for just 1 point, although I do wonder what the hell is in these that makes them only 1 point)
7) Fruit of all kinds
8) Dark chocolate (1/2 oz at a time)
9) Sugar free Jell-o
10) Dill pickles
I will preface by saying that I am brand loyal to companies that accommodate my need to eat quality and quantity. I will have my low-calorie Hostess 100 calorie pack snack cakes and eat them too (the lemon ones are the best). Also, I think of these sometimes pricey items as TOOLS for success. And if I have to pay $20 shipping and handling or a few more dollars at the grocery store to effectively lose weight without ever feeling hungry, so freaking be it.
I am also a religious Hungry Girl and Weightwatchers follower. I get inspirations from their recipes on a daily basis, so make sure you are checking out their sites daily. I only speak Weight Watchers points, so don’t ask me what the calorie count is…sorry, Charlie. Now on to the good stuff!
Western Bagel should pay ME to eat their bagels, because I swear to God I’ve sent them at least 20 new customers. Their alternative bagels and pitas are complete must haves at just 1 point each, and I could not live without them. The alternative English muffins are eggy and delicious, too. Since I’ve given up meat, however, I don’t need them to make Low-cal Egg McMuffins anymore:
• 1 egg, 1 slice thin deli ham, 1 tbsp 2% shredded cheddar, spray buter, 1 muffin= 4 points; substitute ¼ to ½ cup of Egg Beaters instead of egg and you have a 3-point hearty breakfast. NOTE: ONLY use the Southwestern Egg Beaters, ladies. Unless you need the regular egg beaters as an egg bath for faux frying, this is the way to go. It is not “southwestern” as much as it flavorful—unlike regular bland Egg Beaters-yuck!
I keep little prep bowls with lids of finely chopped onion, green onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini/squash on hand so I can throw those into my scramble that I subsequently put on my bagels or in my pita. Weight Watchers Whipped Cream Cheese is only 1 point for two tablespoons, so I always spread that on first before I top it with my Southwestern Egg Beaters scramble. If I stuff it in a pita, I use ¼ cup 2% mozzarella instead. Both are ENORMOUS 3 or 2.5 point breakfast heros! Or I just make an omelet bigger than Miami the same way and leave it at that for a 1.5 point breakfast. Nature's Own Honey Wheat Light bread is .5 points per slice, so I usually round it out to a 2 point breakfast with a slice of that with spray butter (I recommend I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter.)
I make a little heartier breakfast by crumbling a microwave nuked Morningstar Farms Sausage Patty into the scramble with ¼ cup 2% mozzarella cheese. I roll it all up with some pico di gallo or jalapeños for a 4.5 point breakfast in another one of my lifesavers, La Tortilla Factory large white-wheat wraps (1 point).
But I digress…
Western Bagels are amazing for sandwiches. I just get some 1/3 Reduced Fat Kraft Philadelphia Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese and top it with sprouts, cucumber slices, shredded carrots, roasted bell pepper and fresh spinach, and eat it up yum yum. Throw 2 oz deli turkey on there, and you are adding 1.5 points to a mere 3 point sandwich. And it is HUGE! Or cut the Western Bagel pita in half, nuke it 10 seconds so it will open up, and you have TWO pita pockets to fill up for one measly point—this is clearly the way I usually go. Or roll it up in a wrap-same thing. I prefer the wrap or pita, because you can fit more sustenance in it. Plus, putting some sriracha on your sammy/wrap/pita is always good, because spicy makes you feel full quicker, too.
Although the opportunities are endless, here is my new favorite thing to shove in a Western Bagel pita
• Bake off a Morningstar Farms Breaded Chicken Patty (I know, I was skeptical, too, but at 3 points for something that at least appears to be like my beloved fried chicken patties…it was worth a shot). Take it out and cover it with Franks Hot Sauce (it HAS to be Franks). Top with ¼ cup 2% mozzarella cheese or 1 tbsp blue cheese and broil until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Take out and cut patty into two portions. In a side bowl, toss shredded lettuce, celery, and green onions with one tbsp Light Hidden Valley Ranch you’ve mixed with ½ tsp adobo sauce. Cut your pita in two, nuke for 10 seconds so it will come open, and stuff each side with a crap load of salad mix and half of the chicken patty. This whopper of a meal is a mere 6 points.
These magical pitas also make amazing little pizzas—our FAVORITE!!! Top it anyway you like it with lean meats and veggies with low calorie sauces and 2% cheeses, and the ideas are absolutely endless and typically have between 3 and 5 points.
So here is the Western Bagel website, so you can order your new best friend: http://www.westernbagel.com/... unless you have them at a store near you, which very few people do.
I recommend alternative Sweet Wheat and Italian Herb, but I could totally live on Roasted Onion alone. Get the white alternative pitas and English muffins. They are just as good for you and you feel like you are splurging more.
I must confess that I went vegetarian for little reason other than I get to eat a lot more. I use the Boca Original Vegan burger (with Worcestershire and garlic and onion powder) and dress it up a bit. Some grilled onions and mushrooms, different types of greens or spinach, roasted peppers—you name it, all on top of a Nature’s Own Whitewheat hamburger bun. Roast off 4 oz of hand-cut sweet potato fries (two small sweet potatoes) in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes (turning after ten minutes and broiling at the end to desired crispiness) after seasoning and tossing in Pam, and you’ve got a MASSIVE 3.5 point meal. Add 1 point for the ¼ cup ketchup you will want to smear all over this delicious mess. Are you kidding me? I can have a HUGE burger and fries for 4.5 points? Sign me up!
TIP: I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a salad or zero point soup with my meal. It makes it more filling and substantial. Remember that 1 tsp grated parmesan is zero points and added to greens with some zero calorie spray dressing or balsamic vinegar is a zero point side that helps fill you up.
My favorite salad right now (2.5 points):
• Spinach
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries
• Alfalfa sprouts
• 2 tbsp blue cheese
• 10 sprays Wishbone Balsamic Breeze
• Your best balsamic vinegar to taste
Toss this sweet and salty piece of perfection and it’s Mmm Mmm good! And although I’m not eating it right now, we all know how delicious bacon is. Hormel Real Bacon crumbles add to any salad or wrap only 1 point per tbsp. Um, yes, please?!
Make it or buy it in a can—the zero point soup BEFORE a meal helps make you feel full at the end of your meal for sure. End your meal with ½ cup grapes (.5 point), and you are ready to pop!
Smart Taste whole grain pastas (2 oz dry is 3 points, but yields a substantial portion) are essential as well. Tossed with ton of sautéed veggies and/or lean meats and a low-cal sauce, you can’t go wrong. Homemade (and therefore calorie controlled) pesto or, if you’re feeling lazy, Ragu Light-Tomato and Basil are great toppers.
Must have cereals:
1) Chocolate Cheerios-great with bananas morning, noon, and night—especially if you are CRAVING chocolate at only 2 points per serving. Might I add that while I am a huge fan of Special K Red Berry, their Chocolate Delight version is complete garbage. The chocolate has zero taste and the consistency of plastic.
2) Puffins-these organic pillows of fiberrific goodness are just 1 point per serving and great with a handful of strawberries
3) Fiber One- The original version has zero points in ½ cup. Don’t eat it by itself, because it is gross. Mix it with fruit and yogurt (fiber one yogurt has zero points in 1/3 cup) for an afternoon snack or put it in the food processor to use as zero point breadcrumbs for faux frying.
4) Frosted Mini Wheats-they are the only cereal that I can eat by themselves without fruit or another side and NOT be hungry before lunch
Must have snacks:
1) Fiber One peach yogurt
2) Sugar Free Jell-o pudding
3) Low fat string cheese
4) Special K Multi-grain Crackers
5) Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges (on an apple or cracker)
6) Light (not baked) Original Lays (a butt load of chips for just 1 point, although I do wonder what the hell is in these that makes them only 1 point)
7) Fruit of all kinds
8) Dark chocolate (1/2 oz at a time)
9) Sugar free Jell-o
10) Dill pickles
This is excellent! As someone who loves to exercise but does not so much love to eat better, I must thank you for your tips. Also, if you can link the recipe for those Fiber One chocolate muffins, I'm pretty sure I'll put a statue out in my yard in your honor.
ReplyDeleteI love your list, I also like the Popchips, well check out my blog and you will see. Losing 76 pounds on WW'ers is a lot!!! WOW, looking foreward to more WW posts
ReplyDeletePopchips are super yummy! And here is that chocolate muffin recipe. I doctored it with applesauce in lieu of oil and egg beaters instead of eggs got it down to 2 points per giant muffin: http://www.fiberone.com/Recipes/RecipeView.aspx?rid=38778&cid=408
ReplyDeleteLOL guess I should have read this blog before I asked about nutritional values on the next blog :)
ReplyDeleteI've been giving this a lot of thought, and I think I'm going to have to disagree with you about the Hostess 100 calorie pack snack packs. While it is a very close race, the strawberry just barely edges out the lemon, in my opinion.
ReplyDelete