Buffalo Chicken, Two Ways

Here are two different ways I've cooked buffalo chicken breast:

Slow Cooker

• chicken breast (approximately 1 1/2 lbs.)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cans of fat-free chicken broth
• hot sauce to taste (I probably used about half a cup)

Place everything in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Remove chicken, shred, return to sauce.

Stove Top

• frozen grilled chicken breast slices
• 1 T canola oil
• hot sauce to taste (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
• butter sprinkles to taste (optional)

Place still frozen chicken in a nonstick saucepan. Add oil, hot sauce and butter sprinkles (if using). Cook everything until chicken is thawed and heated through.

I have eaten the chicken on a bed of lettuce, chopped celery and shredded carrot as a salad, or in a multigrain flatbread wrap, with baby spinach, as a sandwich. Either way, to save on fat and calories, go with a light blue cheese dressing as an accompaniment.

Before & After Pics

Here are some pics of myself to share...

The one to the left is from spring or summer last year.

The one below is from March.


This is why I love Weight Watchers! I'm just about 30 pounds down.

Little Bit of Mambo in My Life

I've been wanting to get in more exercise, so I decided to pick up an exercise DVD. I really wanted to get Zumba after hearing so much praise for the workout on the Weight Watchers boards, but I couldn't find it in any local stores. I didn't want to wait for it to come via Amazon, so I got the "Dancing With the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance" disc.

Me likey. Not only do you get to work out, but you get to learn steps for the merengue, cha cha, mambo and samba. (If you're going to Carnival in the future, though, be forewarned that the samba taught on the DVD is a ballroom samba style and not what's poppin in the streets, according to commenters on YouTube.) PLUS, it comes with a 15-minute toning workout that dancers use. Not bad for 11 bucks!

I was able to make my way through the whole 45-minute routine on the first try, something I was never able to do with my last exercise video foray, TaeBo. I was sweating and my heart was pumping in high gear. Keep in mind I'm an exercise newbie, though; I've read comments on Amazon that more experienced exercisers might not feel the burn.

Though I didn't collapse after 45 minutes, I didn't get all the moves straight. I think it will come with practice, though. Also, I think I'll put shoes on next time! I was on my rug in my bare feet. Not helpful for twirling quickly.

Before I got this DVD, I was dancing on my own for some activity. As someone who enjoys dancing, I found "Latin Cardio Dance" to be fun.

I haven't done the toning workout yet; will report back in the future on that.

All in all, to speak Siskel & Ebert (or Ebert & Roeper, if you're younger) in exercise terms, 2 barbells up!

Spring Cleaning

I'm going to switch gears with this post a bit and talk about clothes. Our weather here in southeast Pennsylvania finally has settled nicely into spring, so I thought it was a good time for me to get my closet ready for spring and summer.

It was about time, because for a few weeks, we had yo-yoing temperatures, where several days would be in the 60s and 70s, and then things would go crashing back to the 40s. Due to the schizophrenic weather patterns, I needed to pull out my warm-weather clothes ahead of time, without putting anything else away. My closet was overflowing with all of my clothes.

I had already gone through my spring/summer clothes a few weeks back, when the need for them first came up. These are the criteria I used to determine whether clothes should stay or go:

• Which clothes fit? Thankfully, after losing more than 25 pounds on Weight Watchers, my problem was clothes that fit too big, but if you find clothes that feel too small, of course you would get rid of them as well.
• Which clothes have problems? Assess whether these clothes can be saved or not. You may be able to take clothes with busted zippers or loose or missing buttons to a tailor (or fix them yourself), but a shirt that has a hole in a prominent place after losing a battle with a bra hook in the washing machine will probably need to be scrapped.
• Which clothes best reflect me now? Consider your likes and dislikes when it comes to fashion, and think about whether those preferences have changed since last year. Don't be afraid to donate any clothes that you can't see yourself wearing anymore. Properly-fitting clothes that you find stylish are indispensable to positive body image as someone losing weight, in my opinion.
  

I would do the same thing for my shoes and clothes. After going through my warm-weather clothes and hanging them up, I also edited my winter clothes in the same manner, so there will be less work when the temperatures start to dip at the end of the year.

What do you do with the clothes you no longer want? I like to take them to my local thrift shop, but you could also donate professional clothes to organizations like Dress for Success (for women) and Career Gear (for men). I was lucky enough to have worked for the past 2 years at a place where I could wear jeans every day, so I don't really have business gear to give away.

BLT 2.0

This has been a favorite lunch lately, a lighter version of the classic BLT:

• 3 slices center-cut bacon (Center-cut bacon has less fat and fewer calories than the regular variety.)
• 1 cup lettuce (or spinach)
• Tomato slices
• Light English muffin, toasted
• 1 T light or fat-free mayonnaise

If you want to get in a dairy serving, you could omit the mayo and melt 1 oz. of shredded cheese on the bun.

Easy Lunch Ideas

I've done this a lot lately...

• 1 serving of a light Progresso vegetable soup (It'll say 0 points on the can. My favorite is Italian Vegetable)
• 1 serving turkey meatballs

Heat the soup; heat the meatballs. Dice the meatballs and add to the soup. Enjoy!

I often eat this with a light English muffin adorned with olive oil. If I want to get in a cheese serving, I add mozzarella to the soup.

That's the typical one I eat, but I've also gone with:

• Progresso Southwestern-Style Vegetable
• 2-3 ounces of grilled chicken
• Light sour cream or reduced-fat cheddar (optional)
  

You can eat this one with 2 small corn tortillas heated in the microwave until crisp (approximately 2 minutes).

I Fell Down...But I'll Get Up!

I made it under 200 lbs. last week (a.k.a. "Onederland" on the Weight Watchers boards) but, for now, it has been short-lived: My weigh-in this past Monday was at 201.0. While this isn't a major gain (1.4 pounds), I know that I have had a string of days where I haven't been eating on plan.

What set me off? I was laid off from my job about 3 weeks ago. My official last day isn't until Thursday this coming week, but it has been a trying time. Not so much for the layoff itself, because I anticipated it, but because there are so many decisions I have to make about my future. Do I want another full-time job? Do I want to go the freelance route? I have recommitted myself to temping in the meantime, and that helps to keep me from feeling rudderless. But it is mind-boggling to have to come up with a way to contribute to putting food on the table and decide a life path at the same time.

So, I turned to food, my old security blanket. The past few weeks have made me realize that I don't really have an alternative coping mechanism. Sure, I have been praying about the job, playing with my son and spending time with my husband but, on many occasions, the pull of food has been stronger than all of that.

The best I can say is that I have been able to minimize the damage. In the past, I might have just kept on eating away the stress, but not now! Here are some strategies I came up with:

• Not eating a whole serving (or more). I find myself wanting protein after work, and this is also the time when I tend to be most out of control. Chicken nuggets are a particular weakness. Rather than eating a full serving of 6, I might just eat 2. This is the same principle as eating a forkful or two of a decadent dessert--sometimes a little taste is enough.
• Drinking water. I tend to be lax in getting in 6-8 glasses of water a day, so drinking water when I'm jonesing for comfort foods kills two birds with one stone: I get to catch up on my water intake, and drinking a good amount of water (at least 20 oz.) helps to make me feel full.
• Going to light options first. I find that if I can talk myself out of eating something high in fat and calories, there are many healthy, filling options that satisfy. A good snack I've been into lately is a small bowl of bran flakes with Splenda. I get fiber, knock out a milk serving, and satisfy a sweet craving. For a salty/crunchy craving, I turn to 2 taco-sized corn tortillas microwaved in the oven with salsa, maybe with cheese if I'm on a protein jag.
• Pairing a comfort food with a healthier option. One particularly nice Friday recently, I wanted to treat myself after long days of work and stress. So yes, I did go to a restaurant, a Mexican one. You'll hear from successful dieters that food is not a good reward choice, but I felt like I needed it that particular day. What I ended up doing was to order an appetizer plate of buffalo wings and a bowl of gazpacho soup. In the past, I may have gotten the wings and a heavy plate of flautas (basically fried, rolled-up tacos) and cheese-covered rice and beans, but I decided to make a healthy balance. In other words, damage control!
  
• Dieting another day. You often hear of people new to diets kissing the diet goodbye after a bad day or two (or 7). But quitting doesn't get you anywhere, except back in your big girl pants! I, too, have said "forget it" when something has gone wrong in my life and I leaned heavily on food to try to make it better. But I am trying my hardest, this time around, to not let disappointment and depression get the best of me. I acknowledge I made a mistake, then get back on the right path as soon as possible.

If you are on a diet now, or are worried about starting one because you feel you won't be able to stop yourself from eating your favorite unhealthy foods, stop worrying. Do the best you can. As I always hear people say, you didn't gain however much extra poundage you have in a day or a week; it was a process that took months or years. Don't expect to be perfect right away. In fact, don't ever expect to be perfect. As I'm learning, true success at losing weight comes from making more good choices than bad ones.