Filipo Berio Olive Oil-Bzz Campaign and a Yummy Recipe

Hi all!  I have lots to say in another post about the way things are going, so look for that soon, but for THIS post, I wanted to tell you about Filipo Berio Olive Oil.  I'm a Bzz Agent through www.bzzagent.com, where I'm provided free samples of different things in exchange for sharing my feedback on the items.  I'm participating in the olive oil campaign, and I love it.  The oil is rich and yummy and is proving to be a great substitute for butter.  In my efforts to eat healthier, I'm trying to sub it in for butter in most recipes.  I'm also trying to move toward a more heart healthy "Mediterranean diet" with fruits, leafy greens, legumes, fish, and olive oil!  If any of you are looking for a good olive oil, give Filipo Berio a try :)

Now, here is one of my FAVORITE olive oil recipes.  This stuff is super yummy, my husband requests it for dinner weekly and it's hearty enough to be a light entree.  Here's one of my favorite recipes lately, Ina Garten's Green Panzanella.  It's awesome stuff, I promise!  I do not use all of the dressing on mine, but you certainly could.  I also use a sourdough loaf of bread, or whole grain if i'm being super good, but I do find that the whole grain is a little too sweet for this recipe.  This is a super recipe to take to potlucks, I just take the bread and dressing separately and mix before serving.  If only I remembered to take a picture of the final product!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
• 20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons capers, drained

For the vinaigrette:

• 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

Baby steps....and faking it.

HA!  Bet I surprised you, right?  I bet you thought it would be months before my next post.  Not so! I like to keep you on your toes.  If there are any of you left....:)

Things are cruising right along.  I'm well into the habit of walking 2 miles in the mornings at least 3 days a week.  The eating is going ok so far.  I'm using myfitnesspal and logging what I eat.  THIS week the goal is just to log everything, next week we'll move to staying under the calorie goal (although, so far i've stayed under it).  Next week, when the hubster is back to being free in the mornings, i'm going to try to hit the gym on the days that I don't walk.  Like I said, baby steps.

I'm having a hard time finding my mojo, though.  I wish I could figure out how I do SO well for awhile and then it just stops.  It's like the motivation is gone.  I know one of my biggest problems is not putting myself high on the list of priorities...or, honestly, often not even ON the list at all.  It's so hard not to put my kids, husband, work, family, etc. higher. It's hard not to feel guilty when I take time for me.  Although, I KNOW that when I take time for myself I come back to the family/work/etc with more energy and more to give, my heart doesn't know that.  There is so much pressure to be perfect, it gets to me sometimes.  I hate the feeling of letting anyone down, so I don't....but, really the person I'm letting down is me.  It shouldn't be so hard to let yourself down...right?

So, right now the plan is to fake it.  Fake it until I make it.  Baby steps, one foot in front of the other, one meal or one bite at a time.  I can do it. I have to do it.

Giveaway!

Just letting you all know that there's a great giveaway going on over at Weight Watcher Wannabe's blog.  She's great and SUCH an inspiration to me!    She's giving away a copy of "Eat More of What You Love."  It sounds like a great book!

To enter, go to:  http://weightwatcherwannabe.blogspot.com/2012/04/book-giveaway-eat-more-of-what-you-love.html

Hiya! and a cool new weight loss app

Hi all!  Long time no see, right?  SO much has happened in my life and I really let weight loss/getting healthy fall off my radar.  I'm back though!  (How many times have you heard THAT?!  I'm for real this time, though!)  While eating hasn't been great, I've been walking 2.25 miles 3-4 times a week, and I even did a 5k. Yay!  As always, although I wasn't really posting, because I didn't feel like I had anything to say, I've been keeping up with my blogging buddies and I'm so proud of all of your accomplishments.  You are all so amazing and such an inspiration.

I did want to share with you all that there is a great new calorie counting website out there, but it's so much more than a calorie counter.  It actually makes weight loss a game.  You earn points for logging food, exercising, making good food choices, and competing in challenges!  It's really quite a cool concept.  There are even giveaways for certain challenges.  If anyone wants to check it out, the site is www.slimkicker.com.  There's an app for smartphones too.  It's really great!  If you join, please friend me!  I'm Clee0805 on the site.

Can't wait to get back to the world of healthy living!

My ten truths

As I prepare to jump back into this journey that I both want and need to travel, I'm starting to make a list of the things I know to be true. Here are my ten truths:

1. I'm fat. I'm fat because I have spent years eating too much and moving too little.

2. The number on the scale does not reflect who I am as a person. The number means I'm overweight, it does not mean I'm less deserving of love, have less worth, or deserve less happiness. "Fat" is by far not the worst thing a person can be.

3. I am worth it. I'm worth the effort and the time it will take to get healthy.

4. This journey to better health will take time.

5. It's time to prioritize and putting myself first sometimes is ok. It's ok to say no to people.

6. I'm a food addict and an emotional eater. It will take as much "mental" work as it will physical work to find true success.

7. Food is not my friend, it's not a place of comfort, it doesn't make things better or worse. Food is fuel. It is time to start viewing it that way, as neither"good" or "bad."

8. As much as my getting healthy will help my kids, my husband, my friends, this journey is for me.

9. There will be potholes. There will be mistakes. That's ok. I'm not perfect, nobody is.

10. It's time.

2012

Happy New Year! My goodness it's been so long since I've posted and I have SO much to update everyone on. Like many people, the new year is representing a new start for me. I promise a full post very soon. For now, I have many errands to run, groceries to buy and gifts to return. I hope all is well with all of you.

Checking in!

Surprise!! This is a checking in post with GOOD news! I'm **finally** on track with both eating and exercise. I'm down close to 8 pounds and feeling better about things :) Yay! Right now, i'm just restricting calories and moving more. I've been using www.myfitnesspal.com to track my calories and it gives me 1400 calories per day, if I don't exercise. It seems like so little, and I'm hungry, but it does motivate me to exercise so I can eat a little more.

Although I haven't been commenting too much, I've been reading blogs like crazy and everyone is SO inspiring. You guys are all doing so well. Those of you that are struggling are so inspirational to me, too, because you have such strength of spirit. That's what it's all about!

For workouts, I'v begun a half marathon training schedule. It's a little crazy, but for the first time in my adult life, I RAN a whole mile. A whole mile! I'm up to a mile and a half now. It's a painfully slow pace, but i'm proud of myself nonetheless. I had a little setback in that my pedometer was telling me that I'd run farther than I had, so I THOUGHT i'd done better. I THOUGHT I'd run a 12 minute mile and already run 2 miles without stopping, but that's not the case. When I realized my pedometer was off, I ran last night and tracked it on mapmyrun.com, and, turns out I've been running under 2 miles and between a 13-15 minute mile. At first, I was so bummed out. Honestly, I thought about quitting the training program because I'm too fat and too slow at this point. But, quitting is not an option! I know that's a crappy pace, but you know what? I'm ok with that. I'm still making progress. When I started, I could run 2 minutes before stopping...now..I can run 22 minutes without stopping. Progress! Maybe I won't make next year's Disney Princess Half Marathon...maybe I'll have to run a later one, but that's ok. I'll run one.

So, what's new with all of you? I'm curious as to how many calories you shoot for a day, for those of you restricting calories? Each calculator I use gives me a different value!