December 29, 2011

Simple Changes

My cats have found a new favorite place to hang out...


Estelle (the ugly cat) is usually right ON my lap, but she doesn't like Paolo (the white fluffy cat), so she is ignoring me at the moment.

So yesterday, Sarah and I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The movie was actually much better than the book, in my opinion. I don't think I've ever said that about a movie before!  The rape scene at the beginning was hard to watch because it was so brutal, and I kind of stared at the wall for a minute until it was over.  I had forgotten about that part of the book.

I managed to forgo Mrs. Fields while we were at the mall. I thought about getting a cookie to have for my treat at night, but I realized I didn't REALLY want one. I thought that if I was going to have a cookie, I want to make homemade oatmeal cookies (really big ones) and have one of those instead. I know, I don't know what's wrong with me--no buttercream frosting?! But I love love LOVE my homemade oatmeal cookies. The ones I almost barfed up when I binged on them and then went for a run. Maybe I'll try and come up with a single serve oatmeal cookie recipe.

I have been on a salad kick lately, for some strange reason. I normally can't stand the stuff, so I don't know where the craving came from. But I've been eating a salad every day for lunch. It's always the same--romaine lettuce, French dressing, ranch dressing, diced chicken, and cranberry/almond granola. (And yes, I use a combo of both dressings).


I've had this same thing for lunch every day for the past week. I'm sure I'll be sick of it soon, and go another ten years before eating another salad!

I made another change recently too--I was at Target for something when I remembered that we needed mayonnaise at home, so I checked out Target's (very limited) selection. The only mayo they had was the Hellman's full-fat mayo, which I never use. I usually buy the Kraft Olive Oil mayo or the light mayo. Even when I was fat, we used light mayo. But while at Target, I asked myself, "How often do I really use mayo?" and the answer is probably about twice a month. I only ever use it if I'm having canned tuna.

So I bought the full-fat stuff and tried it in my tuna the next day, and it was AMAZING. I never really realized what I was missing out on. I didn't even need bread or crackers with it--just the tuna with mayo and relish was delish.  The next time I had to buy sour cream, I did the same thing--I usually buy fat-free (because I really do like it, and it was a change I didn't mind making in the beginning). I bought the full-fat sour cream (since we don't use it very often anyway). And when I had some chili with a couple tablespoons of sour cream, it was heavenly.

I KNOW that "light" and "fat-free" stuff is usually more processed, and therefore not as healthy as the "real" stuff; but I think there is room for EVERYTHING in one's diet--including processed stuff. And eating the light and fat-free stuff helped me stick to my calorie goals, so it helped me in the long run.

Yesterday's food log:
Breakfast- jamocha/banana protein shake
Lunch- salad with dressing, trail mix, and chicken, Dr. Oz brownie
Dinner- scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, and ketchup; toast with sunflower seed butter
Snacks- two spoonfuls of Cookie Butter (my favorite way to eat this is right off the spoon!), graham crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips, 1/2 a Dr. Oz brownie

Today marks 46 days binge-free!

29 comments:

  1. Love the post but the giantly long multi falshing color ad on the right hand side was obnoxious :(

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  2. Update: now that the page has refreshed from my comment, that ad is gone and there is now a toothpaste one there

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  3. Haha, I mix french and ranch too, I call it "franch" lol When I was younger, my mom would only buy Miracle Whip so I didn't know what real mayo tasted like until 2 years ago and I will NEVER go back! :)

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  4. @RaeJean Brown
    "Franch"... I love that!! I only tried French dressing for the first time a week ago, and I love it. Especially mixed with ranch :)

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  5. mmm, full fat Sour Cream! I accidentally bought the full fat a while ago and was blown away. How did I ever do the non-fat before! It was the same sort of thought process too, like, really how much will I be using to make the non-fat worth it so to speak.. not nearly often enough. So full flavor it is!

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  6. I love the idea of having the "good stuff" and in moderation. I usually buy the light stuff, but you've got me thinking about the processing!!! Hmm. And love the photo of you and the kitties. They're both lovely!!! Have a great day Katie!!!!

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  7. Did you ever get popcorn and a Coke (and even candy) when you went to movies? If so, was it hard for you to give up? That is one of the hardest things for me to give up.

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  8. @Taunya
    When I was a kid, we were never allowed to buy popcorn or candy at the movies (too expensive). When I started dating Jerry, we went to the movies a lot, and I got in the habit of getting a large popcorn with extra butter and a humongous lemonade. When I start losing weight, I brought my own snack in my purse (a single serve bag of M&M's, or pretzels, or Goldfish, etc). Now, I just eat before I go to the movies and maybe have a piece of gum while I'm there. Sometimes I'll bring a snack with me.

    It's hard to break a habit like that, but I cannot justify spending $10+ on a pop and popcorn! Not to mention the calories... ;)

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  9. I usually always get the full fat stuff too rather than the light...I find that the "light" stuff usually compensates with more sodium or something I would rather not have and like you I don't eat it enough to worry about it.
    Glad you liked the movie, I read the book and it was ok (have not read the others and probably won't either) now I want to see the movie since you said it was better...rarely is a movie ever better than a book IMO.
    Have you seen the help? I read the book and loved it and the movie is really good, not exact to the book but still got the point across.

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  10. I hope you can tweak the ads...mine says meet a beautiful russian woman today YUCK!

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  11. I loved the book The Help too! I haven't read the Dragon Tattoo series. I am hoping to go see the War Horse movie.

    The new ads that are showing for me aren't flashing or obnoxious. I agree with you though Katie they are pretty random - some type of dentist alert and meet beautiful Russian women. LOL!!

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  12. @michellechristine
    Apparently I can reject certain ads, and I definitely rejected the "beautiful Russian women" one... I don't know why it's still showing! I certainly don't want that on there. Maybe there is a time lapse after I click "reject". Hopefully all the kinks will be ironed out soon :)

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  13. I've seen you talk about it a lot so I have to ask, what is Cookie Butter? I'm in the UK and it's not something we have here at all. In fact there are a lot of really great sounding food products you get over there that we dont have here :( Although maybe I shouldn't know what it is, it sounds too tempting.

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  14. I thought I was the only person in the world (except for my Dad) who mixed french and ranch dressing!! Waitresses always look at me like I'm crazy when I ask for both!! I am going to start calling it Franch now too!! Thanks RaeJean!! Way to go on the 46 day no binge streak Katie!!!

    Lynn Langdon

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  15. I really want to start a blog for 2012. I'm just wanting it to look nice and clean like yours. Do you have much training before hand doing one. Yours looks so great and I want that..lol

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  16. must say I LOVE the new layout. love love love, i feel like its easier to read and it just seems more positive the previous one was kind of depressing.. i noticed I instantly was happy when i saw the new layout -shrugs-! hope that helps! :D

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  17. Just wanted to agree with your choice of salad dressings--LOVE combining ranch with Dorothy Lynch (which is a local French-type dressing sold in Nebraska), it is simply delicious!

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  18. LOVE the new layout! Which font are you using? I find it hard to read on my laptop...my friend the web designer said Verdana is the best font for reading online. Have you tried how that looks?

    Hope you are enjoying the holidays!

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  19. I love eating salads at restaurants. For some reason they always taste better than my own, probably because I don't have to make it! I love Applebee's Oriental grilled chicken salad, dressing on the side. Have you ever had Catalina dressing? Kraft makes it and it is a type of French dressing but darker, maybe it doesn't have mayo? It's delicious.

    Both cats are beautiful! Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you, how did you settle on 133 lbs as your goal?

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  20. Love the new layout too. It's very clean, bright and modern without being sterile. Thumbs up! No trouble reading the font here!

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  21. I just logged on to see if you had posted yet today and wanted to say I like the new look. I especially love the title with the cookies in it. :)

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  22. Love the new look, much cleaner and easy to read.

    That salad is making me crave a salad now, thanks! :D Salad is better to crave than the things I usually crave lol

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  23. Hey Katie, what brand of brownie mix do you use for your Dr. Oz brownies?

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  24. LoveAnAnimalDecember 31, 2011

    Very strange that I see no ads on my viewing of your post, though I read mention of them by others. You mentioned you may still be in the creating phase of your blog, and though you can't please all people all the time, I hope that you go with some pizzazz like you did on your old page. You had fun colors and a fun font.

    And you are right on the money about the "full fat" versions of dressings and mayo. They are much healthier in terms of less processing. Just like decaf coffee which is chemically processed with solvents to eliminate the caffeine.

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  25. the mayo thing reminds me about how I was buying and enjoying the low fat or fat free mozzarella sticks. One time I was over at my sister in laws and hadn't eaten anything all day so she gave me a regular mozz stick. OH MY GOSH. I was in heaven. I had no idea I had been deceiving myself to think they were the same. Now I always buy the regular and savor every single fatty bite.

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  26. @dupster
    Dorothy Lynch is sold in MN too, it's pretty good - but I love the Mazaretti's Honey French and just learned that apparently it's easy to make your own? However I am still waiting for a family friend to e-mail me the recipe... :-)

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  27. I completely agree about the movie vs the book. I think it may have been a flaw due to the fact that the book was translated, but... the movie was MUCH better.

    Also - I really like the new color scheme :)

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  28. I recently did the same thing and started getting full fat condiments. I rarely use the, and when I do it is minimal amounts. And most of them (especially sour cream) are so much better. I'd rather have a tiny amount of the real stuff than a huge amount of the fat free stuff.

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  29. Oh and yes I know Euchre. Being from Illinois my family plays, but not too many people here in Texas.

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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