Food Of The Day: Grilled Shrimp

As my friend Denise likes to say, today was "hot as balls."

Yet I had bought shrimp I wanted to grill, so heat be damned, I was grilling for dinner. Actually when it was time to grill, it was cooler out on the deck than it was in the house so it worked out in my favor.

Short on time and long on hunger it was nothing fancy, just plain grilled shrimp with grilled eggplant, Vidalia onion and red pepper.

I shook up my eating a bit this week, drank extra water and even nudged down the number of Activity Points I eat on workout days. I do think the latter makes sense, I mean, I weigh less now I should probably not be eating as many as I had been.

I really, really hope it shows on the scale tomorrow.

In which it's been 3 months at bootcamp

It's 6:22 am on a Friday and my face is about 6 inches from the bright green Astroturf as I'm desperately waiting for a bell to ring.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

"10 seconds!" sounds the trainer.

Thank God.

I'm in a push-up hold, trying to hold myself in the bottom part of a push-up without collapsing onto the floor.

My arms are wobbly from fatigue and whatever sweat isn't dripping onto the floor is running in my eyes. It's 72 degrees outside with 92% humidity, and it feels about the same inside the gym, which is actually a converted warehouse.

I want to hold the position for the last 10 seconds. I've broken it twice in the past minute, but I just want to hold it for this last push.

DING!

"Switch!" yells the trainer.

I drop to the floor, relieved that is over. I have 17 seconds to "rest" until I have to push a weighted sled the length of the gym and back for 1 minute.

Welcome to bootcamp.

It's hard to believe I've been going to bootcamp for 3 months. It feels like I just started, yet also that I've been going forever, if that makes sense.

In my experience, bootcamp is not like what you see on TV. When someone asks what I do for exercise and I reply, "Bootcamp," it's usually met with a weary "Ooohhhhhh...." as if I said, "Swimming with sharks."

I think bootcamp gets a bad rap because what you see on TV are trainers yelling and screaming at the participants. It's all very dramatic and makes for good TV, but it's not what I see. And it's rather silly.

My trainers are more like coaches. They don't need to yell to motivate us as everyone in my classes are adults paying good money to work their assess off 6 am. If you're there, you're plenty motivated. You don't need someone yelling at you to "PUSH IT! ARRRRRRGH! BLARRRRRRRRRGH!"

Our trainers are encouraging and knowledgable, and they don't need to resort to theatrics to get you to do a lunge the right way.

I checked my weight loss records and three days before I started bootcamp I weighed 207 lbs. Last week, three months later, I was at 183. But it's not so much about the numbers, although I like them very much.

When I stated bootcamp I was just fitting into size 16 pants. Now, 14s are getting loose and 12s are in the near future. I feel more fit. I feel like I've firmed and toned up quite well over a short period of time - benefits I would not have gained with jut cardio.

All the strength training has also greatly strengthened by glutes, hamstrings and quads, making me a pain-free, better runner. No more agonizingly sore glutes. No more limping, stiffness or Ben Gay patches.

Although, I still get sore from bootcamp. It's always funny waking up the day after, rolling out of bed, seeing what's sore. Oh, so that's the area the exercise was targeting. Ah ha.

The biggest surprise benefit I've received from bootcamp is self-confidence. After pretty much a lifetime of obesity, my self-confidence when it came to anything physical was nill. Now I feel myself challenging myself more. My attitude is more, "I'll give it a shot" rather than "No way I can do that."

Some things I'm good at, some I'm still at Square 1. But I can feel incremental improvements every time, which is pretty encouraging. The 6 lb medicine balls are now too light. I can hold a plank longer than ever. I can box jump to the medium-height box, something that scared the crap out of me for the first few weeks. I can run the hurdles faster without worrying about breaking an ankle.

Yet I still can't do a full push-up. And I continue to hate any exercise that ends in "jump" or "hop." But at least I'll try my best.

Overall, it's been a remarkable endeavor, the most effective workout I've ever encountered. I can't wait to see where I'll be at 6 months in - I'm looking at you push-up.

Food of the Day: Hash Brown Egg White Nests

You had me at hash browns.

This is actually Friday's FOTD entry, but I got tied up after dinner and didn't have the opportunity to get it up. /thatswhatshesaid

Anyway, my friend Flo found this recipe, so thanks Flo!

I love egg whites and, of course, hash browns, so this was a must-make. And when you add in the fact it also features ham and cheese, slam dunk.

All the particulars are here, along with better food photography.

My observations:

Cooking time is nearly an hour, due to the fact you have to first cook the hash brown nests, then add in the egg whites, etc, and cook them as well. So even though it's not quick to whip up, it's very much worth the time.

One serving is 3P+ and one serving is also two "nests," which is a goodly amount of food. I had these for dinner and saved 6 P+, so I had four nests. Yum.

It also yields leftovers, which I will have today. Uncertain about how they will reheat and taste, but I will report back.

In which it's a great day

Any day that includes these two pictures is a 10 in my book.

I'd been trying to schedule a massage for the past 8 weeks, but I could never get an appointment and a sitter at the same time. Until this morning.

It was full-on awesome relaxation as the massage therapist worked out all the considerable kinks head to toe. It had been more than 6 months since my last one, so that combined with all the work I've been putting my bones through made for a lot of kneading and manipulation for the MT.

Floating out of there I decided I wanted an ice cream cone from McDs (4 P+), and since I had bootcamp this morning, I had some extra Points to play with.

Happy Friday indeed.

Food Of The Day: Buttery Baked Scallops

Day 2 of trying to shake up my same-old, same-old diet.

I had a hankering for fish, so I picked up some Bay Scallops and decided to make an old favorite of my Dad's. I WW'd it to make it more Points-friendly.

Ingredients
6 oz Bay Scallops (2P+)
1T butter (3P+)
5 Toll House crackers (2 P+)
1 wedge Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese (1 P+)

Place the scallops in a shallow baking pan.

Cover with 1T butter and crushed crackers.

Top with sliced Laughing Cow cheese wedge.

Spray top lightly with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

8 P+, serves 1.

My Dad's original is pretty close to this, although he's very liberal with the butter and crushed crackers; adds a splash of white wine; and uses 1 slice of American cheese. The original is awesome, but I have to say this is a very good, lower-Point substitute; the scallops were swimming in buttery, cheese breadcrumbs. While it was baking the kitchen smelled of said buttery breadcrumbs.

It's also super easy and can be whipped up quickly. And it looks kinda fancy, so you could easily impress guests. You also could knock down the Points by using light butter (I think that would take off 1, we didn't have any on hand) and perhaps more Points-friendly crackers.

In which I share tricks for getting up and working out

My alarm went off at 5 am this morning.

I hit Snooze.

10 minutes later, I hit Snooze again.

At 5:21 am I willed myself out of bed: Go eat something!

That did it, there was a Luna bar in the cabinet with my name on it.

I'm not a morning person, but for the past 6 months I've been waking up at 5-ish four times a week to work out before everyone else rises.

So, if I dislike getting up early, why do so?

It's the only time I can ensure I get my workout in.

When I first started exercising again, last fall, I used to work out when my youngest napped. But the problem was - and is - when she's napping I need some downtime, too.

It finally got to the point in which my need for downtime in the afternoon outweighed my need to sleep in.

However, that doesn't mean getting up early has gotten much easier. But there are a few tricks I employ to make it more bearable:

1. Go to bed early. For me, that means heading up around 10 pm, so I can get 7-ish hours of sleep. The closer I get to 6 hours or less, the harder it is to get up.

2. Eat something. I alluded to this above: The thought of food helps get me out of bed. I like to eat before I work out, I know this isn't the case for everyone. And I make sure what I eat is something I really like. Usually, a 5-Point+ Luna bar. Yum.

3. Lay your gear out the night before. With everything set out, this means all I have to do is put on my clothes. I can handle this.

4. Remember it's all over in 2 hours. Whether it's bootcamp or running, I'm done by 7 am. That is an awesome feeling, knowing I have the whole day ahead of me with my biggest personal to-do done.

5. Have someone expecting you. This is big for me. If I pay for a bootcamp class, I will be there. If I commit to meet a friend at the track, like I did this morning (see the sunrise above), I will be there. Making a commitment is an extra kick in the pants. Without that, it's easier to con myself into sleeping in.

6. Know that if you don't get out of bed, you won't work out today. I've yet to miss a wakeup call because I know if I sleep in, I will not have time to work out. And that will annoy me all day long.

Food of The Day

I finally got my first smart phone.

Welcome to 2007, Melissa!

Anyway, it has a camera, so it'll be easier to take everyday pics and post here without the hassle of memory cards, USB readers, etc.

In order to bump that slow scale, I think I need to mix up my diet a bit. I've been eating, more or less, the same-old same-old for weeks now and I think my body is bored. I'm not bored with the food, since what I know and like is easy, but it's worth a shot.

Today's FOTD was Pepperidge Farms Sandwich Thins, which are 2 Points+, 1 Point lower than most of the thins on the market. I toasted one up and added 2 servings (60g) of Roasted Red Pepper hummus for a great lunch. And, only 4 Points+, pretty good.

For dinner I had one I should phase out a bit: a roasted chicken patty and a 96% lean hamburger, both 3P+ and all from Trader Joe's. Added to that was a mountain of grilled veg: eggplant, Vidalia onion, summer squash and red pepper.

I love this dinner because for 6 P+ I get a trough full of food. But I eat this 3-4 times a week, too much.

Had bootcamp this morning. I haven't been posting much about it lately since the posts would all be:

Went to bootcamp this morning. Very challenging. Very sweaty.

However, I realized I've now been going for 3 months(!), so later this week I'll have a post reflecting on that.