I love my heart rate monitor

 

My Polar F11 arrived in the mail last Tuesday night, and I took it for a test drive starting Wednesday at my one hour spin class. I ordered it from http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/ which was recommended by community members on the Weight Watchers website.

It comes with 3 pieces, a wrist watch unit, a chest strap with electrodes, and a transmitter that snaps onto the chest strap.

I picked this particular model because it works with my Virgin HealthMiles, plus the reviews said the strap was more comfortable than the F4 or F6, and the transmitter had a changeable battery unlike the other models. I choose the pretty blue color too.

The set up was super easy; I just entered the date, time, my weight, age and a few other key pieces of information. I also had to take a Fitness Level test which is similar to the VO2max test and scored a “Good”.

I then figured out how to start recording my workouts and was impressed with the amount of calories I was burning. I think it also made me work out extra hard, plus I kept looking at my wrist to see what my number my heart rate was at.

After the workout, I needed to figure out how to download my info to the computer and put it on Polar Personal Trainer. I’m used to downloading my steps on the pedometer with a USB cable, but this little sucker was different. I got the software, and just hold up the wrist watch to my microphone, and it chirps, beeps and hums the info across the net.

Polar Personal Trainer keeps track of all my info including my time, calories burned, percent of fat burned and heart rate zones. Here are my results from a week’s worth of workouts:

Day	Activity	Time	Calories	% Fat Burned
Wednesday	Spin	1:03	655	45%
Thursday	Step	1:00	515	55%
Friday	Body Pump & Elliptical	1:12	595	55%
Saturday	Boot Camp	1:01	720	40%
Monday	Boot Camp & Treadmill 2 mile walk	1:36	811	55%
Tuesday	Cardio	1:00	363	60%

I then learned how to calculate my calories burned and turn them into Activity Points (AP) so I can eat extra points on WW. It’s not official, but some WW members told me 100 calories = 1 activity point. They also said I must eat my AP’s the same day I earn them.

I’m in love with my monitor. It even gave me a trophy at the end of the week. I’m not sure why, but hey, I rocked on my workouts last week!

Girl Scout Cookies and Weight Watchers

Girl Scout Brownie - Michelle

Our first boxes of Girl Scout cookies arrived last Friday. There were 2 boxes which my husband had ordered from his friend. He only shared a few Somoas with me.

I had ordered several boxes from a neighbor, but had yet to receive them. Well, I got my six boxes today, and my dilemma is what to do as a Weight Watcher.

I have a long history with the Girl Scouts, as I was one. View the lovely photo of me in my Brownie outfit (very figure flattering) in the 1980’s. My mom was even a leader for my troop for a number of years.

We had fun singing songs, going on trips and camping, but one of my best memories is of the cookies. Our house would be full of the cases of cookies, where my mom had to sort and distribute them to the girls in her troop.

My favorites are Thin Mints, Samoas and Trefoils who have kept their lovely 70’s shape throughout the years.

Now I have a daughter of my own who can join the Girl Scouts when she starts school, but that’s a few years off.

I know I can count the points for the cookies, but for me, it’s hard to resist only having 3, 4 or 5 cookies. I usually can eat half a box of cookies a day. My 6 boxes could be gone before the end of the week. I know I can freeze them too, and the Thin Mints in particular taste particularly yummy frozen.

I looked up the points, and the best amount of cookies for the points turns out to be the Trefoils with 5 cookies for only 4 points. I had even ordered a box of the Sugar Free Chocolate Chip cookies to try, but turns out you only get 3 cookies for 4 points!

Here are the points values that I calculated from Little Brownie Bakers.

Cookie	Amount	Points
Trefoils	5 cookies	4
Thin Mints	4 cookies	3
Samoas	2 cookies	4
Do-si-dos	2 cookies	3
Tagalong	2 cookies	4
All Abouts	3 cookies	4
Sugar Free Chocolate Chip	3 cookies	4
Lemon Chalet Cremes	1 cookie	2

So far today, I’ve only had five Thin Mints (and put down 3 points on my WW tracker), but it’s going be hard to make it through tonight, the rest of the weekend, and heck, even the rest of the week. What’s a girl to do?

Devil’s Pumpkin Brownie Muffins

I just found this recipe on the web, and tried it out for the first time. The photo of the results are little different than what I experienced, but they do taste wonderful!

I added about a ½ cup of chocolate chips as well since I was sharing with my co-workers.

The recipe makes 12 regular muffins or 36 mini muffins. 1 muffin or 3 minis are 3 points.

Devil’s Pumpkin Brownie Muffins

1 box devil’s food cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz).
Chocolate chips optional (this probably raises the points, but oh well)

Mix the two ingredients together. The mixture will be very thick, don’t add anything else (except chocolate chips if you wish). Place batter into muffin tins lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Fabulous Apple Spice Cake

I’m starting the holiday baking for a party at work tomorrow and am using this old favorite Weight Watchers recipe. I was going to make my homemade, non-WW friendly cookies, but decided to wait till this weekend for my normal Christmas cookie baking.

This is a very moist cake that only has three ingredients, a box of spice cake mix, apple pie filling, an egg and egg whites. I’ve also used 2 eggbeaters as a substitute for the eggs before, but here is the orginal recipe.

 Fabulous Apple Spice Cake

1 Spice Cake Mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
1 cap apple pie filling (try the no-sugar added ones)
1 egg
2 egg whites

Mix ingredients together by hand. Spray a bundt cake pan with cooking spray. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Makes 18 servings for 3 points each.

New breakfast foods

Greek yogurt from Trader Joe’s. Zero percent fat and 20 grams of protein. It is very thick, sour and tart by itself, but tastes delicious with some strawberries and Splenda. 1 cup is 2 points.

Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal. Recommended by a coworker, has a lot of fiber and some protein in it. 1 cup is 3 points, plus 1 cup of milk equals a nice 5 point breakfast that lasts almost until lunch.

Amy’s Breakfast Burritos. Raved about by my former WW leader. I saw them on sale, buy one get one free, so bought a few. Entirely vegetarian with beans, tomatoes, potatoes, and tofu. Takes about 3 minutes to heat in the microwave, and only 5 points.

It’s the most important meal of the day. Enjoy!

Crockpot time – Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

I forget how much I love my crockpot until fall and winter comes along. I never break it out during the rest of the year, but it’s so easy to make dinner with a slow cooker!

Since I’m done with grad school, and trying to do better with this weight loss thing, I decided to try and plan some meals this past week. This involved me looking through my freezer and panty to see what it held, and what was going to expire soon.

I had a new bag of lentils plus about a half a cup of lentils left over from last year in my panty. In my freezer, I had about three bags of frozen chicken parts. One bag of breasts, one of thighs and one of breast tenders, all from Trader Joe’s. I don’t have ground red pepper, so I substituted a few red pepper flakes.

I’ve made this for friends before, including once for my best friend from high school who married a man from Morocco. He said it tasted authentic and they enjoyed it. It’s from my Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook.

When I stayed home and made it, the timing worked perfectly, but since I work a full day, this time I may have cooked it a little too long, the chicken was a little dry.  The carrots that were on the bottom were nice and moist though.  I’ll work on the timing.

Moroccan Chicken and Lentils

Ingredients
8 ounces baby carrots	3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups uncooked lentils	3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 lbs frozen chicken tenders	1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 (14 1/4 ounce) cans fat-free chicken broth	1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons minced garlic

Directions:

Place the carrots in the bottom of a 4-5 quart slow cooker. Pour the lentils over the carrots. Arrange the frozen chicken tenders on top of the lentils. In a separate bowl combine the tumeric, ground red pepper and cinnamon together and sprinkle evenly over the chicken. Pour the 2 cans of chicken broth over the arrangement.

Time: Cook on high for 5 hours, or cook on high for 1 hour, then on low for 7 hours.

Serves about 4-6. A 1 cup serving is 5 points. With the lentils, it’s very high in fiber.

Step Out walk – it’s no Marine Corps Marathon

This weekend in DC was a big one for walking and running events. Saturday was the Step Out to Fight Diabetes walk, and Sunday we had the Marine Corps Marathon.

Saturday I attended the Step Out walk, in the rain no less. I took the metro to the Archives/Navy Memorial stop and walked a few blocks to 3rd and Pennsylvania. I exceeded my fundraising goal and rose over $650 to help this great cause.

There were two paths a 2 mile walk and a challenging 6 mile walk. I had every intention of walking the 6 mile walk (I had been practicing long walks for the past two weeks), but when I arrived at the set up on, I heard the news that the 6 mile walk had been cancelled due to the rain. I stood in the registration line and collected my long sleeve t-shirt, and missed getting a medal by a few hundred dollars. The medal winners had to raise at least $1,000.

I also grabbed a banana, an Odwalla chocolate chip peanut bar (5 WW points) and a bottle of water from the fuel tent. I wore my rain slicker which had huge pockets and stashed my t-shirt and water.

I hit the 2 mile trail and switched between wearing my hood and using my umbrella. It had been pouring rain around 9 when the walk started, but it started to wear off shortly after. By the time we were done, the rain had stopped completely. We did have to avoid major puddles on the roads and sidewalks, but I was a bit relieved not to have to walk 6 miles in the muck.

I figure I’ll make up the 4 mile difference at the gym this week.

Buttermilk Biscuit memories

One of my favorite childhood memories is of Saturday morning and making buttermilk biscuits with my dad. He would make up a batch from scratch, and let us kids help roll out the dough and cut out circles. It was a ritual, and probably helped create my love of baking. I still adore hot out of the oven biscuits, drizzling honey on top of them, and eating while warm. They even taste good later in the day cold too.

I have the original recipe, which I think may be from Betty Crocker, but have lighted it up a bit and reduced the shortening and substituted some whole wheat flour for white. I learned some of the tips from the book Secrets of Fat-Free Baking, but you do really have to experiment to find the right combination of fat ingredients vs. no-to-low fat ingredients.

I use whole wheat pastry flour which results in better texture than regular whole wheat flour. I also use unbleached white flour. I stuck with the tablespoon of sugar instead of substituting Splenda, but I did reduce the shortening by half and substituted with unsweetened applesauce.

Low-Fat Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour (pastry flour)	1 cup all purpose flour (unbleached)
1 tbsp sugar	2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda	1 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening	1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup fat free buttermilk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in shortening. Stir in milk and applesauce. Place dough on floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 to 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Place on un greased cookie sheet one inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Serve warm.

Each biscuit is approximately 2.5 points. Makes about 12-13 biscuits. Serve with honey, jam or other favorite topping, and let the kids help roll and cut the dough. Great memories making and baking biscuits with the family.

Weight Watchers at Work

Today was the first session of Weight Watchers at work, but I did not join.

I feel a little bit bad, but I really don’t want to waste my money when I’m not following the program anyway. I’m mostly writing down what I eat, except when I overeat and don’t want to see how many points I have actually consumed.

I am exercising pretty regularly these days, so my weight is staying about the same despite my tendency to overeat on my daily and weekly points.

I’m doing the best I can, but I don’t want to spend my money on something I’m not going to follow.

School started up last week, so my exercise days have changed a bit. I find I can’t exercise on Monday and Tuesday, so I’m going Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Today I did about 30 minutes of weights, and took a walk during lunch. Then we went to our newly refinished tennis court after dinner. I tried to hit a few to my husband, and juggle entertaining and trying to teach the three-year-old how to hit a tennis ball.

Tomorrow I’ll do my step class, Friday my Body Pump class, and Saturday one class or another depending on how I feel. I was too sore for Boot Camp, so last Saturday I did kickboxing, Tae Bo style. I asked, “Why no fans?” as I was totally drenched in sweat and my neighbor said, “Because she wants you to FEEL it.”

Oh I felt it all right, and it was nasty. I hate sweating, but this was miserable.

So no Weight Watchers for me right now. I’m trying to count points and eat well, but some days are harder than others.

Bran Muffin Recipe

This is a recipe from my mom, but I lightened it up a bit. It tastes much better than the recipe on the side of the Kellogg’s All-Bran box. It was my first time experimenting, so I know it can be reduced more points wise, but I got each muffin down to about 2 points each, actually 2.1 points each.

I used 1% buttermilk, but have seen fat free buttermilk before in the stores, and used egg beaters in place of the eggs. I also used slightly less than the 1/2 cup of shortening called for, but next time I may reduce it further and use some applesauce too. I used white flour, but may try some wheat next go around.

Bran Muffins

1 cup splenda	1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar	2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs (1/2 cup egg beaters)	1/2 tsp salt
2 cups light buttermilk (1% or lower)	2 1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cups All-Bran cereal	1 cup boiling water

Cream sugar, splenda and shortening with mixer. Add eggs mixing well. Add flour, baking soda and salt, followed by the buttermilk. Pour the boiling water over 1 cup of All Bran and let stand until cereal has absorbed the water. Blend this mixture into batter. Add remaining 2 cups of All-Bran. Mix thoroughly.

Batter may be stored for up to 5 weeks in refrigerator. When ready to bake, dip spoon into batter without stirring. Pour into muffin tins or use paper liners.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen muffins, for 2 points each.