Product Review:: Ronzoni Smart Taste Thin Spaghetti

Recently I discovered Ronzoni's Smart Taste Thin Spaghetti and was VERY pleased. I had been buying whole wheat spaghetti and was satisfied, but decided to try this since I had a coupon for $1.00 off and that made it only $0.58 - what a deal! Turns out, nutritionally, this pasta is a lot better for you than the whole wheat pasta I had been buying. It has the calcium equal to an 8oz glass of milk! I think this is a great pasta for kids to be eating as well.

It's very filling, has a nice texture to eat and the flavor is good as well. I will continue to buy it!

Points value:: 3 (for 1 cup)

Product Review:: Pop Secret Snack Size 94% Fat Free Butter Popcorn

This popcorn has definitely become a lifesaver for me! There are so many times when all I want to do is snack on something and I've made popcorn. I'm not a huge fan of butter on my popcorn (call me crazy) so this is perfect for me since it's lightly buttered. I just add a little popcorn salt and we're ready to go.

Besides the taste, the best part of about this bag of popcorn is YOU GET TO EAT THE WHOLE BAG! Yeah, I know it's only a little bag, but still.... ;-) I eat one bag daily!

*Points value: 1

Product Review:: The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Cheese Wedges

I have to admit, I only bought these because they were used in a few Hungry Girl recipes I wanted to try. There's just something about spreadable cheese wedges that kinda rubs me the wrong way. I came to the realization that I would never know if I liked something if I wasn't willing to give it a chance (real scholarly of me, eh?) DUH!

Well, I was definitely judging a book by its cover here! These are super nummy! So far I've only used them for one recipe, but they serve their purpose and are nothing like I thought they would be. I'm so willing to try more recipes using them now!

You get 8 in a package for about $3.50. That was a little spendy to me, but then I realized I wouldn't be using more than 1 at time and that the cost was almost $.45/wedge. It became ok since I knew it would last me 8 recipes!

*Points value: 1 (per wedge)

Product Review:: Yoplait Smoothies

First of all, YUM-O! I decided to buy this because I love smoothies, I saw it on The Biggest Loser (yeah, I know I'm a sucker for endorsements) and because at Target my $1.00 off coupon made it only $1.50. I'm so glad I bought them cause now I'm hooked!
All you do is dump the contents in the blender with 1 cup of skim milk (or 1 1/2 if you want it thinner) and blend. Voila! I actually made mine with 1 1/4c. of milk since I didn't want it too incredibly thin and I was still able to drink it through a straw as well as eat it with a spoon. It was a nice creamy, sweet, fruity snack to end my night! I'd totally buy more and think you should try it!

It does make 2 servings so be willing to do one of the following: share, tuck it in the fridge for later or eat it all up! I chose to use the points and eat it all up!

*Points value: 2 (for half the mix)

A new year, an improved me

I realize I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Life has been a carousel of events both up and down. I haven't tracked one thing I have put into my mouth nor have I had a workout since the last post. I didn't care. Well, now I do. Because of my (roughly) 3 weeks of careless eating habits in combination with the holidays, I have gained 6 pounds back. Ick. I guess I can't be too upset since I really didn't work that hard to get them off, I just followed the Weight Watchers way of eating. I didn't have lots of strenuous exercising going on or anything crazy like that. Don't get me wrong, it was difficult to change the way I was eating but it was nothing I would call hard (for myself) It's my own fault this happened.

Since today is the first day of a new year I have decided it's time to get myself back in order - but doing more than I was before. I am going to go back to following WW. I have decided I am going to hold myself accountable to attending one WW meeting per month (or every 4 weeks) This does two things for me: It keeps me accountable and having to go weigh-in once per month and it also will keep my membership current so I don't have to pay the registration fee every time. I'm also going to start the exercise routine in The Biggest Loser Fitness Program book. I will also throw in some workout DVDs each week.

I got some birthday presents that were much wanted and I am so excited about them! One thing I received was a set of 3 resistance tubes which came with an instructional DVD. I also got a heart rate monitor watch. I have wanted one of these so bad!!!

The Biggest Loser starts up again on Tuesday and that makes me SO EXCITED!! Which means I am going to go back to Tuesday weigh-ins. It's fun to have your weigh-in on the same day as they weigh-in as well as watch your episode and workout. Usually, my Tuesday night routine looks like this: dinner, clean-up, workout, The Biggest Loser, shower. From about 5:00pm or so until around 9:40, it's a packed night for me. ;-) But it works and I love it!

I want to thank everyone for their ongoing support. It really does mean a lot to me to have people backing me. I know I need to be my number one cheerleader, but unfortunately, I'm just not there yet.

Here's to a new year and an improved me. Notice I didn't say a new me? Because I will still be the same old me, just better!

Product Review:: Weight Watchers Electronic Points Calculator

OK. So I have had this for a little while now and am just now getting around to actually posting my review of it. I have been slacking in the review posts lately. Don't worry, I have a couple saved in my posts to finish typing up and then I have to post them.

Alright, here we go! I think it was about a month to a month and a half ago that I got this in the mail! My lovely Ma bought it for me since I never get/buy/pick out things for myself. (She knows how it is since she's the same way!)

This thing is super neat! I love the use of weight watchers online but it's hard for me to constantly get online to type in what I've eaten and figure out the point value. The WW Electronic Points Calculator allows you to do a couple of different things. You can calculate the points values of your food immediately as well as use the daily points tracker-that allows you to save your daily points target and keep track of the points you use throughout the day. It even works as a regular calculator. The thing is small - very small. It's about the size of a compact, which is great! Now I don't have to use my paper points slider anymore! YAY!

I love this product! Thanks Ma!

Product Review:: The Biggest Loser Workout, Vol 1

Like a week and a half ago I mentioned a new workout DVD that I had tried that kicked my butt. I realized this morning I never posted about it.

Well, this wonderful DVD was one I purchased right before we decided to have Graycen. It was one of my final "I'm going to lose this weight before I get pregnant" attempts. To tell you how far I got in this attempt - I never took the shrink wrap off of the DVD. That's some progress, huh?

The timing couldn't be more perfect for me to whip it out. That Saturday night I did the first day of the routine. It was the cardio workout. That was a great workout. I felt it - big time. I was tired and sore and well, I just felt worked out. Perfect. The next night, Sunday, was the weights night. Holy crap, that was probably the hardest workout I had ever done. Seriously. The next day I was so sore, it wasn't even funny. Hell, I was ridiculously sore in my abs and sides until like Thursday of that week. We were in the car and David was making me laugh, I had tears running down my face and was begging him to stop because I hurt so bad.

If you're looking for a new, hard, kick your butt workout DVD to try - I recommend this one!

Product Review:: Weight Watchers Smart Ones

I must say, I am addicted to the Weight Watchers Smart Ones!! It's nice because you get a full tummy from eating one (well, at least I do) the portions are already calculated for you, the points are right on the box and they're easy to make!
I have found, so far, that my favorite one is the Home Style Beef Pot Roast. I tried the lasagna the other night and that one was really good too. I think the only one, so far, that I haven't liked was the Macaroni & Cheese. Maybe it's because I am such a fan of mac n' cheese that nothing can quite compare to the real stuff.
I am really excited to try the desserts!

*Side note: a lot of these are on sale 5/$10 at Cub this week. I just discovered this in the ad this morning. Target usually has them priced pretty inexpensively. I wish I there were coupons for these. If you ever see coupons, please let me know!

**Points Value - varies depending on the entree you choose

Product Review:: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches

NUMMY!!! These Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches are so good. I saw them at Target and wondered just how good they would be since they are a low fat ice cream treat Which, in my experience, usually equals weird taste and off textures. Well, these are neither! I bought the chocolate/vanilla combo - which has 3 vanilla ice cream sandwiches and 3 chocolate ice cream sandwiches. They taste really good. I would buy these even if I wasn't doing WW.

**Points Value: 2

Product Review:: Weight Watchers Yogurt

Yesterday, while at Target, I discovered Weight Watchers Yogurt. Now, I love yogurt with a passion! Being I am kind of a snob when it comes to yogurts, I was kind of skeptical of this one. I decided to buy a couple and bring them home for tasting. This morning I had a raspberry one with breakfast and let me say, they are pretty darn good! It definitely tasted like a 'light' yogurt (the sweetness of it) but it has a lot of flavor and isn't super runny either. The price is the same as you would pay for Yoplait, too. So, if you were wondering about it, go ahead and try it!

**Points value - 1

Product Review:: Leslie Sansone's 4 Fast Miles

So, I used my DVD for the first time today. Yes, I know I was supposed to do it yesterday but we went to the Farmer's Market and had I had to stop into Best Buy and also had to make a stop at the grocery store so it really left like no time to do it after David came home (and believe me, I couldn't get it done while he was at work because the kids were crabby ones yesterday)
Well, I didn't do the whole 4 miles today. I figured I should only start out with 1 or 2 at first. I mean, I am just getting back in to working out and don't want to over do it, you know? So, I did miles 1 and 2. Let me tell you, it was a workout. I felt great afterwards though! I was doing it for about 28 minutes and I worked up quite a sweat. It was awesome! Even though I haven't done the last 2 miles of this DVD, I know I am going to like it and I know it's going to produce some results! I am all for it!

Time for a confession

So this weekend we went up north for our annual family reunion on David's side of the family. Well, I ate horribly. I didn't watch what I ate or how much I ate, unfortunately. I enjoyed the food I ate a little too much. Oh well, today's a new day, right?
I bought Leslie Sansone's 4 Fast Miles today while Graycen and I were out. I am excited to use it tomorrow!