I have mentioned before that one of the best tools for maintaining my weight is eating the same thing most days.  The more prepared I am, the less risk I have to make a bad choice.  Willpower in the heat of the moment has never been my strong suit.  I can go months even years eating the same thing.  I ate Cream of Wheat everyday for breakfast for almost 11 years!!!!  As I learn more about eating clean, I have found some new fave foods and this alters my eating the same thing everyday routine.  There are also weeks when I get sidetracked and maybe don’t pay too close attention to what I am putting in my mouth.  I can’t fool myself into thinking that multi-grain tortilla chips don’t have calories.  So I check in every so often.  I count calories and wear my heart rate monitor just to see what’s going on and to keep it real!

I love an empty notebook and a fresh felt tip pen but this past month I have tried something different.  I started using the My Fitness Pal app on my cellphone.  And…..I LOVE IT!  It has been super easy to upload my calories as I am eating them.  I can use the bar code scanner that finds the food and serving size faster.  I manually enter the calories burned during my workouts and I can see how many calories I have left in my day to consume.  It is super cool!

I have mentioned to a few friends that this is what I am using these days and I have heard several success stories from them.  I am a very social person and would like to see a little more of that from the app.  Sharing what I did, ate, etc.  I think this is more available on the desktop version.  I also uploaded the app to my iPad but find that since the phone is always with me, it is getting more use there.  This is what I’m doing…what do you use?

You can purchase Vanishing Oil by Prive Products here: http://goo.gl/ywWdm

You can connect with Lorri Goddard at Rossano Feretti by calling (310) 598-6780

Yes, if you eat too many B.L.T.s, you will get fat.  That’s not what I am talking about.  I am talking about something even more disastrous.  Something that will have weight creeping up on you in no time.  I’m talking about Bites, Licks and Tastes.

Are you a mom?  How often do you taste your child’s food before you serve it to them?  How about a French fry here and there?  Take the last couple of bites of mac and cheese that they left on the plate?

Are you dating a new guy?  Does he order dessert and you just “have a bite”?  Did you bake him blueberry muffins and tasted the one that broke in half?

Do you work from home?  Find yourself passing through the kitchen and grabbing a bite of this or that?   You get the idea.

These calories ADD up and before you know it, you have easily added 350 calories to your day.  A mini meal.  But you ate them standing up and over the sink.  For the exception of the bite of your new boyfriend’s creme brulee, you probably didn’t really enjoy those 350 calories.  Stop.  Think about all of the B.L.T.s you eat over the course of your day.   Try writing them down and adding them up.  Are you really hungry?  Choose something better!

Never in all of my life did I think I would be eating chia seeds.  I mean, I BEGGED my parents for Chia Pets when I was a kid.  When my daughter asked me what “that stuff” was in the fridge and I told her she said, “oh, like the grassy hair?”  Yep, Mom is eating hair.

I gave up frozen yogurt for Lent 2 1/2 years ago (loads of calories and chemicals) and I have never found anything that could replicate the yummy, sweet, cool goodness that froyo gave me.  This pretty much does the trick and it is healthy!!!!  It is cool, creamy, low in calories, high in fiber and omegas and other good stuff.  I’m scoring extra points for no dairy and cinnamon (it’s really good for you, too!).  The whole recipe has less than 180 calories and it takes two seconds to assemble.

3/4 of a cup of unsweetened almond milk (you can also use coconut milk)

2 tablespoons of chia seeds

1 tablespoon of agave nectar or maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Put everything in a small bowl, jar or cup.  Mix together, cover and chill.  After about three hours, stir again and keep chilling over night or at least 12 hours.  The longer it chills the thicker it gets.  Stir it up one last time and eat!  You can make it thicker by using more chias or less almond milk.  Play with the recipe until you get the consistency that YOU like.  Try it and let me know what you think!

 Walking along the Seine

I live a 1/2 mile from the Pilates studio, three blocks from the post office and bank, a 1/4 mile to the beach and 1 mile from a big gym.  And guess what?  I drive to them.  I went to Paris last fall and I walked EVERYWHERE.  Even when it was raining!!!  I know if you are reading this in New York, San Francisco or any big city with a great public transportation system you are bored and yes, you may leave now.  For the rest of us who are connected to our beloved cars with an umbilical cord, we need to cut it!

Each time I go to Paris I promise myself that when I get home, I’m going to walk more.  This last time, I was home not even 18 hours and found myself driving three blocks to meet a friend for coffee.  If you are like me, most of your daily stops are pretty close to your home or office.  I realized that with a little planning, I could walk to each of them or ride my bike.  What a novel idea.

This summer I am pressuring myself a bit more to make walking and biking more of a regular thing vs. something I do when my car is in the shop.  My daughter will be home from summer on her way to college.  We decided to become a two car family since she is headed to one of those big cities with a fabulous transportation system.  This summer we will be SHARING A CAR.  I will have no choice but to walk and bike to places that I would normally drive.  Plus, the car we share is a major gas guzzler and I never realized it until I started driving it regularly.  Yikes!

So today I embarked on a summer of walking.  I started off with the same three block walk to meet a friend for coffee.  It was great!  It felt good to move the bod after a couple of hours at my desk working with clients.  So what do you say?  Shall we walk or bike a bit more this season?  Try it and let me know what you think!

Not MY lips

Have you every found yourself working from home but spending more time in the kitchen and less time at your desk?  Truth Time:  There are days when every time I walk into the kitchen for something, I must grab a nibble of this or a nibble of that.  I call it a “Garbage Disposal” day.  I just keep putting stuff in there (my mouth).  We can go into deep thought about why I am stuffing my face (lack or creativity, boredom, loneliness, my troubled childhood) or I can give you my solution.  And, yes, it not only helps you stay skinny but it gives you a brighter smile.  I use my teeth whitening trays!!!!

Here’s the deal.  I wear my trays for a minimum of 30 minutes.  The directions clearly state “do not eat or drink for 60 minutes post whitening”.  That’s 90 minutes out that I must stop the Garbage Disposal Binge and in those 90 minutes, the cycle is broken.  I swear, it works!  I bought my trays from my dentist but my friends are loving Crest 3D White Strips.  You can easily pop either of them in while working at your desk, during a commute or while catching up on reading.  Try it out and let me know if it works for you!

I’m a native Southern California Girl and we LOVE burritos!  I can think of at least four places that are walking distance from my house with the most delish burritos.  The problem is that they are LOADED with calories.  If I order the burrito at Chipotle the way that I want it, it clocks in at 600 calories.  Too much!  It’s the damn tortilla.  How can something so thin make us so fat?  Anyways, I set out to find a burrito that would make me happy and not make me fat.  I also wanted it easy to fix and portable because remember, us entrepreneur types like to eat at our computer and sometimes in the car.

I dig Amy’s!  I think all of their choices are organic and based on your dietary needs, you will find many gluten free, lactose free, dairy free, allergen free,  etc food.   My fave burrito is the bean and rice, non-dairy one.  At 320 calories, I can add a few corn chips and even some avocado and be cool.  I like lunch to be my biggest meal of the day.  This keeps me full for a long time.  It also has 10g of protein and 8g of fiber (party bonus!).   I warm it up in the microwave and go!  Super easy for the days when I want something hot and filling.  I’m not going to kid you, it is not a burrito especial muy grande but it does the trick for this fit girl.  Try one out and let me know what you think!

To order:

WEN Direct 

WEN via QVC