Product Review: Veggie Patch Mediterranean Chickpea Patty

Pin It It's been a while since I've done and product reviews...I think that's because it's been a while since I tried anything new :)

My brother and I were at Costco yesterday and they were sampling the Veggie Patch Mediterranean Chickpea Patties.  They were sampling them with some cheesy marinara sauce, but we asked to try them plain so we could determine if the yumminess was from the sauce or the patties.  We were both thrilled to discover that the flavour WAS in the patties!  They have SO much flavour!!!  Amazing.  These tasty patties are reasonable on the nutrition-front too (3points+ each!).   You can cook them using your microwave or bake them in the oven.  Tonight I nuked 'em and they were still tasty!

I think I will give these a 5/5 rating.  Cost-wise they are just under $1 per patty, so not super-cheap by any means, but if you have a couple of them for your main protein (2 = 10 grams of protein), that's not too bad when you compare it to chicken ;-)

Eating your way around a craving

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Ever done this?  You want a bowl of ice cream, but that would be too sinful, so you pop some low fat popcorn.  That doesn't do it, so you have some veggies and low fat dip...nope, that's not working either.  Cinnamon is supposed to crush sweet cravings, so some cinnamon on some broiled fruit is in order.  But you STILL want that bowl of ice cream.  In the end you cave.  So now you've had about 500 calories worth of "avoidance foods"...AND your ice cream!  Crazy eh? 

Shoulda just had the ice cream to start - would likely have ended up eating fewer calories in the long run :-(  Tonight...I will eat ice cream (well, super yummy frozen yogurt) because that is what I want!  Well, what I really wanted was a Costco ice cream cone, but a) Costco is closed now, b) I don't have a membership and c) I refuse to go OUT to satisfy this craving :)

My new favorite snack, workout story and weigh in update

Pin It I splurged on produce this week and had a ton of fruit in the house.  This afternoon I couldn't decide what to have for my snack - grapes, apple, mango?  What to do when you can't decide?  Have it all!  I decided to make a zero-point fruit salad (grapes, banana, mandarin orange, apple, mango, blueberries and raspberries with a touch of no-sugar added syrup) and topped it with a 1 point yogurt.  YUMMM!!!  I made enough fruit salad for a couple of servings, but am afraid I want to eat it all NOW!  I won't...waaaaay too much fruit for my belly for one day I'm afraid ;-)  Something to look forward to for tomorrow though!  This would be a great pre-workout snack if I had it over Greek yogurt I think...

Speaking of working out...I decided to try Bodypump class at the new Goodlife in my area.  I'm not a Goodlife member, but they gave me a 7-day pass to try it out.  I went on a Friday morning (day off) thinking it wouldn't be too busy...boy was I wrong!  I got there 20 minutes before the class was supposed to start and the lineup was all the way to the back of the gym.  I asked them how many they took in the class and she said 65!!!!  Now the room is big...but not THAT big when you consider you need a step with risers, a barbell and extra weights and a yoga mat...plus you need room to lunge!  The class itself was OK (not great) and the instructor was nice, but I didn't find the people in the class friendly at all.  I was also the biggest person in the entire gym I'm sure.  I felt really out of place - especially in my Old Navy workout apparel...let me tell you, I think I was the only one not wearing Lululemon in the whole place (perhaps I shoulda brought my Lulu headband!).  I may try another class this week coming...but not at that location.  Thankfully there are Goodlife locations all over the city, including one near my office.  I think I'll bring my gym gear to work with me, just in case I don't get out in time to get to my regular classes at the Canada Games Centre - then I can always go to one of the classes near work.

On the Weight Watchers front, I had my first weigh in today since I reached lifetime on June 16th.  Not surprisingly, I gained.  I'm still in the "safe" zone and am actually only 0.2 lbs over my goal weight, so I did not have to pay.  I still want to work on getting back down to my final "lifetime weight" before I leave on vacation in a few weeks.  Next weigh in will be the morning I leave for vacation, so stay tuned...

I need a mission

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I've become complacent.  I reached goal.  I reached lifetime status.  I've fit into single digit clothing sizes (some brands, at least).  Part of me is smug.  I did it and I'm smug.  But I'm afraid smugness is going to get me into trouble.  I need a mission.  I need a new goal.  I've found myself eating things I would not normally eat (let's just call it Canada Day long weekend without going into details).  I know I gained this week.  And I know it's bad.  I'm still within the "safe" zone with WW, but this is not a good direction to be headed in.  So that's the plan...I need a mission/goal. 

One goal I would like to accomplish is learning to run a 5K.  I have the tools needed to get started (sneakers, the Coach to 5K podcast and a healthy body with which to run), but I don't feel like that's the mission I need.  I was online last night looking at various fitness books/programs and I saw a few that piqued my interest - one was called something like101 stability ball routines and another one was 100 strength training routines.  I think maybe my new mission will be to choose one of these avenues and work towards 100 new routines in one year.  What do you think?  I think this will also help me with my blogging, which I have been seriously negligent in keeping up with lately.  Have any of you tried any "XX whatever in XX days" plans?  What did you do?  Send me your ideas, please!!

I think this week's mission will be bringing my lunch 4/5 days to work (been slacking in this area BIG TIME) and limiting myself to buying my coffee twice.  I have to start somewhere!