Lavash Bread (Pita Bread, Tortilla) Pizza

Here in New England, we're lucky to get some yummy pitas and wraps by a comany called Joseph's. Their Joseph's Flax, Oatbran, Whole Wheat Flour Lavash Bread is a staple in our diet- one sheet of it is 100 calories.

Last night, I decided to try and make pizza with it, as I was hunkering for it. This is what I used:

1 sheet Lavash bread- they are 10 inches by 9 inches- big pizza all for you
1/4 cup Prego Three Cheese Spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup Reduced Mozzarella cheese
2 cups of mushrooms, cooked in onion powder with a couple of sprays of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray

I baked it in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes, and it was absolutely delicious and FILLING! All for 365 calories, just under my 400 calories that I allot myself for each meal. If you just have cheese pizza only, it's 335 calories per pizza.

Tonight, I am going to try it with a slice and a half of Oscar Mayer 98% Fat Free Smoke Ham and one pineapple ring, crushed for an additonal 15 calories more than the 2 cups of mushrooms! I love Hawaiin pizza, so I am looking forward to dinner tonight. That will total to 380 calories tonight, and I plan on having some sugar snap peas on the side for an additional veggie (I just love those snap peas raw- I could eat a whole bag of them in one sitting, if I let myself ).

Just thought I'd share with you all. Enjoy!

Looking for an indoor track in New Hampshire... HAHA

Of course, the nearest indoor track closest to me that is open to the community is over an hour and fifteen minutes away. I've searched everywhere in New Hampshire, and that's the closest one near me. There is a mall in Bedford that supposedly allows mall walking before the mall opens for the day, but two problems exist for me: 1. too far away 2. I don't feel like walking the mall in the morning! Oh, and forget about walking the mall when it's open- all those people walking into you, and not to mention the temptation to buy things you don't really want or need.

If I had the money, I'd set up an indoor track for folks to use for walking, jogging, and running indoors and then afterwards, folks could go swimming in the indoor pool and relax in the hot tub or sauna. Take a nice, hot shower afterwards. Forget the exercise machines, give me a walking track!!!! I don't want to lift weights. I don't want to ride the elliptical- my youngest daughter has one, and the longest I last on it is 2 minutes, due to the fact it kills my knees. Treadmills are boring. I don't mind the exercise bikes, but they, too, get boring. Biking around an indoor track, on the other hand, might be fun!

Give me a nice track, with some visuals around it to feel like you're outdoors. Grow a garden there, have some butterflies flying around. Have a rock garden with a flowing brook around it and a waterfall at another area. Maybe have the sound of birds on speakers (I don't recommend having birds in my indoor track in case they, er, crap on you while you're walking. Not to mention, they need to be fed and cared for. A nice tape of them chirping softly in the background is good enough for me, for those who don't bring their walkmans.

How nice it would be, in the winter time up here, to be able to put on a pair of shorts and a T shirt, put on your Sony Walkman to your favorite music and just be able to walk in peace, warmth and safety. Who feels like walking in the bitter cold during the winter, especially at night? Winter brings earlier sunsets, and it sucks for folks who's only chance to exercise is at that time. It can be very scary for a woman to walk alone anywhere at night, even though it is my favorite time of the day to walk.

Why aren't there more indoor tracks for folks to use? And why do those places that have them close down early?

Ah, if I only had some money.........dream, dream, dream!

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray has calories and fat!

Folks, be careful and make sure you read the labels VERY carefully before using certain "low" or "no" calorie foods in abundance. I made the mistake of using the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray, ICBINB spray for short, in all of my recipes replacing all butter and margarine, thinking I was saving calories and fat. Come to find out, it almost as bad as butter or margarine in high quantities!

A bottle of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray has over 900 calories and 90 grams of fat! One teaspoon has 20 calories and 2 grams of fat. A tablespoon has 60 calories and 6 grams of fat! I was using two tablespoons (120 calories, 12 grams of fat- eek!) of ICBINB spray in place of the oil for popcorn while microwaving it, as it gives it a nice buttery taste. I thought there was no calories, so I didn't hesitate using it generously on foods like popcorn, to get my butter taste. Imagine my surprise when I found out my 120 calorie snack doubled and had accumulated 12 grams of fat along the way, using the spray in that quantity! YIKES! No wonder I wasn't losing any weight replacing butter and margarine with the spray. Shame on me for not investigating the ingredients.

Hopefully, you all already know this, and I am the only dolt out here that was foolish enough to think that the entire bottle would be calorie and fat free. I mean, why don't they specify on the bottle that there IS calories and fat after a certain amount of sprays? Even just list one teaspoon is the equivalent to 20 calories and 2 grams of fat so people are aware that there is indeed calories and fat in it the more you use it. Folks like me, who missed the memo that there was oil in there (well, duh, what else would be in there!), do foolish things like replacing butter and margarine in everything they cook, thinking they were safe from excess fat and calories.

Now, I'm not saying not to use it- it still is a heck of a lot better than spreading a mound of butter on your toast or corn on the cob. Just make sure you don't go beyond the "5 sprays", or the calories will start to add up. Keep in mind, 12.5 sprays is 10 calories and 1 gram of fat, and that one tablespoon of ICBINB spray is 60 calories and 6 grams of fat, as noted above. It still is much better than butter at 102 calories and 11 grams of fat per tablespoon or margarine at 90-99 calories and also 10-11 grams of fat per tablespoon. Just make sure you don't spray hoards of it on, or you won't benefit from it at all. :)

Wendie Plan in Calories and Points

Many folks, including myself, hit weight loss plateaus. Very frustrating indeed! You get on a roll, lose a certain amount of weight, then......nothing. You workout longer, watch every morsel, and perhaps you even cut out a few more calories everyday, and still, nothing works.

What to do? Well, one afternoon, I was looking for an answer to my dilemma, anything to help me get the weight off again, even if it was just a half a pound a week. So, I went searching on the net, and I found the "Wendie Plan". Those who are on Weight Watchers may be familiar with her plan. However, I am not on Weight Watchers, preferring to count calories myself. So, using the Wendie Plan, I figured out how many calories are equal to Weight Watchers points, and have decided to try and see if it works. Others who are counting calories have tried this method with very good success. I am going to try it myself, and chart my progress.

For those who, like myself, would like to just know what this method is in calories only, I have created a chart below that lists the Weight Watchers points and the equivalent of calories on the Wendie Plan. I am going to have my Super High Days on Sundays, as that is the one day a week our family has a sit down dinner, or goes out to eat when we're doing something together or visiting family or friends.

I'm hope this point/calorie conversion will help you out! Please let me know how you're doing on this, if you're following the Wendie Plan. I'd love to hear from you! Good luck, and here's to our weight loss success!

Weight less than 150 pounds:

Day 1- 20 points, 1000 calories
Day 2- 25 points, 1250 calories
Day 3- 21 points, 1050 calories
Day 4- 35 points,1750 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 20 points, 1000 calories
Day 6- 24 points, 1200 calories
Day 7- 22 points, 1100 calories

Average calories per day: 1200
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Weight 150-174 pounds

Day 1- 22 points, 1100 calories
Day 2- 23 points, 1350 calories
Day 3- 23 points, 1150 calories
Day 4- 37 points, 1850 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 22 points, 1100 calories
Day 6- 26 points, 1300 calories
Day 7- 24 points, 1200 calories

Average calories per day: 1300
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Weight 175-199 pounds

Day 1- 24 points, 1100 calories
Day 2- 29 points, 1450 calories
Day 3- 25 points, 1250 calories
Day 4- 39 points, 1950 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 24 points, 1100 calories
Day 6- 28 points, 1400 calories
Day 7- 26 points, 1200 calories

Average calories per day: 1350
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Weight 200-224 pounds-

Day 1- 26 points, 1200 calories
Day 2- 31 points, 1550 calories
Day 3- 27 points, 1350 calories
Day 4- 41 points, 2050 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 26 points, 1200 calories
Day 6- 30 points, 1500 calories
Day 7- 28 points, 1400 calories

Average calories per day: 1450
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Weight 225-249 pounds-

Day 1- 28 points, 1400 calories
Day 2- 33 points, 1650 calories
Day 3- 29 points, 1450 calories
Day 4- 43 points, 2150 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 28 points, 1400 calories
Day 6- 32 points, 1600 calories
Day 7- 30 points, 1500 calories

Average calories per day: 1600
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Weight 250-274 pounds

Day 1- 30 points, 1500 calories
Day 2- 35 points, 1750 calories
Day 3- 31 points, 1550 calories
Day 4- 45 points, 2250 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 30 points, 1500 calories
Day 6- 34 points, 1700 calories
Day 7- 32 points, 1600 calories

Average calories per day: 1700
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Weight 275-299 pounds

Day 1- 31 points, 1550 calories
Day 2- 36 points, 1800 calories
Day 3- 32 points, 1600 calories
Day 4- 46 points, 2300 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 31 points, 1550 calories
Day 6- 35 points, 1750 calories
Day 7- 33 points, 1650 calories

Average calories per day: 1750
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Weight 300-324 pounds

Day 1- 32 points, 1600 calories
Day 2- 37 points, 1850 calories
Day 3- 33 points, 1650 calories
Day 4- 47 points, 2350 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 32 points, 1600 calories
Day 6- 36 points, 1800 calories
Day 7-34 points, 1700 calories

Average calories per day: 1800
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Weight 325-349 pounds

Day 1- 33 points, 1650 calories
Day 2- 38 points, 1900 calories
Day 3- 34 points, 1700 calories
Day 4- 48 points, 2400 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 33 points, 1650 calories
Day 6- 37 points, 1850 calories
Day 7- 35 points, 1750 calories

Average calories per day: 1850
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Weight 350 pounds or more

Day 1- 34 points, 1700 calories
Day 2- 39 points, 1950 calories
Day 3- 35 points, 1750 calories
Day 4- 49 points, 2450 calories (Super High Day)
Day 5- 34 points, 1700 calories
Day 6- 38 points, 1900 calories
Day 7- 36 points, 1800 calories

Average calories per day: 1900