Quick and Easy Fish Tacos

I'm the kind of person that's always on the hunt for new recipes. Specifically, recipes that are delicious, easy and Weight Watcher friendly. Well, last night on a whim I decided to do something different with the Tilapia fillets I defrosted. After some debate, I decided to try my hand at making fish tacos. Here's the result...

Best fish tacos ever. Weight Watchers Points Plus value: 6 points for 2 tacos

Here's the ultra simple recipe. Enjoy!

• 1/4 of a ripe Avocado (2 pts)
• Salsa to taste (I used medium for a little spice, but this is totally up to you) (0 pts)
• Diced onion (0 pts)
• 4 Tilapia Fillets (I like Tilapia because it's super light and fresh. It's also very points plus friendly 2 pts for 4 oz.). I suggest using 2 oz. per taco.
• 2 Corn tortillas (small, soft taco size) (1 point each)
• Blackening seasoning (store bought) (0 pts)
• Fresh cilantro (0 pts)
• 5 sprays of olive oil cooking spray (Pam makes a nice one) (0 pts)
• 1 lime (0 pts)

Directions:

Wash and dry Tilapia. Sprinkle blackening seasoning on both sides of each filet. Add 5 sprays of the Olive oil cooking spray to a pan and heat on medium temperature.

Place Tilapia in pan and cook for about 3-4 min per side (or to desired degree of doneness). Remove from pan and let cool. When cool, cut fish into smaller pieces. It will flake and break apart as you work with it. 

Dice onion in small pieces. Wash and chop cilantro. Slice avocado into quarters. Cut lime into 4 wedges.

Heat corn tortillas in microwave (approx. 5-15 sec). 

Take each tortilla and top with 2 oz. of Tilapia. Add generous amounts of onion, salsa, and cilantro. Top tacos with avocado and the juice from the lime wedge. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Easy, light and delicious. I gave this 6 points plus for 2 tacos. Not bad.

Try this and let me know what you think!

You ate it. Get over it. Move on.

A good rule of thumb for holiday eating

I worked so hard to get the weight off, and this weekend I ruined everything.

I shouldn't have sat around watching football for that long without working out.

Did I really drink the entire bottle?

I can't believe I ate that much!

If any of these phrases sound familiar, you're not alone. For those of us who are actively working on staying healthy and losing weight, Thanksgiving can be a deathtrap. Many of us feel that we've worked hard all year, counting calories, portioning out foods, killing ourselves at the gym, only to have our efforts squashed by one day (or, perhaps one weekend) of eating. For some, this weekend is enough to completely give up on losing weight until the new year rolls around. For those of you who are struggling to rebound from what you did (or didn't do) this weekend...here are a few tips to keep you moving forward.

• Get over it: Sounds harsh I know, but at the end of the day we can't change our past behavior. I love the phrase on the coffee cup above because it sums up what we should do to keep ourselves on the right track. Whatever we ate has been eaten, and there's not anything we can do about it. At this point, all we can do is face it, own it and move on. Remember, Thanksgiving was just one day, and I don't care how horribly you ate, one holiday will not be the death of you. Be encouraged =)
• Toss the leftovers: As hard as it might be to get rid of Aunt Sally's pumpkin pie, can you really withstand that temptation? If you're serious about getting back on track, then getting rid of everything that tempts you might be the way to go. If trashing food is too painful, then consider freezing or storing it in someone else's fridge. This might sound a bit extreme, but for those of us who can't say no to a caramel glazed poundcake (oops, did I just say that) this tip can be a lifesaver.
• Don't beat yourself up: Whatever you did, please don't beat yourself up for anything you ate. Thanksgiving is a holiday that is all about enjoying good food, with good friends and family. Hopefully you enjoyed yourself and created memories that will last a lifetime.

Tomorrow is a new day, so don't ruin it by letting any Thanksgiving guilt hold you hostage. Have a great Monday!

I can't believe I didn't eat like a pig today!

Earlier this week, I set a few eating goals for Thanksgiving:

1) include a green salad with my meal (to help cut my appetite)

2) to eat the foods I really love (Mac & cheese, yams, carrot cake) until I'm full (being STUFFED is not allowed)

3) measure out small portions of those foods I can have anytime of the year (mashed potatoes, bread, ice cream, etc)

I'm happy to report that I'm really proud of my eating today. The only goal I didn't meet was to eat a green salad with my meal (I made it, but decided to eat greens instead). But, I ate what I wanted until I was satisfied, and not FULL. I also ate really small portions of the things that I didn't really want as bad as the turkey, mac and cheese, etc. I think this is the first time I didn't get overstuffed. It's also the first time I didn't have a second and third plate. I'm really happy with myself.

Now, I did overdo it on cake today, but even with that I stopped eating when I was satisfied. Not sure how this will show up on the scale next week, but it felt good to prove to myself that it's possible to eat reasonably during the holidays. Hurrah!

Wishing everyone out there a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! I hope your day was filled with food, fun, friends, and family.

Setting eating goals for Thanksgiving

Today's Weight Watchers meeting left me with a lot to think about. With Thanksgiving just a day away, it's definitely time for me to reevaluate my plans for holiday eating.

One thing that my leader mentioned was making trade-offs between what you have to have, and what you can do without. Basically she stressed the importance of focusing the balance of our points on those foods that we love and can only have once or twice a year versus eating everything in sight, just because it's there. Great idea right?

So my new plan is to 1) include a green salad with my meal (to help cut my appetite), 2) to eat the foods I really love (Mac & cheese, yams, carrot cake) until I'm full (being STUFFED is not allowed) and 3) measure out small portions of those foods I can have anytime of the year (mashed potatoes, bread, ice cream, etc).

My goal for Thanksgiving is to enjoy the special foods that I really like, but not overstuff myself just because food is all around me. Anyone else out there have food related goals for the holiday?
Wish me luck :)

Focusing on family (not food) this Thanksgiving

I'm so excited about Thanksgiving that I can hardly contain myself! This is the first holiday that my family will spend together since my mother retired and moved to Georgia. Even though she and I talk (and text) daily, there's nothing like being able to spend some good 'ole quality time together and I'm really looking forward to it!

This will also be the first Thanksgiving where she and I are both on Weight Watchers together. As a matter of fact, she has lost 31 lbs thanks to eating right and counting points at every meal. I'm so proud and excited for her. At 63, she continues to prove that age is no match for hard work, will and determination...she's truly an inspiration.

I also think that because we're both on the plan, we will be much more mindful of how much we eat. Food has always played a major role in how we spend time together. Whether we were enjoying an afternoon out shopping, or at home watching football, food was ALWAYS in the mix. This holiday, I hope that the combination of us both being on Weight Watchers, along with not seeing each other (for a while), will shift our focus away from the lure of overeating, and on to enjoying the holiday together as a family. I'll keep you guys posted =)

Success and planning go hand in hand

I have officially adopted a new mantra:

Proper planning puts us in a better position to make healthier food choices.

So what do I mean by this? Well, using myself as an example, I work full time. In addition to working, I'm also in school and attend classes 2 nights a week. Because I know that I don't have time to stop for dinner on my school nights, it's important that I pack a meal that I can eat on the way to class.

Well, that's a great idea, and it works beautifully when I actually do it. But, today was one of those days where I just didn't have time to do anything extra. I had no dinner, nor did I have any snacks to tide me over. By the time I left work and got to my car, I was officially starving.

On my way to class, the only thing I could think about was food. I let myself get SO hungry, that I just wanted something quick, filling, and delicious. In times like these, fast food always gets the job done, right?

Well today I'm happy to report that I fought the urge to stop at the drive thru, and won. Even though I had to stop for dinner before class (which made me late by the way), I was strong and opted to have a Japanese beef and veggie bowl. Now, I'm not saying this was the absolute healthiest food I could have eaten, but it was a much better choice than a burger and fries.

Planning has been a recurring theme in my life lately. Tonight I realized that my lack of planning put additional stress on my body that it really didn't need. Not packing a meal made me wait entirely too long to eat. Waiting too long to eat made me too hungry. Being too hungry made me vulnerable to eating fattening foods because they're quick, easy and available. AND on top of all that, my lack of planning made me late to class, which is never a good thing.

The moral of the story is this: even though I made a relatively decent food choice, my lack of planning created a snowball effect that made making this decision much more difficult than it needed to be. What are some ways you can plan better to ensure your weight loss success?

Weight Watchers Weigh-in (ain’t nothing to it but to do it)

Tomorrow is my official weigh-in day, and based on the way I ate this weekend (see previous post), I’m not looking forward to it. However, this time around, I promised myself that no matter how “good” or “bad” my week has been, I’m stepping up and facing it, despite what the scale may say.

In the past, I’ve always allowed myself to skip my weigh-in if I thought I’d gained weight that week. I now realize that by skipping meetings, I never forced myself to face the reality of the choices I made. Because losing weight is all about choices, my success hinges on understanding how my choices affect my progress. So with that ladies and gentlemen, I choose to keep moving forward, and will be a-steppin up on that scale tomorrow night.

Eating healthy at Chipotle

Chipotle is one of those places where the food is hella good but super fattening. Whenever I eat there, I  prepare for the “feast” by telling myself “OK, I’m having this burrito today, but tomorrow I’ll be on it”. Even though there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself (every now and then), I wanted to find a go-to item that was calorie friendly but didn’t make me feel deprived.

Introducing the Chipotle Salad

The Chipotle salad is a tasty and filling alternative to your standard burrito. BUT, what sets it off is the dressing served with it. I’m not sure what they put in that vinaigrette, but it’s incredible. Unfortunately, the dressing has a TON of calories, which can blow your entire calorie (or points) count for the day. Below is my lower calorie version of the salad. I get it everytime I go to Chipotle and I love it…I consider it my “healthier” splurge for the day.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Build your salad with the following:
Lettuce
Black beans
Fajita Veggies
Barbacoa
2 scoops of mild salsa
Extra lettuce
Guacamole
(No cheese, or sour cream.-the 2 scoops of salsa add extra flavor and kick so you really don’t miss them anyway )

Enjoy!

Watchers points: 12 (8 points without the guacamole).

Check out Chipotle's nutrition calculator http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/nutrition_calculator/nutrition_calculator.aspx for specific info.