And the winner of the Fiber One Chewy Bars Giveaway is ….
Commenter No. 9, Alyson! Alyson’s response to the question, “What is your favorite filling snack?”
My favorite filling snack is either peanut butter and fruit or cheese and fruit. I’ve found that I need some fat with my snack if it is going to be filling.
Congrats, Alyson! Please e-mail your address to fashionablyfitashley AT gmail DOT com!
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My blog has been woefully neglected lately, but I think a giveaway is just what I need to spice things up around here again.
Through the great folks at MyBlogSpark, Fiber One sent me a gift package that contained their new 90-calorie chewy bars, a food diary, water bottle, and a pedometer!
Full disclosure: When I learned of the opportunity to review Fiber One’s new 90-calorie chewy bars, I was excited because I enjoy Fiber One’s granola bar. In fact, I’ve been working my way through a 20-pack of their chocolate cherry ones since December.
Fiber One bars contain a few more unnatural ingredients than I would like, but they are affordable, portable and filling, so those things typically win out over the ingredient list. For me, the true test of any snack is how well it fills me up for the calories.
When I pulled the 90-calorie chewy bar from its wrapper, at first I was disappointed. It looked like a Rice Crispies bar and wasn’t as heavy as its granola brothers.
However, appearances can be deceiving, and the chewy bar’s apperance certainly was! I ate it as my mid-afternoon snack around 3:30 or 4 p.m. and it kept me full for another two hours. The best part? It has 90 calories, compared to the Fiber One granola bar’s 140. I will be purchasing these in the future. The chocolate flavor is delicious and would fix a craving for so few calories! They are perfect to throw in your purse or desk drawer.
Fiber One has offered to send one lucky Fashionably Fit reader a gift package, too! There are several ways to enter:
This giveaway is open until 10 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 7. Good luck! 
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I have alluded many times to the fact that I would never completely give up the foods that led to my all-high weight of more than 300 pounds: the french fries, the burgers, the wings, the pizza. Basically, the salt and grease. Some people talk about a sweet tooth; I battled a fat tooth.
When I first started to lose weight I would use eating as an excuse to really pig out. I figured if I were good 95 percent of the time, I deserved an occasional treat. I still subscribe to that philosophy, but my restaurant choices are generally healthier now because my tastes have changed and I actually like veggie dishes, and I know that I won’t feel that great if I go hog wild, because my body’s not used to all that nasty — yet delicious — stuff.
On Saturday, though, I totally went for it, and I don’t regret it at all. My mom wanted to go to Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub, which you have probably seen on a number of TV shows and in national and regional publications. It’s home to one of the world’s largest hamburgers, if not the largest (some place in Jersey keeps one-upping them).
If you are ever in western/central Pennsylvania and have the chance to stop at Denny’s, I would recommend it, if only to say that you did. The food is excellent, especially the burgers. My family has been eating there since long before it was a nationally known restaurant, and I’ve honestly never had a bad meal there. I’ve also never had good service, either, regardless of time, day, season, etc. There was a huge wait, which is to be expected for a Saturday night, but there is no excuse for the attitude of the waitstaff and hostess, who wouldn’t give me a straight answer as to how long the wait would be.
I’m also pretty sure my server did not have two brain cells to rub together, but even I will put up with the service from hell for the food. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a drink, but I ordered a giant frothy glass of Blue Moon (above) and it was so refreshing and delicious. I love Blue Moon’s summer ale, but I’ve never tried the other three seasonal varieties. I want too, though.
On to the goods:
We shared a plate of coach’s recipe wings — my favorite. So good!
Pizza burger + beer batter fries. I never make burgers at home (beef ones, anyway) so I love a good burger when I go out. I didn’t get a photo of the basket of fried things we also shared; it included mozzarrella sticks, onion rings, poppers and deep fried pickles.
I was quite surprised that I did not get sick after this meal, but I think it was because I took my mom’s lab for a long walk before we went to dinner, and I had a pretty healthy lunch earlier in the day. We also went to Wal-Mart after dinner (the social hub of my hometown ) so that activity helped, too.
Are there any foods you refuse to give up?
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When I discovered Anna and I live in the same town, I was excited but a little nervous. I’d never met anyone from the interweb, like I told Anna; Rose and I were friends IRL (sorry, I love Web speak) long before we were tight in the healthy living blogosphere.
Anna posted about our lunch date and said it kind of felt like a blind date. That’s how I felt, too! But it was great to rant and rave about the blog world — let’s face it, friends, it can be a strange place. 
Anna mid-sentence. I loved her cardigan!
I always get the same thing at Panera because I love it so much: Mediterranean veggie sandwich and French onion soup.
After work I came home and finished my cake balls, which had been chilling in the freezer. The first time I made cake balls for Christmas, I did the red velvet, but this time around I used a strawberry cake mix and vanilla frosting as an early Valentine’s Day treat. They are so easy but so fancy and delicious.
Then they went swimming in chocolate.
All packed up and ready to delight.
Have a good weekend, all. I may be doing dinner at the home of the world’s largest hamburger tonight. See you Sunday!
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Last night I popped in Jackie Warner’s “Personal Training with Jackie: Power Training Circuit” DVD*
and got ready for a serious strength training workout in my living room. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The 40-minute total body circuit is broken down into 10 circuits. Each circuit takes four minutes. There are three moves, and you do each move for one minute, and for the fourth, do you each of the three. This is the order of the 10 circuits:
All you need for this DVD is dumb bells — a light set and a heavy set (I used 8-pounders the entire workout) — and a mat (I use the zebra-print runner in my living room).
When I first read that each circuit was only four minutes, I didn’t think it would be challenging enough. But by the end of some of the circuits (the biceps/triceps/shoulders circuit particularly), my muscles were screaming. She kept it quick, but still fatigued the muscles. My glutes were shaking when I had to squat to do some to some of the upper body exercises.
You don’t have to do the entire 40-minute workout, either. The DVD has options to do a 15-minute abs circuit, 15-minute upper body or 15-minute lower body circuits, too. On Monday morning, I did the 15-minute abs circuit before work. It is the same upper abs, lower abs and obliques moves from the total body workout, but it’s perfect if you’re in a pinch. I was also quite sore afterward!
On the trainer: Whether it’s a DVD or a group fitness class, the instructor’s personality has a lot to do with how much I like it and how hard I work.
I liked Warner’s attitude and encouragement during the workout. She tells you to breathe and push through it, but she’s not overly mean and — a big plus — doesn’t talk too much. The camera cuts to several close-up shots of Warner’s abs throughout the workout, and that was very inspirational.
My only complaint: I strained my neck during the upper abs exercises on Monday. I paid attention to isolating the upper abs last night, and once I concentrated on feeling that muscle, I was able to do the exercises without straining my neck.
To sum it up: This DVD was perfect for someone like me who resists resistance training (heh heh). To me, a good workout is one that leaves me completely exhausted, almost but not quite to the point of throwing up. I haven’t been able to achieve that level of exhaustion in a long time — I’m one of those unlucky fat-but-fit folks. Warner’s total body training circuit got my heart rate up and pushed me to a level of exertion I didn’t think was possible without doing cardio.
* I won this DVD from a giveaway on TotalFitGirl.com. I did not pay for the DVD and was not paid to review it.
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Were you able to guess what I brought back from the Pennsylvania Farm Show?
Nope, it wasn’t a breeding stock lamb, but this girl sure was cute.
I purchased two farm fresh giant pickles from the Pa. Vegetable Growers Association stand. They were $1.25 each or two for $2, and I love a bargain. The pickles were quite fragrant, and by the time we got home, my purse and its entire contents smelled of pickles! Mmmm, pickles.
A spear from one of my giant pickles was the perfect complement to my turkey burger + salsa
As was pumpkin yogurt, which I’ve been meaning to try for awhile, since I always salivate over its near daily appearances on Healthy Tipping Point.
How was your weekend, blog friends? I have never been able to find a balance between productivity and relaxation, and this weekend was no exception. But I did have something super fun waiting for me when I got home Saturday evening:
My goodies from winning Total Fit Girl’s US Weekly giveaway! Score. I can’t wait to try the workout DVD. It included such a sweet thank you note — thank you, Kim!
While I was photographing my TFG goods, it occurred to me that I never publicly thanked Katie for the awesome prize I won from her first giveaway at Legally Fit to Wed:
It has been my constant companion since it arrived last Saturday. Thanks again, Katie.
I won these two blog giveaways within two weeks of each other, and I have a history of winning things, starting with a coloring contest at McCrory’s Five & Dime when I was 4 years old (it wasn’t a judge of coloring skills; it was a drawing of entry forms). I even won some sort of drawing for a Rugrats T-shirt from Nickelodeon when I was 8. Do you believe in luck? Are you lucky?
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I headed back to the Pennsylvania Farm Show today for Round II of coverage. My food choices were healthier — and just as tasty — as Saturday’s.
A barbecue turkey sandwich and a sweet potato! They were putting sooo much butter on the sweet potatoes. I asked her to put about 1/4 on mine that she was putting all the others. All of the farm show food is amazing because it is just so fresh.
Then it was time for one of my all-time favorites for dessert: Maple frozen yogurt!! (My coworker held up his cup — I do not have man hands. )
I also couldn’t leave without the maple candies, but I purchased two for 50 cents each instead of a small bag for $3.25 — I knew I wouldn’t have any self control with these babies.
I saw the Strawberry Surprise advertised at the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association (they represent fruit producers as well) food booth and asked what was in it. It sounded so deliciously simple that I had to have one: Strawberries, lemon, honey and ice. Perfect for the ride home. (Again, my coworker was gracious enough to hold it up for me.) It also came with a big sliced strawberry on the side as garnish, but I ate that before I even paid.
I love the farm show, but I will be glad to get back to my regular routine — without so many tasty distractions. I’m glad it’s a once-a-year event. I did bring home a no-fat, low-cal treat to enjoy this weekend — stay tuned. Live in suspense.
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“What’s it like to drop nearly 200 pounds — only to gain half of it back? Inevitable, according to a controversial new book.”
I was flipping through the February issue of Marie Claire last night when those words jumped off a page at me. Five years ago, author Frances Kuffel dropped 188 pounds and went from a size 32 to a size 6. She wrote a memoir called “Passing for Thin” about the experience, which I haven’t read but would like to.
Three years later, though, she’d gained almost half of it back. In her new book, “Angry Fat Girls,” Kuffel explains why she and other overweight women are, well, overweight. “We’re biologically condemned,” she tells the magazine. According to Marie Claire, Kuffel says she suffers from a “raging high fructose corn syrup addiction.”
But it’s Kuffel’s quote about celebrities who’ve lost weight — Valerie Bertinelli and Kelly Osbourne — that is burned into my brain: “They are either biologically lucky or work so hard at it that it’s become their life.”
If anyone knows about biological disadvantage, it’s me. Obesity is on both sides of my family. Diabetes is very prevalent on my father’s side, which is how I wound up insulin resistant at 24. My poor diet and sedentary lifestyle contributed heavily to the insulin resistance, of course, which is linked to my polycystic ovarian syndrome, which makes it harder to lose all the weight that led to the condition.
I have lost 120 pounds and am battling the last 20 that are still hanging around (quite literally), making pants shopping a nightmare and driving me to tears on more than one ocassion. The people who knew me when I weighed 300 pounds say that where I’m at is good enough and that I should be proud. I tell them that I have never been a “good enough” kind of gal, and that I didn’t come this far to feel fat the rest of my life. I’m making dietary changes and switching up my workouts. It’s frustrating, to be sure. But weight loss is not my life.
Where Kuffel and her fellow “angry fat girls” have failed is that they have not changed the way the live. Kuffel dropped 188 pounds by following a no-sugar, no-flour, no snacking diet, according to Marie Claire. Who could live like that for more than three days? Obviously, you can’t. Kuffel is living proof.
I would never follow a diet that cut out all of the foods that made me fat — the pizza, the jalapeno poppers, the french fries, the ice cream – because I know it would be destined to fail. To me, losing weight isn’t just about dropping pounds. It is about becoming a healthier person, about a balancing act.
I still love all of those salty greasy delicious bar foods. But there are several differences between now and five years ago: 1) I don’t eat salt and grease all day long; 2) I eat a few fries, not the entire basket; and 3) I work out. If I had always lived like that — MODERATION! — I probably wouldn’t have weighed 300 pounds in the first place.
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I’m not very creative in the kitchen, so a small wonder like tonight’s dinner is actually a big victory for me.
I put a pot roast in the slow cooker overnight, around 7 p.m. It was still half frozen so I figured it would need some extra cooking time.
I set my alarm for 6 a.m. and added chopped frozen onions and peppers and half a bag of baby carrots to the mix. I packed up my lunch for work a little after 8 a.m., but I knew I’d want something a little different for dinner tonight.
I put the pot roast, onions and peppers on a sandwich thin and added some reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese. I toasted it in the oven at 375 for about 10 to 15 minutes. Topped with salsa and served with Guitless Gourmet spicy black bean chips (they were on sale this week … and they are awesome!) and a tablespoon and a half of artichoke and spinach hummus = DELICIOUS!
Here’s how my workout schedule is shaping up for the week:
My Tex-Mex pot roast was kind of a spur-of-the-moment meal, but I’m curious: What sort of twists have you added to comfort foods?
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Greetings from the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show! It was a long day, but this is the fourth farm show I’ve covered, and it gets easier each year. The photographer I worked with last year and this year swears we walked five miles around the complex, but I’d bet it was no more than two miles at the most (of course, I am too cheap to invest in a pedometer ).
I think any foodie would appreciate the farm show, because it’s a huge agricultural expo, and let’s face it, you can’t be a blogger/writer/runner/whatever without someone else growing your food! The farm show also features some pretty amazing cooking demonstrations, though we didn’t make it to any of those today. I’m supposed to head back later this week, so we will probably check out the cooking demonstrations then.
Other than all of the exhibits and information about the farm show, the food court is a huge draw. It’s just delicious food that you really can’t get anywhere else. It’s kind of like holiday goodies — they’re only around once a year, so you have to eat them!
All week I had been looking forward to a barbecue beef sandwich from the Pennsylvania Cattleman’s Association, but when I got to the booth, they didn’t look like the delicious sandwich I had at Ag Progress Days in August, so I opted for the Philly cheesesteak.
There it is, friends. In all its greasy glory. And this is after I took a bite! I did not intend to eat the whole thing, but I was starving by the time we stopped for lunch (despite breakfast and a snack) and before I knew it, the sandwich was gone.
I didn’t stop there, though. I broke a promise to myself I’d been fixating on all week.
I told myself that this year, I wasn’t going to get the deep-fried mozzarrella cubes. But I walked by that booth twice searching for my coworker and then I just knew I had to have them. I tried to get my coworker to eat half, but he refused, and I just couldn’t bring myself to throw two of the pieces in the trash. I only felt slightly ill afterward, and it’s probably because of all the walking we did after lunch. (Metformin is not a very forgiving medication if you eat something really greasy or doughy or out of the ordinary for you, but I have found that if I get moving, it sort of speeds the digestion along and avoids most issues.)
While I ate lunch, I stood at one of the tables and watched the other people in the food court and wondered if any of them were obsessing over what to eat. Was anyone else fighting an internal battle of “You do NOT need this!” versus “It’s once a year — no big deal. Have it!” I am always fascinated by people who can approach food so casually, like the receptionist in an office I frequent who has chocolate bars in a glass bowl on her desk. How does someone do that?
I don’t like to waste time regretting food choices, but I’ve thought about the cheese cubes more often than I’d like to admit. I studied the photo of me in front of the cow for a long time, convinced I looked heavier than when I left my house this morning (but body dysmorphia is another post for another day).
The bottom line is that one day, one choice, is not going to make or break you (even though it felt like it might break me mentally this afternoon). The big picture is what matters, and my big picture is healthy — and happy that I had the cheese cubes.
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