I went to lunch with an old co-worker friend.  We ended up going to the Bamboo Bistro, a fantastic Chinese Buffet downtown. I made healthy choices for breakfast that morning.  I had an english muffin with a 1 Point Weight Watcher Cheese wedge and a Lactose Free Yogurt.  I had all kinds of stuff at the lunch buffet, fried rice, general Tso’s chicken, fish and crab rangoon.  For dessert I had a few pieces of honey crisp pineapple.  I knew I had blown my points for the day.  I made up my mind right then that I was having stir-fried veggies for dinner and told my friend I was doing so as confirmation. 

Once I got home, I was tired and figured I could just grab some fast food and relax.  Luckily, I talked myself out of that foolishness.  I felt kinda bad about eating so much at lunch, so I decided to go to the gym as “punishment.”  Then I read somewhere that working out should not feel like punishment, and you should do activities you enjoy.  I turned on my new favorite toy the Xbox Kinect.  Sweat is sweat, whether it’s elliptical sweat or doing sexy dances to Rihanna in my living room sweat.  I had fun doing the 20 minute Dance Central fitness routine.  After my mini workout session, I was so against veggies for dinner I actually ate nothing.  I sat in my own silent protest to such a “horrible” dinner.  Then around 10 o’clock my stubbornness started to wane because I was hungry.  I went in the kitchen and chopped up some fresh zucchini and squash.  I put them in olive oil and sautéed them with pre-chopped frozen green peppers.  It was such an easy dish to prepare.  I seasoned them with a veggie seasoning I got from the spice store at the market. 

 After they cooked down some, I added some frozen chopped spinach.  It started to smell really good.  When it was ready, I topped it off with a little bit of shredded mozzarella cheese.  I can put cheese on just about everything but ice cream.  And…guess what? My 4 point dinner was delicious!  I couldn’t believe it.  It didn’t feel like punishment at all.  There was no meat, no side dish with carbs, and I was satisfied.  I even went back for guilt-free seconds!

6 Comments
  1. That looks good! One of my favorite easy dinners is baked potato topped with chicken breast, zucchini, yellow squash sauteed in olive oil, basil, lemon pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

    Dancing sweat sounds way more fun than elliptical sweat.

  2. That looks delish! I’ll have to try that this weekend.

    I know what you mean about the ‘punishment’. I am exhausted from a very long project week at work and am forcing myself to go to the gym anyway today because I was a bit lazy last week. I figure I’ll sleep great tonite!

  3. That sounds amazing!!!

    I have a when-I’ve-blown-it-all-on-restaurant-food back-up too. It’s actually a modification of an old classic Campbell’s soup recipe, and it’s only 3 points per serving and really filling. It’s great to have those recipe’s in the background, and it’s saved me more than once. Thanks for the inspiration to try something new! 🙂

  4. That’s the one thing I have to continue to remind myself about WW…fruits and veggies are ZERO points (until you roast or cook them in a bit of evoo) and I continue to keep power foods in plain site, I don’t go for the bad-for-me foods (like chips). So I bought popcorn kernels and brown paper bags to make my own microwave popcorn sans the bad chemicals and butter (I dont like butter on my popcorn).

    Have you used the recipe tool on etools yet? That make help too.

  5. HI Carli:
    I just want to drop you a note saying thank you for making the “couch to 5 K” Pod cast. ( I went on the web and googled for a running pod cast that suits me, and yours came on top of the list!) I just started using it. and I am on my 3rd week now. it is getting harder and harder, but I am marching on. Have not lose much weight yet, but I feel better and better about my body each day.
    Once again, Keep up the good work!

  6. Carli’s C25k is the BESSSST couch to 5k podcast ever. I have downloaded and tried loads of others. Having said Carli…your zuchini dinner looks yum. I AM DEFINITELY going to make it. That shredded mozzarella takes it from Good to Yum I would imagine

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